Interruption

It was fairly quiet after Dante and Regan left Imp's. In fact, the short little demon was fairly happy with the quiet about which had left him with only the thoughts from his front man, named Willie, being spoken in his mind. The long haired, tall man continued to stand behind the front counter, verbally quiet, thinking to himself, knowing that Imp could hear him easily, and every once and again, Imp would make a spoken comment to a particular thought that the old human had, speaking to the mute easily in such a way. Perhaps, to strangers, the stringy haired old man and short midget duo seemed highly strange, but the two had known each other for all of Willie's life, and neither of them cared what the outside world might've thought of their odd friendship.

Organizing his books as he stood on a ladder in the back of his shop, Imp heard Willie's thoughts becoming that of what a strange looking man.

The unspoken thought caused Imp to narrow his brows, placing a book he'd been holding gently down onto the shelf and he turned to face the curtain. That was strange. Aside from Willie, Imp could hear no other voices in his head, and he reached up a tiny hand and scratched his scalp quietly, just listening.

Surely enough, Willie continued thinking, wondering if Imp was going to come out and greet the new customer as he usually did whenever he sensed a new persons thoughts, but Willie didn't know that Imp hadn't heard anything. Climbing down from the ladder he was perched upon, Imp started heading to the front desk, calling out, "Willie, pull out my stool alright?"

Willie turned from his usual statuesque form behind the counter and bent down to pull a stool over from the wall, one which, once Imp had entered the shop area of his home, he climbed upon and sat down on. Settling himself, he finally looked over to see the patron that entered whose mind was apparently unreadable, and as soon as Imp saw the robed and hooded figure just standing there, he blinked a few times, gaining the deepest sense of dread he'd had in a while.

"Hello, sir," Imp started speaking regardless of any bad feelings he'd had about the new customer. "Can we help you with anything?"

The man's face was hooded and fairly well concealed from where Imp and Willie were currently located, and Imp could only agree with Willie's thought assessment that this was the strangest guy they'd seen in a long damned time.

"Yes, you may," the man spoke, his voice soft and even somewhat frail. He started walking toward the counter once he'd spoken, stopping just on the other side of Imp, looking down at the short demon sitting on the stool behind the counter. Looking up at his face finally, Imp could see that whomever this person was, he was definitely an ugly S.O.B., almost looked like death itself, but he, of course, held his tongue over the insulting thoughts.

"Then," Imp started in reply, "what is it you'd like help with?"

"I want to know," he started, just as softly spoken as he had been before, "what you have regarding information on The Gateway Ritual."

---

Three hours. Dante was surprised at himself.

Then again, maybe it was because Regan was a fast learner, but he actually spent three hours straight showing her different things. They found their training grounds on the roof of his shop, and Regan no longer held Demoncaller like a baseball bat. Instead, she was actually mimicking his instructions with some relative ease now, but she'd actually cut herself a couple of times in the process, and every time she had, she'd watch the wound closing itself back up and mutter something about never being able to get used to it.

It was late evening now after leaving Imp's shop earlier, and Dante, having just swung his sword about in one hand, turned Rebellion and placed it onto his back, trying to help Regan with a move, telling her, "Hold on," before he grabbed her hand and showed her how to perform the move properly. "Like that."

Regan got her fingers straightened out, and then spun the sword around with his instruction, nodding slowly, doing it again and again for a little bit of practice. "This is actually fun. I thought it'd be a pain in the ass."

"Wait until you get to kill a couple of demons. That's where the real fun is."

Regan smirked, then drew her blade to a stop and let it fall, bouncing the pommel of the hilt off of her knee, and caught the sword as it bounced back up into the air with her opposite hand before trying the technique again with that one. Dante snorted over it, liking her improvisation, and he turned around in order to get a little more space between them again. Once he had, he heard Regan saying, "Stop for a second."

He turned around, looking back at her, "What?"

