IMPORTANT NOTE FROM THE AUTHORESS: Oh my God…! Has it really been that long? I must say I am deeply sorry for the insufferable hold up guys, I've been through a lot of mess recently and had absolutely no access to internet. Now I'm back, however, -with a vengeance!- and fully intending to finish those fics I've started and just left to..uh...gather dust on the memories of those few who have actually read and reviewed, who have my profoundest gratitude. Hopefully I will be able to have enough time to read and review other stories as well as Im writing. As I always say, work's a bitch.
AND One fic I'm definitely returning to complete is Chaos's Warm Embrace.
I can't express just how sorry I am to have kept all of you waiting, reading your reviews is an absolute pleasure, as well as writing for you guys, because you're the best!
I'm happy to announce that I'm finally posting the promised new chapter tonight, and hope it will be to your standards. Dante is high on the rush of the latest reunion with his twin, and all tensed up for yet another fight, while Vergil is more than ready to deliver a classy round of ass kicking that will see the fiercest demons red. And between the duo stands one human woman who has the ability to change the heart of a devil. But the course of destiny can easily be halted and altered by darker emotions, the 7 sins that govern humans and devils alike. –grins and rubs hands together evilly- Not to mention the three is a crowd for any romance, but a devilish love triangle is about to contribute to the divine screw up. As Arianni remarked, the shit hath indeed splattered all over the place.
So, without further ado...I present to you chapter 6. Thanks
again for the awesome support that has kept me going so far and keep those reviews coming!
"Dante…" Vergil's deep voice was a sharp, hoarse whisper; all venom and brimstone.
The crimson-clad half-devil dusted himself off casually and strode over to the less then unimpressed duo with a smartass swagger, regarding his glum twin and the fiery demon huntress with his typical grin. The fact that he experienced an unexpected jab of jealousy in his gut took a moment or two to sink in as well.
"Hey Vergil. C'mon man, can't you at least just once pretend you're glad to see me?"
"My excitement knows no bounds, brother." Vergil's voice was cold, sarcastic, blood-chillingly soft.
"Well, I'm happy to see you in one piece too. Been itching to give you a suitable bash. Literally." Dante's lips quirked in a dark cheer.
"Likewise dear brother. I cannot contain my exhilaration any longer."
"Anyway, we do have a great deal of catching up to do, don't we, Vergil?" Dante grinned with a maniacal gleam in his brilliant blue eyes.
Before Vergil could reply however, a familiar voice which could best be described as bittersweetly feminine and infinitely irate interjected.
"That's mine, you demon scum!"
Dante grinned broadly and fingered Kalina Ann possessively, tauntingly.
"Finders, Keepers." He said with a kind of innocence that could charm the pants off anyone else.
"You might want to reconsider that." Lady was all grim sweetness as she pressed her freshly reloaded revolver against Dante's silver-fringed smooth forehead and her pistol firmly, dangerously levelled at his crotch. "You see I might accidentally blow your brains out or worse."
The red half devil considered the demon huntress for a moment or so, knowing full well she was every bit aggressive and tenacious enough to go through with her threat. She was not the type to be taken lightly or underestimated in any way. Dante liked fire and spirit in a woman , but was not all too keen to be made a fool by one, especially in front of his brother.
Lady's bright, azure and brown eyes were fiercely sparkling, her small but full lipped mouth set in a hard, no-nonsense edge which actually enhanced her allure and sex appeal. What was she just doing down here with Vergil anyway? He wondered absently whether he had interrupted a vicious battle or a vicious kiss earlier…Somehow the latter didn't seem to enhance his mood.
"Jeez, Lady! Is this the thanks I get for safekeeping your precious weapon? You never appreciate anything, do you?" Dante said ruefully, a hurt expression replacing the lopsided grin; one that did not fool Lady.
"I'd appreciate it if you never touched it again!" Lady snatched her treasured rocket launcher angrily from his lingering hands.
The sound of sharp edged steel sliding out of a leather scabbard drew both their attention toward Vergil. The deadly katana glinted with a dangerous promise of bloodshed. But the blue balefire in Vergil's eyes was colder than the blade pointed menacingly at Dante's bare chest.
"Two against one? That's hardly any fair now is it?"
"Funny, I've never heard you complain before. Or have you lost your edge Dante?" Vergil's hard mouth was shadowed with a pale half grin that was the ghost of Dante's habitual one.
