Chapter 4 - The Great Race
Dante was snoring in the early morning light. Drawing in his breath through his nose, he muttered something about side saddle not being only an effect of riding a horse for too long, and he scratched his nose suddenly, then went still again. The clock signaled that it was six o'clock in the morning. Faint rays of sunlight were starting to filter in through the window and across the man's face when the door to his bedroom opened up.
"Now that's what I call a slacker," the man who'd just walked into the room spoke. Jack pushed his fingers through his hatless hair as he shook his head, brushing his somewhat dark, wavy locks back and he then looked at his watch. 6:02. Moving toward the edge of the bed, Jack reached down and swatted Dante's arm, "Hey new fish, wake up."
"Fuck you," Dante muttered and turned over.
The comment made Jack grin, seeing this kid was definitely not one to get up in the morning. Kinda sad he chose to be a wrangler as they typically led pretty early and long day lives. Maybe that was the only thing that would actually keep this kid from being good at his job, Jack mused to himself. So he tried again. "Kid, get your scrawny ass up before I introduce you to Bubba!"
"Tell Bubba I'll cut his dick off and put up on my wall as a trophy," came the groggy, yet only just now awake voice. Groaning, Dante slowly turned his head and glanced back, "What the hell time is it?"
"Five after six, Slick, you're sleepin' in." Jack informed him of that with a humorous grin on his face. He could only wonder what the city slicker would say to that.
"The fuck," Dante muttered out as he reached up and rubbed his eyes, "Six is sleeping in? I'd fuckin' hate to see what you thought about three o'clock in the afternoon."
Chuckling, Jack asked him, "Only just get to bed?"
"About three hours ago."
Jack cringed over that news, and he stood up straight, "Well, I'll go easy on ya, considering I don't wanna be shot with that pair you carry. Just come on down when ya do get up, but if it's three o'clock, I can't say Regan won't be throwing a shit fit."
Dante grumbled something incoherently and then he rolled over, going back to sleep without much problem at all. Shrugging, Jack left the room, and Dante was snoring again not five minutes later.
It was one o'clock when Dante did actually wake up completely, and he pushed himself up, shirtless and wearing his red and gold amulet around his neck as he scratched his head and stood, moving to the window. Looking outside, seeing the rodeo off in the distance and the horse riding taking place, he wondered, considering his wake up call this morning, how pissed Regan was gonna be when he only just now went downstairs to get to work.
Without another question, he moved to grab his clothes and walked to the door.
Regan was leaning over the fence again, thinking to herself quietly. The day had drawn on slowly, and her agitation at her newest employee had only increased. She knew the wranglers had noticed she'd been a bit off all day long, as she'd been a little angry, and probably guessed it had to do with Dante. They all decided not to bother her about it either. After all, if she wasn't yelling at them, they were more than content.
Regan decided she was going to let the city slicker sleep in for today however. He was new to this kind of thing, so she wouldn't say much of anything to him. But she would give him the most menial jobs to handle, such as cleaning up the horses stables. That would more than likely piss him and that big ego of his off. She grinned at the thought, and somehow couldn't wait to bait him with it again. It should be completely entertaining.
The thought made her grumble though. Why she'd be interested in a baiting game with anyone like that was beyond her. Truth be told, she didn't even wanna know why she was looking forward to something like that. True, the man's skills had impressed her, but for crying out loud, he was as obnoxious and as loud mouthed and rude as they came. So when it came to having any kind of interest in the man, she knew she must've been stone fuck nuts quite literally.
Sadly, Regan had gotten called into her office for most of the rest of the day though, pretty much leaving Dante to whatever he was going to be doing with Jack for the evening, and getting caught up with paper work, she didn't even manage to see anyone until about 5:30. If her mood wasn't sour before, it was definitely a bit sour now. When she finally did get outside, she was in a much fouler mood, if only because she didn't like doing so much office and paperwork at once, and she headed toward the stables.
