Disclaimer: I don't own Devil May Cry, just my OC's.
Recap: "Who… WHO ARE YOU?" Grandma said in a shocked tone.
I turned to her and gulped down a baseball. "Um… remember how Grandpa used to say I had a friend living inside my head?" She didn't even nod, she was to buys gaping at Dee. "Well, here he is, Grandma, meet Dee."
Cue prolonged awkward silence as we all stared at each other in shock. Well, mostly it was Grandma who was shocked, I was uncomfortable and Dee was studying the seal and looking embarrassed. Then Grandma turned to me and gasped loudly, oops, the hair. "Jo…Josslyn, yo…your hair!"
I chuckled sheepishly and picked it slightly. "Yeah, well, I can explain… I think."
That knocked off the shocked look and instead she started glaring with her hands on her hips. "You can explain why your hair has turned black and white?"
"Uh, yeah, and I can also explain what happened to Zeus as well." I say sheepishly as I avoid eye contact.
"Zeus?" she asks absently. "Bu.. but I thought he was just out for a few days like the last couple of times." She sounded like an innocent child that was just told Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny had fought each other to the death and that was the reason why they didn't get anything for Christmas and Easter.
"Actually, he now resides around your grandsons neck." Dee says tonelessly matter of factly.
"What?" She asks as if he's stupid.
"Shh." I tell Dee. "Let me explain before she gets the holy water."
"Fine, but let me close the trapdoor before our presence is revealed." Dee says with a sigh and begins to work his way up the steps.
"What is, no WHO is he?" Grandma demands. "And what the hell is he talking about?"
"Well, the bloody circle on the bottom of the door up there, he told me it hides the presence of this place from demons. And at the moment there's a few after us so-"
"GRAB THE HOLY WATER!" Grandma yells up at Dee as he reaches the door.
"GET IT YOURSELF YOU OLD BITCH!" he yells back down as he slams the trapdoor shut. "And besides, we can handle ourselves!"
She turns to me for an explanation and I only shrug. "Well, you see, last Thursday, well, uh, I ah, kinda sorta-"
"Was infected by a demon and is now living as a half demon that has the capabilities of hosting true demons inside of his body, allowing them to exist on this plan and hold all of here power while torturing his soul eternally." Dee says as he reaches the floor landing and sits down on the steps. "And as for myself, I am his Inner Demon, somehow sentient-"
"I'm a horrible grandmother." She interrupts dramatically as she shakes her head back and forth. "How could I have let this happen?" she asks aloud.
"You're a human, how could you have stopped it?" Dee countered.
"Dee, shush!" I turned to Grandma and found her staring down at the ground with wide eyes. "Grandma, don't be so hard on yourself. Besides, how could you have known this would happen?"
"Yes, and if it's any consolation, Zeus's death was quicker than his suffering when Joss killed him." Dee threw in. I turned and growled at him when Grandma snapped back up to glare at the both of us.
"What happened to Zeus?" she demands.
"Well-"
"He was corrupted and possessed by a demon, much different from what happened to Joss I assure you, and in order for Joss to survive and successfully convert into a half demon he was forced to kill Zeus." Dee interjected boredly, I glared at him again but he brushed it off. "And with Zeus's remaining amount of conscious, which I have no way of explaining, it converted his dying body and soul to become a… well weapon isn't the exact proper term, but that is what is around his neck at the moment."
That got me a wonderful look from her. "And are the other little trinkets," Trinkets?! "other little dogs you've killed?" she asked bitingly.
"NO!" I snapped at her. "They're demons that wanted to kill me that I killed to survive!"
"And two other weapons that were used by your husband and given to him that reacted to the demonic power." Dee added.
Wait a minute. "So Luna belonged to Grandpa first?" I ask him.
