STIGMA 2: Memory
Chapter 11: My Father's Sins.
"Lord Sparda." Those words echo over and over again in my head. My heart pounds heavily with anger, confusion and hate; hate for the man that is my father. Hate for the sorrow I once had for believing he was dead. Hate for making him the centre of my entire world while this man had abandoned my mother.
"Vergil, you're crushing my hand." Lariska's voice is no more than a whisper. She has grown pale from shock. I release her hand and shoot her an apologetic glance. She nods at me.
"Oh so you didn't know your father was still alive did you?" Krases taunts me. "Sparda, have you been lying to your family this entire time? Not very surprising considering what you did to me."
"Leave my family out of this, Krases." The liar growls. "My son and my agent have nothing to do with this."
"It doesn't matter if they do or not." Krases started circling us. I look to the vampires. Some of them seem to be paralysed by shock, others are seething with rage and some look on approvingly.
"Once you destroyed my power base and my supporters. Then you subvert the power of those who walk the night by forming that filthy treaty!" The newly resurrected vampire is visibly angry. "No vampire can feed off humans without a human's permission. We are to sustain ourselves on disgusting animals!" He pauses.
"No more! No more will we limit our greatness and bow to human will! My brothers and sisters of the council; unite with me once more and we will destroy Sparda and his humans!"
"No one in this room will support you, Krases!" Vakos snaps. She turns her gaze to the other council members. "Any who do will be put to death by sunlight immediately!"
Krases merely laughs quietly but his laugh is reflected off the walls of the chamber. "Oh so you don't think I have any real power here do you Vakos? Allow me to demonstrate the extent of your misjudgement. Julius, Marco, Elisabetta. You once stood with me and paved the way for my rebirth. Come stand with me again. Have your underlings take these fools away."
"Yes my lord." One male vampire announces proudly. "I Julius will give you my support once more. My men are already on their way."
"As are mine." A female Italian vampire proclaims. "I Elisabetta renounce the vampire council and join our true leader."
"You have my support!" A third vampire who I guess to be Marco joins them.
"Enough of this!" A female screams. "Sparda, my name is Maria. I will not be joining either side but this has to be sorted properly. The treaty still stands. Myself, Paulo and Verona will remain neutral in this conflict. However you and your people will be placed into our custody for protection. You too Vakos. You have been far too close to this matter for you to remain neutral."
"WHAT?" Vakos screams. "You dare arrest me?"
But it is too late as about twenty vampires barge into the chambers. I want to use my devil trigger. If Lariska hadn't been there I wouldn't' have been worried about fighting. Instead all I can do is watch while we are escorted out of the chambers and into devil knows where.
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We were escorted further underground and locked inside holding cages where newly created vampires were usually locked until they could control their urges or so Maria told us.
The vampires had taken Lariska from me. I had no idea where she was or if she was with Vakos. That idea worried me even more than if she had been imprisoned by herself.
"How much does she know, Vergil?" My father's voice penetrated the silence. "How much of her past does she remember?"
"Enough." I replied without looking at him.
"And I see you have marked her." Footsteps approached me. "Tell me what exactly was going through your head when you decided to put her through such an ordeal?"
My blood boiled. I surrendered to the rage and let my body change shape. I lunged at him and growled. "Back off old man. Things have become far more complicated than you had ever anticipated. By the time I realised who she was, she had started to remember. So yeah I took a measure to make sure Lariska could handle herself in a fight when it came time for her to know the truth about who she is. It was only a matter of time before the truth came out."
"I suppose I deserve your anger."
"Oh you suppose!" My hands were around his neck. "Do you have any idea what you put us through? My mother! Dante! Our family was ripped apart because you left us! And I will NEVER forgive you for that!"
I let him go and watched as he crumpled to the floor, gasping for air. He began to laugh.
"Tell me father. What is so amusing?"
"I am glad to see you have not lost your strength. You truly are my son." He stood to his feet. "You have to understand I never meant to leave any of you behind."
"You think I want to hear your story?"
Sparda got to his feet. "You have something better to do? Some pressing engagement? Sit down, boy."
I glared at him. "Fine. I'll hear you out."
"I did leave to fight Mundus. That part is true. However I was tricked, beaten down and reduced to a plaything for the amusement of the underworld. Mundus forced me to watch as his servants murdered Eva. That broke me and my will to fight."
"What then? How did you escape and return to STIGMA?"
"One of my agents broke into the underworld and was able to bring me back. That agent was one of the few who knew my true identity. To everyone else I was Mr Giovanni, the reclusive billionaire. The fact that I had disappeared was not widely circulated except to those within the inner circle of STIGMA. That included Carmen Detrius, Daniel Clarke and the seer Gabriella who passed away eighteen years ago. You may have met her daughter, Micah."
"Why didn't you try to find myself or Dante?"
"I was ashamed. I had failed Eva and my sons. I didn't feel I could face either of you and look you in the eyes."
"I see." I sank to the ground, my anger slowly dissipating. "I'm not sure I forgive you but I think I do understand."
"And you my son. I have my own question for you. You tried to destroy this world once. Now you have become part of the struggle to protect it? Why? What is it you fight for?"
Vergil. Can you hear me?
My jerked upwards. "Father, can you hear that?"
Sparda frowned. "Hear what?"
Vergil, please tell me you can hear me?
Lariska, I can hear you. Where are you?
I'm not sure. I'm with Vakos. We're in a prison with solid silver bars. Vakos isn't able to touch them to break them open. She said that her strength wouldn't be enough anyway.
Mine wouldn't be either. Don't do anything rash, Lariska, We'll find a way out of here. Is there anything in there you can use to pry them open.
No but…She went silent.
Talk to me, Lariska. What's wrong?
Nothing's wrong Vergil. Something is very very right. I have an idea!
Author's Note: Woo hoo! Chapter 11 is done and dusted!
Thanks Ikara for that awesome review and for picking up on the fact that some much needed editing had to be done. What would I do without you guys!
The next chapter may not be out for a few weeks due to college work that needs to be done. But I will try to fit some writing in here and there. Who knows? The end of the story isn't that far off either. That's all I can say.
Next Chapter: Passage.