Disclaimer: I don't own Devil May Cry, just my OC's.
Recap: 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.
I don't remember going to sleep, but I DO remember that I had been listening to Grandpa's recordings UNDER my bed. Well, more like I just remembered it now when I banged my forehead on the wooden support beam under it when Nero shouted to wake up.
"MOTHER FUCKER!" I curse aloud in pain as I feel a literal spike being pounded into my skull. My glasses were still on my face and I was laying on my back, rubbing my forehead. My hand brushed past my ear buds and popped them out of my ear, and then I noticed that the old tape player/recorder was next to my arm with two separate piles of tapes on either side of my head.
"What the hell ya doing down there?" Nero asks as he leans down far enough to peer under the bed. He had come home at like 8:00 last night, looking somewhat ethereal as well as pissed. At the moment, I could punch him in the face.
"I'm trying to calculate the spring tension in my bed." I snap at him angrily and for the hell of it lashed out with my foot, he merely leaned back up and dodged it easily as I tried to wiggle my way out from under my bed.
"I know you're a nerd, but even that's too geeky for you." Nero remarks with a scoff as he turns on his heel. "By the way, your grandmothers making breakfast." He says with a bit of disgusted shock.
"REALLY?" I ask him happily with a large smile on my face. "Oh my god, I haven't had Grandma's eggs benedicts in years." I exclaim happily as I take a whiff, hollandaise and eggs making, english muffins being toasted in the oven. Oh yeah. I stood up and bolted out the door past Nero and towards the kitchen, the smell getting better and better. "GRANDMA! You're making eggs benedicts?" I ask as I round the couch and go through the kitchen entrance to find her hovering over the stove.
She turned around and actually smiled at me and nodded. "They may taste a little different since it's been a few years, but I thought I'd give them a try, you know, as a way of saying goodbye to an old life." She turned around and started to hum a little.
"Am I missing something here?" Nero asks, I whirl around and smile and nod. "What?"
"Family secret." Grandma and I say together and laugh. Dee and I had told her a little more detail as to what's happened to us over the last couple of days, as well as telling her about Jester and warning her about the Arkam persona, didn't tell her the name, just the description. After her shower, she seemed a little more relaxed and accepting of everything, well, the bottle of Kentucky Dry seemed to help that along as well, but eh, you take what you can get.
I looked over at the table and nearly fell over my jaw on the floor. On the table was a wooden box like device that had a metal rod that stood out of the top about three feet tall and a loopy L shaped metal bar on the left hand side. "Holy crap, where the hell did you find this?" I ask her with renewed enthusiasm as I ran over to it and started running my hands over the wood.
"I buried it in my closet a little after the funeral," Grandma said as she stirred the hollandaise. "and you know that your Grandfather bought that for you, so I think it's time you got it back."
"What the hell is that thing?" Nero asks as I found him standing by the table looking down at the box.
'Yes, do indeed tell.' Dee says slightly interested. "It's called a Theremin, it's a instrument that was made in the twenties or so, and Grandpa bought it off a friend when I was seven cause the physical therapist said I needed to work back up the muscles in my left wrist and hand."
"What'd you do?" Nero asks as he flicks the large antenna.
"Stephan used to enjoy hanging up the heads of the deer he hunted up on the walls out in the garage attached to the house." Grandma said as she slid an over easy egg onto a large plate accompanied with others and placed them on the table.
"And I'm a danger prone klutz, so I tripped out in the garage and skewered my left hand and wrist on a few of the smaller horn points." I said holding up my hand and pulling back the sleeve and showing him the small puncture scars. "So when the therapist said I needed to work my hands more, Grandpa thought of this."
Nero shrugged and started picking at the loopy antenna, I slapped his hand and he glared. "What the hell does it do?"
I smirked and found the plug for it and plugged it in and turned it on by placing my hand on the loopy antenna. "This one controls the volume, while the long one controls pitch." I let go of my hand and pulled it up and a weird wavy pitchy noise sounded and I smiled. "It works by hand placement, whenever you move your hand up or down or shake your fingers, it creates a multitude of sounds that can be put together to do music."
