Sorry it took so long to get this up, I had some writers block. . .and it's long. (shrugs) I couldn't help it. I'm sorry to those that can't sit through these long ass things. If you don't mind, then please, enjoy!
Chapter 12
Nevia sat in the kitchen, looking at a small map of the town. She was marking off areas with a red sharpie; areas that they had searched. Even though they hadn't mentioned anything to Dyne and Fayze about it, she and Vergil had been trying to find the griffites base for some days now. Nevia knew they had one; they had to have one. How else could they be able to hide and organize attacks?
"Not that they're the most orderly of attacks. . ." Nevia thought smugly to herself. She looked near the top of the map, where the area was marked off for monsters. It could be likely that the faction had their base on the outskirts of town, where the demons roamed. That would be logical; no one could get near it that way, at least no humans.
Nevia stood up from the table, considering that she should share her information with Vergil. She came into the living room, where he was just beginning to doze off on the couch.
"Hey, Verg?" Nevia called quietly. He groggily looked up at her, then smiled.
"Yeah?" Nevia explained to him where she thought the griffites base might be, then watched him for a moment. He yawned, then shrugged lightly. "Perhaps. . .I'll go investigate it in the morning. I'm too tired right now."
"Well, I didn't say go out right now, did I? You get some rest." Nevia messed up his hair, and moved back from the sofa as he stood and stretched.
"Thanks." He smiled, slowly going off to his room. Nevia decided to flop herself down onto the sofa, stretching out quite comfortably. It was eight thirty now, and Dyne and Fayze had already gone off to bed. Now with Vergil gone, Nevia didn't have anyone to talk to.
Just then, there was the sound of a door opening, but Nevia had the sounds of each door within the apartment memorized into her mind. It wasn't Vergil's, but rather Dyne's and Fayze's. So, at least one of them was up. She poked her head over the top of the couch, seeing Fayze coming noiselessly down the hall.
"Hey Fayze." Nevia greeted. "What are you doing up?"
"Oh, just wanted a drink." Fayze explained, silently sliding into the kitchen. Nevia listened for him for a moment, until he came into the living room with a glass of water. He had managed to be perfectly silent, which somewhat worried Nevia. "Besides, I'm really not that tired right now. I was thinking about sitting out here and watching some TV.
Nevia shrugged and moved over some, giving him plenty of room to sit if he liked. Fayze obliged, taking a seat next to Nevia. "Thanks. I just hope that you aren't going to be afraid of me."
Nevia smiled. She wasn't afraid of him, she just wasn't used to someone being able to move so stealthily, when they weren't trying to be. "Nah, whatever happened to you this afternoon was scary, but I believe you that you didn't know what you were doing."
Fayze sighed. "Thanks. Only you and Vergil seem to forgive me. Dyne won't say much to me. . ."
"Ah, give him a while. He'll forget about it." Nevia took up the remote control, surfing through channels quickly until she stopped on a nature show about creatures of the night. "Ironic. . ." Nevia grumbled, flipping past that channel. She finally chose to just stop on a cartoon channel. "I don't really watch cartoons, but it's the best thing on right now. . .Unless you'd rather watch a show about night animals."
"I'll pass to the cartoons, thank you." Fayze laughed, sinking into the couch. He watched the television lazily, seeing a small yellow, rat like cartoon creature blast two guys with lightening, sending them flying into the sky and disappear as a tiny star. "Oh, come on. How the hell did that thing manage to zap them so hard, that they flew like that? When you get hit by lightening, that doesn't happen." Fayze complained calmly.
"It's a little kids show, come on. Kids don't know that. They just think it's funny." Nevia explained. "Haven't you ever watched this before?"
"Nope. I don't watch TV back home. I just use the thing for games." Fayze admitted, continuing to watch this childish cartoon. A young man had a small ball in his hand, and chunked it. The ball opened up and a large red dragon beast appeared from within the ball. "Okay, what the hell? How'd he fit that dragon into that thing?! And that kid doesn't exactly look like a dragon master. He's gonna get his head bit off."
Sure enough, as the boy started spouting commands, the dragon turned on him, blasting him with a spout of fire. The boys face was now charred and black, and Fayze snickered and began laughing aloud.
"It's not that funny, Fayze." Nevia said, cocking an eyebrow at him. He seemed extremely entertained.
"I'm sorry! It's just, that kid should have known better! I mean, that's not how you go about commanding a dragon. You don't yell 'Charizard, flamethrower attack, go!' It doesn't work like that. No dragon is gonna respect its master if they think they're gonna command it with such stupid orders."
"How would you know that?"
"My father told me that he and Merin saw one when they were younger. It belonged to a dragoneer, and he told them all about raising and using dragons." Fayze explained. "This is ridiculous though! And why the hell are all the animals just saying their names? That stupid yellow mouse on his shoulder keeps saying 'pika pi' and 'pi pi'. I'm not sure if it's just got a potty mouth, or if it's trying to talk."
"It's just a cartoon. It's not real." Nevia told him. "Chill out about it."
Fayze sighed, continuing to watch this brainless show. Who in their right mind would allow their children to watch it was beyond him, but it had to be one of the stupidest things he'd ever seen. Why make the poor little animals fight like that? And why did some of them look so. . .bizarre?
"I think someone was on crack when they made this show. You'd have to be very easily amused, or high to laugh at this." Fayze laughed.
"Well, you seem to be enjoying it." Nevia said. Her voice became sarcastic as she smiled at Fayze. "Fayze, are you. . .high?"
Fayze smiled sheepishly, then gave a light laugh. "I'm not laughing because it's humorous. I'm laughing because it's so stupid!"
"That it is." Nevia agreed, picking up the remote and flipping around again. She stopped on the nature channel once more. "Oh look, it's your relatives, the vampire bat!" Nevia said in a mocking voice. "Quick, what are they saying?" She asked, as many of the bats began to squeak.
"That's not very nice. . ." Fayze said, somewhat offended, even though he could understand the animals for some reason. However, he was a good sport about it and smiled. "They said, 'Oh hey, look! Some nice, sweet virgin girls! Quick, let's go have a drink and get wasted!'" He joked.
Nevia chuckled lightly, shaking her head. She tossed the remote over to him. "Here, have at it. I'm going to the bathroom." Fayze nodded and began surfing as Nevia stood up and headed off to the bathroom.
Fayze sighed. It seemed that even with satellite, there wasn't anything worth watching. He clicked and clicked through the channels, his thumb becoming quite fatigued in the process. Too bad he was too ignorant to know that the damn thing had a guide.
"Oh." Fayze was surprised, stopping on a channel. "Holy crap, a game channel? Cool!" Just what he needed; a channel with game reviews and previews. He lay back contently now, slowly nodding off as he watched the television. "I could get to like this."
Nevia flicked off the light switch and opened the bathroom door quietly, as to not disturb anyone. As she shut the door, she could hear something from Dyne's room. "What the hell?"
As she moved closer to investigate, she could make out something that sounded like whimpering. Dyne wasn't doing that, was he? Nevia slowly pushed the door open, peeking inside of the room. She looked in just enough to see Dyne, tossing occasionally in bed. He was making quite a fuss, groaning and whimpering loudly. She was surprised that he hadn't woken himself up with his own racket. She came into the room fully, moving quickly over to the bed.
"Dyne?" Nevia whispered, watching him carefully. He had his back to her, wearing only a pair of boxers, and was trembling slightly. "Dyne, wake up." Nevia commanded, this time in a slightly louder voice. Dyne's reply was a small whimper, and then he rolled over to face her. He was still asleep, but held a worried and scared expression on his face. He mumbled something incomprehensive, then wined lightly.
Nevia moved closer and began shaking him lightly. "Get up, Dyne." Not getting a reply, she began to shake harder, until he finally bolted upright in bed, gasping as if he needed air. Nevia watched him carefully for a moment as he began to cough and make gagging sounds, as though he would vomit. "Are you alright?" Nevia asked softly as his breathing began to normalize.
Dyne's eyes snapped up to Nevia, a look of utter confusion and dread in them. "Ne. . .Nevia?" He whimpered.
"Yeah...Are you okay?" Nevia whispered. Dyne only watched her for a moment, then suddenly grabbed her in an embrace. Nevia gasped at first, almost afraid that he was going to attack her. However, she blinked in disbelief as she realized that he was hugging her, his head buried into her shoulder. "D-Dyne? Are you alright?"
Dyne whimpered lightly again, then tried to speak. However, he choked up at first, a loud sob coming from his mouth. He held onto Nevia tightly, like a frightened child. "I. . .I can't take it anymore. . ." He whispered. "I'm going mad. . ." His voice broke suddenly as he buried his head more into Nevia's shoulder.
Nevia frowned, feeling rather sorry for him. It baffled her that he could be getting so upset about a dream. She could only imagine that it was a horrible one. "Sssshh. . .It's okay Dyne." She tried to persuade. She ran one hand through his hair lightly, holding him across the back with her other. His skin was rather cool, but he was sweating badly, almost as if he was running a fever. She had never seen him this upset before. He was always trying to be strong, brave, and cocky. These dreams must have really worn him down.
