AN: I would like to thank my beta-reader/editor/best friend Kate. Without her I probably would have given up on writing. She has true patience to deal with my insesant nagging about wanting to get each chapter of this story up. She knows I am serious about writing and thats why I recruited her as me editor. Thanks tons Kate!
Chapter 2
Dante's agreement to help Crystal free of charge was followed by a few minutes of irritating silence, before he remembered about the client he was supposed to meet. He stood and moved out from behind his desk. Dante peered over at Crystal slightly. "I have a paying client I have to meet," he began, stressing the word 'paying'. "You can come," he offered.
Crystal was shifting uncomfortably on the stained sofa when she looked at him. "Uh… okay. I will come," she said, quickly standing, happy to be off the ratty looking couch. She walked over to Dante and followed close behind as he started out the door.
Crystal shielded her eyes from the bright, late afternoon light. Once her eyes adjusted from the slightly darker office she dropped her arm down to her side and began to follow Dante closely. Despite the fact that it was still light out, hardly anyone occupied these streets.
Only club goers, prostitutes and gang members frequented this area of town, and the occasional person passing through generally tried to get through as rapidly as possible.
The six blocks back to the church were traveled in complete silence. Dante didn't even look back to see if Crystal was still following him; still upset that she weaseled her way into getting him to protect her. Thinking of this made his blood boil all the more.
Dante stopped outside the church doors and glanced back at the petite brunette behind him, checking to see if she was still there. He grasped the handle of the large oak door and opened it.
"Now if you don't mind, please keep your trap shut while I talk business," he spat.
Dante walked into the church, his biker boots echoing on the tile floor. He spotted the man sitting in one of the pews in the front of the church and made his way up there. Crystal continued to tag along close behind him looking around the shabby-looking chapel.
The man in the pew heard the sound of footsteps echoing from behind him. He stood and dusted off his suit and picked up the metal case that had been sitting next to him on the seat. He turned and spotted a tall silver haired man in a red duster followed by a short woman.
"Ah the demon hunter Dante!" he exclaimed with excitement. "You reputation precedes you…" he continued with a smirk.
"Why thank you," Dante gave a cocky smirk and rested his weight on his left side.
"I am Gheis. And it appears you already completed the task I was going to ask of you…" he stated, gesturing to Crystal, standing behind Dante.
When Crystal heard the name Gheis her eyes widened and her head jerked in his direction. "No…" she whispered under her breath, looking from Dante to Gheis.
She slowly began to back away from the two, her speed increasing with every step. A few steps later she turned and began to run out the church, the large oak doors slamming shut behind her.
Dante turned to see her reaction to the man and turned back to Gheis with an irate gaze, his silver-blue eyes ablaze with anger. "Your intention was for me to track a human girl down for you?" he said with a growl in his voice.
"Yes. It was." Gheis said with a satisfied sound to his voice, almost sinister in nature.
Dante slowly walked up to the man, inches from his face, his fists clenched tight in fiery anger. "What kind of sick fuck are you?" he asked, restraining himself from hitting the man.
Gheis simply smiled in pure disturbing confidence. "I am following orders. She is to be returned to my boss, dead or alive. Either way I will get her." He smirked with alarming satisfaction. "And it occurs to me you will not complete my request," he said, casually straightening his jacket.
Dante stood there for a moment in thought, while looking at black-haired businessman with slight disgust on his face. It didn't take him more than a split second to realize that Gheis was wasting the demon hunter's time. "Fuck!" he growled.
Dante turned and ran in the opposite direction of the smirking man. He pulled the door open and quickly stepped outside and looked around for Crystal. She wasn't in sight but he heard the screeching sound of a demon not too far away. He ran in the direction of the shriek at full speed. He skidded around a corner and stopped.
Dante looked around at the heavily damaged street. He had arrived to the battle a little too late, and bodies were strewn along the now deserted pavement. All the bodies were human and laying face down in pools of their own blood, indicating they were attacked without warning and died without struggle. He looked down the street and saw only one demon, about dead and a person grasping its arm to prevent it from finishing her off.
He recognized the girl, it was Crystal, and he saw she was still alive and relaxed a bit. Only one demon, he thought. This would be easy for him to finish off.