Dante's smile vanished in an instant. His grim, austere face darkening to match his twin's as he slowly, eagerly pulled out Rebellion.
"I might have, would you care to help me sharpen it, Verge?"
"Can you two morons discuss this later?" Lady demanded sharply, her guns pointed at the tall, powerful devil twins preparing to charge at each other. When she pulled the trigger, the bullets darted past the silver-haired heads, blasting the approaching pack of hell prides and other assorted monstrosities.
"Let's show these suckers not to ever interrupt our party, hey Vergil?" Dante smirked with a diabolical mirth.
The blue half-devil glanced at his twin for a second, then without a word raised Yamato like a blazing, magnificent banner, cutting through the first row of the lesser demons.
"Wow!You were always the heart of the party, Vergil!" Dante's grin was wide as ever, Rebellion humming through the air as it swung in the opposite direction, at the core of the rapidly growing multitude of demonic grotesqueries advancing on them with a primal, murderous intent.
A few paces to the side, Lady was fighting off her share of demons.
Vergil did not even blink or flinch when a hellish scythe slashed through between his shoulder blades, pivoting instantly to sever the cowardly foe's hideous head from its distorted spine.
"It appears I'm not the one who's losing his edge, Vergil. Could the female company have softened you after all?" Dante shouted gaily over the resounding din of the melee, his sensual lips split into an ever wider grin if possible, ducking several descending axes and viciously malformed tentacles at the same time, Rebellion shredding through the mob.
Vergil breathed with all the discipline of a well trained samurai, his Yamato whirling in a deadly, sanguine waltz across several repugnant, misshapen faces twisted in exquisite agony, the skilfully wielded blade in fact redefining the meaning of mincemeat.
"If there is one thing the "female company" taught me, is that the fairer sex can actually be more ill-mannered and irksome than you, brother!" Vergil snapped back as his powerful body adjusted to the rhythm of the Yamato and the battle both, his body balanced at a perfect angle each time he received the blows with his ancient sword, teeth gritted in a twisted pleasure as he charged back into the offending enemy with an equally demonic zeal that would pale the prowess of any driven, self-respecting knight of a forgotten era...
Lady heaved the Kalina Ann over her shoulder, balancing herself by widening her stance, and launched a rocket into the demon horde. The fiery explosion scattered the wailing monsters and what's left of them all over the place. She smiled, finding comfort in the coolness of the heavy weapon against her cheek; Kalina Ann lent her a fierce confidence and strength, it was as if a part of her beloved mother was truly etched forever into the weapon, as permanent as her name etched into its long, sleek body.
Through the curling smoke, she saw the devil twins fighting off the remaining fiends with an unnatural, amazing speed and strength which was actually a macabre delight to behold. They were a pair of crimson and azure lightning, striking their foes with a brutal, but graceful battle prowess, two unstoppable tornadoes smashing into all that dared oppose them, now backing away in a cowardly rush of panic. Their faces were lit with an eerie dynamic that swirled between them, covered with a thin film of sweat. Those faces…Devils with the beauty of angels... Both distorted in sheer violent pleasure derived only from fighting. It was in their blood, in their soul, that dark demonic essence showed starkly through their deceitfully humane exteriors, crushing anyone caught in its all obliterating path.
Together, the devil twins were more than an efficient team. Though dimensions apart in nature and humour, they strangely complemented and balanced each other in a majestic way no mortal could exhibit even in direst of life threatening circumstances. Their bond struck terror in the hearts of any beholder, reminding the dazed onlooker that theirs was indeed a royal, superior, divine race. Even Vergil, the hard, pale statue; came alive when he spilled blood, a sheer nightmare for all that dared stand against such destructive force as theirs, be it beast, divinity or human.
When the last of the abominations exploded around them in a shower of sand, grisly confetti of chopped metal and body parts, their fast fading screams melted into a dreadful silence that suddenly descended over the place.
Still was the air, and the twins, blades held tightly in anticipation of a sneak assault. Lady wondered just what it was the half-breeds perceived that her mortal senses failed to pick up. Sound and movement were an anathema to the duo, even Dante, whose steely blue gaze scoured their surroundings with a keen alertness. Lady shifted uncomfortably in the opaque silence, her guns at the ready.
The air pulsated with the electric feel of violence and something more savage, whether the remnants of the battle that had been just fought or the foul incense of what was to come, remained a question.
