[Part 3]

“Perhaps swooning wasn’t your best idea, dearest little sister. Did you really want so much to be the damsel in distress?” Daniel teased on relentlessly, despite the fact that Marcy was on the couch, groaning at the pain of having a lump on her head.

When she had fallen, Vergil had acted almost instantaneously. Sliding past Dante to reach her, he had caught her falling body, though her head had hit the door frame with quite some force.

“Shut up, Daniel! It is embarrassing enough as it is!” Marcy threw her slushy ice pack at our brother, reaching for another.

“You would think living with the two living cosplayers of your favorite video game characters would cushion your shock, don’t you? For one Dmc fan, you react pretty awfully. Hey, I’m a dmc fan too, and you don’t see me fainting at the sight of Dante.” Daniel tried to sound reasoning, but it obviously didn’t work with my sister, or even me –for that fact.

“Then what would happen if Lady walked in right now? Instant boner?” Marcy yelled her frustration at our brother while I kept myself gladly beneath the scope of discussion, carefully setting up a list of to-dos for my secretary while I caught up with cleaning this mess off my plate.

“Yeah, so what? She’s hot, and I have every reason to get turned on when I see her! At least I would have a tongue in my mouth, rather than just swooning like a lousy Barbie!” Daniel yelled back, obviously sore.

It had never settled well with him knowing that Lady chose Dante instead of anyone else. Much as it was unlikely for Daniel to be prejudiced, Daniel WAS, in actual fact, prejudiced against Dante hanging out with Lady.

But what could he do about it? Dante was the one Lady gave herself to.

Marcy jumped up from the couch, shaking her fists at him. Even at the peak of her teens, Marcy never seemed to let go of that air of childishness that made my sister exactly who she was.

“Barbie! How dare you call me Barbie, you stupid loveless fool! You’re hung up over the wrong girl, and even if she came, she must be blind to see anything in you!” Marcy yelled hotly. I looked up from my list, awaiting a Daniel-style reply, which probably either meant that he would protest indignantly, or he would fly into a fit of rage at the sudden, severe jab Marcy made at his manly pride

 Surprisingly, neither of it happened. Something else did.

Dante walked into the room with curious eyes instead.

“Who must be blind to choose Daniel, hotness?” Dante asked, sliding up next to Marcy with an arm slung around her shoulder, bringing her close to him.

Daniel glared at his sister, warning for her to not spill his secret. Perhaps it wasn’t the best idea right now to tell Dante that his other half wanted very much to be with Lady. Knowing the both of them, the testosterone fight between them would never end.

“Where is Vergil?” I interrupted the imminent fight, looking up from my list to give Dante a demanding look, knowing that I looked like his twin when I did that.

He gave me a withering glare and plopped down where Marcy had been sitting, patting the space beside him with a meaningful look on his face towards my sister.

“Upstairs, finding a room that he can use to stare into midair, and do his weird spells.” Dante shrugged, replying me anyway.

“That is called meditation and it hones on the source of your demonic power and trigger, Dante. Don’t be such a fool.” A new voice interrupted, and Vergil walked in with Yamato in his hands, but foregoing his trademark blue trench coat for a pair of fitting black slacks and a low vee neck that was colored a dark blue.

The funniest thing about it? He chose my favorite set of outfit from my walk-in-closet –not even missing a single detail.

Daniel gave a low whistle at the same though while March giggled, all fight forgotten as she took a seat beside Dante, watching Vergil give me a confused look at the reaction of my family members. Of course, I was smiling myself at the coincidence.

“We should talk about things over a round of strawberry sundae.” I said after Vergil took a seat by himself at the armchair while my brother lazed on his favorite beanbag. It was pretty stupid to see a twenty-five year old man trying to be a teenager all over again, but I guess Daniel never did mature in the ways I did. Similar to how Dante never seemed to out-mature Vergil.

Marcy jumped up at the excuse to inform Rainer to get us our dessert, trying her best to collect her wits around her favorite animated idol that had appeared before her in real life.

Then the sitting room was left to us four doppelgangers. Knowing that neither of our siblings would be inclined to know anything at all, I turned to Vergil, keeping my focus on him.

“Will you tell me exactly what’s going on so that I can help send you two back? Yes, it is nice to see you guys again, but having Dante here while I have an empire under my hands is not what I want at the moment.” I began quickly, ignoring the grunt of irritancy from Dante at my words.

Vergil, however, nodded, seeing plain practicality in my words.

“Dante left a single bouquet of roses on your grave the day Trish left and I returned. He never knew it, but I kept a single rose and nurtured it. Days were well, until the portals began opening up. Initially, it was thought that the portals were just demons banding together and breaking through the Rift. But it soon became obvious that the portals were frequent and too close to each other.”

Dante pretended to yawn, letting his eyelids droop.

