Many things crossed Dante's mind as he made his way to Fortuna with both Lady and Trish: what would be so important that Nero wouldn't even allow him to rest after six months of being trapped in the demon world? How did he convince Vergil to call him? What made his twin go to the boy's house in the first place? And what was Lady thinking when she decided to change her cologne? God, this new one was too sweet.
All those thoughts vanished when they finally arrived and saw the locals desperately running from lizard like demons. They were the size of a cow and would manage to hurt people with ease, but the creatures seemed more worried about something else other than attacking regular folk.
"Okay, ladies, it's party time and this looks like a really crazy one." They got off his old red car and the demoness stretched her arms.
"What's the plan? Split up and meet at the main square when we're done?" She asked.
"Sounds good to me." The brunette shrugged. "So... Whoever kills more demons wins a dinner in a fancy restaurant, Dante's courtesy?" Lady winked at her friend and she smirked.
"Oh, you're on."
"Wait, I don't remember agreeing to any of this!" They quickly left, pretending not to listen to him. "Fuck, and I still have unpaid debts from more than six months ago." He sighed and summoned his sword. "But let's no let this get in the way of having some fun right now."
The demons, however, proved to be more annoying than actual fun. They were fast and he had to run after them instead of the usual way, which would be they going after Dante to attack him. Only after they realized his smell was that of the son of Sparda that they would strike, and the fight would end rather quickly.
Meanwhile, Chiara walked the streets with another objective in mind: finding the Eighth. Surely she wouldn't ignore any of the demons should they pass next to her, but she needed the witch alive to get answers before any of creatures got to him. His aura led her to an alley, and when she heard his annoyed voice she held back the urge to roll her eyes.
"What are you doing here?!" A man with south asian descent appeared from behind the dumpster. He had brown eyes, black hair and beard, and wore enough jewelry that, if he were mugged, the thief could buy a house with all that money.
"Hello, Bizhan." She coldly retorted.
"Master Bizhan to you." He became even more annoyed. "Answer my question!"
"I saw what happened at the covenstead." Bizhan laughed maniacally at her answer and she looked away from him.
"Oh, and now what do you want? To help?!" The man grabbed her chin and made her look back at him, receiving a slap on his wrist that made him let go. "You know what would've helped the coven? You never existing!"
"How is this my fault this time?" Chiara had become used to this kind of situation over the years, she could perfectly pretend not to care anymore.
"We spent centuries trying to untie ourselves from the human versus demons conflict, but there is always that stubborn group of witches that keep falling in the trap of envolving themselves with demons." Bizhan had the annoying habit of talking dramatically with his hands, making the sound of his various bracelets echo through the alley. "This group worships Mundus and believes that demons can make us more powerful."
The girl just kept staring at him, waiting for the full explanation, so he decided to keep going. "When your mother did the coven the favor of not keeping her panties up around the son of Sparda, we started to lose control over this group. They think your existence is a offense towards Mundus. We tried emprisoning them, but let's say they didn't respond to it as well as your mother." He tried grabbing Chiara's shoulders to guide her away from the alley, however, she was quickier and grabbed his wrists first. "The demon is going to smell your foul Sparda blood and is going to find me!"
"It is going to find you regardless of where I am." She said as matter-of-factly. "Is this the plan? The council will remain hidden until this group takes over the coven?"
"Oh, no, those fools have a plan. Me? I prefer to keep my organs in the right places before—"
Bizhan didn't have time to finish his sentence before coughing blood, and Chiara would never have the chance to ask what the coven's plan was as the demon had stealthily impaled him on the heart from behind. The girl had no reaction apart from wiping some of the witch's blood that had spilled on her face. The creature withdrew its tail, letting the corpse fall on the floor.
"You also smell like that traitor Sparda!" The demon roared. The white-haired girl grabbed one of her blades and calmly walked towards it. Then, with her sword imbued with ice, she impaled the creature's thigh, tying it to the ground and making its whole leg freeze. That would stop it from turning into a shadow and fleeing. "You bitch!"
