[Part 8]

Damon’s P.O.V

Marcy jumped off the bike behind me, still teary-eyed despite having already turned on the taps quite some time ago. In her hand clutched tightly Dante’s famous red trench coat, for he had decided to give his favorite coat to his ‘favorite friend’ with the ‘favorite card’ of his life. Of course, Marcy understood that Dante still loved his girl very much, but it didn’t deter Marcy from reveling in the frequent compliments that Dante gave to her shapely figure.

“You should send them off with a smile, Marce.” I advised quietly, and though the past week had been hell on Earth for me, the idea of them leaving struck a chord of longing. Of course, I had become to get used to the Sparda brother’s presence, as well as the fact that all four of us were together, instead of separated in our own worlds. Truly, this was a case of Dante and Vergil’s world crashing into ours, like how mine had crashed into Dante’s years ago.

Vergil arrived with Trish on a cab quickly behind, while Daniel and Dante screeched to a halt at the mouth of the alley. It was the first- and most likely the last –time that Daniel allowed Dante to helm at the bike, and the crazy speeding they probably went through was evident in the wind-blown states of their hair and clothes.

Needless to say, both of them had been riding without a helmet, chasing Death’s tail like a cat on a ball of yarn.

“Yeah! Awesome, man!” Dante cheered as he leaped off the bike, while Daniel only staggered out. The man didn’t seem to have brought his crutches out, which was quite stupid, but I swallowed my lecture to him, and went over silently to help him out.

Vergil kept silent about his brother’s noisy cheering, merely walking deep into the alley quietly instead. He stopped halfway, unsheathed Yamato, and gave a large slice into the air. There was a sudden deafening crack, and a blinding flash of light, before a split in reality could scarcely be seen in the lack of light of the alley.

Vergil, satisfied with his piece of work, turned around to face us, taking his belongings from Trish’s arm gratefully with a nod of thanks.

“We have ten minutes before the portal closes on itself.” He informed, meeting my eyes.

“Then let’s be done with our farewells. It’s good to see you alive and well along with Dante. I will say it was a pleasure to have you two here, despite the shit I’ve been putting up because of you guys. Dante, I know it’s been years since we last saw each other, but hey, I used to be your brother. I know you well enough that you will never change. Just pray and hope that Lady and Vergil both keep you alive, alright? Your luck will not hold forever.” I began, watching Dante give me a black face for my advice. One way or another, he just wasn’t exactly happy with the fact that I knew him well.

Trish took a step forwards and gave Vergil a hug, taking that as her wish for good luck for him. Then, for Dante, she came up to him, and gave him a tight slap.

“That’s for pissing off my man so many times over.” She said, then gave him a quick peck on is cheek, where she slapped him.

“That’s for returning back to me, and letting me see that you’re still surviving. Remember to treat Lady, Patty, and the kid well, or I’m going to come after you to hunt down that ass of yours.”

Dante rubbed the sore on his cheek, looking as if he were holding back his string of curses lest my volatile girlfriend gave him another well-placed slap again.

It was Daniel’s turn. Still leaning heavily on me, he raised his free arm and pointed at Dante.

“The brother that I want but hate at the same time.” Dante grinned.

He moved the finger to Vergil.

“The brother I already have, but more dangerous and slightly cooler than Damon.”

That was his farewell. Sometimes, Daniel just wanted to be –and already was –entirely different from the rest.

Marcy burst into tears again, running into Dante and burying herself into his embrace. Daniel gave an obvious sigh to our sister’s behavior while Vergil looked away. Trish nudged me quietly at Vergil’s reaction, but this was no time for teasing.

“I don’t care what you do, Dante. I will always be your number 1 fan.” Marcy proclaimed, dripping her tears over him and his black vee neck tee.

“Like I know any other fans of mine from this world?” Dante mused aloud as he wrapped his arm around my sister, taking the chance to feel her assets pressed against his chest.

I knew that lecherous, victorious grin anywhere.

Since it was the last few time I probably got to interact with Dante again –assuming they didn’t drop into our world again –I kept quiet about his lecherous move. Even if they came back again, Marcy would most probably already be attached, or even married.

She drew back after a surprisingly short time, wiping the tears away bravely. She walked to Vergil with a smile on her face.

