In the waiting room of IMP sat the two youngest members of IMP assassin company, Dante sat on the couch polishing a pistol, while Loona sat at her desk scrolling through her phone. The rest of IMP was out on an assignment, it was a simple task to kill some old lady who abused her grandson, it was such a simple assignment that Dante didn't even bother coming along. As Dante looked at the clock on the wall, he figured that the crew would be back in a few minutes so he decided to have a little fun before they got back.
Standing up Dante walked up to Loona and stood behind her putting his hands on her shoulders.
"Hey Loona, we got a few minutes before the others get back, how about we have some fun?" he asked, squeezing her shoulders.
Loona smiled before turning her chair around to face Dante, as the two moved closer for a kiss they heard the front door of IMP slam open. Loona jumped in her seat, her fur sticking up on end, she quickly turned around looking nervous.
"Oh, shit Blitzo it's not what you-" she stopped when she realized it was not Blitzo standing in the door but IMP's sole benefactor, none other than Prince Stolas, who was looking frazzled.
"Oh, hello sorry to bother you but I need to speak to Blitzy, do you know where he is?" he asked, looking around the office for him.
"Sorry your majesty but he's out on an assignment, you can wait for him if you want," Dante said motioning to the couch.
"No, I can't wait," he said looking down at his watch, clearly he was in a hurry, "look I was supposed to take my daughter to the mall to do some shopping, but somethings come up and I can't make it so could one of you take her instead?" he asked, looking at Loona and Dante.
"Pass," Loona said, going back to her phone. Stolas' eyes then went to Dante.
"Ahh, I don't know, I mean I'm not much of a bodyguard," he said, rubbing the back of his head.
"I'll pay you," Stolas said bluntly, which caught Dante's attention.
"How much?" he asked, Stolas pulled out his checkbook and began scribbling in it before tearing out a check and handing it to Dante, whose eyes went wide when he saw how much it was for.
"Deal!" he shouted following Stolas out of the office to his waiting Limo.
Octavia sat in her family's limo staring out the window watching as they drove through Imp City on the way to the mall. Normally she'd be happy to go to the mall but not today. Today she and her dad were going to spend some time together with his busy schedule and the shit going on at home with her mother they haven't had a lot of chance, they were supposed to spend today together but something's come up and now he has to go to some dumb meeting with the other Goetia demons. But instead of cancelling their trip or just letting her go by herself to the mall her dad instead decided to hire one of his boyfriends' employees.
Looking to her left she studied the man, he was younger than she expected, perhaps a few years older than her, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, at least he wasn't some weird old person like the rest of Blitzo's employees. He was pretty tall for an imp probably around her height, but honestly that wasn't too strange as she'd seen tall imps before, she noticed he didn't have the typical white hair of male imps with his being jet black. His horns were odd as well as he did not possess the thick white stripes of most male imps instead the stripes on his horns were thinner. Honestly what she found the strangest of all were his eyes, most imps possessed red eyes with yellow sclera his eyes were red but his sclera was black instead, the only place she'd seen that was with sinners so it was odd seeing it on an imp.
"He's cute I'll admit it, but somethings off about him," she thought to herself, continuing to stare at the guy, until he noticed her staring and turned his head to look at her. She quickly turned away embarrassed at having been caught staring.
The limo stopped in front of the mall Octavia and Dante got out of the vehicle and headed towards the front entrance, with Octavia's father calling out that he will send a car to pick her up in a few hours.
Dante and Octavia walked through the mall passing by various groups of imps, as they moved through the crowd Dante kept an eye open for kidnappers looking to ransom her off or killers looking to add a princess to their kill list.
"So where do you want to go first, Lady Octavia?" Dante asked, looking towards his charge. Octavia just rolled her eyes and headed towards a store called Stylish Occult.