"Who summoned you?" She coldly asked, ignoring the offense.
"We will rid this filthy place of traitors, then we will help Mundus with that damned seal and let him take over the human world!" The demon once again roared when Chiara used her other blade on its other leg.
"I want names."
"I would never ask such lower creatures about their names. They're servants, and they will keep summoning demons until we meet our objective!" The girl sighed in disappointment and created an ice spear in her hands, impaling the demon's head and finishing it off afterwards.
She let the spear slid from her hands to the ground, making loud sound that caught Dante's ears from the rooftop he was on, he had gone there to take a better view on the streets and locate another demon. When he looked at the source of the sound, he saw the teenager with her hair completely covered in blood and though she needed help. An acceptable mistake. He jumped to the floor and slowly approached her from behind.
"Hey, this is not the time and place for a kid to be right now, so why don't you run to your house and let professionals handle the situation?" The girl clenched her teeth when she heard his speech, she had already endured enough offense for one day. The devil hunter decided to put a hand on her shoulder when she didn't even bother to look at him.
Caught completely off-guard, let's be honest, when did Dante have his guard up around anyone of the opposite gender? Chiara grabbed his wrist and arm and pulled him over her shoulder, throwing him on the floor on his back. She only realized her irrational response mid-act, and that was enough to make her embarrassed, but when she realized whom she had thrown on the ground, the girl wished she could find a hole and disappear.
The son of Sparda raised an eyebrow and stared at the girl who stared back at him with her icy blue eyes widened in shock. The moment went for what seemed like an eternity when Chiara decided to make the first move, she straightened up her spine and said:
"I'm sorry, that was uncalled for."
Dante stood up and gave his coat a few smacks to get off some of the street dust. "Woah, I'm used to being smacked by women, getting an apology is definitely a first, though." He looked at the girl again and she had the same panicked expression. "Relax, kid, just get somewhere safe... Even though you can clearly handle yourself." He turned around and walked away, waving two fingers at her as goodbye.
Only when he had already disappeared from her sight was that the girl realized she was holding her breath. What was that? That was pathetic, how wasn't she able to form even a word to him? She shook her head and looked at the lifeless body of Bizhan behind the dumpster. Chiara crouched by its side and decided to remove all of his jewelry.
The legendary devil hunter made his way to the square, approaching his two lady friends who waited for him by the fountain. They were arguing about the bet, and by the looks of Trish's face and her crossed arms on her chest, she had lost.
"You were lucky, most of the demons were running your way!"
"What can I do?" Lady shrugged. "The universe always favors my fortune, not my fault." The blonde demoness rolled her eyes and looked at Dante.
"Help me here."
"I have absolutely no business in this bet, Trish." He also shrugged. "And definitely not a single dime to pay for your dinner." He pointed his index finger accusingly at the brunette.
"Don't worry, you can pay me later."
"I spend six months away and this is the kind of reception I get." The half-demon said dramatically and both women rolled their eyes. "Now where's this kid? Made us come all the way here for such a simple job..."
Curiously enough, Nero showed up exactly at that moment, running to the square and looking around, searching for something. Dante placed his hands on his hips and waited for his nephew to approach.
"What the hell was all this for, Nero?!"
The boy completely ignores his question,n and placed both his hands on his uncle's shoulders. "Where's Chiara?"
"Who?" He raised an eyebrow and Nero thought they still hadn't met. "I saw a girl by that direction but I have no idea—" The devil hunter pointed at the alley direction with his thumb.
"Wait, so you saw her?!"
"Did you hit your head or something?"
The boy shook his head. How could Dante be so dumb to meet the girl and not be suspicious at all?! He went towards the alley and his uncle didn't seem happy about it.
"I'm just leaving!"
"Don't you dare!" Nero stopped and pointed his index finger at him. The man rolled his eyes and sighed, sitting next to his friends.