“Thank you so much for saving Damon yesterday. If it weren’t for you, Damon would have died ten times over –both here and in your world.” She smiled shyly, extending a hand as if trying to invite to shake his.

Vergil, looking extremely shy and put out, awkwardly accepted the handshake. She pulled him in –taking him in by surprise –and enveloped him in her hug.

“Take care of yourself, Vergil. Don’t let Dante kill you just yet.” She said with concern, and then before he could react, she tiptoed, and gave him a peck on his cheek, before bounding back to my side.

Dante gave a low whistle as Vergil spun around quickly, trying to keep a poker face, but failing to hide his blush. With Yamato in one hand, his small back in the other, Vergil stepped closer to the portal.

“Let’s go.” He said, struggling not to look back at us, at Marcy.

Dante spun around to go along, but the loud crash of glass against a wall shocked us all. Spinning around, I found the shards of glasses on the floor close to me.

Tattoo-Guy from the dessert store pointed his half-broken bottle at me; the sharp edges catching glittering light of the sun.

Behind him was an entire gang of men of the same physique, some looking twice as scary as him.

“Nice farewell party.” I heard Dante mumble beneath his breath, while Daniel cursed. Trish tugged at my sleeve, demanding an answer while Marcy did her best to hide behind me.

“I told you –you will pay for this, Damon Kries.” Tattoo-Guy threatened, and for the sake of my family, I took a step forwards.

“I’ll settle things with you in awhile, but could you just take your crowd and meet me elsewhere? I’ve got things to settle at the moment.” I sounded dumb, but hey, it was worth a try. They had to understand that I was a busy man.

“And give yourself to run to the police, you coward?” Tattoo-Guy took a step forwards, and so did his gang. Some raised machetes, other –guns and knuckle dusters.

“Technically, we are at an alley, and there’s no way to run from here. But it would be good if you let the girls walk out, and give me just ten minutes to send my friends off. You see, they’re leaving, and I don’t think they’re coming back.” I explained, getting the feeling that none of my explanation mattered. At least I could give it a try, right?

Tattoo-Guy didn’t appreciate my effort.

“Then your friends can leave after seeing the trouncing you get. The girls stay. I won’t have them looking up the police and have your government lackeys breaking up the fun.”

“Now look here-” Trish began to say, taking a step forwards.

“Shut up, bitch.” Tattoo-Guy interrupted, and a gunshot rang in the air. Tattoo-Guy jumped up, the bullet hitting the ground merely inches away from his foot.

“Now look here. You’re wasting my time, and in less than ten minutes, I have to be gone from this place, or I can’t return home until next months. Much as I like it here, I’ve got a trigger-happy girlfriend at home waiting for me with her rocket launcher. You call Damon’s girlfriend a bitch again, and I’m not going to miss.” Dante took a step out from the shadow, aiming his guns out.

Daniel silently limped back into the shadow, taking the help from Vergil.

I put a hand on Dante’s chest, stopping him from making towards the gang further.

“Go back. Leave. I won’t be blamed if you miss the time.” I said sternly, not meeting his eyes. The gang posed as a problem to me, but I wasn’t about to let Dante know. With Daniel in full state, I probably could take half of them down, trusting my brother to cover my back. But Daniel was with a broken ankle, and we had girls to take care of.

“You’re crazy.” He stated –knowing exactly why I was so screwed.

“You’re crazy if you think I’m going to let you stay.” I pushed him back, forcing him to take a step back with some force.

“You’re going to die like this. Think of Marcy, think of Trish. Daniel’s a bloody cripple, and I can get rid of them before the portal closes.” Dante argued, and though there was probably a slight inkling within him that really wanted to help me out, the rest of him probably just wanted to give the people a good beating.

“You can’t kill them, Dante, and you don’t have the time to make sure they’re all alive. I’m not having Daniel or me charged with murder.” I argued, despite the fact that the entire gang could hear me right. It was better settling a little confusion than to confront a murder trial.

Dante opened his mouth for a protest, but Vergil finally stepped forwards, taking Dante’s arm and forcing him to stumble back. In the half-darkness, Vergil plucked the guns from Dante’s hands and threw them to me.

“You don’t have time to play hero, Dante, so don’t. Damon can take care of them. Let’s go.” Vergil said sternly, and I watched as the elder brother dragged Dante right up to the portal.

