The Devil's in the Details.

[Minaarchangel]

When she heard the knock at the door, Iris knew that his clothing must have been ready, considering she was not summoned to the door. Hearing fabric hit the ground behind her, she glanced over her shoulder while he was stepping into his pants and got a quick eye full of what she had barely avoided seeing before. But that was when Dante was looking. This time she could just take a quick peek. She would tell Mara about it tomorrow morning at breakfast. Quickly, Iris turned her head back around, glad her cheeks were not red, at least not in the cool night air.

"Maybe you just need better taste in music," Iris said with a grin. "My music is awesome, and no amount of criticism will ever get to me. I grew a thick skin almost immediately. You can't please everyone. If you think you are, you're a damn fool. There are people who will hate my music because it's not their thing, there are people who will hate it out of spite of anything popular, there are people who will swear they hate it and love it secretly. I don't care. I make music for those who like it and for myself."

She looked over at him, "You...can really fly?"

Well, somehow, it made sense. She had seen Dante do things that were beyond human skill. He had taken those demons out without any effort at all, had gotten injured and there was no sign of it. He was also a shitty liar and she could tell he was lying about his healing factor thing. Who knew where it came from, if he was a science experiment or maybe he was just special in some way humans were not meant to understand.

Iris found herself blushing again when he corrected himself, though she muttered something along the lines of "I wasn't thinking of it that way" before she turned and practically ran inside. But if he liked guitar music, she supposed she could return the favor. Part of her was strangely irritated that Dante did not like her music, did not see the beauty in it. Another part of her was irritated that he did not think she was capable of making music he would like. Nobody had ever made her feel that way before, and she was not particularly pleased with it.

Inside, she sat down on the couch, out of his way, and slipped her glasses back on. Before she had left them off because she could see okay without them, but now she wanted to see very clearly. Iris pulled her knees up to her body and held them, wrapped in their cocoon of purple silk, anxious and excited all at the same time. She wanted to see this, if only to see it really happen.

"I used to have dreams, all the time, that I had wings. That I could fly through the clouds and feel their dew on my skin, flick it off the feathers of my wings before diving down into the world and just fixing things I saw that were wrong. I know, typical girl dream, right? But it repeated so often."

[MadxHatterxTeapot]

Angel…

 

That was what the lusts had said to her, right? They assumed she was some kind of angel and thus went after her. They completely disregarded the other pretty gal with the violin. She was the one that had the weird instrument that affected all the other members; including himself a little bit. Iris’ dreams were just another topping to this sundae of mystery and chaos.

 

“Hey, maybe it’s your desire to want to fly. Ever considered hang gliding? Obviously, the plane rides aren’t the kind of “flying” you have in mind though.” He dreams about hell all the time though…sometimes his father was in them. Sometimes he dreamed of Vergil and his sword cutting his hand as he reached out to him. Thoughtfully, he looked back up at Iris and smiled, though it was solemn. “I think we all get those uh…recurring dreams that just don’t leave us alone. They haunt us after a while.”

 

He took Rebellion in hand and gave it a light swing, making sure to keep his distance from Iris a bit. “I’m serious about this flying business though.” Again, he double checked the room. It was better to be safe than sorry. While he was getting paid 30 million, he didn’t feel like having to pay incidentals on the hotel room. He especially didn’t want to know how much destroying a penthouse suite cost you. Lifting his sword up a bit, he could feel the tingle of demonic energy in his fingers. The result of his own power and the sword mingled together and with an upward thrust, he jumped into the air. Another crackle of energy, this time somewhat electrical, formed around his feet.

 

He slashed several times in the air, allowing him some time to hover above the carpet. He grunted, struggling to keep himself aloft before finally landing back on solid ground. “Heh. Ta-dah.” Dante proclaimed, holding his arms out in success. “I know it’s not much, but I get great balance that way. You know, aerial balance when I have to knock down some flying monsters. The ones that fly are a little harder to get at because they move so fast.” He waved his sword a bit before setting it aside and plopping down next to her.

 

“You know what you need. You gotta get some time to yourself away from all of this music business. You and uh…what’s her name?” He wiggled a finger at Iris, trying to think of the violinist. “She told me her name, but it kind of went over my head. She’s always butting in and pretending to be your muscle.” Grinning, he leaned back in his seat, “Anyways, yeah.  You gotta get out more, go to some local places without all of the hype. Downtown, in my neighborhood, they rebuild this placed that used to be a strip club; called it the Bullseye. Now it’s something like…DJ’s or whatever. They got pretty good pizza and drinks, actually. So…maybe you wanna go?” He suggested. “Not like, as a date. I’m pretty sure Fenix would flip a s**t, but…I’m your babysitter. I think it might do you some good to get away from all of your work without someone bugging you.” Stretching his arms out a bit, he cocked a brow at her. “We’ll make a deal. I’ll listen to one of your albums, you pick. I gotta listen to the whole thing, and in exchange…I’ll take you out without all of the red tape. Whatya say?”

--

 

“You did WHAT?” Sparda sputtered, shoving himself away from Ralcosel. There was a mixture of shock, fear, and anger in his tone. “How could you do that?”

 

Reaching a hand up to run through his purple hair, Ralcosel averted his gaze from Sparda, shame etched into his face. “I thought…if I closed the gates, our families would be safer.”

 

“YOU CLOSED THE GATES?” Sparda’s tone raised higher this time.

 

 Down the hallway, he heard Eva call out. “Darling? Is something wrong?”

 

Gritting his teeth, the Dark Knight clenched his fists. Grasping Ralcosel tightly by his shoulder, he dragged him outside onto the veranda. “WHAT were you thinking? This…this is madness. EVERY demon in the entire realm of HELL is going to crawl through the cracks somehow, and take their anger out on us. US. Not just you and I, but our families. Do you know what you’ve done?” He was afraid, that much could be noted in his tone. The way his voice shook, the mechanic watched the other’s face redden.