Office work, she scoffed inwardly. Regan grumbled with that last thought and called out to the guys as she moved toward where the horses were kept, "It's gettin' around six boys, time to start finishing up for the evening and get ready for supper."
She needed to ride. She had a black stallion named Lucas, which she'd derived from Lucifer because she'd thought the horse was about as temperamental as the devil when he wanted to be, and she pulled him out of the stall and saddled him up. She needed to get her mind off of things for a while and just ride.
Looking into the rodeo, she called out to Jack, "I'm gonna take Lucas out for a few up the trail by Black Wing. I'll be back shortly. Where's Dante anyway?"
"Yes ma'am," Jack called back, "we'll take care of the things here, and I don't know, I haven't seen him for about an hour now."
Figures, Regan thought to herself, but neglected to comment on it. "Thanks Jack," she called back to him and then mounted her horse. Starting off at a slow trot at first, she waited to get to the trail outside of the ranch before she started riding harder.
The fields beyond the ranch were all very beautiful this time of year, late fall, when the trees were turning, and she wanted to get a good feel for it before all the leaves fell off of their branches and the snows came completely, saying they didn't come early due to the dustings they'd already gotten. Finally, once she'd reached an incline, she started riding down it just a little bit faster, then took off into a full gallop once she'd hit the bottom. It felt wonderful to have the breeze in her hair like that, and she tightened her grip on the reigns and smiled finally, feeling much better already. The freedom riding Lucas offered her was enough to make her forget about anything even remotely related to office work.
Or new guys in leather trench coats who called her shameless names and got away with it in shooting contests.
The incline led through the field and into the trees, a path taken by tourists to the area on pack rides all of the time. The path would eventually lead by the creek, which turned off into a river, and Regan wanted to ride along it because she enjoyed the view, so she turned off of the path at the right point, knowing her way like the back of her hand, and started following the creek down until the river started.
Lucas turned a few corners, and her destination came up into the distance. Once it had, Regan rode with him along the lines of trees and the shore of the river, and smiled at the dying light flooding through the oranges and yellows of the branches overhead. She was very glad to be doing something so relaxing, away from everyone and everything where things were simpler, made more sense to her. A lot more sense.
Having slowed down to a trot, Regan felt Lucas tensing, and she reached out and patted his white mane of hair to try and calm him down. "What's wrong, buddy?" She asked. Lucas shook his head slowly as she stroked his fur, and then she sat back, figuring he may have just been a bit tired. After all, she had just ridden him pretty hard. So she pulled on the reigns and brought him to a stop by a place in the stream where the water was much gentler and allowed him to get a few drinks if he wanted it.
While she waited, her thoughts went back to Dante again. She thought about his words, about how he'd never been to a ranch before, yet managed to set a new record on the mechanical bull. Not to mention his skills with a gun were insanely good. She knew that, no matter how much of an arrogant jackass he'd initially come off as, she was still curious about him and wanted to know how and where he'd learned to shoot so well, how he'd learned to do a lot of the things he seemed to be able to so well. Something just didn't make sense about it.
But if she had to be completely honest with herself, she would admit that he was a good looking guy. Twenty one and white hair? Somehow the thought made her smirk. She wasn't sure why, but it did, and she could only wonder if he ever got any flak about it from anyone. If she had to guess though, she'd guess he did, and if she had to guess a second time, somehow, she'd also guess that Dante didn't take that kind of crap from anyone.
"God, what are you thinking about," she muttered to herself quietly. Then she shook her head and sighed softly. No, she wouldn't let herself dwell on anything but her curiosity of where and how and why he'd learned to shoot so well. Then she'd forget all about him.
She supposed she'd find out later though, or maybe not at all. She'd taken him for flaky, and she wondered if he'd even still be at the ranch when she got back. If he wasn't, then c'est la vi. She could forget all about him and get on with her life. For now, she just wanted to enjoy her time out to herself alone. With a sigh, she just shrugged her head and reached over to scratch her horses head when he lifted it back up from drinking. "Feeling better?" She asked as she started turning him away from the stream.
