Undertow : Part 3

   "Papa..." Dante whispered as one gentle hand stroked his hair, the other gathering him closer, until the boy's face was pressed against the his chest.  "I don't want you to go away again..."

    "I don't want to go away either, but -- "

    Dante clutched the dark silk shirt his father wore in his little hands and watched it crimp in his fists.  

    "Someone told me devils are evil things."

    Sparda laughed softly.

    "They could be the most wicked things."

    "Is that why you hunt them?"

    "No," he said softly and kissed Dante on top of his head.  "I hunt them because I am one of them."

    "I don't understand."

    "You won't. Not until you are older and know how to balance what's inside you."

    "I don't want you to go away again, papa" Dante said and wrapped his arms around Sparda's neck.  "I had dreams that you never came back."

    A stone-like hand with gray-black coarse skin with thick yellow nail tips brushed against Dante's cheek.

    "I will come back," Sparda said.  "I've always come back."

    The boy smiled and offered one of the curved yellow nails a kiss.  He curled one of his hand around the broad fingers--the small hand barely wrapped around it.

    "I will never forgive you if you break this promise, papa."

    Dante woke slowly -- half of his mind still watching the last memories he had of his father while the other half struggled to return to consciousness.  Even when his eyes opened, he was still listening to the gentle voice of his father reassuring the boy he would come back as soon as he could. 

    "Liar..." Dante whispered.

    He turned over and buried his face into the pillow.

    "How are you feeling?"

    Dante nearly tumbled out of the bed as he reached for his gun that he usually kept on the nightstand.  He cursed when his hand found nothing there.  

    "What they fuck are you still doing here?" Dante said, the panic inside him instantly eased when he recognized the speaker.  "Didn't I already tell you I don't want you here?"

    Vergil shrugged and remained leaning against the door frame with a mug in his hands. 

    "If I weren't here, you would have woken up with Remus next to you.  He came looking for you while you were sleeping hours ago."

    The mere sound of Remus' name made Dante's throat tighten.  

    "How did you know...?"

    Vergil took a careful sip from the cup.

    "How did I know what? About Remus and what he did to you?"

    "Can you sound any more fucking casual than that?"

    A small smile dissolved over Vergil's lips and he laughed.

    "You haven't changed a bit.  Mother was horrified that you learned to curse so young.  I suppose the scolding you were given never panned out."

    "Shut up and answer my question."

    Vergil tilted his head slightly and regarded Dante for a few moments, the small smile still lingering on his face as he spoke.

    "I never knew you were alive all these years.  I was told that you and mother had died.  Since I was the last Sparda, I was spirited off and raised by father's former allies.  Clans of half-human, half-demon like us but they lived in an island that interacted with neither worlds.  Six months ago, we were told about a contract that had been sent out for a Sparda who was in United States.  We investigated this information, just to verify whether if this is a case of someone who had foolishly taken a Sparda name or if this someone had been a child by another woman with father no one knew about.  Imagine the shock when we learned that this Sparda was neither."

   "How convenient," Dante said and slid out of the bed.

    "You don't believe me."

    "I don't believe a lot of  things.  Now, get out of my house.  Go back to where you came from."

   "I am rather disappointed by your reaction."

   "What the fuck do you want from me? Run into your arms and welcome you into my life? I don't care if your story is true or not because it does not change the fact that I don't know you."

   "No, you don't know me but are you willing to throw away this chance -- "

   Dante held up his hand.

   "Don't bother," he said.  "I don't care anymore."

   "I do."

   "That's not my problem," Dante said and made his way toward the showers.  "When I come out, I don't want to see you here."

   "I won't abandon you, even if you are saying that's what you want."

   "Whatever."

   Dante closed the door behind him and leaned against it.  All the strength left him and he sank down to his knees as soon as he heard the slight sounds of Vergil's boot heels made their way down the hall and down the stairs. 

   Forgive me....Vergil...

    "Where the hell have you been?"

    "You don't need to know," Dante said and settled into his worn leather chair.  He held the phone between his shoulder and ear and spoke into it as he rifled through his desk drawers.  "I need you to run a phone number for me."

    Dante recited the cell phone number he had memorized.  Redgrave repeated the numbers as Dante said them then let out a long sigh.  It was a cue that a mild admonishment was impending.

    "We'd been worried shitless.  You simply cannot disappear for such a long time without leaving word where you are going to be."

    "Last I checked, you are not my mother."

    "You are quite fortunate I'm not your mother," Redgrave said.  "You don't sound...the same.  You okay?"

