[Part 5]

Damon’s P.O.V

I don’t like the consider myself the house-husband, but it wasn’t exactly flashing news that I was supposed to be a dead man, and hence I couldn’t be walking around my own town like I owned it any longer. Instead, now my family had to rely on Trish’s modelling career to support us. Her; and of course, Daniel’s paycheck. Somehow, given the amount of work I was putting in for him to save Kries Tech from going haywire, I doubted that the paycheck deserved to be in Daniel’s account.

“Bye Daddy!” Wynter waved, smiling brightly while Damien mumbled a sentence that was supposed to sound the same to his sister’s farewell, but somehow only managed to sound like he was still snoring. There was no asking where Damien had inherited his morning laziness from, but Wynter’s enthusiasm for school was surprising. Elementary school was undoubtedly easy for my quick-witted children, but somehow skipping grades had never been considered by their uncle and mother. I didn’t want to put them through the same pressures that I had been through -having to study with twelve-year-olds while I was still nine –and thus kept the suggestion to myself.

They were going to turn out right anyway; one way or another. Wynter and Damien weren’t going to lag behind anywhere because they didn’t skip grades. They were still going to be happy, healthy and safe, and that pretty much was all that mattered at the moment.

With Mundus’s retaliation about to happen anytime… I couldn’t afford to look into the far future for my children. One thing at a time.

“Keep them safe.” I instructed as my equally lazy brother brushed by me, a black face hanging on his features as he made for the family car. Since I couldn’t be out driving the kids to school –couldn’t be caught at the school when Daniel was in the office –Daniel had been piled with the job of sending them off. My brother usually appreciated the ability to send his niece and nephew ‘to their doom’, but it required him to wake up early, and that was obviously something Daniel didn’t revel in.

“You don’t have to say.” Daniel grumbled, slinging his bag over his broad shoulder. “See ya tonight.”

“I’ll see you.” I greeted back, watching and blessing my family with eye power as my flesh and blood clamored into the car, watching Daniel pull the car easily and gently out of the lot and out of the gates of the mansion.

Left in the silence that now accompanied me in the days where my children spent their time in school, picking up basic mathematics, I sighed and closed the door, turning off the lights of the mansion. There was no drawing suspicion to the Kries Mansion; no need to bring the Kries family back in the spotlight of the paparazzi, questioning whether Damon Kries was really dead or not.

There was nothing left for me to do. Where my life once revolved around my human life, I now had no human life. At least, not in my world.

Picking up my sword, dubbed Lucifer in memory of the demon prince I’d killed to get the sword, I opened a portal from the sitting area and walked through, back into the familiarity of the DMC World. DMC was around the corner, but I wasn’t about to interest myself in arguing with Dante about him getting a proper job now that he had gotten himself a fiancée, especially now that his fiancée was also his debtor.

“Damon?” Marcy’s surprised voice had me turning around in surprise, as we stared at each other at the coincidence. “What are you doing here?”

“There’s nothing to do back home. I’ve been coming here to take up some time. To feel useful.” I admitted with a shrug, watching a helpless smile take over her face. But in my sister’s pretty eyes, I saw something else too. A tinge of worry and fear.

“What about you?” I asked, my smile losing its grip on my face for a little. “What are you doing here?”

“I was going to go to DMC to ask Dante if he has seen his brother recently.” Marcy didn’t bother trying to hide the truth any longer.

“Vergil’s missing?” I asked, a little confused. While it wasn’t a surprising thing to find Vergil missing from time to time, he never failed to tell my sister when and where he was headed to and had never failed to return as promised. Even if he were a little late, he would call to make sure the Marcy wouldn’t be too worried about him. To have him worry Marcy; it began to make me worry slightly too.

“He promised he would be back by yesterday night. I waited up the whole night for him but he didn’t come back. He didn’t call.” Marcy frowned a little, but while other women would begin to suspect their husbands of having affairs, it was easy to see that Marcy was more concerned about my doppelganger’s well-being rather than his sexual preferences.

