Undertow : Part 7

    "We will be together, always..." Vergil whispered into his mouth.  His fingers worked to loosen the knot on Dante's robe.  "You will no longer have secrets kept from you.  You will never have to suffer again...."

    "You would protect me?"

    "That's all I am capable of doing."

    Dante's hand caught Vergil's before his robe's belt pulled to the side.

    "Is that why you come into my mind and try to lock me in there with you from the first day we met?"

    "I needed to -- "

    Dante pushed Vergil away from him and sat up.

    "Fuckin' bastard," Dante said.  A corner of his mouth turned up then he laughed.  He laughed so hard that a tear trickled down from a corner of his eye.

    "Dante...."

    "I understand now...." Dante said.  His eyes stared up into the ceiling - the tears continued to flow.  As he spoke, he didn't seem to be aware he was crying.  "My dreams...  The ones I had all these years...they weren't dreams.  They were my memories."

    "I don't understand."

    "Vergil...." Dante said as he looked back down at Vergil.  "My real brother...could not have said those words."

    Vergil shook his head.  

    "I am him."

    "You might have been him....if he had not had the demon blood spill over his human blood."

    "He is as you are."

    "No.  My human blood tainted the demon blood in me - and it sealed this so-called Sparda secrets.  Vergil was different.  If you truly have his memories - then you would recall the day when you gave me my first death."

    "It was necessary for you to die to unlock your powers."

    "But it also robbed me of my memories.  What I had recovered from the death, I had found them in my dreams.  My nightmares.  For half a century, I had dreamt of a rainstorm and a faceless man who had ran me through with father's sword.  I know now, it wasn't a dream and Vergil had been that faceless man."

    "You don't understand --"

    Dante gathered his legs together and stood up.  He walked one of the glass cabinets and opened it.  From the bottom most shelf, he pulled out a long leather case.  He ran his fingers along the old, cracked leather and drew in a deep breath before he picked it up and walked back to Vergil.

    "Open it," Dante said as he thrust the box into Vergil's hand.

    Vergil clicked the hinges that held the box close and lift the cover.  He frowned.

    "What is the meaning of this?"

    Dante knelt down - his knees touching Vergil's.

    "I want you to prove to me you are Vergil," Dante said.  "Take it out."

    Vergil stared at the polished silver dagger with the jeweled handle resting in a bed of white silk.  It was their father's knife.

    "Dante -- "

    "If you are truly him," Dante said as he retrieved the knife from the box and pressed it into Vergil's hand.  "Then you would be capable of killing me."

    "We are not immortal," Vergil said.  "Death could come to us any time."

    "From what I understand," Dante said and guided Vergil's hand that held the knife - maneuvered it until the tip of his knife touched his throat. "The only true death you can give to a halfling would be if you cut the throat and remove the head."

    "I don't want to do this."

    Dante pulled Vergil's hand forward a little - the sharp tip nicked the skin of his throat.  A single droplet of blood rose from its wound. By the time the droplet dripped down - the wound had healed.

    "If you want me to believe you are my brother," Dante said.  "Then you must prove to me you are."

    Dante's hand crushed down on Vergil's hand.  This time, Vergil pulled the knife away before Dante could drive the dagger into his throat.

    "WHY?!"

    Vergil stood up and backed away, as if he had been stung.

    "I am no more your brother," Dante said as he stood, straightening his robe as he does so.  "Than you are mine.  You could not kill me because you have not taken my soul."

    "Dante...."

    Dante pressed himself against Vergil - his mouth so close that their lips brushed against each other has he spoke.

    "It's not love you feel.  It's your need as a Salamander."

    "I have his memories."

    "You don't understand what you have," Dante said then pushed himself away.  "Now get out.  Get out of my house.  Get out of my life.  If I see you again, I will kill you."

    "You are wrong," Vergil said quietly.  "I am him."

    "No, you are nothing more than Vergil's memories."

    Vergil seized Dante by wrist and spun him around when Dante turned to leave.  

