Dante swore that next time Lady tried to give him directions he was going to inform her what creative things she might try to do with them instead. He was lost. Hopelessly and unambiguously lost. That wasn't a terribly uncommon occurrence in his life. When the demon world bled into the human one or a devil was exerting too much influence on an area, things tended to get weird, or buildings got destroyed, normal city patterns completely disrupted. He'd gotten used to it, it wasn't that big of a deal, he'd just go along with the flow and he'd end up where he needed to be eventually. The large swaths of demons to cut down along the way definitely helped point him in the right direction. But there was nothing here but tall, tall buildings that seemed more and more twisted the further he walked. Something about the setting sun was making him uneasy, the way that it made the shadows around him loom and stretch. The devil hunter hadn't been afraid of the dark in a long, long time but that didn't stop him from flicking his eyes from one shadow to another, waiting for one to form teeth and lunge.
"You can come out now." he said to thin air, there had to be something here. He couldn't sense a devil per say but he'd never been one to discount a gut feeling when it was practically screaming at him like this. His voice echoed off the cobblestones, he blinked when he noticed those, this must be an old part of town if they hadn't replaced them… nothing responded to his call, as though he couldn't feel its presence in the weight of the air like a weight on the back of his neck. Typical. He spun Ebony once before slipping her back into the holster a hands twitch away, and slowed his walk a touch, practically sauntering down the street. The perfect appearance of cocky, easy prey, taunting whatever it was into coming after him. To the half devil's surprise, the presence neither attempted to come after him, nor did it fade into nothing, just continued to tickle the back of his neck with its eyes.
Somewhere in the distance a bell rang, and he couldn't help but smile, it was one of those old ones, up in some looming clock tower, ticking the time of the day by like the town hadn't been infested by demons and devils. Something about it reminded him of Vergil and he frowned, focussing back on the task at hand. Now was not the time to go wandering down memory lane. There was a bridge up ahead, the receiving end clouded in mist or fog or some sort of magic.
"What you want to fight me on your turf?" he said, conversationally as he stepped out onto the large structure. "Far be it from me to dissuade you." The bridge and the shadows didn't respond. Dante sighed
"Fine, spoilsport." he grumbled, glancing once over the edge of the stone rail. The bottom of the valley clouded in darkness but the sound of rushing water leaked up from far, far below. That was interesting but not a very helpful insight. He whistled as he walked, the obscurity of the other end showed no signs of letting up as even as he kept walking. Either the bridge was far longer than anticipated, or there was some sort of magic at play here…
The answer was turning out to be a bit of both, the bridge was, in fact, quite long, but as he got closer and closer, and the air got colder and colder Dante realized that the obscurity was in fact snow. There was a freakin blizzard here, in June! Okay so there were crazier things that he'd seen in his life, honestly this didn't even rank in the top ten, but it did make him think that he'd been heading in the right direction after all.
By the time he stepped back onto solid ground he could see his breath in the air and patches of snow crunched under boot but that wasn't what held his attention. No as he got closer he was able to make out a castle in the distance that had previously been obscured by the snow.
"I'm willing to bet money that the big ugly's holed up here." he said, pausing in his stride to properly look at the structure. It was old, gothic and beautiful in a haunting sort of way, with the moon, large and bright and ominous looming behind it. Picturesque, if that was the type of thing that tickled your fancy. Dante had seen too many summonings or sealings of different devils in similar buildings to get the appeal anymore. They were too closely tied with trouble in his mind. The watchful eye keeping tabs on him from just out of view hadn't gone away, but nothing had revealed itself on the bridge either. He'd been trying to pinpoint it but usually he just annoyed anyone hiding into revealing themselves rather than try to hunt them down.
The devil hunter was pulled from his thoughts by the sound of something moving, and a wet slurping noise. He looked in the direction of the sound and pulled his sword from the ether without a second thought. It wasn't a demon that he recognized but it was big and ugly and clearly feeding on a corpse and went down with a shriek underneath the Dante's blows. He cut down several of its brethren before crossing into the entryway of the castle, suppressing a shiver. It must be really cold if it was hitting him like this. Maybe it was a good thing that Lady had sent him instead…
The inside of the building was dark, no one had lived here in some time, the corners full of old cobwebs and dust, mournful ghosts turning their rage on him the moment that they noticed him. It was strange to see so many in one place, he thought, ghosts weren't a completely foreign concept, but he was rarely called in to handle them. These ones attacked in groups, hands bound and throats slit and the half devil wondered what had happened here and if that event was why demons had been attracted to it.
He wandered the twisting winding halls, broken occasionally by a brief fight or a moonbeam through an old shattered window but he didn't feel any closer to whatever must be manipulating the area. The hunter followed a general upward trend, taking winding stairs up towers and occasionally darting across rooftops when the trek back down to a connecting hallway seemed like too much effort. There were some strange gargoyle-like beasts up on the rooftops, which he unfortunately only discovered when one had nearly bowled him over the edge. As a silver lining he'd noticed a small strand of smoke in the sky from where it had knocked him. Once it was dead he started in the direction of the smoke, if nothing else it would be a goal. Perhaps there were living souls here after all…
As it slowly got closer he was able to pick out the warm smell of woodsmoke, either someone was trying to stay warm or burn the castle to the ground. Dante was starting to think that either option sounded pretty decent right about now with how long he'd been wandering around. There was just enough fight to get his blood up, but not enough to give him a run for his money. It was starting to grate at his nerves. The tower from which the smoke was coming was just up ahead and swiftly running out of patience, he leapt down to the wider portion of roof it jutted up from, shooting down the couple of gargoyles without a second thought and clambered in the hole that already existed in the wall.