Moving away from it, Regan felt Lucas tensing again and he stopped, becoming a bit antsy. She pulled in the reigns trying to settle him, and asked, "What is it? Why are you being so agitated? You're acting like me about an hour ago." She looked around to see if maybe there was something threatening nearby such as a wolf or other such animal, but she saw nothing.
It was then that a rabbit suddenly ran by the path before them, and the quickness of it caused Lucas to rear up ever so slightly. Regan chuckled softly, "What's got you spooked, Lucas? A little old bunny? Well, I guess if you didn't see it," she smirked and rubbed his mane again.
Lucas seemed a bit tense still though, as if expecting something she still didn't know about, and Regan glanced up and around, narrowing her brows. She was starting to feel a little wary as well, watching the soft, cool breeze blowing through the trees almost eerily for a moment. She couldn't place it, but somehow she just felt as if she were in a bad place at a bad time.
"Maybe we should just go back, huh?" She smiled at the back of the horses head and told him, "Right around this corner."
That's when a scream sounded from up ahead. Looking up with a slight gasp, Regan could tell the scream had come from a little girl, and she heard the words yelled from a man that followed it, "Run, Evelyn, get out of here! No! Ahhh!" Then more screaming and a few splashes of water in the river.
Regan reached to her side when she realized she didn't have her gun on her. "Damn it," she cussed, staring ahead of herself and her horse. She couldn't just sit there, could she? She hesitated, unsure what to do, but when the sounds continued, and the little girl screamed again, Regan reacted on instinct and she goaded Lucas off into a gallop toward where the sound had come from.
A bridge came into view after a moment or two, and what Regan saw was startling. Especially for the peaceful area she lived in. As she'd watched and brought Lucas to a stop, a creature that almost looked human had grabbed a man with red hair like her own on the other side of the river. She stared in complete and utter horror as what then happened shocked her completely. The pale creature wrapped its arms around the man's sides as if they were made of rubber, then its tongue, though Regan couldn't be sure if that's really what the black looking tentacle was or not, came out of its mouth and wound around his throat.
The sudden scream of the little girl sounded again, the man struggling to free himself, and Regan looked away from him to see the screaming child near the other side of the bridge. When she made the sound, the man yelled to her to run away again when he was cut off. The tongue stifled his yells, shoving its way into his newly opened mouth, and with a gruesome jerk, it stabbed down into the mans body, pulling its way out before stabbing down into it again. The motions caused the man's body to jerk and spasm violently. In response, the little girl screamed the word 'daddy' as loudly as she could.
Regan had put her hand over her mouth, and with the final stab of the tongue into the man's torso, she closed her eyes, unable to watch the scene from across the river where she sat on the back of her horse. Finally, she glanced back up when things got a bit more silent, her green eyes peering across the river once again, and she saw three men in black cloaks appearing from the trees beyond the scene, moving past the now dead man and the creature who'd killed him, and Regan saw the little girl running from one of the hooded figures who'd gotten particularly close to her.
The girl moved directly to the bridge as soon as the hooded and cloaked man came toward her. Regan gasped and as Evelyn, which Regan had guessed was the childs name from her father's words, reached the bridge, Regan took off into a hard gallop and headed straight for it.
Lucas reared up and then jumped off into a sprint, moving toward the bridge at top speed. The little girl saw them, and she gasped and slowed to a stop, but Regan called, "I'll catch you," hoping the girl would keep going. Even though Regan had no idea what was going on, she knew this little girl would be much better off out of these men's hands.
Evelyn looked back and saw the cloaked man behind her still coming, so she decided to trust Regan and she started running once again. Regan whispered to herself, "Good girl," then she stood up off of Lucas's back and leaned to the side being the accomplished rider she was. Her hand outstretched, the man gaining on Evelyn, he had gotten his hand just into the child's hair when Regan's arm wrapped around the little girls waist and she pulled her up from the ground and away from her pursuer.
