Telepathy

The front doors to the Devil May Cry shop opened. Following the movement of the inanimate objects, Lady made her way inside and looked around at the empty place, ceiling fan swinging slowly, the girls still posted up on the walls in pictures like always, a few multi-colored marble balls laying on the green surface of the pool table, and Dante's desk sitting lonely at the head of the room. Figures, she thought to herself, it was noon and he was still in bed.

Or not. No sooner than she'd had that thought, Lady heard the door opening in the back and watched as a moment later the devil hunter came walking out of his back hallway, shirtless, damp, and drying his hair with a towel. Shaking her head, Lady decided to let him know of her presence there. She was a bit surprised he was actually awake so early, according to his standards anyways, and had planned to go wake him up if he was asleep. But since he was already down there and awake, she just commented on it.

"Well, this is a surprise. I thought I'd have to threaten you with a gun in order to wake you up. Have a boring night or something?"

Dante pulled the towel from his head and glanced up through his wild, damp locks, seeing Lady standing there near his desk after she'd spoken. Well aware of the time, he shrugged his broad shoulders a bit and headed over to the desk after tossing his towel at a hamper behind himself in the hallway, and it landed inside of the barrel like a hole in one. That was one point of merit Lady could give to Dante. Sure he wasn't a neat guy, but he took good care of his clothes and laundry. She knew it was an ego thing on his part, but at least he didn't have shit laying all over the place like a lot of guys did.

"Something like that," Dante replied to her, thinking about the night before and the how he and Regan had argued, inevitably leading to her return to the hotel room until sometime later today. "So what brings you here at this hour, knowing I'd be sawing logs on a normal day?"

As Dante asked the question, he went and sat down at his chair behind the desk, flipping open a box of pizza he'd left on it - a testament to his sloppiness - to see that it was empty, followed by simply letting it shut again. Afterwards, he glanced up at Lady who'd leaned a hand next to the empty box and waited for her reply. When he did, he saw a smirk settled on her face beneath her bi-colored eyes, and he lifted a brow. Maybe she had some good news.

"Guess who's back in town?"

Dante narrowed a brow. Reaching up to scratch his head, he asked sarcastically, "Those sorority girls I met last summer?"

Lady rolled her eyes and sighed, "No, Dante, think closer to home, in the world of hunting. Think small," she emphasized.

The look on his face at the word 'small' told her he knew exactly who she was talking about. "No shit? Haven't seen that little punk in ages."

"Well, he's back, running his shop again personally. I was actually curious if Regan was around, I figured he might be a big help to her considering how much he knows."

At the mention of Regan, Lady watched Dante sigh a bit. "Nah, Regan went back to the hotel room last night. She'll be by later more than likely though."

Lady lifted a brow, then she smiled, standing up straight again in order to fold her arms over her chest. Spying the smile on her face, Dante asked, "What?"

"Nothing at all, Dante," Lady replied.

"Wait a second," Dante stood back up, leaning on his arms, giving her a knowing look with his icy blues, "I know what you're thinkin'."

"What's that?" She returned, her voice a good bit coy.

Dante just shook his head, telling her, "I'm not saying it, cause it's not true."

Lady gave Dante a long look that said he was full of shit. She knew better than that. Regan was curling her way up inside of the devil hunter, and he wouldn't even admit it. Chuckling over it, Lady told him, "You're just lying to yourself, Dante, any idiot with half a brain can tell you're completely smitten."

"No, see, that's where you're wrong." Dante stood up straight again, shaking his head at her, cocky smirk in place, "I'm not smitten, and I have no reason to deny it if I was."

"Alright, then you're in love," Lady returned, hiding the grin that was threatening her face. "Who woulda guessed Dante would fall in love with a woman he was working a case with. Gee, I certainly wouldn't have," she added sarcastically, remembering their first meeting and the way he'd nearly always shamelessly flirted with her.

"No I'm not," Dante rolled his eyes, "if I was in love, I woulda drug her back here last night kicking and screaming to have my way with her."

Lady wasn't going to argue. Instead, she simply shook her head and turned to walk away, saying, "Whatever you wanna think, Casanova, but the reason you didn't drag her back here is why you're smitten." Once Lady had made it to the door, she looked back, adding, "Just tell her when she gets here for me, if you would please."

"Tell her what?" Dante asked with a raised brow.