Regan was heading toward him and she walked around behind him, making him narrow his brows in amusement. What the hell was she up to? Regan stopped behind his back, asking after a moment, "Okay, how the hell do you do that?"

Dante turned around to face her once again, "Do what?"

"That," she pointed at the hilt of Rebellion sticking up over his shoulder, "you don't have any kinds of harnesses holding it there. It's just sitting there on your back like it's charged by anti-gravity or something."

So that's what this was all about. It made Dante grin in amusement, "It's a Devil Arm, babe."

"Sooo," she drew out the word in question, letting him know the explanation didn't really explain anything to her.

"So," he took her hand holding onto Demoncaller and made her place it onto her own back, then pulled her hand away from it, "it'll stick with its master."

Demoncaller continued to stay mounted her back as if she'd sheathed it and Regan blinked a couple of times, her brows narrowing. She then gave Dante a bland look and sighed, "I feel like a fucking magnet."

The comment made him chuckle. "Well, it comes in handy anyway. At least I don't have to wear a strap across my chest and look like Conan the Barbarian."

"True," she smirked, "so, do you have anymore of them?"

"Devil Arms?"

Regan nodded. When she did, Dante also nodded his head in reply, telling her, "Yeah, I picked up a few a while back. Why, you wanna see 'em?"

"Sure," Regan smirked, "show me the sights." With that, she let him lead her down into the building again. From there, he went into the back of his shop and down the hallway, opening a door. Inside of the room were a few different weapons sitting here and there along with what Regan guessed was just stuff he'd stored away from a lack of space to put it elsewhere, and Regan looked at the weapons, somewhat confused over one of them that sat close to the closet door.

"Dante?"

"Yeah?"

"You have a guitar in here."

Dante sighed, "Yeah, that's Nevan, you don't really wanna mess with her." He pulled Regan away from the instrument, and Regan gave him an odd, questioning look. But the last thing Dante wanted was for Nevan to pop up like she did from time to time at random in order to ask Regan a bunch of questions which Dante really didn't feel like putting up with right then. After all, Nevan was a succubus, so Dante knew it wouldn't be the best idea.

"Why not?" Regan asked him, curious over his movements.

"I'll tell ya later," Dante replied just before he heard the last thing he ever wanted to.

"Look brother, master has brought a friend!"

"Yes, he has, brother, he's never done this before. We should be receptive of her!"

"I agree, brother."

Not them. "Hey!," Dante turned around to face the two swords mounted on the wall which had just spoken, orange and blue in color, both with heads carved into the tips of the hilts, his brows narrowing, "what was the deal?"

The two swords remained quiet when he asked them that. With a sigh, he turned and saw Regan staring at the weapons in complete confusion, and she pointed, "Are...they...supposed to do that?

"No," Dante said, looking at them pointedly. "I told them I'd only use them if they kept their mouths shut. Once they get started talking, they never stop," he muttered.

Regan looked up from the swords and at him, "Do they chat in here all the time by themselves then?"

"They tried to. I threatened to throw them out when I kept hearing them through the walls."

"Uh huh," Regan replied pointedly, still a bit disbelieving, "and what are they...exactly?"

"Swords," he looked at her, "can't you tell?"

"Dante, they're talking swords. Forgive me if I'm a little surprised, but I think anyone would be."

"Yeah, well, hang around 'em long enough, you won't be so amazed anymore."

"Well, if they're too chatty," Regan started, "then I think I can see why you'd say that." She looked over at the swords and asked, "Do they have names?"

"Why don't you ask them," Dante smirked, "I'll be in the office," he turned and went to the door, deciding to allow Regan to find out first hand for herself just how annoying Agni and Rudra could be, though he stopped short of leaving and looked back, "but once your done talking to her," he told the swords, "and she tells you to shut your mouths, I don't wanna hear anything else coming out of this room like before, got it?"

"Yes master!," they both said without pause. With a slight nod, Dante left, and he heard them telling her their names. He snorted, wondering how long Regan would actually stay in there with the weapons before she came into the office pulling her hair out. Heading to his desk, he just sat back in his chair and timed it.

