Despite his exhaustion, Nero didn't immediately go to bed. Instead, he went to his bookshelf in the front room. There, the ceiling stretched high, probably higher than he or Dante could jump. The bookshelf followed suit of the ceiling, reaching as high as possible. Nero could remember when he would have to get a book for Kyrie, and it made him smile.

He shook the thought away. That was not why he was here. He ran a hand through his hair. However, the hand wasn't human. From his shoulder blade to his finger tips it was red and blue, covered in large scales. Where the skin should have shown trough, it was glowing, the color changing as his mood shifted.

That was the hand he used to pull a book from the shelf.

The book he retrieved was a thick volume with a blank, black cover. Gold writing was sprawled on the side, but was too archaic to read. Nero thumbed through the pages; the ruffling paper was the only other sound occupying the house besides the storm outside.

He stopped in the middle of the book. Nero found it nearly impossible, but the girl was….

After she had eaten, Dante had curled up with his daughter on the bed, cuddling her close. She curled into her father's chest, her fingers clutching his shirt tightly. She was still mewling, her skin burning to the touch.

Dante still had that stupid grin plastered on his face, sound asleep. He was snoring softly, keeping his daughter pinned close. He looked happy—as though he were having the best dream ever.

His daughter, however, was wide awake. Her eye color continued to change as she started at Dante's chest. She was remembering the night before.

The night they had lost it all.

She, Antasia, was supposed to be in bed. Dante had let her stay up and watch. Lady, clad in her skimpy white suit, was standing next to Dante, showing him some ancient text. Trish was setting up, drawing symbols on the shop's old wooden floor, accentuating the points with candles. Antasia, was watching patiently nearby not allowed to help. However, it went downhill from there.

Dante and Lady had started reciting the spell to summon—a demon known as Bellezenef. Trish had been cradling Antasia when the explosion happened, the shop shattering around them. The young girl survived because Trish had turned her away from the blast. When the smoke cleared, the shop lay in ruins.

The timber was still and silent. Nothing was left of the shop; the jukebox that seemed to survive everything was even destroyed. Wood shifted and Dante sat up, shoving timber aside and coughing. His clothes were torn, blood matting his hair.

"Lady, what was….?...!"He turned to find the brunette, but turn his back on her immediately. The sight was something not even the great demon hunter could handle.

The body was burned, or at least what was left. All he could see was the upper half of her body. The skin was black and caked with dust and debris.

"Trish…!" his voice was hoarse as he started to climb the timber, "Trish!"

It was then that heard the sniffling, pathetic mewling made by his daughter.

"Antasia!" Dante lost his footing and he tumbled down the other side of the timber, sending up a plume of dust.

"Daddy!" A muffled voice called.

Dante hurried through the wreckage, stumbling over the broken boards of what used to be the ceiling and second floor. He stopped quickly when he stepped on a board and something underneath crumbled under his step. He feared the worse.

"Antasia?" He lifted what he thought was part of the ceiling. He inhaled sharply at the sight before him. The body hidden beneath the wood was black and crumbling, the ashen skin being lifted in the breeze, "… Trish…"

He felt a tear drop from his eye—a rare occurrence.

"Daddy…"

He blinked back to reality as the body started to shift before it fell apart all together. Dante blinked in horror, angered that someone would disturb the corpse.

When the ash settled, Dante found Antasia chocking on her mother's ashes.

"Daddy…"

Dante blinked, worried as he lifted Antasia up and brushed the ashes from her face. She was crying, the ash turning to mud as the tears hit it. He watched her a moment, stunned before holding her tight to his chest, pressing his face to her hair.

She was alive. They were alive.

Dante managed to salvage a blanket for her, wrapping her up. As the day drug on, Antasia fell ill. She had a terrible fever and refused to wake. Not knowing what to do, or where to go, Dante fled to Nero's.

He explained all that he could to Nero about what had happened and was let in. The petite brunette, Kyrie, kept an eye on Antasia while Dante attempted to tell Nero more details about the occurrence.

Without another place to go, Dante and Antasia stayed.

Dante stumbled over a snore, grumbling softly. Antasia shuffled a bit; she was getting warm, overheating in his grasp.

"Hey, Dante?" Nero was at the door again.

"Mmn? What?" Dante grumbled, rubbing his face with a hand before closing his eyes again.

"I need to talk to you about Bellezenefe… and Antasia," Nero said hesitantly. Dante froze, nearly smothering Antasia.

"Nero, I don't want—"

"I need to talk to you. It's important, Dante. You need to hear it," Nero's voice was strained with seriousness. Dante reluctantly gave a groan and slowly relinquished Antasia as he sat up. It took a few moments but Dante crawled off the bed and to the door.

Nero had vanished through the beam of light and was pacing in the hall. He knew the older man would not be pleased with what he had to say. However, it was too important to ignore.

"What is it?" Dante sighed, stepping out through the door. He looked exhausted, his hair messier than usual.

"You told me everything had burned, right?" Nero asked, "Save for you and Antasia?"

Dante's eyes flashed, "I don't want to talk about it, kid."

"This is important though, Dante."

"I don't care," Dante grumbled, going for the room.

"… She's possessed, Dante," Nero said softly. Dante froze before turning to Nero slowly.

"What?!"

Dun Dun Duuuuuuuuuuuun. Cliff hanger. I have the next handful of chapters hand written, but I'm too lazy to type them xD I'll get the next up ASAP.