Part 8

“Welcome to Freddi’s!” I greeted as the doorbell tinkled, looking up from the cup that I was cleaning with the cloth in my hand. It has been a month since dropping into Limbo, and I was adapting fairly well. By fairly well, I mean I don’t have panic attacks about going home anymore, and I was pretty much comfortable with my new life. Perhaps the only bad thing that hadn’t solved itself was the fact that Vergil still seemed to treat me like his worst enemy.

That; and the fact that I was getting nowhere with my angel-given mission. Since I’ve been given my mission, I had not seen a single feather of Azazel’s impressive wings, nor heard any advice from him. So much for promising to help me out –that bastard obviously wasn’t going to do anything for my sake.

“Now that’s a dress I like to see you in. The usual.” Dante ordered, grinning lazily as he did so. There was a perverted twinkle in his eyes and I could imagine him mind-stripping me. It happened quite obviously when he was around me, or hot girls, and while I was flattered that he was thinking of me in such a way, I had seen that twinkle so many times that it was starting to get insulting.

“Can you turn your thoughts somewhere else?” I frowned as I pulled the front of the low-cut dress up self-consciously, making sure the top of it at least covered the top of my bra. It didn’t change the fact that the dress that I’d been given was smaller than my size, and there were no extras of my size. It ended up with my boobs being squished and pushed up, wide on display of dirty-minded men like Dante.

“If you want my thoughts to go down another route, you might find yourself in the back room, and me licking off sundae off your boobs. So be glad I’m just thinking of simply stripping you now.” Dante replied boldly as he placed his butt on the counter in front of me while I purposefully ignored his watchful gaze to get his strawberry sundae.

“More of that, and I’m going to get Freddi banning you from entering.” I reminded as I added the final strawberry on the top, then slid the cup over the counter to him along with the spoon.

“He wouldn’t do that. He wouldn’t want to lose his biggest customer.” Dante replied with the spoon half in his mouth while I returned to my cleaning.

“His biggest non-paying customer.” I corrected, but the man in topic made a non-committal grunt and continued through his diabetes-causing dessert. I didn’t really understand what was so addictive of a strawberry sundae, but it was obvious that Dante wasn’t about to change his habit anytime soon. I wondered briefly if he was still going to continue on this sugary diet when he got older, before I realized I couldn’t imagine him in an older version.

Dante was silent in the more-or-less empty diner, and I returned my attention to cleaning the cups and wiping away some of the dust that had gotten on the shelves. I had gotten this job two weeks earlier when I found that I had nothing to do when Trish went demon-hunting. Sticking around Devil May Cry wasn’t going to pay my rent to Trish, nor pay for my daily expenses and I couldn’t rely on my idol-turned-best-friend, so I ended up finding a job down at Freddi’s.

The man himself was kind enough to offer the job to me despite the fact that I had no papers to prove my existence in this world. It didn’t help that I belonged in another world –and that wasn’t really something I could tell the man.

“Either you’re on a job, or you’re running away from Lady. I’m guessing the latter, but tell me.” I leaned boredly against the counter as I finished my clean-up to find Dante almost done. He had Rebellion strapped to his back, and that meant that he was either pretending to work to fool Lady, or was actually forced by the woman in question to work.

“I’m running from that tight-fisted bitch. Grabbed Rebellion right off the stand and ran as fast as my legs could carry me. That crazy bitch’s really good at using that rocket launcher.” Dante grumbled as he stabbed his remaining sundae with the spoon as if it could help him relieve his unrest.

“And you’re going to waste your time here stabbing sundaes?” I asked, amusedly. If he thought that the sundaes were going to be on my pay, then Dante needed to change his mindset. I wasn’t about to sponsor him free food while I worked my ass out to pay Trish my rent.

“Vergil told me to meet him at Town Square. I’m still wondering if I should.” Dante shrugged.

“When did he ask that of you?”

“An hour ago.”

“You mean he’s still waiting for you?” I asked, incredulous. Truly, this is Dante. The only person that Vergil never seemed to glower, growl or scowl at. While Vergil often made sarcastic digs at his brother, frowning in with his hard stare, the twin brother of the man sitting across me had never threatened Dante before –at least not when I was around. I don’t know what happened and how Vergil got back, but this Vergil pretty much the same man as the guy in DMC3, except without looking for power and killing Dante in the focus of his mind.