Dante managed to dig his heel in the ground, spin around, and shout; “Bye!” before he was pushed roughly head-first by his brother. Vergil turned, met my eyes and gave a serious nod. He took a step back, and disappeared into the portal.

That left me with my family. Trish took Ivory off my hand, leaving Ebony with me, while Daniel took Marcy by the arm, and limped further into the alley, closer to the portal, hoping to hide in the shadow.

“Fine. You have what you want. Let Daniel and my sister go. They’re unable to fight.” I returned back to see the gang already advancing on us. Trish knew exactly that we were neck deep in shit, but if we have dealt with demons before, this wouldn’t be so hard, right?

On one side of the scale, these guys were less lethal and dangerous than demons. On the other side of the scale, they were at least a billion times cleverer than demons, which made them hard to put down. Dante’s guns weren’t exactly suited for harming-but-not-killing. Which gun was?

“I’ll just have some of my friends hold your brother and sister tight. We only want you, Mr. Damon Kries. You humiliated me, and now it’s my turn to return the favor.” Tattoo-Guy grinned, knowing that he had his vantage this time. Somehow or the other; he had thrown away the confusion of Dante and Vergil being here –the confusion of seeing four of the same face.

“Humiliation, I can deal. You harm my family, I will kill you. It is like I promised you back there, and I will not break that promise.” I clicked the safety off Ebony to show that I was serious. Of course, the ten-to-one odds couldn’t be possibly evened out even with a gun like Ebony, but the guys didn’t have to know, right?

“Let’s see how you’ll do that on a wheelchair, then. Let’s go!” Tattoo-Guy raised his machete as his war-signal.

All hell broke loose.

Amidst the confusion, I heard Marcy screaming and Daniel cursing like a drunken lord. Trish and I didn’t stop shooting and though we hurt many, we killed none. Still, they streamed in, pushing us back into the dead end. We did not escape totally unscathed either.

At one point of time, I had been kept in a deadlock, and Tattoo-Guy and his friends had rained blows on me. It was by my relief that their weapons were gone at that time, so all I had were bruises and maybe a few wounds. Trish was more agile, but she did get a few injuries on her own too.

It was painfully clear that we were going to lose.

“STOP IT!” Marcy cried when Daniel’s yell of pain sounded. Taking the moment, I turned to see one of the thugs towering over my brother on the ground, stepping heavily on his broken ankle.

I didn’t even stop to think. I spun my gun around, aimed and shot the guy through the head. Realization of what I’d done shot through me one split moment after, and I waited with a fearful heart for the guy to fall limply to the floor.

Except he didn’t. The hole in his head healed over, and when he turned to me, he had a grin on his face. No, not his face. My face.

Realization crashed through me, as Daniel’s eyes widened at the same time. I began running towards where my siblings were, ignoring the arms that stretched out in attempts to hold me down. These thugs were no longer my concern. Getting Marcy and Daniel away from the demon –that was it.

“Damon!” Trish called my name, and I felt as she covered my back while we made a beeline for my siblings.

“Stay away from my family!” I screamed at the demon, firing Ebony a few more times –this time without fear of killing the demon outright. Even if I did, no one would be suing me.

The demon staggered a little at my relentless bullet barrage, but lunged forward all the same.

My heart jumped to my throat when he grabbed Marcy by the arm, pulling her up to her feet and dragging her further in the alley. Daniel desperately tried to get up, jumping and limping after the demon while randomly hitting and whacking the other thugs.

“Let her go!” I screamed, still running and shooting. But what could that do against a demon that even Vergil couldn’t win?

Marcy screamed and cried, thrashing with all her might. But she couldn’t hope to win against the strength of a demon. She stumbled and staggered behind the demon, trying to halt their progress, but failing miserably. Then they reached the portal, and the demon stopped.

He turned around, and gave me Dante’s smirk.

Marcy’s eyes widened with realization, and so did mine, as I tried my best to close to last distance with my sister.

“DAMON!” Marcy screamed piercingly, but nothing stopped the demon from pushing her into the portal.

I did the only thing I could.

I lunged, and managed to grab Marcy’s hand before she disappeared into the portal. The momentum of my crazed jump pushed me forwards, and I found myself making towards the portal too.

I felt someone grab my ankle, before I disappeared entirely away from the world.

I held on tight to the warm flesh that I hoped was Marcy, and prayed.

Prayed that she was alright, and that everyone would be alright.