Grandma came and placed a few plates down on the table and sighed. "I remember you and Katie messing around with it so much, remember when you tried playing 'Somewhere Over the Rainbow' on it while Katie sang it?" I blushed and nodded my head and tried to do a few pitches on it and came out with an odd twilight zone noise mixed with Star Trek.
"Sounds like Star Trek." Nero remarked as he pulled out a chair.
"That's because the original theme song was made with a Theremin." Grandma said with a sigh and shook her head. "I remember Sal and Benning watching all those episodes for the longest time when it came on."
"Benning?"
"My dad." I told him quickly as I flipped off the Theremin and put it down on the floor beneath the window sill to make room for the hollandaise. "So you have the next few days subbing for the gym teacher right?"
He nodded and started eating the moment Grandma put the pot of hollandaise on the table. "What period will I see you in?" he ask ruefully, though the smirk on his face told me he didn't mean it. Huh, guess I'm not as much as an ass I thought I was.
'No, you are.' Dee says with a faux smug voice. Shut up. "Sixth." He nods and grunts in acknowledgement. Grandma starts to sit down, but stops and looks at the t.v in a glare.
"Turn it up Josslyn." Grandma says, I turn and look at the t.v and realize why she sounded so grim. Amber alert, on the news with a picture of a girl of about seven with long black hair, wide lens glasses with pink frames and a large toothy smile of some innocent girl. I got up and turned it up to blaring so we could all here.
"… Marta Gillespie, a six and a half year old girl, was taken last night from a local drug store with her mother only a few aisles away. Marta was diagnosed with savant syndrome and is very acute too music and sounds…." I didn't hear anything after that, my ears were beating. Another child with a mental disability, taken from a public place only a few feet away from their parents, a tactic to show that no one can stop them and they can take anyone from anywhere at anytime. The Pelts, the bastards.
Grandma took the remote from my hands and turned off the t.v and went over to the bar in between the kitchen and the dining area and pulled out a glass bottle. Nero wasn't saying anything, he had a look on his face that showed he was irked. 'Tonight is that 'ball' the Pelts are throwing.' Dee says, voice carefully calm. Yep, and they want Grandma to come. Over my dead body. 'Let us hope they are the ones who will be dead by the end of tonight.' I had apparently sat down and actually ate everything on the table without knowing.
"Hey Joss." Nero says while waving his good hand. I snap out of it and look at him. "I said I want to drive today."
"Oh, uh, yeah sure." I fished into my pocket and found the keys. "You know how to drive stick?" he scoffs and takes the keys.
"My hand still works dumbass, and yes I do." He said as he got up and went to his room. I didn't say anything, instead I looked at Grandma while she was sitting in the recliner with a half empty glass in hand. I wanted to say something, anything to tell her about the Pelts and to avoid Claude at any cost, but what can you say when you're lost for words and have a something devil for a roommate?
'Written words can sometimes impact you more than spoken ones.' Dee says. What? 'You still have your… map in your shoe, write down your warning to her while Nero is in his room.' …. Dee you are a fucking genius. I could practically feel him smile. 'Glad to know you appreciate me.' he said smugly. I was too busy pulling out the sole of my shoe and extracting the paper slip. There was a pen on the bar counter that I found and wrote 'Do not talk to Pelts or Claude, tell no one. Demons. Savant girl, stay away from ball.' In purple ink. I quickly handed it to her and held a finger up to my lips.
She read it, reread it, looked up at me incredulously and started to talk, but I shushed her and plucked the note out of her hand and slipped it into my pocket. "We'll talk about it later. Remember, keep them on you at all times." Them being the holy water vials. She nodded and then glared while Nero walked in.
"Ready to go?" he asks while giving us a calculating look.
"Yeah, let me grab my bag." God, please at least watch out for Grandma, Marta especially. At least till I come and save her.
-School-
I ran into Vergil first when I walked into the school, he was waiting for Nero with a small smile. He seemed more relaxed than anything, oh, now I know why Nero looked ethereal when he came home, someone got lucky. 'If you used your nose, you would have smelled it on him.' Human nose, HUMAN NOSE! I went straight forward, ignoring Vergil as he and Nero shared their silent conversation of knowing looks and smirks. Kerry was suppose to be back today, and by god if theirs anyone I needed right now to help me out it was her.
