Devil May Cry 1. Chapter 1

**Okay, first of all: English is my second language, so if you find any mistakes, please tell me. Because sometimes, when I'm checking, my bugged brain automatically corrects some mistakes and I end up missing them.  
Second… I don't know if there is anything else to say. lol. Well, I hope you enjoy!**

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Devil May Cry. OMG, REALLY?! Yeah, Really.**_

* * *

**Chapter 1**

A girl was in the bathtub enjoying the warm water and trying to remember if she still had anything to do on that day. She put her head underwater and closed her eyes. That was when the memory of a house engulfed in flames hit her and she felt the urge to emerge and catch her breath. Then somebody knocked on the door, causing her to jump.

"Get out of this bathroom already! I hope you're not sinning in there!"

"What?" The girl sighed and hit a palm against her forehead. "No! I'm… Mother, I'm just taking a bath!" She yelled back.

"A really long one! We have to go to church, hurry up!" Johanna was a 40-year-old very religious woman. She had long brown hair, green eyes, and always wore light colored clothes.

"I'm not going anywhere!" She rolled her eyes and took a deep breath and whispered to herself: "Jeez, just leave me alone…"

"You'll go to Hell if you don't go to the Lord's house to pray and ask for forgiveness!" She still didn't have anything to ask forgiveness for, but if that woman kept talking, she would definitely kill her.

"I'll send you a postcard when I get there!" Johanna took her crucifix pendant and held it in her right hand.

"You will end up just like your aunt!" And finally took off after yelling.

"At least Aunt Tara is happy…"

Phoebe was a very pale, taller than average and skinny 16-year-old girl. She had bluish green eyes and wavy dyed black shoulder-length hair with purple locks. She was the guitarist of her rock band. That would be enough reason to drive her mother crazy, however, there was also the fact that she'd always be at the principal's office for picking up a fight. Or for threatening anyone who called her 8 year-old-cousin a nerd. Even though he really was one.

When the girl finally finished her bath, she wrapped herself in a towel and walked towards her bedroom while combing her hair. She stopped midway when she heard some weird noises coming from the hallway closet. Phoebe arched an eyebrow and approached it, carefully knocking on the door.

"Oh, hi!" She rolled her eyes, recognizing her aunt's voice.

"What the Hell are you doing in there?"

"Uhm… Nothing? Just… looking for clothes." Tara was in her 30's, had long natural black hair always tied up in a messy bun. She and Phoebe had basically the same traits, except for the violet eyes and her incredible body. Seriously, every men would stare at her and crash the car or be hit by one. Usually she wore long dresses with a thigh-high slit.

"You're not doing some weird mojo or whatever-you-call-it in there, are you?" Sometimes, Tara would try some sort of black magic, and said some weird stuff while doing it. That was why Johanna hated her so much. She was her husband's sister with nowhere to live, though, so she had to deal with it.

"Okay, you got me! Now, shoosh!" That didn't fell right so she decided to play along.

"Jeez, okay. See ya later." Then she pretended to step away. A few seconds later, Phoebe heard a male voice mumbling something. "A-ha! You're having sex in there!" She was also some kind of nymphomaniac. Well, to sum it up: Tara wasn't exactly normal. "Oh my God! You're having sex! Some of my coats are in there! Ugh…"

"Oh God…"

"Did you just say that because of me or because of him!?"

"Phoebe, just go find something to do!" The woman was having a bad time trying to control her partner's mouth.

"No way! You have a bedroom, y'know!"

"Yeah, and if I'm there with a guy, you start complaining 'cause Billy's bedroom is right next to mine and blahblahblah!" The girl sighed and hit a palm against her forehead. Why did she have to bring all these men home?

"Okay, okay… I'll take Billy to the park."

"Oh, thank you! You're the best niece in the whole world!"

"Shut up." If that door was open, Tara would see her deadly glare.

Phoebe finally went to her bedroom, put a black tank top, a pair of black boots and a red plaid skinny pants on and knocked on her cousin's door.

"What is it, Aunt Johanna?"

"It's me, Billy!"

