Chapter Two

Nephilim

The offspring of the sons of God and the daughters of men. They possess the ability to travel between the different worlds at their own whim and can use a fraction of their fathers' powers in a personified form of a weapon or a special ability. No one Nephilim is alike.

..

"I didn't think there was a serious bone in your body, Dante."

Looking up from his strawberry sundae, the half devil glares momentarily at Lady befoe going back to his ice cream. The tarty taste of the fruit blended well with the creamy cold treat. Not to mention that homemade whip cream was to die for and Dante could never get enough of it. He pops another spoonful into his mouth, crossing his eyes at Lady childishly.

Trish smirks and shakes her head, dipping another salty fry into her chocolate shake. The waitress that was standing behind the counter looked at the trio with weary eyes, and Trish almost felt remorse for the batty bitch, but quickly changed her mind about that emotion. Lady glanced at the two as they snacked on their midnight junk foods.

"I'm just sayin', babe. You can never be too careful with hunters. She may be just like you," he ends his statement with a joke, and it earns him a swift smack on the head. Dante frowns and looks down at the broken spoon in his hands. He had been biting down when she smacked him and the pain caused his teeth to clench on the cheap metal.

Dante licks his ice cream from the spoon head before dropping the two pieces on the table.

"Hey, Miss Abel, can I get another spoon?"

"I'm gonna start giving you plastic spoons if you break another good one," the middle aged woman scolded the half demon, which was a funny sight to the girls. Dante rubs the back of his neck as the woman brings him a new spoon.

"Aw, don't be like that, Miss Abel. You know I didn't mean to. Blame Lady, here. She's the one that smacked me."

"I'm surprised you felt it with how thick that skull of yours is."

Trish and Lady laugh together as Dante sulks, but he thanks the woman for the spoon, nonetheless. She walks back behind the counter and into the back kitchens, leaving them the only patrons of the small midnight diner. The world was quiet... calm, even, and for once Trish felt content. There was no sudden movements of battle or cries of demons coming to destroy her for her change in sides of the never ending battle of humans and demons. There was no trouble.

Just her and two friends and a chocolaty snack in front of her.

The front window of the diner crashed through, shattering glass throughout the area. Dante ducked his head only a centimeter to dodge a glowing blue arrow. It burst into light as soon as it hit the table, leaving behind only the shadow of a scorch mark.

"What the hell!" Miss Abel yelled as she came out of the kitchen, the door swinging behind her. The cook was on her heels, but quickly grabbed the woman by the waist and pulled her back in as a canine like demon jumped in through the skeleton of the window and onto the dark coated figure.

"I'll pay for that!" the woman says, and Dante instantly pinpoints the voice as that of his impromptu partner from earlier that week. However, he can't smell her, her fresh, clean scent does not waft through the air like the burnt, charcoal smell of the Hellhounds barking and shooting fire balls at her. And, the image of her is wispy, like he's staring through water trying to look at her.

"Dante," she calls out, her voice surprisingly calm.

He is pulled through a tunnel of light, and his hair blows back out of his face as if he's moving at high speeds, but when everything grows still and goes back to one coherent vision, he stumbles as if off balance. Dante had stayed in the same spot the entire time.

The world is coated in a strange orange tint, and wisps of black vines now crawl up the walls. The floor is cracked and off balance. The Hellhounds are now chasing toward him, but most of them end up with an arrow in their hind quarters. As Dante looks around, trying to get a grasp of where he's just been transported to as well as fight off the hounds that come to bite off his head, he can't help the double take he does when he sees the woman in front of him.

She has wings.

Of course, they're folded neatly against her back, moving with her body as she plucks a feather from them. The feather then transforms into an arrow of light that's knotted to the silver bow. That feather-turned-arrow destroys the hound coming straight for the momentarily stunned Dante.

"What in the shitting hell," he says, drawing Rebellion just quick enough to slice through the clawed paw coming to swipe at his neck.

"Welcome to Limbo, Dante."