 

“…I thought if we closed the gates…maybe we could all be safer that way. We could protect our families better.” Ralcosel admitted, now ashamed of what he’d done. “…you know they aren’t going to be safe. Purists, they will want to get rid of them-“

 

Sparda snapped, shoving Ralcosel away from him. “Don’t you talk to me about purists, you son of a b***h! I KNOW what the purists would do. I just never thought you’d be dumb enough to give into what they would think.”

 

[Minaarchangel]

Iris smiled and applauded after he got himself into the air, the perfect audience considering she was highly interested and then clapped enthusiastically afterward. That was not the kind of flying she wanted to do, but the kind of flying she wanted to do would mean she would need wings, and humans did not come with wings. She was glad that Dante had shown her what he could do though. It made her feel special, that he was willing to show her that when he so obviously was keeping something about his abilities a secret.

"Mara," Iris said, filling in the name he was missing. "Her name is Mara, and she's my best friend in the entire world. We write the music together for my lyrics and she's makes it more beautiful than I could ever imagine."

A wry smile crossed her face. Part of her wanted to be insulted that he would make sure to mention there was no way it was a date. Another part of her was relieved, considering she had enough time where she could barely speak around him, "It never is a date or anything. Believe me. Pandora doesn't date a lot. I date even less."

Pushing her hand through her hair again, she shrugged, "Sure, that sounds fair."

Getting up, Iris opened the door to the office, where her laptop was sitting. There were also two guitar cases and a keyboard, and all of them had USB plug ins to connect them to the computer. She opened one of the cases, and took out a dark purple electric guitar. She put the strap over her shoulder, and found a pick, plugging in to an amp sitting on the floor. Usually she used the instruments to compose the basic sound she wanted for the songs she wrote. Smiling, she looked up at Dante, nodding to the guitar.

"My first rich person purchase. A custom built Fender Stratocaster small enough for me to handle, but as heavy as classic versions to get the same sound out of it. I don't play on stage, one, because it would wreck my shoulders holding this monster up for three hours, and two, because they want me to sing, the audience doesn't care about me playing guitar or my own instruments. I couldn't play them all anyway if I wanted to. Also, stop saying you're a babysitter. I don't need to be protected from myself."

The sound of the guitar reverberated through the room as she gave it a strum, and then began to play. He was a classic rock fan, so she broken into Heart's "Barracuda" first, then slipped over to Guns 'n' Roses' "November Rain," and after that, she belted out the first strains of AC/DC's "If You Want Blood." Then Iris just let it played with it, her left fingers flying down the fretboard all the way down to the neck, until the last note echoed in the cavernous hotel suite. She smiled a bit at the guitar, lifting it off her shoulder with obvious affection.

"I can play that kind of music if I want to. But it's already been played. I am working on creating something new. So that someone can take what I've done and change it and make something new as well. Music is fluid and changing, and only liking stuff that can't be made again? Makes you a grumpy old fuddy duddy."

Iris put the guitar on the stand sitting out, as she would be working while they were staying in the city. Once the video had been shot, she would be able to sit down and write a few song skeletons to give to Mara. The new album was just about to drop, and the label was already talking about another album, so she wanted to see what kind of songs she might come up with. Strangely enough, she wanted to work with Dante around. Something told her he would be an unique and devious muse.

But before she could say anything about her schedule, she yawned, "I think I'm going to go to bed. Have to be up tomorrow for the video shoot. As far as I know, it's still going on."

She smiled at him, "Good night, Dante."

Heading for the steps, Iris went up to her room and closed the door, thinking about it before she locked it. Not the loud way one might if they wanted someone to know they were doing so. Just normally, because it felt safer somehow. The sheers were still drawn, so Dante would not be able to see her as she took her robe off. At least not clearly. Her silhouette was there though as she sloughed off the robe and stretched, then dug out a nightgown of pale blue silk, slipping it on over her head. It held on by slender straps, and fell down her legs, seeming like it should have been modest, but it had that innocent allure that she seemed unaware of.

Iris crawled into the massive bed, set her glasses aside, and curled up on her side. Despite all that had happened that day, she was exhausted, and she dropped right to sleep.

[MadxHatterxTeapot]

These dreams needed to stop. The more images of the past that appeared in her head, the less likely she was to sleep at night. She was convinced her father was sending messages to her from the afterlife. The violin was the first message. It was a tool left behind to protect her. She awoke in a cold sweat; her fingers ran through her hair. Her breaths were shaky and uneven. How had her father sealed the gates to hell? She didn’t know how in the world he would have been able to achieve that feat.

She inhaled deeply, trying to regain her senses about her. Her dark waves of hair stuck to her forehead until she could not stay under her covers anymore. She didn’t feel safe. Her heart hammered in her chest and it felt like there was a heavy fog in her room. Sliding from her bed, the violinist moved in an attempt to get to her balcony. Air. Air. She felt like she was being suffocated by the room. Claustrophobia set in and she moved to throw the doors open to the balcony, where she moved to clutch the railing for dear life.

Several shaky breaths escaped her. As a variety of thoughts went through her mind, she couldn’t help but think what would have happened if she hadn’t been there with Iris? She thought about Lionel Fenix and his need to get her off the stage and maybe make her disappear…for good. A light breeze filtered through the air and blew her hair a bit in front of her and somewhere the violin growled within her suite.

Maybe…maybe she could go check on Iris. It wouldn’t have hurt to go knock on her room door after all. If anything, it would give Mara an excuse to get out of her room. Turning back to face the dark room ahead, she took a deep breath and stepped back into the room. Leaving her violin behind was not an option, so making sure to take it with her, she made her way out of the room towards Iris’. She just hoped her friend would still be up and Dante wouldn’t give her any trouble.
--
The gal was something else. The moment she took out the guitar, it was like she was trying to win over his musical critic heart. Leaning back on the couch, Dante spread his arms out and relaxed at bit as she sang some old classics he’d never expect to pour from her mouth. Her guitar solo wasn’t bad either; hell she’d beat out her guitarist any day. He supposed that she was right in terms of him being a bit narrow-minded. He just didn’t want people to forget the classics in lieu of the new age stuff ripping through the record labels. One of these days, he would have to show her Nevan. Now that was a guitar that could play.

