Two Sides of a Coin. Ok this is my first fanfic. Be brutal. It's based on Devil May Cry (owned by Capcom) and a characters I created (no stealing of them either...especially Amarna DAMMIT)
****
She sat there for a moment frustrated. “Just what do you think you are doing?” She whispered her irritation.
“Shut up!” He hissed softly through clenched teeth.
She stood up, dusted herself off and moved to walk to the door opposite the one he had been staring intently at for the last 15 minutes. He quickly grabbed her arm, making her wince, and pulled her back behind their makeshift hiding spot.
“Look, do you want to get yourself killed? They are going to be coming through that door any second and you do not want to be caught in their line of sight.”
“Sure chide me like an insignificant child like the rest. If you hadn’t observed from the room before or the last five rooms previous, there isn’t a soul, so to speak, here. We should just get to the room containing the girls you’ve been hired to retrieve and you may be on your merry way.”
“’We’ may be on ‘our’ merry way. You are leaving with us remember?”
The door handle on the door he had had his eyes fixed on moments before began to slowly click to announce its opening, which caused him to shift his gaze previous to seeing the disparaging look on her face.
Two bodies emerged into the room and she immediately knew the identity of the first, “Mother!” She didn’t give him the opportunity to keep her quiet. She emerged from the hiding spot as if she had been wandering the halls in quest for Lady Fitzroy.
He was shocked and angry by this but remained quiet to keep from being discovered.
“Amarna! What by Mundus are you doing here and why are you not dressed for the occasion?”
“Mother, my deepest apologies, but I couldn’t quite decide on what to wear and went in search of you for your council. I'm afraid I got lost in thought while looking at stepfather’s portrait.”
Lady Fitroy's fierce looks softened at this and in a moment of nostalgia began to step towards the portrait of the manor’s master, but Amarna fearing the man's discovery, quickly maneuvered to conceal his hiding location, “Ah but I fear that as lost in my thoughts as I was that I had forgotten the time. Please Mother will you help me select something suitable for one as unworthy as myself?”
The Lady Fitzroy’s face quickly hardened as it returned to the present problem of her unfortunate burden. “Come you ungrateful halfwit, for a change you are correct in the fact that we must ensure that you are at least somewhat presentable to his lordship.”
She quickly grabbed hold of Amarna’s wrist none to gently and returned to the door they had originally emerged.
“Lady Esmeralda, my apologies but I must ensure this half-breed doesn’t offend our lordship this evening. Would you do me the honor of assisting in this task? Bah! Look fast girl your tainted blood would stain my gown!”
Lady Fitzroy struck Amarna across the face as if Amarna had intended her wrist to bleed as the result of the nails that were still gripping her wrist. Amarna flinched only slightly from the blow having been used to her mother’s beatings and quickly went to use her own night gown as a means of intercepting the blood.
“My apologies dear mother, I did not mean for my wrist to bleed as the result of your nails digging in my flesh.”
“Shut your mouth whelp, you should be grateful that you are still alive. If it wasn’t for him”, Fitzroy pointed to the portrait, “you would have been a regretful memory. Now move your ass or we will be late for the event to which your punishment with grow by leaps and bounds!”
The white-haired man’s blue eyes took on a deadly glare as he watched the Lady Fitzroy kick her daughter and then pull her out of the room. “Damn you. You aren’t getting out of this so easy,” He softly growled.
***
She slid down the wall of her sell and gathered her arms about her knees. “All alone again in this cell. How long is she going to let me continue on ‘being a burden’ to her. It isn’t my fault my father, my real father was a god. I wonder why she didn’t thrust me to the streets or kill me outright prior to anyone discovering me? I wonder what things would have been like if my real mother had lived.”
The party had gone terribly. Not only were the guests awestruck by the notion of a demigod in their midst, but the lineage of said demigod. Lady Fitzroy begrudgingly entertained all of the guest’s questions with a plastered smile and planned Amarna’s punishment to proceed after the festivities had concluded.
