More action sequences coming up here, if you don't hate Madeline by the end of this chapter i'm not doing my job properly. As always, dedicated to my reviewers who, in this case, are my dearest regulars, Embrace-the-Darkness and Keep Me In The Shadows (both of whose DMC stories kick some serious ass READ THEM! lol) and Lucia who gave me a boost when i was down.
I'm sorry I made you wait Shadow, I hope the chapter was worth it. Perhaps I will write something with Vergil. I just find it tough to think of something that hasn't already been done well. I'll get to it. Maybe when this storie's done.
I have decided not to mark this as romance because a) i don't think the content merits it (Dante hates Madeline) and b) i'd never live it down, my friends are cruel and unusual. Jared, if you're still reading i hope the character changes satisfy you, I do see what you mean. And one unreasonably long author's note later, here's the bloody chapter. No pun intended. Love to all, Skaye.
Dante and Lucia sprinted through the corridors of the palace uninhibited until they reached the open doors of the ball room. They didn't slow down for a minute, merely charged in and came to a sudden halt at the sight that met them. There was indeed a dance in motion but now the assembled crowd who had survived Dante's Devil Triggered onslaught were garbed in black with jewellery of ornate pewter set with jet.Dante found the swirling glittering black against thebright red decor at once striking and disquieting.
Despite the funereal getup, they danced as briskly as before round the dais on which sat Madeline, now the only one in red velvet, and beside her bound to the subordinate throne, her mother. Genevieve was beaten and unconscious but tied upright and dressed in a flowing white robe. Beside her vibrant daughter, she looked old and weary but there was a manic glint in Madeline's gaze still that made Dante uneasy. She looked up at him and with some surprise at Lucia as they stood by the doors. She held up her hand for silence and the music and dancing promptly ceased. She stepped forward beaming at her guests, her high pure voice filling the hall.
"Dante, you honour my company once more with your presence. Have you come back to claim your bride or just her head? And your pretty companion, the cavalry of which ma chere maman, spoke of course. I wonder, is she your lover or your chaperone?"
Dante had never had much patience for small talk and cut straight to the chase hurling a knife at her which she swiftly caught as he knew she would.
"You disappoint me, mon amour," Madeline said running her fingers along the blade. "Don't you want to even try to resolve our little dispute the civilized way?"
"Why waste precious fighting time?" Dante said pulling another couple of knives out of his jacket. He drew his hand back to throw them but Lucia stopped him and said under her breath in his ear;
"Look at Genevieve, Madeline can easily kill her from here if we attack."
Dante shook her off saying louder;
"She could kill her anyway, Lucia, if she wanted to. Besides what's one life compared with what she could take if she lives?"
Lucia's look told him instantly this was the wrong thing to say but she never lost her cool or loosened her grip on his arm;
"I agree that collateral damage is of low priority under these circumstances but if we can save a life we should. Besides there's something more to this. She has something planned."
Madeline was impatient, no longer the centre of attention. She raised her voice again sarcastic;
"I hate to take sides in a lovers quarrel, Dante my darling, but the redhead – Lucia did you call her? – she is correct. I didn't allow you to come here merely for the purpose of killing you, goodness no; I want the pair of you to be witnesses to the immortalisation of my dearest mother."
She traced her mother's cheek seemingly tenderly with her fingertips, her nails leaving thin scratches that bled. In her unconscious state, Genevieve stirred and moaned. Dante's fists and teeth clenched. Lucia looked grim. Madeline smiled cordially at them both.
"Poisoned. Exceptionally deadly. My blood will save her but kill me and she'll be cold by sunrise. The unconsciousness is temporary though. As soon as she wakes, we'll begin. Adelio! Fabien!" she called to two of the assembled vampires, "why don't you fetch drinks for my dear friends here."
Dante's patience snapped and he leapt at Madeline drawing his sword as he went. She overpowered him easily and slammed him to the floor by his neck jamming a long crimson fingernail into his throat so that if he moved even a little he would die.
"That's bad manners, Dante, and I don't appreciate people behaving badly in my house especially as I've been so courteous and not killed you yet." She hissed in his ear.
Lucia appeared behind her and slid a knife to her throat saying savagely;
"You draw a drop of blood from him and yours will spill and spill until you die, Madeline."