"Do you remember that smell, Vergil?" Dante murmured softly, all serious and uncharacteristically grim, Rebellion clutched in both hands, his steps calculated, excruciatingly slow as he backed away toward his twin.
"How can I forget, Dante?" Vergil said in a hushed, controlled voice that would freeze hell thrice over, which starkly contrasted with the raging, ruthless beast he had been only a moment ago.
A serpentine, bloodcurdling laughter tore through the seemingly empty air, dissonant with the echoes of tortured souls its scythe had harvested unjustly and brutally, resonating and clawing hollowly across the minds.
Dante could taste the sanguine scarlet of the blood in his mouth, the sulphur stench of a blackened soul, of opaque darkness drawn from the deepest pits of hell, charging the air with a sickening perfume.
"Jeez, have these guys ever heard of cologne?" Dante grumbled, on the alert.
"I'd say that personal hygiene is the least of their priority, brother. You of all people should know that."
"Dude, nothing can top that stench, not even my week old training socks. You, of all people should know that." Dante cracked a soft grin.
A low rumble resonated around them, and their bodies, designed and trained to react swiftly, on constant alert to fight and eliminate threat, responded immediately to the shattering of the tomblike quiet. Just when Lady stepped from behind them to shoot the invisible foe, the hurricane force of a blood and sand blast knocked the trio back in all sorts of awkward and painful positions against the wall on the ground. Yamato and Rebellion and Kalina Ann flew from the gloved grasp of their disoriented owners, landing with a loud clatter beside the misshapen stubs that were the feet of a gigantic, loathsome creature garbed in tattered, pitch black robes swathing a warped and aberrant body, its face masqued with a sinister, goat-like skull, overlong, hooklike curved teeth and fangs bared in a perpetually malevolent smile fixed upon the fleshless mouth, huge horns maliciously twisting around the deformed, elongated skull. The sickly light that emanated from the depths of the hollow eyes was the crimson of freshly spilled blood, pure cold malice and oblivion's tortuous promise.
The giant scythe-bearing monster charged solely at the blue half-devil first, somehow eager to finish him off.
"VERGIL!" Dante gave a shout, tossing a custom designed pistol as black as the moonless midnight at his twin's direction, even as he drew its silver white twin.
Vergil grunted in displeasure and annoyance as he failed to get a grip on it as he ducked the first sweeping attack. Then the black pistol was caught swiftly in a beige gloved left hand, arctic blue eyes flaring with a ferocious intensity that rivalled the balefires of hell itself. Vergil immediately flipped to his side, a second too late.
Dante's efforts were harmlessly blocked by the reddish shield that emanated from the creature's abyssal core, and within a split second, Vergil was imprisoned in a claustrophobic, square dimensioned cage made of crackling vermilion demon energy and the polished bones of the fallen. Vergil's steel solid muscles clenched reflexively as he tensed for the second attack, long, sculpted legs parted slightly as he found his balance.
One did not rush headlong into battle –therefore into possible grisly death- with this kind of cunning adversary. Patience and timing were crucial now, moments ticking away in an echo of a grim procession that signalled a possible doom.
Dante gaped open mouthed at Vergil. Just what the hell was his daft twin up to? He could not have been petrified by fear or any such nonsense, as Vergil possessed the iciest will and courage.
"Verge! I don't think you should wait for an invitation you know, that oversized creep is about to start the party without you. HURRY UP MAN!"
Venomous laughter reminiscent of a thousand nails scraping against a polished board emerged from the black void of its fanged mouth. The demon soared alongside its crimson bladed scythe over Vergil and the cage both, its black, shroud-like robes dangling and flapping about it like a banner of doom and evil. The demon descended rapidly down, its scythe blade spinning like a blood vortex, preparing to shred armour, flesh and bone. Stark still and stubbornly silent was the blue devil knight enslaved in its prison, his eyes never leaving the high rank demon, attuned to the slightest movement.
"COME THE FUCK ON VERGIL" Dante yelled impatiently, grinding his teeth in mounting frustration and agitation. Old memories summoned up by the sight of the demon crashed against his sanity. Evil and misguided or no, Vergil was still his family; his only family, and Dante felt no shame in displaying his concern in dire situations that could be their last. He vaguely sensed Lady coming to, behind him against the wall where she had been crumpled like a broken doll.