"So," Regan started after Dante left, "why did he ask you two not to talk?"

"We had been waiting a long time for someone who could wield us," Agni started.

"Someone who was stronger than us," Rudra went on.

"But master told us he would only take us on the condition that we didn't speak. Master can be irritable sometimes."

"Yes. Wait, brother, what is irritable?"

"Well, irritable is when someone becomes tired of things and it makes them angry."

They started going on about what the words meant and Regan just listened with a slightly blank look on her face. Finally, after the two swords ended up discussing what was tired and what wasn't, she held up her hands, "Hold on, you're ignoring me now. Maybe he asked you to shut up because you're paying more attention to each other than to the one who's trying to talk to you."

The two swords were silent for once. Regan looked back and forth between them, waiting to see what they'd say, and finally, Rudra said, "Perhaps you are right."

"What kind of conversation should we have with master?"

Regan just grinned, seeing why Dante would become so frustrated with the two Devil Arms, replying, "Just don't ignore the person talking to you and stay on the subject, ask questions and answer their questions in return. But you'll have to get permission from Dante first. Ask him nicely, maybe he'll let you try."

"Thank you, we will ask master," they started as Regan went to the door, nodding before she shut it behind herself as they went on, and as soon as the door shut, it got completely quiet. Regan couldn't help but snicker over it in amusement, though she had to admit, she'd just had a conversation with two talking swords. She never thought that would happen whenever she'd gotten up in the morning.

Heading back down the hallway, she found Dante sitting behind his desk with his legs up on the surface of it, reading one of his magazines.

"You stayed in there longer than I thought you would," he told her, looking up from the pages.

"Well, I wanted to see how long someone could go on about what the difference between being irritated and being impatient was."

"Sounds typical. Always something lame with those two," he replied, turning the page, hearing the front doors of his shop opening up. Regan and Dante both looked at the door, seeing a man walking into the shop that they'd never seen before, an older man with a balding head and some scruff on his face. Regan watched him walking to the middle of the room as she headed to the side of the desk herself, hearing him asking once he came to a stop, "Are you Dante?"

Dante looked back at his magazine, turning the page again, replying, "I might be. Who are you?"

The man gave Dante a respectful smile and headed over to his desk. He pulled out an envelope with a rubber band wrapped around it from his pocket and set it onto the surface before Dante, saying, "You helped my niece out a few days ago, and my brother wanted to repay you for it. He said you wouldn't take the money."

Regan watched in interest, getting the feeling this was about the same case that Enzo had tried to give Dante the other night that he wouldn't take. Dante sighed in a breath and shut his magazine, setting it down on the desk before he finally replied, "I told him to keep the money because he needed it. There's not a lot of Devil Ops who'd let someone do that, so he shouldn't have sent anyone out here."

"I know," the man held up his hand, "which is why I insisted on this. It isn't coming from him, it's coming from me. It's not as much as he had to offer, but it's something to compensate for your time. I'm just as grateful as he is. When I found out what had happened, I decided to come and pay you a visit for myself."

Dante knew not to insult good will, after all, apparently the guy just wanted to be fair, and there was really nothing wrong with that. So he just nodded and told the man, "Alright, fair's fair. That all?"

"That's all," came his reply, "thank you." Then he turned around and started leaving the shop, as simple as that. Dante watched him going, then he reached out and grabbed the thick envelope, pulling it open as the front doors shut. Regan watched him, smirking over the scene, she couldn't help herself. Dante knew what she was thinking as she headed up to the side of his chair as well, leaning on the back of it a bit as he counted the money.

"I thought you said you went out drinking," she spoke close to the side of his ear, smirking the whole time.

Dante continued straightening out the money, licking his thumb before he continued counting. "I did."

"Uh huh, and I also thought you'd said you didn't want to take the job because you'd spend the money before you could pay Lady back anything you owed her."

"I'll probably spend this too."