“Regardless, Fenix keeps you on a short leash. I’m just trying to lengthen it for you a bit and get the choker off.” He was rather proud of himself and how he was able to make himself “fly” in front of her. When she was ready for bed, he waved her good night, but not after he watched her head into the loft of her bedroom. The silk curtains may have hidden her naked frame from his eyes, but he did not miss her silhouette and curves. “Holy…s**t.”

He was left gaping for a moment, before finally getting himself together. Moving in the direction of his bedroom, he scooped up Rebellion before deciding on bed himself. The down comforter was luxury that he could have never afforded in his life. Now that he was alone in his own room, he could finally free himself from his pants. Oh…it never felt so good to sleep naked.

[Minaarchangel]

"You're in danger."

Iris turned around to see the man standing behind her. He was her age, maybe a couple of years older, and strangely familiar. It hit her all at once why. In the picture she carried with her on tour, he was in a policeman's uniform, and he had close-cropped hair two shades darker than her own, so it was more brown than copper. As he stood with her, it was longer, smoothed back from his handsome face, and he was wearing a turtle neck sweater and jeans under a long white coat.

"...Dad?"

Prentiss Weatherby walked over to his daughter and took her hands, "Iris, you're in danger. The son of Sparda."

"What do you mean?" she asked, looking around. They were in one of her favorite dreamscapes, the field full of pastel colored fluffy bunnies, which changed colors when they hopped over each other, wiggling their cotton tails before they made the hops. Iris was not worried. It was a comforting place, a happy place.

"Wake up."

"But I don't..."

"Wake up!" he demanded.

Her father, dead for twenty years, gave her a shove and Iris fell backward, not into the field, but into the gray abyss of REM sleep. She could hear his words echoing in her head, telling her over and over again to wake up, to open her eyes, to do anything that would get her to wake up in the real world.

Gasping awake, Iris stared up at the ceiling in her bedroom in the hotel, having to remember where she was before she could begin calming down. Her father had not appeared in her dreams. Ever. And it felt strange to her that he was dressed like that and not in his uniform, since she had no real memories of him from before he died. She vaguely remembered the funeral, but only because the memories had been supplemented by her mother's own recollections before her own death. They were buried next to each other in the cemetery in her hometown.

Too busy thinking about what the dream had meant, that she was in danger, Iris paid no attention to the growing shadows in the corners of the dark room. Who was the son of Sparda? The name felt like it should have resonance with it. She pushed the covers back from her body, intending to go splash some water on her face, which felt like she had a fever for some reason. Her legs never got the chance to swing out of the bed, as they made that their moment to attack.

The demons were there, right there in her hotel room. An abyss grabbed her legs as she tried to swing them off the bed and jumped onto the bed, pinning her legs down. Another was there to slam into her, and she fell back onto the bed, the air knocked out of her. That was when the claws clamped over her mouth, digging into the flesh of her jaw, forcing her to silence because her lips were forcefully pressed against her teeth as the demon leered down at her.

Angel....

Angel....

Hisses of voices, and the abyss clawed at the flimsy fabric of her nightgown, putting its hot but clammy hand against the flesh between her breasts. It began slowly digging in its claws, and Iris screamed, though it was muffled, struggling to free herself, her hands clawing at the abyss on top of her, her pretty, manicured fingernails actually coming in handy. She scratched down its face, taking out one of its eyes, and it let out a shriek. The hand came away from her mouth, but before she could scream, the other hand came away from her chest and balled into a fist, hitting her.

Iris had never been struck before in her life. It stunned her into dazed silence once again as the abyss crouched over her, knees on either side of her stomach, began feeling around on her flesh once again, and then curled its claws into her flesh. She screamed, and it used its free hand to pin her hands to the bed while it prodded and probed, obviously looking for something, first between her breasts, leaving claw marks, then along her side, under her left breast, again, leaving marks in her soft flesh, hissing as it did not find what it was looking for.

The palm of its hand rested against her forehead, and then higher on her chest. It grinned, a maw full of fangs, as it seemed to find what it was looking for. Lifting its hand, it began to swing it down, to plunge into her chest, claws first, to try and extract from her what it had been looking for.

[MadxHatterxTeapot]

The foggy haze Mara felt in her room only got heavier when she made her way down the hall towards Iris’ room. The flicker of the lights seemed to darken her steps and she tensed at the growing shadows behind her. Her eyes lifted to the ceiling, slowly, and warily. Her heart began to beat faster in her chest. The creak of the floor behind her made her spin on her heels. “Oh my god…” She shuddered.

A hoard of demons creeping down the halls. This time…the lusts were after her. Eyes widening in a panic, she had to get to Iris first before fending off these demons. No. Wait. Dante was with her, maybe she could stall a bit. No! Her best friend was in danger; there was no time for that. Whether the demon hunter was great at his job or not, the violinist would protect her friend.

Spawn of Ralcosel. Spawn of Ralcosel. Open the gates! She could hear their voices in her head, followed by the snarl of her instrument as she bolted down the halls. Her worst fears were coming true. While she didn’t care if she was hurt, she knew it was only a matter of time before her own life was in danger. There was no one to protect Mara but herself. As long as she could get to Iris’ first, she did not care.

A scythe went flying passed her, and Mara ducked to avoid the collision with her flesh. A part of her t-shirt was torn in the process as she scrambled to round the corner away from the monsters. Clutching the violin close to her heart, she took its bow in hand and drew it across the strings. A melody flew through the hallway and the beasts temporarily were disarmed. They crumpled to the ground, screeching and hissing their discomfort as she hopped back out in front of them and continued to play her song down the hallway. Backing away as quickly as she could, she continuously glanced to behind her to make sure that she could not be usurped from her defensive position.