"No. . .It's not okay. . ." Dyne whimpered. "He's trying to get me. . .Every time I sleep now! I can't escape. . ." He was sobbing rather badly now, and Nevia could feel her shirt dampening slightly.
"Dyne. . ." Nevia held him close to her, continuing to comb through his hair with her fingers. He had told her all about his dreams and the demon that haunted him so often. She hadn't thought it could be this bad.
Dyne didn't care. He didn't care right now. He needed someone and he didn't care who. He was just happy it had been Nev. This was really stressing him out, and he wanted to just let it out. He held onto her tightly around the shoulders, feeling like such a baby, but that didn't matter. Bitter tears stung his eyes like fire, but he didn't want to force them back, why bother? It was about time he had a good cry; it'd been a long time. "I want it to end. . ."
"Ssshh. It's alright." Nevia coaxed. "It's gone now."
"But it'll be back. It always does. . .I can't take it anymore!" Dyne cried, looking up at Nevia's face. She was gazing down at him, her concerned, violet eyes staring into his mournful blue.
"Dyne. . .Try to get some rest." Nevia persuaded, her voice very calm and comforting. Dyne laid his head onto her chest, a small hiccup escaping him.
"I can't. . .I'll have the dream again." He whimpered, holding her more tightly. It was apparent now to Nevia that this thing was eating him up inside horribly. She gently forced his head up, so that she could look at his face again.
"I'll stay in here with you. If you start having the dream, I'll wake you up, okay?" She assured. He blinked at her for a minute, his eyes now beginning to dry. Nevia smiled gently at him as he drew a breath.
"Thank you. . ."He brought his face very close to hers as he whispered, and Nevia blushed. She held her breath for a moment, keeping silent as he seemed to observe her face carefully. He was still hugged against her, and now she felt somewhat nervous, but pleasant.
"Dyne. . .What are you doing?" Nevia asked in a soft whisper. Dyne's face slowly changed from a sorrowful frown to a light, sad smirk.
"I don't know." His voice was somewhat strained and scratchy from crying, and his hair was draped across his face wildly. Dyne let one arm slowly slide from Nevia's shoulder to the middle of her back, causing her to shiver slightly. With a blink, Dyne stopped, lightly pulling himself out of the embrace and blushing.
"I'm sorry. . ." He grumbled, feeling somewhat embarrassed. Nevia was staring at him with confusion, causing Dyne to only blush brighter. Dyne looked away from her and down at the covers which had been strewn from him during the tossing he had done in his sleep. He quickly pulled them up to his waist, and then laid down. "I shouldn't have done that. Sorry." He closed his eyes and drew a deep breath, sighing it out slowly.
Dyne felt Nevia lean onto the bed, and opened his eyes. She had her elbows on the bed, her head being held up by her hands. Dyne blinked at her. "What're you doing?"
"I'm keeping an eye on you, remember?" Nevia explained with a slight hint of amusement in her voice. She let her arms rest on the bed, cocking her head. "That's what you wanted, right?"
"Well, er, um, uh. . ." Dyne stuttered. After he had held Nevia like that, he figured she would have been as embarrassed as him and left. Why had she stayed?
"What's all that babble supposed to mean, hm?" Nevia asked with a laugh. Dyne watched her for a moment, then sighed, trying to talk again.
"Yeah. . .I would really enjoy your company." This time, it came out quite clearly, and he blushed again, feeling rather foolish. "Aw, man. . ."
"What?" Nevia asked curiously, watching him put one hand to his head and begin rubbing his temples.
"Nothing. I just feel like an idiot." He groaned. He wasn't sure how he felt; he felt foolish, embarrassed, sad, and annoyed at himself. He wasn't sure exactly how to try and explain it.
Nevia smiled lightly, moving her face closer to his. She brought her hand up, putting it under his chin, and turned his head slightly. Her cheeks were flushed badly as she brought her face down to his, giving him a light kiss on the lips.
Dyne didn't know what to think. At first he wanted to lurch up again and yelp in surprise, but instead relaxed and went along with it. After a moment, Nevia stopped and backed away, smiling.
"You sleep." She told him. He was now reluctant; he didn't want to go to sleep now. He wanted to do that again. However, he decided that it would be in his best interest not to try anything stupid.
"Right." Dyne grumbled, closing his eyes. He felt Nevia brush a few stray hairs from his face, then sigh.
"I can't believe I just did that." Nevia groaned to herself mentally. She rolled her eyes at herself, trying not to worry about it. Dyne smiled to himself, sensing her agitation.
"Good night Nev." Dyne croaked, chuckling lightly. Nevia was surprised how quickly he fell asleep.
The next morning, Vergil sat up rather quickly in his bed, stretching long and yawning. He had surprised himself thoroughly.
"Amazing. . .I slept a full night? Hot damn." He grumbled, cracking his neck. For once his mind felt alert and his body agile. He hopped out of bed, feeling quite energetic and frisky. "I'm going to have to run this out of my system today." He told himself, smirking and shaking his head at himself lightly. He then remembered about what Nevia had told him the night before. "I guess that I can try to run some of this energy off then." He decided, pulling a dark blue sweater over his head. He knew it was probably chilly outside. It always seemed to be.
"What do you expect? You're in northern Europe, in the middle of fall. Of course it's nippy." Vergil laughed at himself. He got a pair of blue jeans on, topping the whole thing off with his black leather boots. He figured he could make his morning better by getting himself a good bite to eat. "I wonder if Nev's up yet?" He thought to himself as he left the room.
When he came into the living room, he looked around, seeing Fayze sitting Indian style on the ground in front of the television, a glass of water in front of him. He had one hand to his temple, but he was facing away from Vergil, so that was all he could see. To the boys side a few feet from him were three large books, all leather-bound and rather old. Vergil knew they were some of Nevia's books.
"Fayze? What are you doing?" Vergil asked curiously. Fayze snapped his head around to face Vergil, looking rather startled.
"Oh. . ." Fayze sighed. "I'm practicing. Don't worry about me." Vergil shrugged, not knowing what he meant by 'practicing', and went on into the kitchen. Fayze was still turned around, and listening to Vergil shuffle around the kitchen.
"Vergil, could I get you to do me a favor?" Fayze asked calmly.
"What?" Vergil poked his head out of the kitchen, a piece of bologna hanging out of his mouth.
"I was wondering if I could get you to go to the store for me. I need some more smokes."
Vergil nodded. "No problem kid. They've actually got a cig machine downstairs, if you want to get them from there." He laughed. "It'd be easier."
Fayze blinked. "Oh. Alright, never mind then. I'll get them myself." He stood up, heading out the door.
Vergil could hear light footfalls coming down the hall after a few moments, then was Nevia slink sleepily into the kitchen with him. He cocked a brow, watching her. "You okay there?"
"Yeah. I was just keeping an eye on Dyne last night." She explained. "I wound up only getting about three hours of sleep."
Vergil laughed. "Before last night, I was going on four days with only about three hours of sleep. You're lucky."
"You were up for the past four days straight?!" Nevia gawked. Vergil shrugged and nodded lightly, making a cup of coffee for Nevia and himself. "How did you manage that? I would have collapsed! Why couldn't you sleep?"
Vergil said nothing, only sighed and sat down, pushing a hot cup over to Nev. He looked like he was in a good mood, but didn't seem like he felt like talking.
"Vergil, what's-"
Just then, both heard the front door creak open, then there was a loud racket. Both Vergil and Nevia whipped their heads around to see Fayze by the door. He was rubbing his shin, and on the ground laid Alastor.
"Damn it. . .Why did he leave that there?" Fayze growled. Nevia had completely forgotten that Dyne had put the sword near the door the other day, but it hadn't really been in her way. Fayze carefully picked the large blade up, examining it.
"He doesn't even use the blasted thing. What's he got it for?" Fayze griped, looking at the handle. Dyne really didn't even need Alastor, since he could use Cerbis as a sword just fine. Perhaps he just brought it for extra protection. "Stupid thing. . ." As Fayze grumbled this, he felt a light electrical shock jolt into his hand, and he flinched, dropping the sword to the ground with a clatter. He narrowed his eyes at it for a moment, almost expecting it to leer back at him cruelly. "Bah, I've got work to do, don't have time to fight with some inanimate object."
Vergil and Nevia smiled to each other, silently humored by Fayze's actions with the sword. They both watched as he plopped down on the floor before the TV again, the glass of water in front of him. Vergil looked to Nevia in confusion. "What is he doing anyways?"
Nevia shrugged. "I'm not sure. He's been at it since really late last night. I came out here at three in the morning, and he was up looking through the bookshelf." She explained, pointing to a small bookshelf along the right wall from the couch. There weren't that many books, but they Vergil knew that most of them contained ancient spells and things of that sort. "I asked him what he was doing."
"What did he say?"
"He said he was bored. Wanted to find something to read."
Vergil shook his head. "Well, do you think he's trying a spell or something?"
"Doesn't look like any spell I've read about. I don't know what he's doing."
Fayze kept his mind focused, trying to suppress any stray thoughts. The entirety of his mind was trained on the glass before him, and he was trying to will the water within it to levitate. He was doing it, finally, after being interrupted repeatedly. He was finding it hard to keep his concentration today for some reason. He just hoped it didn't have anything to do with what he had done to Dyne.
