The symbols on the floor were set out in a circle. Erika had never seen anything like it before. Dante paced the outline of it like a caged animal, behind them Erika could hear Li snuffle and whimper pathetically. She couldn't care less; he was lower than scum as far as she was concerned. Dante stopped.
"A creature of vengeance, summoned by grief. By tears shall it be called forward and by blood shall it be branded, till all share in sorrow" He read off the circle.
"Wait, you can read that stuff!" Erika exclaimed.
"Devils are stupid kiddo, they think that because they got their own languages they can write everything down and no one will ever know. Once you can read their texts they may as well be coming up to you with platters and saying 'My ass, please'"
"You mean, like every James Bond bad guy?"
"Exactly, once we get back I'm gonna start you on some basic ones"
Erika groaned slightly at this. Dante continued.
"The beast shall consume not only the flesh, but also the soul of its prey. Each time growing more powerful, till none are able to equal it. Should the trapped souls be released the beast shall be no more" Dante sighed, "Well, at least its a step in the right direction"
"It doesn't happen to mention how you're supposed to do that, does it?"
"Did Goldfinger tell Bond how to get out of that laser?" Dante looked at the circle as though he expected it to do something. It didn't. After a moment he spoke again.
"What I don't get is how Li managed it. This is high level stuff"
"Maybe that's why the thing is so out of control, he thought he could handle it and got a shock when he found he couldn't" Erika reasoned. Dante nodded in agreement.
"Then he panicked and called in the professionals"
"What about Creepazoid, do you think Li called him in too?"
"Could be. I doubt he's in this for the fun of it all"
Erika fell silent. They finally had some real info on the thing that had been stalking the streets for so long, but they were still no closer to finding a real solution. It was frustrating, to say the least.
"Did you find that man?" She finally asked.
"I found him, but he wasn't exactly what I'd call helpful".
"He'll kill it, he gave me his word, he'll kill it then he'll kill you. He told me what you are" Li said thickly from his position lying on the couch.
"Does he know that it was you who summoned it?" Dante said. Li fell silent as he realised what that meant. Dante didn't know that it was the Long Haired man who had killed Han and Chu, he couldn't know.
"So what? As long as it's dead nothing else matters" He said eventually.
"So it won't matter if we tell him?" Dante asked
"He won't believe a devil like you". Silence fell for a moment.
"You know, this is the part where the villain tells Bond just what he did and how it's all going to work" Erika pointed out. Li spat on the ground.
"Not going to work kiddo"
"It was worth a try" she shrugged. Dante turned away and headed to the door.
"There's one other person who might have an idea about this. I guess I'm going to have to beat it out of him" it was pretty obvious whom he was talking about.
"Again with the senseless violence, I worry about you sometimes" Erika joked. Dante smiled.
"Watch him for me, he might know something useful. Even though I doubt it"
It was too soon for the media to have heard about it, For that Chang was eternally grateful. Somebody had broken into the forensics lab, stolen evidence from the hospital shootout and attacked a young ballistics officer. Yuen, Chang thought he had met him but couldn't be sure. That made him feel really guilty. Chang looked at his file. Yuen had only been a few weeks out of training; he had barely been here a few days. It wasn't Chang's priority to get to know every single person who he worked with, directly or not. But when someone is attacked like this... It didn't bear thinking about. Yuen had been rushed into emergency surgery. There were a lot of people now who had heard what had happened and were waiting for some word on his condition. The phone rang...
A few moments later Chang walked out to the main office where what looked like half the precinct was waiting.
"The hospital just rang, Yuen died on the operating table" A few murmurs ran through the room.
"Well, what are you waiting for? The evidence that was stolen was the gun recovered from the hospital shootout. That means that there's every chance that the two we have pictures on are behind this! I want them caught and I want it done yesterday! GET TO WORK!"
Nobody dared wait around to see if he had anything else to say.
Dante went to the only place he could think of where he would find the Long Haired man. The rooftop where they had met before. Sure enough, there he was. Waiting while the pigeons fluttered around, oblivious to the two strangers.
"Don't you have a home?" Dante asked.
"I've been waiting for you; I have something I believe you would be interested in"
"Let me guess, you're an insurance salesman? It would explain the way you dress"
"Laugh now devil, I assure you, you won't be laughing soon" He turned to face Dante, holding up an exquisite silver 45. cal bearing the name 'Ivory' on the barrel. Dante answered by drawing an equally magnificent blackened 45. bearing the name 'Ebony'.
"Let's rock" He sneered.
Erika studied the circle on the ground, trying to see how Dante could have understood what it said. Li had remained silent since Dante had left, that suited her fine. Something felt wrong about this. She couldn't place it but something was seriously unsettling her. Li snuffled loudly, breathing heavily through his mouth since she had broken his nose. It wasn't him, so what was it? Leaving Li she went to the back window and looked out. At first she couldn't see anything, but then movement caught her eye. There it was, stalking, looking for prey. The monster. Erika felt her blood rising as it came into view. It was bigger than ever. Four arms, all hideously long and thin. More eyes than she could count. And then there was that tongue. Looking down Erika could see it clearly as it sniffed the air, then it turned its misshapen head towards her. It stretched it's mouth open as far as it would go. It looked wide enough to swallow a grown man whole. She reached for her guns.
"Not this time, damn you, not this time" She said quietly, backing up a few steps, then running straight at the window and diving through.