“Where did he go?”

Marcy took in a deep breath, closing her eyes for a brief moment as if trying to stable the panic that must be rife in my little sister’s heart. She had grown up so fast; being the wife of someone like Vergil had changed her so much. It seemed so long ago that Marcy surprised me with the Dante-style motorcycle for my birthday, screaming and having me queue up for Dante-figurines in her place.

“Hell. He said he received news that Mundus was planning to send his right-hand man to your world to end you. He was going to get more information about it, but he promised he would be back.”

It was easy to see that Marcy was shaken by Vergil’s absence. The brotherly instincts flared immediately, as I reached forwards and placed a comforting hand on the top of her head.

“Thank goodness that we met then. I wouldn’t bet a single dollar that Dante knows anything that happens anywhere. I’m up to feeling useful, so let’s go around looking for your wayward husband.” I teased, and Marcy’s relieved smile definitely brightened my day some more. Besides, I had come to DMC looking for something to do. To find Vergil, and giving him a rare dressing down for worrying my sister; it was something that I looked forwards to. Especially when he couldn’t retort at the presence of his wife; it would make the scolding doubly sweet for me.

“Thank you, Damon.” Marcy’s eyes were almost brimming with relieved tears, but I only smiled in the hopes to lift her spirit.

“That’s what a brother does for his sister, isn’t it?” I grinned, turning to head back down the street.

A day of questioning countless of demons summoned from Hell about Vergil’s whereabouts and walking all the way to check in on Nero –now made King Nero of Fortuna –Marcy and I arrived at the conclusion that Vergil was still safe in Hell, still stuck in finding answers. While my sister was still very much worried about Vergil’s reason for not calling, the excuse of Hell not having cell-phone connection seemed to settle well for a short while as she regained her smile again.

I cannot deny, the day really did bond Marcy and I back to the familiar sibling relationship we had before. Ten years definitely made a difference on our relationship, but at the same time, it was like I had never left, that I had never changed. Nothing made me love and protect Marcy less, and it was the same the other way around. Even Vergil’s wife now, Marcy was still my precious baby sister.

“I’m hungry.” She whined as we stepped out of Fortuna, having enjoyed the spectacular show of watching Nero try to understand how I could now control demons and was approximately fifty times stronger and more powerful than he was. “What’s for dinner today?”

“I don’t know.” I confessed, for I hadn’t called to check in on my family for the entire day. The kids must have gone home to find me missing, and if we were lucky, Damien hadn’t upturned the entire house yet. Trish was going to have my head if she knew I had left the kids to fend for themselves for the entire afternoon, but at least the excuse of me spending some quality time with my sister was going to sit well with her at some point of time.

“You think there’s going to be enough for me?” Marcy brightened up at the thought of some warm home-cooked food, which made me question exactly who made the meals in the relationship of my sister and her husband. Marcy had grown up with a silver spoon in her mouth and had never had to step into the kitchen even once in her life. Needless to say, all Marcy knew was to boil water and prepare some instant noodles.

Did Vergil cook the food for the both of them, or did they dine out every day?

“We could always go back to ask.” I offered, leading us down a particularly darkened alley. The sun was setting, and I didn’t want to get home too late, for Daniel had made me promise that I would be home for dinner. I wasn’t sure what made today’s dinner so important, but if Daniel made me promise, I wasn’t going to be a bastard and not turn up.

Marcy stepped through the portal I made with ease, and I followed through, stepping back into the sitting area of the mansion. The sounds of children laughing could easily be heard, and the delicious aroma of a sumptuous meal drifted in from the kitchen. With barely a thanks, Marcy skipped quickly over to the kitchen with a grace I’d never noticed before –the grace of a demon hunter.

Sighing softly at how much influence my sister was getting from her husband and brother-in-law, I followed slowly after her, noticing a new bag resting on the white couch. It was curious little green thing, sitting on the couch, for it did not seem to fit my wife’s style in terms of handbags. Shuffling the question on her decision to buy a new type of bag for herself, I continued on my way back to the dining area where my family was no doubt gathered.

