Chapter 2 : getting a little too close.
I'm so glad you all enjoyed chapter one. Thank you, Devilman666, for pointing out that problem. I'll see if I can figure out how to fix it! This chapter is dedicated to BloodyDemonEmpress, who so longed for romance that I finally decided to include some. Oh, and an early Happy Valentine's Day to everyone, as I will not be able to update until Tuesday. WARNING! It may get a little sappy in this chappie! (I rhymed on purpose.)
Rayne tapped her stiletto-heeled boots impatiently on the pavement as Dante tried to pry a manhole cover off of a sewer entrance. Dante wasn't very happy about the whole sewer situation either. His clothes always got messed up whenever he went into one. He tried his best to get a good grip on the edges of the manhole cover, but it had apparently been welded on. Rayne's patience had run out by then, so she shoved him aside and shot the manhole cover off with her guns. She shot Dante a see? That wasn't so hard look. She jumped down into the sewer, feet landing in a puddle of who-knows-what. She cringed and thanked herself for having bought a new, waterproof leather outfit. Dante splashed onto the sewer floor beside her, causing some of the muck to fly upwards. Rayne asked if there was anything "special" she should know about these demons. Dante gave the lo-down on what they looked like, what they did, and included a vivid description of their queen. At the mention of there being a queen, Rayne got a serious case of deja-vu. Last time she experienced a fight with a queen was on a mission in Louisiana. It was her first mission, and the humongous creature was called a Mariasque. Also, the last sewer escapade had left her with bowel in her hair from the creature called Slezz, along with a bad case of nightmares.
The two wandered on for a while, with little event. There was an instance where Rayne had fallen into a roach nest, but other than that… Fortunately, things picked up a few minutes later with the attack of a pack of three Geists. Two of them leaped towards Rayne. She quickly whipped out her guns and blasted one of them in the face. However, this maneuver left her open to attack by the other. Using this opening as an advantage, the other latched onto Rayne's arms with its claws and tried desperately to eat out her heart. She got one good kick on the side of its head before turning him into Swiss cheese, too. Rayne turned her head to see Dante watching casually, the third demon already dead at his feet.
"Why did you fail to mention that they eat hearts?" she asked snippily.
Dante just shrugged and kept walking. Further down the tunnel, and they saw the queen. She was larger than the other geists, with a huge pulsating egg sac attached to her abdomen. Since this creature was immobile and so much like Slezz, Rayne figured she could apply the same basic concepts to it as well. She shouted her plan across the room to Dante, who was standing in an area where he would be shielded from any attacks. He would deal with the queen while Rayne destroyed the egg sac.
Dante didn't want to get within range of the queen's attacks, so he took out Ebony and Ivory and began blasting away at the queen's neck area. Rayne, in the meantime, had lunged right into action and gotten to an area where she could launch her Blood Hammer charges at the egg sac. For those of you who have not played Bloodrayne2, the Blood Hammer setting on Rayne's guns sends an explosive blood rocket at the enemy. Yeah, it's cool unless it blows up too close to you.
The egg sac ruptured and disconnected from the queen's body at the exact moment that Dante succeeded in shredding its head off of its neck with bullets. He moved back into his shielded little alcove, as (wouldn't you know it) the queen exploded. Unfortunately, Rayne was not shielded from the hail of blood, guts, slime, and sewage that rained down. She stood with a look of utter shock and violation before rushing out of the sewers, Dante trying to suppress laughter behind.
Dante suspected that Rayne was curled into a fetal position in the corner. Due to this, he didn't expect to find her soaking in a bubble bath upon his return. She stared at him for a few seconds, then reached up and threw a shampoo bottle at him. He rushed out as quickly as possible, but it was too late. He'd seen her. All of her. He tried VERY hard not to make eye contact with her once she had gotten dressed. To Dante's great surprise, she didn't act all offended. On the contrary, she spent as much time as she could teasing him about how he magically changed colors upon seeing her.
Determined not to let her get enjoyment out of his misfortune, Dante decided to play a little game. He leaned over very close to Rayne. Well, it certainly wiped that smug smile off of her face. She leaned away in nervousness. Now I've got her, he thought. His face was only tow inches from hers when he made the fatal mistake of looking into her eyes. She leaned back a little, trying to escape, but it was too late. Dante cupped her chin in his hand and brought her face up to his. Rayne uttered protest, but it was soon swallowed up by the tender kiss of the demon slayer.
Whether from shock, desire, of a little bit of both, Rayne remained stunned for about thirty seconds before coming to her senses and pushing him away. Her thoughts were mixed between "whoa" and "what the hell?" someone who had not seen for three years had kissed her (rather passionately). Having had little experience with this type of thing, and a need to burn away the memory forever, she bought a six-pack of beer the next day. She refused to share with Dante, and was rather tipsy by her third drink. Here we go! Drunken seductress!
The alcohol manipulating her, Rayne put her arm around Dante's neck. She pulled his ear to her, where she whispered to him about how hot she secretly thought he was.
" I think you're pretty hot, too, babe." He said in response.
" You know, I could get used to living like this," she cooed, nuzzling under his chin.
"Really?"
"Yes. In fact, I'm so comfortable with you that I feel confident enough to pour beer all over you."
"What?"
Two seconds later, his hair and trench coat were soaked from a half a beer she had poured on him. He looked over at Rayne, a slight grin on her face making him angry.
"You're not really drunk, are you?"
"Nope."
"Pity." And with that, he exacted a secondary revenge upon the dhampir by twisting her hair in his fingers and kissing her again. When he pulled back, there was the shocked look again. He chuckled to himself as Rayne stormed off to her room, this time to actually curl up in a fetal position. She was in for some whacked-out dreams that night.
There it is. Another chapter. In the next chapter, Dante will talk to Rayne about Trish's murder, and a deadly creature sent from Brimstone will attack. Then Rayne will get into a serious hack-and-slash match with the creature- one she faced in her past.