Dante said nothing but watched as Reiko's back faded into the distance. Only when Reiko had turned the corner did he turn to look at Trish, shaking his head slowly.
'You shouldn't get attached to clients.' Trish looked up at him, scowling through her tears.
'He wasn't a client; he was a friend.'
'Maybe in your eyes. In mine, he was just another customer. Unfortunately, the job didn't work out as planned but…that's what you get if you work with a vampire I guess.' Trish glared at him and walked back inside without saying another word. Dante watched the area where Reiko had seemingly vanished, but there was no sign that the vampire had ever existed. Dante said nothing but silently made his way into the building.
'You have all your things packed, right?' he said calmly. Trish nodded sullenly. 'Good. Because we have to do this alone now.' Trish glared at him.
'Reiko said he was still going to be around though!'
'Trish, you know we can't trust him!'
'You really believe that?'
'Yes.'
'Well I don't.' Trish span on her heel and walked upstairs, slamming the door to her room shut, like some teenager. Dante breathed out heavily and shook his head angrily. Trish was stubborn. And stupid. Stubborn and stupid was not a good mix. He sat down on the old battered couch and looked around. Strange…everything suddenly seemed kind of empty. He remembered that for the past few weeks, nearly a month, Reiko had been with them. Trish had occasionally got pissed off at something or another and it usually left Dante and Reiko laughing with each other. It hadn't been too bad having him around…but then again, if there was a risk to his life now, he'd be a fool to let him stay.
Dante sat and argued with himself. He had always taken risks before. Always. After all, weren't all the jobs he took considered as risks? So why had he been so quick to chuck Reiko out? It wasn't the way he usually acted…He got up suddenly, sensing Mostro nearby.
The tyrant didn't seem to be doing anything, just hovering about, as though waiting. Dante knew suddenly that it was waiting for Reiko. He smiled thinly; it had been a while since the vampire had left. Unless…he paled. Unless Reiko had been killed. Did Mostro want to kill them both as well? It would stand to reason, wouldn't it? He growled and paced before he raised his head, eyes moving towards the stairs. Trish froze but then relaxed.
'I hate it when you do that.'
'Do what?'
'When you know I'm coming down the stairs!' Dante frowned at that comment; it made as much sense as trying to kill oneself. He sighed, as his mind began to wonder again. Why on earth had his father run willingly into a battle he had no chance of winning? Did he know that it was going to be the last time he'd see his children? His wife? Why was he thinking about the demons of the past? No pun intended. Trish suddenly froze and her eyes turned wide, the blue shimmering. Dante blinked, registering the look on Trish's face. The wide eyes, the gritted jaw, the tense muscles…she was scared. Dante blinked and whirled around, drawing his sword. Red eyes glared directly into his own before soaring up, a black cloud spreading across the ceiling of the room. Dante said nothing but looked up calmly, as though in some sort of daze. Trish shuddered as some strange language echoed out into the room.
'He means to kill us!'
'Like I couldn't figure that out,' he growled. Trish shuddered as the sound continued, sounding something like a screech, a growl and a low demonic chuckle. Trish whimpered suddenly but screamed as a sudden pink blast was sent out in her direction, too fast even for Dante to follow it properly. Trish cried out again, falling to the ground, blood splattering all over the walls. Dante gasped, his aquamarine eyes widening, seeing the marks were exactly the same as the ones that had killed Steph. Blood leaked out from Trish's wounds, she was already gasping for breath, almost panting, crying out at odd intervals with mind numbing pain.
Dante took in the pitiful sight and turned back to face Mostro, his eyes narrowing, and turning slowly red, hard tough armour-like skin plating over his body, horns already forming.
'You monster!' he growled. Mostro said nothing but slowly, the cloud seemed to roll and form into a figure. Jet black hair, slicked back, a fur collar. He reminded Dante strikingly of Arius. Dante instantly pushed the thought out of his mind, but not by his will. The demon had taken over.
Blood red eyes met fierce red, the colour of fire. Mostro smirked, and spoke to him in the demon tongue.
'Flawshe showff tza!' Dante said nothing but growled, a low rumbling in his throat, but it seemed to be coming more from his chest. This ends now! Oh yes. Yes it would definitely end now. But for who? Him? Dante was no fool; though the demon had taken over, he wasn't entirely out of control. A small part of him argued that this was madness, that he should grab Trish and make a run for it. But since when had he run from a fight? Never.
A sudden strange sound was drawn out from Mostro's lips. It took a while for Dante to realize that it was his way of laughing.
'You fool. You remember what happened last time!' English. A language Dante could understand without much difficulty.
'I remember.'
'And yet you still wish to fight me?' Dante said nothing but gave Trish a quick glance. She was already beginning to heal. She'd be able to hold on. But what if their fight did kill her? Dante knew that all it would take to kill her was one missed blow. He winced visibly at that; Trish had been a friend, even if she had betrayed him before, she had been a close friend ever since Mallet Island.
'I want Trish to be safe when we fight.' Mostro smiled thinly and looked at the woman.
'Why? So then I can kill her after I destroy you?' Dante growled.
'You're not going to follow my request, are you?'
'Not a chance.' Dante flew up into the air at that point, wings unfurling, a fiery red aura covering his body. Mostro followed the movement with his eyes and smiled. Dante glared down at him, a red sphere beginning to form in his hands before hurling it with all force at him. Mostro simply laughed and side-stepped, the blast destroying half of the building. Wood and stone flew over Trish in a harmless arc as she lay there, unconscious.