    "I don't know what you are talking about," Dante said.  He had finally found the half-bottle of Brandy he had shoved in the bottom drawer of the desk.  Dante held the bottle between his knees and unscrewed the top.  He flicked the cap across the room and onto the pool table.  He took a long drink from the bottle and instantly, he felt better.

    "You just sound...different.  I can't really put my finger on it.  Something happened?"

    "Nothing happened," Dante said.  He sank deeper into the chair and took another drink.  "Just stop asking fucking questions and do what I asked you to do."

    "It never occurred to you that there's people that actually gave a shit about you?"

    "Whatever," Dante said.  "There are just things you don't need to know, so don't press the question when I already told you the answer."

    "You didn't tell me anything."

    "Get the hint.  Just run the number and I'll call you later to ask for the result."

    "You were never so nasty with Aisha."

    "When you grow breasts, we'll talk about this again.  I've got to go."

    "Dante -- "

    Dante hung up and shoved the phone away from him.  A headache was working its way from the base of his neck up to his eyes again.  He had never had headaches.  A thing like him simply did not have human afflictions.

    "Fucking drug..." Dante said absently as he rubbed the bridge of his nose.  He took another swallow of the Brandy and it eased the pain a little.  His eyes panned over the paper strewn desk and caught the pad of paper he had written the address of the bar.  He ripped the page from the pad and crumbled it in his hands as he took another drink that emptied the bottle.  

    The phone rang again but Dante ignored it.  He pulled on his boots as he watched the phone with a mild fascination.  It would be Aisha.  Tony always asked Aisha to speak to Dante after he had a difficult conversation with him.  Aisha had been one of the very few humans who had been able to coax Dante into telling her nearly everything.  He trusted her implicitly. Perhaps she had the same kind of warmth and compassion Dante had pictured her mother to have in his mind.  However, this was different.  This was something he would never speak to another living being about.  He couldn't.

    Dante shrugged on his shoulder holsters and shoved Ebony and Ivory into them.  He snatched the red leather jacket he had draped over a corner of the pool table.  Beneath his jacket was black cashmere coat that was not his.  He picked up the folded coat and studied it for a few moments before he held it closer to smell the hint of expensive cologne that wafted from the fabric. 

    Vergil...

    As if he had been stung, Dante threw the coat on the floor and backed away from it until his back was flat against the door.  

    "Goddamn it..."

    He was shaking although he didn't know why he was.  He ran a hand through his hair and reminded himself to breathe.  Dante stared fixedly at the coat that was pooled at the foot of the pool table, uncertain why he had suddenly become anxious over someone he had already sent away.  

    "Fuck..." Dante concluded and pulled on his jacket as he stepped out into the brisk, moonless night.

    It didn't take Dante long to find the bar girl who had served him the spiked drink.  She had let out a scream and dropped her empty drink tray then scurried toward the back exit.  Dante walked through the semi-crowded bar with its patrons staring at him.

    "You can't go back there buddy," one of the bouncers had emerged from the backroom and stood in the doorway.  "Be a good boy and go home before I -- "

    Dante seized the man by his throat and threw him over the bar, sending him crashing into the racks of beer mugs.  Behind him, the bar patrons laughed and applauded.

    "You sonuva---" The bartender screamed.  His hand fumbled for the revolver he had kept under the counter.  Dante pulled out Ebony and shot the full bottle of Gin next to the bartender.  Suddenly, the bar went silent.

    "Next bullet will go into your fucking head if you touch the gun."

    The bartender held up his hand and backed away.

    "No problem.  No problem from me at all."

    Dante shoved the gun back into the holster and kicked open the half opened door leading to the back.

    "I am not in the mood to play," Dante said as he walked through the dimly lit hallway.  "I am not looking to hurt you. I just want to ask you a couple of questions."

    He found the girl cowering in the corner of the manager's office, her face wet with tears.

    "Oh God...please don't kill me.  I was just doing what I was told...I don't know anything..."

    "Who told you to put the drug in my drink?"

    "I don't know who they are. I swear...."

    The girl crawled forward toward Dante -- her eyes had become bloodshot and glassy from crying.

    "I swear I don't know anything.  They...they told me to shut up and do as I was told or they'd beat the shit out of me.  I have a baby at home.  I can't take care of him if I end up in the hospital."

    Dante stared down at the girl and grimaced.  

    "You've never seen them before."

    She shook her head.

    "They said they will tell me when their 'friend' shows up, and for me to take your order so I can mix in the capsule of powder they gave me."