Time seemed to stand still, and in that moment's frozen stillness Vergil jerked himself upright with a blinding speed and slammed Ebony into the fiend's bone-crafted mask, pulling the trigger right between the eyes.
The demon gave a horrid growl, the scythe hurled out of its skeletal grip. The malefic abomination was enraged and far from dead, but that moment's brief distraction was all Vergil needed. He flipped over the giant scythe embedded like a ghastly trophy to the ground, and his left hand closed over Yamato's hilt, his right making a grab for Rebellion. Armed thusly, Vergil propelled himself against the pulsing inner wall of the gruesome cage and flung himself toward his enemy, stabbing the horrid mask again. Abyss red eyes flickered, registering its mistake, rage replaced by fear. One could not afford to underestimate Sparda's descendant.
The cage shattered and burst into thousand crystalline particles overhead, showering Vergil in a crimson glitter.
"Whoa, this party's getting crazier than I thought. I'm still miffed I didn't get an invitation but." Dante smirked.
"Last I checked, you NEVER get an invitation brother." Vergil hissed, brushing off the red particles that clung annoyingly to his hair and blue leather trench.
His foe was still alive however, its pure hatred for humans and all that was related to them still binding it into existence. The masque was shattered on one side, exposing a stretched, abhorrent visage of such evil that an ordinary mortal would have to scratch his eyes out or risk going insane.
Dante rolled to Vergil's side and Rebellion was recovered from his twin, the ornate silver hilt instantly moulding to its master's familiar, strong grip.
"I'll just tag along then shall I?"
Dante grunted, impaling Rebellion into the exposed, unarmed underside of the creature's chin, wrenching a gurgled scream of disbelief and agony from its throat.
Six inch claws instantly, menacingly wrapped around Dante's neck, lifting him off the ground and shaking him like a rag doll.
A surge of gunfire ripped through the dying demon, and new holes in Dante's leather trench in the process. Dante landed on his feet agilely and watched Lady holster her smouldering guns, her clear blue brown eyes glittering hard like chipped multi co loured crystals beneath raven lashes.
"Damn I feel loved!" Dante muttered and rubbed head still throbbing from the blow and gave a low whistle, then paused.
"Man, I swear if she touches my coat again I'll do something drastic." He dusted off his trench and grumbled as he inspected the new addition of bullet holes through its battered, crimson leather.
" I've observed that kind of behaviour with that particular female could be severely disastrous to one's health, or certain parts of anatomy that seems to govern your mind more often than what could be considered as normal." Vergil, katana unsheathed still, gave a graceful shrug.
"Are you by any chance speaking from first-hand experience here?" Dante asked casually, his brow quirked, his eyes promptly drawing down to the front of Vergil's dark trousers speculatively.
"Let's just say that the Lady's exceedingly avid desire to jeopardise my health and wellbeing has been successfully suppressed so far. But I cannot make the same claim about her equally fervent and unfortunate attitude of brazen insolence."
"Typical." Dante snorted, then raised his silver brows at his twin, glancing down at the razored tip of Yamato resting just beneath his chin.
"You and I have some unfinished business, Dante."
The red half devil automatically welcomed the challenge and trained Rebellion on Vergil's chest. Their eyes locked, blue clashed against blue, icily so.
"You know something Vergil, every time you say that, it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside." He said dryly.
"If you two jackasses ever decide to make yourselves useful, I suggest you start by looking for a mechanism that will get us out of here. The tower doesn't rotate by itself, you know." Lady interrupted with a roll of her eyes.
"Well, you heard the Lady." Dante said, his blue eyes lit with mirth as he slowly lowered and sheathed Rebellion, part of him relieved at the girl's timely intervention, and he could not say why…
"We require an orihalcon fragment to empower that generator." Vergil gloomily observed, gazing at the gaped opening of a gargoyle mouth suspended from the ceiling. "Maybe we should wait for more demons to make appearance, so you can kindly inquire as to the location of the said fragment, Lady." Vergil taunted with a harsh undertone.
"Just so you know, I'd take my chances with those filthy abominations over you anytime!"
"Just as well; both in temperament and intellect you would be perfectly matched."
"Uh, guys…" Dante butted in, but Vergil and Lady were caught up fast in the heat of their argument, both testing each other's limits of dominance and submission.