She tried to be inconspicuous but how does one do that when one’s hair is tinged with deep purple accents and eyes that depict her birth mothers totem animal, a peacock. In addition, Amarna was uncommonly tall for her nature being only a half foot shorter than the white haired man she had met in study just hours before.
He said he was going to liberate her from this prison and her mother while freeing two women who had been imprisoned with the intention of becoming the night’s sacrifices to Lord Archibald.
A series of blasts and screams told Amarna the man had begun his liberation of the two women and she pursed her lips as if drinking something bitter. It also sounded as if he was taking the entire house with him in his efforts.
She lost no time in dressing herself in a deep rich purple blouse with ornate beadwork, a pair of purple slacks, black knee high boots, and a long darker purple coat. She grabbed the handle of her cell, the lady Fitzroy had long ago had stopped locking it after ensuring that Amarna was well aware that the world did not want her and she would be safer within than without and made her way into the hall.
Without hesitation she ran into the hallway and witnessed Lord Archibald kill the woman she had called mother for most of her life. He yelled at her blaming her for bringing the heresy into his halls. Amarna felt oddly cold to the slaughter of the Lady Fitzroy and her mother’s ladies in waiting, but made sure to remain out of the way to avoid being the next victim of his wrath.
She noticed that something had caught Lord Archibald's attention and watched as he ran to his study with the white-haired man in hot pursuit. But unlike Archibald, the man did catch notice of her, gave her a strange look but chose to follow Archibald instead.
She grabbed an ornate sword off the wall and decided she had best find a spot out of the way until the night’s killings were done and the man and his bounty were off the grounds. She would figure out what to do after that point.
As she made her way she found that the household had now turned on her and was out to kill her as well as the assailant who was rending the demon inhabitants asunder in his wake. She made an concerted effort to avoid as many of the manor's residents as she could on her way to the rooftop and an old hiding spot she used as a child.
On the third floor stairway she caught notice of the white-haired man's red coat-tails and realized he had apparently made quick work of Archibald and must be on his way after her. Damn, why her? What about the two women?
She turned a corner and found a few of the lower demons feasting on the remains of the said women. “Oh of course, thanks a lot you fools. Now he will not stop until the rest of the household is dead to make up for his not being able to save those two. Damn you!” Amarna quickly hacked the heads off the four creatures and resumed her trek to the roof.
As she reached the doors leading to the rooftop she heard a yell from what she assumed was the demon slayer as he discovered the bodies of the women. Great, this would not be a help to her situation as he no longer had any reason to forget about her.
She opened one of the French doors that lead to the rooftop landing which held a lovely rooftop garden and made her way towards her secret hiding spot from her youth. But the only thing Amarna found was a sky beginning to break as a fierce storm began to fall.
The spot she used to use to get away from everything had been changed into a seating area. Fitzroy must have done that after she had finally found Amarna hiding there when she was 12. She slowly looked up into the rain filled sky trying to decide what would be her next move, when she heard click of boot on the stone behind her. This caused her to tighten her grip on her sword but she did not turn to look in the direction of the boot’s owner. Instead she asked simply, “Why do you remain?”
“In short, to finish killing the demons infesting this mansion and terrorizing the village below.”
“Their dead. Go.”
“Oh but you aren’t.”
“I’m not a demon, but if you feel my death would satisfy those foolish monkeys, then get on with it already.”
“Well aware of the bloodline situation. Could smell it the minute I met you,” Amarna grimaced at what she considered an insult. "That is just one reason why you are still alive.”
“Don’t insult me!” Amarna turned around sharply teeth clenched but found herself inwardly gasping at him as the lightning gave him a powerful and unnatural silhouette. She quickly re-gathered her wits and gripped the hilt that much harder, "I am..."
“A prisoner as much as member of this house, I know. Won’t hold it against you, but we better leave soon. The townspeople have found their balls now that I took care of the trash infesting this place and I am not sure what they will leave it standing once they get here.”
