Chapter 2: The Mystic

Lady agreed with Dante: they should take the young woman back to Devil May Cry with them. Magic users, or witches, may be somewhat common as far as "supernatural" (people who posses the ability to use powers beyond the average human) go, but the tended to be quite cautious as to whom they allowed this knowledge to. Lady and Dante were afraid that if the university president knew about the "witch", and about her being at the campus library during the attack; he'd send the witch to the infirmary and they'd never see her again… Magic users don't like having their cover blown, especially by demons.

While Lady spoke to the president, Dante waited in the car with the witch. Initially not expecting Lady to take so long, Dante remained silent with the witch; however, after thirty minutes of Lady speaking with the president, both occupants of the car got bored.

After taking her gun for safekeeping—and to prevent from getting shot again—Dante examined the witch: she only had minor cuts and bruises, but her mental state was a different matter entirely. The woman's dilated pupils, rapid shallow breathing and profuse sweating indicated that she was having an acute stress reaction.

Attempting to calm the woman next to him, Dante asked her for her name.

No response. His question seemed to fall on deaf ears as the half-demon could only hear deep, shallow breathing.

Suit yourself—Dante leaned back and quietly contemplated. The young woman's ragged breathing provided background noise.

Victoria attempted to pull herself together, but to no avail; the two of them, herself and the demon, just waited there like that for a while: him, obviously annoyed; and her, obviously panicking.

"Jesus Dante!" Lady had finally come back. "She's obviously in shock. You could have at least let her lay down."

Whatever—He didn't have time for this crap. "How much are we getting paid?" he asked, moving to the driver's seat, starting the engine.

"Not enough," Lady grumbled as she sat next to the witch.

"Here," Lady suddenly handed the witch a soda, "It'll help take the edge off," she offered. The witch took a couple of careful sips before gulping down the fizzy drink.

After finishing the drink the young witch seemed to calm down enough to talk.

"So, you're a magic user. That's hard to come by," Lady attempted to start a conversation. "What made you come to the library to face the demon? My partner says you were armed and trying to kill it yourself."

Gaining enough of her bearings, Victoria started telling them about the recent killings of students on campus. "I couldn't just sit by and do nothing… these are my fellow students; I could not simply stand by and watch them be murdered."

After being questioned by the man and woman for ten minutes, Victoria finally asked; "Who are you two? FBI? CIA?" It was a serious question.

Both Dante and Lady bust out laughing at the mere thought that they could be working for such a bloated, inept bureaucracy such as the United States government.

"Well then, who are you?" Victoria asked, frustrated by their laughter. She felt her face heat as her ignorance was revealed.

"We're just two demon hunters," Dante answered casually.

Victoria was a little taken aback by this; she didn't think demon hunting was an actual profession. "So that's an actual profession then?"

"You bet your sweet ass it is," Dante answered.

After leaving the police and president, Victoria expected to be taken back to her dormitory; however, the lady with the bazooka drove her past the dorms and towards the city.

"I want out!" Victoria exclaimed once she realized that she was being taken away from home.

The lady with the bazooka told her to relax, her tone calm. Victoria felt something come over her: a strange sense of calm. However, that was short lived when she asked again.

"I demand that you take me home!" Victoria broke through the fog. Trying the door, she figured that she'd leap out of the moving car if need be. A distant voice told her not to move. Victoria ignored the voice and tried the door again. Wiggling it free, she was about to jump when she heard a shout and froze, falling unconscious.

"Jeez Dante, you didn't have to knock her out."

"She would have hurt herself if I hadn't," he defended himself, carrying the frozen, semi-unconscious witch with him.

Feeling herself being laid down on something cold, but soft, Victoria opened her eyes. Her vision was hazy at best, but she could see that she was in an office. A junked one at that.

"Think she'll remember any of this?" the man asked.

"Not likely," the woman responded, looking at Victoria struggling to regain control and full consciousness. "Now is the perfect time to ask."

The two demon hunters didn't waste time before interrogating Victoria.

"How are you able to wield magic?' the woman asked.

"I've always been able to," Victoria found herself answering, unwillingly.

"Who are you?" the silver haired man asked. "What are you?" was the better question.

"I…" Victoria was sincerely dumbfounded. Had they given her some sort of truth serum? She didn't even know what she was anymore! However, she still knew who she was.

"I'm Victoria…I'm a student of pharmacy at the University," she answered sincerely. "I…I'm someone who wants to help people…to heal them." It took so much strength just to get those words out.

"Why did you go to the library? Did you know the demon was there?" Victoria could no longer decide whose voice was asking the question.