"That or he found it and disguised it as a pocket knife cause he figured you would somehow learn to-"
"ENOUGH OF THIS!" Grandma yelled finally and stomped forward towards the seal. "I don't want to hear this, ANY OF THIS! I should have nev-"
"DON'T!" Dee yelled as Grandma's foot hit the seal line, and then a loud boom sounded as the red appear around her foot and cracked and exploded. She screamed and was flung back and I leaped forward to catch her. I heard a loud slam as Grandma hit me and made me slide back slightly. my glasses flew off my face as wind whipped them away and Dee growled loudly. "YOU DUMB BITCH! You just exposed us and destroyed the only line of defense we HAD!"
I steadied myself and Grandma and attempted to find my glasses as Grandma stepped forward. "What do you mean I destroyed it?" she threw back at him. I got down on my knees and started doing my impersonation of Velma Dinkly.
"That seal was designed to keep out demons and allow humans to enter and exit. But it was activated by my presence and when you crossed it, it entered a paradox and destroyed itself."
I ignored their fighting banter and continued on further into tunnel and soon found my glasses. When I put them on I blinked and went slacked jawed. The tunnel widened significantly into a large open cavern that was cluttered with metal shelves filled with aged papers and pictures, desk just as covered at the far side. Boxes filled with a varied sort of objects. And illuminated in the center of a room was a stone and dirt covered pedestal that held a few objects that shined in the light. "Guys!" I shouted back at them, more arguing. "GUYS!" I yelled and finally interrupted them.
"WHAT?!" they both yell back at me, and then I hear them step forward and do a slight gasp. Not the 'oh my!' more like the 'well, looks like there is something here, cool' gasp.
"Grandma, are you sure you never saw Grandpa bring crap down here?" I ask her without taking my eyes off the pedestal.
"I never said that." She said absently as she stepped forward to a metal wire book case/cabinet. "Though it is a wonderful question, but then again, I've been a functioning alcoholic for the past 50 years, something like this shouldn't surprise me."
"Wait, you're a functioning alcoholic?" I ask bewildered, she gave me the duh look. "But the other night you where practically tripping over yourself after a few glasses of wine!"
"And don't you at least require a minimal amount of alcohol to function normally or else you go through withdraw?" Dee asks skeptically.
She reached into her pocket and pulled out a brass colored coin with triangle in it and a big loopish AA like the McDonald's sign. I stared at her in shock when I finally realized what it was. "My longest time sober was three days six months ago, and it was… disastrous to say in the least. And you're right, I do need a little bit function each day, but little by little, I don't need all that much." I was looking at her in opened mouth surprised. "My hair would have fallen out if I had actually gone to the damn salon every damn week."
Dee snickered at that one and I glared. "So what, are you going through withdraw at the moment and that's why you're acting nicer than usual?" I throw at her in an accidental biting tone.
She sighs and walks around a metal dusty cabinet, looking about the room… cavern? "Yes, I usually try to prevent myself from touching a damn bottle today… I guess it just makes it easier to cry." She pondered this for a moment as Dee and I went looking around as well. "I'll probably need a few drinks later on or else I may go into some sort of shock."
"Well lucky for you." I said wryly when I found a dusty bottle full of amber/dark red liquid that had a black and white sticker with a oval that said N. 7 and said Jack Daniels on it. I picked it up and shook it at her. "Found your medicine."
She stared at it in dumb shock and quirked an eyebrow. "Now that," she said shaking a finger at the bottle. "Is a complete and utter shock, on par with… with… him." She motioned to Dee on that last one.
"And just why is that?" Dee asks wryly, the bitterness in his tone wasn't lost on anyone.
"Because all the men on Stephan's side of the family and all his children, excluding Sal, have such a extraordinary alcohol intolerance it'd put an asian to shame." She bite back at him. She pointed to me and I could only hold up my hands in 'don't shoot the messager' fashion. "And he has it just as bad."
"I do?" I ask in dumb confusion. I'd sure as hell remember trying booze, and I haven't broken that promise I made to Grandpa, I swear that on my parents graves.
She nodded her head yes to that. "Don't worry, it was back when your parents were alive. When you were five we poured a shot of beer and waved it in front of your nose to see if you developed anything, if that didn't work a few sips and that would prove plenty."
"You know what, you are a horrible Grandmother." Dee says darkly. "What kind of parent does that to a child?"