"YOU would know, wouldn't you, considering you are after all a part of them!" Lady bristled, hands on her shapely curved hips, staring Vergil straight in the eye with an angry glare.
Dante could feel the air between the demon huntress and his twin suddenly charge up with singeing fire of attraction to which both seemed blissfully oblivious. Dante was experienced enough to know that the more vehemently a woman tried to hold back her passions, the stronger the inevitable explosion would be in the end. Was Vergil blind or something?
"The glaring exception is that you and I can only be matched in perfect resentment. Unless of course, you happened to have another kind of match on your mind, in which case I should point out to you that I make it a habit to avoid any sort of liaison with a foul-mouthed and impertinent woman." Vergil said acerbically.
"Thank god for small blessings!" Lady narrowed her eyes.
Dante saw Lady stiffen, goaded too easily by the seemingly vacant, unfeeling and superior expression Vergil wore like a stigmata. He wondered how much longer this fatal game of seduction go for unbeknownst to them, before they ended up on the floor tearing each others' clothes off. And he also wondered why he was growing more annoyed and worked up by the second by the disturbing mental image.
Get a grip, Dante, you barely even know her, this is no time to worry about such trivial things.
If only she knew what his brother was capable of doing…Any union between them would end in tears and heartbreak, and knowing Lady, blood and worse. Vergil was very skilled at manipulation and walking all over those that showed the slightest sign of weakness or affection, which was probably the same thing in Vergil's vocabulary.
Come on, Dante, are you acting out of an altruistic motive, or do you just want her all to yourself?
Vergil's proud face was darkened by a shadow of desire and anger enough to cause a mini volcanic eruption in the room. Lady's attention was solely held by him, pinned beneath his penetrant blue gaze. She was deeply mesmerized and annoyed, but Vergil closed the space between them, their bodies brushing against one another, awfully close yet achingly distant, and she was pulled to him. Vergil searched her flushed face, her eyes that always betrayed her emotions, scanning their luminescent depths and amazed to discover an odd warmth there. Her pale ivory cheeks were smudged with faint streaks of blood and dirt…His gaze, guided by sheer instinct, slid down to her lips,which she was keeping firmly clamped to contain the harrowing quiver that jolted through her. Her head was buzzing again, mouth suddenly too dry as her insides began to lurch and melt, slower and lower, where she felt a strange, hot dampness between her thighs. A fusion of flames, that's what she was. And that was what Vergil was instantly attracted to; she was fire to his ice.
Lady felt heat suffuse her cheeks and lips both a scarlet rose. Why is he looking at me like that…As though he's going to kill me or kiss me…Damn it all to hell…Why can't I just take my eyes off him already? It's not like I've got a crush on him or anything…
She seized the opportunity to drink in the otherworldly perfection of his face and body. There was something oddly anachronistic about his person; the subtle shadow of a knight from ages past…A dark knight with dark chivalry and even darker aspirations. Her female intuition kicked in as she glimpsed the intense desire like abrupt flashes of blue lightning across his stormy eyes. She braced herself, her fingertips tingling as her hand reached up to his face, uncertainly, shyly, and stroked the smooth cheek. Her mind instantly conjured the memory of how close they had come to indeed killing, or kissing each other…
Dante rolled his eyes royally and unable to watch his twin about to claim the woman he also desired, pulled out the orihalcon fragment from an inner pocket, tossing it high into the air and giving it a mighty kick that sent it hurling straight into the mouth of the gargoyle shaped generator.
He watched in grim satisfaction as the entire building rumbled and shook as the machine buzzed to life, the tower rotating on its axis to reveal yet another passageway toward what could or could not be a death trap for the unwary.
But the true satisfaction he noted, was the moment the sensuous spell between Vergil and Lady broke and fizzed out to nothingness once more, as they hurriedly pulled away from each other and regained their icy composure, Lady looking flustered and Vergil royally agitated.
When the rotation ground to a screeching halt, an entrance way opened up, revealing deadly foot long spikes piercing out of the wall and the roof in pretty much every direction, eerily still and motionless.
"I found the orihalcon fragment, I'm going in first." Dante said smugly, then halted mid-step as the generator died and the jutting, immobile wall spikes were animated into motion as a result…
"Well, don't wait for me!" Dante murmured as Lady and Vergil first stared mutely at the total catastrophe Dante had single-handedly managed , then exchanged exasperated glances. This was One crazy party indeed…