Evelyn gasped as she was slung around and back up to the front of Regan, who pulled herself onto Lucas's back once that task had been completed, and then continued to ride through the woods at a breakneck pace. She had to get away from them now, and even though she had no idea what was going on, Regan would be damned if she'd let a little girl get killed even though she really had no idea why they were after her. Regan had a soft spot for children, and she would in no way let one get hurt for nothing or for a stupid reason.
Lucas rode gracefully through the trees, Regan trying all the while desperately to remember her way. As the trees passed them, Lucas suddenly stopped and reared back hard, throwing Regan and the little girl from his back because another, much larger horse had suddenly jumped across the river in front of them.
Hitting the ground, her body shielding the little girl from harm, Regan grunted, the wind knocked from her, and she shook her head. Lucas had started backing up, so Regan rolled to keep her horse from stepping on her, and then turned and looked back at the thing that had caused Lucas to throw his rider, separating Evelyn from it now with her body.
There was a hooded man on the much larger horses back, and Regan stared as the red eyes of the horse glowed down at her menacingly. Its body was sleek and well toned, muscled to a precise measure, its skin and fur soot black. As the hoofs took several steps forward toward Regan and the child behind her, she wondered what the hell she should do, what the hell this thing was, but she grasped Evelyn and pulled her tightly against her as she moved away, asking loudly no matter the fear she felt in the wake of this large, intimidating creature, "What do you want!?" She'd made her voice as serious and as angry sounding as possible.
"Hand over the girl, female, or suffer the same fate as him," the hooded figure motioned to the body floating by in the river now, his voice having been guttural, and somehow more beast like than man causing a shiver to run up and down her spine.
Evelyn was clutching Regan's arm, and Regan looked at the body the rider had just motioned to, then hid Evelyn's face from it until it was gone, trying her best to hide her fear in any way she could. She knew she was in deep shit, she'd never seen anything like this before. But she couldn't just let them trample her, she had to stand her ground, if only for the little girls sakes. Glancing back at the hooded figure, she spit out, "Sorry, bub, you're in Montana now, and we don't take kindly to strangers."
"Very well," the figure replied, pulling a long blade from his cloak with a black handle, the silver tip to it in the shape of a skeletal demons head, and the blade had two points on the sides at the end that looked menacing in itself. Somehow, Regan knew her only safe chance right now was to run, and so she grabbed Evelyn and pulled her up, turning to take off when she heard several gun shots, and she looked back. Someone was around, and she couldn't be entirely sure who it was. But hopefully, they were on her side.
Regan had no idea where he'd come from, but Dante suddenly appeared moving over the hill, running at a very swift pace, firing Ebony and Ivory at the figure on the horse. As he moved, he suddenly leapt up into the air, his body outstretched for more momentum, and as he neared the rider on the back of the demonic horse, he holstered his guns and drew out Rebellion.
Dante tackled the hooded figure off of the demon horse it rode with a fierceness Regan had never seen before, and somehow all she could do was stare at him. But the little girl got her attention, tears streaming down her cheeks as she pulled on Regan's shirt and pointed at Lucas. Regan glanced at her, then at her horse, and she knew that now was the time to take off, not continually be baffled by what was going on. So she pulled the young girl who couldn't have been older than four over to Lucas and mounted him again, then took off up the hill and toward the exit of the woods surrounding them.
The sounds of metal clashing could be heard from behind them, and Regan knew Dante and the rider were duking it out. If she'd been curious about Dante before, she was severally insistently needing to know now. But she couldn't concentrate on that. Instead, she just did the best she could, as fast as she could, and she got the little girl over the hill with her and hopefully out of harms way.
More importantly, and something else Regan didn't know yet was that the demonic horse had grown wings, which sprouted from his body in a bloody mass. As the creature thrashed, it suddenly leapt and took to the skies overhead in pursuit of the two females riding away from the scene.
Dante swiped his sword up at the rider he'd been fighting and knocked him backward into the river without much of a problem once he realized the horse was going to go after Regan. Dante had been following her, seeing where she would go, after all, he needed to know more about her, and seeing as she was seemingly the only one who'd given him any sort of friction since he'd arrived at the ranch, she was his best bet. Did he suspect her of anything? No. But he got the feeling somehow that he needed to take any chances he got whenever he got them now.
