Hazbin Devils

Chapter 5

"Dante."

It was a soft whisper, but the voice was unmistakably calling his name. He could not ascertain where it had come from; he was in a deep and dark voice after all. Everywhere he looked, there was featureless darkness. Dante felt like he was floating in the air, but there was no air to be felt. It all felt like a vacuum, yet he could still breath. Looking above him, he saw a tiny pinprick of golden light. Curious, he decided to see if he can float towards it. Pushing his legs as if he was swimming, he shot upwards. As the light got closer, it got brighter and brighter.

Dante shielded his eyes with his right hand while still allowing some light through his fingers. Once his eyes got used to the light, his palm felt some warmth. Moving his hand aside slowly, the devil hunter noticed a familiar sight. It was the divinity statue in all its golden glory with sand in the hourglass trickling away slowly. From afar, it looked big. However, when he got up close, the thing was small enough to sit on his palm. Dante grabbed onto the base and examined it. It certainly felt real and he could feel the metal and creases in the design. Before he could interact with the hourglass, he felt a suction coming from below him that pulled him so suddenly that he lost his grip on the statue.

His eyes shot open. The air smelled like roses; it was faint but distinct enough to be recognisable. There were distant sounds of gunfire coming from outside, but aside from that, the morning was generally quiet. A cool breeze had blown into the room and it felt like a cold and gentle hand caressing his face. The time on the clock read 6:30 a.m., far earlier than his usual waking time but he could not go back to sleep anyway. Vergil on the other hand was still asleep like a log; in fact, he slept as straight as one too. Dante could not recall if his brother ever slept like that when they were younger. For all he knew, it could have been a habit he developed over the years.

For a brief moment, he could not remember where he was or what happened last night. He stretched his arms and took a long yawn while walking towards the window. Dante propped his hands on the windowsill and took a deep breath. The smell of roses definitely came from outside, but where was it from? Looking up at the sky, he stared at the whitish orb with a halo above it. He remembered now. Heaven, so close yet so far, he thought as he drummed his fingers. It was just then did he also remember having a conversation about heaven with Charlie along with her hopes of redeeming sinners. Dante still found it hard to accept that it was even remotely possible, but he was an outsider anyway. What did he know about this hell?

"Dante," he heard his brother call out.

Looking back into the room, he saw Vergil pushing aside his blanket and sitting up. "Vergil," he responded.

"What're you doing up this early?" Vergil asked. He put on a black singlet got up. "I never took you for an early riser."

"Can't sleep," Dante replied. He considered telling his elder brother about the dream he had, but he closed his mouth and decided against it.

Vergil stretched himself and got out of bed. He was bare-chested and many parts of his body bore scars. A black singlet was enough to only cover his torso, but the ones on his arm still showed, dull red reminders of battles and struggles past. Dante had some of his own too but they were not as many as his brother's. Wounds healed but some scars would never go away.

"Well, I was thinking about meditating," said Vergil while throwing on his coat. "But since you're awake, you wanna finish this?"

"The fight we started?" Dante chuckled and sighed. "I don't think we'll ever finish it, Vergil. We've been fighting since forever. But hey, I won't back down from a good scrap," he said with a determined glint in his eye.

"Good, then meet me at the courtyard later," Vergil said while walking towards the bathroom.

"Sure, but I'm still one point ahead of you." Dante held up a finger while grinning at his brother.

"One can always dream, Dante," Vergil remarked as he tore open a packet of disposable toothbrush. "And that applies especially to you."

Once Vergil was done, it was Dante's turn to clean himself up. A quick brush of his teeth and a wipe of the face and he was ready to start the day. He decided not to bring his coat along and instead opted to stick with the black t-shirt that Lucifer gave him. It had a screaming flaming skull in the front, and Dante thought it would look cooler if the skull had not also worn a jester's headdress. He really disliked the circus theme, especially when all things jester reminded him too much of Arkham.

After closing the door to the room, he walked past Angel's room which was just next to theirs. The door was slightly ajar and there were light snores coming from inside. He peeked in and saw Angel Dust hugging a pillow tightly with his arms. It sounded like he was talking in his sleep too but Dante could not make out what he was saying. Quietly, he closed the door while trying to keep it as quiet as possible and he was thankful the hinges were not squeaky. When he went downstairs to the lobby, Dante was surprised to find Vergil still there. However, he was gazing at a divinity statue that was located by the entranceway of the hotel. He walked up to his brother who was also deep in thought judging by his scowl.

