I do not own DMC
"You may be familiar with it. It's the mark that's burned into the back of your neck," Vergil grimaced running a hand through his slicked back hair.
"I was unaware that I had a mark there," I rubbed the spot he described.
"That's because you can't see it in your current state," Arkham stated with a long bony finger pointed at me.
"What do you mean?" I was confused by this. What did they mean by "my current state"?
"Do you remember the demon you were kidnapped by when we were younger?" Vergil seemed to totally change the subject.
"Yeah, you and Dante rescued me," I answered. I recalled being chained and sealed to the spot by the spell the demon had used on me. He'd played with our minds like we were his puppets. He'd driven me so far that I'd blacked out. Looking back now I had a pretty good idea why I had blacked out.
"When you asked me what had happened when you blacked, I lied to you. I was hoping you'd remember yourself. I decided to wait and watch you. I knew you were demon after that, because when you blacked out you transformed. I hadn't understood what that demon had meant when he said that Mundus would be happy, but now..." He appeared a little nervous, uneasy over the subject. He was the son of Sparda. And I ...
"You think Mundus is my father?" It sounded more like I was testing the possibility of it the way I said it.
Neither answered at first, but when Vergil went to open his mouth, Arkham beat him to it.
"If you'll come over here I'll show," He gestured to the table behind him where several old books were stacked and papers were strewn around in a mess.
"Is this what you've really been doing the past few days?" I asked a little more curtly than I thought. I honestly was not in a good mood especially after our little incident and to think this was why I hadn't seen him, made me frustrated.
However, I knew he was doing it for my sake. I knew he wanted to help me find out. He knew I wanted revenge. I had the feeling that he was curious, himself.
He only nodded and still didn't look me in the eye. ...Was he ... scared? No. That was impossible. Something was bothering him though. I walked over to the table and glanced at the first open book that was turned to a page filled with surprisingly familiar text. It looked Italian but I wasn't interested in the text so much as I was interested in the picture. A great massive man with a beard and magnificent wings was depicted below another picture of a symbol of some sort. Three dots with a tail -that more resembled sixes- were placed in triangle formation with a dot in the middle and three lines coming out of the dot to reach for the other three but never touching them. I looked next to the book to see the pendent Vergil spoke of. It was identical to the one in the picture.
"This is Mundus' mark?" I turned to Arkham who now stood across the table from me.
"Yes," He paused, then looked behind me and I felt Vergil's hand brush my pony tail out of the way and press his hand to the back of my neck. I felt a sharp sting and then a dull burning before it cooled and seemed almost too cold. He handed me a mirror from the table and held the other one so that when I looked, I saw the back of my neck in his mirror. The proof was there. The very mark in the book and the pendent was scorched into my neck in onyx flames. The flames dissapeared and only the neat mark itself was left.
"So this means-" I couldn't even finish it.
"You were marked as his. Not only that, but your blood holds a powerful and pure scent where your demonic half is concerned. There is no doubt in my mind anymore that you have inherited the power of a Lord..." He drifted not only vocally but he was distant, "The Prince of Darkness, no less," He added.
I looked at him now, demanding his eyes but he refused. There was silence, and I all of a sudden felt uncomfortable, but mostly I felt unwanted, or shunned. I wanted to run away, now. I couldn't believe all this. It all just seemed impossible. For my mother to have been intimate with a demon in the first place just seemed far fetched, but a demon so evil as the demon king? Also, Mundus was defeated and sealed away, so it didn't make sense.
"I'm going back to my room," I finally said and walked past him. It was like a breeze picked up right there and my hair flew back softly and time seemed to slow at the moment I passed him. I couldn't explain it. It was like something was calling out to me. I almost whipped to face him but restrained the urge and kept walking.
His aura spiked an unknown feeling and I caught a glimpse of his face. His eyes were widened like he'd just witnessed a murder-though he probably would have been the murderer. There was an intense feeling. A feeling that even I couldn't label. Whatever the feeling was though, it was immensly strong and it was burning him up. Was it anger? It was the only thing I could think of. It was so strong that it didn't even have a feel to it. Was it...
