Short chapter this time everybody, just transitional between big fight #1(minus Lucia) and big fight #2(plus demon weapons). Harris, if you're reading this I hope you get the axe joke. Been a while since Written In Blood, hasn't it? On with it, Skaye.
For hours, Dante and Genevieve hid in the little room barely daring to whisper.
Hiding was a relatively new experience for the demon-hunter and the more he saw of it, the more it reinforced his decision that it wasn't for him. The air was tense and growing stale as little fresh air could penetrate the heavy barred doors. He was still in the ridiculous evening suit ensemble they'd dressed him in the previous night and hoped with all his might he would be able to change before Lucia saw him like this. He paced and thought about how the hell he'd gotten into this mess in the first place – his damned curiosity and that damned ring. The damned attacking vampires had a lot to do with it too. He sat down and remained there until Genevieve at last stood and went to the door.
"The sun has risen, Dante. We may now ascend and see the damage done and meet your 'cavalry'."
He sighed and stood up;
"Finally! Mind if I swing by the armoury too? I'd like to pick up something a little more deadly than the little throwing needles I was equipped with last round."
They climbed the stairs and found the palace as it had been the day before; calm, undisturbed and empty but for statues. The armoury they found stripped of demon weapons entirely. Only human weapons remained. Dante almost despaired. He hefted up a human axe on a long metal handle and swung it in a might arc as if striking at an invisible Madeline in the air. The head of the axe went spinning off and hurtled into the wall at the other side of the immense gallery embedding itself a good six inches into the wooden beam. Not good. He chose a good sword anyway and, deciding against a potentially disastrous trial run, he shouldered it, pocketed a few knives and headed out.
In the spirit of experimentation, Dante tried attacking one of the vampire statues swinging a heavy punch at its stone head. That punch, he knew well, could have taken out a wall half a foot thick and yet it cracked off the stone leaving not a dent. He howled in pain and clutched his bruised right hand. It would have to wait until nightfall after all.
He reclaimed his trench coat from where he'd left it by the main door on his way out to the gardens. He removed the dreadful dinner jacket, shirt, cravat and waistcoat he'd been stuck in and replaced them with his beloved coat.
Genevieve was also in the garden sitting on a bench and watching the sea in the direction of Spain. She still looked melancholy and Dante was in no mood to try and cheer her up – what precisely did you say to someone whose only child and treasure turned out to be a murderous psycho? He decided silence was his best bet. They watched together for hours, shaded from the strong sun by a wooden terrace around three sides of their bench threaded with red roses.
At long last, just as the sun was getting near to setting, Dante saw a boat approaching at a reckless speed. It swerved suicidally into the little bay and, riding its own momentum, it rode halfway up the beach before halting miraculously without tipping. It could only be one person. Lucia stepped out of it a little shaken and very damp but not about to show it for a moment. She strode up the rest of the beach and through the garden, her eyes opening a little wider at the sight of the palace. She saw Dante and came up, tossing him one of his own demon swords from home. He grinned gratefully and she smiled then looked curiously at Genevieve.
"I have heard of you, Madame, you must be Genevieve."
Genevieve smiled and replied in French, her native language;
"And you must be Dante's cavalry."
Lucia lapsed easily into French and they spoke for a moment as Genevieve brought her up to date on the situation. Dante stood at Genevieve's side looking hopelessly blank and watching the rapid exchange of strange words like a high-speed tennis match. Lucia at last turned to him;
"You got involved with vampires. Were you not warned?"
"Yeah, of course they warned me but it wasn't one of those warnings I tend to listen to."
She smiled again.
"How like you. I'm amazed you thought to use the knife. I felt sure you would have forgotten."
He shrugged it off, a little stung that she thought him so flippant.
"Damn thing jabbed me in the ribs when I was taking off my shirt, I had forgotten about it completely until I remembered how you always jabbed me when you were mad."
She looked at him cynically but said nothing.
"So you can't defeat this vampire branleure because she has your blood and thus your powers and a few memories."
"That's pretty much my problem. I called you here because you might be a match for her since she doesn't have your memories and stuff."
"Then we attack her together."
"Right. And Genevieve can be our cheer squad."
Lucia laughed and Dante was just a little surprised. He hadn't even thought it was that funny and Lucia never laughed outside of when she was sticking a dagger through and through some demon foe's torso. He had to admit she looked good, red hair in it's customary braid, blue clothes exchanged for black, presumably in mourning although she didn't mention it, she even smiled once in a while. This had been one weird couple of days. Hard to believe not four days ago he'd been playing Pool alone in his office.
The sun began to set behind them tinting everything bloody once again like a bad omen. They movedas a threetowards the building silent and serious with their shadows long in front of them.