The air was already warmer inside rather than out but the temperature steadily climbed as he made his way up the stairs to an almost comfortable level. He could hear the crackle of the fire as he rounded another corner and the sound of a person, breathing long and slow, heartbeat matching in a steady, easy thrum. Was someone sleeping up here? Maybe they were hurt, he could smell blood and sweat and gunpowder even before he reached the door. It wasn't quite human and that piqued his curiosity more than anything had so far as he reached the simple but sturdy wooden door from behind which the mystery lay.
Dante was curious but he still hadn't shaken that presence from the back of his mind, so he was cautious as he opened the door. The breathing on the other side maintained its slow rhythm, not even the slightest hitch even as some of the cooler air from the hall leaked in. The devil hunter just barely restrained himself from melting as heat started to seep into his bones again, instead taking in the room around him. It was lit by the warm glow of the fire in the hearth and by the moonlight streaming in from a single high, unbroken window near the top of the room. There was a small table taken up by a large weapon of a sort that he'd never seen before, jagged and bloody, and an old styled pistol. That explained the source of some of the scents that he could pick up. There were a few other odds and ends on the surface including some jars and bloody strips of cloth, lending credence to the idea of an injury. Other than a chair with a very grimy coat draped over the top the majority of the room was taken up by a bed. Musty and moth-eaten but full of blankets heaped on top of a person.
A woman. Probably. If he had to guess based on the shape and size of the heap. All the devil hunter could see was their closed eyes and several long strands of hair peeking out from the mounds of blankets. As he watched they buried closer into the covers and sighed, breath evening back out into a soothing rise and fall. Dante was starting to feel like he was intruding, but perhaps this person knew what was going on here, and what did they say? In for a penny, in for a pound? He inhaled, actually pulling their scent in now, trying to see what he could learn. They had definitely been injured, the smell of blood, almost-not-quite human clung to them and he felt more confident in his wager that they were a she. And that they'd been in a hell of a fight before this, adrenalin sweat sticking to their skin and the coat by the fire. They were a mess on top of everything else, dirt and grime and some sort of muck that he could pick up on that he didn't want to identify but reminded him of what he'd been fighting along the way here. He just started to lean forward, trying to get a closer look when there was a shift in their heartbeat, a quickening of their breath. The devil hunter didn't have a chance to react when the dark eyelashes fluttered open because he was already being tackled to the floor.
It took a lot of fighting his instinct to retaliate but he had no reason to assume this person was an enemy but they'd just tackled him and had shoved some sort of small object into the meat of his chest. His hands had closed into fists but he let them lay limply on the ground and the object was removed from his chest, pulled back as though to strike again. It appeared to be some sort of small knife but that wasn't what held his attention, it was the vibrant red of the person's eyes glaring down at him, an absolutely inhuman sound rippling from their chest. Dante wondered for just a moment if he actually was going to have to fight them when their mind started to seem to catch up with their body, breath slowing and the knife starting to lower hesitantly.
"Ouch." he said from where he lay, still not quite daring to move. The glow from within the person's eyes started to dim a bit and the knife lowered the rest of the way. The half devil finally had the chance to actually look at them, feminine in appearance, stripped to their underthings with dark hair, disheveled from sleep, that looked even darker against their pale complexion. Strangest though were those red eyes, they'd seemed almost lit from within a few moments ago but had dulled down to something more natural as the person continued to consider him, head tilting slightly to one side.
"You're not a Hunter." they said in a soft voice that was completely at odds with the snarl that they'd given off a moment before.
"I'm a demon hunter if that's what you mean." Dante said with a raised brow, he still didn't dare to move, in case the person decided to stab him again. Not that it was a threat but he'd rather get some answers in this strange place he'd found himself in.
"But you don't have the moon-scent." They had shifted their weight back onto their heels and were watching him intensely and Dante finally realized that the strip of darkness around their eyes was not some sort of face paint, it was grime and blood, not washed away before they had laid down in the bed.
"Not sure what that is." Dante said, the scent of strange blood tickling at his nose again and he noted the brighter splotch of red along their side, wrapped under grimy strips of cloth. "Are you hurt?" he asked and those eyes flashed again, pinning him far more effectively than the slight weight on top of him. They sighed then, most of the tension bleeding out of their shoulders and they stood, looking down at the makeshift bandages.
"It was not enough to send me back to the Dream. Nor was the Queen's blood enough to relieve its entirety." They said this like it was an actual explanation, not complete nonsense. Dante didn't say anything, hoping they would explain more and not wanting to move and get stabbed again. They looked to the table with a calculating expression before reaching over and picking up one of the small jars that Dante had noticed before, along with a syringe that he hadn't picked up on. They withdrew some of the liquid, the smell pricking the air now that it wasn't in the capped off jar and the half devil was a bit startled to realize that it was more of the strange, not quite human blood.