After hearing the screams, he'd just caught up with Regan, and by the time he'd found her, she and a little girl were being threatened.
It was about damned time something had started happening. Dante was beginning to believe Lady had been lied to.
But Dante pushed those thoughts from his head and he turned away from the rider he'd just knocked into the river because the more pressing issue at that moment was the safety of Regan, and the little girl with her.
Turning around completely, his coat swinging with him, his body began to transform, the black skin and red eyes of his devil form overtaking him with red electrical shocks surging over him, and Dante moved up into the air quickly to get back into this.
Regan was breathing hard as her horse galloped into the open field, and she heard the loud screech of the demonic flying horse behind her. Looking back for only a moment as the creatures body shadowed out the sun, she also caught sight of two other riders on horseback coming in behind her along the ground. Knowing she may not be able to outrun them, Regan looked ahead again and told Evelyn, "No matter what you do, don't let go of the horse."
She'd hoped by telling the little girl that, that even if something were to happen to herself, Lucas would ride the little girl to safety, eventually returning to the ranch as most domesticated animals did, and that she'd find someone there to help her. She felt the little girls fingers clutching her shirt tightly, and knew she'd heard her in that moment.
Regan only hoped it would work if the worst came to worse. But she knew things were bleak now, after all, what the hell were these things after her, and what was the new sound she'd just heard? Regan had no idea it was Dante's demonic cry followed by the sound of the flying horse screeching again as Dante had met it midair to let Rebellion have it's violent way with it.
Dante had slammed himself, sword first, into the flying horse, and they both went careening to the ground. One of the riders below was crushed by the falling winged horse. When it landed hard, after crushing the rider, the flying horse and Dante went spiraling along violently, up behind the second rider, but the flying horse turned with Dante under it and rammed its hooves into Dante's torso as it took off into flight again.
Dante grunted loudly, but he didn't stop, instead he just turned around as his body flipped over, and started moving quickly toward the second rider that hadn't been crushed, jumping up and then landing behind it, on the back of his horse.
Dante had returned to his human form now, had felt his power diminishing on his demon side, being in that form in the human world for too long, and as he landed on the back of the horse, he pulled out his guns and started shooting at the rider who'd pulled out a jagged sword, much different from the one the rider that had threatened Regan had used. Managing to keep his balance, Dante looked up at the flying demon for just a short moment in the time it took the rider he was now facing off with to pull his sword, and he could see Rebellion still jammed through its torso. The sight made him roll his eyes.
But he didn't have time to think about it. The rider had thrust his own jagged blade back, and Dante grabbed the riders shoulders, then pushed his legs up into the air using the riders body as leverage to avoid the blow. Holding onto the rider now, Dante turned his body in a 180 over his head, then came back down and landed in front of him, facing him.
The rider brought his blade back around and Dante thrust his fist out to stop his arm, then used Ebony right up against the riders forehead beneath the hood, a clothe covering his face and leaving his identity in mystery. Still, Dante knew that none of them were human, it was all too apparent.
"Yippie ky yi yay, mother fucker."
Dante pulled the trigger. The bullet flew forth from the gun, and made its journey into the skull of the rider, traveling through the mass inside of it, then out of the back of his head. The force of the shot sent the rider careening backwards off of the horse, and left Dante riding backwards with a weak replacement for his sword Rebellion in the form of a jagged blade that he flipped around in his hand to use for now.
Harnessing his gun and doing a hand stand on the horses back, Dante spun his legs around again and sat down in the saddle, then he looked ahead. Trees were incoming.
Dante grunted and he brought the sword up hard and then drew the jagged blade down through the bark of a branch threatening to knock him off of the horse he was on. At that, he looked ahead and caught sight of Regan off in the distance. So he grabbed the reigns and turned the horse in that direction, using a lot of strength to do so, hoping the damned thing would listen to him.