A new coat hung on the rack by the door, and I spotted an extra pair of high heels. Had Trish bought all these all of a sudden? What had inspired such a shopping spree?

“Don’t!” Marcy’s exclamation came a little too late, as I froze within a single moment of stepping into the dining area to see my sister’s hand out towards me, as if frozen in the attempt of pushing me back from where I entered. More shocked than surprised at the sudden movement of hostility, I let my eyes sweep around the room.

Trish stood at the head of the long table. Damien and Wynter were well-behaved at the seats, no mess made on the table despite how easy it was to get the tomato base of the spaghetti all over the table. Daniel was there sitting beside an empty seat that was meant for me. And beside Daniel…

Kalina’s eyes went large, her familiar mouth hung half-open. In the moment of shock that threw the air into heavy silence, Kalina looked between Daniel and me furiously, as if trying to search for something. Damien and Wynter looked like they were fighting back very hard not to greet my arrival, and Trish’s face was written with the horrified expression, as if she hadn’t expected her husband to come home for dinner.

She looked at Daniel hard once more, then at me, where I stood frozen with one step in the room. Daniel, for his part, looked extremely sheepish and embarrassed.

Kalina’s took in a deep breath.

And let out a piercing scream.

“A GHOST!” She jumped to her feet, pointing at me. Panic and fear doused the red-blue color of her eyes, and much as I had expected a similar reaction from her, the sight of someone who looked so much Lady and yet acting so lady-like had me totally speechless as Daniel jumped to his feet too, trying to be a hero by hiding the terrified woman behind him.

“A ghost! A ghost!” She kept on repeating, even as every pair of eyes in the room watched as my brother desperately tried his best to calm down his girlfriend. Damien had a slightly amused smirk splayed across his face, but his mother sent him a warning glare that made him tame that smirk appropriately back into a fake-concerned look. Wynter was only watching the show with morbid, detached interest.

“I said ‘don’t’. Why’d you have to walk in?” Marcy asked lowly with a frown, but I could only shoot a helpless look back in reply. How was I to know that Kalina was here to dine for dinner with the family? Daniel hadn’t said anything about bringing his girlfriend back to visit his family. If he’d said something, I would have sat out for dinner.

Wait…

He had made me promise that I was going to appear for dinner. So…

“It’s okay, baby.” Daniel was saying comfortingly to the terrified woman, and Damien faked a gag, receiving another glare from my wife. “He’s not a ghost. He’s real. He’s alive. You met him before, remember?”

“He was a cosplayer! T-T-This t-t-t-thing isn’t!” Kalina was shouting back, pointing in my general direction again even though she refused to have a second look at me. Since the woman was Daniel’s girlfriend, I decided that it was better to keep my mouth shut and leave the explanation to my brother. And of course, pray that the woman wouldn’t run out from our mansion screaming that Damon Kries was still alive.

“He’s isn’t a thing, baby.” Daniel said, in a surprisingly strong and controlled tone of voice that sounded gentle at the same time. I never thought I would ever hear Daniel so in control, but fate was proving me wrong this time. “He’s my twin brother. And he’s alive. He didn’t die. Well, not technically.”

It was no time to get down to technicalities. Daniel’s arms were wrapped around the frantic woman gentle yet firmly, making sure that she wouldn’t be able to get past him. At least my brother had half a brain left to hold on to the woman he’d decided to let the family’s secrets to.

“What do you mean ‘he didn’t die’? It was all over the news! He died for eleven years!”

“Baby, you need to calm down. It’s okay. He isn’t going to hurt you… I’ll explain everything to you okay? Just promise me you won’t do anything stupid. We can’t let anyone know Damon’s still alive. If someone knows… we might be screwed big time.” Daniel said, and though my impulse was to put in the fact that the first one to be ‘screwed big time’ was Daniel himself, I kindly restrained myself.