"Uh… what're you doing?" he asked, they gave him a look from the corner of their eye.
"Do you also require blood? I don't have much to spare at the moment." they said.
"No, I'm, ah, I'm good? I meant what are you doing with it?" he asked. As he spoke they brought the syringe down into their leg, pressing the plunger down with a hiss and a sigh. Their eyes flashed just a little before dimming back down.
"Our thirst for blood satiates us, soothes our fears…" they said and the tone made Dante think they were quoting something, but he hadn't heard anything like that before. He was wondering if he'd bumbled into a pile of bat-shit crazy, or at least more than usual, and if it was worth trying to sort out. They tossed the syringe almost carelessly onto the table when they were done with it and he could hear their heart pounding in their chest even as they took longer breaths to try to calm it. After a moment they moved to the singular chair and sat down in it, reaching behind themselves to tug at the tie that was holding the long dark hair in place.
"Where are we?" Dante asked, feeling safe enough to sit up, but didn't move to stand just yet.
"Castle Cainhurst." she said, starting to run fingers through the knots of hair. "Home of the Vilebloods. You… you're an Outsider, like me." their voice was gentle, pleasant when the words that it carried weren't complete nonsense.
"Yeah, Dante." he held out his hand, and she took it a shadow passing her expression before answering with
"Katherine." they said. "I apologize for my earlier reaction. I was… startled." she was looking down at her hands, they were rough, callused and there was blood and muck caught under her fingernails. Dante found himself shrugging
"Happens to the best of us." he said. "How did you get hurt?" the smell of an open wound had started to fade, so whatever the hell was up with the blood that they'd injected themselves with seemed to be helping. She looked at him, clearly a little suspicious.
"I wished to reach the queen's throne room, the unfulfilled martyr outside the door disagreed with my desire." they said, looking back to their hands and picking at some of the dirt. Dante mouthed some of the words, hoping that perhaps they would start to make sense. Katherine noticed him and gave a half twitch of something that may have been a smile.
"You truly are an Outsider, I remember the wild confusion." Her eyes locked with his and he didn't like whatever was lurking behind them, it spoke of ancient whispers beyond time and the knowledge held only by things far outside of human understanding. What on earth had she gotten herself into? What had he?
"But the secrets… they beckon so sweetly do they not?" they whispered. Dante suppressed a shiver as the presence at the back of his neck loomed heavier, he covered it with a grin and a shrug.
"Sure, but I'm more interested in you, why'd you come here?" he waved a hand at the cold walls around them
"To Cainhurst? I was invited. To Yharnam? I…" they paused "I don't rightly recall, I was ill. Yharnam's blood healing is said to be able to cure all. I suppose they are correct, I no longer feel ill, or weak."
"But you don't remember why you came?" he pressed. They shrugged
"It hasn't seemed particularly pertinent to look into my past while fighting for my life. Does what I was before truly matter? I am a Hunter now. I hunt beasts."
"The creepy crawlies outside?" Dante asked, his gaze flicking to the large weapon that sat on the side table. Katherine nodded, though she smiled at his choice of words.
"Would you care for a demonstration?" they said slyly, glancing at him, grin just a little too wide, and a little too sharp. That probably should have concerned him but he couldn't help the trickle of anticipation that curled in his veins.
"You're healed up enough for that?" he asked, just to be sure, he knew that even if you took something to speed up healing to keep you going, it didn't mean that he always wanted to keep going. In lieu of answering, Katherine stood up, unwrapping the grimy bandages from their torso, revealing long lean muscles that stretched and flexed in a way that Dante gave an appreciative look. There was still blood spattered on the skin but the flesh itself was unbroken, not even scarred. Creepy but that blood that they'd used must be no joke. It was a good enough answer for Dante. He stood up and stretched, feeling the excited pulse of bloodlust from the sword currently tucked into the ether.
Katherine started pulling on the various bits and bobs that were tucked under the coat laying over the chair, it was a surprisingly large amount of fabric and leather that appeared from underneath. They put them on with a practiced air, pulling their hair back into the low ponytail that it had been in before and pulling up a mask over their mouth and nose. It lined up with the grime that was still on her face, Dante realized that the mask must've been protecting her mouth and nose from getting whatever gunk came out of those monsters. Smart move.
Once dressed they grabbed the hunk of metal and spikes on the table and slung it low on their back while they both moved toward the door. The cold outside hit even harder after having been in the warmth of the room, but the half devil shoved the discomfort down in favor of the anticipation of a fight. Katherine led the way to a mostly flat roof, it was covered in snow, but the dangerous surface would only add to the fun. Dante looked around as the Hunter moved to the other side of the roof, rolling their shoulders and settling that monster of a weapon into their hands in a familiar grip, shifting the weight back and forth before flicking something up near the top of the handle and the whole thing flung open with a very satisfying ka-thunk. The half devil grinned, he couldn't wait to see that thing in action. He pulled the Dante from the ether and settled into a fighting stance, waiting for the other Hunter to twitch.