"About Imp," Lady reminded him, "and you could tell her how you feel too. But I'm not gonna ask you to do that because I know you're pigheaded."

Dante scoffed, watching Lady just turn to leave with a little shake of her head. How he felt? Yeah, he was interested in the woman, but he wasn't smitten with her. Attracted to her, but not smitten with her. Had fun with her, and enjoyed her company, but...

Who was he kidding?

Dante snorted at his line of thinking, trying to convince himself what Lady had suggested was all a lie. Maybe he was, but just because he liked the woman didn't mean he wanted to settle down with her or anything, didn't even mean he loved her. Dante grumbled slightly and turned to go get dressed completely. He just needed something to preoccupy himself. After all, fighting with himself over his possible feelings for someone wasn't what he'd planned to do that day - or any day for that matter. Ever. No way. No woman was worth a soul search for possible feelings.

As the day progressed though, no matter what he did, he randomly found his thoughts returning to what Lady had suggested earlier, and he felt like finding her and choking her for putting the idea there. He had been content to live in denial. But now, Regan popped into his head every so often, and he just couldn't shake it. Just how much did he like the woman after all? It almost floored him how his denial had been such a safe haven until now, having not even considered his feelings for her really until it'd been brought out in the open as it had, and it nearly floored him.

It wasn't something he was completely used to, and while it didn't make him uncomfortable, he also didn't know what to think about it.

But Dante managed to figure out that it wasn't like anything had changed. He'd just continue doing what he'd been doing with Regan, flirting, throwing out the random endearments, and getting a kick out of her negative reactions. It wasn't like he had to go buy her flowers or get her chocolates, or take her shopping and hold her purse while she made her selections - a thought he shivered over - so when Regan finally showed up at his shop later, his greeted her with the same type of welcome he usually did.

"Where ya been, cutie, I got lonely waitin' on ya."

As she walked in, the line caused her to shake her head at him slowly. Same old, same old, she considered. Coming to stand before his desk, Regan just told him, "Sorry, I was shanghaied last night into watching some stupid movie with a guy before he started mauling me in a kids park on the way home. He was a creepy bastard and kept me out late. I just woke up about two hours ago."

Dante snorted in amusement, thinking that was another reason he liked her, she had a great sense of humor. Turning a smirk up at her face, his arms behind his head, he asked, "Oh yeah? You gonna see him again tonight?"

Regan groaned sarcastically, telling Dante with a little grin, "Had to, it was the only way I could get rid of him."

They were both amused over the banter, and Regan, who'd leaned her hip against the side of his desk, noticed that he had a bit of hair sticking up, and it was annoying her, kind of like when you saw someone walking around with a piece of lent on their shirt or in their hair that they didn't know about and you just wanted to pull it off. So she reached out and told him, "Okay, that's driving me crazy," pushing the strand of hair down to the side.

"What?" He lifted a brow over her actions.

"Your hair was sticking up," she smirked.

Dante looked up at his hair, from what he could see of it anyway and then he shrugged a shoulder at her, reaching an arm out to hook around her back now that she was within an arms reach, pulling her over once he'd done so. Regan sat on his lap without much trouble, lifting a slender brow as she looked at him. "You must've really been lonely, huh?" She smiled playfully.

"I was actually thinking about you earlier."

"Oh yeah? Good or bad?"

"Maybe a little of both, but the bad parts were all dirty of course."

"Figures," Regan grinned, "I've come to expect perverseness from you on a regular basis." And indeed she had. But Regan wasn't too completely bothered by it - that was, as long as he didn't embarrass her in front of someone else with it, which she knew somewhere deep down inside that the devil hunter whose lap she was currently sitting in was definitely capable of it - and so she changed the subject. "So, you got anything to do today?"

"Yeah, I do actually," he replied, "I have someone to take you to see, someone I haven't seen in ages myself. Lady came by earlier to let me know he was back in town."

"Oh? And who is this?"

Dante shrugged, "A guy I like to go see sometimes when I'm stumped on shit. He knows a good deal of information, and I think he could probably help you out with this ritual thing you're supposed to be a of part of."

Regan thought about it for a moment, wondering who the guy was and what he could know. With a slight shrug of her shoulders, she also smirked when she realized what Dante had said about how he'd gotten the information that this guy was back in town to begin with. Giving him a little smirk, she tilted her head a bit as if considering something.

"I'm starting to definitely think that Lady's the brain's of this operation."