She sighed and looked around and found a crystal glass and blew off the dust. "I have no argument for this kind of subject, it was more of a tradition on Stephan's side of the family that I humored, though now I regret it terribly with Sal, Mickey and Tony. Don't understand how Katie came from that group of children." She snapped and looked up at me with a smile. "Did you know that her and Zack are pregnant?"
"Really? Wow, boy or girl?"
"To early to tell but-"
"As much as I would hate to interrupt this lovely little chat." Dee says wryly. "But I believe we need to search around a little more, starting with off course what's on the pedestal over there." We both stopped talking and looked to where he was pointing, and then we got a good look at the stuff on it. Three leather holsters with wooden revolver handles sticking out of them, which is odd cause two of them where crisscrossed and were about a foot long and six inches wide. Like Halibel's sheathed sword but cut in half and had revolver handles sticking out of it. Thick of the two crisscrossed guns as an X-Y axis turned on it's side, and then the third object that was just as long as the other two but not as wide. That was the third object, and it stuck out about three inches and was rounder.
"I recognize those handles anywhere." Grandma said with eager glee as she strode up to the pedestal and grasped the revolver handle of one of the blocky guns. "This was a Mateba 6 Unica your grandfather got from a friend before it was re-" as she pulled it out a dull read shine emitted from it and our jaws dropped. Cause the gun itself was two very big ass blades mirrored each other on top and bottom of the gun barrel and stuck out two inches past the end of a center point, the top blades edge pointing skyward and acted as the sight I guess cause it went all the way back to the cocking handle. The bottom one ran to where the ejection housing for the cylinder. The sharp edges continued onto the backs of each blade and met at the muzzle end of the gun. Written in gold lettering down the barrel that was still visible was Love in cursive script.
"Holy shit." we all say in unison as Grandma's hands shook seemingly from the weight of the gun.
"I don't remember that being on there when I shot it in 1988." She remarked as she started to set it down.
"1988?" I ask as I shot my hand forward for the gun, she shook her head no at handing me it and set it down. "Grandpa's books said it was produced in 1997." He liked to read them to me instead of some of the other kids books, except Dr. Sues, I don't know why he was excluded. The Mateba 6 Unica is an auto-revolver, meaning it's action was automatic like a glock or sig, but it was a revolver none the less.
"Was it? He said he got it from a friend who wanted him to try it out." She remarked as she pulled out the other one slowly. "He was given two, for what reason I don't know." We all kinda sucked in air when it was revealed that the second revolver was a mirror copy almost of Love, but instead it was golden with War written in blood red script down the barrel. Each had double sided ejector switches on either side. She clucked her tongue and put it down on the pedestal, crossing it over Love. I hadn't notice that Dee had wondered off somewhere till he came back with a black and white picture in his hands.
"Was this the man who gave the guns to your husband?" He asked and turned to picture to her. I circled around and looked over her shoulder as Dee pointed at someone with his finger. That someone made me gasp, cause in it was a man that obviously had white hair, though slicked back and looked to be only late twenties early thirties with a monocle over his right eye wearing Victorian style clothing. A smug look that seemed to combine Dante and Vergil's smirks into one. Holy shit, was that their dad?
"No, though I remember him well enough." She pointed to a different man opposite of him with a military style cap. There were six men in total in the picture, and in the middle was the man I thought was Dante and Vergil's father, Grandpa left of him, the others looked annoyingly familiar. Wait, that guy is the one that lets me hunt of his land. "He gave Stephan those guns all those years ago, had his thumbs in a lot of pies if I remember correctly he helped design that Beretta 92 gun."
"Alright, but who is he?" Dee pointed back to the white haired man.
"Oh… if you hadn't of asked me I would have remembered his name." she says annoyed. Then she finally snapped her fingers. "SPARDA! That's his name!" Dee's eyes glazed over and opened in surprise.
"Sparda?" he asks absently. She nodded and then he growled deeply. "SPARDA!" he exclaimed in anger and broke the picture frame. Grandma reeled back and I picked up War from the pedestal, not without noticing the power that rushed to my hand and up my arm, and quickly pointed it at his face. the bladed top shimmering in the light.
