One million things went through her mind as she stared at the boy in front of her. Had she dialed the wrong number? No, the RV had a very flashy neon sigh that made it very clear that she had indeed called the Devil May Cry office. Then why, instead of actually seeing her father for the first time, the person standing in front of her was a boy around only five years older than her? Her grimace probably got worse as time went by, as the devil hunter in front of her seemed more embarrassed with each passing second.

"You're not who I expected to come." It came out as a half explanation, half disappointment.

"Oh, you meant to call the original Devil May Cry. We're the mobile branch." Nero pointed at the RV with his thumb from over his shoulder. "But... I'm afraid your father wouldn't show up even if you had called the right number..." The girl slightly tilted her head to the side, waiting for a full explanation. The boy took a deep breath. "Can I come in?"

His newfound cousin just took a step to the side, allowing him to come inside. The house looked way too warm and nice for someone so cold, maybe it was her mother's decor? Considering their family history, he wouldn't jump to conclusions regarding mothers.

"I'm Nero, by the way." The young devil hunter stretched out a hand for her to shake, but the white-haired girl just took a quick look at his hand and then moved her eyes back to him.

"Chiara."

"That's a nice—"

"Just get to the point."

Okay, no small talk. Noted. He decided to sit on the couch, not waiting for some signal, as the girl probably wouldn't give one. Chiara kept standing, staring at him as if she could read his soul. It was very unnerving.

"Did you hear about Red Grave City a few months ago?"

"Everybody did."

"Yeah, well... To cut down that huge tree, the Qliphoth, my father and your father had to go all the way down to the demon world... They're trapped ever since." Nero kept staring at her eyes, trying to read some sort of emotion in them as she seemed to absorb the information. Nothing.

"That's unfortunate." She finally let it out, talking as if it were a minor issue. Oh, trapped in the demon world? Haha, so funny! It happens every week. "I guess I'm stuck with you, then." The girl announced as she went towards the hallway, her cousing arched na eyebrow as he heard the sound of multiple objects being moved around. When she returned, Nero noticed two identical blades attached to the back of her coat. "Follow me."

"Hey, wait!" He stood up and the girl awkwardly stopped on her tracks. "I need to know what the job is!"

"Don't worry, I can pay whatever price you decide." Chiara sounded slightly annoyed even through her coldness, she had probably thought he was some sort of greedy bastard.

"Oh, no, we're family. You don't have to pay! I just need details."

"And I can fill you in the details as we walk, instead of wasting time." She slightly arched an eyebrow and talked as if he were the stupidest being on the planet. "Shall we?"

Nero rolled his eyes as he stood up. "Yeah, yeah... Where to?"

"It's a place in the woods. It's not far from here."

They stepped outside the house and went towards the trees in the back of her house. It turns out that the amount of trees not only looked like a forest, it was the beginning of one. Chiara kept quiet for a few minutes, and the devil hunter could've sworn she had forgotten to fill him in the details. Or she didn't care to.

"So... Where are going?"

"To the covenstead." She didn't even bother to look at him while talking.

"The what?"

"The main place where witches gather." Impressively enough, she didn't sound impatient as she answered.

"I thought they'd just pick a random spot in the woods to run around naked and fuck." Nero joked, but once again his cousin stopped on her tracks and gave him a long, judgmental stare.

"I'm half witch."

Of course she was.

"I... uh... Respect all sorts of..."

She went back to walking towards the covenstead before he could try to find a way to finish his sentence. He decided to change the subject.

"Nice swords."

"They get the job done."

"Do they have a name?"

"Why would I name an inanimate object?"

That was definitely not Nero's day to make conversation. However, since he was a very persistent person, he refused to remain in silent.

"Why are we going to this coven place?"

"Covenstead. To sum it up, my mother has been missing for seven days now, and that was where she was headed last time I saw her." Chiara touched a tree trunk, and Nero thought he had seen something glowing for a second. "She gave me very clear instructions to call my father in case she didn't contact me in this time window."

"And you've never had the curiosity to call him before?"

"That does not concern you." Chiara answered even colder than before, the boy could've sworn he felt na icy breeze blowing on his face.

To be honest, Nero didn't think of Dante as someone who would just abandon a child. He remembered the way his uncle teased Vergil about not caring about him. Perhaps he would be a mess of a father, but he saw him as someone who would his best to stay around. For the time being, the young devil hunter would give him the benefit of the doubt.

"We're here." She announced as they stood in front of a clearing. There wasn't much around, really, kind of disappointing.

"Hm... I actually expected—"

Chiara said a word in a language he definitely didn't recognize and blew something that apparently it was in her hand. This sent a curtain of purple smoke in the air, slowly revealing an enormous wooden lodge in the middle of the clearing.

"Less. I definitely expected less."

The girl eyed him for a second and entered the lodge. Why did she have to be so judgmental? Hello, sir, does your dog bite? Oh, no, but it does something way worse: it judges you!

Come on.

Nero followed her inside, everything was dark and the first couple of rooms were completely empty. She knew her way around and kept walking until they reached a huge and tall room. It seemed the kind of place where huge gatherings would happen, and that's where they found something off: corpses lying around.

The white-haired girl didn't say a word, but he could notice she was worried as she hastily checked the indentity of each one of the bodies: eleven in total. Nero checked them more carefully as he observed every wound, the first three were disembowled, thanks to a wide and deep gash in the abdomen. Definitely demons. Chiara was relieved after checking the last one.

"She isn't here."

"Well, this is good, right?"

"Yes and no." Something was off.

"What do you mean?"

Chiara started to walk around the bodies, stopping at their side and pointing before saying their identity. "Thirteenth. Twelfth. Eleventh. Tenth. Nineth." The devil hunter raised na eyebrow, that meant nothing to him. "This coven is the biggest in the country, so it managed to have thirteen counsel members. They're ranked by their strength, and those..." She pointed at other five corpses. "Are their respective right-hands. The last one is the Eighth's right-hand."

"A demon intelligent enough to target only the counsel members... But why are you still worried about your mother?"

"She pledged loyalty to the First many years ago."

There were no signs that pointed to the destruction of a demon, which could only mean that it was still on the loose, tracking the targets that had escaped.

"Any idea why a demon would be specifically targeting witches?" He asked, but the only answer was a shrug. "How do we track your mother down?"

" Domi." This time he understood whatever she said, but still had no idea what language was that. Red sparkles came out of her hand and danced in the air, slowly falling to the ground as they begun to draw a word.

FORTUNA

"This is good, it's where I live! It'll be a piece of cake to find her." Nero celebrated, also trying to cheer her up. However, he didn't expect her answer.

"I can't track down my mother... I used the spell to track down the demon."

His face fell as he read the words on the ground again. Of course, of all the cities in the planet, this demon would choose the place where he lives to go next. Kyrie. He needed to call her and tell her to get out of the city as fast as she could.

"We gotta go." He announced and practically ran back to the RV.