Archibald, a bat demon and member of the upper echelon of demons, was a sight to behold on the occasions when he had felt it necessary to summon his true demon form. In recent years, that had been few and far between given the fact that the villagers had not given him call to punish them. But all of that was at an end what with his murder at the hands of this white-haired half breed demon hunter hired by said villagers.
“We? Got a rat in your pants or you think those fools down there are simply going to let me leave this place alive considering what this house has done to them over the centuries?”
“I can be quite persuasive.” The red clad man said swinging his sword in a 360 degree circle beside him with his right arm.
“Naturally.”
“Ok. Let’s roc-“
Amarna charged her right hand and let fly a blast aimed just to the right of his head, “Go to hell with the rest of this place!”
“You bitch! You almost singed my hair! What the hell is your problem!?!”
“As you can see I can take care of myself, so you can either run along and play with the monkey’s or die here by my hand!”
“Cocky aren’t ya honey. Well let’s see what you got,” The guy said as he pulled out his black gun and tapped his sword against his right shoulder.”
Amarna gave him a hard look and jumped backwards effectively leaping from the roof of the mansion.
“What the-!” He ran forward not sure if the purple haired girl knew how to leap like a demon or if she had become a pretty splat on the ground.
Amarna landed in a kneeling position but quickly bolted to and through the front door. She made her way towards Archibald's office where she knew her birthright and true savior would be waiting.
She ignored the debris and bodies of fallen servants as she made her way to location of what now could be considered the tomb of manor's now former lord. She tested the door knob and found it turned easily enough causing the door to open inward allowing her to step through and close the door behind her. She found the charred remains of Archibald easily enough but paid them little attention as she made her way to an ornate sword display positioned behind his grand marble desk. There her birthright rested sheathed and waiting for the day she was to claim it as her own. She dumped the sword she had been carrying on the desk and grabbed for the hilt of her true sword.
As she prepared to free her sword from the wall the door exploded and the white-haired brute walked through the dust and debris. “Honey, I don’t know if you are dumb or just damned lucky, but you are wearing on my last …”
Amarna charged her right hand and sent a purple fireball straight towards his head, “Leave me the hell alone!”
“Woah!” He easily dodged the shot, “No need to get frisky darlin I-!” She fired again as she opted to pull free both sword and scabbard from the wall mount.
“I am not your damned honey and I don’t want your help, so just drop dead!”
She ran towards the window on the southern edge of the room which happened to be just to the right of Archibald’s still smoking body.
“Conversation isn’t closed yet. Now where the hell do you think you’re goin?!?” He began to try intercept her but as if to lend a first and final hand to his pseudo-daughter the body of Archibald sprang up and leapt towards the half-breed demon hunter only to be sundered to ashes by the swing of a sword.
However, the effort had done its job and Amarna successfully leapt through the glass of the ornate window and onto the grass of the estate. She began to run towards the woods but noticed the torches of the townspeople and had to stop to quickly scan for a safer alternate route that would take her away from the jerk in the red trench coat and the monkeys who carried a murderous air about them in addition to the torches. Unfortunately it wasn’t enough time to fully escape her fellow half-breed who pounced upon her, pinning her arms, and carried her away from the very people who had hired him.
"Come on let's get to the bike and get out of here."
She had tried to scream at him but he clamped his right hand over her mouth as he carried her towards his motorcycle. Damn it! Where was he going to take her? How did he expect compliance considering the space for bodies upon the vehicle? She was damned sure she wasn’t going to be a timid little bitch and hang onto his waist as he spirited her away from the only home she ever knew.
She struggled the entire distance from the mansion to the bike and was rewarded with a firm knock against the head with what she assumed was the man’s gun or hilt of his sword. That sent stars to her eyes and then she was out like a light.