Regan just grinned. She knew what the truth was. He didn't take the job because he knew he wouldn't accept the money from someone in such dire straights. Maybe it was a combination of that and not paying Lady back though, but she realized in that moment that even if it was, it still showed he was considerate of other people, no matter how much of a jackass he pretended to be. Well, how much of a jackass he could be, she corrected herself. Deciding not to push the subject with him however, she just asked him, "So, how much is there?"

"Fifteen hundred in all," he replied, "enough to kill a debt or two and get something to eat for tonight."

Dante put the money back into the envelope and stood, about to go put it somewhere safe for the time being when he found Regan leaning in and kissing him herself, being the spontaneous one for once. The kiss was sweet and slow, felt completely wonderful, especially when she rolled her tongue along his lips and then into his mouth. Dante definitely couldn't say he minded that at all.

He returned it and reached his hands out to her sides, pulled her toward himself in the want to have her closer, so that her body was pressed against his fully. He felt her lean into him willingly, snaking her arms around his neck as their lips slanted together again and again. The tongue thrusting kiss ended after several long moments, leaving them taking several deep breaths, both of them aroused now.

"What was that for?" Dante asked after a moment, his voice soft and somewhat coy.

"Well, I just realized something."

"What's that?"

Regan smirked, turning her head up and looking his face over, and she realized more than she told him, but she only said, "That you're actually a nice guy."

Dante gave her a cocky smirk as he blew his breath through his nose in a snort, "Yeah, well, don't tell anyone. It'd ruin me."

Regan, still smiling, drew her fingers across her lips in a motion that said she was zipping them shut, and she reached up and pushed some of his hair from his eyes, "Don't worry, I think I know the reason for it."

"For what?"

"For not telling anyone. They'd take advantage of you. Besides, I also know you're not a completely nice guy. You can be a real jackass from time to time."

The comment had him grinning, asking her, "Oh yeah?"

"Yep. You know what else I think, Dante?"

"What's that?"

"I think you probably get treated like shit more often than you should when you don't deserve it."

"That could be a possibility," he allowed. "And you know what I think?"

Regan shook her head no silently at him, waiting to see what he'd say. She'd come to realize that the things he said, while sometimes completely insane or off base, was always at least interesting. She got the feeling whatever he had to say now as well would be something along those lines too. And she was right.

"I think you wanna get in my pants now."

So, he'd chosen the up front, somewhat crass route this time. "That could be a possibility too." Regan grinned after she replied, looking down for a moment though since her cheeks had heated up a bit. It still embarrassed her a bit to talk with him like this, but she wasn't going to lie to him. She did want to be with him again, and while she knew the scene that had just taken place made her feel as if he deserved a kiss if not more than that, she also just wanted him to herself in that moment for the sheer sake of being with him.

But there was still the not yet tackled issue of their feelings for one another. Or her feelings for him anyway. Regan wanted to tell him, but at the same time, she was scared to, sensing the type of man that he was and that she wasn't sure he'd like a woman hanging off of him all of the time, even if he had a caring in him for that woman himself. So she decided to bring it up in a roundabout way.

"You know, I figured all of this out before, otherwise, well," she trailed off, not finishing her sentence. A tension had formed in the air around them that they both could feel as if they could see it, and Regan pursed her lips to the side in thought.

Since she wasn't talking though, Dante pushed her a little bit, "Otherwise what, babe?"

She looked back up at him, had apparently trailed off into her own little world and his words had brought her back out of it. "Sorry," she told him, "just, well, I wouldn't feel this way."

"About me?"

Regan nodded her head. She loved him, and that's all there was to it. If she got anymore simple than that, it'd be tattooed on her forehead. "I'll be honest, I didn't want for it to happen. But it's not really something I could help."

"No big deal," Dante told her, "it's not like anyone can ever help how they feel. You act like it's gonna ruin something."

"Well, I was afraid it might not be something you would care to hear. I mean, it might cramp your flashy, womanizer style." She grinned at him after saying that, relieved that he wasn't taking it so badly.

