Chapter 5: Not Quite WOW
"Paladins," Lady questioned almost wanting to laugh, "You mean those 'World of Warcraft' characters that run around like over-glorified knights?" She had previously watched Vergil feverishly play the online game before tiring of decimating the weak opposition and the toll that it took on his bank account.
"As much as I wish it were all a WOW fantasy," Dante's expression grave, voice without the slightest hint of humor, "Paladins are real and they are devil hunters."
"And? So what? If you hadn't noticed, that's what we do too." She narrowed her eyes as if to say, 'duh'.
"No, Lady," Dante began clearing up the misunderstanding, "We hunt with a purpose. We protect the innocents, be they human or devils wanting to live in peace outside of the Demon's Realm. Paladins hunt indiscriminately. They kill without mercy. They slaughter demons no without distinction of them being good or evil. They are known to murder humans simply for being affiliated with a devil. I have lived my whole life knowing that full-breeds believe that half-breeds are abominations, but the paladins take that hate to a whole 'nother level; they'd like nothing more than to eradicate us all."
For a long time, her face was free of expression. The muscles at the corner of her lips twitched, wanting to smile if were all a joke, wanting to frown if it wasn't. She studied his face, waiting for the cue; the one that always lets her know that he could no longer keep a straight face. Confusion set in when there was none.
The smile continued to jerk at her face and she let it as she said, "You're kidding... right," the pause long enough so that her uncertainty resounded through the silence.
"I wish were a lie. I wish it was all a game," he uttered with a wistful smirk. Lady still digested the information and yet, could not see the severity of the situation. He thought it best to reiterate his point. "Look, Lady, I never told anybody this before, not even Vergil, but I had been attacked by a paladin before." Dante pulled up his shirt and leaned in, so that Lady could get a closer look. He pulled her hand closer so that she may trace the long, skinny raised scars that crossed from his left side to nearly his back.
He then explained, "I was sixteen and I thought I was invincible. When I had finally sensed her, it was already too late."
Dante stood from the mangled demon's corpse and maneuvered Rebellion, so that he could lop off its head in a single swipe. His blade bit into its flesh, with a squelch. He continued on to saw through the neck bone.
"A little macabre, don'tcha think," he heard a voice question, not too far off from where he stood. He looked up to see a girl, who appeared to be around the same age as he. She hopped off the hood of the car that she sat on and crossed the street, closing the distance between them. "What kind of demon kills his own kind and collects their heads as trophies?"
"My kind, huh?" Dante absently said, as he continued to hack away at the corpse. Finally, the head was loosed from its shoulders and Dante yanked it up by the tuft of fur on its head. "Got it," he said to himself with a triumphant grin. He then turned to the girl. She had no remarkable features about her. She stood at an unassuming five feet and five inches, with shoulder length brunette hair. She was no prettier and no uglier than the girls at his high school. In fact, she would fit in just fine.
"Didn't your parents ever teach you that spying is impolite," He finally directed his words to her.
"I apologize for my lack of home-training," she replied with mock cordiality, "I don't have any parents, they were killed by demons like you."
She wouldn't, the thought trailed off as Dante caught the slivery glint of a weapon being released from its home, in the small of her back. "Now, you have two options. You can either go quietly or..."
"Straight to the point, huh? No foreplay? Sounds like no fun, but I like a girl who know what she likes," an arrogant grin crept across his face.
She only scoffed in disgust, "I have no interest in devils like you."
"Meh... your loss." Dante turned and slung his sword over his shoulder and picked up the head. He had no idea who or what she was, but something about her didn't sit right with him. She was a normal human being in passing... normal enough. When she launched at him with inhuman speed, Dante began rethinking his position on the idea. She would, he thought.
He quickly dropped his shoulder and the head as he dodged a near stab to the back. She gained her footing, and lunged at him again with her silver dagger. He easily caught her attacking arm by the wrist in mid-swing. "Who are you," he asked, azure eyes narrowing at her. He pulled her arm around her back, careful not to break it but with enough force to make her drop the weapon.
He kicked it a few feet away from where they were standing. He tugged a little harder at her arm and stabbed his sword into the ground.
"Ahhh," she screamed in pain.
"Answer me! Who are you? Why are you after me," he quizzed.
"I'd rather die than dishonor my brothers and sisters in arms!"
"Listen babe, who said anything dying? I'm not killing anyone."