With the lusts subdued for now, a few had their heads explode from the music, she could hurry onwards. As she raced against the clock, a clawed hand shot up out of the carpet and tripped her. Falling against the floor with a hard thud, she cried out and kicked at the disfigured beast dragging itself from the design on the rug. Her eyes widened as it scraped its claws down her leg, only to receive a sharp smack in the face with her instrument as she scrambled away almost limping.

A scream from down the hall made her adrenaline kick in and she struggled to her feet. Mouth hanging open, sharp pants escaping her, Mara tried to run as fast as her legs would carry her. “Aaah…Iris, I’m-I’m coming!”

--
”I was trying to protect all of us, especially our children!” Ralcosel insisted, but Sparda refused to hear him.

“WHY? WHY? After we have worked SO hard to achieve this sense of peace?! Did my position as Ruler of both the Human AND Demon realm mean NOTHING to you?” His voice was raised higher, anger lines were clearly written on his face. There was even the threat of tears beginning to spill from his eyes. “I TRUSTED you Ralcosel and in return you…”

The mechanic ran his hands over his face, almost ashamed he had even thought to tell Sparda the truth. He had to because he would never lie to him. He would never seek to keep anything from his best friend, especially information like this. “Sparda I-“

“What about OUR children now? What are we supposed to tell them? Now we have to pull them apart because you had to go and have some FUN experimenting and CLOSE the gates to hell!” Arms raised in the air, he finally broke down and grasped Ralcosel by the leather of his vest. Teeth gritting together, he shook him a little before his eyes glowed and a snarl ripped from his throat. “You b*****d!”

“Daddy…” A soft voice echoed into the foyer, which led Sparda to release the other. He gave a forlorn expression to the little brown haired girl standing in the middle of the room. In her hand was one of the boys’ action figures. Judging by how good of a condition it was in, it was likely Vergil’s.

“Honey…” Ralcosel pursed his lips, almost uncomfortable with her presence in the room. The tension was so thick you could cut it with a knife. “Why aren’t you outside?”

“…Dante and Vergil are fighting again. They want me to play princess, so one of them can save me. But I wanna be Starscream again. Oh and mommy told me to tell you, daddy, to ask if I can have a sleepover.” She held up the action figure, and gave her father a small smile. Something was wrong though, she could see it between the two men. “…How come you guys were yelling?”
--
He couldn’t sleep. No matter how hard Dante tried, this fancy bed was just not his. He’d roll over to try and position himself several different ways. Each time was more uncomfortable than the last. Maybe it was the fact he was so used to sleeping in discomfort that such commodities were foreign to him. He must have laid there for a few hours before finally giving up and moving to go out to the couch, completely ignoring the fact he was naked. Dragging the blanket from the bed behind him, he grabbed Rebellion off the vanity and moved to step out into the living room.

A sharp movement caught his eye and he sent the blade flying in the direction of the shadow. A loud screech resounded from the spot and a flurry of dust exploded in his direction. “Oh s**t…” This realization was followed by Iris’ scream, that left him moving in the direction of her bedroom. He moved to turn the handle but its locked state told him that this he’d have to rip off the door. Standing back, he sliced his sword through the wood and kicked it in, without a second thought.

He was met with an awkward sight of several Abyss demons hovering over Iris’ on her bed. Their nasty little heads pivoted in his direction and Dante made a quick recognition they knew he was naked. “Well, this isn’t exactly a party unless you guys stare at my d**k is it?” He sneered, jumping up into the air to impale the demon clawing at the girl on her bed. The beast squealed and screamed in agony before it left a pile of dust in its wake. Reaching forwards, the devil hunter pulled the terrified girl up and against him. “You’ve really gotta start leaving your door unlocked, babe.” Pausing he glanced at her state of dress and then back to the demons surrounding them. “You okay?”

[Minaarchangel]

The cracking and splintering of wood made Iris hold out hope that Dante was going to get to her in time. The door being torn off the hinges revealed him in all his nude glory, but she was too worried about what was going to happen to her to be embarrassed, or admittedly, enjoy it. The abysses on top of her were stunned by it too, but she doubted it was because he was standing there letting it all hang out, impressive as it was.

Iris was too relieved to be away from the demons and off the bed when he pulled her to him to be shy about being pressed against a naked man when she was barely wearing anything either. Her nightgown had been torn down the front, and one of the straps snapped in the struggle against the demon that had been groping her, though it had definitely not been sexual. It was searching for something, and had found it in her chest, it seemed. She realized she was trembling as he held her against him, the sword between them and the demons.

"I got felt up by demons, Dante. How okay would you be?" she asked, though despite her tone, she was resting her head against his shoulder.

It was too terribly comforting to be in his grasp, and she just gave into it for the moment or two she would allow herself. Iris let herself take in the smell of hotel soap and skin, how warm he was. She was not at all blind to the fact that he was made of nothing but hard, lean muscle and the know-how of how to use it to fight of these creatures that had attacked her twice in one day now. But she had to remind herself that when they left the city, she would leave Dante behind.

For now...she did not care. Iris wanted to be comforted, and she wanted to be in the safest place she could be, which seemed to be in Dante's arms. She took a shuddering breath, letting it drift out against his skin and looked up at him.

"Thank you...you saved my life. Again."

Her attention was drawn from him, from the insane desire to lean up and press her mouth against his when she heard Mara in the hallway, calling to her. Iris slipped out of Dante's hold, to run down to the door of the hotel suite and yank the door open, her free hand holding her dress shut. She saw the demons swarming out in the hallway and hurried Mara inside, slamming the door shut behind her and throwing the deadbolt lock too.

"Mara?" she said softly. "Are you okay?"

The pounding at the door began then, and Iris backed away from the door, fearing what would happen if they opened the door then. They were trapped in the suite, with Dante already fighting demons. Why was she so useless? and why in the world did they keep coming after her and calling her an angel?

[MadxHatterxTeapot]

******** modesty in the face of adversary. While he knew that he was stark naked in this sea of demons, he couldn’t deny a part of his pride swelled when he pulled Iris off that bed. The bare parts of her he managed to feel against him were softer than he anticipated and in a sense, he enjoyed it. It was much different when he pulled her from danger this first time. He didn’t belong getting a hard on for his job though, not given the circumstances. Hell, she said it herself a demon tried to feel her up.