They both stood, breathing in the anticipation of the fight, these moments on the dangling edge of movement were something that made a fight that much sweeter. Sometimes there were words flung back and forth, and sometimes it was like this, staring at each other, each breath an avalanche in the silence. Both of them moved at the same time, Dante pulled Ivory and let out a couple shots just as Katherine pulled out the old style gun and let out a shot of her own. That gun had some oomph, Dante thought as he shot the bullet out of the air, he could smell the gunpowder on the breeze as he moved forward. He pulled on his power, generating several summoned swords as he did and fired them off at a moderate pace. Healed or not, Katherine had just been hurt and he didn't want to force them to use up the last of their healing tools just for a fight for fun. He quickly realized that he needn't have worried as they slipped from side to side, easily out of the way before reaching into their pocket to grab at something. The object was too small to tell what it was but when they started moving again it was swifter, their form almost verging on incorporeal.
Dante was surprised to feel the shock of the cleaver through his arm when he blocked it with his sword. The surprise continued when the weapon collapsed back down and Katherine delivered an equally brutal strike back down. The weight of the jagged slab of metal was doing a lot of work but she was a lot stronger than she had looked at first glance, eyes glinting a brighter red from under their hat and Dante grinned back. He shoved the cleaver off and started a counterattack, the Dante snapping out in rapid succession now that he had a feel for their speed and strength he was less afraid of letting loose a bit of his power. As expected, Katherine dodged swiftly out of the way, darting to the side of him, still trying to crowd his space rather than backing away to regroup. He hadn't expected that, she was an extremely aggressive fighter, the hacksaw of a weapon snapping in and out smoothly with their attacks as easy as breathing.
They both broke away from each other, breathing slightly heavier than when they had started, and Dante could see the excitement glittering in Katherine's eyes from where they stood, the cleaver folding back in again. She shifted it behind her and the cleaver disappeared, probably into the ether, but he was surprised to see them use it. When their hand reappeared, there was a small thin blade and he just had the time to see it glint dangerously before she darted forward again. There was another glint off the metal as it swiped and split into two pieces, both headed right for his flesh, faster even than before. He knew that his smile was a bit sharper than was specifically normal this time but he couldn't help it. This was a far better fight than he'd ever had recently. If Katherine noticed she didn't say anything, just upped the speed with which she struck out, eyes gleaming from beneath their hat.
The clang between their weapons rang out like music, back and forth, apart and together again, it was more of a dance than a fight. They had both grazed each other more than once, the smell of blood in the air, however brief it had been before the wounds closed, stirred them both into a faster frenzy. Dante started to reach into the ether, hoping that he'd remembered to shove Agni and Rudra there, thinking it would be a fun way to pair blades when a shot rang out, catching him in the chest. It was a bit closer to his heart than he would've liked, not that he couldn't take it, but that was pushing the line of 'friendly dual'. What actually surprised him, was that in the half second of pause that getting shot gave him, Katherine had darted up, and with a clawed hand, shoved it straight up under his sternum, twisting uncomfortably amongst his innards. They relaxed then, clearly thinking they'd won with that move, not finishing through on it, but proving she could.
The half devil grinned, feeling power start flooding his veins as he let go of his Trigger in a bright flash of red. He caught the Hunter's eyes widening, startled, before they were flung away, rolling once before finding her feet. She lifted the blades and reached inside her coat again before darting back into battle in that misty way they'd started the fight with. Dante laughed as he dove back into the frey, most wouldn't go back at a spar once he revealed his Trigger, his friends and brother aside. The Hunter came back at him with increased ferocity, landing hits harder than they had before, the amusement gone from their eyes and Dante was worried that maybe he'd gone a bit too far. He swapped out from the Dante to King Cerberus and hooked it behind her leg, tripping her so that they tumbled, off-balance, onto her rear. The wicked sharp blades bit into his torso despite the fact that he had her pinned pretty well to the ground. King Cerberus sparked dangerously in his hands and he was curious to see that Katherine started to go limp, the fight draining out of her and the blades starting to slide from where they were lodged amongst his guts. He grinned and let his Trigger slide off, starting to stand and feeling his healing begin to kick in to fix the damage. The Hunter was blinking at him in confusion, not reacting when he offered a hand in their direction.
"Okay I know that was a little cheap, but so was shooting me as a distraction." he said, leaning a little bit and smiling wider when they took his hand and got to her feet. She was still staring at him, hesitantly reaching up and pulling down the mask that covered her face.
"You… I thought you had succumbed to the Beast Plague." they said.
"The… what?" Dante had started back in the direction of the room, hoping the fire was still going. It was cold out here.
"The Scourge of Beasts." Katherine said, slowly following after him
"Yeah, I have no idea what that is." the devil hunter shrugged, swinging easily back in the broken window that they'd exited from. The other hunter was giving him a perplexed look as they also came back out of the wind and began making their way up the stairs toward the room, soft voice explaining as they went.
"The creatures that you fought on your way in were afflicted with the Scourge, it makes beasts of men, use of the Old Blood seems to be linked to the spread. I have seen several Hunters succumb. Never have I seen one… revert to how they were before…"
"I mean… I don't think I'm infected with this… Scourge. Not sure I could be…" the last part was muttered, he'd never managed to get sick in his life, something that seemed to drive Lady crazy whenever she caught a cold. He could feel his fingers tingling as they closed the door to the room, fire still spitting in the hearth.