“Uh oh!” Damien’s voice pierced through the show loudly all of a sudden, hiding his wide grin behind an upraised hand to block the sight of his mouth. “Daddy looks like he’s going to murder you instead, Uncle Daniel!”

The glare that Daniel turned back to give my son was enough to kill, but my son’s comment was ignored as Daniel turned back to his girlfriend, who was suddenly looking way more fearful than she should rightfully be.

“Damien, don’t be so rude. I’m not going to murder anyone.” I put in admonishingly, but keeping eye contact with my twin brother to show him exactly how unhappy I was with his dealing of the situation. “At least not while Kalina is around.”

“Sorry, Dad.” Damien’s innocent reply was undercut by the wide grin he still had. Marcy sighed at the mess our brother was making at the situation, shaking her head in exasperation as if knowing that there was nothing she could do to help. Wynter helpfully removed herself from the situation by turning her focus and attention back on the spaghetti as if it was the most interesting thing in the world. Damien quickly followed suit at the expectant gaze of his mother, though he smirked down at his spaghetti as he ate, not quite able to ignore Daniel’s pleading tone of voice.

“He’s a ghost!” Kalina shook her head again, seemingly wanting to refuse the truth. “Let me go, Daniel! I don’t want to hear your excuses!”

“Listen to me!” The sudden piercing of finality in Daniel’s tone shocked not only me, but Marcy and Trish. Even Wynter paused in the middle of taking another bite, looking up with surprise coloring the eyes she’d inherited beautifully. “Listen to me, Kalina. I wanted to have you here because I care for you, and I think you should know the truth. If you don’t want to understand; fine. I’m not going to force you. But please don’t tell this to anyone. Anyone at all. It’ll ruin my family. It’ll ruin Damon’s family. Think about the kids. Think about the pressure that you’ve seen Trish go through all this while. This is our secret, Kalina. Please don’t tell anyone.”

“Daniel.” I had to put in before anything heavier happened. “Let the woman go.”

“But-” My brother’s hard voice softened into a soft protest almost immediately against the steel-edge of my voice.

“Let her go. No one’s going to feel safe with your arms shackling her like that.” I commanded sternly, and it must be by pure bred instincts that Daniel obeyed, stepping fluidly away from the woman who stood in a defensive position, as if ready to ram her knee in Daniel’s tender part. If my children saw the intent in her movements, Damien kept blessedly silent.

“Look, Kalina.” I said gently, hoping to get through to her with a more logical voice. “If you refuse to believe that I am not a ghost, you are welcome to hold my hand to make sure I’m not intangible.”

The woman, for her credit, didn’t shy away as I stepped forwards, offering my hand over the table to her. My lovely wife obviously didn’t say a thing about my offering my hand for another woman, for she had been here to witness the entire scene. Daniel’s eyes pegged between us with the encouraging insistence of a worried boyfriend, and I did my best to not poke his eyes out. Sometimes, I really wondered how Daniel was so good at making a mess out of simple situations.

“If you didn’t die, then what happened to you for the past eleven years?” Kalina’s voice seemed to regain a little more strength; more like the Lady that I knew.

“It will come as a shock to you, but I was in Hell.” There was no way that I could scare a woman more than Daniel had already done by inviting her for dinner, and so I figured bland truth was the best was to go.

“You… were… in Hell.” Kalina repeated slowly, as if trying to make sure she had heard me clearly.

“Yes.” The painful honesty must have finally struck through her, as she looked between Daniel and me again, as if trying to make sure that everything was still true and real. “I was kept prisoner in Hell.”

“This… this is ridiculous…”

“Ms. Kalina,” Wynter finally spoke up, pushing her finished plate of spaghetti and wiping at the corner of her lips daintily. In that action, I definitely saw a little of the confidence trait that Wynter had inherited from me, the dainty lady-ness from her mother, “This must be really hard for you to understand, but this is my family. Uncle Daniel must really trust you to want to tell you about my father, so I guess you must be his special person. Daddy returned back to us a few months ago, and he hasn’t become a ghost yet.”