Dante seemed to consider it for a moment, then just shrugged a little bit as if he wasn't sure one way or the other. "We both come across leads about evenly. After all, I'm the guy who found Imp in the first place."

"Imp?," Regan asked, "What kind of a name is that?"

Dante thought about the name for a second, then he just grinned over it. "You'll find out when you meet him. For now, I'm more interested in–"

The phone rang, cutting him off. Regan just smirked as she could tell from the way his voice had gotten a bit mischievous that he was probably about to do something otherwise considered lewd so to speak. Instead though, he just sighed and let her get up, taking the phone and placing it to his ear with the usual greeting.

Chuckling, Regan went to the door and she looked outside when she heard some thunder rumbling in the distance. Seeing the clouds that were gathering, the storm that was coming, she wondered how long it would last, or if it would even hit Capulet City at all. But it'd gotten fairly humid out, so she could only imagine that it would. She then put her thoughts onto Evelyn and Marvin for the moment, the fact that they'd spent most of the day heading to different places to have errands taken care of, such as looking for work, glad they'd gotten in before the storm had hit.

Marvin was interested in joining the police force in the city, and once they'd taken a look into things, they took Evelyn to do a little shopping, and then headed back to the hotel. Evelyn fell asleep not too long later for a late afternoon nap, but only after she and Marvin knew that Regan was going to head back to Devil May Cry.

Regan chuckled over the idea. She'd asked them both to come with her, but Evelyn had said she was sleepy, and Marvin had declined, telling her that all of the walking put a strain on his feet and he was just going to relax for a little while. Regan knew that was a lie, and she'd tried to convince them to come anyway, but hearing Evelyn was tired, she let the little girl go take a nap, and only wished they would have come along, knowing Dante might've been annoyed by their presence, the one reason she'd asked to begin with. Finding ways to annoy Dante just amused her. Though there was a side of her that was celebrating too, as selfish as Regan knew that was to admit, since she'd have some time alone with the man, though she could only wonder what that time might lead to.

But she couldn't help it. She'd grown a bit nervous, and mostly because sometimes she just couldn't stop thinking about Dante. Damn him. Breathing out slowly now, standing at the doors of his shop, considering how her heart had started skipping beats when he'd pulled her onto his lap, she could only imagine how much he'd picked at her if he knew how his touches affected her so adversely, not to mention take for granted the same fact. But somehow Regan didn't want him to know how much she'd come to like him, she just somehow didn't think he'd really care to have that kind of affection at all, not at this point anyway.

But she was pleasantly surprised also. She wasn't sure what he wanted to do that day - had he just wanted to go upstairs to mess around, she probably would have died from both anger and a heart that didn't want to beat properly whenever she was with him - and when he'd mentioned this Imp person, along with a chance to find out what was going on around them, she felt a great deal of relief flooding through her, as if a new window had been opened for her. It made her like the devil hunter even more somehow.

Turning around, Regan thought to ask him once she saw him get off of the phone exactly when he wanted to head over to see Imp, but Dante was no longer at his desk. Instead, he was standing right behind her almost, and he scared her so much that she jumped and bumped her head against the door.

"Ow!"

Despite the slight flash of light she saw and the sharp pain working its way through her cranium shortly following it, Regan could've sworn, as she reached up to grab her head, that she heard an amused snort coming from Dante's throat.

"It's not funny," she muttered pathetically, her eyes shut tightly as if to wince out the pain, feeling his hands taking hers so he could look at the back of her head.

"As long as you're okay," Dante started as he began to inspect her, seeing she hadn't broken any skin or otherwise harmed herself, "it is."

He'd parted her red tresses to each side as he'd pulled her forward to inspect her head, which put her face against his shirt-covered chest, but she didn't fight him, just let him look, felt him rubbing his fingers into the area she'd apparently hit. But she rolled her eyes at his words, though she guessed he was right. She probably would've laughed herself if it'd been someone else and they hadn't really gotten hurt.

Her hands had come to rest on his upper arms in the rare show of consideration he was giving her, soothing away the tight hurt in her scalp with delicately stroking fingers, and she wanted to be mad at him for laughing just because she thought it might irritate him - a baiting game would've been nice to stop her thoughts of being smitten with the man - but she just couldn't find it in her. Instead, she enjoyed his attentions, and she tried to remember exactly why it was she'd turned around in the first place. What had she been wanting to ask him? The way he was rubbing her scalp was apparently giving her memory loss.