"Phoebe!" He cheerfully yelled as he opened the door and threw his arms around her waist. Billy, whose name was actually William, was a green-eyed blond boy. He had some freckles on his face and had to wear glasses.

"Hey, how about we go to the park?" He seemed a little disappointed.

"Now? I'm doing my homework…" And that was why he was called a nerd.

"Oh, c'mon, it'll be fun!" He waved his head clearly saying 'no'. The girl sighed.

"Okay… How about some ice cream?"

"Getting better…" Just like his mother.

"Then… What is your homework about?"

"Giraffes!"

"Then we can go to the zoo!"

"Yay! You're the best!" His eyes shined and he hugged her. She just laughed and hugged him back.

* * *

Meanwhile, on the other side of the city, there was a white haired 18-year-old boy enjoying his delicious pizza while listening to some rock music. He was trying to push away the thoughts about how it had been a few weeks since the Temen-ni-gru incident, the last time he saw his brother, until someone opened the door yelling like the zombie apocalypse had just started.

"Dante, I need you to do something for me!" Why did he nickname her Lady anyway? She would never be one.

"Hello, Lady. I'm fine, thanks for asking." He grabbed another bite of his pizza and kept staring at her.

"Haha." She crossed her arms and approached the half-breed very dangerously. "There's a pack of demons a client wants me to get rid of."

"Wow, you can't deal with a pack of demons? Losing your touch, babe?" He smirked, causing the girl to grab her pistol and aim it at his head. "Whoa, slow down!"

"I would deal with the pack, Dante. But there is a bigger and more powerful demon controlling them."

"Okay, now you have my attention. Where's the party?" He quickly put his red coat on and grabbed his weapons.

* * *

"I don't think the zoo is this way…" Billy was frightened. He had never been to that part of the city before and now he knew why: it was dark and it felt like they would be attacked at any moment. Phoebe looked cool, but on the inside she was extremely pissed off for being lost, even though she wouldn't admit it.

"I already told you we're taking a shortcut."

"We're lost." She crossed her arms and stared at him deadly.

"No. We're not." Then the girl felt something weird and widened her eyes. She couldn't describe it; it was like she had been hit on the head without feeling any kind of pain.

"… Are you okay?" Phoebe put her index finger on his mouth and looked around, trying to find anything suspicious. That feeling wouldn't go away even though they were alone on the street. Her heart was about to jump out of her chest.

"Run." She didn't mean to say that, the words just got out of her mouth.

"What?"

She finally saw it. It was like a huge shadow with big claws and red eyes, coming out from one of the alleys. There were other small shadows coming from behind it, making their way towards the cousins.

"RUN!" They turned around only to see more of those hideous creatures. Billy was already shivering.

"WE'RE GONNA DIE!" Screaming like that was one terrible idea. One of the creatures focused on him and started to move even faster. "OH MY GOD!" For the first time she was able to see what those things looked like. They were like melted puppets holding big and scary scythes. It finally hit her: they were demons.

"Dammit." Her hands were hot, almost burning. Phoebe had do control it, Billy would end up getting hurt if she didn't. However, if she couldn't find a way to get them out of there, they were both going to die. "Billy, stay behind me." He did what he was told to and she watched as her right hand looked like it was on fire. She stretched her arm quickly towards the closest demon and the fireball hit him a second later.

"H-how did you do that?!" The boy widened his eyes. "Amazing!"

The girl kept attacking them with fire, however, they were too many and the ones that managed to dodge were getting really close. Suddenly a demon jumped very high and was prepared to attack Billy on his way back to the ground. Phoebe didn't think twice: she hugged him, shielding the boy from the blow with her body. She screamed when she felt the skin of her back being ripped apart by the scythe. Fortunately, it wasn't that deep. That weird feeling hit her again, but this time it felt like something even more powerful was on its way.

"Get out of here." She whispered to her cousin before shooting a blast of fire against the creature that hurt her. "I'll keep'em busy… and you run." Phoebe was having a hard time trying to catch her breath and the fact that she could feel the blood running down her back wasn't helping.