She smirks, her brown eyes flashing a golden yellow before she pulls the trigger of her cut off shogun and blasting a hole straight through the last canine. She jumps out the window, small black vines following her as she jumps into the unfamiliar world. He turns to find Trish and Lady looking at where he should be, but he can't see their expressions. They are nothing more than black, void spaces of where their bodies should be. The only solid thing now is him and that girl.

"How the hell do I get out of here?" he yells, chasing after her. He jumps out the window also and has to quickly kick off a chunk of concrete to catch on some stable platform. What should have been the road leading to just a half mile away from his shop is nothing more than disfigured platforms of concrete and floating cars and broken pieces of metal foundation.

It only takes Dante a second to follow the girl, her glowing yellow aura a dead give away in the strange orange and teal blue hued world that he has been dragged into. He had heard of Limbo, but it was more of a thing that he thought souls went to. He knew of Purgatorio, he knew of the "cleansing of souls in fire and forge" to make them holy again and suitable for the eternal Paradiso or which judged them too defiled and dropped them to their level of the Inferno.

He knew of all that.

After all, he was named after the famous poet who wrote of its existence. His life was nothing more than a divine comedy. His parents had to have been avid readers. Hell, Sparda had been around for over two thousand years; he needed something to do with his time. Probably met the guy.

This was Limbo? The famed Purgatory where all monsters and demons and souls alike went after death? It looked like a bad Halloween movie that would just go straight to that shitty scifi channel he would flip to when nothing else was on.

"Hey! You! Wait just a damn min- whoa!"

Dante barely caught himself as the platform of asphalt began to tilt from his weight as he moved from surface to surface. The grips of his gloves helped him stay on as he kicked his body to pull himself back up on it. Two tight hands wrap around his wrists and he's pulled back onto the platform as if he weighs nothing more than a pillow.

"Isn't this freeing?" she asks, holding his wrists with much excitement. It's almost like she's going to bounce away.

She's got wings, and he swears that's a halo hovering above her head, but its gone with a blink of an eye. Her brown eyes flash back and forth to a golden yellow and her hair is just a bit too perfect.

"We can finally be ourselves. Finally show just how powerful the Nephilim race is."

"Be what? What the hell is a Nephilim?"

"It's you, Dante! It's me, too! Your father is a fallen angel, and thus given the evil connotation of a demon. My father is an angel, someone who did not fall. We are Nephilim. Half divine, half human. We have so much power, Dante. We could rule the world-"

A bullet slides through her skull like a hot knife through butter. Blood splatter across Dante, making the red of his coat dark and his hair speckled with it. The form of what had been the woman fizzles away into the slimy, gray leather skin of a demon. Its face is struck into pain before it bursts into dust.

"Damn shape shifters. More annoying than a hangnail."

"What the hell is going on!" Dante demands, pulling Ebony and Ivory from their holsters, but find them gone.

"Calm down, will ya?" a voice says from behind him, and Dante spends to find two men, both with the same snowy white hair as him. One of them holds his twin guns, spinning them expertly on his fingers. He has two of his own, one strapped to each thigh. The only stands in the back, arms crossed over his chest. "We got enough demons chasing us as it is, we don't need more because of your loud mouth."

"Raz," the woman scolds, jumping onto the same platform as Dante to stand beside him. "Give them back. Don't make me tell Sera."

"Tattle-tell," Raz answers, sticking out his tongue before tossing the two guns back to the half devil. The woman frowns, but nods when they are back in Dante's possession.

"Dante, I know things are going a bit fast, but we can explain as soon as we're back at Headquarters and-"

"I'm not going anywhere until someone explains how the hell I'm in Limbo right now."

The group of the children of the Divine stand still, each looking at the other before one of them speaks up.

"The shapeshifter was right, in the most sense. You are, as we are, Nephilim. A child a divine being. Because of your demonic blood you can pass between the worlds, from the Human realm to Limbo and everywhere in between or further out. When you were a child you and your brother were separated, hidden from the world so that the demons who fought for Mundus could not find you."