"Yeah...I guess...," she trailed and closed her eyes, almost completely relaxed. "Uh...when are we um...going?"

Dante knew he'd probably stopped her head from aching, but he didn't feel a need to stop stroking her skin, his fingers at the back of her head on one hand and at the nape of her neck on the other. Somehow, he liked it, enjoyed having her there against him, resting her face against his chest, had almost forgotten how nice it'd been the night they'd slept together just to lay with her afterwards and fall asleep. Granted, Dante didn't consider himself much of a cuddling man unless it was under the right circumstances, but he'd indeed enjoyed himself that night and wouldn't mind doing it again, kind of like he was now.

Yeah, he was smitten. Sighing out his breath over the thought, he decided to just reply to her question and get to the good stuff later. "Right now if you want to."

"Mmm," he heard drawn out from her throat as if she weren't paying much attention, causing him to smirk a bit. Realizing they weren't going anywhere until he stopped distracting her, he let his fingers stop, and then slid his hands down her back, realizing a good moment for a kiss when he saw one.

"Must've made it all better, huh?"

"Hmm?" Regan asked, looking up a bit dazedly, "Oh, yeah," she nodded, only then realizing that they were literally hugging, her arms having slipped around him when she wasn't paying any attention. Like Dante, she also realized a good chance for a kiss when one was presented to her. Both of them leaned in equally without even realizing the other had moved, both of them parting their lips against the others just as equally, but neither of them realized that their thoughts were on the exact same wavelength as the others as well.

The kiss was somewhat desperate, but more so simply carnal. Their tongues roamed and rubbed together, not even realizing that one of the doors was still open, and they could both be seen from the streets where a few kids had gathered.

"Ewww!," one of them called out.

"Dante's got a girlfriend!," another skinnier one called followed by mimicking the gesture of sticking his fingers down his throat and gagging on them.

The kiss between the two faded and they both gave each other a bland look as the Brat Brigade continued to call out playful wisecracks at the two, and Regan shook her head. Nice timing, she sighed inwardly, and watched Dante looking out at the kids.

"Shut up and get out of here before I tell you how you were made this way."

Regan couldn't help snickering, hearing one of the kids responses, "What!? You're crazy!"

"Kissing a girl gave him crazy cooties!"

The insults kept coming and Regan grumbled, "Oh good grief." Then she turned around and yelled out, "Beat it you little punks, and go home before I mail you there in ten different pieces to give your parents something to do for a while!"

The kids got quiet, only staring at the woman who'd just reprimanded them for a moment, then they all turned and ran off as quickly as possible. Dante, in their wake, slightly lifted a brow over the whole scene, supposing an angry woman was more intimidating to a kid than an angry man. After all, no child really wanted to piss off its mother. Glancing down at Regan, he chuckled, "Done this before?"

Snickering, Regan shook her head slowly, saying, "No, but I get the feeling I'd probably make a good mother because of it."

Smirking, Dante grabbed his trench coat from the hanger near the door and casually slung it over his shoulder, letting her leave the shop before he shut the double doors behind them, simply saying, "Could be. You planning on having any?"

"Um," she drew out with a shrug, "sometime, maybe, whenever I'm ready. You?"

"Later," he replied, "much, much later."

The answer made Regan grin. She had the thought that Dante wasn't too much of a children type of guy, though she'd expected him to give her a flat out no instead of a later, no matter how much later his later might've been. "When you do have them, what do you want more, a boy or a girl?"

"Don't really care, as long as its healthy," he said, walking down the roadside from the shop. "And as long as I don't have twins."

Remembering how Dante had mentioned having a twin brother, she grinned , supposing he knew now that he was older that he and his brother had probably driven his mother nuts on several occasions. Regan just shook her head and walked on however, letting the idle conversation go. She wanted to meet this Imp person after all and find out exactly what he had to say about everything.

---

The bells on the door made a jingling sound as it was pushed open. The inside of the small shop smelled like incense, and oddly enough, another type of plant that one would think might be the last thing you'd find in a potential demons hangout, but more commonly found in the basement of a highschool student whose grades may or may not have been suffering. There were a variety of items lining the shelves as well, vials containing god knew what kind of liquids, mythical books on lore and other such types of subjects, and a somewhat tall, lanky man with long stringy white hair stood behind the front counter, one eye completely white, the other a dark brown that didn't even seem to work correctly.