Seeing that it seemed to be following Regan no matter what he was telling it, Dante decided to stop manhandling it and let it, then noticed that the horse was also intentionally trying to knock him off of his back by ramming into trees. Dante rolled his eyes and used the blade he had to smack the horses flanks as hard as he could, yelling, "Yee haw!"
Regan heard Dante behind her, and she drew her own reigns to the side and pulled her own horse to a stop, believing she'd lost them as Dante's cry had sounded distant. Looking back though, she saw Dante incoming a good distance away, then she looked up and knocked her hat back off of her head so that she could see. The flying horse was also bearing in on them, and Regan jumped off of her own horse and continued to hold onto Evelyn tightly. Somehow she got the feeling that she might have better luck not only in the trees, but also on foot against such a large creature. After all, Dante had apparently gotten rid of two of the riders, and while she didn't know how, she also knew that if he could do that, then just maybe he'd be able to get rid of the other things following them, and that it might be easier for him if she helped by not running so much.
"Come on, Regan, don't move," Dante urged her aloud in a whisper because he'd gotten an idea. "Not yet."
Regan continued to stand there, just as Dante wanted. She turned suddenly though and smacked Lucas's hind flanks, sending the horse off into a gallop and then looked back again at the creature in the air. She'd gotten her own idea. Evelyn looked back herself, seeing the flying horse incoming, and then she hid her head in Regan's chest. Knowing the child was scared, Regan spoke, "Shh, it's okay." While Regan wasn't completely sure of that, she wanted to at least try and waylay any fears the child had as children drew most of their security from that of adults and the way they acted.
The flying horse moved to swoop in on them both. Dante had just reached the scene from the horse he was riding. Pushing himself up, now that the flying demon was close enough, he jumped from his own horses back just as he shot it in the head, and then yelled loudly as he came down to the flying demons back, grabbing the hilt of Rebellion sticking from its body on the way there, and didn't stop. He began running across the horses body, dragging the blade of his sword through it as it screeched loudly and went crashing into the ground where Regan had once stood, but moved from since then.
Dante pulled the blade from the horses head and went flying forward, turning a flip with his sword casually placed across his shoulders as he landed on his feet as if he'd just taken a walk in the park and then he turned around to look at his handy work. Watching the horse he'd just killed laying there twitching and spasming as its body turned into nothingness, Dante sighed, "Hi ho Silver, away," he muttered.
As the body disintegrated, something shiny was left in its place. It made Dante lift a brow, and he slowly walked over toward it. A weapon was now jutting out of the ground, and tilting his head, he put Rebellion onto his back again and then reached a gloved hand out and grabbed it. Pulling it from the ground, Dante could tell it was a boomerang with two black handles that reminded him of something like on Star Trek in the form of a Klingon Batlif. The boomerang was bladed as well, the shape of two wings spread out, each tip of the feathers in the wings sharpened to a precise measure. Pegasus was the name of the weapon.
Dante smirked, knowing he could use this one in both close range combat and at a distance, though long distance fighting would be slower than with Ebony and Ivory. He swung the blade up and around skillfully, then hauled off and threw it in much the same manner.
As the blade began to spin through the forest, Dante watched it, a wave of white light seeming to shudder out in its wake, and it suddenly rammed into the thick trunk of a tree. The boomerang cut through the trunk like butter, then another, and finally a third one, every time it hit a tree it made a loud explosion echo into the distance. The resulting cracks and crunches of the trees then falling over sounded, and Dante couldn't help his grin as he exclaimed, "Fucking sweet!"
He caught the boomerang when it came back to him and then put it on his back across Rebellion in the opposite direction, turning to take a look around the forest when the trees finally hit the ground behind him. "Timber," he said softly without a care in the world.
But even in that brief moment of reprieve that had been gained came a loud yell. It wasn't over yet.
