Restless Souls

Raynok lay on the ground. His left hand slowly drew designs in the pile of ashes next to his head. "Dear brother, you were never very smart, especially around girls."

"Don't bother mourning," someone said over him. "His death only means more for the two of us."

Raynok rolled onto his back. "True, but he was my brother."

"Your brother," the woman said. "He was mine in name and nature only." She kneeled beside Raynok and leaned over him. "It's you I'm more interested in. And how to get what we want."

"I'm not in the mood, Kerlak." Raynok slid from under her and sat up. "However, I am more concerned with what we want."

"Which one?"

"All of it. I want to go home. We've been stranded on Earth for 2,000 years since the rebellion."

Kerlak ran a lock of hair through her fingers. "Why in the world would you want to go back there?"

"Our family is there, among other things. It's just a question of how."

"I know. You've been obsessing over this for two millenia."

Raynok stood and glared down at her. "You speak as if you don't want to return."

Kerlak matched his glare. "Maybe I don't." She reached for a handful of ash. "Since we've been here, everything about us has dwindled into nothingness. We're becoming human. If we go home, we'd never survive."

"I've considered that, and I already know what to do about it. We can become as we were once again. We just have to find something to restore us, and I know exactly what we need."

Kerlak squeezed the ash. "What would that be?"

"There are others on Earth like us."

Kerlak stood and threw the ash at him. She placed both hands onto her hips and wrinkled her forehead. "You're not suggesting the aid of some lowly demon, are you?"

"Of course not. The one we seek is more powerful than any lowly demon."

"How do you know?"

Raynok lifted one side of his mouth. "He kills them for a living."

"Oh, one of those," Kerlak answered nonchalantly. "Well, what do you intend we do with him?"

"We use his power to restore our own. Then we can move on to greater things."

"Greater things, as in?"

"Freeing my father from Earth."

Kerlak straightened as recognition set in. "Your father? He's here? You've found him?"

"He was here, under our noses, the entire time."

Kerlak slouched a little. "What can he do? He would be just as weak as we are."

"Not necessarily. This whole time he's been imprisoned rather than living among these wretched humans. I've found him; we just have to awaken him."

"How do we do that?"

"Blood from the one who imprisoned him."

Kerlak wrinkled her forehead again. "How do we do that? I thought Sparda was dead."

"Sparda is dead," Raynok commented with a smile, "but his memories are not. We just have to find the unsuspecting descendent he passed them on to."

"Even if we pull that off," Kerlak mused, "how could we even get close enough to the sucker to get his blood or his genetic memories?"

"That's the fun part. We find his weak spot."

"Which is?"

"Pick one. He has plenty." Raynok placed a hand onto Kerlak's shoulder. "By the way, how are your dimension hopping skills?"

*
"Do it!"

Lilith stared at the sword Merciless in her hands. Deanna kneeled on the floor in front of her. Two shadows held Deanna down, though she didn't struggle. "Do what?"

"You heard me," the voice spoke over her shoulder. "Kill her. Now!"

Merciless became unnaturally heavy. "I can't."

"I'll do it." Dante stepped around her and snatched Merciless from her hands. "You are weak. I'll finish it for you."

"What are you doing?"

Without responding, Dante cleanly decapitated Deanna. Lilith twitched as blood splattered across her face. The head rolled until it bumped into Lilith's foot. Shocked with disbelief, Lilith forced herself to look at Dante. "Dad, what have you done?"

Dante's eyes glowed red as she looked at her and smiled. "You are not mine anymore." Then he plunged Merciless through her throat.

*
Lilith awoke screaming. She didn't know how long it lasted, but she didn't stop until she heard the banging on her bedroom door. She forced herself to breath slowly and deeply before getting up. She held on to the dresser as she stood. Vertigo caused her to slow down and lean against it. There was more banging. "I'm coming!" she called as she steadied herself. She unlocked and opened the door.

"What is it this time?" Dante asked when she let him in.

"Same as usual."

"Is something wrong with your neck?"

"What?"

Dante grabbed her wrist and pulled her hand from her neck. "Is something wrong with your neck?" he repeated.

Lilith returned to her bed. "No. It was just the nightmare." She lay down in a fetal position. Dante gently shoved her aside to give himself a place to sit. The vertigo returned for a moment when he sat down. "Careful. The room is spinning."

"What did you dream?"

"The usual. About Mom's death, but not the way it really happened."