*****
She heard the loud roar of an engine and felt the thrumming of tires on wet pavement. She felt strong arms on either side of her but they were not holding onto her, more like stretching past her. Oh yeah, she must be seated in front of the demon hunter and he must have struck her really good to knock her senseless like that. Fitzroy used to beat the hell out of her or at least tried to and she never managed anything greater than a few scratches.
She remained still but he must have been able to sense her regaining consciousness, “We are a few miles from my place. Don’t get any ideas; I tend to get real pissed if anything happens to my bike.”
She didn’t bother to respond, it wasn’t like she any major plans short of getting her sword which she had hoped he had brought with them. Instead, she opened her eyes, willed away the subtle pounding behind them, and looked around towards the city they were driving through towards, “his place”.
“So why do you smell of orchids?”
“Huh?”
“You smell faintly of orchids. That is a bit unusual for a half-breed.”
“Not your concern.”
“Well you sure don’t smell like a full human.” He said as he nuzzled her hair on the right side of her neck and took a deep breath, “Almost intoxicating.”
“Yeah, that would be god smell which is one of only a few gifts my father left me. Not that the smell of orchids does anything to help me. Do you mind?”
“What?”
“I’m not a flower.”
“Oh yeah, well we’re home anyway.” He said as he pressed a button on the right side of his handle bars causing a door to open on a building with a neon sign that read, ‘Devil May Cry’.
“Great...”
“Yeah...well...its home and that’s all that matters to me. Now are you going to make a scene or are you going to get off so I can park this beast?”
“Fine.” Amarna got off the bike and stood there with her arms crossed while the white-haired half-breed turned off the bike’s engine and lowered its kickstand.
He took his turn getting off the bike, grabbed her right arm with his left hand and forcibly walked her through the door that connected the small garage to the rest of the building. Once inside he unceremoniously dumped her on the couch, and continued down the hallway into another room where she heard what sounded like a refrigerator door open and close. She then heard bottle clanking as he re-emerged from the hallway, walked up towards her as she was removing her jacket, and presented her with a brown bottle. She looked up at him confused by the offering, and received “beer” as the response.
She reluctantly took possession of the bottle and turned it so the label faced her. The light in the room was very poor to say the least so reading the brand of whatever this beer was not possible. The man ignored her actions as he twisted the cap off of his bottle, walked over to a desk, dumped himself into the chair, and kicked his feet onto the desktop all while taking a long swig.
“Always drink in the dark?”
“Oh yeah, not used to company,” he responded as he leaned forward and pressed a button on a remote which caused the lights to switch on throughout the room.
“What a sty,” She thought to herself as she surmised the room. Once finished, she resumed looking at the man as he seemed to enjoy his beer.
“Are you going to act like a glorified coaster or you going to drink that?”
She looked down to the bottle in her hands and read the name of the beer, Luther’s Ale. Not something she had heard of before, but then again, since when was she a beer connoisseur. However, instead of opening the bottle, she set it on the floor beside the couch, “Where’s my sword?”
“Safe.”
“May I have my sword?”
“No.”
She took a breath. She hadn’t even been able to read the rune inscription her father had written upon it to call it to life. Now this beau hunk of a half-breed was keeping it from her. Today was ending on the same crap-ass note it had started, so she just sat there.
A contraption on the desk took that moment to make a nuisance by making a weird ringing noise. The man took it in stride, picking up part of it and holding it to his ear, “Yeah? Yeah? No,” a breath, “No. Hey, it wasn’t my fault. I did what I cou…look Enzo, I will talk to you later about this. Fine. I will talk to you later.” He then set the thing back down on its other half. “Damn fat man, like those chicks getting killed was my fault.”
“It was.”
“Huh?”
“If you hadn’t been hell bent on locating me, you could have and would have saved them.”
He looked at Amarna, stood up, walked over to her, leaned over her, and reached out his left arm. She closed her eyes and braced herself assuming he would strike her for her impertinence, but when she heard his footsteps going away from her, she looked at him and then looked down and found he had picked up the bottle instead.