When the large winged horse that had just dropped the weapon for Dante had hit the ground, it'd thrown Regan forward as she'd gone running to get out of harms way, and she grunted as she landed, then looked around for Evelyn. She spotted the child just a moment later, laying in the grass nearby, shaken up, but okay. With a sigh of relief, Regan pushed herself up and looked back for a moment, attempting to figure out where Dante had gone since she was very interested in that moment in demanding some answers from him, but her eyes stopped because of what she saw not too far away from her, and it was getting closer.
The last horse that Dante had used to ride into the area on was now heading for her. The shot from Dante's gun had only caused it to lose its track for a moment, but now he seemed to be completely ready to plow someone over. Regan stared for a moment, then looked for somewhere to take shelter, telling Evelyn who'd just gotten up to hide quickly. That's when Regan saw the jagged blade Dante had thrown just before he'd jumped from the horse jutting out of the trunk of a tree, and she ran and grabbed it, pulled on it from the tree trunk it was embedded in.
Regan couldn't get it out, it was wedged too deeply into the bark, and the horse was getting closer. She finally yelled with the effort, and feeling the blade coming free, she turned as hard as she could and hurled the blade at it. Regan had no idea if she'd hit it or not, but she figured it would give her the chance she needed to get out of harms way. The blade went flying and lodged itself right into the horses chest.
Regan jumped as the creature faltered in its gallop and fell to the ground, knocking up dirt and debris in its wake. A few pieces of wood and rock flew through the air, and one of the rocks hit Regan right on the head. Her upper body flew to the side and laid still there in the dirt grass surrounding her, completely still, a sudden silence taking over the very recently loud and chaotic forest.
Dante came running to the scene not a moment later, saw the last dissolving horse, and he turned quickly and aimed his guns when he heard some rustling in the bushes behind him. Lowering Ebony and Ivory almost immediately however, he saw Evelyn come running from the trees, so he put he put his guns back up. Without warning, Evelyn threw herself at him and hugged his leg tightly. The movement made Dante lift a brow, but all things considered, he wasn't offended by it one bit. After all, she was like what, four years old? She was probably scared to death still.
Shaking his head down at Evelyn, Dante decided he needed to find Regan. "Hey, Regan!" He called out, glancing about the area. She couldn't have been far. And with everything that had just gone down, he didn't feel anymore shaken up for it than he would have if he'd been having a cup of tea sitting on a front porch relaxing, this was old shit to Dante, but he knew the story would probably be different for his new 'bosslady'. She was probably going to be throwing a shit fit when he finally found her again, wondering what the hell had been going on.
Finally, he saw her, and with the kid latched onto him like a suction cup, he ran over to her, bent down and lifted her toward him. Evelyn let go when he stopped, and she gasped when she saw the blood trailing down the side of Regan's face. She moved to the other side of the currently unconscious woman and stared at Dante worriedly.
Dante wasn't sure what to do. He didn't have a lot of experience dealing with injuries like this, and he pulled Regan up and yelled her name, trying to see if she'd respond. She looked so damned weak, and the blood staining the side of her face almost looked like more of her hair since it was the same color. But she still hadn't answered him, so he yelled her name again and started patting the opposite cheek that wasn't covered in the red liquid. Regan moved then and she groaned softly. Despite the pain in her voice, Dante guessed that meant she was probably going to be alright.
Her green eyes started fluttering open, and she saw two Dante's hovering above her at first, felt his tight grip on her body, and she groaned out, "As if one wasn't enough."
"One what?" Dante asked, slightly confused.
"Of you," she grumbled, "I'm seeing double and I'm dizzy."
"Well shit, if I was a chick and I saw two of me, I'd get dizzy too."
The arrogant comment wasn't lost on Regan, and despite the fact that earlier in the day she'd decided she completely hated his arrogance, in this situation it actually made her smirk a bit. But she yawned only a short moment afterward. Her head bobbed slightly and she whispered, "I'm sleepy."
"Don't go to sleep, Regan," Dante told her, lifting her up. While he didn't know much about medical shit, he did know that if you got a concussion, and you fell asleep, you might not ever wake up again. While he wasn't sure that was what Regan had gotten, he also didn't want to chance it.