"What the hells up with you Dee?" I ask lowly as I push Grandma behind me, finger cradling the trigger as the gun seemed to feel lighter and lighter in my hand.
His fiery amber eyes stopped glowing for a second and he looked at me in dull shock, and then finally down at his hands that were now clawed and held both halves of the picture, Sparda's picture torn right down the middle jaggedly. "Wha… what happened?" he asks with furrowed brows.
"You went ape shit at his name." I told him quietly, and then stepped forward. "Now tell me, what the fuck is wrong with you?"
"I don't know." He said softly as he looked down at the picture. "It was… just something that took over me that made me feel outraged. Like multiple little voices screaming betrayer, bastard." He paused and looked at me. "And a few of them were shouting Dante and Vergil's name." I lowered the gun slightly at that one, lost at what to say. No wait, I do have something to say.
"Oh, so Dante first this time?" he narrowed his eyes and glared at me.
"Ass." Is all he said, I smiled and lowered War completely. He stared at it calculating like, and sighed. "I think from now on I use Samh and Hallow."
"What? Why?" I ask him in an outraged astonished tone.
"What are Samh and Hallow?" Grandma asks.
I tried to explain, but Dee grabbed ahold of them on Zeus and pulled and they materialized in his hands. "These are Samh and Hallow, former demons that we made a bet with, they lost." He said darkly as he twirled Samh on his fingers.
Grandma's eyes widened with shock, but narrowed as the blades gleamed in the light. "What is it with bladed guns and men in this family?" she scoffed aloud.
"They're effective." I told her. "And what do you mean that you should use Samh and Hallow from now on?"
"Because those," he nodded towards War, Love and the other gun. "are demon proofed, any whole demon that touches it will get hurt severely touching them. I may be your demon, but a demon none the less." He held out his claw like hand to me. "Place the metal of the blade on top of my skin and you will see what I am talking about." I hesitated at first, but slowly I turned it War on its side and laid the flat part on the back of his hand, and instantly smoke rose out and the smell of burning flesh filled the air, and then I yelled aloud and jerked War away from his hand cause mine was burning and stabbing with pain. "Told you so." He said finally, emotionless in tone.
"YEAH BUT IT HURTS TWICE AS MUCH ON ME JACKASS!" I yelled at him as I waved my hand about, which isn't a good idea considering I could cut everyone near me, including myself to shreds.
"Oh yeah." He said looking away guiltily.
"DAMN RIGHT 'OH YEAH'!" I threw at him.
"What on earth are you talking about?!" Grandma demanded, and then looked at my hand and gasped. I stopped waving it around and looked, it was blistered and red with blood weeping slightly. "Oh dear lord." She exclaimed.
"A side effect of another ability obtained from another demon." Dee said. "We're able to create two separate but complete bodies, but if one body is injured or hurt the other feels twice as much pain." The blisters bleed away and the blood stopped the moment the scabs appeared, and the pain ceased to exist.
"Wow." I said in admiration as I stared at my hand.
"Good thing to." He said quickly as he raised up Samh and fired, a slight echo sounded and startling Grandma. I whirled around quickly, picking up Love as I turned, bringing up both I found a pulsating living liquid red demon with long limbs that had blood red spikes sticking out of its head, back, elbows. As I liquefied it dropped a long red staff with a flickering whitish orb at the claw like hand at the top of the staff. The bottle of Jack exploded and three more demons appeared.
I was in front of Grandma who screamed and took a few shards of glass in my arm, and then returned fire but only hit air. "BE CAREFUL!" Dee yelled as he fired off a multitude of shots, making sure not to hit anything that wasn't a demon. The walls of the cavern seemed to just absorb the shots, weird.
"Why?" I threw back at him, and then felt the ground beneath my feet ripple. "Oh." I said in conclusion as I step back, pushing Grandma back as well. The demon came up in a flourish, its scythe, SCYTHE?! Came up trailing behind it and attempted to cut me. I pointed Love down and caught the blade in between the two on Love, then kicked outward at the demon and hit it. I then raised War and shot it three times in the chest. it staggered some and I moved forward and brought War's upper blade across its chest, turned and brought up Love and fired into its face as another demon appeared behind Grandma and shot it three times in the chest.