I reached her room and turned into it and found Dante and Kerry having a grim faced conversation behind the vent hood. "… how could this have happened?" she asked him with a hint of seething anger.
He sighed and knocked a knuckle on the counter. "Look, we can't prevent shit like this from happening. But we have an idea on who's doing all of this."
Her tone darkened and I took a step back. Pissed Kerry is not a good Kerry to be around, especially when she's in her own, chemical stocked environment. "And you think JOSS is the-" I ran down the hall at that one, well more like Dee made my legs move as I had a shocked look on my face.
How… what… 'Sit.' Dee says, I snap out of it and look around, I was in the library, the back corner where there's an old, overstuffed recliner. I did what he said and thought of putting my head between my knees and breathing deeply, but that would bring attention. I pulled out an ACT study guide from the shelf and my ipod from my bag. my hands were shaky and my foot was bouncing up and down while pinned under my knee, it was too disturbing. Kerry knew that Dante was a demon, KERRY! And what's worse, they still think I'm a demon. 'And they seem to suspect that you are responsible for something.' Dee remarked calmly as I turned up Green Day. I could practically feel him giving me pity pats on my back, it pissed me off. Now I know why some people complain about it when their friends do it. 'You need to calm down.' He says soothingly.
WHY THE HELL SHOULD I CALM DOWN?! The only person who ACUTALLY is my friend is- 'Probably the person who brought Dante, Vergil and Nero here.' What the hell are you talking about?! All this time, you've been telling me that I need to keep my head down, stay the hell away- 'Sparda helped your Grandfather hunt demons.' So? Tha- 'They're all from the same lineage, mostly, so it stands to reason that they are here to hunt demons. And since we know that the Pelts are connected to demons, and the Pelts are also connected to the children disappearances.' …Kerry's always hated the Pelts, she's said that on so many occasions. But still, she shouldn't know about demons… right? 'Do you remember the tapes from last night?' No, I wasn't really… paying attention. Dee sighs and I flip a few pages in the book. 'He kept mentioning Cal Gallager.' Wait, CAL GALLAGER?! 'Yes.' He's the guy who owns the land I hunt off of!
'Well, this plot seems to keep thickening.' Dee remarked ruefully. I was going to say something as the song lulled, but the bell rang instead. How bad do you think it'd be if I skipped Dante's class? 'Go, it would be a bad idea to confirm their suspicions.' Yeah, but what- 'Just go' So I went.
Dante's class wasn't so bad, in fact he was thoroughly preoccupied by the attentions of a few girls that were having a flirting contest with him. He was smirking a lot as he fired back remarks that we're double sided compliments and insults that they didn't catch, but whenever I caught his looks he'd roll his eyes or do a suicide motion with his hands. I found myself smiling a lot at his remarks and gestures the entire class period up until the bell rang.
"Hey kid, you alright?" Dante asks as I start to gather my things.
Keep calm, steady breathing and remember all the acting lessons the drama teacher was trying to put inside your head. "Yeah I'm fine, just had something along the lines of a family intervention and a weird trip down memory lane yesterday when I got home." It's good to go with mixed truths and generalizations.
"Ah, been there and done that." He said with a nod. "Just be careful going down that brick road kid, never know what might pop up."
"Same goes to you, we have a case of Chlamydia groups here last time the school reported mass health conditions." No real surprise these days, with how guys and girls talk, a lot of these people got around.
He seemed taken aback at that one. "You really think I'm that shameless?" it sounded as if he was offended.
I shrug and look out the door. "You seem like the type of guy who goes either way when it comes to personal contact."
A few beats later Dante sighed and sat on the desk. "Nero told ya huh?" he said dryly. My answer was silence, he only grunted. "You going to pity me kid?"
I could only look down at the floor. "I'd say I was trying not to, but everyone pities everyone no matter how hard they try not to." Dante leaned over and lifted up my head by my chin with a finger. I looked into his eyes in mild shock and a lot of discomfort, the odd kind from an awkward situation.