Fayze opened his eyes slowly, watching the ball of clear water hovering over the glass. For some reason, liquids were always so much harder to move than solids for him, but at least he could do it with a bit of concentration. He began making the ball change shapes in mid air, watching it morph smoothly.
"Cool!" A loud voice cracked from behind Fayze, breaking his concentration. The beautiful little ball of water dropped to the floor, splattering the carpet. Fayze sighed and turned around.
"Thanks Dyne." Fayze grumbled, getting up and retrieving a rag from the kitchen. He came back and began mopping up the spilled water, watching Dyne hover over him. "What?"
Dyne shrugged. "Nothing really. I just think that's cool as hell."
"Thanks, I suppose." Fayze wondered if Dyne had decided to forgive him yet, but decided not to bring up the subject. "I'm still practicing. I can only do good stuff when I'm angry."
"Could you teach me some of that stuff?" Dyne asked with a wide smirk.
"Well. . .the mental stuff I'm not sure I could teach you. That stuff is a gift. I can teach you spells though."
"Spells?" Dyne blinked. "What kinda spells?"
Fayze moved some, picking up one of the leather-bound books on the floor. "All sorts of spells. I couldn't sleep last night, so I used that time to learn a few."
"Cool." Dyne watched as Fayze began to open the ancient book, seeing words in both Latin and demon language. He could read some of the demon, but he couldn't understand the Latin at all. "Why don't they ever put these books into English?"
"Because, the spells have to be in their original language. You can't just go supping it up. They'd backfire and stuff. Don't worry, I'll help you with any of the Latin.
Dyne shrugged and nodded. "Alright, show me something then."
Fayze smiled. "Okay, I'll show you an easy one. It's a projectile spell. It allows you to concentrate energy into a weapon, and hurl it out from it like a dart or arrow." Fayze explained.
"Like Link?"
"What?" Fayze blinked.
"You know, how Link can shoot a beam sword. Like that?" Dyne asked.
Fayze shrugged and sighed. "Yeah, I suppose so."
Dyne was rather interested in this kind of learning, despite the fact that he hated learning normal things. However, he figured learning spells could help him become a better hunter.
"Okay, when you want to do this spell, you don't have to chant or anything. All you do it control and channel your demonic energy into your weapon. Once the power is within the weapon, however, you can not reabsorb it. It will stay within your weapon for about ten minutes, then it will slowly fade out and disappear. To shoot the energy, just use the energy still within your body to repel the discharged energy pent up inside of the weapon." Fayze explained.
"So, kinda like what my dad does with his guns? He channel energy into his bullets."
"I guess, but this makes a short ranged weapon capable of long range. And it's probably more powerful than a gun." Fayze explained with a shrug.
"Cool. I'll give it a try sometime."
Just before Fayze could get the book open to another spell he thought Dyne might enjoy, Vergil came out into the living room.
"You two up for a little demon hunting?" Vergil asked, strapping his blade across his back. Dyne was up in no time, smirking widely.
"Music to my ears, Verg."
Fayze wasn't quite as enthusiastic as Dyne, but he was certainly willing. "Sure. I could use the exercise. Why not?"
Nevia came from the kitchen soon after, her sword strapped to her waist. "Okay, I'll brief you guys on the way. Go get ready."
Fayze and Dyne both nodded, quickly going into their room. Dyne got on his holsters and a new, black overshirt that Nevia had given him. Fayze swiftly put on his denim jacket and boots, pocketing his weapon jewel. He turned to Dyne afterwards, seeing that he had been forced to just wear the shoulder holsters over his shirts, making them visible for all to see.
"You need to hide those. If someone saw them, they could easily disarm you." Fayze warned.
Dyne rolled his eyes. "Don't you think I know that? It's not like I've got a better place to hide them."
"Well, if you'd like a trench coat. . ." Vergil began from the doorway. Both young men turned around to Vergil, seeing him leaning against the door border. "I have one you could have. It might be a little big though, but it doesn't fit me anymore, so you can have it."
Dyne smiled. "That'd be great." It had been a while since Dyne had worn a good old trench. He missed it. Vergil left the room, coming back after a moment with a dark grey-blue colored coat. He threw it to Dyne, who caught it and slipped it on effortlessly. It actually fit him quite well. "Thanks Verg."
"No problem. Let's go if you guys are ready."
Dyne and the others had made it into demon territory, and were walking cautiously down a narrow street. Vergil was leading, his ears straining to hear the slightest of noises. He knew demons were around, but the question was where. He could sense them and smell them, but they seemed to be in hiding.
"Just keep your eyes sharp guys." Vergil warned, his sword already drawn and ready for action. Dyne was doing exactly as instructed, keeping a close eye on his surroundings. Fayze and Nevia had fallen back a little, just to space the four out.
Even as intently as Dyne listened, he couldn't hear Vergil's footfalls. His uncle strode forward like a silent panther, eyes and ears keen to anything and everything. Dyne's own boots were clacking quite loudly in comparison, and behind him he could hear Nevia's light step, yet not Fayze's.
Vergil suddenly stopped, causing Dyne to almost plow into him. Vergil put one hand up, motioning for the others to stop as well. They all did, seeing Vergil gazing toward a small building, perhaps once a home. The front door was torn off quite viciously, and layed on the ground next to the threshold. It looked as if some sort of animal had shredded it.
"I'm gonna check that out. You guys stay here." Vergil commanded, slowly moving to the building.
"Be careful Verg." Nevia whispered, getting a gentle nod in reply. They all knew Vergil was plenty capable of taking care of himself.
The three watched Vergil disappear through the darkened doorway, and waited. After a few moments however, Dyne snapped his head around as he heard something down the street. It sounded like trashcan's being knocked over. He eyed a small alley entrance, where he was sure the sound had come from.
Dyne looked back at Nevia and Fayze, who had obviously heard it as well. Nevia gave Dyne a quick nod, indicating that they should check it out. Quietly and carefully, Dyne and the others moved toward the alley, Dyne with the Cerbis sword ready. He could still use the gauntlet and sword, but its powers wouldn't help his devil form anymore. With the sword out, he didn't need to use the gauntlet, and it could be dematerialized into his bangle.
As Dyne neared the alley, he motioned for the others to slow down, then plastered himself against the corner wall at the alley. He could smell something there and slowly peeked around the corner. It was extremely dark down there, but Dyne could strain his vision well enough to make out the area. Just as he had thought, something had tipped some garbage cans, and further down the alleyway he could see someone or something staring up at a high wall. The alley itself was a dead end, which whomever this was had found out just now.
Dyne stepped out into the middle of the alley, Nevia and Fayze following his lead. He strode towards this person, and they finally turned with surprise. They were sickly looking and wearing a black cloak, a hood covering their head. Something about the guy made Dyne feel quite ill at ease; however, he could tell they were human.
"I don't like this." Fayze grumbled to Dyne, getting a light scoff as a reply.
"Relax, it's one human. What could he do?" As Dyne said this, the man backed into the wall, looking rather frightened.
"W-who are you?!" He growled angrily despite the obvious fear he showed. "You don't belong here!"
"And what's that supposed to mean?" Dyne asked, glaring down at this guy. The man dropped his hood from over his head. His hair was a strange dark blue color, and seemed change to more of a purple tint as he moved his head slightly. His eyes were yellow green, and looked like those of a cat. As he smiled thinly, Dyne could see sharp fangs in his mouth.
Dyne backed up a step. He couldn't sense anything demonic about this man, but he certainly didn't look exactly human. "You're not human? But. . ."
"I'm human. . .sort of." The man laughed. "You're probably too dull to understand though. . ." He stared at Dyne for a moment, then looked back at Fayze. "You are two of the chosen. . .Aren't you?"
Dyne smirked. "Nah, really? And no, we're not coming with you."
The man closed his eyes and shook his head lightly, smiling all the while. "Oh, yes you are, I'm afraid."
Nevia glared at the guy now. "Not while I'm around. These boys are under my protection."
"Oh," the man chuckled lightly, opening his eyes and staring at Nevia coldly. "we can fix that quite easily."
"What-"Nevia was stopped as she felt someone grab her with one large, muscular arm around the throat, then with another around the chest. She grabbed at the arm at her throat, growling viciously. The same happened to Fayze, who was held in a half nelson and the other arm was put around his torso.
Dyne whipped around, seeing both Nevia and Fayze pinned. He glared up at Nevia's assailant first, peering into the eyes of the man who had attacked him and Fayze the other day; Reese. The man holding Fayze was also recognizable. Dyne remembered that he was the one who had been flogging Fayze.
Fayze couldn't see the man, but he could obviously sense who it was. "You! You filthy bastard! I'll kill you!!" Fayze hissed, struggling wildly to free himself. He would have succeeded too, if the man in the cloak hadn't put his hand up.
"I'd suggest you stop, little runt. And if this one here. . ." Dyne turned, knowing he was addressing him. "Makes the slightest move to attack, we'll be forced to cause harm to the young lady there."