The concrete platform shifts, and as it begins to tilt backwards, the woman to Dante's left leaps onto a floating car. Her silver hair, which he could have sworn was brown not two minutes ago, flowing behind her. It settles back into messy curls around her shoulders. He follows her, leaping onto the same car.

The other male, the one with the dark skin and stoic expression, continues. "The same happened with us. It was not just your father, Sparda, who fought to stop Mundus. Others; his brothers who had not fallen and those that had, also fought with him. Our parents. After the war and after Mundus was sealed away, they were left in the human realm, unable to return to their home in Paradiso, such as Ariel's father. Or, in our father's case, the Inferno like Sparda. They took settlement on Earth and found companionship. Our mothers."

Dante continues to follow Ariel, finally he knew her name, and she lands on the same surface of broken asphalt as the two men.

"Laurel and Sera found us," Ariel says, motioning to the older male of the two that had arrived; the one that explained of the angel and demon parents. "There are more of us, Dante. So many more, but they don't realize their potential. Limbo is the best way for us to travel. There are rifts that can transport us long distances in seconds. That's how we found you. The rifts only take us to places with other Nephilim. It was a way for our parents to keep us in touch with the others."

"So this rift, it brought you to Capulet City because of me?"

"Of course. The other half of our group is off looking for another Nephilim nearby. However, he isn't the same percentage of divine blood as us, but he still holds great power. We were surprised to find him so close-"

"Nero."

Ariel nods to Dante, and the group of four bounces from platform to platform before they come to a large rune like circle glowing bright white on an old brick wall.

"Yes, we thought you may be familiar with him after the Savior incident a few months ago."

Dante snorts in amusement at the memory, but he keeps to his thoughts. Things were slowly beginning to make sense to him, now.

"And, after all, he is your nephew, so the resemblance must be uncanny."

The half devil stares at the older male of the group, Laurel. He's looking ahead, face void of any emotion and his dark eyes are off in the distance. Did he just hear him right?

"Wait, hold on a second. You're saying that the kid is-"

"The son of your brother, yes," Ariel confirms, looking at the man almost sheepishly. "I take it you didn't know?"

"Of course I didn't know! If it wasn't for the fact that he's a guy, I wouldn't have thought Vergil even had a dick!"

Raz laughs loudly before all four enter through the glowing gate of ancient runes. There's another flash of orange tunnel, and Dante feels like he's being tugged in all directions before everything stands still. They're inside an abandoned building, back from the realm of Limbo. The sounds of scurrying mice are the only thing heard as Dante does a quick once over of the three he has just met.

Laurel, the oldest, sweeps his black hair away from his forehead, before he leads the pack out of the building. Raz, the youngest of the three males, walks with a bounce in his step, hands clasped behind his head. Dante brings up the back, Ariel walking off to the side, but still in front of him. Her curly hair barely reaches past her shoulders. Some places are tangled while others are still in their tight brunette swirls.

"Hey, why is your hair not white anymore?"

The cause of his silver hair had always been a question for Dante. He had had it since he could remember, since childhood. The only way their mother could tell the difference between Dante and Vergil, was Vergil's constant fidgeting to keep his hair out of his eyes. Dante couldn't have cared any less and let the mop of silver locks go wherever they wished.

"It is a part of your power manifested," Laurel says, but Dante looks to Ariel for an explanation.

"Your Devil Trigger, as you call it," Ariel begins, "is an embodiment of your father's demonic power. When you trigger, you take on a demonic warrior form, that looks much like his own. Because of who your father was, and genetics if you want to get scientific, your hair remains white. Our fathers and genetics give us different characteristics. No Nephilims are ever exactly alike."

Dante continues to look at her, and Ariel sighs.

"For example," she says, emphasizing her words. "My father's power is manifested in my bow. My arrows are the feathers from the wings I gain when I 'trigger'. In human realm it looks like a quiver, in Limbo you can see its true form."

She looks to Raz, motioning to the jolly blonde. "Raz's power is his speed and his ability to read the minds of other people. However, he hasn't quite mastered us Nephilim just yet."

Jackass.

