The car was a flashy red color, like a race car, the decal on the side depicted a black and gold tiger in mid-pounce. It pulled over by a cemetery and its driver got out. Deep in the cemetery's grounds, near a war memorial statue of a soldier who held his bayonet high, was a small headstone that read 'Natalia Romanov' and a date. The driver of the red racer approached the stone slowly and placed a small bunch of flowers by it, and spoke a few quiet words in Russian. She had clear blue eyes and jet-black hair, the ends of which were tinted red, pulled back into a ponytail. She was older, like the impostor had said, but it was definitely the same girl in the photo she had given to Dante. This was unbelievable. Dante had come here after Wilson had told him the location and had found the grave, but he hadn't expected the girl to be here. Standing here staring wasn't going to get anything achieved. Dante went over to her. She heard him coming and pulled a gun from underneath her coat.

"Who are you?" She asked, keeping the gun pointed at Dante. Her accent was very light. If you didn't know it was there you wouldn't hear it.

"Someone who's looking for answers" Dante replied, drawing his own guns.

Dante was a very imposing figure. 6"6 and built to give Schwarzenegger nightmares. Dressed in red leather, with silver white hair and unnaturally pale blue eyes. This wasn't lost on the girl; her head barely came up to his shoulders. There was a moments doubt in her eyes, but she kept the gun steady. She had guts.

"I'm not sure if I can help you there" for someone staring down the barrel of not one but two .45's her voice was very calm.

Movement behind them drew their attention before Dante could reply. Keeping Ebony trained on the girl he turned Ivory in the direction of the disturbance

"And I thought you weren't going to help me, dear Mr. Dante" It was the woman from Dante's office. Behind him the girl gave a short gasp of surprise. "Now would you be so kind as to return my daughter to me?"

"Don't pull the innocent act, I know she's not your daughter, and lose the 'Mr.', you're making me sound old" said Dante.

"You figured me out. At least I don't have to look like this anymore" said the impostor. With that she put her hands over her face then moved them back over her head. Her hair lightened to a golden brown color and her face morphed into that of a younger woman. Dante took this as the cue to point both guns at her. Whoever she was, she was not human.

"Seeing as I'm no longer pretending to be dear Miss Romanov I insist that you call me Giselle, MR Dante" said the shape changer

"I can think of a few things to call you, but you won't like 'em"

Giselle took offence at that. She leapt towards Dante and the girl. Dante sidestepped to the right and kicked her in the stomach as she landed, knocking her to the ground.

"Don't you know it's not nice to hit a lady?" She hissed

"I'll keep that in mind if I ever meet one" Dante answered

Giselle kept her distance, not keen to be hit again. Her eyes glowed red and in response, the soldier statue raised its weather worn head and it rose from its pedestal. Taking Alastor from his back, Dante hoped that his first impression of the girl was correct and that she could take care of herself. Babysitting was the last thing he needed. The stone soldier pulled itself free of its foundations and swung itself towards them with far more grace and agility than it should have been allowed. It moved to attack. Obviously the stone rifle wouldn't fire bullets but it wielded the bayonet as if it were a sword.

"Kill him! But I need the girl alive!" Giselle commanded. The soldier responded, Charging Dante who met the attack with one of his own.

To Giselle this was enough, the Son of Sparda would be too busy with her creation to bother guarding the girl. She giggled in an annoyingly girlish way as she approached.

"I've been looking for you for a very long time, young lady" she said before pouncing, catlike, and knocking her prey to the ground. The kid dropped her weapon as she fell.

"I'll show Marcus how it's meant to be done. Brajin is gonna reward me for bringing you in" Giselle licked her lips at the thought. Just then her shoulder seemed to explode. A moments confusion then she realised. Dante had shot her! He was still tied up with the soldier, but he had been able to get a round off. The girl took full advantage of the confusion and grabbed Giselle's good arm, using it to flip her to the ground. Giselle panicked and grabbed the fallen gun. She fired twice. Both rounds hit the kid in the chest; she fell to the ground. With that Giselle backed away, looking fearful. She ran. The soldier went to follow its mistress. Ignoring Dante, it approached the girl, intending to pick her up. Dante threw the sword as hard as he could, then grabbed his guns and fired at the thing. The shots got its attention and it charged towards him. Alastor swung like a boomerang and caught the things neck, taking its head clean off. It fell to the ground.

Dante looked around for the kid but she was gone, so was the red car. He was pretty sure Giselle hadn't got her but if she were hurt the witch would find her again.

-

The man went by the name Marcus, although nobody was sure if this was his real name or not. And for as long as he could remember he had suffered from leukemia, his health was now so bad that he could barely walk without the aid of a walking stick. It was to him that Giselle reported. After her defeat she had retreated to Marcus' building. Her shoulder had already healed and she had full use of both arms again. As she told him what had happened at the cemetery his face grew dark. He gestured to a large man wearing a black robe stood by his desk. Giselle fell to her knees and begged for his forgiveness.