"Doubt that," he smirked at her. "You still haven't said it."

"Said what?"

"You know what."

Regan blinked. Was he that egotistical? For all he knew, she could have just meant she liked him immensely. So he was either being egotistical, or she was just as clear as water. With a shake of her head, she asked him, "Why? So you can have something else to hang over me whenever it suits you?" She was smirking at him as if she knew what he was up to. "Or are you just wanting a stroke to your ego."

Dante shrugged his broad shoulders playfully, leaning down suddenly however and tossing her over his shoulder in an instance. Hearing her gasp, he grinned as he began walking toward his steps, and he said to her simply, "You know what I want a stroke to, cutie. But you're gonna say it no matter why I wanna hear it. But I suppose you could say it's a little of both. Though, it might be nice to just hear the truth for once."

"And just where are you hauling me off to?"

"The bedroom. Best place to make you say it over and over again."

Regan sighed. She could feel his hand resting just beneath her ass and wondered if he'd done that on purpose. But she did ask him, "Can't you just carry me upright? I feel like an invalid."

"I just wanted to make sure you didn't come up with some other reason like last night to wait."

"Yeah you would say something like that, wouldn't you? But guess what? I'm in the perfect position to spank you, Mr. Sparda."

"Spank away, dollface," he chuckled, halfway up the steps now.

"Uh, Dante?"

Lady's voice came from the office down below and she stared at the two of them who'd just stopped and turned their heads to look back down at her. Dante heard Regan groan and felt her waving a bit as she dropped her head down completely. Apparently she was heavily embarrassed. Grinning over it, though he wasn't too fond of the interruption, Dante turned and sat her down onto her feet, causing her to stumble a little because of the blood rushing back out of her head, smacking his shoulder playfully once she'd gotten a good shot at it.

"Have I saved the day somehow?" Lady asked them both, or more specifically Regan, a little amused by it.

"What'd you want, Lady?" Dante asked her, a little annoyed.

"Well, if you can keep your pants on for five more minutes, I just wanted to ask if you'd seen Imp around. I went to find him and ask him some questions, but he's not at the shop. And the place looked pretty banged up."

"Hell if I know," Dante replied, though he did wonder why Imp's shop might've been wrecked, "I'm not his guardian. He's probably off talking to some of his suppliers."

"Oh," Lady nodded, "suppliers. Yeah, that's a nice way of putting it," she rolled her eyes, "and at the same time a wonderful way to slow things down. I wonder if he knows what happened."

Dante shrugged, "Sorry, no clue. Pretty sure you could track him down easily though."

"Yeah, how many people look like that could be hanging around this town," Lady sighed, turning with a wave of her hand and adding, "have fun, love birds," before she smirked and walked to the door.

"Love birds?" Both Dante and Regan had said the words together. When Dante heard Regan saying it, he looked over at her and shook his head no, "You don't have a right to say that. Not considering how you feel."

He was heading toward her now and she was backing up the stairs, holding up her finger, "Hold on now, I know you care about me at least a little, jackass, so you don't have the right yourself."

"Yeah, you're right," Dante grinned, putting his arms up around her as he pushed the door to his room open, backing her up into it. Her telling blush was coming back onto her face as they neared his bed and he gave her that look he usually got when he was being, well, playfully naughty. Damned if he didn't love that color. It was rather flattering, especially with her blood red hair color. Smirking over it, he added, "I do care about you. You're hot, feisty, and a real pain in the ass sometimes."

"Then we're not all that different," she pointed out, "so don't even pretend. Or was it just for Lady's sakes?" She felt the edge of the bed behind her knees, tried to hold them steady, but they bucked anyway, and Dante caught her before she could fall back onto the mattress.

"Maybe," he grinned, "then again, maybe I just like picking fights."

How true to his nature, Regan thought with a short sigh. "Somehow, I get the feeling that deep down, you like a lot of rough, angry sex, don't you?"