Dante watched as Octavia looked over the shelfs full of taxidermy animals, ranging from small little creatures the size of a cat to large beasts whose heads read the ceiling. Dante was super uncomfortable with all of this; he didn't know what was creepier the taxidermy animals or the fact that Octavia seemed to find them the coolest things in Hell. Octavia picked up one creature, it was a strange six-legged mammal with bright red eyes, orange fur and what looked like little antlers sticking out of its head. Octavia turned it around admiring the specimen before holding it up to Dante, who tried not to show how creepy he found it.
"Isn't this thing just awesome?" she asked Dante, sounding like a kid who had just found a really cool toy, Dante cringed.
"Uhh yeah, really cool Lady Octavia," he said, pushing the thing out of his face.
Octavia immediately moved to the counter and purchased the creature, Dante thanked god cause that meant they could get out of this horrible store. As they were leaving an imp tried to sneak up behind Octavia only to be shot in the head by Dante.
"Are you alright Lady Octavia?" Dante asked, concern clear in his voice.
"Yes, I'm fine, let's keep moving," she said, annoyed at his concern.
Octavia walked off, Dante watched her rolling his eyes, "hm little brat," he thought to himself as he followed her.
(a few hours later)
Dante and Octavia sat at a table in the food court, they had grown hungry during their trip and had grown hungry, so they stopped for some food. Dante sat across from Octavia as she picked at her food, pulling out a flask he opened up his soda and poured the contents of the flask into it before taking a satisfied gulp. The two sat in awkward silence for a couple of minutes until Dante, sick of the silence, spoke up.
"So, lady Octavia-"
"Don't call me that," Octavia stated bluntly, sick of him using that fancy title with her.
"What?" he asked, confused.
"Lady, don't call me Lady, just call me Octavia alright," she said glaring at Dante while taking a sip from her drink.
"Alright sorry, so Octavia, got any hobbies, what do you like to do?" he asked curious to know what Stolas' daughter did in her free time. Octavia just rolled her eyes she was hoping to get through this day without having to make conversation.
"Not much," she said hoping to end the conversation there but sadly he was persistent.
"Oh, come on you gotta have some hobbies besides… dead things?" he said gesturing to the bag with the stuffed creature.
"I like to sing, there happy," she growled, hoping he would finally drop it.
"Wow pretty cool, maybe you could get me a concert," he said with a smirk, Octavia just rolled her eyes.
"Oh yeah sure, maybe I'll be the opening act for Verosika Mayday, I'll get you front row seats," she said sarcastically.
"Nah Veronika's music is shit if you opened for her, you'd probably steal the whole show," Dante stated, Octavia giggled at that comment, she immediately covered her mouth embarrassed by her sudden giggle.
"Ahh so you can smile after all," he said, Octavia blushed at the comment.
"Come on let's go," she said getting up, Dante pulled out his gun and shot another attempted kidnapper.
"So do you do covers or do you write your own music?" Dante was curious to know more about Octavia.
"I've been trying to write my own music but I'm not very good at it," she explained, looking down at the ground sadly.
"Hey don't give up girl, no one's an expert at anything there first tries just keep practicing and working hard and eventually you'll improve and hell I'm sure you'll be a great songwriter," Dante Said encouragingly.
"Thanks," Octavia looked at him and smiled.
"You know my coworker Moxxie's a musician, he could probably give you a lesson if you want," he said, but Octavia shook her head.
"No, no offense but I want as little to do with that creepy old shit Blitzo and his employees," she explained the thought of Blitzo leaving a sour taste in her mouth.
Dante shrugged, "none taken Blitzo can be a fucking freak," he stated.
"How'd you get a job with that fucko anyway?" she asked curious how a cool guy like Dante could end up working with a creepy perv like Blitzo.
"Ohh, I bought him a cup of coffee and he gave me a job," Dante casually explained, Octavia just looked at him with a raised eyebrow.
"That's it?"
"Yep,"
As they passed by a set of restrooms Dante stopped.
"Hey I gotta take a piss mind waiting?" he asked Octavia who just shrugged.
"Go for it," she said.