There was something primal inside of him that was so unsettled by her explanation. Mine His gut churned and he made a quick glance at her town night gown. His heart began to beat faster. His nostrils flared a bit. One of these nasties had touched her. Mine. He felt it again and his head started to pound. While he definitely heard her gratitude, it fell on deaf ears for the beast within him.

His teeth gradually began to sharpen with anger, and he let go of Iris’ long enough for her to unlock the door to her room. Mara stumbled in and clutched tightly to her best friend. Her leg was bleeding slightly from the claw marks that marred her creamy flesh. Her eyes were wide in a mixture of fright, but there was relief in her expression. Iris was all right, albeit a little disheveled and her nightgown…torn.

What in the world? Blinking for a moment, Mara glanced in the direction of the door and the sound of hissing and scratching behind it. “…They’re out there in the hallway. I came to check on you…Had a bad dream…I had to know that you were all right. Where is…?”

A ferocious snarl ripped from within the confines of Iris’ bedroom that sounded vaguely inhuman, but Dante wasn’t even visible at this point. An abyss went flying out the broken door, half of its face mangled in the process and it was missing a few limbs. They looked like they had been ripped off instead of sliced in the process.

From the corner of her eye, she saw something move from the shadows of the room and grabbed ahold of her friend’s shoulders. Abruptly, she moved to roll with the singer clutched to her. Mara made sure that Iris narrowly missed the strike from a lust, but her own shoulder was struck in the process and she screamed out in pain. While she was not terribly hurt, the scythe was buried into the expensive leather sofa behind them.

Carefully, she moved to push her friend off her in an attempt to stumble to her feet. “Stay…stay behind me.” She murmured, raising her violin shakily. She held the bow in a threatening stance as the lust crept towards the girls.

”Spawn…of Ralcosel…” It hissed. ”You interfere. The angel…it is ours.” The demon hissed at her. ”Your time will come…but if you wish it to be soon…”

Slowly, Mara shook her head. “…Stay…your distance. I will not warn you again.”

”Little human…thinks she can wield the tainted instrument of Ralcosel.” Raising its scythe, the monster crept closer. Gradually, it began to close the space between the musicians and reaching out a hand, Mara grasped onto Iris’ tightly. ”Be wise…give us the angel.”

“Only when I am dead.” The dark haired girl proclaimed defiantly, but just before she could play on the violin, a blur of steel marred her vision and the lust was sent hurtling back into the sofa, gasping and screeching for mercy.

A naked Dante stood atop it’s chest, Rebellion digging into its flesh. He hung his head low so that neither of the girls could see his face but it was pretty plain to see, he was in some sort of haze. His mouth drawn into a tight scowl, his nostrils still flared, and he dug his blade deeper into the monster. “…Who sent ya?” But he sounded different, like it was him…and it wasn’t.

”No…” The demon gasped, turning its head in the direction of the bedroom, but no abysses came from the doorway. They were all dead.

It screeched when Dante dug the blade deeper, stomping on its arm this time. “I’m not…gonna ask nicely again.” He growled. “WHO sent you…?”

“He is closer than you think…” The monster whispered. ”…Gatekeepers. They keep watch, but he gives us more…than what the masters do.” The beast writhed under Dante’s foot as it was cut into again. It was also unsettled by the calm expression on the demon hunter’s face as his scowl faded. ”…Let me go…Son of Sparda…” It whispered. ”Let me gooooo….”

Pulling Rebellion from its chest, he gave a fell swoop to its head and silenced the lust before yanking the sword from its neck. “…You didn’t say what part of you.” He scoffed, wiping the back of his hand on his mouth. The tension slowly faded from his stance and he turned to face Iris and Mara finally, seeing the obviously shocked expression on the violinist’s face as she stood in front of her friend. “What?” He asked.

Gaping, she averted her gaze with the violin over her face and turned to murmur to Iris. “Oh my god…he’s naked…”

[Minaarchangel]

Iris clung to Mara as she stumbled in, held her tightly against the terror of the night, of the demons swarming outside her door, apparently ravenous for her flesh. She looked up to see the demon come flying out of the loft bedroom, Dante still fighting strong as far as she knew. She gasped as Mara pulled her out of the way, and she felt the blood drain from her face as her friend took the edge of the blow that was supposed to end her life.

"Mara!" she cried out, her hands now wet with her friend's blood.

When Mara stood in front of her, Iris was ready to move out in front of her, to give herself up, to refuse to let her die because they wanted her. Again, she was called an angel, and she was ready to scream, ready to bleed to prove to these things that she was not some angel. They had the wrong person.

"I'm not an angel! I'm not an angel!" Iris shrieked, unwilling to watch her dearest friend be slaughtered by the creature coming for them.

She did not have to witness it. Dante appeared, and came to their rescue, as he always managed to do. The demon said something strangely cryptic, and Dante killed it. Relief flooded her as the pounding at the door stopped, and the demons turned to dust and disappeared, just leaving the ruined room and the three people in it. Iris was less concerned with Dante being nude than Iris was, and she turned her attention to Mara instead of on Dante, as much as she enjoyed the view.

"Yeah, but it's not the first time I've seen it, so it's not as interesting," Iris said, before her face turned red, realizing she had admitted that she had peeked at him while he was changing.

Thankful that she was able to concentrate on Mara's shoulder, she looked at the wound, yanking some cloth from her already torn nightgown and gently wiped some of the blood away. Her fingers touched the wound gently, and a strange gold glow began emanating from her fingers. It felt impossible to pull away for that moment, and when she could move again, the wound on Mara's shoulder was healed. Forgetting all about her embarrassment a moment ago, Iris pulled her hands to her chest, clenching them together.

"What...what was that?"

Strangely enough, it had felt like she had been doing something, not Mara at that point. Something welled up inside her as she had touched Mara's shoulder, and it was like her desire to see her friend be healed had come out through her fingers. But that was impossible. Her face turned ashen as the very real possibility came to her that these demons...were right? How was that possible? How could it be?

