"Dante huh?" Nathan nodded and looked the man over closely. He was young. At least, he looked young. He couldn't be older then in his twenties. He had chin length snow white hair, brushed down neatly with his bangs parted, but covering his right eye. He wore a long red leather jacket, and at the bottom the tail of the jacket was split in two like scissors. Under the jacket he had on a black leather shirt buckled closed with three golden buckles, a brown belt with a silver skull for a belt buckle, and black, baggy leather pants. He had on what looked like black steel toe boots, and was wearing black leather gloved which had holes to reveal his knuckles, and there were no tips, so you could see the tips of his fingers and he could better hold onto his large sword, which now resided on his back. Nathan could see two heavily modified M1911s, one black and one silver. Both guns had the words "Ebony and Ivory" scratched into the side in golden cursive letters.
Dante noticed Nathan looking at the guns and pulled them out, spinning them in his hands and grinning. "This one is Ebony." Dante said, showing off the black gun. "And this here is Ivory." he said while tossing the silver gun into the air. He caught it, then returned them to their holsters under his red coat and unsheathed his large sword. "My sword, my father's sword, is Rebellion."
"Rebellion?" Nathan asked, surprised.
"Yeah. Have you heard of it?" Dante questioned.
"Yes I have. It's one of the three swords of Sparda, the legendary dark knight. The three swords, known as Sparda, Rebellion and Yamato went missing after his death. I learned that Sparda was hidden away, while Rebellion and Yamato were passed down to his sons. So you're one of Sparda's sons, are you not?" Nathan crossed his arms when he asked.
"I am. I see you did your homework." Dante laughed. "What else do you know about me?"
"Not much. But I know you wear half of the perfect amulet. The other half must be worn by your brother." Nathan thought aloud.
"Yeah. My brother, Vergil, has Yamato and the second half of the perfect amulet." Dante half smiled as he spoke, and leaned against a large green dumpster beside him.
"When the two halves of the amulet are reunited, it gives the wearer the ability to open the gates to Hell and gives them access to Sparda's power."
"You're right about the gates to Hell. Wrong about Sparda's power. Only the amulet can lead you to the location of the sword of Sparda, and when the amulet and sword are reunited, you become the embodiment of Sparda. That's how you gain his power." Dante explained.
"Hmm." Nathan became lost in thought. "This must be what Teirn is after. A way into Hell, to gain this ultimate power. Then he won't need to start the apocalypse. I have to stop him." Nathan thought to himself. "I need your help Dante."
"Glad to hear it! Because I'm starting to like it here in New York and planned on staying anyways. Besides, my brother is here somewhere. I'm going to find him, and find out what he's planning." Dante nodded.
"Then it looks like we're at an understanding." Nathan agreed.
"No we are not!" A woman said from behind Nathan. Nathan turned around and Dante walked up beside him. A beautiful young woman stood before them, staring them down. She had long pink hair that came down to her waist and bright blue eyes. She was wearing a long, purple dress that dragged on the ground, and had long purple sleeves that covered her arms and wrapped around half her hands like gloves. The purple dress had golden lining on the shoulder and down the sleeves, and there was a dark blue amulet attached to the chest of the dress. The dress covered her left leg, but was swept behind her right leg so that it was revealed all the way up to her waist. She was wearing tall, light purple boots with pink soles and had gold beads wrapped around the middle of the boot.
"Avanalleena." Nathan greeted her.
"You know this woman?" Dante asked, looking her over.
"Angel, to be correct. The one that brought me back to life." Nathan said.
"Brought you back?" Dante cocked an eyebrow.
"This is no time for chatting." Avanalleena said in a fierce voice. "Nathan, you can not work with this demon. He cannot be trusted!"
"Listen lady!" Dante took a step forward, "I don't know who you are, but if you really are an angel, then you should know I'm not the bad guy. Now, Nathan mentioned you brought him back to life. I don't know the whole story, but I can tell you tasked him with hunting demons. I can also tell that he's after a very specific demon. Teirn."
Avanalleena's eyes widened. "You know of Teirn?" she questioned. "How?"
"My brother, Vergil, has sided with him. Now, I know how to get to him, which means I can lead Nathan to Teirn. I don't care if you don't trust me, but Nathan asked me for help, and I'm not going to refuse." Dante crossed his arms stubbornly.