“Yeah. He was waiting when he called.” Dante answered indifferently, and my jaw literally dropped. Only Dante. Only Dante could afford to just decide not to turn up, and trust that Vergil wouldn’t kill him. I mean, if it was me, the man himself would just put Yamato through me and skewer my innards if I was even late for a second.

“What the hell are you doing here?!?” I demanded, grabbing the sundae –or what was left of it -from beneath him quickly, leaving him with the spoon in the air. “Go find Vergil or he’ll murder me if he knows you were here instead of looking for him!”

Dante gave me a ‘what-the-hell’ look before resting the spoon on the table with a sigh.

“Vergil wouldn’t.” He announced. “And I probably shouldn’t go. I don’t feel like it.”

I reached over the counter and flicked the man on his lazy forehead. “I don’t care what happens to you, Dante, but Vergil will kill me if he finds out that you’re here instead of being with him. He hates me, and I don’t need added reason for him to put Yamato through my chest!”

Dante’s eyes flickered quickly to my boobs at the mention of my chest again, and a cheeky smile came through the tired-as-hell face.

“He’ll have to aim just right to not mar that lovely view. It has to be just in the middle, where the first mound ends, and the second start.” He commented, reaching a hand out before him and angling a thumb to where I presumed he could see my cleavage, as if he was an archer aiming for his shot.

“What the hell, Dante!” I yelled as I crossed my arms over my chest. “Get your ass out!”

He frowned slightly. “Now you’re being rude to your customer. Whatever happened to ‘the customer is always right’?”

I resisted the urge to slap him across the face but the desire to block his gaze from my chest was more pressing. “Go to hell, Dante! I don’t care; if you don’t get your ass out of here in one minute, I’ll never serve you strawberry sundaes ever again!”

My yelling was starting to get the attention of the other customers other than Dante, and some of them were giving me curious looks while others gave Dante dirty looks –seemingly already figured out what was probably happening between the ‘troublemaker customer’ and me.

“Okay, okay!” He finally conceded, finally removing his heavy ass off the seat. “I surrender. Damn, you don’t have to be a bitch about it…”

I seriously considered flipping him the middle finger as he walked off, but attention was still on me and I didn’t want to get complaints about me being a bad waitress so I resisted the massive urge, putting on my best smile and reassuring the other patrons that everything was alright.

Considering the slow days that I had been having, I thought Dante’s short arrival to the diner was the most entertaining event of the day.

I have never been so wrong.

_______________________________________________________________________________

“I’m sorry, sir, but we are closing.” I greeted as the doorbell tinkled, momentarily stopping my mopping of the countertop. It had been a really slow day after Dante’s arrival, and I’d barely lasted till closing time. Still, I looked forward to a nice hot bath upon reaching home, then maybe sharing some gossip with Trish before turning in.

“I know, but please just let me hide for a moment.” The man backed away from the door, and I took the chance to look at him carefully. His clothes were ruffled and a little dirty, but more or less intact. There weren’t any cuts or tears –so he must have been good at running away from whoever who was chasing him. He had a head full of long dark hair that was tied in a long ponytail running down his back too, so I guessed there was a good chance that he, with his black clothes and hair, had lost his pursuers.

Kill. Hate. Revenge. Anger. Kill. Kill.

The echo reverberated through me again, and I gasped as sharp pain cut through my skull. I grabbed hold tightly on the counter as the chanting repeated within me again, each time bringing me extreme pain in my head. The throbbing threatened to bring me off my feet, and I wobbled despite holding on to the counter for support.

Ignore her cries, lady. Focus on reality. Another voice with less growl sliced through my reality, and for a moment, the pain receded. I breathed in deep and took the advice of the strange, unfamiliar manly voice, focusing on reality instead of on the words, and on the pain. It took a few deep breaths and a few minutes to tide through the worst of the pain, and when I finally felt well enough to come back to reality, I found the man standing at the other side of the counter, peering worriedly at me.