Iris's legs gave out under her, and she sank to the floor. It could not be true. Her parents were normal people. She was a normal person. All of her life she had been a normal person. This...this was impossible.

[MadxHatterxTeapot]

That intense feeling of possession soon dissipated from him. While the tension no longer lingered, he didn’t know what came over him. Yes you do, you idiot. You let the beast take over your hormonal control.’ Holding up his hand, Dante stared at it for a moment. There was the sinking feeling in his gut where he worried the demon side of him would make him lose touch with reality and what was around him. He was covered in a mixture of demon blood and dust. Somewhere in the near future, he was going to need another shower.

Shaking off his disgust, he turned his attention to the two girls; one was bleeding and the other (his ward) was trying to pull herself together. Between Mara and Iris, he was certain the violinist was less shaken up than her friend. Somewhere during the battle, his sharp hearing caught the lust whisper something to the darker haired girl and she was ready to put up some kind of fight. If his instinct was correct, the violin was some kind of defense mechanism. How else would the other bandmates have been affected by it?

While he may have still been naked, it didn’t stop Dante from fumbling for the robe he left lying around on the floor to bring over to Iris. A demon had touched her inappropriately, the least he could do was give her some level of comfort. As he approached with the pink silk in hand, he stopped short and stared in disbelief. Mara, too, held that same expression as the devil hunter. A white glow appeared from the songstress’ fingertips and slowly the wound slowly closed itself.

When the magic subsided, Dante stood there dumbfounded along with Mara before Iris lost her composure and collapsed. “Hey,” The demon hunter sputtered, dropping to the floor to help her stand up. He seemed a bit unnerved by all of this. His head turned back towards the door, scowling in annoyance. Where the hell was Fenix? His top star was almost killed in this mess and the guy didn’t even show an ounce for concern with all this commotion? “Some manager…” He muttered to himself before reaching forward to place a hand on her shoulder. “Listen…I don’t know what that was…” He exhaled a sharp breath, surveying the mess in the room. The curtains were torn, there was demon dust littering the room, and he was pretty sure he could kiss half of his pay check away paying for the incidentals. “But…I’m gonna stick around until we figure out what kind of s**t you are in.”

He promised he wouldn’t let himself get attached, this was business…not some damsel in distress he could rescue and sweep off her feet. A girl like Iris didn’t have time for a thug like him. “Promise. Don’t care if Fenix won’t pay me more. My job is to protect people and hunt demons. You got that, babe?”

Seeing Dante handle Iris’ trauma, Mara could focus on the place where the Iris healed her wound. She was still shaking from the after effects of the attack. Even though her best friend was now safe, she hadn’t even felt the tears stinging at her eyes. If she lost the one person she cared most about…she wasn’t sure if she could live with herself. I lost my family…I can’t lose her too.

Gasping softly, the violinist pulled herself together and glanced down at the bloody mess on her ankle. Though most of the blood dried by now, she was certain that she’d be limping for a while. The demon had left a bruise in its wake and she wasn’t going to risk infection. Despite all of this, she caught Dante’s whisper about Lionel Fenix and she wondered if he had the same suspicions as she. Shaking her head, she crawled over towards Iris and wrapped her arms around her tightly. “It’s okay…” She murmured, keeping the violin close between them. “It’s okay.” She rocked her gently. “We’ll take care of this…we’ll take care of you.”

[Minaarchangel]

Iris could not think of anything to say. She was...who knew what she was? Who knew whether she was even human? And she had nobody to ask, nobody who would tell her the truth. Instead, she was just left wondering what the hell was going on, what had happened to her. Was she some kind of monster? She barely heard their words, and felt Mara put her arms around her, looked down to see her friend's injured ankle.

Maybe it was a fluke? Maybe it was just all a strange hallucination that they had all experienced. To test that hope, that theory that somehow she knew was not true at all, Iris reached out and touched Mara's ankle, willing it to heal her. To really force it. Once again, the golden white light glowed, and the wounds closed, the bruises faded. That confirmed it, and it made her get to her feet, ashen as her face was, her hands shaking as she clenched her nightgown closed.

"I'm some kind of monster," she breathed, shaking her head. "You...you both have to go. I'll get you killed."

She got no chance to say anything else, because there was pounding on the door, and it was forced open by security, with Lionel charging in right after them, dressed in silk pajamas with a cashmere robe over his clothing, looking like he might have just lost his meal ticket. He was relieved when he saw Iris standing there, her nightgown torn, Mara in the room, Dante completely naked. For a moment he wondered if she had been sleeping with the half demon, but knew that Iris was far too modest to fall into that kind of trap having only known the man a few hours.

Instead, he rushed to Iris's side, putting an arm around her. Iris was in too much shock to do anything but move away from him, to go over to Mara, hold out a hand to her so she could get up. Lionel frowned, but let her do what she wanted. Keeping her from Mara would only traumatize her further. The orders had been to attack, not to attempt to kill her. He wanted Dante to be protective of her, so that when opposing forces moved in, he would be compelled to protect her no matter what.

"Someone reported screaming coming from up here," he said with a frown. "I was paged in the hotel restaurant from my evening tea. Are you okay, Iris?"

"Dante saved my life," she said softly as security checked for any intruders, then left, calling for cleaning crews.

"That's his job, I'm glad to see he's doing it," Lionel replied. "Mr. Dante, we'll take care of the damages, since you seemed concerned previously that your fees would be garnished for such things. I do appreciate you doing your job, as unorthodoxly as you seem to do it."

Cleaning crews were there almost immediately to clean up. They swept, they vacuumed, they changed the beds, and Lionel watched with the impassive emotion of someone used to having everything done for him and only thinking it was right. Iris clutched at Mara, not willing to let her go. She knew she should have, she should have sent her and Dante both far away because she cared about them. It almost knocked her over to realize that despite the small amount of time that she had known him, she did indeed care about Dante.