"Very well. But if I discover that you are lying to me, it will mean the end of you." Avanalleena spun around, her dress flying behind her like a cape, and vanished.
"That was fun." Nathan said.
"Quite the beauty she is." Dante grinned.
"Please don't tell me you've gone and fallen in love with an angel. You're half demon for crying out loud." Nathan sighed. Dante scratched his head and laughed. "Great." Nathan muttered.
"Anyways, what was all that about. Who are you? Really?" Dante looked over at Nathan, waiting for an answer.
"It's a long story. I'm still piecing some things together myself. But I've got it mostly figured out. I died four years ago, during a bank robbery. From what I understand, this Teirn demon has tried twice before to start the apocalypse, and he's returned for a third try. I was chosen to be the Bas a fhail.-"
"The Immortal." Dante cut Nathan off. "So that's why your hurt doesn't beat."
"You could tell?" Nathan asked, shocked.
"I can tell when someone is dead. I fight the dead every day." Dante laughed.
"Yeah. Well, Teirn needs to sacrifice three people that are close to the Bas a fhail. So I had my cousin, Seth, hide them away." Nathan said, sorrow in his eyes at the thoughts of his friends, and Elizabeth.
"You know who the three sacrifices are?"
"Yes. My best friends David and Drake, and my love, Elizabeth." Nathan looked down at his feet.
"Well don't worry." Dante put a hand on Nathan's shoulder. "You'll get to see Elizabeth again. I'll see to it."
"Thanks." Nathan nodded his appreciation.
"Unless of course, I run off with her." Dante laughed, and with that, he disappeared into the dark of the alleyway.
"Good luck with that." Nathan said under his breath and grinned. He turned and walked out onto the street. Cars were driving back and forth, and people walked past Nathan, minding him no attention as they lived on with their daily lives, completely oblivious to the fact that their lives could end at any second if Teirn had his way. Nathan squeezed his hand into a fist. "I'm not gonna let that happen. I will keep all of you safe, even if it means the end of me." He jumped when his cell phone started ringing. It was the first phone call he had gotten since he came back to life. "Hello?" he answered.
"Ready for some demon killing action?" Dante spoke into his ear, and he could tell he was smiling.
"How did you get my number?" Nathan asked.
"I have my ways." Dante joked.
"Damn, you're good." Nathan said.
"I'm aware. Meet me at the Statue of Liberty." Dante hung up. Nathan slid the phone into his pocket, closed his eyes, and for a split second all he could hear was the howl of the wind. When he opened his eyes he was standing behind Dante, who was sitting on the edge of the base of the Statue of Liberty. Nathan walked forward and poked Dante on his shoulder. "Jesus." Dante jumped up and spun around. "You got here fast!"
"I can teleport." Nathan replied with a half smile.
"So you do have powers then." Dante dusted his shoulders off. "What all are they?"
"I'm not entirely sure of all of them. But I have a few figured out. I can teleport, heal the injured and dead, I have telekinesis, I have telepathy, can travel in soul form, and can absorb others' abilities." Nathan said.
"Well damn, I'm jealous." Dante said. "It's not like you can beat me though." He grinned and walked away.
"So why did you call me here?" Nathan followed him.
"Because, we need a plan." Dante said. "How are we supposed to find Teirn if we don't know what he's up to?"
"He's after the Blade of Arsa." Nathan said.
"Arsa eh? Isn't he the half angel half demon?" Dante questioned as they walked down a staircase and onto Long Island.
"He is. And we need to find out where the blade is hidden before Teirn does. Or he'll be able to begin the sacrifices. But if I get the blade, he'll be forced to face me." Nathan said.
"Unless of course, he get's a hold of both halves of the amulet, then he won't need any sacrifices to start Hell on Earth, now will he?" Dante countered.
"Yeah. But there's no way we can face Teirn without being well armed. I'm looking for the Guard of Arsa."
"The Guard of Arsa?" Dante repeated.
"Better known to mortals as the golden fleece." Nathan said.
Dante stopped walking. "So it does exist. Which means the tales are true. I think I can help you find it. What else will we need?"
"The Jewel of Arsa and the Sheath of Arsa. The Sheath isn't as important, so it can wait. But the other three can't. With those three things, we should be able to stop Teirn and Ocrais."
Dante turned to Nathan. "Then I guess we have work to do."