He opened the bottle as he resumed his seat and took a long swig not bothering to say a word in response. This meant he was either too pissed to speak or contemplating the meaning behind her words.
“Welp, I’m hungry. How bout some pizza?”
Or he had completely blown off the conversation. “Pizza?”
“Yeah. And none of that cheap shit neither. I’ll order since you obviously don’t know the local culinary venues.”
He picked up the part of the annoying ringing thing and pressed some buttons on the face of the device, “Hey Vince. Yeah. Yeah. The usual. Yeah. No two pies. Yeah. Yeah. Company. What? Look, just deliver the pies. Later.”
Amarna stood up while he finished up his conversation with whatever he was speaking to on the contraption and proceeded to walk to the door they had come in through.
“Hey, hey! Where are you going?” The man said as he slammed the one piece back onto its base and walked over to intercept her.
Amarna ignored him opening and closing the door leading to the garage behind her. He quickly followed her grabbing her left arm with his and turning her to face him, “Just what are you doing?”
“Looking for my sword so I can get the hell out of here,” She said flatly.
“Well that won’t get you anymore beer and pizza if that’s your aim.”
“She didn’t respond.”
“Ok look,” he said as he ran his right hand through his hair, “bad way to start things off but let’s try to start again. My name is Dante. You are…Amarna right?”
She didn’t respond. The day had been too much for her and she had had enough.
“Come on back and let's get some things squared away,” he said as he ushered her back into the main room of the building.
He had her resume her seat but this time he sat on the cushion to her left. “Look Amarna,” he said her name so fluidly that it was if he had known her always, “its been a rough day. Sorry about your mother, I know the feeling. Mine...was killed when I was real young."
“She wasn't my mother and I bet your mother didn't despise your existence.”
“There is that.”
“Why?”
“What?”
“Why did you take me from there? Why was I spared when everyone else in that place died?”
“Life is full of unanswered questions.”
“Not when the person who did the killing is sitting here trying to console me.”
“Hmmm."
A chime, “Dinner’s here! We’ll chat more later, for now let’s eat!” He shot up and headed for another door that ended up being the front door to the building, fished something from his coat pocket, took a couple of boxes, gave the guy a, “See ya later!”, and closed the door beaming with pride at his new acquisition.
Amarna could only swallow the bitter despair that was starting to fill her being. Here he was being so casual about the day’s events, when she could not even begin to fathom what was going to become of her life.
First, a prisoner with no hope of any kind, then he came and demanded she come with him acting like some sort of savior. Now she was in a strange place with this Dante who acted as if they were a couple of buddies mewing over the days events over supper.
“Am…”
He looked up from his designated box at her.
“Am I a prisoner here?”
“What? No! Of course not!”
“Then, may I use your restroom?”
“Uh…yeah. It’s down the hall on your right.”
Amarna stood up, walked down the hall following his directions, opened the door to said room and closed it behind her as she switched on the light. The bathroom was not the most clean a bathroom should be but then again she didn’t need to use it for its main purpose. She just needed some space. She sat down on the floor with her back to the door, brought her knees to her chest crossing her arms in front of her and wept silently.
After a half hour she heard tapping on the door, “Hey, pizza's getting cold. Amarna? Come on, you've been in there long enough.”
She refused to answer. She just sat there with her forehead leaning on her arms, and eyes puffy from crying but unable to cry anymore.
“Come on, I don’t want to have to bust open my own bathroom door.”
She got a mental image of him busting open the door and her being flung towards a nasty toilet that had yet to be cleaned. She grimaced, stood up and opened the door.
She crossed her arms and bowed her head into her chest as he stepped back and she walked towards the couch in the main room.
Before she got there he wrapped his arms around her causing her to flinch. “It’s ok.” This small measure of kindness, an embrace, had not been something she was used to. It was so alien yet so badly needed. But she didn’t know how to respond. She just stood there not moving so he took the initiative and turned her to face him embracing her securely, and protectively.