"Nah," Dante replied, pushing his knee onto the bed and her with it, settling his leg between hers as he laid her back and loomed over her. "That shit's only good for one night stands. If I wanted that, I know how to push your buttons to get it."

Regan didn't want him to prove that to her, knowing he'd more than likely do so with fine style, and actually legitimately piss her off. She was in half a daze now anyway, feeling the draw to him as she laid there, beneath him, leaning up to kiss him, saying just beforehand, "Maybe later," and her lips pressed to his.

Dante just smirked, understanding something like that was best saved for a time when she wasn't expecting it, and vice versa. Somehow he could see Regan being the type to piss him off on purpose as well just to get some rough sex out of it. The thought actually turned him on somehow, the image in his head of maybe pushing her over onto her stomach while pounding away at her from behind stuck in his mind, and it made him kiss her just a bit more roughly for it. In turn he could feel her fingers tensing into the fabric of his shirt, responding to him with a little whimper as his tongue demandingly swept into her mouth.

"Dante," she muttered out, lifting her shoulder as he pulled the sleeve of her shirt down her arm. All she got was a growled reply that was playfully humorous sounding. It made her snicker a bit despite her dazed state of mind in that moment. Dante had grinned a bit as he lifted his head from hers, reaching for the hem of her shirt to pull it off completely, when he heard a voice coming from downstairs.

"Hey Dante, get your ass out here, I've got a bone to pick with ya."

Imp. The words had definitely been spoken in a smartassed manner, revenge for the way Dante had called him out earlier, and Dante knew for a fact the little demon probably knew what was going on in Dante's room, and also that Regan would definitely want to get his information before things carried on any further.

Regan could see what Dante was considering just from the look on his face, and she couldn't help her smirk, thinking to herself that Dante was probably going to use the little guy for a football because of the interruption. "Let's just go see what he has to say and we can come right back."

"Not with Imp around, he'll try to drag a conversation on for as long as possible. Probably thinks I had something to do with his shop getting busted."

Despite his words and the fact that he absolutely did not want to, Dante had lifted himself off of Regan and allowed her to get up. She just shook her head as she stood and turned around to take his hand, deciding to give him a slight bit of encouragement since he'd been right unknowingly to her and she really wanted to find out what the little demon had to say.

"Come on, you know you won't stick around for him to talk to you that long. Besides, I do need to know what he has to say. And I doubt he'll wanna stick around much with his shop being vandalized."

"Yeah, I'd already thought that," he muttered in reply, letting her pull him up and along with him. Snickering as she had to tug him out of the room, Regan turned and went down the stairs, seeing the miniature demon standing on Dante's desk below, just waiting for them to show up. Lady was also standing there next to him. Maybe she'd run into him on the way out of the shop.

"I guess you found him," Dante muttered as he walked down the steps and into the office. "Did you have to bring him back here though?"

"He was already heading inside," Lady replied, "I thought what he had to say warranted an interruption."

"It better."

"Shut up, Dante," Imp grumbled, "sit your ass down and take five."

"I was about to take five somewhere else since you're so insistent." Dante reminded him, not in the least offended by Imp's currently snappy behavior, understanding that he was probably pissed off about whatever had happened to his shop.

"Yeah, so I gathered sadly, and yes I am pretty pissed," Imp replied both to the spoken comment and the unspoken one, then he smiled at Regan. "Sorry, didn't mean to embarrass you."

"Nah," Regan shrugged, "it's a little weird, but I'm not embarrassed. So," she waved her hand, "what's going on?"

Imp didn't seem too content to talk about his busted up shop at first, and started by telling them the information they'd asked him for earlier. "Well, to start off," Imp began, "I found out that the Black Moon Temple is located up north somewhere near a place called Black Wing, about thirty miles west of it in the forests that used to belong to a tribe of Indians a long time ago. Very long time ago, in fact," Imp looked at Dante, "your dad's name came up when I read about it."

"That's not a surprise. I already knew Sparda was involved though," Dante told Imp with a slight shrug.