In the alley, Chiara was almost done with her deed, when her cousin's scream almost made her soul leave her body.
"Are you stealing this man's jewelry?!"
She slowly turned her head towards him as she put the last of Bizhan's rings inside her pocket. "That's the Eighth." She simply said.
"That's not what I asked." After the initial scare of seeing a relative committing a crime, the boy now realized why Dante didn't give her too much attention: her hair was completely red from blood.
"He will not use it anymore."
"Chiara, you can't steal from people just because they're dead!"
"I'm not stealing from people, I'm stealing from Bizhan. If you'd had the unpleasantness of meeting him, you would understand." She closed the witch's eyes and mumbled: "Burn in hell."
"So, that's it? We didn't save him, but we killed the demon. The coven should be safe, right?"
"This is just the beginning." The girl slowly stood up and Nero grabbed her arm, dragging her away.
"Okay, we can discuss that later, come with me."
"What are you doing?!" Chiara gave him another one of her murderous glares, although her cousin wasn't bothered by it at all. She tried to break free a couple of times as he dragged her to the fountain square. "Unhand be right now or I swear—"
'You'll eviscerate me, yadda-yadda, you're all bark and no bite."
That had been the most offensive thing she had ever heard in her entire life. She glared at Nero with such hatred that she didn't even notice Dante, Lady and Trish by the fountain. However, that also made her be caught off guard when the boy pushed her head inside the water.
"What is Nero doing?" The demoness casually asked as she watched the scene.
"No ideia, but I'm honestly surprised that he manages to have a girlfriend."
"Like you have a way with women." Lady crossed her arms and stared at him with a raised eyebrow.
"I'm great with women, thank you very much. I just lack luck." He shrugged. "I'll never understand how they keep rejecting all of this." The man pointed at himself while making a big circle in the air.
"Uhum." Both women mumbled.
Chiara had finally managed to break free from her cousin and the water, gasping for air as she stared at his smirk. He had completed his objective: her hair was clean now.
"Uhm... Dante, you may want to take a look at that." Trish pointed at the girl, wanting to pay attention at her color hair.
"Babe, girls get their hair dyed all the time. It doesn't mean anything." Of course that, by the same second that he finished his sentence, Chiara had kicked Nero in the stomach, sending him a flying a few meters.
"What about now?" She mocked.
"Fuck..." He muttered under his breath.
The girl stepped out of the fountain and grabbed her twin swords, attaching their handles to each other, making one big weapon with blades on both ends. Before she could strike Nero as he stood up, however, Dante locked his arms around her chest, holding her in place.
"What the hell is going on here, Nero?!"
Honestly, he had to ask. In the few seconds that had passed he did consider the option of her being his daughter, however, that was such a low possibility that his mind went into the most absurd theories. She couldn't be Nero's twin, she was clearly younger, and couldn't be his half sister since Vergil was trapped in the demon world at the time. Some kind of weird experiment in Fortuna, perhaps?
Yeah, that was more likely.
"Do I seriously need to spell it out for you, Dante?!" The boy seriously tried not to lose his temper around his uncle, but he had a talent for enfuriating people. "She's your daughter!" He regretted letting it out immediately, it should have been Chiara's decision to tell him. However, she apparently had the same talent as her father.
"How?!" Trish asked, a little too loud, causing Lady to smack her arm.
Dante spun the girl around and grabbed her by the shoulders. Her expression had gone from the murderous gaze to the panicked expression he had seen back in the alley as he analyzed her. She might have his hair and eye color, but he knew the shape of her eyes, her cheekbones and lips all to well.
Still, he kept trying to find any other answer, any other woman that slightly resembled her that he had slipped and forgotten to use protection with. Nothing. His eyes moved towards Lady, being his oldest friend she had already figured that out as well.
"You're Sofia's." He finally said.
The only reaction Chiara could manage was slowly nodding in agreement as she swallowed the lump in her throat.