A/N: So… in and amongst fighting with 's website I opened one of my old fics… oof, man, the general concept is fine but… oof, I'm cringing a bit. Sometimes I forget that I started on this site back in high school...yeah maybe after this fic it's time to start going back and fixing stuff…
Disclaimer: I own some wine in a glass right now, but not the rights to DMC or Bloodborne (does anyone still do these anymore?)
Doesn't it Excite You?
Nero couldn't help the grin that had been plastered across his face while fighting these devils, or beasts, as Katherine seemed to call them. They were more of a fight than he initially anticipated, the large mosquito like creatures packing quite a punch behind their claws. This suited the partial devil just fine, got his blood moving as it were, his wings flared out and gave him the only boost he needed as he tore his way through the creatures. One of them flopped backward and exploded, belly full of blood coating him in the half digested stuff. He wished he could say it was the first time that he was covered in some awful goop, but it wasn't, in fact it was far from the worst he'd experienced. Didn't mean he appreciated it though…
The fight was over quicker than he would've liked and he saw Katherine cutting down the last enemy in the nearby vicinity. She whirled, eyes aglow and massive weapon raised as though to attack him, he tried to play it off, flicking some of the blood from Red queen and saying to her.
"You didn't tell me they would explode."
"Doesn't it excite you?" she asked, her breath coming in quickly, the wild look was still in her eyes. Nero paused, putting his weapons away for the moment.
"Does what?" he asked, he was fairly certain he knew what she meant but was hoping that in making her say it she would calm some.
"The fight, the blood, the…" she took another breath, calmer, more controlled, some of the glow fading in her eyes.
"Yes." Nero said, her eyes snapped to his and he could tell she was slowly coming down from her high. "But I'm more than the sum of my parts. I might be part demon but that doesn't mean I'm a slave to those desires." he continued. She turned away from him, pulling her hat off and wiping a sleeve across her brow, not seeming to notice or care that it was only smearing more blood and grime across her face. When she turned around she appeared to be in more of a right mind.
"My apologies." she said "I got… a bit carried away."
"No harm, no foul." Nero shrugged "C'mon, where to next?"
-Devil's Hunt-
The duo made their way across the twisted and warped city. Nero hadn't seen much of it, but even he could tell that this was some strange corruption of the city that they'd been in before. Yharnam, Katherine informed him as they worked their way through this strange nightmare. The monsters they faced now were far more twisted than the ones he'd seen in the city before as well, the partial devil being reminded more of the demons he fought at home rather than the odd madmen that they'd been putting down in the "waking world". They had just taken down a massive robed guy who in addition to being a hulking nine foot tall beast of a man, had no face. In its place was just a swirling pulsing pattern that both drew Nero in and repulsed him at the same time. They wandered up the stairs of the cathedral and the devil hunter stopped at the top, putting an arm out in front of Katherine. She ignored it, pushing through only to stop herself upon seeing the massive monster that sat utop the equally large chair behind the altar.
"What… what is it?" Nero whispered, afraid to disturb the flaming thing at the back of the room
"It's a cleric beast, though who it used to be is beyond me. It's got something in its hand." Katherine whispered back "I'm going to go get it." she started forward before Nero could stop her.
"Katherine?! What are you doing?! Are you crazy?" he hissed. Nero may have faced down bigger things than this but that didn't mean he wanted to go provoking something that was merely sleeping in this strange twisted version of reality. She started forward, her steps surprisingly quiet on the stone floor, Nero grumbled to himself but followed after her, his wings flaring up behind him, ready for a fight. Katherine kept her eyes on the beast, the flames within it burning low and hot, it made no move… Nero didn't realize that he'd been holding his breath until Katherine slowly made her way backward, something held in her hand. Still the beast did not move. Only after they made it to the stairs did Nero feel himself relax slightly, he glanced over at Katherine.
"Was it at least worth it?" he asked, she held up a strange looking medallion.
"Perhaps, this may have much value or very little, we will have to wait and see." she said
"Great, we risked the anger of a big flaming monster for some jewelry."
"A cleric beast." she corrected, Nero shrugged
"Whatever, right, you said that used to be a person?" he asked, she'd mentioned that the disease was turning people into monsters, but so far none of them had been that removed from human.
"Yes, though I believe the Nightmare complicates things a bit more than simple transformation." she said, they both tensed as a small patrol passed by the corner they were standing at. A couple of well placed shots ended the fight before it had the chance to begin and Nero continued the conversation as though it had never paused.
"How so?"
"This Nightmare, so far as I have been able to discover, is a curse upon the Hunters. Why or who placed it, I know not; however I do know that it has resulted in the disappearance of those who have become blood drunk." she explained, kneeling to rifle through the huntsmans' pockets, coming up with a few bullets, she held half of them out to Nero who accepted them with a small grimace.
"The silver in these is gumming up Blue Rose so bad…" he said before asking "Blood drunk? Like how you were earlier?"
"It is similar, yes." Katherine winced "Though those who are blood drunk are unable to stop from chasing the euphoria that the blood provides." Nero pulled himself up onto a ledge and reached down to help Katherine up, he asked once she was safely level
"You know, I feel like a broken record, but why do you keep taking that stuff?" she looked at him as he spoke, a swirl of emotions in those strange eyes.
"I am not certain I could at this point." she admitted. "It provides me with an edge that I often require as to not die, but you are also correct, if I continue down the path that I am on, I will be cursed to this Nightmare."
"Well you're not blood drunk yet." Nero said with a gentle pat to her shoulder "So we have time to figure this out yet. C'mon, as the creepy rag dude said, we've got secrets to uncover." the partial devil felt his heart warm when Katherine laughed. Her mind may have been a bit unstable, but her heart seemed to be in the right place and Nero wanted to see her succeed in this strange backwards place that they'd both found themselves in.
They continued through the nightmare cautiously and both of them narrowly managed to not be squished by a bizarre snail woman that fell from the sky. Nero poked it with a foot, the fall had clearly killed it but it looked nothing like any of the monsters that they'd seen so far. They both looked toward the sky but saw nothing but clouds. The pair looked at one another, Katherine shrugged and Nero shook his head.
"I take it weird stuff falling out of the sky is not the weirdest thing you've even seen?" he said, he couldn't see her mouth but he could tell she was smiling. "Point taken." he sighed, following after the Hunter as she continued forward. They soon found what looked like a flayed man, beating his bloody fist against the grate. Katherine raised her shotgun to him before Nero could react.
"Wait-" there was a loud bang and the man dropped to the ground. The partial devil gave the Hunter a look "You didn't need to do that."
"I was simply putting him out of his misery." she said, not waiting for his response and instead continuing up the stairs and into another chapel. Nero just shook his head in disgust and followed her up the steps. It seemed like this is where the river of blood was originating from and as they made their way inside they could see why, corpses piled upon corpses filled the room. Some of them seemed to still be alive, moaning and twitching, one of them reached for the pair of them
"Ahh… ahh… please… help us… an unsightly beast… a great terror looms! Ahh… Ludwig the Accursed is coming. Have mercy… Have mercy upon us…" As he spoke heavy footsteps splashed through the blood in the room and the beast came into view…
A/N: I can't help myself when it comes to cliffhangers, sorry ^^; Also hoooo, finally caught up on fanfiction, now onto some of the other stuff I'm behind on…
Till next time,
-Winged Element