Family Discord

Lilith glanced at Sharice in the adjacent room. Sharice sat with her hands in her lap. Her thumbs were interlocked as if she were trying to hold something intangible between them. "I don't know," Lilith mumbled. "She doesn't look like your type."

Dante feigned a smile. "Please don't make her life difficult."

"I won't. Promise."

"Good, because someone beat you to it."

"Any children?" Lilith asked.

Dante smirked. "No; you're still my one and only." He suppressed a chuckle as she rolled her eyes in poorly hidden abashment. "Besides, she can't have children. She's sterile."

"Why is that?"

"She's a survivor of a demonic harem. Remember what I told you about their naming ceremonies? Her need for her own survival was more important."

"How did you meet?" Lucia asked as she slide the glass across the table towards Dante.

"I found her on my way back to Earth. She was half dead."

"That sounds like something we see more of everyday." Lucia leaned back in her chair.

"Are you at war again?" Dante asked as if it were a joke, but his expression conveyed a different idea.

"Sort of," Lilith answered. "It's more of a stalemate right now."

Dante glared at her as if she'd spoken in one of the few languages he didn't understand. "With whom? And why haven't you kicked his ass already?"

"It's not from lack of trying, that's for damn sure."

"And?" Lilith and Lucia remained perfectly silent as Dante visually demanded an answer. "Don't all talk at once."

"A lot has changed in the past two hundred and fifty years since you left," Lilith finally commented.

"Has it been that long? What does that have to do with my question?"

Lucia let her chin rest on her knuckles. "It's part of why Lilith's war campaign is on hold."

Dante waved his fingers in the air. "I'm waiting."

"They have something," Lilith said nervously. "Something very important to me. If I'm not careful, I'll never get it back. I dare not make an unnecessary move until I do."

"I never knew you were so materialistic."

"You know me better than that!" Lilith straightened in her chair as if to fend off an attack.

Dante lifted his glass to take a first sip. "What is it, then?"

Lilith leaned back as she hesitated to say anything. Dante had taken three swallows before she opened her mouth. "They have my son."

Lucia jumped from the table as Dante spewed his drink towards her. He covered his mouth and turned away. Lucia backed farther away. "I'll give you some space. You're on your own here."

Lilith watched Lucia leave the room. "Sorry about that."

Dante wiped his mouth as he turned to face his daughter. "How the hell did that happen? How could you be so careless?"

"I wasn't being careless!" Lilith grabbed the armrests to avoid the reflex of striking at him. "He was in the care of someone I trusted while I was trying to make the world a better place, as if that were possible, and that person betrayed me!"

Dante jumped to his feet without thinking. "That's no excuse!"

"Since when!" Lilith mirrored the need to stand. Though she was a few inches shorter than Dante, she unconsciously did her best to intimidate him. "You've been betrayed by those you trusted! Your own brother, even!"

Dante winced as if she'd struck him. He sat down without saying another word. Lilith shook her head. "I'm sorry," she said. "I had no right to say that." She dropped herself back into her own chair. "Being an empress isn't easy, even if it's in your blood. Being a mother is even harder, and it's more painful."

"Where is his father?"

"Hunting. I don't know where he is now. The last time I saw him was a few weeks ago. He took some of my men and disappeared in Nubia to look for our son. That's why we were in Alexandria when you showed up."

"And your son?"

"I know even less about him." Lilith sighed as if a weight were on her chest. "Lucia thinks he's being held in northern Europa. Specifically, she believes in the Scotia area of the Keltica Islands."

"What does he look like?"

Lilith raised an eyebrow. "Why are you asking me all these questions?"

"You'll find out when you finish answering them. Besides, I have a right to know."

Lilith relaxed her face. "His name is Fourth God Dorian Sparda. He turned twelve a few months ago. He has grey eyes and the trademark white hair. He also has your labret piercing from long ago and an unnatural keeness for Rubik's cubes."

Dante's hand stopped in midair halfway towards the glass on the table. "What? Why the hell would you let a twelve year old have his lip pierced?"

"Because it was your labret. It was his idea. He wanted something that belonged to you, in case he never got to meet you."

"Does he have Sparda's Sorrow yet?"

Lilith nodded. "Absolutely."

"Then this should be easy." Dante finished the rest of his drink and stood to leave.

"Wait a minute." Lilith stood as he walked away from her. "Where are you going?"

"I'm going to rescue my grandson."

Lilith watched as Dante said a few quick words to Sharice in the next room before he left. Then she sat in her chair again. She leaned back and laced her fingers over her lower abdomen. Lilith was silent for a moment, as if she were listening to something. "I know," she said into the air. "You'll get your chance to meet him too."

(X)

Dorian Sparda twisted the Rubik's cube and held it under the window. Moonlight shone through the iron bars of his cell. Each side of the cube was a single color. "Forty minutes. A personal best."

He shivered in the cold, though he was partially wrapped in a large blanket. The woman holding him captive had left him in there for hours without any protection. Her son, whom Dorian discovered was named Selik, smuggled a large comforter into the cell along with a Rubik's cube. Dorian hid these items once a day when the woman's other son, Syron, checked on him.

Dorian rolled the Rubik's cube to the other side of the cell and sank further into the comforter. He wrapped himself up completely to wait in silence. For nearly an hour, he listened to muffled voices in the hallway. He dozed off for a moment, which was why he didn't hide Selik's gifts when Syron opened the door. He awoke to the sensation of being slapped across his face. Dorian backed against the wall. Syron seized his foot and dragged him towards the center of the room.

Syron held up a bucket. "I was hoping for an excuse to do this." Dorian shrieked as ice cold water was poured onto his head. Syron pulled Dorian roughly to his feet. "Come on. Let's take another field trip to the great frigid outdoors."