"You fool", he replied "The seal is broken now, If the Son of Sparda learns the truth..."

"He won't" Giselle cried, "He must think she is dead", Marcus considered this for a moment

"Very well, I won't punish you this time, but if you are wrong you will pay dearly. You, "

Marcus took a necklace with a small tear shaped crystal pendant from his desk and gave it to his follower "Find the child" He commanded

The man in the robe bowed before replying "By Brajin's will", then he left. Giselle followed him, scowling

"You keep telling yourself that you are in charge, dearest Marcus. That will all change soon enough" she said under her breath

Red cars with tigers painted on the side were very distinctive and shouldn't be too hard to find, Dante had assumed. It was a good theory, but in practice it wasn't working out. What was even more frustrating was that there were pictures of it on flyers everywhere, advertising a place called 'Calhoun's'. Dante knew a fair bit about engines, but he preferred bikes to cars. Still, any idiot knew what it meant when cars were decorated the way that one had been. After an hour he widened his search to include any kind of import car, and outside an old warehouse in a closed down industrial estate he hit pay dirt. Street racers having a party. The estate was perfect for them; it had long stretches of road between buildings and no risk of pedestrians. There were more cars here than in most other places Dante had seen, but no sign of the one he was looking for. He approached two racers who were arguing over the engine of a neon green Honda S2000. They saw him coming

"Hey buddy, this ain't a pedestrian zone, ya hear me" said the first, a Hispanic man.

"I'm looking for someone" Dante replied coolly

"Too bad" the Hispanic started, his friend interrupted

"Hold up a mo, have I seen you before?" He asked

"No"

"You sure? You look familiar"

"Jones man, you need your eyes tested" his friend said

"Who you looking for?" Jones asked. He had noticed Dante's sword and decided that this was not a man he wanted to annoy.

"She drives a red car with a tiger on the side"

"Tiger huh, Sounds like Erika's Skyline, what do you think, Tio?"

"I think, how does a girl like Erika have a Skyline?" Tio seemed to have lightened up

The two started arguing again, this time over the pros and cons of Skylines. This was pointless, but at least now he could put a name to the face. Leaving the morons he pushed on through the crowd. There were plenty of red cars, but no tigers. Not at first, then a black GTO moved to enter a race and there it was. A red car with a tiger decal. The girl, Erika, was stood beside it, talking to a few people. He went over to her and grabbed her arm.

"We need to talk" he said, adding "In private" to her companions, who looked scandalized but, noticing Alastor, left them alone

"You're looking well, considering you took two bullets an hour ago" he said. Something seemed different about her, but he couldn't put his finger on it.

"Look Mr., I don't know who you are or what you want..." Dante stopped her, a thought had just occurred to him.

"What kind of car do you drive?"

"What?"

"Answer the question"

"Nissan Skyline. It's a 3.0 litre in line six cylinder engine, 300hp, all wheel drive and twin turbos, right hand drive configuration and built in engine monitoring systems. Now do you want to tell me what this is all about?"

Giselle had seemed like an airhead, she couldn't know that much about cars, and definitely not the model she drove. Dante had no doubt that this was Erika.

"This is about the slut from the cemetery and her cronies. They're after you, but you already knew that. Why else would you take a gun to visit your mother's grave?"

"This coming from the man who carries a sword that's almost as big as he is? Who are you anyway?"

"The man who saved your ass back there, now how about some answers? We'll start with the bullets"

"... I was wearing a vest" she said dismissively, not looking at Dante.

"Where is it now?" He asked. She didn't answer.

People were starting to notice, it was impossible to carry a sword as large as Dante's and not draw attention to yourself. That was when Dante spotted someone who didn't look like the type of person who should be here. A burly looking man in a black robe.

"We're leaving. Get in the car, I'll tell you where to go" he said, pushing her towards the car.

"Hey!" Erika protested. Dante nodded towards the man, she saw him and decided that leaving was a good idea after all.

-

As the Skyline pulled out the man in the robe broke the small crystal from its chain around his neck. He squeezed it tightly, making it glow with a cold blue light. He then ran through the crowd to a building. A race was starting, nobody noticed him enter one of the buildings and climb to the roof. Once there he took the glowing crystal and held it up to his eye like a contact lens.

"Brajin give me strength" he said before shoving the crystal deep into his eye. He screamed in pain. The roar of the crowd below disguising his anguished cries, he fell to his knees and started convulsing. His body started to mutate. His back swelling hideously until the skin burst and a pair of newly formed wings stretched out of the holes. He leapt into the air...