    Dante crouched down and lifted the girl's face up by her chin.  The small freckled face was streaked with runny mascara and ruined make-up. 

    "I swear that's all they told me to do.  I didn't know they were going to..."

    "Go home to your baby," Dante said after awhile then stood up.

    The girl grabbed onto Dante's boots when he was about to turn and leave.

    "You should get away from this place..." the girl whispered.  "They are waiting for you to come back.  Sam...the bartender will call them.  They come here at least twice a day for the past week to see if you would come around to ask questions."

    "They...?"

    The girl stared up at Dante and nodded.

    "Demons," she said.  "All of them..."

    He disabled the alarm to the fire door first and slipped out of the bar through the back.  The door led out to the alley that was only lit by a few halogen lights that hung high over the metal trash bins.  Dante drew his jacket tighter against him and walked toward the cross street.  He rubbed at his temples.  The headache was coming back again.

    "Shit..."

    Someone reached out from the shadows and grasped onto Dante's leg.  Reflexively, Dante kicked out as he drew his guns.  The howl of pain was horrendously loud in the empty alley.  A man in layers of soiled clothing held his face as he scrambled away from him, knocking over several garbage cans as he did so.   

    "We should make you apologize to that poor man," someone said behind him.  "All he wanted was some pocket change and he got a broken jaw instead."

    Dante spun around with his guns raised.  Three human figures in long coats came toward him from the street side.  He couldn't pick up their scents but Dante knew they were demons.  Their movements were too languid to be human.

    "Be a good boy and come along -- "

    Dante opened fire at the speaker.  The demon stumbled backwards but he didn't fall.  Dante walked backwards as he rapid fired.  The men absorbed the hits but nothing brought them down.  In his mind, Dante cursed at his predicament and looked around him for a way out.  He glanced up at a fire escape landing of a building that was about fifteen feet up.  If he could jump up to that platform, he could make his way up to the roof.  He experienced a brief moment of regret that he had left Alastor at home.  He could have easily air-hiked onto the building top to building top.

    "I wouldn't do that, if I were you," one of the men said as he gestured at the fire escape.

    Dante grimaced and made his leap upwards.  Short of him reaching the iron platform, something seized him by his ankle pulled him back down.  He nearly blacked out when that someone slammed him hard against the asphalt.  He lost his grip on one of his guns.  Before Dante could retrieve it, a boot with steel toe-tip kicked it away -- Ivory skittered down on the alley and came to rest in midst of bags of trash.

    "Stay down."

    Dante wiped at the trickle of blood that had dripped from the corner of his mouth and fired Ebony into the man who had pulled him down.  

    "You think you can hurt me with that toy, precious?"

    The heavy boot kicked at his head.  Dante caught it and pulled the footing out from man.  The man stumbled backwards and landed on his back with a grunt.  A quick glance at the dim light revealed Remus' human face.  Dante froze.  Remus took advantage of Dante's momentary hesitation and sent him sprawling backwards when his leg swept out and caught Dante's ankles.           

    "I've missed you, Dante..." Remus whispered and got up, dusting himself off as he did so.  "We have so much fucking to catch up with.  Not the best place to do it, but maybe just a couple of good rounds to relief this awful pressure in my groin."

    Remus kicked open Dante's legs and the motion set off a mild panic inside.

    "Don't fucking touch me."

    "You are so adorable when you are angry," Remus laughed.  "I'd like to take you back with me.  Back to Netherworld so you can get in touch with your roots, so to speak.  It will be just like that party we had the other day but it will go on for years.  Maybe centuries, if your body can hold up that long."

    Remus frowned as a blue mist started to form around Dante's body.

    "If you dare to Trigger on me, I'll go back to that bar and kill every human in that goddamn place."

    "What made you think I gave a shit about humans."

    Remus laughed.

    "A human body with a demon heart.  Makes me wonder what have you been suffering for, all these years."

    Dante Triggered.  The three lesser demons were easily disposed of.  Remus was different.  His resistance against electricity was significantly higher than most creatures he had encountered.  Sensing his Trigger was about to run its course, Dante spread his wings.  Remus caught him by one of the wing and grounded him, ignoring the electricity coursing from Dante's body.   Burns made by the electricity had already covered most of his body.  The Trigger emptied and returned the human shape to Dante.

    "What happened to you at the ballroom will be nothing compared to what I will do to you -- " Remus said, his voice had lost its human tone.  "I'm going to fuck you until your inside turns into pulp."