Mixed feelings.
Yes! He didn't know what he was feeling. The mixed feelings were so strong that I couldn't even label a part of them. No matter how much I wanted to grab him, I still told myself not to. I got the feeling it wasn't a good idea to do so.
The last glimpse I had, he was gritting his teeth with fangs exposed for a change and an expression of pain written on his face.
...
"Alice, it's not that simple," I crammed a piece of cake the size of my hand in my mouth (not literally). Oh! So rich! This was my third piece of the day... well, in the past thirty minutes anyway. There was just so much, "He won't even look at me. It pisses me off that such a small fact as my father being the "Prince of Darkness" would bother him so much! It's not like I'm my father! One, I'm a girl, two, I'm only half demon, three, the fucker killed my mother, four, Vergil can't sleep with Mundus! So what is the big deal? I'm not my father, so why should it bother him so much?" I finished my rum and coke and set it back down hard on the table.
"You know, you may not be human but you're still a minor," She poor more rum and reached for the coke when I waved it off.
"I'll stick with just the rum," I took my swig then took a bite of cake, "you're a minor too Alice, you're younger than me. Who cares anyway?"
"Vergil doesn't like your drinking habit," She waved a finger and "t'sked". "Besides, you're my elder. You're suppoed to set good examples."
"You make it sound like I'm an alcoholic," She shrugged at my reply, "besides he drinks wine enough for the both of us, so he's a damn hypocrite," I snipped.
Alice grinned sheepishly, "You know, I've always envied you, ever since I met you. You never had to be anything but yourself and it was always enough for him. You could wake up with a mountainous zit in the middle of your forehead and it wouldn't matter to him,"
"Whether that's true or not, I'd prefer to avoid a mountainous zit,"
"Still, don't let his reaction to it all get to you. There's no way, whether he's a hateful and emotionless bastard or not, that he could just let you go because of your heritage, Mundus' daughter or not," Alice for the first time since I'd met her was actually being nice. She was even trying to make me feel better.
"Oh believe me I won't, but I was thinking about leaving for a few days. You know, relax my mind a bit. Honestly, It's been a hell of a week. My mother is dead and I find out that my father is the demon king himself. I don't see myself getting laid any time soon either," I chuckled at the last, "besides, I'm always holed up in this gloomy place, it's time to get out for a bit," I'd considered just going for a drive. A road trip to somewhere peaceful. I just needed to get out. I needed to get away from everything and clear my head. Vergil sure as hell wasn't going to help with that considering the way he was acting.
"Sounds like a plan," She said through a mouth of ice cream, then smiled, "heehee, I'll take care of him for you," She said velvety... or as velvety as a fourteen year old could manage.
"Haha, you can have him for all I care right now. If you can manage to get one kiss from him I'll be very impressed." I laughed. She laughed in reply.
"Like I could, that's like setting me up to lose. The only one he wants to kiss is you!"
"Well now that I'm the Prince of Darkness' daughter, I get the feeling he's plotting my assassination instead of a kiss," I giggled.
"Maybe so, but he'd be so distracted from his feelings you could easily take him down," Alice finished her ice cream and leaned back, rubbing her stomach, "gah, ice cream is the devil's creation,"
"No, this Italian buttercream frosting is temptation given form," I ran my finger along the cake to gather the so wrongly right frosting.
"I hear ya," Alice leaned forward to copy my action, "so where were you planning on heading?"
I'd also considered paying a visit to Dante. After the incident a few days ago I had had the urge to seek him out. To apologize. The more logical side of me told me Don't go unless you want to look like swiss cheese when you return. If I were to visit him, I'd have to make sure Ebony and Ivory were unattainable to him.
"I don't really know. Just drive I guess. Road trip, I suppose," I answered honestly.
"If he's at all his normal self, he'd be angry if you left," Alice stated. Why was she trying to make me stay so bad? Did she think that if I knew he'd be angry that I'd stay? Well if that were the case then I would leave just to piss him off.