Dyne turned back around, looking at Nevia. A fourth man had come into the alley now, wearing his long brown hair back in a pony tail. He had a strange little device in his hand that looked like some sort of gun with a vial attached in it. On the tip of the gun were two small needles. Dyne imagined it was some kind of syringe gun. He held it up to the side of Nevia's neck, who immediately stopped struggling, as to not have the needles stick her.
"What are you going to do? Inject me with some kind of poison??" Nevia growled, looking over at the man cruelly. The man leered at her.
"Something like that. This will cause you to go into a horrible rage, slowly destroying your mind and eventually your body. It's extremely painful, and can last for days. It would cause you to harm or kill anyone around you, including your friends. And don't think it won't work because you're part devil, trust me, it will." The man explained coolly, keeping the gun aimed at her throat. She stared over at Dyne apologetically, knowing that he would most than likely give up before allowing her to be harmed.
She would be right too. Dyne immediately dropped his sword to his side, drooping his head slightly and sighing. "Alright. . .just. . .just don't hurt her." He looked at Nevia and Fayze both sadly, feeling completely powerless.
The man holding Fayze released him, and the boy stood numbly watching Dyne. Reese chuckled lightly. "Now, all of you drop your weapons, if you have any."
Dyne nodded, letting the Cerbis sword fall to the ground. He slowly took his handguns from his shoulder holster, the man in the cloak watching him carefully, so that he couldn't try any tricks. He took the guns out, showed them, then slowly set them on the ground. Nevia undid her sword belt, letting it and her sheathed sword fall to the ground. All of the men watched Fayze, waiting for him to drop any weapons. He quickly looked around, seeing that Nevia was only a foot from him, and the man with the syringe was right next to her, somewhat to her front and side. He sighed, looking up to Reese, who glared down at him malevolently.
"Put down your weapons, boy." Reese warned. Fayze shook his head.
"I have none." He answered simply, giving Reese a shrewd smile.
"Bull shit. You had weapons the other day, now drop them." Reese growled impatiently.
Fayze sighed, slowly digging into his jacket pocket, his sharp smirk still across his face. He meekly revealed his small gem, holding it up at about heads height. "All I have is this 'Sutekki'."
Then next events to unfold were something remarkable. The gem suddenly changed into its long staff form, the end of it in Fayze's hand. It jutted out past Nevia's face and plowed straight into the cheek of the guy with the syringe gun, sending him away from her and to the ground.
Before the guy could even hit the ground, Fayze ran forward a few steps, to make distance between himself and the man who had flogged him. He whipped around on him, using his pole like a spear. He smashed the end of it into the guy's nose and mouth, causing him to fall over backwards in surprise and pain. Before Reese's mind even had time to register the situation, Fayze dashed behind him, spouting another word of Japanese. A long scythe blade grew from the end of the pole, and Fayze brought it around the side of Reese's throat, holding the scythe between the front of Reese's neck and the back of Nevia's head. He pressed the blade against his neck lightly. All of Fayze's actions took place within a time span of about six seconds, and Dyne could barely believe it had even taken place.
Dyne took this opportunity to duck down, and sweep up his guns. He pointed both weapons at the cloaked figure, glaring at him maliciously. "Fuckin' idiots."
The man suddenly looked rather frightened and began to sweat lightly. "W-what are you going to do?"
Dyne looked back at Fayze, smirking. "Nice job, man." He complimented.
Fayze smirked coolly, keeping his scythe fixed across Reese's neck, who was keeping very still and quiet. "Told you I'd earn my keep. I'm not a stranger to these sort of situations." He held the scythe blade against Reese's neck a little harder. If Reese so much as swallowed, he'd be sliced quite badly. "Now, release Nevia."
Reese slowly did as he was commanded, dropping Nevia out of his grip. She quickly moved away from him and next to Dyne, turning and glaring up at Reese. "Bastard. . ."
Reese smirked. "Why thank you." He said sarcastically. "But now what do you plan to do?"
Dyne kept his guns trained onto the cloaked man. "I should kill you both. . ."
Reese smiled. "Oh really? Hey Arrin, what do you think about that?"
The cloaked man, obviously Arrin, smiled thinly. "I think there might be a small miscalculation there. . .You won't be killing us." Dyne cocked a smirk at the guy.
"Yeah? What makes you say that?"
"Because you won't get the chance. . ."
As Fayze held the scythe, he suddenly felt a shot of terrible pain in the side of his back. He cried out, taking the scythe from Reese's neck and spinning around. There was a shadow demon standing about fifteen feet from him, and it was stalking around, growling low. Fayze hadn't even felt it coming up behind him, since the sense of demon was so strong in the area. Dyne shot a glance back at him, but quickly turned his attention back to Arrin, pretty sure that Fayze would be alright.
Reese took this moment to suddenly jump onto the roof of one of the building making the alley. Dyne still couldn't figure out how a human could possess those abilities. And this guy Arrin. . .He didn't seem like a demon either; however, his looks proved obviously otherwise.
Arrin apparently thought that now was a good time to try and attack Dyne. He leapt forward at him, and Dyne brought one gun up, blasting a round straight into his chest. The power of the bullet made him seem to stop in midair, as if hit by an invisible wall of sorts. He let out a small yelp of pain, and then crumpled to the ground, still.
Dyne quickly spun around, ready to help Fayze and Nevia, who had just joined Fayze in the fight against the Shadow. Dyne moved in front of Fayze, drawing both guns and squeezing slug after slug into the demon. It came running at him, causing the three to spread out. Dyne kept the creature's attention on him, keeping his bullets pelting into it's body. It got up close for a bite attack, but Dyne rolled to his side, the beasts gapping mouth missing him by inches. Dyne moved back a few feet, continuing his barrage of bullets.
Finally, the creature could take no more, and it sunk down, revealing its core. Dyne motioned his head to Fayze, giving him the right to finish the thing off, since it had attacked him first. Fayze obliged, running forward and slicing into it with his scythe. He and Dyne quickly moved as the demon created its black spike pillars from the ground, then reformed its body. It now had turned its crimson color, and all they had to do was keep away from it for a minute until it exploded.
Dyne ran one way, and Fayze the other. The Shadow decided that Fayze was its target, and went charging after him. Fayze took a dash at the back wall of the alley, then hit the corner between one wall and anther, getting as high as he could before pushing off and flipping backwards behind the beast. He then took off at a lope as the confused devil turned around, coming after him again. It seemed to completely ignore Nevia, who was leaned back against a wall next to a trash can, watching the action. She knew the boys could handle it.
Finally, after chasing Fayze around for another minute, the Shadow growled, arching its back. Its core was partially visible, and it exploded. Dyne looked around as things became very silent suddenly, seeing the two unconscious men and the guy Arrin laying dead on the ground. Nevia pushed off the wall, clapping her hands lightly.
"Good job guys." She complimented. Fayze turned slowly to her, breathing roughly and his back to Dyne. Dyne could see a large pierced hole in the high right side of his back, blood seeping slowly from the wound and dampening his jacket.
"Hey, you alright?" Dyne asked, moving closer to look at him. He could hear his that his breathing was rather chortled, and the boy slowly brought his head around to look at Dyne. He gave a light cough, which soon changed to a chain of loud, liquid sounding hacks. He kneeled down on the ground, holding his chest as blood sprayed like a mist from his mouth when he coughed. Dyne and Nevia both ran to his side, Dyne trying to help him up.
"I'll be alright, I think. . ." Fayze said weakly, blood seeping from his mouth. He'd obviously been hit in the lung. He shakily stood to his feet, coughing lightly again. He took shallow breaths, trying to keep from coughing again.
"Fayze, don't hold back any coughs, otherwise you might drown in your own blood." Nevia warned with concern. Fayze smiled up at her, taking that as a joke.
"But the monsters will hear me. . .I don't want to be a bother. . ." Fayze groaned softly, giving another hack. He held his hand up to his mouth, trying to keep the blood from spraying. He then looked at the blood on his hand, frowning. "Oh god. . ."
"What is it?" Dyne asked as Fayze seemed to turn paler. The boy shook his head calmly.
"I've. . .I've never been wounded like this. The worst beating I've ever taken was actually that flogging." He winced and groaned again as he said that. "My chest is burning. . ." He remembered his father telling him about Shadow's. He'd never actually fought one before, only watched his father do it with ease. The wound in his back sent a horrible throbbing pain into his entire chest every time he tried to breath, and he felt like he would black out with the pain every time he coughed.
"Are you gonna be alright?" Dyne asked, putting Fayze's arm around his shoulder to help him out. It seemed that Dyne had decided undeclared to forgive Fayze for the day before.
"Yeah. . .Think so. . ." Fayze groaned and gave another cough. He smiled lightly up at Dyne, glad to see that he didn't seem upset with him anymore.
"Let's get out of here. We need to find Vergil. I think something's wrong." Nevia said. It was odd that he hadn't come at the sounds of the gunshots. What was he doing?
Dyne nodded, taking a look back at the lifeless form of Arrin. "What's with these guys? They're not demons. . .but they can't be human. . ."
Nevia shook her head. "We don't have time to worry about it. Come on, Vergil might be in trouble."
Just then, there was a loud, demonic roar from nearby, one that sounded horribly pissed.