    "I'm sorry...." Vergil said.  Dante's eyes were fixed on the knife - and watched it as Vergil raised it and drove it through his belly.  A terrible pain ripped through him, as the blade sank in to its hilt.  "There is something I have to do...."

    The knife moved sideways - Dante was too stunned to scream, although the pain was terrible.  The knife had severed his insides, cutting his belly open.  He stared down at the the crimson-soaked terry robe he wore - the blood had run down his legs and pooled by his feet.  Vaguely, he realized that his insides would have spilled out - if it weren't for the robe he wore.  He couldn't understand why he had not fallen down as he watched the red puddle on the floor grow larger.  He had pitched forward and Vergil was holding him by his arms.

    "Even if you throw me away," Vergil said - his eyes brimmed with tears.  "I won't do the same to you."

    "You....stupid....fuck...." Dante said and pitched forward, falling against Vergil's chest.  

    "We will be together," Vergil said softly.  "We will be together, always."

    Dante's eyes fluttered open and found himself nestled against someone's chest.  He reveled in the warmth the loose embrace he was lying in.  It had been another lifetime when he had felt that kind of love and security.  

    Love....

    Even the sound of the word was absurd to him.  That word had always felt insincere and cheap to him.  Meaningless thing.  

    "It does not have to be," someone said, countering the unspoken words in his mind.  "Everything deserved to have a meaning.  Just as you deserved to be happy."

    Dante smiled.  He felt like laughing but he didn't.  

    "No one deserved anything," he said.

    "You do not have to endure the Sparda curse," Vergil said and kissed Dante on the top of his head.  "Neither one of us has to be alone."

    "Vergil," Dante said and rolled onto his back and away from the embrace.  He stared at his own reflection panned down at him.  "Even if I am here, I am still alone."

    "I can't let you leave," Vergil said.  "I know what your intentions are with Remus."

    "He's not your concern."

    "You cannot defeat him.  He has the blood of the goatling king -- "

    Dante pressed his forearm over his eyes.  

    "It doesn't matter what he is."

    "I...Vergil gave you your first death when you were fifteen.  It was to awaken your demon blood and unlock your powers.  Without it, the demons and demon hunters would have easily bested you."

    "So I suppose I should thank you for murdering me then."

    "I want you to understand it was not an act of betrayal."

    "I see."

    "Of the two, I have always known I would be the one that will die."

    Dante smiled.

    "As then, I want to protect you now."

    Beneath the forearm - Vergil saw trickles of tears flow out from the corners and sank into the pale hair.  

    "You can't...." Dante whispered.  "You are already dead.... I killed you."

    Vergil brushed back Dante's hair, smoothing it carefully.

    "Then tell me what you want me to do," Vergil said and bent down to kiss Dante's throat.  "Let me be the brother you remembered when you were a child....even if you think of it as an illusion and another lie.  Give me that."

    "Would you die for me?"

    "Yes."

    Dante lifted his forearm away from his eyes.  He cupped Vergil's face in his hands.  Vergil had read his thoughts.  A sad smile spread over his mouth.

    "What have you been suffering for, all these years...?"

    "I don't know."

    "You are willing to lose all the answers to all the questions you've asked all your life --"

    "I am not losing anything," Dante said.  "There are things I am not meant to know...and I don't want to know."

    Silence.  

    "Then I will do as you ask," Vergil said softly, his thumbs stroked Dante's mouth.  "Because that would be your brother's wish for you as well."

    Dante drew Vergil to him, until Vergil's weight was comfortably pressed on top of him.

    "Thank you....Vergil."

    Dante watched the fan blade above his bed turn slowly.  He wasn't certain how long he had been watching the ceiling fan spin but it was the only thing he could do.  The body next to him had long turned cold and stiffen with death.  But he could not will himself to move.

    He heard the phone downstairs ring but he ignored it.  The world seemed to be insignificant place suddenly.  Filled with people whom he really did not care about.  Filled with people who could never understand even a fraction of the pain of living he endured.  Surrounded by people but he will always be alone.