However with his attitude at the moment, staying would probably irritate him more.
"That's his problem. I rarely get the chance to be at least a little normal. He may not see it this way, but being human can be fun. There is more than world domination and supreme power," I opened the box of cream filled krispy kremes, "For example this beautiful creme filled doughnut," I took a bite.
"When he pulls his head out of his ass and sees you again you're gonna look like one of the hungry hippos," Alice giggled.
"I'm surprised you even know what that game is, being a demon," I retorted, "but he only has himself to blame for making me eat!"
"You've always had a big appetite. At least that's what he told me," Alice shrugged.
"You guys talk about me?"
"It's about the only thing he does seem willing to talk about. I ask him if he wants something and he'll just give me look like he's ready to carve my liver, but the second I ask a question about you, he'll answer. If anything it's about all I do manage to get out of him," She sounded unimpressed.
"What do you say?" I'm not exactly one for being talked about all the time, though it always came naturally with my appearance. I'd always hated that where others had embraced it.
"Like when I ask why we always have so much food he says it's because you eat enough for an army. Or like when I asked how you guys knew each other, he'd sometimes tell a few stories about your guys' past. Like the time the three of you went paint balling and you ganged up on Dante. Or the time you guys went fishing off the coast and Dante wrestled a shark-"
"Haha, Eva was worried sick but Vergil and I just videotaped it, and laughed until we cried. He just dove in the water at seeing that thing. Dante was a bloody mess after messing with that tiger shark. He'd said he'd wanted to make shark fin soup for supper! He was always following his stomach and not his head," I laughed at the memory. A twelve year old devil boy wrestling a ten foot shark! That was the day Eva taught me how to do stitches on the boys. They didn't even bother with doctors, "I remember the time Vergil ate the last piece of pizza and Dante wrestled him. Vergil inevitably won, as to be expected," It was only three days later that my father's devils murdered Eva and Vergil disapeared.
"Sounds like things were never boring," Alice laughed.
"When you practically lived with those two, nothing was ever boring. Not school or anything. They always made it fun somehow. Dante was always coming up with crazy ideas and begging Vergil to help. He's said several times that having a quote, "smart as hell" brother was useful," All the crazy things we did. ... all those sweet memories. Gah, I just wanted them back. I wanted things to be the way they used to be. I wanted to video tape Dante wrestling a shark again. I wanted to watch the to of them fight over the last piece of pizza without stabbing each other in the gut. I wanted it to be without the knoweledge of my father. I wanted to be with Vergil this time around and be best friends with Dante. I wanted it all back only for a change, to have Vergil by my side.
I wanted him to cast away this ambition for supreme power and conquest. I wanted him back.
"But, those days are long gone. It'll never be that way again. I won't get to walk down the aisle and recieve my high school diploma with them either. I won't get to have a big graduation party in Eva's little flowery backyard and eat a cake saying "Congratulations you three" on it. I won't be able to do any of the things that we were all supposed to do. I won't get to watch Vergil play soccer, or watch Dante play basketball. Hell, I won't even be able to go on a real, normal date with Vergil!" I laughed outright at the last. Dante had always told me, that he knew when I was angry beyond angry, when I would begin to laugh at the matter. I was furious! I was so angry!
Angry that I could never go back to a normal life. Angry that Vergil had chosen this dark path. I was angry that I could no longer be friends with Dante. I was irate because my mother was gone! I was consumed with rage that my father was the Demon King! Even angrier that that simple fact was playing on Vergil's feelings towards me! My body was on fire! Flames were licking at me. All the pent up anger and rage that I'd kept buried was flooding rapidly to the surface. I could feel it. ... the pain to come. Damn! It was happening already!
"Sarla, watch it! You're going to lose it!" Alice's terrified exclaim brought to my attention the shadows that were twisting and circling around me, "Just calm down!"
"I can't! It's already starting!" I yelled and doubled over as the pain shot through me. Not again!
