[Part 8]

Third Person P.O.V

She stalked in the darkness, the blood still warm on her arms. Damon Kries would pay; she had sworn in front of her master, and this was only the first step that she would take. Taking the ex-demonness by surprise had been a surprisingly easy job and it could only mean that Trish had been in the safe world for too long.

She remembered smiling at the surprise in Trish’s face when she pushed the knife into the model’s abdomen. Trish had seemed to fear death in her face when the mother of two fell. She remembered the struggle to hold on to consciousness as Damon’s wife fell to the floor, fingers reaching for something in her bag.

She would have finished her job –what she came to do –if only Mundus had not called her at such a crucial timing. Still, she had majorly injured the woman closest to Damon’s heart, and she was satisfied at the new outcome, as she stood at the rooftop, feeling the breeze against her skin. Her master wouldn’t be happy at how long she took to arrive again, but if she went down to Hell now with Trish’s blood on her arms, she would be forgiven.

She folded her black demon wings back. Distantly, she fancied herself a vigilante watching over her town. With a step at the ledge of the rooftop, she watched as the ambulance tore into the street. She had already felt the waning of demon powers in the air as Damon Kries appeared into the building. How she longed to attack him now; but Mundus had given his explicit order.

Damon Kries could not die until everyone around him was either hurt or dead.

She watched in brimming satisfaction as she watched the woman she had attacked get wheeled out by a stretcher. Damon Kries was there beside her, but the stupid humans could only believe that he was Daniel Kries. What a joke; these humans were.

A Mercedes she recognized well swerved into the street, and jerked to a halt silently in the darkness. No one walked out as the headlights turned off, but she could see who sat behind the steering wheel. In the soft moonlight, his face was pale and fearful.

Something struck her heart –something painful. She stumbled, clutching her heart where the pain radiated. What was happening? She felt as if her very existence were getting torn apart. Where her heart was; it felt like someone was stabbing it over and over again with a rusty knife. She gasped her pain, falling to her knees at the rooftop even as the ambulance swerved away, horns blaring.

Clutching on to the ledge with all her might, she took a look over the ledge while the pain still radiated from her heart. She didn’t understand why, but she had to look over the ledge, down at the Mercedes. The door had opened, and dashing across the street was his beautiful, sleek figure in the moonlight. Bathed in the soft glow of the moon above, he was a god –a god in human form as he made towards the building.

He was a fearful god, for his face held the expression of uncertainty, extreme worry. But there was determination there too, as she watched the man disappear through the entrance of the building.

She gasped again, sinking to the floor as the pain radiated harder. The strength was leaving her, and she didn’t understand why. What was happening to her; why was the pain in her heart so strong and relentless? She had never felt this before.

My servant, what are you doing?

Mundus’s call came straight into her mind and doused her in his power. Her master was calling to her, and here she was, shriveling up in pain from an unknown source. How was this possible? Was this the unknown power of Damon Kries? Was this an attack from Damon Kries? Had he already known that she was the one who had attacked his wife? She knew the half-devil was getting suspicious, but she never knew Damon had the power.

I’m coming, Master. Forgive me.

She sent back, pulling herself to her feet. She, still clutching tightly to her heart, stepped back onto the ledge and looked down. It was a ten-story fall from where she stood, but no fear gripped her. She was, after all, Mundus’s second-in-line. Mundus’s right hand woman. Mundus’s greatest secret weapon.

She leaned forward, letting her weight do the work for her. She heard a gasp behind her –she had not even realized that the door to the roof had opened –as she half-turned. Gravity took her down, but before she disappeared down past the ledge, she saw him; his pale face struck with shock and horror.

The pain burst forth from her heart, but she bit her scream, and disappeared through the portal.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

“Where were you?” The businessman at the other side of the desk demanded as she quietly closed the door behind her.

“Harming Damon Kries’s family.” Her answer was simple and short, and it must have surprised even her master, for the sudden silence replied her.