Nevia groaned. "I think we might know where Vergil is. . ."
Chapter 12
Nevia sat in the kitchen, looking at a small map of the town. She was marking off areas with a red sharpie; areas that they had searched. Even though they hadn't mentioned anything to Dyne and Fayze about it, she and Vergil had been trying to find the griffites base for some days now. Nevia knew they had one; they had to have one. How else could they be able to hide and organize attacks?
"Not that they're the most orderly of attacks. . ." Nevia thought smugly to herself. She looked near the top of the map, where the area was marked off for monsters. It could be likely that the faction had their base on the outskirts of town, where the demons roamed. That would be logical; no one could get near it that way, at least no humans.
Nevia stood up from the table, considering that she should share her information with Vergil. She came into the living room, where he was just beginning to doze off on the couch.
"Hey, Verg?" Nevia called quietly. He groggily looked up at her, then smiled.
"Yeah?" Nevia explained to him where she thought the griffites base might be, then watched him for a moment. He yawned, then shrugged lightly. "Perhaps. . .I'll go investigate it in the morning. I'm too tired right now."
"Well, I didn't say go out right now, did I? You get some rest." Nevia messed up his hair, and moved back from the sofa as he stood and stretched.
"Thanks." He smiled, slowly going off to his room. Nevia decided to flop herself down onto the sofa, stretching out quite comfortably. It was eight thirty now, and Dyne and Fayze had already gone off to bed. Now with Vergil gone, Nevia didn't have anyone to talk to.
Just then, there was the sound of a door opening, but Nevia had the sounds of each door within the apartment memorized into her mind. It wasn't Vergil's, but rather Dyne's and Fayze's. So, at least one of them was up. She poked her head over the top of the couch, seeing Fayze coming noiselessly down the hall.
"Hey Fayze." Nevia greeted. "What are you doing up?"
"Oh, just wanted a drink." Fayze explained, silently sliding into the kitchen. Nevia listened for him for a moment, until he came into the living room with a glass of water. He had managed to be perfectly silent, which somewhat worried Nevia. "Besides, I'm really not that tired right now. I was thinking about sitting out here and watching some TV.
Nevia shrugged and moved over some, giving him plenty of room to sit if he liked. Fayze obliged, taking a seat next to Nevia. "Thanks. I just hope that you aren't going to be afraid of me."
Nevia smiled. She wasn't afraid of him, she just wasn't used to someone being able to move so stealthily, when they weren't trying to be. "Nah, whatever happened to you this afternoon was scary, but I believe you that you didn't know what you were doing."
Fayze sighed. "Thanks. Only you and Vergil seem to forgive me. Dyne won't say much to me. . ."
"Ah, give him a while. He'll forget about it." Nevia took up the remote control, surfing through channels quickly until she stopped on a nature show about creatures of the night. "Ironic. . ." Nevia grumbled, flipping past that channel. She finally chose to just stop on a cartoon channel. "I don't really watch cartoons, but it's the best thing on right now. . .Unless you'd rather watch a show about night animals."
"I'll pass to the cartoons, thank you." Fayze laughed, sinking into the couch. He watched the television lazily, seeing a small yellow, rat like cartoon creature blast two guys with lightening, sending them flying into the sky and disappear as a tiny star. "Oh, come on. How the hell did that thing manage to zap them so hard, that they flew like that? When you get hit by lightening, that doesn't happen." Fayze complained calmly.
"It's a little kids show, come on. Kids don't know that. They just think it's funny." Nevia explained. "Haven't you ever watched this before?"
"Nope. I don't watch TV back home. I just use the thing for games." Fayze admitted, continuing to watch this childish cartoon. A young man had a small ball in his hand, and chunked it. The ball opened up and a large red dragon beast appeared from within the ball. "Okay, what the hell? How'd he fit that dragon into that thing?! And that kid doesn't exactly look like a dragon master. He's gonna get his head bit off."
Sure enough, as the boy started spouting commands, the dragon turned on him, blasting him with a spout of fire. The boys face was now charred and black, and Fayze snickered and began laughing aloud.
"It's not that funny, Fayze." Nevia said, cocking an eyebrow at him. He seemed extremely entertained.
"I'm sorry! It's just, that kid should have known better! I mean, that's not how you go about commanding a dragon. You don't yell 'Charizard, flamethrower attack, go!' It doesn't work like that. No dragon is gonna respect its master if they think they're gonna command it with such stupid orders."
"How would you know that?"
"My father told me that he and Merin saw one when they were younger. It belonged to a dragoneer, and he told them all about raising and using dragons." Fayze explained. "This is ridiculous though! And why the hell are all the animals just saying their names? That stupid yellow mouse on his shoulder keeps saying 'pika pi' and 'pi pi'. I'm not sure if it's just got a potty mouth, or if it's trying to talk."
"It's just a cartoon. It's not real." Nevia told him. "Chill out about it."
Fayze sighed, continuing to watch this brainless show. Who in their right mind would allow their children to watch it was beyond him, but it had to be one of the stupidest things he'd ever seen. Why make the poor little animals fight like that? And why did some of them look so. . .bizarre?
"I think someone was on crack when they made this show. You'd have to be very easily amused, or high to laugh at this." Fayze laughed.
"Well, you seem to be enjoying it." Nevia said. Her voice became sarcastic as she smiled at Fayze. "Fayze, are you. . .high?"
Fayze smiled sheepishly, then gave a light laugh. "I'm not laughing because it's humorous. I'm laughing because it's so stupid!"
"That it is." Nevia agreed, picking up the remote and flipping around again. She stopped on the nature channel once more. "Oh look, it's your relatives, the vampire bat!" Nevia said in a mocking voice. "Quick, what are they saying?" She asked, as many of the bats began to squeak.
"That's not very nice. . ." Fayze said, somewhat offended, even though he could understand the animals for some reason. However, he was a good sport about it and smiled. "They said, 'Oh hey, look! Some nice, sweet virgin girls! Quick, let's go have a drink and get wasted!'" He joked.
Nevia chuckled lightly, shaking her head. She tossed the remote over to him. "Here, have at it. I'm going to the bathroom." Fayze nodded and began surfing as Nevia stood up and headed off to the bathroom.
Fayze sighed. It seemed that even with satellite, there wasn't anything worth watching. He clicked and clicked through the channels, his thumb becoming quite fatigued in the process. Too bad he was too ignorant to know that the damn thing had a guide.
"Oh." Fayze was surprised, stopping on a channel. "Holy crap, a game channel? Cool!" Just what he needed; a channel with game reviews and previews. He lay back contently now, slowly nodding off as he watched the television. "I could get to like this."
Nevia flicked off the light switch and opened the bathroom door quietly, as to not disturb anyone. As she shut the door, she could hear something from Dyne's room. "What the hell?"
As she moved closer to investigate, she could make out something that sounded like whimpering. Dyne wasn't doing that, was he? Nevia slowly pushed the door open, peeking inside of the room. She looked in just enough to see Dyne, tossing occasionally in bed. He was making quite a fuss, groaning and whimpering loudly. She was surprised that he hadn't woken himself up with his own racket. She came into the room fully, moving quickly over to the bed.
"Dyne?" Nevia whispered, watching him carefully. He had his back to her, wearing only a pair of boxers, and was trembling slightly. "Dyne, wake up." Nevia commanded, this time in a slightly louder voice. Dyne's reply was a small whimper, and then he rolled over to face her. He was still asleep, but held a worried and scared expression on his face. He mumbled something incomprehensive, then wined lightly.
Nevia moved closer and began shaking him lightly. "Get up, Dyne." Not getting a reply, she began to shake harder, until he finally bolted upright in bed, gasping as if he needed air. Nevia watched him carefully for a moment as he began to cough and make gagging sounds, as though he would vomit. "Are you alright?" Nevia asked softly as his breathing began to normalize.
Dyne's eyes snapped up to Nevia, a look of utter confusion and dread in them. "Ne. . .Nevia?" He whimpered.
"Yeah...Are you okay?" Nevia whispered. Dyne only watched her for a moment, then suddenly grabbed her in an embrace. Nevia gasped at first, almost afraid that he was going to attack her. However, she blinked in disbelief as she realized that he was hugging her, his head buried into her shoulder. "D-Dyne? Are you alright?"
Dyne whimpered lightly again, then tried to speak. However, he choked up at first, a loud sob coming from his mouth. He held onto Nevia tightly, like a frightened child. "I. . .I can't take it anymore. . ." He whispered. "I'm going mad. . ." His voice broke suddenly as he buried his head more into Nevia's shoulder.
Nevia frowned, feeling rather sorry for him. It baffled her that he could be getting so upset about a dream. She could only imagine that it was a horrible one. "Sssshh. . .It's okay Dyne." She tried to persuade. She ran one hand through his hair lightly, holding him across the back with her other. His skin was rather cool, but he was sweating badly, almost as if he was running a fever. She had never seen him this upset before. He was always trying to be strong, brave, and cocky. These dreams must have really worn him down.
"No. . .It's not okay. . ." Dyne whimpered. "He's trying to get me. . .Every time I sleep now! I can't escape. . ." He was sobbing rather badly now, and Nevia could feel her shirt dampening slightly.