***
He did not like the idea of busting open his bathroom door especially since he had just had the thing replaced not too long ago, but when she came out of that room he had almost wished he had just to get out the frustration that swept over him at the pain she must have had to endure just living. He wasn’t much for consoling anyone since the death of his mother. She had been such a loving person before she was so brutally taken from him but it seemed as if he couldn’t quite remember what it was that she did to make everything ok.
He could only watch as this wretched soul walked down the hall and knew that despite their similarities, she was never loved, only hated and despised by those who were supposed to be the closest to her. It was then that he remembered exactly what his mother would do when he was sad. He walked up to Amarna and embraced her. Not saying a word, not needing to. After a moment, knowing she wouldn’t know how to respond to this small act of caring, he turned her to face him and cradled her as if to say that everything would be ok and that she wouldn't have to go through all that again. He wasn’t sure how he would make good on it but he was damned sure it would be a kept promise.
He felt her go slack at that moment and knew that everything had caught up with her and she had passed out in his arms. He picked her up and began to carry her into his room but remembered the sheets needed changing and opted for the couch instead.
He laid her down and covered her with a blanket he had set on the back of the couch. Afterwards, he walked over to a small orb he had sitting on his desk and ran his right hand over it so it began to emanate a soft blue glow and then pressed the remote to the lights leaving the orb to act as a sort of night light. He remembered when his mother had done that for him and how much it had helped.
He took one more look back towards her and found that her expression seemed peaceful in the soft glow of the orb.
He took a breath, collected the pizza boxes and walked to the kitchen. After putting the boxes in the fridge, he walked to a pair of closet doors, pulled out clean sheets, and walked to his bedroom.
After making his bed, he stripped down to his boxer briefs, got into bed putting his hands behind his head, and drifted off to sleep.
After a half hour, he almost jumped out of his skin when he heard screaming and remembered he had left Amarna in the living room. He jumped out of bed and ran down the hall to see what was causing her to scream. He noticed the orb was flickering sporadically as if trying desperately to calm her with little success. He looked towards her and found she was struggling in her sleep and would occasionally cry out as she tried to protect herself from her dreamtime assailant.
He walked over to her and and placed his hands on her shoulders as she screamed again, “Amarna?”
She opened her eyes halfway, mumbled something incoherent, and then closed her eyes. He noticed that she began to calm down as if he was able to offer her a measure of protection from whatever was attacking her in her dreams.
He took another breath and decided that since his sheets were now clean that perhaps it would be best if she had company so he wouldn't end up with another sleepless night. So after collecting her up blanket and all, he walked back to his room taking care to set her down on the right side of the bed so as to not wake her and got into the left side.
He put his hands back behind his head and closed his eyes only to get whacked in the face by the back of Amarna’s right hand. He took it and looked at her as her face, which had started to contort in pain, began to calm at his touch and decided to turn her so her head lay on his chest feeling the tension ease out of her and he fell back asleep.
***
Amarna woke the next morning feeling better than she had felt…ever. It was strange; she had never slept so soundly. She didn’t recall having the same nightmare’s that seemed to plague her since she could remember. She then realized that something or someone was embracing her left hand and shoulder. She opened her eyes and realized she was sleeping with Dante.
SLEEPING WITH DANTE!!!! She looked down and with a sigh of relief realized that despite his bare chest she was still fully clothed. She wondered why he felt the need to bring her to bed with him. She laid there pondering the reasons but they seemed to dissolve and she felt strangely serene. And instead the questions disappeared as she listened to the steady beat of his heart, the regularity of his breathing, and watched as the sun slowly rose through the cheap blinds covering his windows.