“That was why you took so long to answer to me?” The sentence came back, betraying a soft anger, but more of understanding now. Mundus could have easily put her through torture that she would willingly be subjected to, but of course, if Mundus forgave her, she was not going to look for extra trouble.

“I would have killed Trish, the ex-demonness.” She answered honestly. With her master, despite all the sins she had been crafted with, she never lied. She was, after all, the epitome of all seven sins mashed together in one body. But she never lied to her master, and never harbored thoughts pertaining to the power of her master. She served Mundus wholeheartedly, and her master knew it.

“And did you?” The satisfaction comes now from Mundus’s voice.

“No.” She replied shortly. “You called me before I could finish the job.”

Another silence comes between them, but she doesn’t flinch in fear. Emotionlessly honest; Mundus had made her to be as such. It had been long since she last was in contact with her master –she was constantly surprised at the emotions that she never knew her master held. She never knew exactly how much Damon Kries got under his skin until she was assigned this mission. The fact that she was assigned any mission at all –it all spoke Mundus’s desperation.

She was, after all, Mundus’s last resort against any form of enemies. Her reputation had never been tested.

“Regardless. You have done well thus far.”

Never did she ever expect a compliment from her master, but at the same time, neither did she want any. Her job was to fulfil her master’s wishes, and her objective only lived to answer to her mission. There was no space for faults or wrongs. No space for humane instincts. She was fully demon, a full demon made entirely by Mundus’s hand. Her soul had once been human, but no longer. She was totally a demon now; and there was no space for human thoughts.

“You will continue to serve me well.” Mundus continued when she didn’t reply to thank him for his compliments. It was, after all, expected of her. With the epitome of pride within her, she was no more proud of her own abilities and capability than Lucifer had been. Lucifer had fallen due to his loss of pride, but she would never. She would never succumb to Damon Kries.

“We have an intruder. You deal with him.”

The order comes so suddenly that she looks up from the desk in surprise. She met her master’s eyes unflinchingly, for she is the only demon allowed to meet the King of Hell’s eyes. In fact, she was made to be almost equal to him, and there was little that she could not do that he could. Mundus had made her a replica to him, in power and in soul.

Why he had the sick perversion to place his power into an innocent woman’s soul, to weaken her so greatly –she would never understand.

“I understand.” She bowed with the new orders given, covering a hand over her heart. She didn’t know why, but it stopped hurting when she made through the portal. Maybe it was because she stopped becoming human.

“He is a son of Sparda.” Mundus informed as she turned to walk out the door, and she paused for more that her master would say. “Your appearance will do well to weaken him. Send him off; don’t kill him. He will lure Damon down.”

“I understand.” She repeated, and since there was no more to say, she turned the knob and walked out.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Dante’s P.O.V

Some days, I swear to myself that I will just lie down and die. I doubt that anyone would cry over me. Perhaps only my perfect Lady-love will cry for me, but I swear to god, there isn’t going to be anyone else at my god-damned funeral. Vergil will still be missing in Hell, Damon would still be with his kids and lovely wife, unknowing. Marcy would be a happy family with his brother, and Daniel… Daniel probably was going to still be flirting and having one-night stands every night.

Am I really supposed to die here? It didn’t help that I couldn’t even god-damned find Vergil. Where in hell was this son of a gun?

I sighed as I heaved Rebellion downwards, cleaving a bunch of demons into two. I swear, they are multiplying by the numbers. This was honestly where all the demons had gone to. If I was paid for this job right now, I would be so god-damned rich. Why couldn’t someone let them out into DMC, and let me do this job right now? Then I would marry Lady with such ease, and have such a perfect life. Even Damon wouldn’t be able to complain anymore –since he was the one without a paycheck anymore. He was sponging off his little brother, for god’s sake. He shouldn’t have a say in my finances.