"Dyne. . ." Nevia held him close to her, continuing to comb through his hair with her fingers. He had told her all about his dreams and the demon that haunted him so often. She hadn't thought it could be this bad.
Dyne didn't care. He didn't care right now. He needed someone and he didn't care who. He was just happy it had been Nev. This was really stressing him out, and he wanted to just let it out. He held onto her tightly around the shoulders, feeling like such a baby, but that didn't matter. Bitter tears stung his eyes like fire, but he didn't want to force them back, why bother? It was about time he had a good cry; it'd been a long time. "I want it to end. . ."
"Ssshh. It's alright." Nevia coaxed. "It's gone now."
"But it'll be back. It always does. . .I can't take it anymore!" Dyne cried, looking up at Nevia's face. She was gazing down at him, her concerned, violet eyes staring into his mournful blue.
"Dyne. . .Try to get some rest." Nevia persuaded, her voice very calm and comforting. Dyne laid his head onto her chest, a small hiccup escaping him.
"I can't. . .I'll have the dream again." He whimpered, holding her more tightly. It was apparent now to Nevia that this thing was eating him up inside horribly. She gently forced his head up, so that she could look at his face again.
"I'll stay in here with you. If you start having the dream, I'll wake you up, okay?" She assured. He blinked at her for a minute, his eyes now beginning to dry. Nevia smiled gently at him as he drew a breath.
"Thank you. . ."He brought his face very close to hers as he whispered, and Nevia blushed. She held her breath for a moment, keeping silent as he seemed to observe her face carefully. He was still hugged against her, and now she felt somewhat nervous, but pleasant.
"Dyne. . .What are you doing?" Nevia asked in a soft whisper. Dyne's face slowly changed from a sorrowful frown to a light, sad smirk.
"I don't know." His voice was somewhat strained and scratchy from crying, and his hair was draped across his face wildly. Dyne let one arm slowly slide from Nevia's shoulder to the middle of her back, causing her to shiver slightly. With a blink, Dyne stopped, lightly pulling himself out of the embrace and blushing.
"I'm sorry. . ." He grumbled, feeling somewhat embarrassed. Nevia was staring at him with confusion, causing Dyne to only blush brighter. Dyne looked away from her and down at the covers which had been strewn from him during the tossing he had done in his sleep. He quickly pulled them up to his waist, and then laid down. "I shouldn't have done that. Sorry." He closed his eyes and drew a deep breath, sighing it out slowly.
Dyne felt Nevia lean onto the bed, and opened his eyes. She had her elbows on the bed, her head being held up by her hands. Dyne blinked at her. "What're you doing?"
"I'm keeping an eye on you, remember?" Nevia explained with a slight hint of amusement in her voice. She let her arms rest on the bed, cocking her head. "That's what you wanted, right?"
"Well, er, um, uh. . ." Dyne stuttered. After he had held Nevia like that, he figured she would have been as embarrassed as him and left. Why had she stayed?
"What's all that babble supposed to mean, hm?" Nevia asked with a laugh. Dyne watched her for a moment, then sighed, trying to talk again.
"Yeah. . .I would really enjoy your company." This time, it came out quite clearly, and he blushed again, feeling rather foolish. "Aw, man. . ."
"What?" Nevia asked curiously, watching him put one hand to his head and begin rubbing his temples.
"Nothing. I just feel like an idiot." He groaned. He wasn't sure how he felt; he felt foolish, embarrassed, sad, and annoyed at himself. He wasn't sure exactly how to try and explain it.
Nevia smiled lightly, moving her face closer to his. She brought her hand up, putting it under his chin, and turned his head slightly. Her cheeks were flushed badly as she brought her face down to his, giving him a light kiss on the lips.
Dyne didn't know what to think. At first he wanted to lurch up again and yelp in surprise, but instead relaxed and went along with it. After a moment, Nevia stopped and backed away, smiling.
"You sleep." She told him. He was now reluctant; he didn't want to go to sleep now. He wanted to do that again. However, he decided that it would be in his best interest not to try anything stupid.
"Right." Dyne grumbled, closing his eyes. He felt Nevia brush a few stray hairs from his face, then sigh.
"I can't believe I just did that." Nevia groaned to herself mentally. She rolled her eyes at herself, trying not to worry about it. Dyne smiled to himself, sensing her agitation.
"Good night Nev." Dyne croaked, chuckling lightly. Nevia was surprised how quickly he fell asleep.
The next morning, Vergil sat up rather quickly in his bed, stretching long and yawning. He had surprised himself thoroughly.
"Amazing. . .I slept a full night? Hot damn." He grumbled, cracking his neck. For once his mind felt alert and his body agile. He hopped out of bed, feeling quite energetic and frisky. "I'm going to have to run this out of my system today." He told himself, smirking and shaking his head at himself lightly. He then remembered about what Nevia had told him the night before. "I guess that I can try to run some of this energy off then." He decided, pulling a dark blue sweater over his head. He knew it was probably chilly outside. It always seemed to be.
"What do you expect? You're in northern Europe, in the middle of fall. Of course it's nippy." Vergil laughed at himself. He got a pair of blue jeans on, topping the whole thing off with his black leather boots. He figured he could make his morning better by getting himself a good bite to eat. "I wonder if Nev's up yet?" He thought to himself as he left the room.
When he came into the living room, he looked around, seeing Fayze sitting Indian style on the ground in front of the television, a glass of water in front of him. He had one hand to his temple, but he was facing away from Vergil, so that was all he could see. To the boys side a few feet from him were three large books, all leather-bound and rather old. Vergil knew they were some of Nevia's books.
"Fayze? What are you doing?" Vergil asked curiously. Fayze snapped his head around to face Vergil, looking rather startled.
"Oh. . ." Fayze sighed. "I'm practicing. Don't worry about me." Vergil shrugged, not knowing what he meant by 'practicing', and went on into the kitchen. Fayze was still turned around, and listening to Vergil shuffle around the kitchen.
"Vergil, could I get you to do me a favor?" Fayze asked calmly.
"What?" Vergil poked his head out of the kitchen, a piece of bologna hanging out of his mouth.
"I was wondering if I could get you to go to the store for me. I need some more smokes."
Vergil nodded. "No problem kid. They've actually got a cig machine downstairs, if you want to get them from there." He laughed. "It'd be easier."
Fayze blinked. "Oh. Alright, never mind then. I'll get them myself." He stood up, heading out the door.
Vergil could hear light footfalls coming down the hall after a few moments, then was Nevia slink sleepily into the kitchen with him. He cocked a brow, watching her. "You okay there?"
"Yeah. I was just keeping an eye on Dyne last night." She explained. "I wound up only getting about three hours of sleep."
Vergil laughed. "Before last night, I was going on four days with only about three hours of sleep. You're lucky."
"You were up for the past four days straight?!" Nevia gawked. Vergil shrugged and nodded lightly, making a cup of coffee for Nevia and himself. "How did you manage that? I would have collapsed! Why couldn't you sleep?"
Vergil said nothing, only sighed and sat down, pushing a hot cup over to Nev. He looked like he was in a good mood, but didn't seem like he felt like talking.
"Vergil, what's-"
Just then, both heard the front door creak open, then there was a loud racket. Both Vergil and Nevia whipped their heads around to see Fayze by the door. He was rubbing his shin, and on the ground laid Alastor.
"Damn it. . .Why did he leave that there?" Fayze growled. Nevia had completely forgotten that Dyne had put the sword near the door the other day, but it hadn't really been in her way. Fayze carefully picked the large blade up, examining it.
"He doesn't even use the blasted thing. What's he got it for?" Fayze griped, looking at the handle. Dyne really didn't even need Alastor, since he could use Cerbis as a sword just fine. Perhaps he just brought it for extra protection. "Stupid thing. . ." As Fayze grumbled this, he felt a light electrical shock jolt into his hand, and he flinched, dropping the sword to the ground with a clatter. He narrowed his eyes at it for a moment, almost expecting it to leer back at him cruelly. "Bah, I've got work to do, don't have time to fight with some inanimate object."
Vergil and Nevia smiled to each other, silently humored by Fayze's actions with the sword. They both watched as he plopped down on the floor before the TV again, the glass of water in front of him. Vergil looked to Nevia in confusion. "What is he doing anyways?"
Nevia shrugged. "I'm not sure. He's been at it since really late last night. I came out here at three in the morning, and he was up looking through the bookshelf." She explained, pointing to a small bookshelf along the right wall from the couch. There weren't that many books, but they Vergil knew that most of them contained ancient spells and things of that sort. "I asked him what he was doing."
"What did he say?"
"He said he was bored. Wanted to find something to read."
Vergil shook his head. "Well, do you think he's trying a spell or something?"
"Doesn't look like any spell I've read about. I don't know what he's doing."
Fayze kept his mind focused, trying to suppress any stray thoughts. The entirety of his mind was trained on the glass before him, and he was trying to will the water within it to levitate. He was doing it, finally, after being interrupted repeatedly. He was finding it hard to keep his concentration today for some reason. He just hoped it didn't have anything to do with what he had done to Dyne.