Why had she never felt this security before? Oh right. Home wasn’t where her heart had been. Her heart hadn’t really been anywhere. She had closed that part of her off from the rest of the world because to do otherwise would have caused her to fall into an abyss of unyielding despair. Oh yeah, it had threatened that last night when a light and warmth brought her back from the brink. That is when she decided to give herself to its welcoming glow. But as suddenly as it had come it seemed to vanish leaving her to the horrors of her dreams, but when those dreams turned back into to the same nightmares, the light and warmth returned refusing to go and drove the nightmares away. For the first time, she slept a fitful sleep free of regret and sorrow and woke to find Dante.
***
“Hmmm, orchids,” a breathy deep voice emerged from Dante’s chest as he slowly woke.
“Orchids,” Amarna replied softly.
“You ok?”
“Yes. Thank you.”
“Sorry if it seems a bit strange to be sleeping together on the first date.”
“Date?”
“Yeah well...”
“It’s ok. I do mean it though.”
“What?”
“Thank you.”
“For what?”
“Thank you for freeing me from that hellish place. I am sorry you could not save those two women from their fate, but…”
"Yeah...well...I was doing Enzo a favor in trying to rescue them. Guess sometimes you can't save them all.”
“But I am not sure my being liberated was worth the price.”
"Well those girls had plenty of opportunity to make better lives for themselves and avoid getting themselves into that situation. Prostitution may be the oldest profession, but it sure doesn't give ya a long life to look forward to."
“Hmmm.” Amarna slowly sat up, got out of bed and attempted to get the wrinkles out of her blouse but wound up shrugging her shoulders in defeat. She would have to make due until she could find something else to wear.
Dante looked at her, “Yeah next time we’ll have to do without the clothes. They itch.”
Amarna turned her head giving him an irritated look and slowly shook her head as she walked out of the room.
Dante smiled as he took a deep breath taking in the remnants of orchids as it slowly dissipated with her leaving.
After a half hour of not being able to fall back to sleep, Dante turned his head towards his window as sunlight began to invade his room ray by ray. “Well guess its time to get up.” He turned his head to look at the clock and noticed how early it was and how unused he was to getting up at this time but then again he wasn’t in the habit of going to bed so early either.
He got out of bed and pulled on a pair of black jeans from his closet along with a black t-shirt, strode out of the room barefoot and into the smell of breakfast cooking? His stomach grumbled in renewed life and he wondered where she had gotten groceries since he was pretty sure aside from the pizza and beer, his fridge was bare.
He walked into the kitchen and found that Amarna had a brown bag beside the stove, along with a carton of eggs, a pad of bacon sitting beside several links of sausage, and a loaf of bread. He looked at the table and found plates already set out, a pitcher of orange juice, glasses, and croissants giving off a slight amount of steam as they sat in a bowl.
"Where the hell?"
"Hmm? Oh glad you're awake. Do you like your eggs scrambled, sunny side up, poached? How dark do you like your toast? Bacon or sausage?"
"Uh...", he sat down in the chair closest to him and continued to stare dumbfounded, "Scrambled, just don't burn it, both?"
"Ok." After a minute, Amarna walked a plate over to Dante, set it in front of him and walked back over to the stove.
He hesitantly picked up a fork as he looked from Amarna to the food and back to Amarna, "Where did you get all of this?"
"Told that fat little piglet Enzo to pick me up a few things or I would carve him up, use his guts for rope, and hang him with them. By the way, the money he promised you is on your desk."
Dante had been drinking some of the orange juice and almost had it shoot out of his nose upon hearing her answer, "What the hell?!? Why did you do that?!?"
"Little mole was getting too familiar with me."
Amarna turned off the stove, and walked back to the table, set down her plate as well as herself, and poured herself a glass of orange juice.
"You didn't hurt Pudgy the meal ticket did you?"
"Oh no when you have your hands on the matter...or his matter...and making him aware that you are not one of the whore's he enjoys, he becomes quite amendable."
Amarna seemed to be treating the situation quite casually so Dante figured aside from the humiliation, Enzo was probably no worse for wear.