As Dante went into the bathroom Octavia leaned against a wall waiting, as she waited, she thought about her day and realized that she had actually had fun, Dante was actually a pretty cool and charming guy, pretty easy on the eyes too, she thought to herself blushing. As she continued to wait, she started to get impatient.
"Dammit what's taking him so long?" she said annoyed, thinking Dante should be done by now. Pulling out her compact she decided to touch up her makeup a little but as she was taking it out of her purse it slipped from her hand and rolled down the hall.
"Dammit," she muttered to herself as she went to get it, she reached down to pick it up when someone suddenly grabbed her arm.
Looking up she saw this huge hulking imp; the imp gave her a creepy smile.
"Hah got you, you little bitch, now how about you come with me," she said and began dragging her away.
"Let go of me you fucking shit stain!" she yelled trying to get out of his grip, only for him to tighten his grip digging his claws into her wrist.
"Ahh!" she screamed in pain noticing her dark red blood leaking between his fingers.
"Scream all you want bitch, no one's gonna help-"
BANG
Opening her eyes, she saw the large imp his eyes wide and a hole in his forehead. Collapsing to the ground he let go of her wrist, looking at it she saw deep cuts on her wrist.
"Shit Octavia are you alright!" Dante asked, greatly concerned for his charge rushing to her side.
Holding her wrist in her other hand Via shot Dante an angry look.
"What fucking took you so long!" she yelled, gritting her, clenching her eyes shut as a jolt of pain shot up her injured arm.
"I'm sorry I would've been out sooner but there was this pink spider guy who kept trying to talk me into a quickie in the bathroom," he explained, cringing at the memory.
"Oh, shit your arm!" he shouted upon seeing her bleeding wrist.
"Let me see it," he demanded. Octavia showed her arm to Dante to gently grabbed it and observed her wounds.
"Good news the cuts aren't deep enough to need stitches," Dante explained looking the wounds over.
"Good to hear," she said in pain, clear in her voice.
Dante reached into his jacket and pulled out a first aid kit, opening it up he pulled out a bottle of rubbing alcohol, and a roll of bandages.
"This is gonna sting," Dante explained as he poured the rubbing alcohol on a rag and dabbed it on her wounds.
Octavia cringed gritting her teeth as the rubbing alcohol stung her cuts.
"Sorry but I gotta make sure those wounds don't get infected," he said in a sympathetic tone.
"It's cool I get it," she said in a strained tone.
Picking up the roll of bandages he began wrapping it around her wrist before cutting it with a knife and tying it.
"There you go that should be good for now, how's your hand feeling?" Dante asked. Octavia flexed her fingers, she felt a twinge of pain but her hand still worked.
"It's fine I can still use it, thank you," she said, rubbing her bandaged wrist.
Dante and Octavia sat on a bench, after her run in with that large imp they decided just to relax and catch their breath. Suddenly Octavia got a notification from her phone, looking at the message, she suddenly got a sad expression on her face.
"Oh great," she moaned, confused, Dante looked at her phone and saw a text from her father saying that he was done with his royal meeting and was coming around to pick her up.
"What's wrong you said you were tired don't you want to head home?" he asked, not understanding why she was so upset.
"It's nothing," she said, but from her tone Dante gathered it was more than nothing.
"You can tell me you know I won't judge," he said in a sympathetic tone. Octavia just scowled.
"It's none of your business just drop it," she said in an incensed tone, turning away from Dante, but Dante wouldn't let the matter drop he put a hand on her shoulder.
"Look Octavia, I can see something's up so why don't you let me know what's bugging you?" Octavia looked Dante in the eye and saw that he wasn't gonna let this slide, taking a deep breath she decided she would tell him what's wrong.
"I don't want to go home, not if both my parents are there," she said, looking towards the ground sadly.
"Why?" Dante asked, looking at Octavia with a worried expression on his face.
"Because of your fucking boss!" she yelled; Dante was taken aback by this sudden outburst, he noticed tears forming in the corners of her eyes.