Walking into the shop, Dante heard Regan saying, "Smells like someone's been smoking something other than cigarettes in here."

Dante smirked, agreeing with her assessment. Imp never was one to smoke a cigarette anyway. But when it came to the more illegal side of life in the human world, Imp was all about taking a puff. Dante just shrugged though, knowing he didn't need to explain it to Regan, she'd probably either smoked it herself, or at least known some people who had. Though it did make him curious, because the thought of her smoking pot, well, somehow he just couldn't see it. But that was idle talk for another day. Instead of bringing it up, he let the door shut behind them and walked on inside.

Looking just ahead, Regan thought the man behind the counter was this demon they knew named 'Imp'. He looked a little off anyway. But it was in that moment that she heard Dante call out, "Hey Imp, get your ass out here, I've got a bone to pick."

Maybe she'd been wrong. Regan blinked, about to ask Dante what he meant by that when she heard a reply from the back, "Like hell you do, asshole, you're just here to use me again, and the sad thing is, I just got back in town. Can't you give a guy a decent welcome back first?"

The reply made Dante grin. Regan stared at him with a raised brow, but he didn't spare her a glance in that moment. He looked like he was concentrating on something, and Regan could only wonder what the hell he was doing. It was then that she heard another comment from the same voice in the back.

"That's not funny, dickhead, it's a good thing you brought along a hot chick with you. Otherwise I might've been pissed."

Dante was already laughing before the voice could finish off its litany of insults. Regan was confused as hell. Suddenly, she hauled off and punched Dante in the arm. Still laughing, Dante cringed just slightly and glanced over at the woman standing next to him, asking her, "Gah, what?"

"Would you please tell me what's going on?"

"You're such a jackass, Dante, you didn't even tell her."

The voice had come from somewhere near by this time, causing Regan to gasp loudly because she hadn't seen the beaded curtain behind the counter moving at all to signify someone had walked through them. Looking down, she spotted what had to be the ugliest little man, demon, whatever he was, that she'd ever seen in her entire life. He couldn't have been more than two and a half feet tall, a bit misshapen, and there wasn't really one thing that made him ugly, just that he was, well, ugly. He had a somewhat big nose, yellow eyes, and a good sparse bit of hair on his head that curled out in different directions from one another.

"Sorry," Dante interrupted her thoughts on the way Imp looked, smirking down at the little demon, "no, I didn't tell her. I thought I'd let you. But you probably knew that."

"Knew what?" Regan interjected.

"That he thought that," Imp informed her.

"Thought he didn't tell me about you?"

"No, that I'd let him tell you." Dante spoke up, still grinning.

"Tell me what!?" Regan nearly yelled.

"That I'm telepathic!," Imp yelled quickly before Dante could draw this out longer than he should have, which he'd actually already done. "Damn it Sparda, do you always have to make things difficult?"

"It's funny," Dante grinned unabashedly. "Yes though," he looked at Regan finally, "Imp's telepathic, can read minds that are steel traps. He comes in handy."

Imp shook his head and he walked back under the flap of the counter, the man standing behind it lifting the flap for Dante and Regan since they were, of course, much taller. The whole way the little demon was grumbling, leading them to the room beyond the front desk. Lifting the beads covering the door up, Regan looked about to see somewhat of a lounge with a ton of books laying here and there, shelves that were currently a bit empty, and a couch with a coffee table seated in front of it, not to mention a few pictures on the walls, kind of like in Dante's office, of women in bikinis. Before Regan could get her initial impression of the place though, she gasped suddenly, remembering what she'd thought when she'd first saw Imp about how ugly he was.

He was telepathic, he'd know what she'd been thinking.

"Don't worry about it, sweety pie, I get it from everyone," Imp started, having already read her mind apparently. "You should see me without my little illusion here. Honestly, it doesn't bother me at all."

Regan blinked. Dante was right, he was very telepathic. She sighed out a soft breath through parted lips and then told him, "I'm still sorry."

"For what? There's a difference between keeping something to yourself and outright insulting someone."

Imp had climbed up onto a table where a few potted plants - of the fern variety since he apparently had a green thumb if the other plant life in the room was any indication - sat which he watered, and Regan just watched him quietly. "Good point," she smiled a bit, feeling better now. "But um, who's the guy in the front?"

