I've been reading this over and wondering what the hell I WAS thinking. My biggest concern is OOC and I hope that this IC is not Mary-Sue-ish. Kinda doubt it though. Nothing special about her. She's just there. I'm encouraging you, my dear readers to please give me any tips or CC because it feels like this is very vague and dull and I hope to add more detail into it as much as possible, ok? I might even get annoyed enough to re-write it. SO, this is why I am skipping a scene and trying to get back on track and get into deeper detail her, because I do not like this story so far. So, no more cutesy humor and dry drivel. Lets jump in.
K, my A/N notes crapped out...
One of the greatest things about Denver is the traffic. Yes, folks. Denver plus the traffic renovation is a wonderful combo!
Despite the bipolar weather, 16th street mall was busy, bustling town. An average crowd gathered at the intersection at the stoplight. An old woman with her older daughter in her forties engrossed in a conversation, a girl from a local community college reading "Living with Art" and a younger woman with flaming red hair and dark skin stood by the light waiting for the light to turn green. Lucia wasn't too familiar with the city, but she made it by. She was enjoying a quiet life beyond her mother and Arius. Hell, she even had time to be a regular girl. The light turned green and the three shuffled across the street one by one. Bump.
"Oh, sorry, Ma'am," Lucia brushed gently against the old woman's left side as she walked.
"Don't worry," The elder woman smiled back to her. Lucia couldn't help but smiled too.
The girl walking with the "Living with Art" textbook nearly bumped into the opposite light. She stopped herself looking really annoyed, sniffing through her big German nose.
"Dammit," She pulled her dyed black hair from her shoulders back in frustration and walked away.
Lucia remained grateful to herself for wearing her new long blue skirt from the cold weather. Hey, it was cool. And it was great to wear colors for a change and not her hunter garb. After a quick lunch at one of the streets, Lucia was walking into a neighborhood in an unusual slump. She was long passed 16th Street Mall and realized something was amiss. Lucia tugged on her brown suede jacket and continued walking. Fall wasn't coming quickly in Denver and most of the leaves were still attached, green on the tree. The neighborhood was certainly old from the early 20th century. It was quiet and cold. Only few neighbors emerged walking their dogs or fetching the news. at the end of the small, narrow street, a large, dark green Victorian house stood at the corner. Lucia admired the large and beautiful design of the house. As she got closer, an unusual negative feeling emitted from the dark house.
"Wait a minute," She whispered, picking up the beat of her walking. As she came closer and closer, the negative energy became stronger and vivid, standing out from the rest of the houses. Lucia placed her hands on the ebony gate outside the house and squinted into the bay window underneath the willow tree.
Lucia bit her lower lip and finally came to realization of her fears. The house was so quiet and she was wondering whether or not to come into the house. She looked around the neighborhood. It was very quiet and hardly anyone was walking around. Lucia resisted the urge to investigate the house. Her body rested against the fence as she continued to look in.
There!
Her body froze and shivers swept over as she saw a pale white face with almost sulked eyes appear. The face looked old and battered but the harder she looked she realized it was a small boy. How odd. As quick as she noticed the face, it sank back into the darkness as if it were someone pulling a statue away from the light. Demons. And many of them. Lucia pulled away from the gate and scorned at the house. Whatever force came in there, it was very strong. Her vow to expel any evil from the normal human world repaired the same thing that led her to defeat Arius.
"I may be half-human, but I will not let this be ignored," She affirmed her thoughts. "I will come back later."
It may be Seven o' clock on a Sunday night, but Denver is dead. The Broncos are playing. Admist in a small crowd in the Old Downtown station (rumored to be haunted). Lucia was quietly heading through the crowd on her own and trying to keep warm. She had to go back and prepare herself. But how was she going to be able to do this by herself anyway? It felt like a large, powerful presence.
"Lucia?"
Lucia stopped, puzzled. No one knew her in Denver. What were the odds of running into someone? She returned to her pace and then-
"HEY! LUCIA!" Lucia turned around and noticed something familiar. White hair.
Dante stood in a crowd of people next to a pale red head girl. Both looked slightly tired. Dante had his large army duffel bag strapped against his chest. And, he of course, looked just as arrogant as she left him. His sly smile grew again and he approached her.
"Funny seeing you here," He paused and looked around for a better place to stand without being in front of oncoming traffic. Dante proceeded onto the curb.
"Really," Lucia began in her calm, sardonic voice all over again. "What are you doing here? Following me?"
"No," He said returning to his gruff state, Erin beside him opening her bag and adding on another layer of coat. "I'm here on a job."
"Oh, really," Lucia glanced at Erin. "For her?"
Erin flinched at the mention of her. She looked up, opened her mouth to say something but couldn't force it out of her mouth. She turned to Dante seemingly hinting a plea.
"Yeah for her," Dante glanced back at her. Erin seemed to be placed in an uncomfortable position. "Its her family, anyway."