She screamed again and Dee appeared and slashed through it with Samh, cutting it diagonally across and through the shoulder. Both of the demons seemed to float away in tiny red specks as they fell forward. Grandma looked pale, deathly pale, not Dante pale. "Grandma, are you okay?" I ask her softly, trying to comfort her. Probably didn't work since I had two bladed revolvers in each hand, but eh. Oh crap gotta reload, War is out I think. Bringing it up I hit the latch that ejects the cylinder, but it wouldn't pop out. "What the fuck?!" I said aloud in anger as I tried pressing the latch harder.
"They're weapons specifically created to destroy demons you blockhead." Dee scolds with an eye roll. "Since your wielding them, you'll never need to reload. The same went for your Grandfather more than likely, that or Tra-ie-cero along with Love and War took the surrounding power left over by the demons to create bullets. Which now that I think of it, would explain plenty."
"Ta e wha?" Grandma finally asks, coming out of her stupor.
"Grandma's Kentucky Rifle." I told her as I put down War on the pedestal and reached up for Cero on Zeus. I pulled it away and it instantly came to life. "Just… a little better."
"A whole lot better." Dee scoffs, then looks around. "We need to find the other Abyss demon."
"Is that what they're called?" I ask him as I cock the hammer on Cero and sling it over my shoulder.
"Yep, from the deepest levels of the abyss."
"Ah." I said nodding my head, I heard a light scuffle and pulled the trigger on Cero. It went off and shot left, and then curved back over right and corkscrewed underneath a cabinet as an Abyss jumped out into the air, the ball caught it in it's head and knocked it away, then came back around and went into the chest. it floated in mid air and twitched rapidly, letting out hisses and cries of pain as blood began to weep away. Finally the bullet burst from the top of its head in a wide spray and it floated away, the bullet as well.
"I need a drink." Grandma says tuckered out. I took a whiff and instantly regretted it when a sharp musky like smell hit my nose and made me wobble slightly on my feet.
"I think I'm good." I declared as I put my wrist over my nose. Dee wrinkled his and put the blades of Samh and Hallow to my neck and they disappeared, I did the same with Cero and went to the pedestal and put Love in its holster and reciprocated the action with War and threw the bands connecting it over my shoulder.
"We'll look at the other one top side." Dee says as he steps forward towards the desk, then stops when he steps on glass. He looked down and moved his foot, and then narrowed his eyes and bent over and picked it up. It was the front piece of glass from the bottle of jack, but it looked different. "Bastard." He hissed angrily. "He put blood in the bottle of alcohol as an entry point into here."
"Who did?" Grandma and I ask in unison. He turns his hand over and shows me the glass, still cracked but connected by the sticker. Instead of the usual 7 in the oval on the bottle, there was a purple and black outline of Jesters head, big nose and all on the bottle, it appeared to be laughing, no really, it was actually moving.
Grandma reeled back and gasped as Dee and I growled. I took the glass, threw it up in the air and pulled out War and hit it square in the face. "How the fuck did he get in here?" I growled at Dee. "I thought you said Demons couldn't enter here because of the seal."
He started to say something, but Grandma was the one who spoke up. "I think this 'he' you're both talking about came here first and laid down that seal." She said, we both turned and glared questioningly at her and she only shrugged. "Well, how else would you explain all of this? And who exactly is 'he' anyway?"
"The d… you know what, lets get the fuck out of here before I throw up." I snarl as I head to the exit, the only exit. "Dee, grab whatever the hell you were looking for and lets get the hell out of here." He only nodded and went to the desk as Grandma followed behind me. "I'll go first up in case there's anymore demons. Then I think we need to throw our clothes in the laundry."
"Yours definitely." Dee said smugly as we all reach the steps/ladder. "But where as I am apart of you, I don't require any need to wash the clothes I have." I turned to glare and found him holding a large cardboard file box in his hands marked Records on it in faded and worn pen. "I believe that these will help us significantly without having to bother coming down here again unless needed."