"Mara..." she said softly. "Don't go...please."

[MadxHatterxTeapot]

Speak of the devil and he shall appear. Lionel Fenix always showed up when it seemed convenient for him. When the devil hunter felt like he finally had control of the situation, Iris started to lose her s**t. Okay, well if she hadn’t lost her s**t after the first attack, she definitely was ******** gone now. He could feel that sense of possession looming over him again when Lionel scooped the terrified girl up in his arms.

It seemed that Iris was more of a pawn for her manager to play with than anything. Somewhere that burned Dante deep within and it vaguely reminded him of how he felt about his father…and his relationship with his mother. It also seemed odd that he just now showed up with all of this “security” and these “cleaning” people. How in the hell did they expect to replace the ******** up couch? Were they just going to move the furniture in the middle of the night?

While he enjoyed the 30 million he was getting paid, Dante clicked his tongue. The corner of his mouth twitched slightly in contempt. “You know, Fenix. I’m here to protect your client, not cause her anymore trauma then she’s already been through.” Reaching for his pants that were on the floor, he pulled his trousers back around his hips and held them in place. “Speaking of taking care of client, what the hell took you so long anyways? This s**t should have been heard throughout the whole building?”

As Dante argued this, Mara squeezed Iris’ hand and tugged at her a bit in an attempt to get her away from Lionel. She hadn’t believed that her shoulder was healed at first, but after she touched her ankle, she knew this wasn’t going to go away for her friend. She tilted her head and furrowed her brow with worry at her friend. “It’s okay…” She whispered softly. “There’s…there’s nothing wrong with you.” She murmured softly, and tugged at her again, hoping she would come away from their manager. “You’re fine…it’s just…” The violinist glanced back at Dante before she offered a small smile. “A supernatural occurrence.” It was the plea that killed her though, but she knew no matter what…Lionel would try to pull them apart.

That was his plan all along right? Somewhere he was going to get rid of Mara and she knew it. Whether it was the dreams she had, the constant warnings from her violin, or the fact that Dante didn’t like the guy. She knew her life was in danger, but she stayed for Iris’ sake and her safety.

The control that this douchebag exhibited over the situation finally bubbled over. Iris’ outburst about being a freak touched Dante in a way he wanted to avoid, but it seemed inevitable. With his pants back on, he moved to give Lionel a light shove and pulled her from his grasp. “Look, pal. You ain’t doing her any favours by hovering over her. Right now, the police are probably downstairs, wanting questions answered. There’s probably some concerned fans too. You hired me to protect her, I’m gonna do my job. That includes continuing to do this s**t that you’re not qualified to do. Isn’t that why you’re paying me anyways?” He could feel his throat get dry and his gut churn in some disgust. “Did you even think to ask if she was okay, man?”

“Enough.” Holding her hands up, Mara stepped between Dante and Lionel at this point. Though her tone was calm, she was firm on this issue. She was unsure if it was wise for her to do so, but she knew that if she didn’t stop this confrontation…there may have been hell to pay; literally. “We…have all had a very stressful night. Perhaps…Mr. Dante is right, Lionel. The press will…want answers. Don’t you think?”

[Minaarchangel]

Mara was tugging at her hand, but Lionel was holding on to her, in an attempt to soothe her, she suspected. He was trying his best, it was not up to her to tell him that it was not working all that well. She let him hold onto her until Dante pushed him away and pulled her out of his grasp, so that she was standing alone while he barked at Lionel, and Mara tried to make peace. It was just so hard to handle right now, that the demons had been right. She was something else, some kind of monster. Iris was not self centered enough to think she was an angel.

Lionel took a couple steps back, adjusting his robe a bit when he had gotten his balance once again. It was tempting to just attack Dante right now and get it over with, to rip the heart out of the violinist after he broke every single bone in both her hands, to take Iris and just lock her away, his pretty, perfect little key waiting to be used until the right moment. It was very tempting to lock Iris away in a cage somewhere and keep her until he needed her. But he just stared right into Dante's eyes as he straightened up.

"I can clearly see she's alive and well, Mr. Dante. I don't need to insult her by asking if she's okay physically, and I can only assume such an event would harm her emotionally. It would be cold and crass to assume it would not."

Mara stepped in between them, and he was loathe to leave them alone. But he nodded slightly, "Mara, will you stay with her?"

That would throw the little b***h off his scent for a while. Asking her to stay would not be something he would do if he was trying to isolate Iris or separate the two of them.

"We'll push back the video shoot a day. We have the time. I want you two to rest tomorrow. No working."

Patting Mara's shoulder, he went over to Iris and slipped off his robe, wrapping it around her shoulders so that she was completely covered. As it was a man's robe and not her size, it was much too long, and came to the floor on her, but it was covering, and she pulled it close around her body. She could not see him throw Dante a victorious smile from where he was standing, and he made sure to give her a hug, too, before he left her with Mara and Dante.

Iris held the cashmere robe around her body, shivering despite not really being cold. It was fear that had her shaking like that. Fear of the demons that seemed to be able to come after her no matter where she was. Fear of whatever she was, whatever kind of freak that she was. Fear of Mara going away, leaving her alone because of the trouble that followed her around. Fear of Dante leaving because she was too much damn trouble. She tried to get herself under control, her hand clenched into a fist so tightly that her nails were digging into her palm, her fist shaking.

"Are the bedrooms usable?" she asked one of the cleaning crew.

"Yes ma'am. We've changed the sheets, and cleaned up the area. The curtains will be replaced in the master suite and then the room will be usable until tomorrow, when we move in new furniture."

"Thank you," she said with a nod.

Iris walked over to the bar, the robe trailing behind her as she filled a glass with ice, and poured in vodka on top, adding cranberry juice so it was drinkable, and she downed it in one drink. She then made herself another, nursing this one a little slower, but she finished it off within a minute and made a third. That was a better idea than dwelling on the strange powers she seemed to have.