After they were finished eating, Amarna took all of the dishware and began washing dishes. Dante sat at the table feeling somewhat nostalgic for the days when he and Verg would sit at the breakfast table coloring or playing with their toys while their mother would clean up after one of the families meals. After a minute he took a breath, stood up, and walked down the hall to the office. He noticed a wad of cash sitting in the middle of the desk and smiled at the thought of yet another woman getting the better of Enzo.
Dante walked over to the desk, picked up the wad, pulled a few bills of various worth, set them on top of his wallet also sitting on the desk, and walked over to a faded picture of some long forgotten water way. He opened the picture that turned out to be a small door revealing a wall safe that was about an inch smaller on all sides than the picture. Almost absent mindedly he turned the combination, opened the safe, threw the money inside, closed the lot, and returned to the desk.
He picked up his wallet, set the money inside, tossed the wallet back on his desk, and dumped himself into his desk chair kicking his feet up afterwards.
Amarna picked that moment to walk into the room wiping her hands off on a small hand towel and sat down on the sofa she had used the night before.
After a few minutes of silence, "Do you think the mansion was raised to the ground?"
"Hmm possible."
"Would it be possible for us to go check?"
"What for?"
"I have only the clothes on my back and its not likely that they alone will get me very far."
"That's not true."
"How do you figure?"
"You have a coat and a sword too."
"Just point me in the direction of the mansion. I promise to return when I have found out if I have anything salvageable."
"I was just kidding, we'll go after a bit."
"What's stopping us now?"
"Full from breakfast."
Amarna gave Dante a bland look, "Are you kidding me?"
Dante laced his fingers behind his head and stretched out in his chair in response.
"Fine. Catch up when you're not bloated."
Amarna grabbed her coat from the arm of the sofa where she had left it and walked to the front door only stopping when she remembered, "My sword."
No answer. Ok he was going to be a dick about it. Fine. She opened the front door, looked at Dante who did not appear to be paying attention, and closed the door behind her.
****
"Last time I make that stupid jerk breakfast. Lazy bastard."
Amarna grumbled as she pulled on her coat and stomped down what she assumed was the direction to her home. After a half hour and scaring off three people she had asked for directions she was starting to wonder if her home was still standing.
Another fifteen minutes rolled by when she heard the tail tale sign of Dante's bike motoring down the road and decided to take a side street to avoid him. He was going to behave like a dick, then he could worry just as well when he didn't find her walking along side the road.
She stood with her back against a wall still rain slick from the rain last night and waited as Dante rode past, and continued to wait another fifteen minutes until she was sure he had not picked up her scent. When she thought the coast was clear, she cautiously stepped back onto the sidewalk and right into Dante who was propped against his bike with his arms and legs crossed as he patiently waited.
"Dirty bastard! How long?"
"Not too long. Took me a minute to figure out that your scent got real strong then disappeared."
"So you decided to walk your bike back here and wait?"
"Astute."
"Always." She shook her head as she walked past him fuming at the fact that had she had a spare set of clothes she may have been able to take a shower and her scent wouldn't have been quite so easy to trace.
"Bike's faster yanno." Dante replied as he pushed his bike along beside her.
"Really Mr. Obvious?"
"Easter bunny is dead too by the way."
She gave him a bland look.
"Took out Santa last year by accident."
She took a breath continuing to try to ignore him.
"Yanno I could just do what I did last night and get us there much sooner."
She stopped, "Oh yeah I meant to thank you for the headache," and she nailed him with a left hook.
Now had she been just a regular human or half-demon, he would have thought nothing of it, but being a demigod does have its perks and he discovered this as he landed on his butt while Amarna quickly took a booted toe to the kickstand of the bike preventing it from joining him.
"You bitch!!!"
"Ta Brutus!" Amarna gave a slight wave of her left hand as she took off running towards the hill she recognized as her old home.
*****************************************
This is my work. Any touching and so help me I will hunt you down!!!!
Later!