"Did you do it this time?"

"No. You did."

She felt him staring at her. "Me? Why me?"

"You know dreams are rarely literal. In this one, you disowned me and plunged a sword through my throat."

"Ooh. Ouch. Damn, that explains it."

Lilith fought back tears. "I haven't had a good night's sleep in almost two years since we returned from Shangri-La. My birthday is coming up, and a few days from that is the anniversary of my mother's death. It's not easy keeping up with it all."

"How can you? You won't talk to me, or anyone else, about what's wrong."

"I don't know what to say to you. If I were talking to myself, I still wouldn't know what to say."

Dante tapped his fingers together. "I don't know what to tell you. You're keeping me on the outside. I can only look in, and I don't like what I see."

"I know." Lilith rolled over to face him. "But I can't talk right now. This thing is slowly making me go insane."

"And you're taking me with you."

Lilith wiped her eyes to indicate sleepiness. "I don't want to go through this right now. Can it wait?"

"For how many more months?" Lilith scowled at him; she obviously didn't appreciate the sarcasm. "Sorry." She knew he was apologizing for her feelings, not the sarcasm. He patted her arm. "Take your time, but don't take too long. I can't help you if you don't let me."

"You'll forgive me if I don't make it to work in the morning?"

Dante glanced at the clock. "You have three hours to decide on that."

He stood to leave. When he reached the door, Lilith called out to him. "Do you ever miss her?"

"In spite of everything, almost everyday."

"Any regrets?"

"Too many to count."

*
Kerlak held her head back to absorb the cool air. "This is, by far, the weirdest idea you have ever come up with to date."

"Thank you. Your comments have been filed for future reference."

"Jerk." She quickly surveyed the barren wasteland they were unfortunate enough to land on. It was impossible to determine the time of day; the sky was covered with forboding black clouds that occasionally flashed lightning. The smell of impending rain could not cover the odor of age and death. Rubble of stone and bricks dotted the dusty landscape. She kicked aside the ashes of a long dead fire. She smiled when she saw a throne of gold before her.

"Don't bother," Raynok called to her. "That's not what we're here for."

"We have all day," Kerlak responded. "It's not like what we're looking for is going anywhere."

Raynok seized her arm. "Half of it is not, but the other half is not guaranteed to be found."

"I don't like going on wild goose chases." Kerlak pulled her arm free. "Especially when the wild goose is a ghost."

"It's not a ghost. It's a wandering soul."

"What's the difference!" Kerlak glanced at a palace several miles in the distance. "Is that where you're taking us?"

"Come on. Now's the time to see if all those centuries of training and study were of any use."

"Of course they were. How else would we have gotten here in the first place, considering the only passageway was mysteriously locked?" Kerlak made no effort to hide the ridicule.

Raynok shrugged one shoulder. "No one knew. The key is lost forever, so stop bitching and come on. The sooner we get what we came for, the sooner we can leave." He slung a large bag of soil over his shoulder and began the trek towards the palace. Kerlak mumbled obscenities as she followed.

*

"When's the last time you cleaned up in here?"

"The last time you did it."

Lilith slung her backpack across a chair. "That's not very comforting. It's been a while since I've been here." She picked the Force Edge from its resting place on the wall. She nearly dropped it when it transformed into the flaming red sword Sparda. "Oops." She snatched the amulet around her neck and tossed it onto the desk. When it returned to the form of the Force Edge, she placed it back on the poster of the naked woman and stepped back.

"You'll learn to stop doing that," Dante said behind her.

"I'm nineteen. It's a little late to start learning basic skills."

Dante picked up the amulet and pulled it in half. He threw one half at her. She caught it with one hand. "Take that," he said. "Don't ask for the other one."

"Why?"

Lilith answered with him as if mocking him. "Because I said so." She twirled her fingers in the air. "I can see you," Dante reminded her.

"Right." Lilith unzipped her overcoat and slung it over a stuffed head. "Hold that, will you?" The telephone rang. "I'll get it!"

"No, you won't!" Dante and Lilith dove simultaneously for the phone. Dante grabbed Lilith as she reached the desk and pushed her over it. He picked up the receiver as she hit the floor. She stayed stretched out on the floor as she listened to the usual business greeting. The following silence made her lift her head halfway over the desk. Dante scowled at her.

"What?" she asked.

"I thought I told you to tell your friends not to call you at this number."

"I did."

