If Lorena had thought this was a bad day earlier, it was now the equivalent to the zombie apocalypse. First chained to a cross by a bunch of ignorant humans and now conned into...what, exactly? Infiltrating a group of witch and demon hunting fanatics. Correction- the group of witch and demon hunting fanatics. The realization nearly knocked her flat on her ass.

She wanted to scream.

Which she did, but not because of the aforementioned reason. No, this scream was actually more of a surprised yelp as she went from standing in the hallway to being lifted up and tossed over someone's shoulder. Dante's shoulder, to be more specific.

She weighed more than he thought she would. Obviously, there was more muscle under her flesh than he'd originally expected, though her toned legs and seemingly perfect rear should have been clue enough. Lorena was easily five eight, slender and fairly lean. Not gangly or skinny like some women, but lean. She had curves in just the right places and just the right amount of cushioning in places where it mattered...just thinking about it almost made him drool.

As soon as Lorena's brain finished processing her current situation, she pushed herself up, palms flat on his upper back and supporting herself with her arms. Shooting a glare at the back of his head, a scowl fixed itself on her face.

"Put me down."

Dante chuckled.

"Nope."
"Put. Me. Down."

"Hate to break it to ya, but saying it slower isn't going to make me do it."

Lorena pursed her lips together in thought.

"...Put me down or I'll set your pants on fire."

Next thing she knew, she was flat on the floor. Her body was pressing into the cool marble and she became painfully aware of the dull ache that resulted from being dropped like a sack of potatoes. The left side of her body probably had some bruises on it. Painful bruises.

She groaned inwardly and rolled over onto her back, only to see Dante grinning down at her. Frowning slightly, she glared at him.

"I said 'put me down,' not 'drop me like a sack of potatoes.'"

"Same difference."

He leaned down and picked her back up. Instead of throwing her over his shoulder, however, he hooked one arm under her knees and wrapped her arms around his neck. Lorena noted that the arm that wasn't hooked under her knees was uncomfortably close to her breasts.

"I have legs, y'know," she griped.

"Oh, I know."

Dante winked at her and Lorena's frown deepened into a scowl.

"I was serious about your pants."

He shrugged simply and continued down the hall.

"I'll have to take your word for it," he replied casually. "Though I've got to say- that's prob'ly the most creative method I've ever heard for getting me out of my pants."

Lorena retched.

"I'd sooner kiss a dragon," she snarled.

He laughed again, wincing slightly since the spot where she'd hit him still stung. Odd, since he figured that the burn would have become completely numb by now. Stupid magic being stupid...

Dante carried her all the way back to her room, but instead of setting her down outside, he kicked the door open and walked right in as if he owned the place...Well, he sort of did, but that's beside the point. He didn't put her down, either.

Lorena tried to disentangle herself from him, a frustrated 'huff' escaping her lips when she failed. Frowning, she glanced up at Dante who was looking back at her expectantly. He couldn't be serious...

"Thank you for bringing me back," growled Lorena. "Now fuck off."

Dante cocked an eyebrow.

"Not much of a 'thank you'..."

Lorena rolled her eyes and continued to try to free herself.

"It's all you're getting."

"Really?"

Uh oh. That didn't sound good. Lorena's fight or flight response kicked in and tried to make that split second decision, but a split second too late. Before she could really register it, she landed flat on her back on the mattress with Dante looming over her. Lorena tried to shove him off.

"Get the hell off of me," she snarled.

Dante considered it for less than a second.

"Nah."

Lorena pushed harder, still to no avail.

"Get. Off."

"Is that an invitation?"

Before she could come back with some sort of retort, Dante's lips crashed down onto Lorena's. As you can imagine, she was not happy. At all. Despite having his tongue practically rammed down her throat and being caught in a very compromising position, she fought back. The tenacity with which she fought back would normally be considered beating the shit out of someone, but Dante wasn't normal. If anything, this was just a very angry protest. He did not take the hint.

She thrashed under his weight and tried to push him off, nearly succeeding. However, he was still much heavier than her and Dante simply responded by (harshly) pushing her back down and holding her arms down. The air was knocked straight out of her lungs, leaving her briefly breathless, and he pretty much pinned the rest of her down to the bed with his body. His lips captured hers again in a kiss just a rough as the first, to which she responded with a snarl.

"Feisty," he chuckled, biting down on her lip.

In one last desperate attempt, Lorena decided to headbutt him. Lucky for her, it worked and the brief pause gave her the opportunity to knee Dante in the gut and wrench herself free from his grip. She rolled out from under him, scrambling to get up and off the bed. She was just about to make a mad dash for the bathroom when she was tackled from the side and onto the hardwood floor.

"GOD FUCKING DAMN IT!" she screamed.

Lorena resumed her earlier struggle, trying to push Dante away with extreme difficulty since he was both stronger and heavier than she was. Dante, on the other hand, found the whole thing to be rather funny. Why she kept going for his face, however, was a bit of a mystery. It was the best thing about him! Well...second best thing about him.

At the sound of someone clearing their throat, both of them froze and looked up at the door that led out to the hall. In the doorway was a tall, somewhat lanky young man with black hair as wild as Adrienne's. His skin was a shade darker than hers, however, and a pair of bright gold eyes peeked out from under his bangs.

"I hate to interrupt...whatever you're doing," he said after a moment, eyeing them with perplexed look on his face, "But I was told to bring our guest dinner."

Dante raised an eyebrow.

"Well, we're a little busy," Dante said, narrowly dodging another punch aimed at him. "D'you think you could come back later?"

Unfortunately, dodging the punch had left his abdomen wide open, and Lorena kneed him in the ribs.

"We're not 'busy' with anything!" she snapped, attempting to wriggle out from under him.

"Not yet," he replied with a slight wince as he grabbed her wrists and slammed them down onto the floor. "Also, could you stop hitting me?"

She opened her mouth to snap at him again when the other man spoke up.

"Actually, sir, your brother was looking for you. Said it was important."

Dante frowned slightly and gave the dark haired man a flat look.

"Can it wait?"

The young man shrugged.

"You want to piss your brother off, go ahead. We're still cleaning your brain matter out of the carpet in the billiard room."

Heaving a sigh, Dante reluctantly got off of Lorena and fixed his coat. He glanced back at her, giving her a wink.

"I'll be back later. Wait up for me, m'kay?"

"I'd rather chew off my own arm and beat you to death with it."

He chuckled and strode out of the room past the young man with a swagger in his step while Lorena glared daggers at him, sorely tempted to make good on her threat. The beating to death, not the chewing part. Hell, maybe if she was lucky Vergil would do the job for her.

The young man, who had inadvertently saved her, said nothing else and set down a tray of food before leaving promptly. She was almost sad to see him go- she owed him a "thank you."

Hungry as she was, Lorena suddenly felt extremely tired. Heaving a sigh and casting a forlorn look at the tray, she got to her feet and instead trudged over to the bed, crawling up over the mattress to curl up under the sheets. She needed sleep- and could always work something out in the morning.