"Where's the little girl?" She asked when she felt Dante pulling her up, and as she tried to stand, she stumbled a bit, her currently lack of thought causing her to not even care when her head came to rest against his shoulder from the stumble.
"She's here, she's safe. I'm taking you back to the ranch." He replied, uncaring about her closeness himself.
"Whistle for Lucas," Regan whispered to him, "he'll be around somewhere, I hope."
Dante just nodded to her comment and he started walking from the woods with her, whistling loudly for the horse to come for them whenever he got the chance to. Eventually, Regan passed out again anyway, and Dante knew that wasn't good. As her body went limp when they'd come to the clearing of trees, he had to catch her, and he pulled her up, "Hey Regan, wake up damn it, I'm not carrying you." He tried to wake her, but she wouldn't respond to him, and he checked her pulse. Still alive. If she was going to be okay, he had to get her back to the ranch pretty quick.
Dante turned his head whistled very loudly again, and he smirked when he heard the little girl trying to whistle for Lucas as well but then ending up spitting onto the ground and covering her mouth, her big bright blue eyes wide with embarrassment.
"Keep it up, kid, you'll have some good distance one day," Dante replied, lifting Regan up since she'd fainted to carry her. His words before of not carrying her had just been to try and get her to wake up as he particularly didn't give a damn. Evelyn stared up at Dante as if she were seriously considering what he'd said about spitting while she held onto Regan's hand, and Dante whistled once more, followed by yelling, "Damn it Lucas, get your ass out here!"
Lucas seemed to come trotting up just after that, making Dante roll his eyes. "Next time I'm just saying your name. This is why I drive cars."
From there, he put Evelyn onto the horse by grabbing the back of her shirt and lifting her, watching her grab the saddle and pull herself onto it. She cutely tried to pull at Dante and Regan when Dante went to mount the horse, looking at the contraption on its back to try and figure out how to go about it. Evelyn pointed at the stirrups, and he figured it out from there. Dante had never really mounted a horse before, or really ridden one, but all things considered, it wasn't too difficult for him to get done once he got down to it. When he did finally situate himself, he grimaced, trying to get his personals in the right place. "Son of a," he cut himself off short before he said something the little girl might not appreciate. "How the hell do guys ride these things?"
Evelyn had turned and held onto Regan as Dante grabbed the reigns, looking from side to side, "Where's the gas pedal?"
Evelyn eyed Dante. He looked at her. Then she took the reigns and slapped them gently, showing Dante a move with her feet that would goad the horse into a gallop. Dante mimicked her and Lucas started trotting. "Okay, makes sense." He figured from common sense and what he'd seen before that he could probably lead Lucas around well enough from there and tell him exactly where to go, so he went ahead and started off into a gallop to get them the rest of the way to the ranch, constantly checking Regan on the way there.
Evelyn never said a word and as they crossed the field, and while they rode, Dante glanced at her, wondering for a second how exactly she was going to play into all of this. After all, that winged horse hadn't been a particularly powerful demon, but it was sure as hell persistent, and so were the other things chasing them. Hopefully, after he got back to the ranch, he'd be able to find out, at least a little more.
--
Arias had rolled his eyes, looking at the riders who'd moved through the field with a sigh, and he pursed his lips. Two of the cloaked beings stood with him now, and he turned around, giving them both a look that suggested he wasn't pleased. "You know," he started, "you're just as worthless as," he tried to think of the most worthless thing he could, and ended up telling them, "well, to be honest, I think you've broken the Arias book of world records when it comes to worthlessness."
Grumbling, Arias looked back at the riders, at Dante in specific, then he pointed, "You see that half man, half devil there? This is what you get when you have a need for vengeance. Now he's riding away with Daddy's precious Sacrifice, and I'm going to get blamed for it." Arias's eyes had turned black with his anger, completely black, but only for a moment as he took a deep breath and calmed himself down. "Okay, you know, instead of brandishing you, I'm going to allow you to live for now. I'll just let you all die at the hands of Dante as your pathetic brother did. After all, you may still and yet be useful to me."