“I decided to check things out. Word in Hell says that the seven princes and Mundus sent someone over here to destroy us and everything we have. No one seemed to have arrived, so I thought it was just rumors. Then one day, the portals began opening without stop. As we fought, lady accused that I was the one responsible, for she had seen me slicing through dimensions with Yamato, laughing like a maniac. It was wrong in two senses. I don’t laugh like a maniac, and I was in Devil May Cry the time she ‘saw’ me.”

Daniel was the one yawning this time, shifting in his beanbag so that his body was just splayed over, trying to be limp so that he could just fall asleep there and then. Vergil raised a brow of amusement at the similarity of our brothers, but didn’t comment about it.

“So I decided to take Dante for a ride. I found that the portals did not all lead to Hell. Some led to Limbo. Some here. So we came to find you. Yamato can close portals from here, but we need our mother’s amulet if we want the sword to close the portals from our side.” The ending was pretty sudden, so it was understandable that I took a moment to register what it was that he wanted. It was funny; how I had expected everything that Vergil gave to me to be challenging and definitely close to rubbing my wits dry.

So all you need is your amulets?”

He nodded, looking expectantly at me.

I wrenched the chain off my neck.

“No problem. You could have told me that sooner and saved my arrangements for your rooms.” I thrust his amulet into his hand quickly, motioning for Daniel to do the same with Dante, which my brother did grudgingly.

Vergil kept his amulet quietly, but didn’t stand, still keeping his unnerving aquamarine blue eyes focused on me.

“You were right to see to our accommodation, Damon. We are staying. For the next two weeks, in fact.”

I stared. Vergil must really know how to piss me off sometimes. Dante gave me a grin, a grin that reminded me exactly why I was caught up neck-deep in this shit. Screw thoughts of missing these guys. I wanted my peaceful life with Trish back.

“What? Why?” I demanded, jumping up.

I hadn’t had the time to change out of my demon-blood-filled suit, not even out of my ash-covered pants. And here these two guys were, proclaiming that they were going to stay for the next two weeks after waltzing back into my life.

“The convergence with the moon cycle is the only thing that keeps the portal in which Trish and you travelled through open. The last full moon was two weeks ago. We have at least half a month more to go.”

I clenched my fists, unable to think through the sudden haze of anger in my mind.

Once, I had been victim to Vergil’s whims, under his conditions, his circumstances, his world. How could he waltz back here, and set me new rules, in my own world, where I was the King of Kries Techno Empire?

Marcy walked in just then and there, and she knew exactly what was happening in one look. It was just my sister all over –for her to know me so well. Trying to save the day, she jumped forwards, slamming the cups of strawberry sundaes on the table –making both Dante and Daniel jolted upright –before she ran to me, an insistent hand on my arm.

“Sit down, Damon, and think through it. You’re pissed. I get it. Breathe, and think through it.” She forced me to sit back down, and it was by pure effort that I did as she said instead of letting my punches and kicks fly.

I heeded her advice, trying my best to regulate my breathing. Anger was an emotion that never did well on me and that temper of mine and my father’s could never be rivaled by any. It was also the reason why I went through anger management classes when I was younger to tame the emotional beast inside of me.

Dante saw the look on my face, and something of familiarity flashed across his face while he sat definitely straighter, not wanting to be caught in the explosion should I really let my anger out. It seemed as if the years hadn’t dulled his memory of my anger.

I closed my eyes, keeping my mind off the two half-devils that were beginning to ruin the life I had made here. I wished, at that single instant, that Trish was here and not at her work, making me forget everything. But I couldn’t rely on my model girlfriend every time someone pissed me off.

I had to do this alone.

“Fine. Stay. Rainer will provide your food and accommodations.” I forced myself to breathe evenly, standing back up now that I was calmed down.

“Damon, we don’t mean to-” Vergil began to say, but I cut him off.

“No, you don’t. You don’t mean to stay in my house for two weeks without telling me. You don’t mean to waltz back into my life and screw me up again. Because you’ve done it before, haven’t you, Vergil? You are used to doing it. You, your family. Your brother, your father.” Maybe I wasn’t so calm, because I took the first chance I had to shoot him down.

And, boy, did it make difference.

His apologetic face faded away as he took in my words, a dangerous smoldering of fire behind his eyes telling me that I really shouldn’t be saying all these. But maybe he didn’t know one thing. In this world, if I was angry, damned if he was a half-devil. I could end him anytime. Because this time, it was by my rules that he was playing. By my rule, my conditions, and my world.

“You don’t mean it.” Vergil said a dangerous edge to his voice that I was almost oblivious to.

“I mean every word. When have you and your family not screwed me over? It happened in Devil May Cry. You had me running around in circles. I killed two fucking demon princes for you. Was it enough? No. You have to bring Dante running after me. I built my own life here, Vergil. I’m not living yours. This is my place, my world.”

“Hey, just cool it, won’t you? We’re not suggesting you plant a nuclear bomb or something. We just want a place to crash. Is it that hard?” Dante chose the wrong moment to step in, because it was what I needed.