"If you're gonna pity me, then why not help me get over it." he said with a small smirk and a sad look. "I'm sure you'd help out a lot." I stared at him in confusion for a minute, but when it finally clicked, Dee roared to life in my head and the warmth of embarrassment bloomed from my neck up to the roots of my hair. I punched him right there and then, knocking him off the desk and into a student desk. He looked at me and I thought I saw the making of a fat lip, but he only looked back at me with a mixture of shock and regret. "Joss I-" I turned and left before he could say anything else. I was racing down the hall trying to actually think straight.
'Breathe, just keep breathing.' Dee said softly as I turned a corner and nearly took out my aunt Cheryl.
"Josslyn?" she asks worriedly as she looks at me. "Are you alright?" My eyes felt as if they were about to explode and I was sure I looked about ready to cry. What the fuck is going on?
"Uh… yeah I'm fine." I say as I take in a ragged breathe. "Oh, and I heard about Katie and Zack, congrats are in order."
That caught her off guard. "Why, thank you Josslyn, and I'm sure that she'll be happy to see you Friday when they come home."
Holy what? Katie is coming home? She needs to turn tail and run. "Sal's letting her back home?" More like, Why the hell is she even bothering?
"Miriam laid down the Monday when I called to tell her the news." Well, they don't call it an intervention for nothing, it affects the entire family. "Josslyn, I know that Miriam hasn't been the… best grandmother to you, but you have to know her hearts in the right place. Even if her… method isn't all about showing it."
'Understatement on that one' "it's Fine Cheryl, Grandma and I had a little heart to heart last night." I sniffed again and resisted the urge to wipe at my eyes. "Now if she'd just give me back my door we'd be square." I said with a forced chuckle as the bell rang. "Crap."
She pulled out a pen and took my notebook from my hand and wrote down a note and pulled it out and handed it back to me. "Look sweetie, I know things haven't been the best between everyone for the past couple of years, and I know you don't like that I suggested you for the rally Friday. But you have to understand, I truly do care about you and I just wanted you to open up a little. It's not healthy being in the background and bottling up everything you haven't said. Now tell me what's wrong."
'What is it with your family and these sudden turn arounds?' I blame it on the fumes from Tony's drugs. 'Doesn't make sense, but I like it.' Time for acting skills! I looked sideways and scratched my arm. "We… grandma and I kinda went through a few boxes of Grandpa's old stuff last night. It just kinda hit me last period. You know, the memories." She gave me a sympathy/pity hug and shooed me off to class.
'Are you alright?' Dee, you live in my head and you've seen everything I have over the past two hours, please don't ever ask that question again. 'I can help you Joss, you just have to let me in.' A, you already are in. B, you're a demon that started out hating me, why are you caring so much now? '… I never hated you Joss, I only resented you for suppressing me for so long.' Wait, what do you mean so long? 'You need to listen more Joss, and for now, I can't tell you anything without you becoming agitated in school. But I promise you, after tonight, I will tell you all that I remember.' You know something Dee, life's full of empty promises, and right now yours is hollow and crumbling. He didn't talk after that, he just let me stew and brew.
Class blew by, I don't remember doing anything but stare at the table in front of me with a whirlwind of emotions, and all of them originate from what Dante said. Third period, don't remember it at all. Fourth came along and I buried my head into the book Vergil assigned and never showed my face to him. He didn't bother with me till the end of class, that's when he pulled me aside and actually showed some feign of emotion.
"Josslyn, what did my brother say to you?" The look he showed was tired and annoyed.
"The adage that jewelers use is a good expression for now. If you have to ask, you already know." He narrowed his eyes at me and I had a small flare of regret for opening my mouth, but then Dee came forth and washed it away.
"My brother is an idiot, you are aware of that right?"
"You and I both know that isn't true, he just acts like one." His glare softened slightly and I turned for the door. "Vergil, your brother he may not be an idiot, but he is a grieving asshole. I'm sure you know the reason behind that." I left at that before he could react to that, knowing what I assume of him, it'd be anger and lots of it. When I got to Kerry's room, she took one look at me and showed some hesitation, but then she broke out into a smile and gave me a hug.
"Oh god, you don't know how much I have missed you." She said happily. I'd say the same, but then again you seem to be on their side.