"VERGIL!" I screamed the only thing I could. It was the only word I found myself able to say.
I was now hunched over on the floor. The pain in my shoulder blades was searing. They were trying. It was trying to come out! My gums bled from my canines enlarging. I could barely keep my mouth closed with them. The sharp pain in my fingers as my nails lengthened and sharpened. I scratched at the floor.
Pain! So much of it! A blood curdling scream tore from me as the long awaited, excruciationg process took place.
"VERGIL!"
"VERGIL!" Crying now. Tears. I was balling.
"Sarla! Your wings!" Alice stammered.
"IT HURTS, DAMMIT!" I screamed at her, then taking the time to witness the white, gold, and silver feathers that had finally sprouted at the cost of pain. Ugh, it hurt!
"SARLA!" His voice entered the room as the doors burst open. His eyes widened and he teleported in that instant to my side, "what happened?" He demanded, frightened.
"Why? Why did this have to happen? Why me? Why fucking me? I don't want this! Why do I have to be his daughter? He killed her! Mother! He killed Eva! He tore us all apart! I can't! I can't do this! I can't live with this! I can't be his daughter!Just kill me! Kill me before he does! Kill me before I kill someone! I just can't be his daughter! There has to be a mistake! You have to be wrong! Please just say you're wrong! Please, Vergil?" I cried. He pulled me to him and I buried myself in his chest, "Just kill me like you want to," I whimpered but it was muffled against him.
"It's okay," He tried to soothe and I felt his face in my hair and his breathing quickening.
"It hurts, Vergil, just make it stop!" I pleaded pathetically. I managed to meet those stormy pools of blue, which were pained.
He unsheathed yamato and made a thin slice near his throat. The crimson liquid seaped to the surface and began to edge down his body. He didn't really mean to.. , "Hurry up before the wound closes," He commanded.
That sweet smell hit me. He pulled me so that I was now faced with the wound. Reluctantly, I bit down into the soft flesh, escaping a low grunt from him as he winced. The second my tongue touched the cut the blood flowed easily and I lapped at the liquid, taking in as much as I could. It wasn't a metallic taste like blood had always seemed, but a sweet taste. I couldn't think of anything to compare it to, but it was good and I enjoyed it.
"Vergil-" Alice's confusion was mixed with fright.
"In order to stop her from fully transforming, her inner self needs to be suppressed. Though her demon blood would be considered equal or superior to my own, she has not fully embraced that side, making her weaker than me, therefor, my blood can suppress her own. Half demons who are the offspring of high level demons can be consumed by their demon half if they're not careful because of the human half not being strong enough to keep it in check. When this happens, the properties of demon blood go out of control, resulting in a transformation to their inner self and their demonic side. If they are not in control, it is most likely that they will lose all recognition. They won't be able to distinguish friend from foe," Vergil answered Alice all the while being drained by me.
"Because her blood is on my level, it takes a decent amount of my blood in order to suppress,"
"Those wings were painful to her. You don't go through a slow process like that. Your transformations are painless and take only a second, why-"
"She has not fully embraced it. This is only the third time she's done this, and this is the precise reason I asked you to be careful of her. This isn't even her full transformation. Wings, claws, and fangs are nothing compared to what she is, fully transformed. Her inner demon self, is a thousand times stronger, and greater than this. Be thankful I showed up when I did. If I hadn't showed up when I did, she may of fully transformed. You would have died in the process. When she transforms she sends out an energy burst. A shock wave, killing anything in her blast radius,"He kept talking. I know longer listened. I'd heard it all already.
My wings. My fangs. My claws. They were nothing to what could have been released. He of all people knew this. I wanted to pull away. To take myself away from him. I didn't want to take anymore, but it tasted so good...
Warmth was passing through me and I knew it was his blood finding its way to my veins and coursing strongly through me. I didn't want to drain anymore from him. He needed it. I had already drained nearly half of his blood already, but I just couldn't stop. It tasted too good. It felt too amazing. He tried to push me away but I held on, my fangs sinking deeper into his flesh.