“Are you alright, ma’am?” He asked politely, and I gasped again. It was the same voice. The same voice that had been in my head, telling me to focus on reality.

“Y-You were the one who t-t-talked to me in my mind?” I stuttered in shock. How was it possible? I never truly believed in telepathic powers… unless he wasn’t human.

“Yes, it was I. I sensed that you were in pain, with a screaming within you. I must have triggered your other side, and for that I apologize. But I must hurry. Do you have somewhere I can hide? They have my scent. I need to hide it behind yours. The mixture of scents here is strong, and so is yours. You can mask me.” He asked quickly, and I looked past him through the windows to see faint black silhouettes in the distance.

“Alright.” I figured that helping him wasn’t such a bad thing considering how he’d helped me. I would ask him about how he triggered my ‘other side’ and what exactly my ‘other side’ was, but it would be after I saved him from whoever who was hunting after him. “Come behind the counter and crouch. That corner there is the darkest.”

He broke into a charming smile, and hurried over to my side. With his full body in view on my side of the counter, I tried my best not to admire the lean, mean muscles hanging on his arms and legs. Oh, that butt must be carved out of stone!

I shook my thoughts away quickly when the doorbell tinkled again, and in spilled three men in suits. Wow, he must have pissed off some big people if the ‘thugs’ were in suits.

“I’m sorry, sirs, but we’re closing. You can come by tomorrow!” I greeted happily, apparently great at pretending as if nothing had happened only moments before. I hoped that none of them had seen the man come around the counter, but I wondered if anyone of them could see past their opaque-black shades. Seriously, I don’t get the trend of wear shades in the middle of the night. How could anyone see any damned thing?

The three of them ignored me entirely, turning their heads around. They looked like they weren’t looking at all. They looked like they were… smelling, from the way their noses flared as they turned a new direction. They had all 360 degrees covered, but all three of them wrinkled their noses not-so-subtly.

“Ma’am,” The one in the middle started in a deep baritone. “Did you see anyone come in just a moment ago?”

“I’m sorry. The only ones who have been here since I closed shop are just the three of you. Are you looking for someone?” I enquired politely, praying and hoping that they wouldn’t request to look around the shop. I prayed to the heavens that they didn’t have a search warrant –since they looked a little like detectives. But then, why would they have search warrants for some lousy diner along the road if they were looking for someone?

The one who spoke to me flared his nose, and a hint of a frown tugged the corner of his lips.

“You… sound nervous, ma’am. And… do you own this place?” He interrogated, and I hardened my jaw, scolding myself for betraying my inner emotions.

“No, I’m just an employee. I guess I’m nervous because I’m the only woman around here in the middle of the night. I’m sorry… I tend to get paranoid for no reason…” I lied, sounding sheepish. I liked how I sounded exactly as how I wanted myself to portray.

The man sniffed harder again, this time more obvious as he leaned closer to me. “Ma’am… you…”

Whatever he was ready to say was interrupted when the guy at his left side suddenly sniffed hard. “Outside!”

In the span of less than a second, without even a polite farewell, the three of them had rushed out of the diner and disappeared into the darkness. For precautionary sake, I locked the doors quickly and pulled the blinds down, ensuring that no one could see my harbored fugitive.

He climbed from the beneath the counter with a relieved expression and I must say that the face looked well on him.

“Thank you so much, ma’am. I owe you.” He offered, extending a hand over to me.

I figured it was okay, so I grabbed it to shake with the beginnings of a friendly smile. But it was all broken when the same echoed chanting burst forth through my head again.

Kill. Hate. Revenge. Anger. Kill. Kill.

I was barely aware of letting go of the hand, stumbling backwards. I would have fallen on my butt if not for the fact that the counter was behind me, so it propped me up as I put a hand to my head, trying to think through the pain.

I am so sorry! I must have forgotten about your… condition. Please, focus on reality. It is the best way to forget the pain and push her down. The same friendly voice of the man’s drifted through my mind, and I latched onto the momentary relief of pain to focus on reality, drifting away from the pain.