"Has that always been there?" Dante asked when he approached Vergil.

"I do not know, but it's certainly…interesting." He looked at Dante and shook his head. "Either way, I don't like the implications," he said and pushed the door open.

"I wonder if Charlie would notice," Dante said while following his brother out.

"She'll notice it as long as she isn't blind. It does present an interesting scenario however," Vergil added.

Dante's mouth creased. What did he mean by "interesting scenario"? Deep down, he had an inkling of what Vergil might mean when he said that, but he was not sure about it. "Hey, Vergil, should we investigate this matter?"

They were right in the middle of the courtyard when Vergil stopped in his tracks and turned to face Dante. He drew his sword. "I think we should. If it really is what I think it is, then it would become our problem."

"If he's here, then I think we can settle the score with him," Dante remarked with a smirk. He summoned his own sword and gave it a spin. "And perhaps get our own asses back to where we came from too."

"That is a big 'if', Dante. It could also be that statue just decided to appear here for no reason, but I think that's highly unlikely," said Vergil while running his thumb on the side of Yamato. "Even if something really happens, we should still make visiting this imp a priority. We'll take the book by force if need be."

Dante laughed and stuck his sword into the ground. "Oh, brother, you said the most sensible thing only to make yourself look bad after that."

"What would you do then if this Blitzo doesn't give you the book? Admit it, Dante, you'd do the same. After all, they're just demons." Vergil gave Dante a lopsided smile and charged at him.

Dante was quick to respond in kind and brought the broad side of his sword up in time to intercept the charge. Yamato's tip struck Devil Sword Dante with a loud clang and pushed Dante a few inches backwards. With his free hand, Dante pulled out Ebony and fired at his brother, but Vergil moved sideways in a blue blur, causing the bullet to miss and strike a dead tree instead. While he holstered his pistol, Vergil appeared on his left with both hands on Yamato's hilt in preparation for a heavy strike. The younger brother managed to roll away and did a leg swipe at the same time that made Vergil fall backwards.

Vergil broke his fall by rolling the moment his back touched the ground. However, by then, Dante was above him with Ebony and Ivory drawn. Vergil took a few steps back just in time for Dante to a spinning downward fire with bullets impacting the ground and throwing up a shower of dirt. Before he touched the ground, Vergil threw Mirage Edge out and it spun below Dante like a bladed pinwheel. He managed to avoid it by air dashing to one side but took a gut punch from Beowulf instead when his feet just touched the ground. It sent him flying but he corrected himself in mid-air. The bullet-ridden tree was behind him and he pushed against it to propel himself at Vergil.

Vergil retrieved Mirage Edge and did a downward slash when Dante approached, but Dante dashed aside and slashed back at Vergil. The horizontal cut made a red scar across his brother's chest but he did not flinch. He exploited an opening and drove Yamato into Dante's abdomen, causing his younger brother to fall onto the ground with blood dripping from his wound. Dante was groaning in pain when they heard a cry of horror coming from the entrance.

"What the fuck are you two doing?!" Vaggie exclaimed while Charlie was shuddering from the sight. Angel was there too, still in his sleeping clothes and with his mouth agape.

Vergil raised his eyebrow. "We're sparring," he replied nonchalantly. Turning to Dante, he said, "Guess we'll have to cut it short."

"Like hell you are! You just stabbed your brother!"

Dante coughed and laughed while getting back up. "He's right, Vags." Once he was upright, he just dusted his coat and looked down at the sword that was still stuck in him. "I can't count how many times I got stabbed in my lifetime though."

To Charlie, Vaggie, and Angel's horror and surprise, Dante casually pulled out the sword from his abdomen and tossed it back to his brother who just held out Yamato's scabbard and let the sword fall into it. The blood flowed for a bit before the wound sealed itself quickly. All this while, he seemed unconcerned and just shrugged it off like it happens every other day. The affair bloodied his boots however, and Dante just casually wiped the blood off on the grass.

"Wha – how?" Charlie muttered while the brothers approached them.