Lucia turned away before Dante could add anything else.
"Well, its good to see your ok," He added quickly in the awkward moment.
"Thank you," She replied softly.
A minute went by and then Erin added. "Ummm...if your wondering, my family's house is just past 16th street mall. It's a big Victorian house." Erin returned in her slumped head position. Then it hit Lucia.
That dark green Victorian house at the corner. Could that be what they were here for? No way. There were probally at another house, probably near a troubled neighborhood. "I'm sorry, but I have to leave before that accursed football game ends. The traffic will pour out of here like a heard of cattle." Lucia finally noticed Erin and added "Good luck, I hope you can sort things out again."
"Thank you!" Erin said eagerly "You got really pretty hair. I wish my hair was that red."
Lucia smiled faintly, completely ignoring Dante. She turned and left with the crowd pouring out of the light rail.
Of course, Dante remained petrified with his gruff state and returned to his normal casual state.
"That woman confuses me." He muttered as he zipped up his dark brown leather jacket.
"Why?" Erin asked aloud to him. Dante blinked and added sourly. "Its like she turns stone to me when I'm around. I don't know why either."
"It looked like both of you did," Erin added sitting down on a bench four feet away. Traffic was slowly dying down before the game ended. "You both act funny really."
Dante paused and thought about it for a moment and squinted. "Nah, it has to be her," he thought. Usually every woman he had to put up with froze with a sort of a giddy glee around him. And it was not like him to be so sour around another woman either for one thing. Not even at Trish a demon created to look like his mother. But in the mean time, he did bail Lucia out at least two times from Arius. Didn't he deserve some reconciliation as well?
"Ah, enough about that," He swung his army duffel bag across his back. "We have to find some place to stay at least."
Erin frowned. "Can I pitch in on the pay?" She looked up expecting a response.
Dante frowned. "I thought I told you to keep your money."
"I feel like a bum, though," Erin looked at her feet.
"No, Charlie is a bum," He smiled. "He's at my door when I get pizza. He is a genuine bum. But seriously, let's get out of here before that game ends. I hear the Falcons are doing shitty anyway."
"Our defense has improved this year," Erin added "I'm really happy about it."
Finally after a long pause after traveling on the lightrail, Erin and Dante settled into a small hotel in a small part of Denver. After a long journey, there was no rush to go out and prepare the long fight ahead. Erin immediately fell asleep in a second bed, but as usual, Dante took a longer time before he fell asleep and finally dosed off.
Meanwhile, deeper into the night, a temperature dropped down to forty degrees farhient and a small rainstorm passed. Lucia walked down the neighborhood shrouded in darkness. Armed with her usual two blades at her side and wearing flexible pants and a proper top to keep her warm. Lucia arrived at the gates of the house, now the house was shrouded in errie darkness. She walked down further, opened the gate. Walking up the small steps and placing her hand on the door. She peered into the house, still dark.
"Okay," She breathed in. To keep herself calm, Lucia began to recite the Italian lyrics to Lacuna Coil's "Comailes" in her head. It had a nice melody enough not to be distracting. Lucia looked into one of her pockets and held out a coin Dante gave her back in Vi de Marli. Lucia looked up at the door again and flinched.
The same white, tattered face was peering down at her through the window inside the little boy. THe face lit up in a malicious smile and proceeded to fade away again like it done before, as if it were a art piece displayed and being rolled away in the dark. Lucia scorned her face and grasped the handle of the door. She pushed it open and laid one foot into the house.
"Unfortunately, you do not scare me, Demon," Lucia calmly told the darkness. "I am half your kind." Lucia grasped on of her swords at her side and stepped into the house completely. The door then slammed shut and made a clicking noise as if it were locking itself. Lucia scoffed softly and pushed aside her hair. "How cute." She whispered. Placing her left hand on the banister, Lucia walked carefully up into the second floor of the house. Pausing in the hallway, she could see a small light in the farthest right room. Lucia proceeded with a cautious step. She entered the room.
The boy was hunched over in the corner and when he spoke, his voice was deep, masculine and nasal.
"Pray tell me, m'lady," The boy's body didn't move, but clearly the voice was not his own. "Do you know how to drive your own kind out of a human body? Hmmm?"
Lucia simply replied. "You're all the same. Predictable, in fear of God himself. You seek mortal bodies because you cannot form a body in this world. How pathetic. Even I, a half-blood can form a temporally body!" She proclaimed.
"Heh heh," His laugh drawled in his throat in a cold manner. The room temperature dropped. "You underestimate the power of the old demons. We are not the same as the newer ones our dark lord has created. We are the ones that fell with Lucifer himself!"
The boy's body jerked violently to Lucia with the same sulken eyes, now shinning threateningly. "What make you, m'lady think you can drive us out?! A vortex has been open!" The boy's back arched up and his head pulled back. The room with the objects violently shaking, doors opening, shelves rattling, and the bed slightly levitating off the ground.