"He's my front guy," Imp said in a no nonsense kind of way. "He's my public face. And before you think it, no, it's not much different from the real one. Us ugly people tend to stick together." Imp grinned and put his water kettle back down, then he pushed himself off of the table and went to go pull a few books off of the couch.

Regan watched the little man working as if he were completely comfortable in such a tall world with his lack of height, moving the books off of the couch until there was a neat pile of them on the coffee table before it. Once he had them there, he climbed back up onto the table, standing on it again, and said, "Come on, sit down, sorry about the mess, I was in the middle of rearranging shit from moving back in and bringing some new stuff along."

Tidy guy, Regan supposed, much unlike Dante, giving him a pointed look and a lifted brow. Dante wondered what the look was for, but he heard Imp chuckling and decided maybe she thought he was messy.

"I might be messy, but I do clean up from time to time unlike a lot of men," he said in his defense, heading over to the couch with Regan, having pulled her further into the room by taking her hand. Imp was still standing on the coffee table, shuffling through some of the books there, and Regan sat next to Dante on the couch. Glancing at Imp, she tried to get started off on the right foot by introducing herself.

"Well, anyway," she began, "my name's Regan Davison, and you're Imp?"

"Actually, my real name isn't pronounceable by the human tongue, but Imp seemed fitting."

Regan grinned, then asked, "Why are you here? In the human world?"

Once Imp had a nice stack of books sitting on the coffee table, he turned and sat down on them, eye level with the two people he was talking to. "Because they're a bunch of jackasses in the demon world. 'Hey Imp'," he started mocking the demons he was talking about, "'tell me what so and so is thinking or I'll treat you like a game ball!' It was a lot worse than that, but I came here hoping for a change. Much better than the demon world."

Regan nodded, thinking it made sense that he'd want to escape such a thing being apparently a fairly weak demon physically but very strong mentally, so nothing stopped others from mistreating him where they were more powerful in a physical sense. "Well, it's nice to meet you."

"Likewise," Imp told her with a little smirk, glancing at Dante for a moment with something he'd just picked up from the man. "You're really hooked on this one, aren'tcha, Dante?"

Somehow, he'd gotten the feeling Imp might've brought that up, and while it made him a bit annoyed, Dante shrugged his shoulders a slight bit, pulling the indifference card he was so well known for. After all, there was no sense in reacting as if he'd been irritated, giving away just how true Imp's statement was beyond a doubt. "I might be. We're seeing how it goes."

Imp snorted, glancing at Regan for a moment and then back at Dante. The sound made Dante lift a brow and then look at Regan. "You not telling me something?"

It was Regan's turn to lift a brow. "What are you talking about?," she asked, glancing over at him, "since when have I had a problem with keeping things from you?"

"Since I met you."

"That's a damned lie."

"Um, excuse me?" Imp started up. "Wanna just keep this one quiet until you get outside? I'm not a marriage counselor, as much as I know how much Dante hates the 'M' word."

"Shut up Imp, just tell us what we came to find out."

Imp rolled his yellow eyes upward, "Did I say the human world was better?" He asked pointedly, looking from Regan to Dante, "Because sometimes it's the same."

Dante rolled his eyes, then started tapping his foot against the table's edge where it rested. The movement was telling to his patience, and Regan shook her head over it. "Dante, just relax. Imp," she started, "do you know anything about a demon named Democrities or his plans? Or a place called Sapa Hanhepi Wi?"

Imp looked at Dante and then pointed at Regan. "See!? That's how you ask someone something!" Pushing himself down from his books, he moved over to the edge of the table and picked up a glass of water he had, sipping it as he leaned against the book stack casually. "Democrities, huh? Can't say I know too much aside the fact that he hates Sparda."

"Every demon hates Sparda," Dante interjected.

"Don't start a sob story about how you always have to put up with it because you're his son."

"Imp, I'm gonna start a sob story about a two foot tall demon I killed that I didn't need to if you don't start telling me a little more."

"Dante," Regan interjected, shaking her head. Looking back over to Imp, she asked, "What about the name Sapa Hanhepi Wi?"

"That's the Black Moon Temple, why?" Imp asked as if it were common knowledge, but he suddenly found a very interested Regan leaning toward him. It startled him so much he nearly dropped his cup and fell onto his back.

"You know where it is?" She asked him somewhat urgently.