"Oh, I think I'm going to come down here a few more times." Grandma says wistfully. We both look at her like she's crazy and she shrugs. "What, it's a good hiding place for valuables, I think I'll put our photos and documents down here tomorrow when you and Nero are gone, give me something to do."
"Okay, just be careful and take that holy water with you." I advised as I started up the ladder/stairs.
"Sweetie, I'm carrying eight of those with me from now on, every damn day." She says much to my relief. I so didn't want to have to protect Grandma as well as my own ass 24/7. Dee already has to look out for me as well.
"At least you don't need a second lesson." Dee remarked as I hit the top and pushed open the trapdoor, gasping for fresh closet air hungrily. I got up and helped Grandma out when she got there, and then I took the box from Dee who had balanced it on his head somehow, and then up he came.
"Something I've learned over the years, if it doesn't get you caught the first time, do it even better next time to ensure you don't." she says as she kicks the trap door shut, crossing her eyes slightly at the pain. She never was one much for shouting and cursing at physical pain, emotional, whole nother story. "And that if something tries to hurt the first time, don't get caught off guard again."
"Is that your motto for the car wrecks?" I ask her as I pull the prop off the closet door.
"No comment." She says quickly. "But are you going to call the IRS?"
"No way in hell." I told her with a beaming smile. "Now Sal, Mickey or Tony? You betcha."
"Amen." Dee says in all serious.
"And Hallelujah." Grandma finishes as we all file out of the closet. We both stop and look at her and she shrugs. "I love my children, and my grandchildren as well. But sweetie, I'm not blind, just… overly attached to the family I have left."
"Overly attached coming from your mouth is the same as saying that the Bubonic plague was a mild cold." I threw at her as I stripped off my shirt and opened the laundry room door and threw it in the open washer.
"I'll go get my bathrobe." She says quickly as she turns around, but stops and turns to me with a sad face. "I am sorry Josslyn, for being a horrible Grandmother to you. All those things I've said, I'm just sorry."
"I should say that since your both human, it is quite good that your blood or else sorry wouldn't be able to cover half of the things you've done to him." Dee remarked as he walked past Grandma and me. "But then again, even to demons there's a certain degree blood goes to before you can't forgive anymore."
"Since when did demons ever forgive?" Grandma throws back.
"Alright then, how's this. Blood may be thicker than water, but its still diluted no matter how much you look at it." he says finally and then goes off.
Grandma stops and stares after him with wide eyes. I take off my pants and throw them into the washer and look at her. "You…your Grandfather used to say that exact same line to me whenever I brought up my parents." She said dismayed.
I stopped and looked at the wall in the laundry room. "Makes you wonder, doesn't it. About who he really is and how he came to be."
She nodded and went off to her room as I went to mine and plucked my long sleeve hoodie that went down almost to my knees and put it on and pulled out underwear and another shirt and pants and put them in the bathroom and started the water. Grandma came back out as I peaked into Nero's room for clues. She threw all of her dirty clothes into the washer and hugged the robe around her even tighter, I saw she had a bundle of clothes in her hands as well. "Can I use your shower sweetie? Yours takes less time to heat up and-"
"Sure you can Grandma." I told her with a soft smile as I plucked my clothes off the sink. I still had War, Love and the other gun in their holsters over my shoulder.
"Thank you." She says softly as she puts the clothes on the counter and walks behind me into the kitchen, Dee was at the dinner table, looking through the box that were full of tape cassettes, old ones that I haven't seen in years. Out on the table was a large recorder/player that looked it's age. "And he said he'd never use that thing." She says softly with a shake of her head as she bends down and opens the bar cabinet and pulls out a bottle.
I backed away quickly and raced to Dee's side the moment she started twisting the lid off. She looks down and does the 'eh' look. "Sorry sweetie, I just need a little something."
"Drink till your liver burst," Dee says. "Just keep the smell away from us. I may be immune to his alcohol intolerance, but I've I get a whiff he gets twice of that."