"Then how…" Katherine took her hat off, pulling the makeshift mask from their neck and started piling things in the chair once more, shucking off gloves that were still coated in Dante's blood and tossing them toward the small basin that the half devil hadn't noticed before.
"My mom had an interesting taste in men." Dante shrugged but the Hunter kept staring at him in confusion and he sighed. "I'm half devil, that's why I can change back and forth like that." He explained. Katherine looked at him, digesting the words as they shrugged their coat off, leaving her in a vest and a shirt that probably used to be a nice crisp white.
"I have never heard of such a thing…" she said. "But there were many things I didn't know, or didn't understand before awakening on the transfusion table."
"You're one hell of a fighter yourself, it's been a while since I've been given a run for my money like that." Dante leaned back against the small table, tossing his own coat over the top, enjoying the heat that was seeping into his bones. Katherine tilted their head at the turn of phrase and then looked him up and down, eyes taking on more of that strange, bright glow.
"You were faster than I anticipated, particularly with such a large blade. I could barely keep up, even with the Blades of Mercy." They said, glancing at the sharp metal that was nearly hidden beneath his coat.
"Yeah, those are impressive, so is the hacksaw thing. Do you mind?" he asked, gesturing toward the blades. Katherine nodded and he gently pulled the weapon out, up close it a dull grey, small hints of rust along the bottom blade. Despite that Dante was impressed when barely running a finger over the edge split the skin. It was just enough that a drop or two of blood oozed out before it resealed, smoothing back out to unmarked skin but it was enough that the Hunter's eyes snapped to the red drop clinging to the half devil's finger. He noticed just before moving to wipe his hand along his pants, he raised an eyebrow at the Hunter before him.
"You… want it?" he asked, holding his hand out toward Katherine. She swallowed stiffly and looked up at his eyes again, he just smiled "It's alright, not like I need it." The hand that took his was calloused but gentle as they brought the tiny ruby drops up to their mouth. Their mouth was far warmer than the skin contacting his own, wet tongue sliding over where the cut had been, collecting the droplets like they were liquid gold and his finger sliding out from pale lips with a light pop.
Dante felt a completely different kind of excitement sliding down his spine at the face the Hunter made, dark lashes slowly fluttering back open to reveal eyes aglow and pupils blown wide open, almost eclipsing the ring of brilliant crimson. She let go of his hand and instead wrapped a long fingers around the side of his head, tangling in his hair and pulling him down to taste directly from his mouth instead. The half devil wholly blamed the play fight for getting him so worked up and reacted enthusiastically, his own hands pulling their body closer to his own, adding more rumples to the already wrinkled vest beneath his fingers. Kathryn kissed like they fought, with a kinetic frenzy, hardly stopping long enough to enjoy any of the contact before shifting again. She finally pulled back, probably for air, panting slightly, cheeks flushed, she tried to take a step back and Dante didn't stop her.
"I… apologize, I did not mean to get carried away. I did not… anticipate that it would be so intense." Red eyes were not quite meeting his own though Dante could smell that they were still worked up but far be it from him to push.
"It's okay, I certainly didn't mind." he grinned, but when they still didn't look up to meet his gaze he lay a hand gently on their arm. Their face was even more red than it had been a moment ago but there was a tension in the muscles he could feel under his fingers. "I don't want to push one way or the other," he said "but, if you wanted to keep going, I'm game."
There was a rather long pause of hesitation as they watched him, nostrils flaring, pupils still blown wide open before she nodded slightly.
"Yeah?" he said it like a question, giving the Hunter one last easy out but she reached a hand out, looping it through one of his belt loops and giving a more solid, assured nod and pulled him forward. They took a step back toward the chair themselves, shoving the clothes on top carelessly onto the floor with a clatter before settling down onto it. Dante let himself be tugged along and down onto his knees. Katherine leaned forward to kiss him again and he put his hands on either side of their face, halting their progress.
"I do have one request however," the only response he got was the quirking of an eyebrow, so he forged on "take it a bit slower," he mouthed at a soft earlobe "savor it." He could hear an intake of breath and the smell of arousal flared a bit stronger. So they liked that, he grinned, leaning back on the balls of his feet before reaching and tugging at the green scarf that disappeared into the vest.
"May I?" he asked
"You may," Katherine said, leaning back a little to assist with unwinding the garment, "but only if I may as well."
"Oh, I insist you do." He grinned cheekily, tugging the scarf out of their vest and pulling gently on it until it fell into their lap and then onto the floor with a whisper. When the scarf was out of the way Katherine caught his hands, delicately peeling the gloves off of his hands before pulling one up to her mouth, velvety tongue laving over his fingers before it got pulled inside. Their eyes were locked with his as her cheeks hollowed, sucking harshly even as they pulled his hand from their mouth, brushing ever so slightly against teeth that felt sharper than they should have. Dante felt the hair on the back of his neck stand on end and his heart beat loudly in his ears. He started to surge forward but was pushed back onto his knees; Katherine was smirking at him, hands shifting to the buttons of their vest, undoing each one painfully slowly.