"Don't think too much about it. It normally takes more than that to stop us." Dante patted her shoulder. He cleared his throat. "Anyway, did we wake you guys up?"

"Nah, not at all. Well, I mean besides the loud gunfire and swords clashing, it's totally quiet and we're having a nice sleep," Angel remarked sarcastically.

"Yeah, sorry 'bout that."

Charlie stared at the spot where Dante got stabbed for a bit before looking at everyone else awkwardly. "Well, since we're all awake…wanna get breakfast?"

They all muttered in agreement and went back into the hotel. Not too far away just outside of the hotel's premise, a limousine carrying a moth demon was looking on. His scowl deepened and he plucked the cigarette from his mouth before blowing out the smoke.

"Red coat and white hair eh. Must be the guy Angel Cakes mentioned."

The limousine's window rolled up and the car went the other way back to the porn studio.

A little later during the day at 11 a.m., Charlie had invited Dante and Vergil to join her in some support group session to help rehabilitate Angel Dust. There was nothing to do for the moment, so they agreed to see what it was about. The spider demon seemed enthusiastic about something but by that point, everyone knew it was not the session he was interested in.

It was held in the conference room but the it looked anything but that. The walls were dusty and the wallpapers were mostly torn and peeling off. The stage had holes in them while the curtains were shredded to all hell. There were two tables in front of the stage, both were covered with a white piece of cloth. Fortunately, the chairs were clean and in pristine condition. There was a projector on one of the tables which was pointed at a portable projector screen.

When Dante and Vergil went into the room, the demon princess was busy fumbling through her bag for the remote while Angel was seated at the empty table with a cup of milk tea in his right hand. He had a bored expression on his face, one that quickly lit up when he saw the brothers come in. The spider demon waved them over as Charlie just managed to find the remote.

"Glad you two could make it," she remarked with a smile. "Now, I know you two aren't here for redemption, but I thought it'd be great to get some feedback."

"Wouldn't Vaggie be better suited for that?" Vergil asked while taking a seat next to Dante who took the only remaining available seat that was next to Angel.

"Somebody's gonna have to manage the hotel while I'm busy," replied Charlie. "It's only my second session so…I could use all the help I can get." She grinned sheepishly while rubbing the back of her head.

Dante leaned on the table and smiled back. "We'll try our best."

Charlie smiled and went ahead with some final preparations. In the meantime, Angel leaned closer to Dante and whispered to him. "Hey, Dante, after this borefest, wanna get outta dodge and go somewhere fun?"

"Shouldn't you be trying to avoid that instead?" Dante asked.

Angel just waved his hand dismissively. "We're in hell. We're here because we did things heaven doesn't approve of." He leaned back in his chair and placed his propped his legs up on the table. "May as well make the best of it since God thinks we're not good enough for his joint."

"But are you really happy about it?"

The spider demon hesitated for a moment as the smile on his face disappeared temporarily. He took a deep breath and smiled at Dante. "I'm having the fucking time of my eternal life. All the sex, booze, and drugs you can ever get, all here and nobody's gonna judge you for it. How can I not be happy?"

Dante felt sceptical about it but decided not to say anything. He felt his brother's stare and he turned to look at him. Sure enough, Vergil was looking at them but he was mostly expressionless. They heard Charlie clear her throat and looked at her.

"Hey guys, thanks for being here today!" she said in a cheerful tone. "I'd like to formally welcome you all to this second support group session. Before I continue, I wanna briefly summarise the first session for Dante and Vergil." Angel rolled his eyes while Dante and Vergil both nodded lightly. "Last week, I mentioned about how the soul has different needs and functions compared to the physical body. This week, I wish to expand on that discussion."

"This should be interesting," Vergil said while crossing his legs.

Charlie smiled and continued. She pressed on the remote and brought up the first slide. It had what looked like a crudely drawn picture of a man on the left and a wispy figure that slightly resembled the man. "Please excuse Vaggie's drawing. Anyway, keeping in topic about bodies and souls, what is addiction to you?"

"Hey, Vergil, maybe you can answer this one," Dante teased but his elder brother smacked the back of his head.

"Please, do feel free to answer if you have something to share," Charlie said with opened arms.

"Quite simply a craving of something that ultimately creates a sense of normalcy even if it brings harm," Vergil replied anyway while glaring at Dante.