'Just go along, you will forgive her, of that I'm sure.' You suck. I hugged her back and then she let go and smiled. "Missed you too Kerry, it's been a weird few days. For starters, Grandma's been going to AA every week and this morning, she cooked me breakfast."
She shrugged at that. "It's about time she told you, been telling her she should for a while."
"YOU KNEW?!" I shouted at her in shock, a lot of the kids in the class stopped and stared. Her face darkened and she pulled me into chemical room and closed the door behind her, then hauled off and slapped me. Dee growled slightly as I stood at the ground in shock.
"Never raise your voice at me like that again." she said seething like. "Yes, I knew about your Grandmother's habit, we DO actually talk to each other. And I AM her sponsor just for your information." She then leaned in and put her hands on my shoulders. "Joss, I don't know what's been going on in your life recently, but I do know that something's changed."
I gulped and thought about telling her, to just get it out and get it over with. But I didn't, instead I thought about the best excuse that came to mind. "I saw Robert's picture Monday, and yesterday Grandma told me everything that happened. After that, we… we pulled out some of Grandpa's stuff-" she smacked me again on that one. "What the hell?"
She glared at me and crossed her arms. "I'm just making sure that you're not lying to me." she tapped her foot a few times as I held the 'dafuq' look, then she sighed and shook her head. Thank god for mediocre acting skills, I don't think I could handle 'the look' let along 'the word', her heart breaking tools she wields. I've only been on the receiving end of those once and god that hurt like hell.
'Literally or just emotionally?' It's a mixture of both, you just feel as if your hearts being squeezed and then it's just… guh I am the most miserable and horrible person ever kinda feeling. "So how'd it go with your family? Did you have the intervention I had?"
She laughed darkly and picked up a bottle on the shelf. "Sweetie, unlike your grandmother, my family chose to be bitches and bastards for their own sake of pure money. Miriam did it to protect herself from heartbreak. Though that excuse is actually a little bit weak compared to what's she done and what's she's let slide."
"Ya think?" 'Indeed'. She shook the bottle at me playfully and opens the door. "By the way, grandma laid down the law, Katie's allowed back into our lives."
She smiled at that. "Good, tell her I said hi, how's she doing by the way?"
I shrug at that one, one consequence of not knowing what the hell happened to your family when they are 'banished'. "From what I know, she started nursing school, but on the bright side her and Zack are pregnant."
"That's great!" she exclaims, then turns her head out the door. "Partner up, lab sheet and then open response, due Friday." Someone said something. "KEEP REBECCA BLACK OUT OF THIS!" she barked. I snickered and exited with her, no I haven't come out of the closet yet!
'Technically-' Take your technicality and shove it. 'You realize that you would feel it as well right?' Screw you. 'You make this too easy sometimes.' He says with a smile. The experiment was synthesis of alum crystals, hated doing it last year cause my partner skipped that day and I had to work the water pump by myself and sprayed water everywhere. In no time it seemed that the class had gone by, usually did during experiments in class. The bell rang louder this time around, that or my ears where just more aware of it since I was practically on edge. Kerry was trying to get me to talk about every random little thing, mostly about what I found of grandpa's stuff.
'Despite what probable things could happen, inquire about Cal.' Are you sure? She may just go off the deep end and accuse me of being the demon responsible for whatever the hell it is she thinks I'm responsible for. 'But then again, she may just see it as nostalgia. We need information Joss, we need to know more about what your grandfather did.' Alright, but I call bragging rights if this goes sour. "Actually Kerry, I found a broken picture from Grandpa's day's in the military. It had the names of everyone in it, do you know a Cal Gallager?"
She smirked and nodded. "That would be my father, Calhoun. That's how I know your family so well." She looked off in a far off distance and smiled fondly.
"How come you never told me I hunt on your dad's land?" I ask her, try for something a little bit trivial instead of outright saying something.
She shrugged and started cleaning out an Erlenmeyer flask. "Dad said it didn't really matter, but he's out of the country right now, he was disowned by the family so he didn't bother coming with me to the will reading."
That explains one menial thing. "So did you serve with Grandpa and Dad?"
She shook her head no. "They belonged to a special unit, think black ops and go on from there, specialty missions. They still called in Stephan and my dad, even after they both officially retired from the service."