“YOU TRY MY LIFE, AND THEN YOU TELL ME! Look at all of you! Changed, fed! Look at me! I’m supposed to be the fucking boss around here, and I’m the only idiot still covered in demon’s blood and ashes! I’m the only fucking idiot still covered in gunshot residue, and ALL I WANTED WAS A STRAWBERRY SUNDAE TO MAKE UP FOR MY LUNCH! FOR ONE GOD-DAMNED MOMENT, GUYS, CAN YOU JUST STOP SCREWING ME OVER?” I spun around, screaming, the anger finally bursting through.

Marcy backtracked at my uncapped anger, tripping over the carpeting and falling to the floor with a small whimper. I couldn’t blame her for her fear, for she had once bore the brunt of my vicious anger when she was still young. It had been a trauma to her, and she never got over the fact that I was someone else entirely when my anger was out.

“Damon, you’ve got to calm down…” Daniel started to say, standing up and trying to make towards me in his brotherly way. Perhaps he thought that he –being my twin and all –could help to tame down the crazy anger inside me.

If he did think that, then he was wrong.

“CALM DOWN MY FUCKING ASS, DANIEL! Ask yourself what have you been doing since these two idiots waltzed into your life? You are no better than them! I WON’T BE HERE FOREVER, DANIEL! TAKE CHARGE FOR ONCE, CAN YOU NOT?”

Marcy sobbed quietly as she scrambled away from me on the floor, scuttling to hide behind a couch.

My phone rang, and the only thing I did was to take it out, throw it on the ground and slam my heel on its surface. The ringing tune died out in a horrific tone, and I looked up to see the three doppelgangers of me, staring.

“Look, we’re sorry, alright. Calm down, then we talk.” Dante tried his best to salvage the situation, but something just didn’t get into his head that I was mad beyond comprehension. I hadn’t been this angry in a long time, and I was almost past my rational mind.

“SORRY? When have you been sorry, Dante? Sorry that you and your brother just can’t seem to stop screwing me over? Sorry that you-”

I was ready to continue, but someone apparently wasn’t. A strong hand on my shoulder spun around with force, and something hot burnt across my face when my head tried to follow the movement of my body. Vision blurred, before the same burning flashed across my other cheek. My eardrums rang, but I heard two distinct slaps of skin-to-skin contact.

I blinked, waiting for my eyes to come back to focus. Someone stood before me, someone my height. I blinked again, my vision sharpening as I began to make out the details of her. Blonde hair was curled perfectly, and there was a hair band that had a ribbon on it. Faint red coloring was still left on brilliant blonde hair, but her face was just god-like. The make-up on her face was still to be washed off, and she was still wearing her loose tube paired with sleek black pants.

Her hand had been raised in preparation for a third slap, and I understood with relief that it hadn’t landed on my face yet.

“Are you awake yet, Damon Kries? Is that stupid, screaming guy gone, or do I have to slap you more?” She demanded, glaring at me with her stern blue eyes.

I grinned. “A kiss would do good.”

The stern expression faded away when she recognized that the rational-me was back, though there was still a disapproving frown.

“You’re stupid.” She state plainly, and I wondered if she referred to the act of me screaming at everyone, or my simple statement of requesting a kiss from me.

“I’m the University Best Scholar.” I stated back in reply.

It had been a cause of joy for me, since Trish, Daniel and I had been competing for that title while we were all still studying. Though Trish had never been in school before, she had been extremely clever and advanced in her knowledge. Of course, it could never win my high IQ.

“High IQ, Low EQ.” She rolled her eyes, finally erasing the frown.

“A kiss will help with the EQ.” I offered, but she snorted.

“Don’t think so.” Trish looked over my shoulder, at the guys staring me.

“Where’s Marcy?”

“Crying behind the damned couch.” Daniel replied, making towards where she was hiding. The sobs had quietened down when I stopped screaming, and I hoped I had not done any permanent emotional damage to my sister.

Trish looked at Vergil. “Perhaps you would like to tell me exactly what happened that pissed my man off like that. Damon usually doesn’t let his temper loose like that, so you had better come up with a good explanation.”

I liked the way she called me her man.

“We discussed why we appeared and stated our motive. Then we informed him that we would be staying for two weeks. He exploded at the latter.” Vergil said simply, his eyes still pegged on me. In those eyes, there was apprehension and slight confusion.

Trish nodded. “And that pissed off Damon. Let me guess, because he thinks you guys love to screw him over?”

Dante grinned, apparently easy to forgive and forget. “Bingo. You are his woman.”

“Thank you for the compliment. So what are we going to do now?”

I looked down at the phone I’d broken. I would never know who the one calling me was.

“I’m going to get Rainer to clean that mess up, get me a new phone, and get these guys settled in. Daniel, bring Marcy back to her room. Marcy, I’m sorry about what I did. I’m going to get a shower, and then Trish and I are going to continue what we were doing in the office before everything boiled over.” I instructed everyone, turning to walk out of the room.

“Wait. What are we going to do?” Trish seemed to have forgotten for a little while, so I stopped and gave her a grin.

“You will know.”

She sure did.