"That's one way to put it. Addiction is a biological condition, something I believe that should've been discarded upon death."

Angel snorted. "That's a whole lotta bull. If that's really the case, why do we still feel 'em here?"

"I'm glad you asked, which brings me to my next point." She brought up the second slide which showed a sad-faced stick figure stabbing another stick figure. To their right was an arrow that pointed at another stick figure with horns but with bruises on his face.

"I don't get it," the spider demon said and took a sip of milk tea.

Charlie's shoulder drooped slightly before reverting her attention back to them. "Take murder for example. Murder is a sin; sin stains the soul which makes it ineligible for heaven. After doing some research with Vaggie, we came to the conclusion that it is this stain that manifests as an addiction in sinners which causes them to continue practicing their vices after death. It's become a vicious cycle."

"Wait, so you're saying that once a sinner is always a sinner?" Vergil asked while rubbing his chin.

Charlie rubbed her arm. "It's certainly the implication. As much as I hope to break this cycle and help redeem demons, there're still a lot of things we're not sure about such as if it applies to hellborns or if practicing virtues will heal the soul." She took a deep breath and looked at Angel Dust. "Which is why your participation is very important, Angel. If we can prove to others that doing good can set a sinner on the path of redemption, we can potentially stop the purges for good and reduce overpopulation in hell without resorting to killing. It would be a very important precedent we're setting."

"You sure you're not also just trying to prove to Killjoy something and rub it in her face if it works?" Angel asked with a smirk.

Charlie gave him an unamused look. "Let's speak about that never," she said flatly.

"I have to admit, Charlotte, your points are intriguing. However, if the same logic of overpopulation of hell can be applied to heaven, wouldn't heaven be overpopulated too?" Vergil asked. He stood up and walked towards a window to look up at the celestial orb that was heaven. "Would they be inviting demons to purge them?"

"Can't say I have an answer for that, regretfully," Charlie admitted softly. "Demons have been at the receiving end of judgment as far as I know."

"I see," Vergil muttered. He stared at heaven for a bit before returning to his seat. "Please, continue."

"Anyway, I have plans laid out for redemption," Charlie said. The next slide showed a list of activities for Angel to do and a bunch of other restrictions. "In order to for this to work, I think the first step is to cut away the source of addiction."

Angel blinked at her. "Wait, you're taking away my drugs and booze?"

"Among other things," Charlie said. "But we'll be doing some wholesome activities for a change."

"Define wholesome," Angel said with narrowed eyes.

"Well, we already started with painting." Charlie smirked at him. "We can do charity and open a soup kitchen at the hotel too."

Angel sputtered in disgust while Dante and Vergil both gave him a crooked smile. "W-what am I, a priest?! I'm putting my credibility on the line here!"

"You know, as crazy as this sounds, it's worth giving it a shot," Dante concluded.

"Aw c'mon, Dante, don't tell me you buy that baloney."

Vergil pinched the bridge of his nose and said, "Angel Dust, have you tried doing good at least once? What's stopping you, your 'credibility' or your addiction to vices?"

He held up a finger and his mouth opened to answer, but no words came out from it. Some thoughts ran through his mind but none of them seemed like good answers. Truth be told, he was not sure himself. Or rather, he never really gave it much thought. Sure, he said he needed to maintain his name but for what reason exactly? Charlie looked on expectedly as she waited for an answer from him. After a while, Angel gave his answer.

"What's the point? I'm already deep in this shit, aren't I? Haven't stopped sinning since I came here anyway," Angel said with a crooked smile and a shrug. "It's hopeless. Hell's the place for sinners who didn't bother to repent in life. I deserve to be here, Charlie, my soul's damned anyway and I forever gonna have a fucking reason to sin. I'm happy here so fuck going to heaven."

"Angel," Charlie said softly, her eyes looking at him pleadingly.

He looked away from her and turned his attention to the brothers. Vergil's expression was too plain to gauge any sort of emotion, but Dante had a sorry look as if he was pitying him. Both did not say anything however. Angel liked the spotlight and attention others gave him, but moments like these were not the ones he wanted. He pushed the chair back and stood up.

"I'm leaving, got something I need to do at the studio," he said.