Groggy and fading fast, she answered: "My fellow students were being killed, I couldn't do nothing. I sensed a demon in the library, a powerful one, so I came after it…I just wanted the killings to end…" Victoria closed her eyes and breathed into the cold material she lay on. It was leather, she could tell from its smell and cool, smooth skin.

Satisfied with the girl's answers, Dante and Lady let her pass out on the sofa before discussing her responses amongst themselves.

Contemplating, Lady tiredly walked to pour herself a cup of piping hot coffee—I wonder if mother was initially confused too. Just like this girl. When Lady was "Mary" she remembered her mother telling her that she didn't know whom she was until Father showed her. Father was born with the innate ability to bring the best out of everyone, except for himself…all of which ultimately led to the demise of Lady's family.

Dante, On the other hand, sat in his chair. After drinking two shots of Jack, he kicked back and closed his eyes. "I don't care what you want to do with her," he said to Lady, apathetically. "Just get on with it."

Finishing her cup of Joe, Lady looked at her partner carefully: The years had been most unkind to Dante; she wasn't surprised to see dark circles and heavy bags under his eyes, evidence of lack of quality sleep, but she hadn't expected him to appear so much older than herself so quickly.

Lady, still maintaining the full cheeks of her youth and appearing to be nineteen at the age of twenty-two, saw for the first time that Dante appeared to be much older than he actually was. Instead of looking like the twenty five year old man he was, he appeared to be thirty. Though Lady felt sad for her friend, she had learned to distance herself emotionally—I have enough problems without dealing with his—was what she had ultimately decided with Dante and his grief. He had every reason to be sad, and she had every reason to avoid his sadness. Both of us have been dealt terrible hands in life.

"Though she has seen 'too much' the girl has done nothing wrong," Lady finally stated. "She simply exists; therefore, she doesn't deserve to be killed or hurt." Lady hated the humanity that suddenly crept up on her; it would be easier to kill the girl and be done with the matter. "She posses no threat to us now, but we should still keep an eye on her." Just in case another Arkham comes along to use her like "Kalina-Ann".

Dante closed his eyes at this; the girl may pose no threat now, but in fifty years? Once her magic is developed and strengthened? She could become more dangerous than Arkham. "Right, she posses no threat, NOW" Dante aimed Ivory at the young woman's forehead. "But who's to say she won't in ten years? Or even fifty? I'd be alone to deal with that myself." Reflecting on the chaos Arkham had caused, Dante was morally all right with ending the young witch's life, here and now.

Sighing, Lady looked at Dante severely. "We can't kill her just because she can use magic, Dante." Lady chastised her "partner".

"Yes," Dante agreed; "RIGHT NOW, she's just a magic user, but in a decade or so, who's to say she won't become another Arkham?" He saw Lady flinch at the mention of her father, but ignored it; the prospect of another Arkham was a more pressing matter. "She could open another gateway to Hell."

"I'm a magic user you know!" Lady revealed this suddenly. "How else do you think I'm able to fight demons?!" She felt her defenses rise. "Not all of us are half demon, and not all of us find magic to be useless! Magic CAN be used for good, you know?!"

Despite a bad feeling creeping up on him, Dante agreed with Lady: they would keep the young witch alive and only reveal what they needed to."

Lady relaxed on the couch while Dante kicked back in his chair at his desk. Both of them sore and exhausted from chasing the demon down all night. "Think she has anything to do with the sudden increase in demonic activity at the university?" Lady finally asked. "Doubt it," Dante responded, flipping through a magazine. When he'd found Victoria in the library, she seemed to be guessing on how to defeat the demon. The chances of her having summoned the demon seemed unlikely. "She did say that she felt the demonic presence. Though." Dante said, suddenly looking up. "Think it's anything worth looking into?" Lady asked, rubbing her sore legs.

"I'll ask Morrison next time I see him."

As if she had awakened from a terrible nightmare, Victoria shot out of her bed, breathing hard. Though her dorm room was dark, she could tell where everything was and where she was.

Fully clothed still, Victoria undressed for bed, contemplating—Was this all a dream?

Locking her gun back up, Victoria stripped and crawled into bed. Closing her eyes, she fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow. Her dreams were filled with a silver haired man trying to protect her. He appeared different six times: three times old and young wearing red; once young and old wearing blue; and twice, young and middle age in purple. But when he came, it was all the same: he was there to protect her.

After some much needed sleep and lack of evidence from the school, Victoria came to the conclusion that she'd had a fitful dream. The lady with the bazooka wasn't real nor was the demon in red with silver hair.