"I thought you wanted to savor it." she said, sharp teeth flashing in their mischief. He tried and failed to suppress the growl that started low in his throat, sure that his own eyes were flashing as Katherine slipped out of the vest before starting on the buttons of their shirt. Dante yanked his own shirt over his head, tossing it somewhere off to the side, hopefully not in the fire but he wasn't exactly paying attention to the toss.
The Hunter started to slip the shirt off her arms, exposing pale shoulders and the half devil leaned up again, grabbing their wrists, keeping them entangled in the shirt as he licked a strip of skin clean near the shoulder, the tip of his tongue pressing against the pulse point before he pulled back. He tried to tamp down on his power a bit, not wanting to scare them off just because he got too enthusiastic. He quickly realized that he needn't have worried as Katherine wrapped her legs around him, yanking herself and the whole chair closer to him, a noise that was somewhere between a moan and a snarl leaking out of their mouth.
"Let my hands go," she said between breaths, Dante thought about continuing to hold on out of cheeky rebellion but she continued, "I don't want to ruin the shirt." Her cheeks were flushed and he could hear their heart hammering a mile a minute as he eased the tension on their slender wrists. They quickly slipped their hands out of the shirt, leaving it where it draped over the seat of the chair before reaching behind herself, deftly undoing the breast band so it fell to their lap. Dante leaned up onto the chair now, kissing his way up her neck, hands tracing gently up and down muscular sides, pausing just briefly at their chest to tease nipples to harden before moving away again. Katherine sighed, arching into the motion and her arms went to join her legs wrapped around his body. His breath hissed out through his teeth at the sharp raking pain that shot down his back. He lapped at the side of their jaw, savoring the taste of the sweat that clung to the skin.
"You're so beautiful like this, wild and full of spirit." he said against her skin, kneading lightly at their chest, feeling them arch into the motion, the sharp pain sliding down his back again.
"You… don't mind?" she asked, pulling a claw tipped hand up and lapping at the blood that coated it. He caught one of the claws and cleared his own blood from it before responding
"Not at all but if you ah," he sighed as they ran their claws down his chest this time, his own power starting to stir again, "you may have another beastie to contend with." Bright reds and oranges followed the lines of blood as they sealed over. Katherine languidly licked the blood from their claws.
"Good thing I'm a Hunter," she pushed him back down to his knees "now beast, you best behave and get to work." They'd already undone their belt and fly with the other hand, and began wiggling their pants over their hips and the half devil eagerly assisted in pulling them the remainder of the way off, tossing them out of sight and out of mind. He licked his lips the scent of her arousal hitting the air full force now as he leaned forward and kissed a line up a pale thigh, growling a little as the Hunter above him grabbed a bit of his hair and tugged sharply. He reached under her thighs and around, grabbing behind her hips for better leverage before burying his nose in the wild damp curls, inhaling deeply the musky, sharp scent. They were already damp, leaking slick onto his tongue as he pressed it to the swollen nub that he found there.
There was a sharp gasp above him and a noise that scraped at the inside of his head in the strangest, most delightful way. He continued his ministrations and glanced up and almost paused in confusion, they had their head tilted back, mouth open in delight but he could feel their eyes on him despite the dark lashes covering the crimson tinted orbs, not just that but there was something just beyond their skin… a reflection of the stars, the weight of the cosmos burning from the inside out… It was a gorgeous sight and the hunter was nearly pulled away from his task at hand, but he hadn't survived this long by getting distracted from a job by a pretty sight to see. Whether it be blood soaked or starlit. Dante flicked his tongue and gave a gentle scrap of his teeth, getting another tug at his hair in reward. He unwound one of his hands, massaging the hard muscle next to his head, licking in now. Swirling the slick around and letting his grip on his human form relax a little, letting him reach deeper and earn another gasp, claws scratching dangerously along his scalp and another noise scratching inside his ears. A pleased rumble ran through his chest and he renewed his efforts, trying not to get lost in the heat of the moment, trying to pay attention to how their hand flexed, to the spasming of the thigh muscles next to him. Katherine sighed and pressed down, canting their hips down and toward him. He took the hint and pressed a little harder, feeling their pelvis bone tilt into his hand and away again as she rocked her hips. The devil hunter grasped slightly tighter with his free hand and suddenly there was the scent of blood in the air, both of them gasping and shuddering and he pulled away long enough to run his tongue along the small scratch, delighting in the burst of flavor that it provided, wanting to shed more, to bury himself in the feel and taste and-
Katherine was tugging him upward and pressing their lips together with urgency now, hands raking bloody lines down his back and their legs hitching around his hips to continue the undulating motion.
"You seemed to like that, sure you don't want more?" Dante asked, pausing to suck air in through his teeth, trying to hold back the majority of his trigger, Katherine hadn't seemed to mind but he didn't want to push his luck.
"I'd prefer to share in the pleasure." the Hunter said, reaching down to unbutton his pants with one dexterous hand, pushing them aside to get at the prize within. The half devil sighed as calloused fingers wrapped around him, twitching his hips lightly into the motion.