"What do you, -" he stopped sudden realization donning on him, "I take it your mom knows of your father's little arrangement with Blitzo?" he asked Octavia which received a nod from Octavia.
"They fight all the time now all they do is scream and yell at each other all day and night," she said, sadness clear in her voice, "we used to be happy but now home doesn't even feel like home anymore," she cried as tears began running down her face.
"God, I know that feeling," Dante said.
Octavia turned to face him, tears still running down her face.
"You do?" she asked in earnest surprise.
"Of course, I do, I wasn't born in Imp City, actually I lived in a small town between here and Pentagram City, but when I was five years old my… my parents were murdered," he explained, the expression on his face made it clear that this was an uncomfortable memory for him. Octavia covered her mouth in shock, Dante continued.
"I ended up in Pentagram City living in the alleys eating out of garbage cans," remembering having to eat garbage made him shutter,
"I spent nine long years in those alleys until a sinner found me and gave me a home, he was like a father to me with him I was happy I belonged somewhere I had friends but one extermination they all died, the angels killed them all, that's why I moved here to Imp City because I couldn't stand Pentagram City anymore because without them it just didn't feel like home anymore," he finished his story as he did he met Octavia's eyes and she could tell he was being honest the pain in them looked too real. Dante pulled a handkerchief from his jacket and began wiping the tears from Octavia's eyes.
"Look I know it's difficult and I'll be honest it's not gonna be easy getting through this but you have to stay strong, just keep your head up and push through and I promise you it will get better," he said with a smile on his face, Octavia returned that smile, nodding her head.
"Good to hear-" before he could finish that sentence he was pulled into a hug by Octavia, startled at first by the sudden embrace he shrugged and returned it.
Thank you," she said, pressing her head into his shoulder.
"No problem," he replied, patting her back.
Octavia's phone buzzed again looking at it without breaking the hug she looked disappointed.
"My dad's hear," she said, breaking away from Dante, who thought she looked disappointed, but wasn't sure why.
"Probably not looking forward to the inevitable fight," he thought
"Well, this was fun but we should go," he said gesturing towards the exit.
Octavia got up and followed Dante towards the exit, as they made their way towards the exit Octavia slowly moved closer to Dante till, she suddenly grabbed hold of his right arm. Surprised Dante looked to Octavia and asked,
"Uhh hey Octavia what are you doing their girl?"
"I just thought that if I stay close to you no one will try anything," she said, giving his bicep a squeeze.
Dante felt very uncomfortable with this unprovoked physical contact but he figured she was still a bit frazzled from earlier.
They finally made it outside where they saw Stolas' limousine sitting out front with an imp servant holding a door open for Octavia.
"Need a lift?" Octavia asked, but Dante shook his head.
"Don't worry I called a friend to get me, but thanks," he replied.
"Hey thanks for today, Dante, you made this day enjoyable," she said with a smile.
"Hey no problem," Dante replied.
As Octavia approached the car she turned around, walked over to Dante and gave him a kiss on the cheek, Dante was startled by this sudden display of affection. Octavia just blushed and got in the Limo but not before sending Dante a wink. As the limo drove off Dante just stood on the curb stunned rubbing his cheek trying to process what happened, he hoped, he prayed that that was just her way of showing affection but sadly he knew what was happening.
"Fuck," was all he could say.
Epilogue
Dante sat in the passenger seat of the IMP Van with Loona behind the wheel.
"So how was your little date with the princess?" Loona asked in a mocking tone.
"It wasn't a date," Dante replied frustrated.
"Sure, it wasn't," Loona said cheekily.
The memory of the kiss flashed through Dante's mind; he shook his head to get those thoughts out. Looking out the window he saw a bar.
"Hey how about we get a drink?" he said pointing to the bar.
"Sure, and afterwards how about we pick up where we left off?" Loona asked, giving Dante a sultry grin and rubbing his thigh.
Dante smiled,
This is just what I needed. He thought to himself as Loona pulled over into the bars parking lot.
Another chapter done! So, guys tell me what you think, where do you think the story should go next?