Fayze opened his eyes slowly, watching the ball of clear water hovering over the glass. For some reason, liquids were always so much harder to move than solids for him, but at least he could do it with a bit of concentration. He began making the ball change shapes in mid air, watching it morph smoothly.
"Cool!" A loud voice cracked from behind Fayze, breaking his concentration. The beautiful little ball of water dropped to the floor, splattering the carpet. Fayze sighed and turned around.
"Thanks Dyne." Fayze grumbled, getting up and retrieving a rag from the kitchen. He came back and began mopping up the spilled water, watching Dyne hover over him. "What?"
Dyne shrugged. "Nothing really. I just think that's cool as hell."
"Thanks, I suppose." Fayze wondered if Dyne had decided to forgive him yet, but decided not to bring up the subject. "I'm still practicing. I can only do good stuff when I'm angry."
"Could you teach me some of that stuff?" Dyne asked with a wide smirk.
"Well. . .the mental stuff I'm not sure I could teach you. That stuff is a gift. I can teach you spells though."
"Spells?" Dyne blinked. "What kinda spells?"
Fayze moved some, picking up one of the leather-bound books on the floor. "All sorts of spells. I couldn't sleep last night, so I used that time to learn a few."
"Cool." Dyne watched as Fayze began to open the ancient book, seeing words in both Latin and demon language. He could read some of the demon, but he couldn't understand the Latin at all. "Why don't they ever put these books into English?"
"Because, the spells have to be in their original language. You can't just go supping it up. They'd backfire and stuff. Don't worry, I'll help you with any of the Latin.
Dyne shrugged and nodded. "Alright, show me something then."
Fayze smiled. "Okay, I'll show you an easy one. It's a projectile spell. It allows you to concentrate energy into a weapon, and hurl it out from it like a dart or arrow." Fayze explained.
"Like Link?"
"What?" Fayze blinked.
"You know, how Link can shoot a beam sword. Like that?" Dyne asked.
Fayze shrugged and sighed. "Yeah, I suppose so."
Dyne was rather interested in this kind of learning, despite the fact that he hated learning normal things. However, he figured learning spells could help him become a better hunter.
"Okay, when you want to do this spell, you don't have to chant or anything. All you do it control and channel your demonic energy into your weapon. Once the power is within the weapon, however, you can not reabsorb it. It will stay within your weapon for about ten minutes, then it will slowly fade out and disappear. To shoot the energy, just use the energy still within your body to repel the discharged energy pent up inside of the weapon." Fayze explained.
"So, kinda like what my dad does with his guns? He channel energy into his bullets."
"I guess, but this makes a short ranged weapon capable of long range. And it's probably more powerful than a gun." Fayze explained with a shrug.
"Cool. I'll give it a try sometime."
Just before Fayze could get the book open to another spell he thought Dyne might enjoy, Vergil came out into the living room.
"You two up for a little demon hunting?" Vergil asked, strapping his blade across his back. Dyne was up in no time, smirking widely.
"Music to my ears, Verg."
Fayze wasn't quite as enthusiastic as Dyne, but he was certainly willing. "Sure. I could use the exercise. Why not?"
Nevia came from the kitchen soon after, her sword strapped to her waist. "Okay, I'll brief you guys on the way. Go get ready."
Fayze and Dyne both nodded, quickly going into their room. Dyne got on his holsters and a new, black overshirt that Nevia had given him. Fayze swiftly put on his denim jacket and boots, pocketing his weapon jewel. He turned to Dyne afterwards, seeing that he had been forced to just wear the shoulder holsters over his shirts, making them visible for all to see.
"You need to hide those. If someone saw them, they could easily disarm you." Fayze warned.
Dyne rolled his eyes. "Don't you think I know that? It's not like I've got a better place to hide them."
"Well, if you'd like a trench coat. . ." Vergil began from the doorway. Both young men turned around to Vergil, seeing him leaning against the door border. "I have one you could have. It might be a little big though, but it doesn't fit me anymore, so you can have it."
Dyne smiled. "That'd be great." It had been a while since Dyne had worn a good old trench. He missed it. Vergil left the room, coming back after a moment with a dark grey-blue colored coat. He threw it to Dyne, who caught it and slipped it on effortlessly. It actually fit him quite well. "Thanks Verg."
"No problem. Let's go if you guys are ready."
Dyne and the others had made it into demon territory, and were walking cautiously down a narrow street. Vergil was leading, his ears straining to hear the slightest of noises. He knew demons were around, but the question was where. He could sense them and smell them, but they seemed to be in hiding.
"Just keep your eyes sharp guys." Vergil warned, his sword already drawn and ready for action. Dyne was doing exactly as instructed, keeping a close eye on his surroundings. Fayze and Nevia had fallen back a little, just to space the four out.
Even as intently as Dyne listened, he couldn't hear Vergil's footfalls. His uncle strode forward like a silent panther, eyes and ears keen to anything and everything. Dyne's own boots were clacking quite loudly in comparison, and behind him he could hear Nevia's light step, yet not Fayze's.
Vergil suddenly stopped, causing Dyne to almost plow into him. Vergil put one hand up, motioning for the others to stop as well. They all did, seeing Vergil gazing toward a small building, perhaps once a home. The front door was torn off quite viciously, and layed on the ground next to the threshold. It looked as if some sort of animal had shredded it.
"I'm gonna check that out. You guys stay here." Vergil commanded, slowly moving to the building.
"Be careful Verg." Nevia whispered, getting a gentle nod in reply. They all knew Vergil was plenty capable of taking care of himself.
The three watched Vergil disappear through the darkened doorway, and waited. After a few moments however, Dyne snapped his head around as he heard something down the street. It sounded like trashcan's being knocked over. He eyed a small alley entrance, where he was sure the sound had come from.
Dyne looked back at Nevia and Fayze, who had obviously heard it as well. Nevia gave Dyne a quick nod, indicating that they should check it out. Quietly and carefully, Dyne and the others moved toward the alley, Dyne with the Cerbis sword ready. He could still use the gauntlet and sword, but its powers wouldn't help his devil form anymore. With the sword out, he didn't need to use the gauntlet, and it could be dematerialized into his bangle.
As Dyne neared the alley, he motioned for the others to slow down, then plastered himself against the corner wall at the alley. He could smell something there and slowly peeked around the corner. It was extremely dark down there, but Dyne could strain his vision well enough to make out the area. Just as he had thought, something had tipped some garbage cans, and further down the alleyway he could see someone or something staring up at a high wall. The alley itself was a dead end, which whomever this was had found out just now.
Dyne stepped out into the middle of the alley, Nevia and Fayze following his lead. He strode towards this person, and they finally turned with surprise. They were sickly looking and wearing a black cloak, a hood covering their head. Something about the guy made Dyne feel quite ill at ease; however, he could tell they were human.
"I don't like this." Fayze grumbled to Dyne, getting a light scoff as a reply.
"Relax, it's one human. What could he do?" As Dyne said this, the man backed into the wall, looking rather frightened.
"W-who are you?!" He growled angrily despite the obvious fear he showed. "You don't belong here!"
"And what's that supposed to mean?" Dyne asked, glaring down at this guy. The man dropped his hood from over his head. His hair was a strange dark blue color, and seemed change to more of a purple tint as he moved his head slightly. His eyes were yellow green, and looked like those of a cat. As he smiled thinly, Dyne could see sharp fangs in his mouth.
Dyne backed up a step. He couldn't sense anything demonic about this man, but he certainly didn't look exactly human. "You're not human? But. . ."
"I'm human. . .sort of." The man laughed. "You're probably too dull to understand though. . ." He stared at Dyne for a moment, then looked back at Fayze. "You are two of the chosen. . .Aren't you?"
Dyne smirked. "Nah, really? And no, we're not coming with you."
The man closed his eyes and shook his head lightly, smiling all the while. "Oh, yes you are, I'm afraid."
Nevia glared at the guy now. "Not while I'm around. These boys are under my protection."
"Oh," the man chuckled lightly, opening his eyes and staring at Nevia coldly. "we can fix that quite easily."
"What-"Nevia was stopped as she felt someone grab her with one large, muscular arm around the throat, then with another around the chest. She grabbed at the arm at her throat, growling viciously. The same happened to Fayze, who was held in a half nelson and the other arm was put around his torso.
Dyne whipped around, seeing both Nevia and Fayze pinned. He glared up at Nevia's assailant first, peering into the eyes of the man who had attacked him and Fayze the other day; Reese. The man holding Fayze was also recognizable. Dyne remembered that he was the one who had been flogging Fayze.
Fayze couldn't see the man, but he could obviously sense who it was. "You! You filthy bastard! I'll kill you!!" Fayze hissed, struggling wildly to free himself. He would have succeeded too, if the man in the cloak hadn't put his hand up.
"I'd suggest you stop, little runt. And if this one here. . ." Dyne turned, knowing he was addressing him. "Makes the slightest move to attack, we'll be forced to cause harm to the young lady there."