"Hard to argue with that…" he sighed. There was a rough push at his chest and he went with it, tipping over backward and supporting himself on his elbows instead, looking down his body at the hungry looking hunter lowering down between his knees. He lifted his hips to assist as they yanked his pants from his body, tossing them into the growing mess on the floor around them before licking a line up his thigh, murmuring into the tender flesh near his hip.
"The sweet blood beckons…"
"Then why not take a taste?" Dante teased, grinning wolfishly when crimson orbs flashed a bit brighter in his direction before needle sharp teeth broke the skin. He growled at the bright flash of pain and then groaned at the burning pull against the skin, rocking his hips even as it tugged at the teeth set into his flesh. He wound his hand through their dark hair, gripping it tightly but not pulling, not just yet. She pulled back, red staining her lips almost as brightly as her eyes before leaning down and swallowing him whole, cheeks hollowing with the suction and blood and saliva leaking out to join their hand in the rising and falling motion.
"Ah… take it easy sweetheart, it's not a race." he said, half jokingly, honestly the wet press of tongue and the roof of their mouth felt fantastic. The growl that vibrated up their throat and the threatening press of sharp teeth set all of his nerves alight and he didn't even try to suppress the groan that worked its way loose.
"Alright, not a sweetheart," he paused to take a breath, his hips giving a small aborted buck before Katherine grabbed them and pressed them down, "got it." There was the press of something cool and smooth along his hip and he looked down, curious, to see something pale and milkywhite wriggling along his skin. A closer look showed that it was part of Katherine, sprouting off the Hunter's hand like a strange additional appendage.
"Okay that's a little weird, not going to lie." he said, leaning back again but his complaints stopped as soon as it wrapped around his shaft, squeezing rhythmically. "Oh fuck, I take back what I said, that's incredible." He could feel Katherine's laughter and shivered before grabbing ahold of her hair and giving a tiny thrust before pulling her back.
"Oh shit, whew… that… okay," he laughed, his heart pounding fiercely in his chest in a way that he hadn't realized that he'd missed, "that was something else…" Katherine was grinning like a cat that got the cream, the strange tendril still pulsing around him, but slower now, giving him a moment to catch his breath.
"Are you in control of that?" he nodded at the squeezing appendage, unable to help rocking into it just a little. Katherine gave him a strange look before the tendril unwound and they seemed to look at it as though seeing it for the first time. It wriggled slightly before he blinked and it was as though his perspective had shifted and it had never been there in the first place, perhaps if he squinted his eyes he could still see it on the very edge of his periphery.
"Of a sorts." they said, leaning forward to lick and touch her way up his torso and Dante decided to put the weird shape shifting out of his mind. He wasn't exactly one to be able to begrudge someone that. He tilted his head back sighing at the light nibbles and the threat of sharp teeth along his pulse, wrapping his hands around her legs and slowly sitting up, taking her with him. The Hunter sat up, rubbing against his cock in a way that made it pulse and twitch, and Dante got to his feet, still trying to navigate around the lips and tongue pressed against his own. They both laughed as he missed and ended up pressing a wet kiss just under the Hunter's eye. He was going to dump the pair of them on the bed but somehow they ended up against the bedpost, the Hunter holding onto it above their head and leveraging the grip of her legs on his waist to raise herself up. Dante sighed at the feel of their slick against him and used his own grip on their hips to help align them, sliding in slowly, feeling the tremble in their muscles along his sides. He paused, giving them time to adjust when the legs wrapped around his hips tightened and the Hunter rolled their body, muscles engaging and relaxing down the whole length of their torso in a sinewy motion that had the half devil drinking in the sight. She lifted her hips slightly, sliding over and gripping at him delightfully as she sighed and tilted her head back against the bedpost behind them. Dante ran his thumbs up their hip bones, lifting them slightly before letting gravity slam them back down. He grinned at the groan that came from the back of their throat and tightened his fingers on their hips at the tight heat clenched around him.
"Fucking hell…" he muttered, leaning down to lick between their breasts. There was a growl and a scraping noise from somewhere above him. The Hunter rolled their hips again, a light sheen of sweat starting to break out along her skin. Dante sighed and thrust into the motion, both of them letting their breath out at the feeling. He moved his hands slowly, making sure they had their balance before running them appreciatively up the long lines of Katherine's torso before settling over the pale pink nubs, kneading them gently.
"This… is one hell of a view." he said before taking one in his mouth, swirling his tongue around it and giving a ghostly touch of teeth. Katherine sighed and rocked her hips at that so Dante made sure to give both sides their equal treatment.
"You don't strike me…" they paused to rock their hips a few times "as one with an eye for the arts." They squeezed their thighs and tilted their pelvis in such a way that had Dante grabbing her hips to still them so he could catch his breath and prolong the fun. He received a scowl and then a sharp knowing grin from the Hunter for his efforts.
"That should tell you how good it is." he teased when he no longer felt as though the next thrust was going to send him over. This earned him a light scoff but Katherine's expression was warm.
"Well then I'm sorry to disappoint, but I cannot remain in this position forever." She said, shifting sweat slicked thighs and drawing Dante's attention to the tremble in the muscles.