"But the whole point of this is to help you stop sinning. Please, Angel, you must try," Charlie pleaded.

He said nothing and decided to leave the room. The demon princess wanted to go after him but Dante got up and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Let 'em leave."

After Angel was gone, Charlie slumped onto a chair and rubbed her temple. "Was it something I said?" she asked Dante.

"I have a feeling that Vergil said something that made him think," Dante replied while sitting next to her.

Vergil nodded his head in agreement. "Perhaps there's still a human underneath that demon," he muttered as he held up Yamato and looked at it. "But who knows," he added cryptically.

"Inside every demon is a rainbow. I know we're capable of being good, but we choose not to be. Why?"

Dante stared at the ceiling and noticed a mural that covered the whole thing. It depicted what looked like a whole group of angels being tossed down into a fiery pit by a brightly lit angel with a burning sword. The last angel that was being cast into the fire looked suspiciously like Lucifer. A broken sword was held in his right hand.

"Yeah, who knows," Dante muttered.

After helping Charlie clean up the conference room, Vergil had asked her for a history book. Dante was sure he wanted to learn more about how this hell worked and no doubt discuss with the princess regarding her theories. He was always the scholarly one, the sibling who spouted facts so seriously that it made him unintentionally funny and Dante's butt of all jokes. Another reason that kept them fighting each other when they were younger. Charlie had invited Vergil to her study for a discussion while Dante went to the lobby.

The statue was still there, but nobody seemed to mention anything about it since morning. Perhaps it was for the best that nobody talked about it. If they knew what they offered the divinity statue to get their abilities, there was no telling how they would react. Vaggie would definitely react negatively if her personality was anything to go by and if she decided to attack, Vergil would not hesitate in cutting her down. That in turn would cause a lot of unwanted commotion, especially when Charlie was her girlfriend and the daughter of hell's ruler. As much as Dante liked fighting, he was not silly enough to make a scene.

He looked at the counter and saw Husk shuffling a deck of cards. The demon hunter sauntered over to the counter and took a seat on one of the stools. A creak from the stool made the winged demon look up and he saw Dante giving him a smile and a casual two-finger salute.

"Well, if it isn't the halfie," said the winged demon in a bored tone.

"Halfie? Never heard of that one before," Dante remarked.

"Get used to hearing it from me then," said Husk. "You wanna get something or what?"

"A drink in the middle of day?" Dante asked. He snatched a card from Husk's hand and drew an Ace of Spades. "Well, must be my lucky day."

"It's more likely than you think, chump," answered an annoyed Husk while he snatched back the card.

"I'll pass. Still…I can't help but notice –"

"That I got playing card symbols on my wings. Ya, every dickhead worth his salt says that. So, I like gambling, sue me."

Dante put his hands up. "Someone's pissy today."

"I'm pissy every day, what's your point?" Husk retorted. He had put down his playing cards and opened a bottle of cheap booze.

"Well, if it helps you take your mind off whatever's making you mad, I'm up for a game," Dante smirked.

Husk's hand stopped halfway before the bottle could touch his lips. He looked at Dante with narrowed eyes and pointed a finger at him. "Are you challenging me?"

Dante shrugged. "What if I am? It's been a while since my last session."

Husk let out a single and loud 'Ha' and put the bottle down onto the bar counter. He picked up his deck of cards and began shuffling them in earnest, his mouth curving into a smirk to match Dante's.

"Didn't take ya for the gambling kind, halfie, but I admire your bravado. Let's play poker if you're up for it. What're you offering?"

"You know I just arrived here yesterday, right?"

"And it ain't a real game if there ain't stakes, halfie. Tell you what, we'll use collateral," Husk said as he put a silver watch on the counter. "My silver watch. Whatcha offering?"

Dante tapped his chin and pursed his lips. After some thought, he got up from the stool and summoned Cavaliere. He dropped the black demonic motorcycle on the floor with a loud thud while Husk's jaw dropped along with his cards. "How the – you got an entire goddamned motorcycle in your inventory?!"

With a toothy grin, Dante said, "Pretty cool eh."

"You can't compare a watch to a goddamn bike."

"I don't really have anything else to offer."