"Damn!," Imp exclaimed as he straightened his clothing out again, "hold the fires, I'm not used to pretty women gettin' all close to me and shit." Imp suddenly glanced from side to side and then grinned, licking his palms and trying to fruitlessly smooth his wild hair back, "unless you wanna give me a kiss?"

He was just about to pucker up when a gloved hand was placed over his mouth and he was lifted into the air. Holding him by the back of his shirt, Dante stared at him evenly, standing behind the coffee table now, telling him, "She doesn't want a kiss, Imp, she wants information. Try not to get your panties in a wad, wouldya?"

Imp scoffed, folding his arms over his chest. "Can you really blame a guy for tryin'?"

"Why do you think I haven't just shot you yet?" Dante asked. "I mean you know how I feel."

"Yeah, yeah,"Imp grumbled, letting Dante set him back down onto the table. "Alright, let me get serious for a second," he went on, putting his cup down. Turning to Regan, he asked her, "I can tell there's a sacrifice ready for the Gateway Ritual, and you're the Gateway, right?"

Regan nodded her head. Once she had, Imp looked back at Dante, "Well, they'll wanna do it at the place she mentioned. I think I might have a map to that location. I'll have to look for it though."

Dante nodded, glad to finally be making some progress, "Alright, that's fair enough. What about his plans? Know anything?"

"Not really. But I'll keep my eye, or better yet, my brain out for anyone who might. Come to think of it," Imp climbed back onto the stack of books, sitting down again, leaning on his elbow, looking much like a miniature sculpture of 'The Thinker', and he glanced back up at Dante after a short moment of the activity, "Doesn't Democrities have some kind of illusionist for a son? Ariel or some shit?"

"Arias?" Regan asked him.

"Yes!," Imp snapped his fingers, then shuddered visibly, "I hate that guy. What a drama demon."

"That's Arias alright," Dante replied, "he's around too."

"Must still be under daddy's lock and key," Imp chuckled, standing up, having noticed Dante's thoughts toward leaving fairly soon, so he'd gone back to rearranging his books. That's when he realized Dante hadn't moved there, and he looked back over at him. "Let me guess, curious on knowing more about him too, huh?"

"Guess?" Dante asked.

"Whatever. Alright," instead of organizing, he sat back down again, "This is what I know. Despite the fact that I can read a mind inside Fort Knox, this guy, well, it's not that I can't read his mind, but he knows how to trip me up. He's a master at his craft, both physically to the eye, and mentally, to the telepath. He has a good method of confusing his own thoughts, hiding them under a mesh of other things brimming in his soul, and as for his motivations, all I know is that he was sent to the human world a long time before I got here, and something happened not long after he was to make him completely resent and hate his father to the point of wanting to overthrow him, even kill him. Not that he didn't hate the guy to begin with though. But word likes to travel around, and I don't know what it was that happened back then, but where other demons can usually never overthrow a powerful lord, Arias is coming closer to being able to do so."

"How do you know all of that?" Regan asked him seriously.

Looking over at her, just as serious, Imp explained to her, "By reading your and Dante's recent memories of him just now and putting them together with what I've heard." Imp shook his head slowly, "I don't think he's the one you guys need to worry about. If you kill him, you'll probably do his daddy a favor, and of the two, I'd say Arias is the least of a threat to you two right now."

That was definitely news to Dante, something he hadn't considered yet. But it wasn't so surprising, considering Arias's own words. We're enemies with a common foe. Whatever lay at the ultimate goal of the demon Arias wasn't important. His most pressing goal they knew, which was to take his father down from their recent interactions with him, was the same as theirs. But whatever lay beyond that, whatever Arias wanted to do after his daddy was gone more than likely wouldn't, at least initially, affect Dante or Regan, so he kept it in mind.

"Thanks Imp," Dante replied and then nodded his head at Regan, telling her in silent gesture they were about to leave. "I'll be back by again whenever I'm stumped with something else."

"Next five minutes, huh?"

"You're just hilarious. Do me a favor and run across the room to really make me laugh," Dante replied, chuckling already at the thought of Imp running, which really was a hilarious sight to see. He pushed the beaded curtain over the door back for Regan who gave Imp a shrug and a slight wave of her fingers before she stepped through them, and Dante added, "Come by the shop whenever you find the information about that temple later. I'll have something to exchange for it."

"Ass," Imp muttered, "alright, I'll be by later."