“Vergil! Where the hell are you?” I yelled in frustration for the tenth time. Beneath the frustration, I was getting a little wary. What if Damon was right; what if Vergil was really stuck here? I didn’t believe that my brother would be struck down so easily, but I never imagined that he would go missing, even in Hell. What if he had been stupid enough to go after Mundus? I had made this expedition to come down far enough in Hell; I sure as hell wasn’t going to knock on Mundus’s door and ask him about Vergil.

God forbid if Mundus made Vergil another Nelo Angelo.

Though Daniel would have such a laughing fit if it really occurred.

The humorous thought brings a slight smirk to my lips, and at least my spirits lifted just that little bit. I let loose another barrage of bullets at the low level demons around me, jumping to dodge a bone scythe. I’ll cover a little more area, I promised myself silently, then I would go back home and claim my sexy time with my Lady-love without Damon’s intrusion. And then would I go report to Marcy and Damon that I couldn’t find Vergil.

Hey, at least I tried, right? They couldn’t blame me for being a bad brother, and Lady would still love me for my gallant effort.

I jumped over the heads of another group of demons making towards me and escaped towards the direction of Lucifer’s crumbled palace. Since the last rumors I heard in Hell was that my brother had been snooping close to the ex-Prince’s palace, it was probably where I was making to. But damn it, why the hell was Vergil such a hard man to find?

Honest to god, if the demons hadn’t killed him already, I was going to put Rebellion in his chest.

Maybe Wynter would cry about it for a bit, but I figure Damien would cheer about the terror of his life gone. Then again, there would be no one that Damien could cower behind. There –that was a good thought if Vergil died.

Self-motivating myself with every annoying step that I took, swinging Rebellion to kill the demons already beginning to reach me, I rushed towards the crumbled palace. Damon had done a pretty mess when he left; I had to give it to him. But I wasn’t in the mood to be a tourist considering I had an army of demons chasing after me. Damon hadn’t been wrong at all; there wasn’t any need for Mundus to amass any army at all –the sheer numbers here could easily be thought up by Mundus.

“Vergy! Vergy, Vergy! Come on, where is Mummy’s Baby boy? Where’s Papa Sparda’s favorite kid?” I taunted. There was nothing else that could make Vergil react faster than my constant reminders that he was still Papa Sparda and Mama Eva’s favorite boy. It was easy to understand –considering how Daddy Sparda seemed to somehow not be able to stand his own son’s characteristics inside me.

Still, there was no sort of reply from my least favorite brother, coincidentally my only blood brother. Then again, I had never tried to rank any of my brothers –half-brothers, if you consider it seriously –so it was safe to say that Vergil, Damon and Daniel all took the space as my least favorite brothers. Hey, at least they had nothing to compete about.

I reached the edge of the crumbled compound, jumping lightly over the rubble while the demons tried to mimic my amazing grace, failing comically as some of them fell into deep black holes. Vergil wasn’t stuck in any of the holes, though I had fancied myself finding his helpless face looking up at me from a particularly dark hole.

Honestly, where the hell was he?

I would have given Damon a friendly call to ask him what was up next, but phones didn’t exactly work in Hell. I guessed I would just have to go back through the portal then. If Vergil was already in DMC ahead of me, I swear, I was going to fill that son of a gun with bullets, compliments from Ebony and Ivory.

I had only begun working on clearing a path in the demon army amassed behind me –trying to retrace my steps back to the portal I had forced open to drop into Hell –when lo and behold, they opened a path automatically for me.

But for some reason, the path opened didn’t lead to a portal, but to someone I knew very well. Someone I knew so well, that I was totally confused as I watched her, dressed in blood red tights. There was enough show of a cleavage, and the material had perfect symmetrical cutouts at her waist, showing off the absence of love handles; not that I would have made a comment if she had any.

There were reasons why I didn’t want the rocket launcher Kalina Ann shoved up my mouth. There were reasons why I didn’t want to end up cleaning my brain matter from walls.