"Really? Then this person calling for you is not a friend?"

"Obviously."

Dante flashed her a smirk. "Sorry, Jeremy," he said into the receiver, "she's not interested." Then he hung up the phone before anyone could react.

Lilith jumped to her feet. "Jeremy! You didn't say it was him!"

Dante's smirk widened. "You said he wasn't a friend."

Lilith folded her arms. "I thought you meant friend as in I'm not sleeping with him friend."

Dante tilted his head. "Excuse me?"

"Um," Lilith slowly lowered herself to the floor, "I think I'll just hide under the desk here."

*
This time it was Raynok's turn to observe the surroundings. The smell of decay was stronger than it was outside. The large room was cold and dark; the only light was the dim beams filtering through the windows.

"Get ready," he said to Kerlak. "The ceremony should start soon."

Kerlak began preparing a spot in the center of the room as Raynok scrutinized the floor. He smiled when he found the large dark stain. He withdrew a dagger and started chipping away at the floor. Minutes later, he removed a chunk of stained wood and took it to Kerlak.

Kerlak pointed to the triple circle she had drawn on the floor. "Sit inside, and we can began."

Raynok placed the wood next to the bag of dirt. Kerlak sat opposite him. Together they took handfuls of dirt and created the outline of a human body while chanting over it. When the entire supply of dirt was used, Kerlak took the wood.

"Native soil of the one we seek, bring her to us, servile and meek." She lay the bloody wood onto the dirt outline and took Raynok's hands. They chanted in unison as loudly as they could. The wood liquified and melted into the dirt beneath it. The dirt heaved as if it were alive. It slowly lifted from the floor until it became more human in a three dimensional space. They stared in awe as the dirt appearance sloughed away to reveal smooth light brown toned skin. Long black hair sprouted from the head and flowed across the floor.

"This is it!" Kerlak shouted. She and Raynok stood and began a new chant. Air whirled between them. They felt a hot energy pass between them and sink into the body on the floor. The whirling air followed suit, and everything fell silent.

Raynok and Kerlak stared at each other. "Is that it?" Raynok asked.

"I don't know. I've never really done this before."

The body on the floor twitched. Kerlak kneeled beside it. The woman on the floor groaned and opened her eyes. She took one look around and screamed. Raynok placed his foot against the woman's neck. She stopped screaming, but her eyes glanced around with panic.

"Welcome," Kerlak said to the woman. "I'm glad to see this trip wasn't a complete waste."

"Who are you?" the woman asked. "What am I doing here?"

"That's easy. I need you to help us find and bait someone. It's an old acquaintance of yours. He has something we need."

"What would that be?"

"That's none of your concern."

"Why should I help you?" Raynok increased the pressure against her neck. She fought back the urge to scream again.

"That's enough, Raynok," Kerlak said. "Now," she said to the woman, "here's the deal. Help us find him, and we'll let you go. Betray us, and your soul will be sucked from you body and enslaved to us forever. Do you understand?" The woman didn't answer. "Do you understand!"

Raynok increased the pressure again. This time the woman screamed, "Yes! I accept!"

Kerlak slapped Raynok's leg. He lifted it to let the woman stand. "I'm glad we understand each other," Kerlak said. "Welcome back to the living, Deanna Min NĂ¡."

*
"You're not honestly upset, are you?"

Dante leaned over the billiard table as he lined up his shot. "Why in the world would I be upset?"

"Well, that wasn't exactly the best way to began a topic."

"Lilith, please. Give me some credit, will you? I'm neither blind nor ignorant." He knocked the final striped ball into a corner pocket.

"I'm not saying you are."

"You implied it." He knocked the eight ball into a side pocket. "My game."

"I'm sorry," Lilith said. "I should learn greater discretion. Next I'll be telling you I'm pregnant." Dante's only reaction was to trip over his pool cue and bang his head against the billiard table. "I was joking!" Lilith ran to his side as he pulled himself to his feet. "I was joking! I swear!"

Dante rubbed the side of his head. "That wasn't funny."

"I know. I'm not pregnant. I only said it to prove a point. I'm so sorry!"

"You better be," he said under his breath as he returned to the desk to answer the phone. Lilith leaned against the table to give her heart a chance to slow down. When Dante hung up, she asked, "What's that about?" He didn't answer. Lilith straightened. "Dad? What's wrong?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

"I find that difficult to believe. Look whom I grew up around."

"Funny."

"No joke."