"Yeah, Sparda killed Democrities' master, some demon named Cruor, and then sealed Democrities inside of hell," Imp nodded. "Well, what I read was that Democrities had presented himself as a god to the tribe of Indians that built the temple for him. In fact, he ruled over them long enough that when your dad sealed him off, they took it offensively and refused to believe that Sparda had done them any good. So Sparda had to destroy the temple itself, afraid they might try to resurrect Democrities."

Dante snorted, having run into the same problem with people before, people believing in some cases that what he'd done wasn't because it was for the greater good, but instead for his own interests. Humans were funny like that, he considered. Sometimes he felt like he couldn't relate to them, on a rare few occasions, but most times it seemed to revolve around instances when he was being blamed for something going wrong which he'd actually fixed.

But Dante didn't consider it for very long. He was, after all, still anxious to get back to what he'd been doing before with Regan, watching as Imp rolled his eyes a bit when he'd had the thought. The motion made Dante grin a bit, and he decided if he really wanted to speed this up, he'd just keep thinking about it.

"Dante, please shut you brain the hell up. I know it's not hard for you to do," Imp grumbled.

"Hard for me to do what?"

"Stop thinking," came the insulting reply.

"Is it getting to you?"

"Dante," Regan grumbled, shaking her head, "just let Imp finish wouldya?" Turning her green eyed gaze down at the short demon, she asked him, "Is that all, Imp?"

"Hell no," Imp shook his head. "This is the most important part. There was a really fucking creepy guy who came to see me today. He definitely wasn't a normal customer."

Regan, listening to everything, shook her head, "How so? What was he thinking?"

"That's just it, he wasn't thinking anything," Imp looked at her, "as if he wasn't even there. On top of that, he looked like he was dead almost. Wearing this big cloak and hood that covered his face, but being short has its advantages. I could see how pale he was. And people think I'm ugly." Imp shivered after mentioning it as if the guy he'd seen took the cake completely.

"What's this got to do with anything?," Dante asked the little demon, "Was he the guy that wrecked your shit?"

"Yeah, that's him. He asked me specifically about the Gateway Ritual too. I told him I didn't know a damned thing about it, and he proceeded to wreck my shop until he found anything he could to help himself either prove me wrong or to find what he was looking for. You have no idea how pissed off I am about it. My shop's a complete mess and I just got it set back up!"

Dante could definitely tell why and how that'd be such a pain in the ass. He'd be pissed himself over the same instance, and could remember a time or two when he'd had to do repairs on his own shop due to, well, less than friendly customers so to speak. Lady interrupted Dante's thoughts over it with a comment however.

"I told Imp I'd keep an eye out for the guy. He shouldn't be too hard to spot. If I find him, do you want me to come and tell you guys first?"

Dante considered that for a moment. There was no telling how powerful this, well, thing was, apparently not human if Imp couldn't read his mind. But Imp could read most demons minds, so it really wasn't easy to second guess. Finally, Dante told Lady, "Yeah, do that. But I wonder if he was looking for Regan, or just for general information."

"Definitely information, otherwise he would've come after me and not my shop, besides, anything he found that even mentioned the ritual, he destroyed. I think he was trying to keep you from figuring something out, he might know you're around."

"Well, I'm not in the dark anymore about him either."

"Nope, and this was the only thing I managed to save, thankfully," Imp pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket that had been folded up and handed it to Dante. Unfolding it, Dante looked it over and realized it was a map with the location of the temple on it, old as hell, and almost felt like it could've been falling apart.

Regan was looking at it as well, pointing the river out, one which she knew all too well, and she informed Dante, "That's close to the valley."

Imp walked over to the edge of Dante's desk and hopped down as the two looked it over. "It's good you know the place, Regan, all I saw on it were the words Sapa Hanhepi Wi and knew that had to be it. Anyway, I'm gonna go back to my shop now, I've got a lot of shit to clean up. So you don't have to worry about me keeping you away from what you really wanna do, Dante."