Dante glared and floated down to the ground, his power burning around him as a visible fiery aura. The flames seemed to play at his face, creating shadows and distorting his features. It made him seem all the more dangerous, the shadows like war-paint, showing he meant business. Mostro still said nothing, the thin smile still pasted on his face, the narrow eyes like slits in his face.
'Dante. You can not kill me.' Dante said nothing, but the flames around him burnt all the more fiercely, turning blue as his power grew more terrible.
'That's what they all said. They were all wrong though. You don't know what you're going up against.' Mostro's smile broadened, and his eyes widened ever so slightly, barely noticeable to the average human being, but then again, Dante was no ordinary human. He scowled; Mostro was silently laughing at him.
'All right then. You probably could defeat me. But only because I am your enemy. But let me ask you this. If a friend became an enemy, would you still fight and kill if necessary?' Dante said nothing for a while but then snarled.
'What the hell are you talking about?'
'You heard my question. Answer it.'
'If a friend became an enemy? Then it'd just be another enemy.'
'So your answer is?'
'Yes.' Mostro raised his eyebrows, the smile still there.
'Oh really? Are you so sure?' Dante suddenly became aware of a prickling sensation at the back of his neck. His stomach suddenly churned. What exactly had he just gotten himself into? Whatever it was, it was a whole load of deep shit. Even so, he growled, his patience wearing thin.
'I said yes.'
'In that case, let me test my theory.' Dante's eyes widened, taking in the sight of the red shard that glowed in his hand. He whirled around but only to feel something crashing into him bodily, knocking him to the ground, forcing all breath from his lungs.
Dante gasped, his eyes staring into ruby red ones. At first he thought it was Trish, betraying him yet again. But then his eyes began to focus as the confusion ebbed away from him. Reiko. That damned vampire.
'You!' he growled. Reiko said nothing, his face blank and emotionless. He looked as though he were some beautiful realistic statue, a look that only the dead could achieve. Dante took the blank stare as a contemplative rest and kicked out and up, sending Reiko flying. The vampire seemed to soar through the air before landing cat-like on all fours in a slight crouch. Barely waiting for Dante to recover his footing, Reiko charged at him again, knocking him down to the ground with a powerful blow to the chest.
Dante flew into the wall, the impact winding him completely. He lay there for a few minutes, trying to shake off his pain, to regain his breath. His eyes fluttered closed but not before his gaze fell upon the sight of Mostro, holding the crystal shard aloft. Reiko looked uncertain and hesitated, dithering in the middle of the room. Dante opened his eyes again after a few seconds, curious as to why Reiko hadn't attacked him again. He understood suddenly, as he saw Reiko standing over Trish.
She lay on the ground still, blood pouring out of her many wounds. Reiko appeared to be battling visions that were forming in his mind. It seemed such a long time ago since Stephanie had died, yet it had only been a few days. But looking at Reiko, Dante could see that for him, it had only been like a few minutes. The pain was still fresh in his mind, raw.
Reiko suddenly gave vent to a loud animalistic scream. To Dante's ears, it sounded angry, horrified and perhaps even a hint of sadness. Somewhere deep down, the vampire was still Reiko. Mostro's words sliced through the air, almost like a shriek.
'Do not fail me! Kill him! Wake up and kill him!' Reiko froze and shook his head, whimpering softly. Dante stood up, the stars that had burst into his vision fading.
'Fight it off, Reiko!' Reiko suddenly screamed again, a high anguished sound and crouched down where he was, head in his arms, knees to his chest, leaning against the wall. Mostro glared at his slave and snorted.
'Worthless junk…' he threw the shard onto the floor. Miraculously, it did not shatter. Dante watched it skate across the floor, halting as it came beside Trish's hand. His attention suddenly returned, only to see that Mostro was hovering directly in front of him.
The whole of his body grew stiff. He had been caught unprepared. Mostro laughed.
'You're too close in for your sword, boy.' Dante growled.
'You forget my guns.'
'Guns?' Dante fired several rounds into Mostro, but amazingly, they stopped just before they buried themselves in his flesh. Dante watched in horror as they were crushed into small useless disks and then as they clattered to the floor. Harmless. Mostro continued to laugh but then he snarled and his head reared back, revealing canines that Dante hadn't seen before.
Claws gripped him tightly, pinning his arms to his side, so then he couldn't move. Dante said nothing but his eyes widened as Mostro's head suddenly darted towards his throat. Mostro suddenly jerked and shuddered, just as his teeth grazed Dante's throat. The tyrant gasped in pain and staggered, falling to Dante's feet. Dante looked up and met Reiko's eyes.
Reiko smiled.
'I've finally done it. I kept my vow!' Dante said nothing but a slow smile spread across his face but he frowned when he saw that Reiko's grin had vanished.
'But…what have I achieved? Nothing. Killing him didn't bring back my parents. All I did was add another corpse to the list of the dead.' Dante looked at him.
'Did you really think that killing him would bring them back?' Reiko said nothing, but then shook his head.
'No. But I thought it would be different. I didn't think it would be like this. I thought I'd feel a little better. All this time, ever since I was five, I thought that once Mostro was dead, I'd feel something like a sense of renewal…but instead I feel…wasted…' Dante sighed softly.
'Welcome to life, Reiko.' Reiko shook his head.
'Not life. Death.'