Madeline brushed her off roughly although one of Lucia's knives caught her wrist as she flew to the heavy velvet draped wall. Blood dripped from the cut even as it healed. Madeline looked at it oddly and for the first time a little scared so that she eased her grip on Dante's neck. He seized his chance and struck her hard across the jaw with the pommel of his sword. She shrieked and fell backward then came at him furiously ripping at his face with her nails just as her minions had done. He cried out and flinched, leaping backward into the crowd. She let him go and watched haughtily as Lucia joined him.
"That attitude will result in your death some day, Dante; I know I can't be the first one to tell you."
He smiled at her irritation;
"Heard it before and, you know something, I'm still alive. Which is more than can be said for most of the people who keep telling me shit like that."
Adelio and Fabien returned with two pewter goblets set with jet stones and handed them almost reverently to Lucia and Dante. They looked suspiciously at their contents which looked and smelled like wine. Dante sniffed at his.
"What have you done with it?" he asked, refusing to go on faith when it came to Madeline. She shrugged innocently in reply.
"There's nothing wrong with them, I just thought you could use a little refreshment. It's only good manners."
She said the last part pointedly and Dante rolled his eyes and set the goblet, still full, on the table. Lucia, however, was glaring at Madeline with a fixed cold hatred in her eyes. Defiantly she raised the cup to Madeline as if in a toast then brought it to her lips and drained it in one mouthful. Dante looked at her, incredulous. Madeline just shrugged again.
"At least your sweet friend has better manners than you, Dante. Proof that not all demon hunters are coarse stubborn idiots."
Dante was nettled as much from Lucia's actions as by Madeline's. He disliked enemies who played power games and despised allies who played along. His bad mood was interrupted by a loud moan from Genevieve as she woke and looked about. Dante could see the fear in her expression even from where he was standing. She looked wildly up at her daughter who smiled benignly back.
"My dearest mother, don't look so frightened. You're in no danger from me, I promise you."
Genevieve looked highly unconvinced andheaved uselessly at the bonds that held her to the chair. Madeline looked untroubled.
"Just a precaution you understand. In case Dante and his lady tried anything heroic."
Dante and Lucia approached the dais unperturbed by Madeline's threat.
"I hope you're not thinking of springing an attack while I'm unbinding my mother, Dante. Her neck could break so easily you know and I'm certainly not afraid to do it."
Dante moved on.
"It's nothing to me, Madeline. What's another human life?"
Madeline looked mildly troubled.
"You're bluffing. I've heard of your ways. You wouldn't endanger a human innocent if you could avoid it. Lucia knows. You know. You wouldn't do it." She regained her confidence as she spoke, affirmed by her own words.
Dante and Lucia stopped at the steps to the dais ready to attack in a moment. Madeline untied her mother and helped her to her feet. Genevieve was terrified and looked beseechingly at her daughter who still smiled, disgustingly confident and pleased at the fear she was causing. She waved with her hand and the music restarted, a single violin wailing an uncertain melody in a shrill voice while the three lower strings counted out a steady rhythmic beat of long droning notes. The effect was eerie and beautiful.
Dante's heart pounded in spite of himas the candles were one by oneextinguished leaving only a dim few in red sconces that tinted the place a deep scarlet. It felt like a theatre. He hated it. Dramatics at a time like this just seemed poor taste. Lucia's face was annoyingly calm when he cast a glance at her. She seemed determined and cool. He secretly took strength from it.
Satisfied with the state of her stage, Madeline began her performance. She circled her mother's head slowly three times with her left hand like a crystal ball and then placed the hand under her neck. With the other, she supported her back and gently lowered her now limp figure to the floor. Kneeling before her with her face to her 'audience', she swept the hair back from her mother's neck. She lifted the head and neck towards her and slowly, slowly bit into her neck.
The strings swelled and the music filled the hall like blood in a great red mouth. Dante was chilled and shuddered. He despised blood ceremonies. His hands found the hilt of his sword and he gripped it, his nails digging into his hands around the handle. Lucia barely flinched. Madeline finished and then, raising the knife she still held, the one Dante had thrown at her, she slashed at her own right hand and lowered it, dripping blood, to her mother's lips letting the red liquid flow into her mouth. Once the wound healed she stood and waved her hand for the music to be quiet. It continued softly behind her whispred words as she stood pulling her mother to her feet.
"Rise, my mother, and meet your court. You are now truly one of us."
Genevieve's eyes opened wide and horrified as she realised what had happened and what she had become. She gave a little sob and ran out. Madeline made no move to stop her, she shrugged indifferently.
"And now that's over and my guests have witnessed it, I think they should die. Let their blood cover the floor on which we will dance." She waved her hands at Lucia and Dante and then settled back onto her throne to watch the fight.