    Dante finally broke his gaze from the turning fan blade and glanced over to the carcass of his brother lying next to him.  The Salamander had kept his promise and returned his brother to him.  The demon had crawled out of the body and would probably die soon itself.  Dante pulled himself closer and pressed his cheek against the cooled skin.  Inside his head, he heard the delicate thumps of the heart beating beneath.

    A rumble in the heavens disrupted his thoughts - then a loud crack of lightening came.  Dante broke into a smile, hearing the gentle taps of rain against the window.

    "It was raining the day I died..." Dante said.  "It's raining again, on the same day."

    It was still raining when he drove up to the rear entrance of Club D.O.A.  The men that stood guard there knew who he was.  Silently, they stepped to the either side of the double door and allowed him through.  When the metal doors slammed shut behind him, locking him in the cold darkness - Dante felt it then.  His powers being drained, like his soul being dragged from him. 

   He waited for a few more moments for his eyes to adjust to the dark, then headed toward the thumping sound of the bass that came through the walls.  He followed the sound until he could hear more composition of the music and the halls were lit with low-watt bulbs.  A few feet from the neon-green exit sign, he could see the elevators.

    The room was empty when he entered it.  If Remus had been in the building, then he would be up soon.  He trust the network of security in the Club was tightly knitted enough to inform Remus of his arrival.

    Dante stood facing the statue of the Archangel Michael  - staring at it without understanding what he was looking at.  He stood there until he heard the doorknob turn.  Remus appeared to be startled when their eyes met.  Dante came to a sudden awareness that he was drenched - droplets of rain dripped from his hair and clothing, wetting the floor.

    "I suppose you've met your brother," Remus said and shrugged off his coat.  He loosened his tie as he walked toward an adjacent room.  When he emerged from it, he had a blue towel draped over his left arm.

    "You killed him," Remus said.

    "Yes..."

    Remus draped the towel over Dante's head and worked the zipped on the jacket.  He was surprised that Dante allowed him.

    "That creature was given the body of your brother by the one who had manipulated all of this.  I was to make you vulnerable and weaken your mind to allow the Salamander to crawl into you and possess you."

    Remus pushed back the wet jacket and let it drop onto the floor.  He unbuttoned the shirt that was also damp.

    "In our own ways - both of us failed."

    The shirt was stripped off and left on top of the jacket.  Remus ran his hands along the smooth planes of Dante's chest and belly.  Dante was unusually cold.

    "We both became selfish..." Remus said.  He laughed softly.  "Well, I have always been selfish.  I accepted this job because I hunt creatures like you."

    Remus bent over and kissed the slightly open mouth.  Dante did not move - his eyes stared through him.  Remus' fingers hooked around the belt line and pulled him closed - until he could feel the damp denim soak through his own pants.

    "And it has been an exquisite hunt," Remus said and pressed his mouth over Dante's - sinking into the kiss as his fingers moved to undo the button that clasped the denim close.  "I win."

    A corner of Dante's mouth twitched, but neither a frown or a smile came.  Remus pushed the wet denim past Dante's hips and let them fall into a wet heap by the ankles.

    "You are cold...." Remus said, his hands rested on the hips for a few seconds then the palms of them slid across the flanks.

    Dante's hands pressed against Remus' belly at first and appeared to want to push himself away.  A hesitation then Dante's arms wound around Remus' waist.

    "Rape me..."

    The whispered words were barely heard.  As if he had been burned, Remus stepped back away from Dante.

    "Isn't that what you want?" Dante said, his voice dull and lifeless.  "All of this comes down to this?"

    "You don't know what I want," Remus said.  "But I know what you want.  Did you mistaken me for someone kind enough to give it to you?"

    Dante saw the raised hand that came down and backhanded him across one cheek.  He didn't make any movements to avoid it.  He absorbed the blow - tasting the twinge of copper in his mouth when his teeth cut the inside of his mouth.