"Wow." She only nodded and I finished up my flask, and then I saw Nero walk into the classroom. Shit, where one comes in. "I'm going to go get lunch." I told her quickly and bolted out the door. Lucky for me, there's two doors to her room.
Nero was spending the night with Vergil, so he gave me back my keys during sixth period. I was afraid something like this was going to come up, they plan on going to the 'ball' tonight, of that I'm sure of it. Nero had worked out the number of kids that disappeared each year, as if he knew, either that or he's a math whiz. He just let everyone do what they want during class, so everyone was either sitting and talking, walking and talking, or that one lone kid who was playing basketball by himself. The kid I had nailed with the basketball on Monday seemed to keep glaring at me through his packed nose, but I've got bigger fish to fry. I was sitting next to Nero, both of us had our headphones on and were just looking in odd directions trying to avoid most forms of eye contact till he finally sighed loudly and pulled off his headphones.
"Alright, so what'd Dante say to ya?" I glared at him and only turned up the volume on my ipod, blasting Fit For Rivals into my ears. He yanked my earbud out of my ears with a growl and took my ipod.
"HEY!" I protested and tried to reach for my ipod, he kept me distanced with the elbow of his covered arm. "Give it back ya jackass!"
"So much for southern hospitality." He remarks with an eye roll. He tosses me back my ipod as I continue to glare. "Now tell me what the hell the dumbass said."
"Why do you care?" I snapped at him angrily. "You fucked him and left him to hold the bag, so why do you care?" I saw that fist coming my way before he even actually threw the punch. I knocked it away and threw my own at him but he pushed me back with his other arm and it went up past his head. Some of the kids started saying stuff as I tried to get away from him but he kicked the back of my knee.
"Redneck asshole." He growled as I went down to one leg. Whirling around I brought up my hand and attempted to backhand him, but he blocked it and lashed out with a kick into my side. It connected and I tumbled down the concrete steps of the bleachers onto the floor. My glasses flew off my face and skidded away a little bit.
"Hipster prick." I spat back as I crawled for my glasses and had my hand over them right as someone brought down their foot. I hissed and kept my hand from collapsing and destroying my glasses and lashed out with my other hand, it hit the bitch/bastard in the crotch and everyone let out a collective 'ooh' as that person I hit backed off. Bastard it is. I pulled the foot back towards me and head butted the other leg below the knee hard enough to hear a pop. Bastard went down and I put my glasses on to find it was the kid who's nose I had broken the other day groaning on the floor.
"I resent the hipster comment." Nero remarked wryly as he reached the floor. "Get your ass up and go to the nurse dumbass." He said as he pulled broken nose kid to his feet and shoved him to the door. "And the next time I see you pull a stunt like that again, I'll beat your ass down to a bloody fucking pulp." He threw after him as he exited the door in a daze.
I grumbled and growled as I got to my feet, fuck my ribs were hurting like hell. "Think you can kick harder next time around?" he flips me off as I sit down on the bottom bench and breathe deeply. "Sorry about the cheap shot, I just blame you for his little joke."
"Well gee, thanks." He snorts as he sits down next to me. "From my year and a half spent with that old man, I've heard him say a whole lot of shit. Usually, I just went along with it most of the time, but then again we got along just fine. So, what'd he say?"
I sigh and bang my head on the bench behind my head. "More or less, that I should fuck him to help him get over you, a pity fuck." I growled darkly as Nero sighed and shook his head. "Felt like he was calling me a cheap slut."
"Okay, even that is out of character for Dante." He remarked tiredly. "Sure, lecherous comments are his shtick, but even that goes too far for him." I only scoffed and closed my eyes, hoping to get rid of that rising feeling of anger. "What'd ya do to him?"
"Tried to give him a fat lip." Nero snorted and gave me a victory pat on the shoulder, felt like a pity pat. "Don't think I succeeded though, probably barely even swollen." Now I felt guilty and melancholic, this sucks. Dee, make me angry. 'No, we need to save that for later.' No fun.
"I have a feeling he's going to try to apologize to you within the next few days." Nero said boredly. Oh god.
"You already knew didn't you? Asshole." There's the anger.
"Look, just be-" the bell rang and interrupted him.