[MadxHatterxTeapot]

It was so tempting to just reach over and smack the s**t out of Lionel Fenix. If Dante could pick between the 30 million dollars and punching this douchebag in the face, he’d pick the former over the latter any day. ******** 30 million, some other clients would come and offer him some money to do demon hunting. Enzo, despite being a little s**t, could pick and choose them. He clenched his fists a bit before relenting.

“When you assume it makes an a** out of you and me…” He grumbled, gripping Rebellion in his hand tightly. Mine. Mine. Miiiiine He grunted in discomfort at the beast within wanting Lionel gone from the room. The need to possess Iris nearer to him was being a little harder to ignore. “Regardless of whether you ask her or not, you still should make sure she’s going to be okay in the future.” He tensed a bit, gritting his teeth despite Mara’s best efforts to quell the tension between the two men.

He jerked himself away from the violinist before he said anything else. He ruffled his white locks a bit before skulking over towards the minibar. He needed a drink himself at this point.

Rubbing her wrists out of a nervous habit, Mara glanced warily at Lionel. She would have sooner told him that she could have done a better job, were she not so careful with her words. “Y-yes, I’ll stay with Iris.” The last person I want her staying with is you… She wrinkled her nose a bit in discomfort, disguising her distaste for the man before he was gone.

Iris it seemed was at a loss for her own words and the next thing Mara knew, the other girl was mixing herself a drink, followed by another…then another. Wait. Was she going on number four? Fumbling over to the counter, she set the violin on the marble top.

“Iris…” Mara’s tone was soft, yet firm. “Iris, stop that.” Reaching forward, she attempted to take the bottle of vodka from her best friend. “It’s going to be all right, we’re with you and I’m not going to let anything happen to you.”

“Hey.” Dante put his hand between the two girls and the liquor bottle. Blue eyes settled on Mara and then Iris. “Look, you want to drink away your problem. That’s your business, but…” He attempted to tug the bottle form her grasp. “…don’t use it as a crutch.” There were a few times when he had been in the starlet’s position. He’d seen that same disturbed look in him that he struggled with on a regular basis.
“Mr. Dante…” Mara gave him a leveled look, her arms crossing in front of her before he held up a hand towards her, pointing towards the bathroom.

“Look…just, give me five minutes. Okay?” He asked, nodding in the direction he wanted Mara to go. “Alone.” Pursing his lips, he reached for Iris’ shoulder and gave a squeeze. His gaze didn’t leave the violinist’s until he cleared his throat. “…Please?”

Reluctant as she was to leave Iris, Mara pinched the bridge of her nose and slowly nodded. She grasped Iris’ hand and pointed towards the bathroom. “I’m…I’m gonna go look at the damage. I’ll be right in there…and…and Mr. Dante will be right here. We’re not going to leave you and…we’ll be here for you.” Glancing at the devil hunter, she slowly nodded towards him. “…No matter what.” Her hand gradually slipped from Iris’ before she was off towards the shower.

This left Dante and Iris alone for the moment. With the bottle of vodka in hand, he lifted it up to make her another drink and then one for himself. “…Mind if I tell you something personal?” He asked her, shaking up the cranberry juice into her drink before passing it off to her. Blue eyes settled on her shaking frame. “…That flying bit I did earlier,” He began. “…That s**t isn’t natural either.” He assured her. “And my wounds? I didn’t douse myself in that stuff I mentioned earlier…”

[Minaarchangel]

"I am an adult and if I want to have a goddamn drink after a night like tonight, I'm going to have it, Mara," Iris replied, jerking the bottle of vodka away from her so hard that it swished and plunked in the bottle. It was some kind of expensive vodka, and it would have probably be find if she had downed it straight, but she needed that bit of cranberry juice.

Suddenly, she was just so damn tired of everyone telling her what to do, everyone telling her that she was supposed to do this or go there or do this and that and she was sick of it. Iris turned on Dante then glaring at him full force.

"Yeah, god forbid I have anything to lean on. That I take comfort in anything. Iris is fine, Iris can just go through hell and be normal. Iris doesn't have any ******** feelings at all and when she does show them, she's using something as a crutch. Well maybe I don't care that it's a crutch, Dante. Monsters don't get to go to therapy for three hundred dollars an hour and sit on someone's couch and talk about how they never got to know their father."

She threw the glass then. She had no clue why, maybe because she was angry. Maybe because she was afraid of herself. Probably both. It shattered against the wall behind the bar and dripped pale pink vodka and cranberry juice down the wall while broken glass littered the ground. Iris turned away from the both of them and leaned on the counter of the bar, her arms crossed over the black lacquered surface, her head resting on her arms. Mara took her hand and Iris nodded silently as she said she was going to go check out the damage, not just saying that she was going to give them time together.

"Go ahead," she said quietly when he asked if he could tell her something personal.

Iris winced as he talked about the things he could do. As if she had not figured that out on her own. Then again, she was the stupid little pop idol who knew how to do nothing but prance around on stage and sing words that meant nothing. He probably felt like he had to small words too. She was so damn irritated with everything right now, she kind of wanted the demons to come back. She wanted to be far away and closed away all at the same time.

"I kind of figured that out," she muttered, taking the drink, lifting her head on occasion and sipping from it. He at least had the decency to make it a good strong drink and not one of those piddly princess drinks that other people always made. It was at least half vodka.

She glared at the stains of cranberry juice on the wall, "I'm not just upset over the fact that I'm a goddamn monster. I'm upset over the fact that I am frequently being told what to do when I'm supposed to be the person in charge. I'm supposed to be the star, and I'm nothing more than someone to be ushered around and told what to do by everyone who thinks they know what's best for me. Maybe I just want something that I want, for once. I doubt that crosses anyone's minds. What does Iris want? Well she obviously wants to be told what to do all the ******** time."

Taking a breath, she tried to calm herself down, putting her head back down on her arms, "I'm a freak. Whatever those demons think is wrong with me probably is. Not that it's going to do me any good. Next time..."

Her chin quaked for a moment, her lips too, "Next time just let them tear my heart or whatever they were going to do. It'll be better for everyone."