    "I hurt you because I want to hurt you," Remus said - one hand clasped around Dante's throat.  He squeezed it slightly, enough so that he knew Dante could barely breathe.  "I don't and won't do it to make you feel better for killing your brother."

    Dante's arms hung to the sides, even as Remus applied more pressure - strangling him.  

    "You want to die, don't you?" Remus said.  He loosened his grip short of Dante going unconscious from the lack of air.  "You are too fucking good to take your own life so you come here to have me do it for you?"

    Remus half-walked, half-dragged Dante toward the bed and threw him on it face down.

    "You want me to do the dirty work?" Remus said, loosening the tie around his neck.  "You think I'm nice enough to play your psychiatrist and fuck you up so you can feel better about letting your brother die?"

    Dante's fingers curled around the sheets and watched it crumple in his fist.  He did nothing, even as Remus' hand pressed down on back of his neck - nearly breaking it.

    "Human emotions are useless," Remus said into his ear as his knees separated his thighs.  "It's fucking made you stupid and weak."

    Dante bit down on the sheets, muffling his cries into it as Remus shoved into him harshly.  

    "Is this what you want from me? Is this what you wanted to feel with that fucking human blood of yours?" 

    The thin skin around the rim of the hole tore easily.  Blood slicked the second shove in that took in most of his cock.

    "I hunt stupid shits like you because you share my bloodline and has the human traits I absolutely hate."

    Another shove.  Remus had pushed fully inside.  He released his grip from around Dante's neck and seized a handful of his hair.

    "Shouldn't you thank me, darling?" Remus said and pulled Dante's hair back until his neck was on the verge of being broken.  "I'm helping you atoning for your sins.  Companion for your miseries."

    Remus shoved Dante's face into the mattress - his hips thrust in and out in a furious pace.  Only labored breathings came from Dante and it infuriated him.

    "You like to suffer?" Remus said, pulling his blood covered cock out and turned Dante over - shoving back in.  "You like being human?"

    Dante's mouth were slightly opened - as if he was trying to work a scream from his throat.  

    "You like being in pain? Being weak?"

    Remus clasped a hand over Dante's neck - he could feel the delicate column of the throat pressed against his palm.

    "You would still like to die?"

    The smallest pressure applied and Dante's eyes went large with pain.

    "You and I are not that different," Remus said.  "I came to learn this just now.  You lived for a purpose, just as I do.  You hunt to fulfill a part of your destiny, as I do.  Except that now, I am severely disappointed how easily you've defeated yourself over something stupid - like this fucking illusion that was weaved to deceive you."

    Remus loosened his grip and stroked at bruises he had left on the throat.

    "This damn curse that the Salamander speaks of, does not fall just on you.  It falls on me.  It falls on everything with the demon blood.  If you can't bear the pain of loneliness, then perhaps you are better off dead."

    Remus pulls his half-hard cock from Dante and slid off the bed.  Dante was left splayed on the bed - blood soaking the sheets beneath.

    "I am tired of you," Remus said.  "If you want to die - do it somewhere else. I'm not going to waste my time killing a fucking useless human.  Maybe the scums downstairs want you."

      He was hastily wrapped in the bloodied sheets and carried under one arm like a broken manikin.  All he could do to keep himself from slipping into unconsciousness was watch Remus' boots and listened to its heels clack on the stone floor.

    "You disappoint me, darling," Remus said.  They had entered an elevator.  "You came very close to the answer of it all...."

    Remus reached into his pocket and pulled out a metal card-key.  He inserted it into the panel and pressed the bottom-most button that lit up.  The hydraulics hissed as the cab of the elevator descended rapidly.

    "This is where you can die," Remus said.  "Or you can learn to be stronger.  I couldn't careless what became of you."

    "Tell me..." Dante whispered.  

    "Tell you who the puppet master is?" Remus said and laughed softly.  "That is something you must earn, love."

    The elevator eased to a gentle stop and the doors opened.  In that instant, Dante knew where he was.  The insides of him was boiling - threatening to erupt.  He squirmed.