Raz looks to Dante, narrowing his eyes before scoffing and walking faster to catch up with Laurel.

"And Laurel's power is in his sword. He can also take on some of the demon aspects his father possessed, and it looks a bit like your trigger, but still, quite different."

"What about the others? You said there was another half of your group?"

"Right. Seraphael and Isisah. They prefer Sera and Izzy, respectively. Sera is Laurel's older sister. She also possess a Devil's Arm and a Trigger, like her brother, but she can take on multiple forms during her trigger. Almost like a shape shifter but she still has her limits.

"Izzy is... very withdrawn from the group. He's hesitant to let us know anything, seeing as he comes from a very abusive foster household. We believe he may hold a very physical power, seeing as he refuses to let us see it."

"And that's putting it lightly," Raz comments with a smirk. Ariel sends a look to the blonde, who holds his hands up in surrender and says no more. "I'll be quiet."

"As I was saying," Ariel sends one last look to the younger. "Each Nephilim is different depending on who their divine parent was and genetics. If the mother was strong, spiritually, then the child has a strong mental manifestation. If the mother was strong in the physical aspect, this is shown in the power of Devil Arms and strength."

"You know an awful lot about Nephilims," Dante says, and the brunette nods.

"My mother was a college professor. Loved mythology and legends more than anything. Well, except for my father and me. Back when he was still on Earth, she would listen to him tell stories of all the Nephilim in history. She wrote a book of notes for me and that's what I go off of."

"Was a professor?"

Ariel smiles remorsefully.

"When I was seventeen she got in a car accident. Spinal injury. Lost all motor functions. She died a few years ago."

Dante looks ahead, not daring to see Ariel's mournful expression.

"My mother was killed by demons."

"You saw it, didn't you?"

Dante nods.

"I can tell in your voice. You have nightmares."

"Don't we all?" Dante ended the conversation there. Ariel doesn't open her mouth.

"Come, Seraphael is waiting for us," Laurel says, looking over his shoulder for only a glance's worth of time. "She and Isisah have Nero. We shall regroup and go to the next rift point."

"Wait, hold up a second," Dante says. He takes two steps away from the trio and puts his hands on his hips. "Just because I agreed to listen to whatever spill you have, doesn't mean I'm going with you."

"But Dante, we have to stick together. The world is in danger-"

"From some powerful demon overlord yadda, yadda I've heard it a thousand times. Look, you all seem very nice and I wish you luck on your quest, but I'm not going anymore. Capulet City is mine to protect. Besides, I can't just leave the girls with all the demon killing fun."

"Look, man, I don't think you understand the severity of the situation-"

Laurel holds up his hand to silence Raz, and the blonde quickly seals the rest of his sentences in his throat. The eldest of the group walks forward and places a hand on Ariel's shoulder.

"You have made your decision and we shall respect that. Leave whenever you wish."

"But Laurel-" Ariel is also silenced with a hand. She turns to Dante, with an almost furious look on her face before she sighs out the anger. Dante's left eyebrow raises a few centimeters.

"Severity of the situation?" Dante repeats quietly, looking to Ariel, again, for one last explanation.

She glances to Laurel and Raz who are whispering loudly to one another.

"This isn't just some demon overlord, Dante. This is someone who holds tenfold the power that Mundus could possible wish to possess."

That bad, huh?

Dante is intrigued. Someone worse than Mundus? Improbable, but possible.

"And who just might this not-your-average-demon-overlord be?"

"The Lord of Demons," Ariel says, before casting her eyes down as if fearing to speak a more specific name.

"And that would be?"

"Lucifer," Laurel answers for Ariel, stilling holding his stoic expression.

"Wait. You mean Satan?"

Ariel nods, and Dante can't hold back the laugh any longer.

"Are you serious? Oh, you guys are hilarious. C'mon, now. Be serious with me. We all know he's been locked up in a cage munching on sinners since before that dude that could walk on water was around. Who in their right minds would release him, let alone have the power to do it?"

Dante wishes he had never asked that question.

"Your brother."