"You half-breeds are all the same. You weasel your way in, trying to blend in with the rest of humanity only to attack it in the end. You talk about not killing anybody, but you all do. You always do. It's our job to make sure you monsters never harm a single human."
Dante taken aback at what she said. It dredged up old memories of being called a freak and a monster when he was younger. Those old emotions that he thought he had buried long ago surfaced once more. It affected him so much that he had unconsciously loosened his grip on the girl. She took the opening and slipped away towards the dagger.
She roll to it and struck back into his direction with the speed and tenacity of a deadly cobra. Dante had by then brought himself out his inopportune reverie, just in time to dodge another attack. As her arm sail through the air with the dagger in tow, Dante could feel the heat radiating off of it. It was almost as if was specifically made to seriously hurt a demon. She swung again, reversing her stride with the blade grazing his skin this time.
Dante sharply winced as the dagger made contact. It felt like someone was trying to set him on fire! What kind of weapon is this, he questioned inside his own mind. The girl, once again, stabbed wildly in his direction with the broadside passing across his field of vision. That's when he saw it, the insignia, engraved just near the hilt. It was designed like a knight's coat of arms. It, however, depicted a man battling a beast with ancient runes encircling the scene.
Paladin, he thought as he winced at another glancing blow. He had only heard stories about them indiscriminately killing demons. That's exactly what he thought of them, only stories; little fairy tales that demonesses told their young so that they would eat their vegetables and go to bed on time. Never had he thought that he would have to do battle against one.
She made another reversal, which Dante deflected by pushing her arm off course. She was making it hard for him to comply with his self-imposed law of not harming humans. He had simply planned to knock her unconscious and run, but that idea was proving to be more and more impossible by the second.
Another pass was made at Dante. He countered by grabbing her wrist again, but this time twisting her around so that her back was to him. He firmly held her armed hand. They were so close that she could hear his heart pounding his chest.
"Look," he began, nearly growling in anger, "I don't want hurt you. I have never harmed a human... at least without good cause and you are really... really close to being that cause. Go home! You have no idea what you are dealing with out here. You are just a girl and an inexperienced fighter to boot. One of these days you are going run into a less-than-tolerant demon who won't hesitate to claw your throat out. You really should quit while you are ahead of the game."
"This is no game. This is my life and we are born to obliterate all abominations like you!" As she ended her reply, Dante felt a searing pain in his side. He looked up to see that he still gripped the hand that clasped onto the dagger, which well was out of reach of an immediate attack. He then looked down at the wound where the girl had a converse grasp onto another dagger. "Never underestimate a human," she ground out.
He wanted to cry out, to scream in pain, but Dante found that he no longer had a voice. She twisted the blade in farther, forcing him to drop her hand. The wound and organs underneath were on fire. Muscles involuntarily contracted and twitched like rapid fire as he let loose another silent scream. She then turned to face him, never letting go of the dagger. She shifted the bulk of her weight onto him causing tumble backwards and slide off the blade.
With a single, fluid motion, the girl flicked the excess blood off her daggers and slid them home against the small of her back, much like an Iaido. She watched her prey struggle to breathe with the fascination of a serial killer and the disgust for his kind plastered on her face. She approached him and straddled him across his chest. She grabbed his chin and turned his head to face her.
"Does it hurt," she questioned in mock sympathy, "I can only imagine the anguish you must be in. You need not worry about this for long. The magic that is imbued with my weapon will ultimately kill a demon, but not before allowing them to feel the agony he has put humans through. First it paralyzes you, and then it keeps you awake and alert up until you die."
Breathing was already difficult without her sitting on his chest. Whatever the spell was that graced her blades; it had sapped him of all of his energy. He couldn't even lift a finger to summon Rebellion, which lay somewhere near him. He could feel it near, probably a foot away. He hated this feeling, of being so helpless.
As she spoke he could only stare straight ahead, unable to blink or shift his eyes to another direction. She leaned an ear of his lips as her hair came into his view. Soon his breath only came out in hoarse rasps.
"This is end, my friend," she said standing up to leave, "the inevitable has come. Soon another devil with the face of an angel will be gone from this world." He noticed a little sadness in her eyes. He chocked it up to the mere fact that his torture was over. Whatever the reason was, he dropped the issue when he realized the pool of blood collecting under his body. The thought crossed his mind about who he was. He wasn't completely a human, nor was he a demon. He figured that if the magic didn't kill him soon, the fact that he was bleeding out would get him in the end. Still, he refused to accept it.