"Then I suppose it's a good thing someone's left this bed here for good use." he said, reaching under them to help support their weight as she let go of the bedpost and resettled her hands on his shoulders. He grunted as the shifted around cause him to slip out, Katherine's muscles clenching once on the way. Thankfully it was only one side step to the bed where the half devil rather gracelessly dumped the Hunter, who laughed as they tumbled back in a tangle of limbs, tugging Dante along with them.
Fingers tangled in his hair, tugging none too gently to tilt his head back so the Hunter could nip and bite at his throat. He growled at one nip that broke skin, the smell of blood spiking the air again, twining around the smell of arousal that was seeping off of both of them. There was a matching growl beneath him and Katherine shoved back against his shoulder, flipping them over and straddling his waist, grinding down against him before adjusting and guiding him back inside with a soft sigh. Dante grabbed her hips, trying to pull them back down to fully seated but they were stronger than they looked. She gave him a devious look, eyes flaring a brighter red as she canted her hips, the tip sliding in and out and in again. The half devil felt his eyes roll back in his head, worrying his lip and tasting blood as he bit too hard
"Ugh… now that's just cheating…" anything else he was going to say was cut off when they sank back down onto him fully, baring their own sharp teeth, rocking hips back and forward in a desperate sort of buck. He could hear their heart hammering in their chest though that was quickly overwhelmed by a frustrated growl that clawed its way past clenched teeth. Katherine opened her eyes where Dante could almost swear he saw shining stars again.
"Do you mind if I…" they reached a hand toward where they were joined together.
"Not at all, do you want a hand?" he wiggled his fingers between them, causing the Hunter to give a breathy laugh.
"No, just… keep looking pretty." she said, reaching between her thighs and sliding mostly off of him.
"Tough job, but I think I can manage." he teased, tucking his hands behind his head in a casual gesture that he knows shows off his torso, smirking as Katherine traced the lines up and down with their eyes before they fluttered closed. They stayed frozen like that for a solid moment, tension visible along their forearm and hand before his view was lost between their bodies. Unable to keep perfectly still, Dante pulled his hands from behind his head and they fluttered for a moment, unsure of where to rest before settling on the Hunter's thighs. They twitched slightly but didn't tell him to stop as he rubbed soft circles in the scarred skin. If anything, they rocked harder against their hand, the tip of his cock slipping in and out. Her free hand came to rest on his chest, claws digging into the skin, drawing thin lines of red that sealed up almost as quickly as they appeared. Dante felt his own claws pricking at her skin in retaliation, the smell of her blood stirring him back up and he suppressed the urge to twitch his hips. Instead he slowly sat up, moving with enough hesitation that Katherine wouldn't lose their balance on top of him and ran his hands up their sides. Occasionally pricking fresh blood into the air and delighting in the way it caused their hips to jolt and breath to gasp out. She pulled blood coated claw tips up to their mouth, eyes opening to stare at him with wide blown pupils, a short keen and gasp working out of her throat as their hips paused before jerking with a slowing repetition. Awareness seemed to seep back into their frame and she blinked at Dante. He was certain that some of his more monstrous traits were showing through but the Hunter didn't seem to mind at all. Instead Katherine leaned down to lick the excess traces of his blood from his chest, taking only the slightest pause before sliding back down his shaft.
"Fuck…" was about all he managed, feeling more power flare in his veins, small sparks flitting off his skin "I'm not going to make it that much farther," he warned as Katherine ground their hips down into his teasingly.
"I think I'll manage." she said, slowing down her pace as though to taunt him. He huffed out a breath and bucked up into them, trying to encourage them to go faster. The Hunter grinned at him and obliged, picking up the pace and smearing some of their own blood from their torso and then onto his lips. The taste of the almost alien blood and the way they slammed back down, canting her hips forward at the end of the stroke was enough to send him over the edge. Katherine rode him through the aftershocks until he put a hand on their hip to stop them. She grinned at him and slid off, tipping over to fall back onto the bed. Dante glanced over at the Hunter, seeing the warping and shifting stars behind their gaze again, an ancient sentience looking at him for an instant before the red, red eyes were back.
"That, was something else…" he said, looking back at the ceiling and closing his eyes.
Dante jolted in bed, heart hammering in his chest, suddenly feeling very, very awake and aware of the sheets tangling around his legs and the clammy sheen of sweat drying on his skin. He sat up, mind scrambling to hold onto the dream that invaded every sense, even as the power that had flooded his veins slowly dissipated, reddish spikes smoothing down into pale human flesh once more. It had felt so real… the monsters, the thrill of the fight, the feel of her flesh against his hands… The night was actually fairly cool as he stood and went to the window, what had actually managed to get him so worked up? A faint whiff of a scent clung in the air, reminding him of tainted blood and alien starlight and he looked out at the moon and it felt wrong, not as big and as red as it should be. Everything felt so strange, as though that had been the waking world and this the dream… He shook his head, he probably needed to get out more, tell Morison that he would take some of the jobs to clear out some pests that the warehouse folks kept calling him about. He sighed and turned back to his bed, some… sound tickling at the back of his brain… it scratched at the inside of his skull, sounding like a shape he could just barely make out… Hunter…