“W-Wynter…” Kalina said softly, the shock and weakness easily conveyed through her voice as she clutched tightly to the back of the chair she had been sitting on, trying her best not to collapse.

“Ms. Kalina, my family isn’t very different from yours. My father and mother made love and gave birth to my brother and me. I’ve got a weird-ass uncle, and you must be the first woman he’s ever wanted to introduce to the family. But aside from Daniel, my family is perfectly normal.” The bland honesty from Wynter struck so similar to me that I couldn’t help but smile in pride at my daughter. Between Wynter and Damien, it was pretty easy to see who had inherited more of my wits and intellect.

“B-But…” Kalina’s eyes landed on me fearfully again.

“Kalina, there’s no need to be afraid at all.” Marcy finally puts in, recognizing that a word or two from her could make a difference. “In fact, you got to know the crazier one of my two brothers, so Damon’s going to be totally fine for you. You should just sit down and listen to us explain things to you.”

“How about dinner first?” Trish interjected, keeping a friendly smile as she scooped a generous portion from the pot in the middle of the table onto a plate, passing it to me. “We’ll talk about Damon and Daniel after dinner.”

“Mummy,” Wynter sweetly offered her bowl up for seconds, “I did well, didn’t I?”

“Of course, sweetie.” Trish’s smile was so beautifully beaming that I couldn’t help but stare at the angel of a mother that my wife had become. “Damien was a good boy too.”

“Iphff wassphff?” Damien looked up with bright eyes, spaghetti still hanging from his mouth as he asked in his surprise.

“You won’t be if you don’t finish your food before you speak.” I added in, wiping the boy’s cheeks free of tomato sauce.

“I can’t stand you like this…” Marcy sighed, looking over at my family in jealousy from where she sat beside Damien. “I wanna have a family like that too.”

“Then make love to Uncle Vergil, Aunt Marcy!” Damien made sure to swallow his mouthful this time, turning to face his aunt as if he’d made the greatest discovery of the world. My brother choked on his dinner at the sudden declaration, trying to breathe through laughter at the perplexed expression of my sister.

“Damien!” Trish and I had a shared moment of unison, as my son turn to his parents with a confused expression.

“What? Sis was okay at saying Dad and Mum made love, but Aunt Marcy and Uncle Vergil can’t?”

Daniel inhaled more spaghetti in his laughter, and choked even harder.

I bit my bottom lip, trying not to laugh too. How was it that Damien was so much exactly like me when I was ten? Sure, I remembered myself being a generally more responsible boy since I had Marcy to bring up, but Damien had been as questioning of everything as I had been. Asking why this; why that –that inquisitive mind was definitely inherited from his father.

“It’s not polite to say that of other people, Damien.” Trish tried her best to explain, but Damien’s politely confused face still didn’t clear.

“But didn’t Sis say that of you and Dad? Isn’t that rude?”

“That’s different, honey…”

“But why?”

“You will learn about it when you grow up.”

“But why can’t I know about it now?”

Daniel didn’t stop laughing, and for the moment, I wondered if my brother was going to collapse due to a lack of oxygen.

“Stop… Just stop…” Daniel wheezed, hands placed on the table for support as if he couldn’t trust himself to keep upright without help. “I’m going to die…”

“Die? Why? I always thought you’d die with Daddy or Uncle Vergil killing you.”

The innocence from the boy’s voice was so thick that sudden silence filled the room for a single moment. Then it was my turn to laugh hysterically as Daniel turned his laughter into glares at my son.

“Enough about killing each other.” The no nonsense voice came from my wife, and Wynter was the one who had the last smirk in the end, as she turned back quietly to her second rounds of spaghetti.

“One hell of a family…” Marcy muttered under her breath, pressing a hand to her cheek. “Vergil was absolutely right…”

At the other side of the table, Kalina looked warily around the table.

“One hell of a family...”