This isn't right; he thought as he stared into the night sky, I don't want to die. Not here, not now! Not to her. I have to keep moving. Dante took a deep breath and in a last ditch effort, he channeled all of his rage into willing himself to move...
"It took me a full week to heal from that attack and I even still bare the scars. I didn't tell you before, because I didn't want you needlessly paranoid."
"That is such a cop-out Dante. Did you think that what I didn't know couldn't hurt me? Or was it that you thought I couldn't handle the news? 'Don't worry your little pretty head about it, Lady' huh? Well that's bullshit! You should have been square with me from the beginning. You should have let me lift at least some of the burden." Lady went utterly ballistic. Her aura flared so much that even Dante could feel it.
"You weren't in any immediate danger," he replied.
"Wrong. Any human that is associated with a demon is at risk. You said so yourself. Why can't you just trust me?" Her expression softened and her aura calmed.
Dante took a deep breath and then revealed a nugget of knowledge, "That bar the other night... There was a paladin trailing me. I sensed him at the bookstore before that. You know that feeling that you get, like someone is watching you?"
"Yeah?"
"Pay attention to it, it could very well save your life."
There was a long pause before Dante spoke up again.
"Lady," Dante said with same seriousness in his voice, "I didn't tell you that to scare you. I just don't want you to be as reckless as I was. I could have easily died that night, but somehow, I didn't. If you ever cross paths with a paladin, don't stay and fight... just run. It's the only way to guarantee your survival."
"Even that's not much of a guarantee," Vergil said as he leaned against the kitchen's doorjamb with a cup of coffee in hand.
"How long have you been standing there," Dante asked, not once glancing in Vergil's direction.
"Oh, somewhere around you getting your ass handed to you by an inexperienced fighter," Vergil coolly replied as he took a sip.
Damn eavesdropper, Dante mentally complained.
"Human or not, dear little brother, I can still hear you," Vergil commented along with a tap of his index finger against his temple.
"What the hell, man?! What about our agreement?"
"Don't look at me, Dante. It is possible that your mental blocks left along with your abilities, leaving you more like an open book." Dante only scowled in response. Vergil then turned his attention to Lady, "You'll need to learn how to fight."
She quickly took offense to his statement and angrily ground out, "I already know how."
"Yes, to human standards. Can you handle yourself as a devil?"
"Hell yeah!"
"Show me."
"This, I've got to see," Dante gathered his crutches to follow the pair into the basement.
Some moments later Dante sat himself on the stairs. Lady readied herself into a boxing-like fighting stance while Vergil chose none at all. The pretentious bastard.
"All you'll have to do is land a single blow," Vergil explained with a calm even voice, "Are you ready?"
"Bring it on, devil boy."
"Come at me."
Lady lunged with at him with such speed that she could scarcely understand how she was able to clear the gap in no time at all. She cocked an arm back for a super-powered punch. Vergil had no problem in catching her fist in mid-stream and flipping her to the floor.
"Lesson one: know your enemy," Vergil preached, "You attack with such impetuosity, a fool's folly. This will be your downfall. Have you thoroughly watched my movements? Have you tried to deduce which actions I will take? Get up. TRY AGAIN!"
"Shut up," her blood boiled. However, she could not shake that the man had a point. She had not faced Vergil since Temen-ni-gru and in all honesty, she had no idea if he had gained any new abilities. In hindsight, facing a weaker opponent would have been the more prudent choice, rather than the gold-standard fighter that was Vergil.
She gathered herself up from the sparring mat, staring daggers at Vergil.
"Is that supposed to scare me," he commented.
She growled and charged again, to which he easily sidestepped the attack.
"Lesson two: keep your cool. Don't let your enemies rile you up. Anger makes you sloppy. AGAIN!"
If she wanted to wipe the smirk off of Vergil's smug face before, imagine what she wanted to do now. Lady hopped onto her feet and sprang into action once again.
Vergil formed a spectral sword and launched it his ebony-haired opponent. It hurtled at the woman with such speed and ferocity that she could scarcely react.
Dante averted his gaze, not wanting see the moment of impact. Lady let out a blood curdling scream.
"Lesson three," he heard Vergil speak in a detached manner, "duck."
There must be a blue moon, because I just updated. :P
So, who will emerge the winner? Tune in next time...