Husk sniffed and nodded his head. "I have to admit, that's a pretty fucking sweet ride," he muttered. "Alright, it's your loss. Now." Husk dealt the cards and slammed the rest of the deck on the counter. "Get ready to read 'em and weep," he said with a grin.

"Charlotte, if I may ask, do you know the way to Imp City?" Vergil asked when Charlie was looking up a directory for souls that had recently been sent to hell.

"There's an encyclopaedia on my desk. Look for the 'Pride' page and search under 'I'," she replied without taking her eyes off her book. "Why exactly are you interested in Imp City?"

"Dante and I don't belong here, remember? We heard that there's a book that can open portals. If we can get our hands on it, we should be able to return to where we belong," Vergil explained. He flipped through the encyclopaedia until he reached the page where it showed Imp City's location.

Charlie paused. "That book belongs to Stolas. Last I heard, he lent it to an imp who runs some sort of assassination business."

"An assassination business? Assassinating what exactly?"

"Humans. Some demons have unfinished business on Earth, so they hire them to kill whoever they have beef with."

Vergil sniffed. "If Dante knew about this, he won't be very happy about it," he said.

He got a piece of paper and traced the route from Pentagram City to Imp City. On the paper, he wrote the distance as well as the name of the highway that connected the two cities. Vergil also marked down several points of interest that included highway stops and shops.

"Why is that?"

"Dante protects humans, much like our father Sparda did. They'll cut down demons that threaten humans. I've never actually seen Dante raise his weapon against them. It's foolishness in my opinion, especially when they are just as capable of unspeakable evil."

Charlie was crestfallen. Vergil was right about that point and she had seen for herself what humanity was capable of. The profile of a recently condemned soul was on her computer screen, one that belonged to a Mrs. Mayberry. She murdered her infidel husband in front of a whole class of children before turning the gun on herself. Charlie understood her pain but the action still disgusted and saddened her. To be sent to hell over murder because of an unfaithful husband. It was like living an otherwise normal life only to be condemned forever due to one action.

"我赢了!" Husk exclaimed while grinning smugly at Dante and showing a full house.

"What's that supposed to mean?" he asked as he watched the winged demon went to examine Cavaliere.

"It means I won, halfie. Your bluff game is horrible and so's your luck. I've never seen one person get so many offsuits before. Shoulda stopped when you had the chance."

"Can't blame me for trying," Dante said with a shrug.

Husk gave him a look of disapproval. "Dude, you practically just gave me this thing and you're not even sad that you lost it? The hell's wrong with you?"

"I mean, I've lost a lot of weapons before, so it's no big deal," Dante replied nonchalantly.

"This thing's a weapon how exactly?" Husk asked as he hopped onto the bike. He immediately tensed up. "Whoa, major demon energy here."

A pulse of energy knocked Husk off of Cavaliere and he was tossed into a nearby empty bookshelf. Thankfully, there was a pile of boxes to help soften his fall. Other than a minor concussion, the winged demon was relatively unhurt and he got up quickly just in time to see a purple aura fade away from the motorcycle. Dante was smirking at him.

"Hey, what shit are ya pullin' off here, halfie? Did you just give me a cursed bike or something?" Husk asked angrily while storming towards him.

"Devil Arms are souls of demons turned into weapons. If you wanna wield it, you gotta subdue it first. Of course." Dante stood up and patted the motorcycles seat. "This thing's special. It used to be a normal bike until it fused with demonic energy."

"Real funny. This your plan all along, giving me something I can't use and hoping you can take it back?"

"You said it," Dante said while pointing at Husk.

"Well, I ain't givin you the satisfaction. I'll subdue this bitch," Husk said in a determined manner.

No matter how many times Husk tried to sit on it, Cavaliere just threw him off without any hesitation. After getting tossed into the air and into random furniture one too many times, the winged demon gave up and went back behind the bar to finish the opened bottle of cheap booze. Unexpectedly, he offered Dante a glass of whiskey as well.

"I thought drinks are for the winners," Dante said.

"Yeah, well, you're lucky I'm feelin charitable today. Drink's on me. Haven't offered anyone that except Angel," Husk muttered.

Dante leaned on the counter and cocked his head. "You and Angel a thing?"

"Fuck off."

Don't worry, Dante doesn't permanently lose Cavaliere. But he did lose most of his other weapons when he and Vergil were tossed into the other hell.