Moving on with her life, it had been weeks since Victoria had witnessed the incident with the demon in the library; however, she was still feeling out some demonic activity. Initially, she thought it was Dante, the man from her dreams, possibly stalking her. He and Lady had been quite intrigued with her magic abilities, but this presence felt malevolent; and besides, they weren't real were they?

Night after night of restless sleep, Victoria was in such a state of fatigue that she'd begun taking naps after class.

One such day, as Victoria slept in her room, a dark mist began seeping through the doors to the hallway. Forming into a humanoid shape, the form traveled quickly to a door and went through it.

The door opened with a bang, startling Victoria awake.

"Hey roomie!" Camilla said cheerfully, locking the door behind her. It was finally Friday and she couldn't wait to go home for the weekend!

"Hey…" Victoria said, groggy. Stopping for a moment—that dream. The fog. It felt so real. "Did you…" she hesitated; Camilla already thought she was weird enough and she didn't want to make the tension worse between them.

"Did I what?" Camilla asked, pulling her curls up into a bun atop her head while she got ready to pack.

With everything that had been happening recently, Victoria couldn't help herself; "Did you notice anything or anyone in the hallway? You know, like something unusual."

God you are so creepy sometimes. Camilla hadn't told her roommate yet, but she was moving out in a couple of months. It wasn't that she disliked Victoria…Okay, maybe just a little. But it was mostly because she just couldn't handle Victoria's moods and strange behavior anymore. It was causing the girls in her social circle to whisper. "No," Camilla shrugged. "It was just me in the hallway."

"Oh," Victoria responded, looking at her phone. It was only four in the afternoon. "Leaving so soon?"

"Yeah," Camilla responded before leaving with her bags. She didn't want to miss dinner. "See you Monday!" She chirped before leaving.

Closing the door behind her roommate, Victoria sat back down on her bed. Tears pricked her eyes. Making friends had been a little easier in college, but everyone still kept her at a distance. It was as if people came too close to Victoria's orbit, they feared they'd catch some disease. She felt genuinely jealous of Camilla's ability to make friends with other girls so easily. Victoria always craved that close female companionship that most other girls seemed to have. Sure, she liked her male friends a lot and she was close with them, she supposed, but she longed for that "sisterhood" feeling that Camilla and other girls had.

Doesn't matter…I'll always be an outsider. No sense in crying about the inevitable.

Pulling on her leggings, a long sweatshirt with the university logo and some boots, Victoria set out to find her car and head into town. She'd read about an occult shop and wanted to make a trip.

Whether or not her visit with Dante and lady were real, she needed to know more about herself.

"What do you mean no pizza?" Dante growled at the phone irritably.

I'm sorry sir, but I have strict orders from Mr. Morrison that we can't deliver any more pizza on your tab until he speaks with you.

Hanging up the phone, Dante muttered, assholes.

Morrison had been on his ass for the past two weeks about meeting with him to talk about the recent uptick in demonic activity. He supposed that this was the man's way of forcing his hand.

Getting his coat and his guns, Dante locked the shop before heading to Morrison's office.

Having parked her car in a general parking lot, Victoria got out to window shop. Browsing the shops for a while, Victoria quickly found that it was easier said than done to find a book on witchcraft and demons that was actually reliable.

"Excuse me, sir?" she asked the clerk at the sixth bookstore she'd come across.

The man turned around, he was on the hefty side with long sandy hair pulled into a short ponytail at his neck. Giving Victoria a jovial smile, she could see his chin piercing poking out of his facial hair.

I'm sure he gets odd questions all the time—Victoria relieved herself of guilt."Would you happen to recommend a book for me about magic spells and demons?"

"Interesting. For learning spells or just information?" He smiled quizzically. It could have been a trick of the light, but Victoria could have sworn that the man's pupils dilated to the point that his eyes looked almost entirely black; however, as soon as they had appeared abnormal, did they go back to being hazel and warm.

"I-I just," Victoria didn't know what to say. She hadn't predicted a question such as this, and she didn't want to give away the fact that she knew magic. "I don't know. Either or I suppose."

"No," the clerk said. His badge said "Alex" on it. "You want to know," he added, pulling off his glasses.

"Know what?"

He didn't answer. Instead, Alex went to the back.

Victoria could hear him rumbling around before he came back with a rather large tome.

Looking at it, Victoria could tell that it was very old. Alex held the book out for her to touch it. Upon doing so, she felt energy surge up her arm. Her head spun as her mind flooded with disjointed knowledge—No sharing! A voice commanded her.