“Lady?” I asked, stopping momentarily. For some reason, the demons weren’t attacking. They were bowing at both my sides, and I got the general idea that they weren’t bowing for me. They were bowing for… her?!?

“I do not repeat twice. Leave this place at once, son of Sparda.” Her voice, where it was supposed to be warm and welcoming –or demanding for money, at the very least- was entirely cold. There was a certain quality that didn’t strike me as human, and as I stood there, disbelieving of what I heard and saw, I wondered if I was in a dream. Or a nightmare, considering I would never associate my future-wife with being a demon. Lady as a human itself was a scare to my life. Lady as a demon? I would die.

But my brain refused to comprehend the messages it was getting.

“What are you doing here, Lady? It’s dangerous!” I exclaimed, rushing towards her. Granted, for some reasons the demons had backed off temporarily. But Hell wasn’t a place for humans. In fact, how was she standing still there? Humans would be writhing in pain by now!

A moment of confusion flashes through her different colored eyes that I had fallen in love with, but for some reason, it didn’t sit right with me, even as I reached her, and held her arms in my hands. She didn’t step back, didn’t flinch, and didn’t make a move to be closer to me. She only looked up and deep into my eyes, her short-cropped black hair like how I always remembered it to be.

“It is dangerous for you, son of Sparda.” Her voice was the same kind of matter-of-fact that Damon always held, as I watched in wonder. Was this really my lover?

My question was quickly answered, though in the most nightmare-inducing way. I swear, I, Dante, son of Sparda, never would have much nightmares in the night, but this image –this scene happening before me –I had a feeling that it would brand itself forever.

The black wings unfurled from her back and stretched such a large span that I wondered if there was even a need for wings so large to carry a woman so small. But the effect was there, as her black feathers ruffled in artificially made wind, spread out tip to tip behind her. Her face didn’t change at all, but for some reasons, the demons surrounding us only groveled deeper into the ground.

Of course I began to realize that either this was an extremely sick nightmare or a practical joke that wasn’t funny.

“What the hell are those?” I demanded, watching in part-awe, part-shock. Give me a break, I rarely see wings on anyone –even if they were attached on a woman who looked exactly like my fiancé. Then again, I had dealt with Trickster the last time with Damon and the entirely family, and I’d seen his figure-morphing skills. Whatever this thing with the wings was –she (or he/it) was definitely not my lover.

“My wings. Ask no more, son of Sparda, and leave. Mundus asked me to deal with you, and if you will leave willingly, I will not harm you.”

It struck me that she (he/it) might well just be the one who had kidnapped my brother, though I very much suspected it. Vergil; kidnapped? Those two words didn’t belong in the same sentence.

“Who are you? Where are you hiding my brother?”

“I believe I have told you to leave.” She replied, a hand pressed on my chest. It was only by pure instincts since she looked so much like my lover that I allowed her so close to me. But it probably wasn’t the way to go, because something bright flashed in her eyes.

And then fire-hot pain seized my chest from where she touched me. It was amazing; I hadn’t even felt her power and yet it crushed on me with such a force that I was forced to my knees in front of her. And she hadn’t even done anything except press a palm to my chest.

“What the hell?” I gasped, grabbing her hand and trying to disconnect it from my chest, except that I couldn’t even win her strength for some reason. There was no doubting now that this thing was a demon, but… what the damn hell!?

Her free hand took Rebellion from my weak grasp, and everything happened in a flash. Her hand on my chest removed itself, but in its place was my own sword pierced through my own heart. Even as I gasped, I saw the free hand of hers swung through the air and slapped on my forehead, her fingers gripping my temples hard.

“My name is Kalina Ann. I am Mundus’s right hand soldier, and you might do well to remember me, for I will be your murderer in the near future, as well as the murder of every single member of Damon Kries’s family.”

“Ka…li-na?” I gasped, but her powers turned on again. I didn’t even manage to make another sound.

I just blacked out.