"You're all the same!" Lucia shouted at the boy's body.
"Silence!" The boy's body jerked up and the nearest nightstand flung at Lucia falling onto her. Lucia collapsed onto the floor holding her stomach tightly. She winced greatly. The nightstand caused her to fall so hard that the force, which it flew, was no normal force. Crawling further down toward the door entrance, Lucia gathered her strength again.
Leaning against the wall, she came up and turn to the boy's body. It was chuckling slightly.
"You cannot fight us." It said simply with a twinge of arrogance.
Lucia paused and then decided the only way she could fight was to use the charms her mother gave her. "Yeah, right." She muttered. Giving it one more go she charged once more at the boy's body with full force expecting a type of shield. Bingo. Then the minor demons came at it's will, returning Lucia's charge knocking her full force out of the room into the small hallway. Lucia sprang to her feet, slashing with all her strength at the demons coming out of the room. But overwhelmed, Lucia found herself smothered by their forces of unstoppable caliber.
It was only two o' clock at night. Erin was turning in her sleep mumbling. Meanwhile, Dante slept unflinchingly in the other bed. A quick rustle in the darkness and Dante found himself walking outside of the small hotel looking out at the Denver skyline. Tilting his head back he suddenly realized that the Denver skyline didn't show any stars. "Jez, the weather is nuts in this state," He muttered. It was snowing in one part and then when they arrived in Aurora, it was at least regular mid-seventies temperature. After a pointless thought, he decided to return at least back into the room where it was warmer. But he paused. He noticed something familiar at the corner of his eyes, limping.
Lucia!
She was holding her side limping on her left leg. She was bruised slightly and a couple of cuts here and there.
"Lucia?" He called out stepping way from the side of the wall.
"Oh! Funny meeting you again, Dante!" She winced at her side.
Dante reached out his hands putting them on her shoulders keeping her from falling.
"Hey, what the hell happened to you?" He looked down at her. She smiled. "Did you get in a fight with another woman or what?"
Lucia laughed. "Oh, no," she collapsed slightly onto him. "I thought I could take a legion of demons and a possessed child. I was wrong. I guess I am not that strong as you are."
Dante then pulled her closer to him so she wouldn't fall on the sidewalk. "Wait?" He remembered Erin's story now.
"Possessed kid? Was it a boy with red hair like that girl with me?"
"Yes." She rested herself against his chest. Her energy was gone and now she was feeling completely woozy. Oh, she would so not do this if she were more awake she thought. "I think that is her family."
"Did you find her parents?" He asked.
"I saw no adults," Lucia muttered. "Maybe they left him there and were afraid to come back."
Dante hoped otherwise. He hoped they were somehow alive or somewhere. It would be horrible if he couldn't find Erin's parents there. But he would make sure that they didn't just leave Erin with her brother behind. Possessed brother none the less.
"Look," Dante sighed. He didn't believe he had to do this himself. "You're very tired. Come in and rest? I could help you and you can help me later, ok? It'll be like old times, ok? Lucia?"
Lucia came into reality and pulled herself off of him. Her body swayed a little as she held her head. "I don't think so," She said. "I don't trust you."
Dante scoffed. "Like I can make a move with a 12-year-old with me. For Christ's sakes, woman."
"I don't trust you," She repeated.
"Well that's stupid," His frustration was starting to show because of his fatigue. "You don't even know me well enough to reach to that kind of conclusion!"
"Fine then," Lucia waved her hand. "Whatever. I don't even live in this damn town anyway."
Lucia's waist was grabbed and she was being lead back into the small hotel by Dante.
"Hey now," He said defensively. "I like Denver. Don't rag on the Mile High city."
Lucia smiled. As she was led into the door down the hall and finally stopped at the door. Lucia closed her eyes again. Dante then slid the card, opened the door quietly.
"Ok, you need to shut up because that girl is sleeping," He whispered. Erin mumbled in the dark something about "Sirius" and then fell back into a daze. Lucia scoffed again as sat onto the bed.
"Fine, just don't touch me," She added as she laid down on the pillow.
"I won't if you won't," He replied as he went back to his muscle shirt and boxers. Lucia sprang back up and pulled off her boots and fell back onto the bed, causing it to bounce. After a cold silence, Dante broke it-"Goodnight, Lucia," He muttered sleepily.
"Goodnight, Dante," She added back.
Ten minutes passed and everyone was completely asleep.
Oh, man I am TIRED. In case you are wondering, I live in Littleton, Colorado and I thought Denver was an appropriate place for this story to take place. I'm no Bronco fan, but you can't go anywhere in this state without hearing about them. Traffic blows here. Anyway, I got to go bed myself. I'm just very weary about this chapter here...Please PLEASSSSSSSE tell me what you think, honest to God. No stupid short reviews leave suggestions!
BTW, can ya see the shipping I'm going for? Their both weird oO; they sooooooo like each other!