Regan smirked over Imp's comment, thinking to herself that Dante could probably hear the song 'Hallelujah' playing in his head right now, then heard Imp chuckling and calling back to her, "Believe me, he does. Bye Regan, I hope this mess gets settled soon before my shop comes under fire again!"

"Bye Imp, I'm sorry about that!"

"Not your fault, honey," Imp chuckled, "not at all. See ya around!"

As the doors opened and shut, Willie standing outside waiting, apparently having brought Imp along, Lady looked back at the two seated behind the desk, specifically Dante, and she shook her head. Dante knew that look, listening as she commented, "Apparently trouble's following you again."

"Everywhere I go. I think it lives here actually," Dante replied as he stood up from his chair.

Snorting in amusement, Lady looked over at Regan, realizing the woman seemed to have a deeply thoughtful expression on her face as she stared down at the old map, as if she might've had too much to deal with in that moment. Dante seemed to notice it as well, and he asked Lady, "Did you have any thoughts in mind about it?"

"Just that we should go let Marvin know as soon as possible. Though I'm pretty sure he'd already be suspicious of a character like Imp described."

Regan chuckled despite her grave expression, nodding in agreement. "Probably. Still, he should know I think." She looked at Dante, "Don't mind if I leave for a short while to let him know, do ya?"

"Nah," Dante told her, looking over at Lady, "Why don't you take her over there since you're heading that way anyway."

Regan smiled, and Lady just gave Dante a thumbs up as she turned to walk to the door. "No problem. You ready, Regan?"

"Yeah, I'll be right there," Regan replied as Lady walked out into the evening. Once she had, Regan stepped over to Dante. She was somewhat curious as to why he was agreeing to let her go so easily, though she knew he wasn't that much of a jackass that he'd demand she stay, no matter what they'd been up to, in an important situation like this. So she told him. "I'll be back soon. You must have something in mind since you're so relenting."

"Well, I figured once you got that out of the way, I'd have ya to myself all evening long without interruption."

"Okay," Regan chuckled, "makes sense, though it might be a good idea to head back to the hotel once we're done here. You know, just incase." She winked at him, then leaned up and placed a quick kiss to his lips. Turning to head toward the door so she could run her new errand, she heard Dante calling her name as she got there.

"Regan." He waited until she looked back, and once she did, he motioned his head toward the chair sitting near the couch where Demoncaller rested. "Forgetting something? Just incase?"

Realizing she'd forgotten to grab the weapon, probably due to the fact that the sword somehow felt like the bane of her existence considering how she'd gotten it and what it stood for, Regan shook her head at her own forgetfulness. Standing back from the door, she turned, going to get the sword. She knew she'd probably need it at all times now no matter how she felt about the weapon, especially with news of this new person roaming about looking for information on the Gateway Ritual, among whatever other objectives he might have. So despite how she felt toward the sword, she didn't really want to leave it behind.

Taking the sword, she glanced over at Dante and asked, "Have you got anything I can hide it in?"

Dante thought for a moment, then he shrugged, "Not that I can think of. It'd be a pain for you to carry my guitar case around on Lady's motorcycle. You just need a long trench coat. Swords that slender wouldn't be hard to hide in one."

"True. But that's alright," Regan smiled, heading back to the door again with the sword in hand. "I don't think it'd be too strange to carry it around with me this one time. It's a gift for someone who collects them if I get any strange looks."

Dante snorted in amusement somewhat silently as she got to the door, and once she was there, opening it, she added, "Don't miss me too much."

"I won't," he smirked suavely, watching her shake her head at him before she left the shop. Once the doors were shut, Dante sighed out his breath and walked over to his coat rack, pulling down his trench coat. After he'd put the red leather garment on, he glanced at the guitar case he had sitting in the room near his couch and stepped toward it, reaching down and taking the handle to lift it from the floor while shoving his free hand into his pocket.

"But I will go see someone who I think might know something more about this shit."