The creature turned to Dante and let out a loud screeching sound. Dante just smirked at it and pulled out one of his guns, Ebony, and pointed it at him. The demon saw this threat and charged at him, scythe in hand. Dante fired his gun rapidly at it, sending it back to the hell that had spawned it.
After the demon vanished he walked over to Crystal, holstering the black gun back on his waist. Crystal scooted away from him, fearing that he would drag her back to Gheis.
"Stay away! You tricked me!" she shouted, as she stood, with a mixture of anger and fear in her voice.
"Like hell I would hand a human over to someone who obviously works for demons." He snapped back at her, "And I did not fucking know that my original ex-client was after you in the first place. And if I did, I wouldn't have accepted the job, I would have gone out of my way to keep you from him." He continued in a matter-of-fact tone.
She huffed and looked away from him, "Yeah right. How can I fucking trust your word? You just lead me right to him you dumb shit." She growled at him with an angry sneer.
He narrowed his eyes at her; his attitude was starting to piss him off. "Look, if I was working for that guy I would have let the demon kill you. But I didn't now shut the fuck up about that. I will not let him hurt you. You asked for my help to keep demons from hurting you and that is what I intend to do." He spat. "Now lets go." He ordered, grabbing her arm.
Dante's firm grab on her right arm sent a spike of searing pain through her shoulder. Crystal pulled away from him and grimaced in throbbing pain and looked up at him.
Dante looked away "Lets go." He said, and began leadCrystal back to the office, his slightly-slower-than-normal pace the only acknowledgment of her condition.
Crystal walked into the office followed closely by Dante. He let the door shut behind him and walked over to a cabinet across the room, pulling out the recently-stocked first-aid kit.
Crystal sat down on the sofa in the back of the dimly-lit office and started wiping the blood from her face with her forearm.
Dante saw this out of the corner of his eye and threw her a package of gauze to wipe up with. She caught and opened it and continued to wipe away the oozing blood.
Once he had finished fishing around in the cabinet, he stood, shifted the items he needed to one hand, and grabbed a bottle of cheap whiskey off the counter as he walked over to her. "Take off your shirt I need to fix that cut on your back," he ordered. She stiffened slightly at his words, hesitating to follow his directions. He shoved the whiskey bottle into her hand.
"Start drinking, it will dull your senses," he said flatly. She nodded and took a swig.
Crystal almost immediately coughed when the strong taste of warm alcohol stung her throat but she forced it down with only a slight grimace and forced herself to take a few more drinks.
"Well? Take the shirt off damn it," he commanded.
Crystal blinked, but obediently took off her shirt and faced her back to Dante. He waited a moment and looked over. Her thin black lacy bra and fresh cuts and bruises failed to conceal the scars that riddled her back.
"Well you're damn lucky the cut isn't deep. But, you do have lots of scars. Where are they from?" he questioned.
"I… don't want to talk about it…" she said quietly, turning her face away.
In a rare moment of tact, Dante didn't press any further into the matter, sensing that whatever did it hurt her more than just physically. Dante lowered himself onto the sofa next to her and started cleaning and bandaging the cuts on her back.
With each cut Dante cleaned out and covered up with gauze and first-aid tape, Crystal flinched slightly, her skin tender around the wounds. She took another mouthful of the whiskey and cradled the bottle in her hands. She didn't even notice when Dante had finished patching her up.
It took a few seconds for the now slightly drunk Crystal to realize he had finished wrapping her wounds. Once she noticed, it didn't take long for her to remember Dante asking about her scars and she quickly put her tank top back on. She was self-conscious about her old wounds.
"Uh thanks," she said quietly, looking at the half empty bottle in her hand. She took another drink and set it down next to her.
"Yeah. You can sleep here," Dante offered as he disappeared down the back hall.
Crystal looked around the now dark office. Empty, it seemed quite a bit larger than it had when Dante was there. She wrapped her arms around herself and closed her eyes. She felt alone.
Disclaimer: I dont own Devil May Cry or any of its chars. I only claim Crystal and Gheis as my own for I have created them. And any other char I make. So dont sue me or you would be thrown out of court and I will laugh at you. (j/k that would just be even more embarrassing than a dismissed case)