Dizzy and slightly nauseous, she asked how much for the tome.

"Not for sale, but you're welcome to read it in the shop. This is the real deal. "Alex smiled knowingly as he handed the book to Victoria—As real as you. As a half-angel, Alexander was sensitive to the supernatural, and the girl before his exuded supernatural power, just waiting to be tapped,

"A witch huh?" Morrison mused. He compromised with Dante and they got strawberry sundaes.

"Yeah, lethal too." Dante hadn't told Lady that when Victoria cast her spells, he felt something odd. It was difficult to put into words too; the aura the woman's spells emanated felt natural, yet immensely hot and destructive all at once. It was as if she was harnessing nature's power itself.

"Interesting, and with no spell book or chants?"

"None that I could hear," Dante finished his sentence along with his sundae.

Highly unusual—Morrison mused. Though his demon hunting days had long been over, he still kept contact with those who were still in the business. He'd seen or met various types of supernatural individuals: not just demons, but also vampires, werewolves, ghosts and "witches". He had met many people who were magic users, but nothing like the young woman Dante was describing; they all needed chants or spell books. Despite the fact that "witches", or "magic users" were common, most needed a spell book or chants to harness the magic of nature to bend to their will. Hell! Even Arkham was naturally gifted with magic, but he still needed a spell book to bend natural power to his will. So how was a novice witch able to use magic without chants or a spell book, yet a seasoned mage like Arkham could not?

This question was beyond Morrison, but he knew a man who wasn't.

Victoria sighed in frustration as she stretched her aching back. She'd been leaned over the tome of a magic book for over an hour, translating its passages into modern English. Yet, she had managed to get as far as five pages which essentially told her nothing: "Harnessing the natural abundance and power of the Earth's magic is difficult, but the first step": Victoria had initially translated. "However, once this magic is harnessed and understood, it is limitless." She had assumed she'd only gotten as far as the prologue of the tome of "Magic".

Hearing the bell ring, Victoria looked over and felt her blood run cold when she saw the familiar man in red traveling with another man wearing a brown trench coat.

NO! Though she had never "met" this man in her entire life, Victoria felt Déjà vu as visions of a sword cutting through a monster invaded her mind. You aren't supposed to be real!

Hiding behind a shelf, she took everything off the table with her, including the book.

"I'll translate this later," she thought as she took pictures of the book with her phone. Alex was too busy speaking with the recent customers to tell her there was nothing to fear.

As Alex spoke of his unusual heritage, he failed to notice a petite woman slink out the same door a customer had cone in.

Getting back to her room, Victoria was worn out, but not done yet; she desperately wanted to finish translating the passage.

Pulling out the photos of the passage, Victoria translated them. Chanting the words out aloud and finishing the passage, Victoria waited for something to happen. She waited and waited for hours, but nothing happened…

Fed up with this whole non-sense, Victoria put her scribe away, and readied for bed.

Pulling her clothes off, she failed to notice the black smoke entering her room from under her doorway.

Scrutinizing her face in the mirror, Victoria saw lines on her mouth for the first time. Surely there's a spell to cure this! She distressed at the slight marionette lines on her face, not noticing the smoke in her room. Crying a little at the fact she was aging like all humans, Victoria crawled into bed without noticing how cold the air was on her bare feet.

Feeling guilty as Lady knocked the RA, "Laura" out, she took the woman's post after laying her on her bed. Putting the "Do Not Disturb" sign out on the window, Lady waited for Victoria; surely she will come to an elder in search for advice.

After a few hours of posing as "Laura" and letting other underclassman knock before leaving, Lady felt something unusual. It was something she could not ignore. It felt omnipresent and ominous, feelings, which got worse as she crept towards the room these feelings were emanating from: Room 911.

Eyes widening at the realization, Lady slammed her fist onto the "Fire Alarm". A loud noise went off and everyone but the girl fled the ninth floor of the third tower of dormitories at the university.

Instead of fleeing, the "witch" girl shot out of her room, fully dressed in combat gear, to face the dark entity.

Leading the other girls on the ninth floor out of the girl's side of floor nine, Lady focused her attention towards the dark figure that had materialized.

After all the other girls ran past her, Victoria stood; fixated on the dark figure before her.

"Valak," the name suddenly flooded her mind, unpleasantly.

"Valak" then materialized as a benevolently matronly form before her.

Dressed as an old, benevolent gypsy before her, "Valak" smiled. "I've been waiting for you", the demon smiled harshly, yet calmly. "Child of Ariel!" Valak roared. "Show me what you've got!"

Victoria reached for her holster, yet found no gun…