Dyne turned back around, looking at Nevia. A fourth man had come into the alley now, wearing his long brown hair back in a pony tail. He had a strange little device in his hand that looked like some sort of gun with a vial attached in it. On the tip of the gun were two small needles. Dyne imagined it was some kind of syringe gun. He held it up to the side of Nevia's neck, who immediately stopped struggling, as to not have the needles stick her.
"What are you going to do? Inject me with some kind of poison??" Nevia growled, looking over at the man cruelly. The man leered at her.
"Something like that. This will cause you to go into a horrible rage, slowly destroying your mind and eventually your body. It's extremely painful, and can last for days. It would cause you to harm or kill anyone around you, including your friends. And don't think it won't work because you're part devil, trust me, it will." The man explained coolly, keeping the gun aimed at her throat. She stared over at Dyne apologetically, knowing that he would most than likely give up before allowing her to be harmed.
She would be right too. Dyne immediately dropped his sword to his side, drooping his head slightly and sighing. "Alright. . .just. . .just don't hurt her." He looked at Nevia and Fayze both sadly, feeling completely powerless.
The man holding Fayze released him, and the boy stood numbly watching Dyne. Reese chuckled lightly. "Now, all of you drop your weapons, if you have any."
Dyne nodded, letting the Cerbis sword fall to the ground. He slowly took his handguns from his shoulder holster, the man in the cloak watching him carefully, so that he couldn't try any tricks. He took the guns out, showed them, then slowly set them on the ground. Nevia undid her sword belt, letting it and her sheathed sword fall to the ground. All of the men watched Fayze, waiting for him to drop any weapons. He quickly looked around, seeing that Nevia was only a foot from him, and the man with the syringe was right next to her, somewhat to her front and side. He sighed, looking up to Reese, who glared down at him malevolently.
"Put down your weapons, boy." Reese warned. Fayze shook his head.
"I have none." He answered simply, giving Reese a shrewd smile.
"Bull shit. You had weapons the other day, now drop them." Reese growled impatiently.
Fayze sighed, slowly digging into his jacket pocket, his sharp smirk still across his face. He meekly revealed his small gem, holding it up at about heads height. "All I have is this 'Sutekki'."
Then next events to unfold were something remarkable. The gem suddenly changed into its long staff form, the end of it in Fayze's hand. It jutted out past Nevia's face and plowed straight into the cheek of the guy with the syringe gun, sending him away from her and to the ground.
Before the guy could even hit the ground, Fayze ran forward a few steps, to make distance between himself and the man who had flogged him. He whipped around on him, using his pole like a spear. He smashed the end of it into the guy's nose and mouth, causing him to fall over backwards in surprise and pain. Before Reese's mind even had time to register the situation, Fayze dashed behind him, spouting another word of Japanese. A long scythe blade grew from the end of the pole, and Fayze brought it around the side of Reese's throat, holding the scythe between the front of Reese's neck and the back of Nevia's head. He pressed the blade against his neck lightly. All of Fayze's actions took place within a time span of about six seconds, and Dyne could barely believe it had even taken place.
Dyne took this opportunity to duck down, and sweep up his guns. He pointed both weapons at the cloaked figure, glaring at him maliciously. "Fuckin' idiots."
The man suddenly looked rather frightened and began to sweat lightly. "W-what are you going to do?"
Dyne looked back at Fayze, smirking. "Nice job, man." He complimented.
Fayze smirked coolly, keeping his scythe fixed across Reese's neck, who was keeping very still and quiet. "Told you I'd earn my keep. I'm not a stranger to these sort of situations." He held the scythe blade against Reese's neck a little harder. If Reese so much as swallowed, he'd be sliced quite badly. "Now, release Nevia."
Reese slowly did as he was commanded, dropping Nevia out of his grip. She quickly moved away from him and next to Dyne, turning and glaring up at Reese. "Bastard. . ."
Reese smirked. "Why thank you." He said sarcastically. "But now what do you plan to do?"
Dyne kept his guns trained onto the cloaked man. "I should kill you both. . ."
Reese smiled. "Oh really? Hey Arrin, what do you think about that?"
The cloaked man, obviously Arrin, smiled thinly. "I think there might be a small miscalculation there. . .You won't be killing us." Dyne cocked a smirk at the guy.
"Yeah? What makes you say that?"
"Because you won't get the chance. . ."
As Fayze held the scythe, he suddenly felt a shot of terrible pain in the side of his back. He cried out, taking the scythe from Reese's neck and spinning around. There was a shadow demon standing about fifteen feet from him, and it was stalking around, growling low. Fayze hadn't even felt it coming up behind him, since the sense of demon was so strong in the area. Dyne shot a glance back at him, but quickly turned his attention back to Arrin, pretty sure that Fayze would be alright.
Reese took this moment to suddenly jump onto the roof of one of the building making the alley. Dyne still couldn't figure out how a human could possess those abilities. And this guy Arrin. . .He didn't seem like a demon either; however, his looks proved obviously otherwise.
Arrin apparently thought that now was a good time to try and attack Dyne. He leapt forward at him, and Dyne brought one gun up, blasting a round straight into his chest. The power of the bullet made him seem to stop in midair, as if hit by an invisible wall of sorts. He let out a small yelp of pain, and then crumpled to the ground, still.
Dyne quickly spun around, ready to help Fayze and Nevia, who had just joined Fayze in the fight against the Shadow. Dyne moved in front of Fayze, drawing both guns and squeezing slug after slug into the demon. It came running at him, causing the three to spread out. Dyne kept the creature's attention on him, keeping his bullets pelting into it's body. It got up close for a bite attack, but Dyne rolled to his side, the beasts gapping mouth missing him by inches. Dyne moved back a few feet, continuing his barrage of bullets.
Finally, the creature could take no more, and it sunk down, revealing its core. Dyne motioned his head to Fayze, giving him the right to finish the thing off, since it had attacked him first. Fayze obliged, running forward and slicing into it with his scythe. He and Dyne quickly moved as the demon created its black spike pillars from the ground, then reformed its body. It now had turned its crimson color, and all they had to do was keep away from it for a minute until it exploded.
Dyne ran one way, and Fayze the other. The Shadow decided that Fayze was its target, and went charging after him. Fayze took a dash at the back wall of the alley, then hit the corner between one wall and anther, getting as high as he could before pushing off and flipping backwards behind the beast. He then took off at a lope as the confused devil turned around, coming after him again. It seemed to completely ignore Nevia, who was leaned back against a wall next to a trash can, watching the action. She knew the boys could handle it.
Finally, after chasing Fayze around for another minute, the Shadow growled, arching its back. Its core was partially visible, and it exploded. Dyne looked around as things became very silent suddenly, seeing the two unconscious men and the guy Arrin laying dead on the ground. Nevia pushed off the wall, clapping her hands lightly.
"Good job guys." She complimented. Fayze turned slowly to her, breathing roughly and his back to Dyne. Dyne could see a large pierced hole in the high right side of his back, blood seeping slowly from the wound and dampening his jacket.
"Hey, you alright?" Dyne asked, moving closer to look at him. He could hear his that his breathing was rather chortled, and the boy slowly brought his head around to look at Dyne. He gave a light cough, which soon changed to a chain of loud, liquid sounding hacks. He kneeled down on the ground, holding his chest as blood sprayed like a mist from his mouth when he coughed. Dyne and Nevia both ran to his side, Dyne trying to help him up.
"I'll be alright, I think. . ." Fayze said weakly, blood seeping from his mouth. He'd obviously been hit in the lung. He shakily stood to his feet, coughing lightly again. He took shallow breaths, trying to keep from coughing again.
"Fayze, don't hold back any coughs, otherwise you might drown in your own blood." Nevia warned with concern. Fayze smiled up at her, taking that as a joke.
"But the monsters will hear me. . .I don't want to be a bother. . ." Fayze groaned softly, giving another hack. He held his hand up to his mouth, trying to keep the blood from spraying. He then looked at the blood on his hand, frowning. "Oh god. . ."
"What is it?" Dyne asked as Fayze seemed to turn paler. The boy shook his head calmly.
"I've. . .I've never been wounded like this. The worst beating I've ever taken was actually that flogging." He winced and groaned again as he said that. "My chest is burning. . ." He remembered his father telling him about Shadow's. He'd never actually fought one before, only watched his father do it with ease. The wound in his back sent a horrible throbbing pain into his entire chest every time he tried to breath, and he felt like he would black out with the pain every time he coughed.
"Are you gonna be alright?" Dyne asked, putting Fayze's arm around his shoulder to help him out. It seemed that Dyne had decided undeclared to forgive Fayze for the day before.
"Yeah. . .Think so. . ." Fayze groaned and gave another cough. He smiled lightly up at Dyne, glad to see that he didn't seem upset with him anymore.
"Let's get out of here. We need to find Vergil. I think something's wrong." Nevia said. It was odd that he hadn't come at the sounds of the gunshots. What was he doing?
Dyne nodded, taking a look back at the lifeless form of Arrin. "What's with these guys? They're not demons. . .but they can't be human. . ."
Nevia shook her head. "We don't have time to worry about it. Come on, Vergil might be in trouble."
Just then, there was a loud, demonic roar from nearby, one that sounded horribly pissed.
Nevia groaned. "I think we might know where Vergil is. . ."