I got up and sighed while looking at him. "Nero, I have a feeling you and Vergil are only actually humoring for some reason I don't really care about. Stop trying, it's too damn awkward for everyone. Leave me alone and let me go back to being some invisible little spineless wimp I was." I turned promptly and exited the gym and went straight to the office with my backpack over my shoulder, packed it before class. I needed to get home and prepare for tonight, so much to do with so little time. I checked out and in no time was at my car, and found Dante leaning on the front hood of the Cuda.
"Hey kid, what's up?" he asks with a small wave of his hand. Sighing I look down at the ground and unlock my door after getting past him. "Joss, you can drive off of but I'm just gonna hold onto the hood." I looked up at him and saw he was completely serious in that semi-joking manner. I threw my bag inside and slammed the door shut and leaned onto the roof.
"What do you want Dante? Or better yet, why the hell are you even bothering me at all?" Besides the obvious fact they could sense that demon bit in me, it is a good question. Someone who's basically invisible, no distinguishing qualities or anything else. Wait a minute… damn if I was a story character I'd fit mary sue quality.
He cocked an eyebrow and layed down on the hood of the Cuda and yawned. "You're too hard on yourself kid, besides, what's wrong with a teacher being interested in his student?"
"Besides the illegal qualifications that you seem to have in mind of propositioning said student?" I threw back at him scathingly. "You know, I doubt your idiocy a whole lot, but maybe I shouldn't."
He looked at me upside down and I saw genuine remorse and some form of old grief. He got up from the Cuda and walked over to me and put his hand on my head and actually tried to ruffle it up as I scowled at him. "You're a good kid Joss, even if you are dense sometimes." I elbowed him in the stomach and he took his hand off my head and moved it to my back. Okay, TOO CLOSE!
"Dante, back off before I pull out a cheap shot." I growled at him as I tried to shake off his hand my back.
"Go ahead kid, I know I got left for my brother and sure it hurts like hell." He whispers into my ear harshly. I could feel Dee getting agitated in a weary sense, too close, that's what it was. And this overwhelming sense of anger, regret and something….something else that was just like being wrapped up tightly in it. but just like that, that presence I felt was gone, just his hand on my back lightly. "Sorry kid, I'm just a little… fried I'd say." He moves his hand up to my neck and I shiver when it lingers there, and finally just slowly goes away. "I am sorry kid, I didn't mean for it that way."
I stopped at that and turned to him and looked at him incredulously. "What?"
He smirked and backed away and turned to go off. "If you don't get what I just said kid, come back and I'll show you exactly what I'm talking about." And just like that, he walked off towards the school, leaving me to just stand there.
Dee let out a long breathe in my head, and I echoed it outside. "What… what the fuck was that?" 'I… I don't want to find out. That was too intense and… I'm afraid of what he meant.' I wanna go home and then kill something now, just to get rid of this weird ass feeling. 'Agreed, and for future reference… stay away from him in the future. He's hiding something, him and Vergil both. I don't think either of us will be able to hold our own against the… real them.' How bad are they Dee? 'I'm afraid to say… and I'm only afraid of Kerry and what could happen to us if Mundus won.' …Mary mother of god, I'm screwed. 'Get home, plan, and then lets kill. I don't like being afraid.' "Welcome to being human 101 Dee, first lesson, fear thy neighbor."
We got home faster than I thought we would, and we both were thinking of ways to create distractions or weapons that were disposable and destructive. Our best conclusion, car bomb filled with nails and other random shit soaked in holy water. The PT Cruiser was sitting up in the garage, and we did tell Grandma about Liam and how I got his car, so we needed to get rid of it quickly. Fertilizer, a gas tank and a old walkie talkie would work well. Call it up with the back pulled off and wires exposed poking inside a gas tank will set it off, have a few plastic containers filled with fertilizer and sprinkled with gasoline. I'm not sure if this is how it'll work, but I need to try, we needed to try. All or nothing, life or death, for more than just us, Marta too.
Once we got into the house though, those plans went down the fucking drain. Cause there was Claude sitting at the kitchen table with his hands weaving tunes around the Theremin, a sad nostalgic smile on his face. "Ah Josslyn, so glad you could come." He said with a wide closed mouth smile.