"How the hell are you immune?" I ask him bitingly.
"Again, me demon, you human, or at least half human now. I myself can get shit faced drunk, but it would take copious amounts, and by then you'll be dead from drowning in your own vomit."
I rolled my eyes in defeat and looked through the box, each of the cassettes are labeled by dates, the oldest in the box I could find was from 82, so there's probably a few journals back downstairs. And me without my gas mask.
"Anyway, drink till your liver burst, just keep that smell over there."
"Fat chance, the rate of diffusion on-"
Dee smacks me on the back of my head and I glare at him. "Alright fine." Grandma said as she expertly poured a few fingers of alcohol and closed the lid. "Now, about that gun." She says and then downs the liquid in one gulp. "Uh, phew I needed that." She said.
Oh yeah. I pulled up the holsters and put them on the kitchen table and pulled out the last gun from it's holster. We all stared in aw as it kept on coming out, more than a foot long I'm sure, maybe even almost two feet. It was black, pure black, the wooden stock handle dyed black as well. The barrel was the size of a half dollar in diameter and at the end it was ported, largely ported. "Thompson and Centre." I said aloud as I read the little lines etched into the metal. "Nitro .600 caliber." Then my eyes bulged out at that one. "Are you kidding me? this hand cannon's knocked peoples eyes out of their skulls!" I exclaim loudly.
"Isn't that a rifle round?" Grandma asks as she pours herself another few fingers.
"Yeah, but also a handgun round when this guy made like a fifteen pound revolver for it. Three inches long and about an inch in diameter, that's the just the bullet. Thompson and Center made this gun in that caliber, but well, too much to handle I guess." I say with a shrug and study the gun more. No scope, large hammer with an extended spur length horizontally for easier pulling back. "But then again, I'm just paraphrasing some of the stuff I've read about it online." On the barrel I finally found written in white cursive script was Fair. I laughed aloud at that one.
"What's so funny?" Dee asks as he stares at the barrel.
"The names, this is Fair, that one's Love, and the last one's War." I said with a grin as I shook my head.
"All's Fair in Love and War." Grandma says with the same smirk. "Stephan always did love to make jokes like that." She sighed and put the glass down, looking at it as if it had just ran a lawnmower over her flower garden. "I'll go take my shower now, Joss can you put my bathrobe in the washer, I'll leave outside the door."
"Can do." I tell her with a salute as I holster Fair. "Grandpa must have taken down some heavy hitters if he had to use that girl."
Dee sighs and pulls a yellowed envelop with a broken wax seal on it, old fashioned and quite familiar, inside was a small bulge that wasn't paper. "I don't believe he hit them enough. I didn't want your Grandmother to see this, it would be too much of a hassle to explain everything to her." I took the envelope with a weird look and extracted the note first.
I opened it up delicately and found another familiar site, cursive script that wasn't Grandma's but close in contest.
Dear Stephan Franco,
We are aware of your increased efforts at erasing our lives work. We have tried to civilly ask you to cease in your actions, but you seem to not understand our advice. Today, on your son Roberts birthday, you took him with you to a store to pick out his birthday cake, but while your back was turned for only a few meager seconds, he was taken, by us. We have warned you over and over again these last few years that interrupting our work would be hazardous to your family's well being, but again, you did not head our advice. So, not regrettably though, we have taken your child and left this one first and final warning. HUNT OUTSIDE OF THIS AREA, any more actions brought on that result in our associates deaths will bring upon to you, the downfall of your family. If you wish to assume that your son is still alive, then let our dear servant, Claude, give onto you his gift. Do not fret though, his life was indeed not wasted.
Sincerely,
Aron and Debbie Pelt.
I stopped at the names and stared, the letter in my hand trembling. Dee picked up the envelope and turned it over onto his open palm, and out slide a tiny, white finger bone. I stared at it and nearly threw up when I saw the distinct markings of teeth upon its tiny segments. "Josslyn, this bone… it holds the scent of your family on it."
I ripped the letter in half at that. "The bastards." I whispered.