I blinked a few times to make sure that the black dots had cleared from my vision to see him standing a respectable distance away, his hands tightly hidden behind his back as if he were afraid of a relapse of the same problem again.

“Thanks for your help…” I said unsurely, but he shook his head quickly, hanging his head in what I guessed was shame.

“No, it was my fault that I triggered… her.”

I wasn’t sure what to make of what he meant by ‘her’, but I guessed he was asking for a name.

“I’m Leah, by the way.”

He put a hand over his heart and chest, and bowed respectfully in a strange old-fashioned way. It was probably his way of greeting without shaking my hand, and I respected his thoughtfulness.

“My name is Refalnivial, but I am commonly known as Reece.”

I suppressed a giggle at his ridiculous name before I scolded myself for judging the guy for his name. But what were his parents thinking when they named him? He didn’t look like a foreigner, so it couldn’t vindicate the funny name. Thank goodness he’d adopted a more socially-acceptable name ‘Reece’.

“Nice to meet you, Reece.” I smiled, hoping that I didn’t let my amusement show. If he was offended by my amusement at his name, he didn’t show it behind his charming smile.

“Nice to meet you in return, Leah. But this I must ask, for it is what led me to you in the first place. Are you, by any chance, related to Sparda?”

My smile faded away quickly at the question. Sparda? The only Sparda I knew was Dante and Vergil’s father, and I hadn’t even met the man at all.

“Umm… no, but I know his sons Dante and Vergil.” I admitted, wondering what it was that Reece wanted.

And then it struck me. “Oh my god, you’re a demon. That’s how you know Sparda.” And being a demon most definitely vindicated the funny name too.

“That I am.” He agreed with his smile still there despite mine losing its radiance. He seemed to totally not notice my rising fear. “I am Sparda’s friend in Hell, and I am glad to meet an acquaintance of someone who knows his sons. I have much to tell them, for Sparda has told me many things.”

“I… um…” I didn’t know what to say, now that I knew he was a demon. It didn’t explain the crazy echo-chanting in my mind, and how he’d gone so easily in my mind and spoken to me. But at least he seemed like a friendly demon. Ha, that was an oxymoron right there. A friendly demon.

“Do you know about his daughter too?” Reece further enquired, as if unaware of my discomfort. I guess being a demon didn’t really equip him with the appropriate level of emotional sensitivity.

“Daughter? Sparda doesn’t have a daughter.” I asked, feeling my brows scrunch up in confusion. Was Reece and I referring to the same Sparda? It seemed likely, considering the man was a demon, and he’d come from Hell, where Sparda was stuck, but it didn’t answer about the problem of Sparda ever having a daughter that was never mentioned nor documented. Had the angels pleasantly ‘forgot’ to tell the people of my world about another offspring of Sparda?

“Oh, you don’t know about Lily?” He asked, as if genuinely curious. “Strange, though. I swear you smell like one of the Sparda family.”

It dawned on me that the three men who had been chasing him had been trying to smell him out. That was also why he had spoken about my ‘scent’ and this place being a mixture of ‘scents’. It was probably a demon thing to scent things out, I guessed, but how the hell do they remember what smells belonged to who?

“Maybe it’s just because I’ve been hanging around Dante a lot.” I tried to shrug it off, but Reece seemed to be on something as he took a half-step forwards, taking a deep breath –as if I was some sort of delicacy he couldn’t taste but could smell.

“No, I’m positive the Sparda smell comes from your scent itself.” Reece’s brows were scrunched up in confusion now, and the smile lost its radiance as he seemed to think hard.

“Did you say your name was Leah?” He asked after an uncomfortable period of silence, and I nodded unsurely.

“Leah… Li-ah… Lila… Lily…” He muttered beneath his breath, and he took a deep breath again.

Something seemed to finally click within him, because his eyes shot wide open, and he seemed to look at me through a whole new set of eyes.

“Dear Hell and Fire below. You are Lily!” He exclaimed, eyes alight in some sort of excitement that I couldn’t understand.

“Excuse me?” I asked stupidly, considering the fact that I wasn’t the possessor of some strange demonic ability of reading Reece’s mind.

“You are Lily! You are Sparda’s daughter!”