    "You feel it don't you?" Remus said.  "We are near the portal."

    Remus carried him through a double door and dropped him on the ground.  Dante looked up and found himself staring at a swirling of black and red in the ground.

    "Since I did like fucking you, I'll let you choose what will become of you."

    Remus crouched down next to Dante and nodded at the whirlpool.

    "You will die instantly, if you go in there.  The magnetic pull in there will shred you into bits.  And if by some remote chance that Sparda blood had mended you back into one piece, you would probably wish you'd died.  There are many creatures below that would like to have their turns with you."

    Remus reached into his jacket and pulled out a knife sheathed in black leather.

    "Or you can kill yourself.  Your body will probably be consumed by the lesser demons that wonders the halls on this floor.  They hadn't fed in awhile...."

    Remus pulled the knife out - it was double edged and sharp.  The silver blade caught the dark light from the whirlpool and made it glow an unholy light.

    "Or they might just fuck you first - dead or alive, before they share the flesh.  Very hungry and sexual fiends."

    Remus dropped the knife in front of Dante and let it clatter in front of him.  

    "Or maybe...." Remus said and paused.  He smiled and bent forward, planting a soft kiss on Dante's mouth.  "If you can find me again, I will give you the name you want."

    Remus stood and smoothed out the wrinkles on his sleeves.  He gave Dante a curt nod and walked off - his sound of his heels echoed in the empty hall and finally disappearing into the elevator.

    Dante closed his hand around the handle of the knife - the weight of it was comforting.  It made him feel a little safer to have a weapon in his hands.  He laid on his belly - allowing the cold of the concrete to soothe the burns that had been smoldering inside him since he had been brought there.  When he found enough strength to do so, he crawled forward, inching toward the swirling pool of energy.  It mesmerized him - the slow churning of the red inside the black.  For no particular reason, he was remembering his father.

    He reached forward, wanting a touch of it.  Before he could, the double doors were kicked open.  Dante rolled to his side, his knife held behind him - hidden from the newcomers.  Four demons that had been caught in midst of unfinished transformation between their form and human body.  Their features were decidedly human but severely deformed.

    "Remus' leftovers," one of them laughed.  "Always taste best...."

    The biggest one with the flesh on his face discolored and marked with diseases, lumbered forward.  He bent down and dragged Dante toward him by his ankle, and kept him a distance away from the portal.

    "It will take you a long time to die," the creature said as he shoved his tattered pants down as he knelt between Dante's knees.  "Many of us had not fed in weeks."

    The three others laughed and crept closer.

    "If you stay still...it won't hurt that much...."

    Dante stilled - one hand hooked around the neck of the creature whose bloated cock was pressed against his thigh.

    "No, it won't hurt at all..." Dante whispered and slid the knife across the neck of the demon - cutting through one of the arteries.  The cold, rancid blood washed over him.  Dante pushed the towering demon from him - letting it fall to its side; its eyes wide with disbelief.

    Dante gathered his legs together and sat up.  A smile brimming on his mouth.

    "You can't be afraid of a human...." Dante said and licked at the trickle of black blood that was on his lower lip.  "A weak, little human...."

    Remus was in the upper level of the club when his senior security chief came to him.  They ducked into a quieter corner - Remus listened as the security chief spoke, describing what he had seen.  A corner of his mouth turned up, rising higher and higher - and he laughed.

    "Clean him up and put him back in his car," Remus said finally.  

    "Sir?"

    "By the time he wakes up, he'll be healed enough to drive himself home," Remus said.  "Get some people downstairs and clean up the mess."

    "I don't understand, sir..."

    "You don't need to.  He's doing exactly what I wanted for him to do."

    The man nodded and excused himself, scurrying off to find his men to carry out the instructions.  Remus leaned back against the wall and lit up a cigarette.

    "Perfect," Remus said softly and blew out a thin cloud of smoke.  "Fuckin' perfect."

    End Part 7 

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