    Dante opened fire with his gun again, walking backwards until his back was flat against the wall.  Dead end.  Remus charged forward, grabbing Dante by his neck with one hand and Dante's gun hand with the other.  Dante brought up his knee but it didn't stop Remus from pressing forward.  Half of Remus' face was bleeding freely, the skin had burnt off with its flesh dangling loosely from the bone.

    "I never did understand why so many demons are afraid of you," Remus said as he smashed Dante's hand against the wall.  "Why all of this planned shit when it's so damn easy to fuck you up."

    Dante screamed, his wrist had finally been broken by the third hard slam against the wall.  Ebony fell from his gripless hand and clattered onto the ground.

    "That's better," Remus said and released the broken hand.  "Now we can start."

    Remus tore at the buckles on Dante's belt and easily ripped the leather in half.  Remus pushed his knee between Dante's thighs to keep them apart as he worked to unbutton the pants and lower the zipper.  Dante thrashed wildly, his unbroken hand swung out at Remus.  The punches connected but Remus absorbed each blow.

    "Be nice," Remus smiled and tightened his grip on Dante's throat until he stopped moving.  "You going to behave?" 

    Remus loosened his hand from around Dante's throat.  Dante's head lulled to the side, hovering close to unconsciousness.

    "Don't..."

    "If I don't get to fuck your tight little ass, then I'll fuck your mouth. Where do you want it?"

    "Get...away...from...me..."

    Remus shoved his hand into the Dante's unclasped pants and pushed his fingers into him.  Dante's eyes widened, his mouth opened to scream but only a loud gasp came out.

    "Maybe I'll have both..."Remus said and licked along the side of Dante's cheek, lapping up the blood with his ruined tongue.  "And if you beg, maybe I won't make it too bad for you."

    The fingers were pulled out and pushed back in roughly.

    "You are coming along nicely.  I think your body's asking for more than my fingers though --"

    Remus stopped speaking mid-sentence.  Dante felt the hard grip around his neck loosen and without the support, he crumpled to the ground.  Remus was shouting at something or someone in Dark Language.  It took Dante a few moments to notice Remus was clutching a bloody wound at his shoulder.  A quick flash of silver and Remus took another hit -- this time, Dante saw it.  A long sword made a sweep across Remus' chest and ripped him open.  Remus howled and clutched his chest.  The sword raised again for another strike. Remus cursed and transformed.  Before the sword came down, Remus had spread his fleshy wings and fled into the night. 

    Then there was silence.  Dante blinked, staring up into the sky where Remus had disappeared into.  Slowly, he became aware of the intimate pains that was like a slow burn in the pit of his belly.  

    "Are you all right?"

    The familiar voice was like another hard stab in his wound.  Dante forced himself to sit up but it was difficult with shocks of pain shooting from the base of his neck and from his still-broken hand.  He spotted Ebony and he seized it, the feel of it in his hand was an instant comfort to his wounded soul.

    Vergil walked in closer, sliding his katana back into its scabbard.

    "Leave me alone..." Dante hissed.  His legs nearly gave out on him as soon as he stood up. 

    "You wouldn't mind being left here like you are now so other lesser demons --"

    "I don't want your help.  Don't expect me to thank you," Dante said as he pulled up his zippers and buttoned his pants.

    "I'm not expecting anything," Vergil said softly.  "But at the very least, you owe me an explanation why you hate me."

    Dante's eyes swept the shadows of the alley until he caught the sight of Ivory glitter in the dark.  He pushed Vergil out of his way and staggered past him.

    "I owe you nothing," Dante said.  He braced himself against the nearest wall, the pain behind his eyes had increased to an unbearable level.  "Shit..."

    Vergil's hands were on him, holding him up but he was too weak to pull himself away.  

    "I'll take you home," Vergil said and tucked Dante's gun into its holster.

    "Don't..want...you..."

    "Be quiet and let me take care of you," Vergil said and cupped Dante face in his hands.  "Behave, okay?"

    Dante shook his head weakly and tried in vain to pull away.  Vergil leaned forward and kissed him on his mouth.  The gentleness of the kiss calmed him and suddenly, Dante didn't want to fight anymore.

    "Be a good boy for me..."

    Dante felt the weight of his body pitch forward until he was leaning in Vergil's embrace.  

    "I've been a good boy, papa..." Dante said.  "But you still broke your promise."

    Strong arms wrapped around him and enclosed him in a soothing warmth.

    "I didn't break my promise," his father's voice whispered into his ear.  "I've come back.  I've come back for you."

End part 3

Go to Part 4