"But—"

"GO!" He nodded and ran as fast as he could, he would never leave her alone, though, so he hid behind a dumpster a few meters away. Her vision was starting to get blurry so it was getting harder and harder to hit the demons. She could feel that powerful creature getting closer, but she didn't have the strength to run. A demon was able to reach and catch the girl, throwing her body against a wall with ease, making her hit her head. Everything went dark in a blink.

The rest of the infernal creatures were making their way to the girl quickly. Even if she was already dead, they would love to tear that pretty skin apart and enjoy the smell of blood. They stopped, however, when a spinning sword hit a few of them and came back to its owner.

"I gotta admit it, Lady. This looks like fun." The brunette beside him rolled her eyes and took her guns.

"Just take care of the big guy and I'll take care of the rest."

"Ha. I'll finish'im off and there'll be plenty of time for me to slay some of your lesser demons, Ma'Lady." Dante propped Rebellion on his shoulder and smiled.

"We'll see about that." She started shooting as soon as she finished the sentence.

In the end he was frustrated for finishing the big demon off in a couple of blows: another boring job brought to you by Lady, ladies and gentlemen. Also, he slayed way more demons than she did. The half-demon was about to make fun of the girl when she stopped to examine the floor.

"Was it… Recently burned?"

"What?" He laughed. "Don't try to change the subject… This wall over here is also burned." Dante whistled while looking at the damage. "Definitely not made by those demons."

"Oh God…" There was a girl lying on the ground. How could they have missed something like that? Dante still had no clue of what was going on until he saw her kneeling besides a body.

"Is that a…? Damn."

"No, wait!" Lady quickly took her pistol and aimed at the direction of the voice. She lowered it when she realized it was a little boy. "Please… Help my cousin!" He was about to cry.

"Look, kiddo—" At that exact moment the girl he thought was dead had a few seconds of consciousness and moaned in pain. "… She's a zombie." The blond boy frowned. "Lady, go call the ambulance."

"We have to take her to your shop first."

"What!? Why?"

"Because she's the one who made those burning marks." The devil huntress grabbed her hand and showed it to him. The skin wasn't burnt, even though there were embers on it.

"And things just got interesting again." He smiled.

* * *

When Phoebe finally regained consciousness her eyes opened slowly, but she had to blink a few times before the blurred vision would go completely away. Her head hurt like Hell, and to her surprise when she touched the wounded spot on her forehead it was bandaged. The girl looked at the ceiling and saw a fan spinning very slow. She had never seen that fan before. What the fuck was going on?

She looked down and realized she was lying on a couch and her torso was also bandaged. Well, if she had been kidnapped, at least they were nice. No, wait. What if she really had been kidnapped? She sat up and started looking around desperately. Now she remembered the demons' attack, and that Billy was there with her. Where could he be? Her hearts skipped a beat when she saw someone's back. It was a guy. A white-haired, shirtless guy scratching the back of his head and swearing because of a jukebox, apparently.

She instinctively grabbed a bottle that was lying on the floor and, fighting against the pain on her body, silently stood up. Phoebe carefully approached him and raised her right arm, ready to hit the back of his head. At the last second he grabbed her wrist and turned around to face his attacker with a smile on his face.

"A bottle? Seriously?"

With her other hand she reached the pockets of her pants only to find out they were empty. She frowned.

"Looking for this?" He showed her a small dagger.

"No." The next thing she did looked like she was blowing a kiss to him, what would make him feel flattered, really, if it wasn't for the fact that embers hit his eyes, blinding him for a few seconds. Phoebe tried to take the dagger back, however, the white-haired guy grabbed the girl's wrists, turned her around and held them behind her back. "Shit… Look, I don't know what you want. Just let me go."

"Nice, I'm stuck with another crazy girl. You're the one who attacked first!"

"I'm the one who woke up in a place I've never seen before! And where the fuck is Billy?" She could feel her hands burning again.

"The kiddo? He's fine, he's with my friend. Your name is Phoebe, right?" She just glared at him with the corner of her eyes. "That's what he told me." He shrugged. "Name's Dante, by the way."

"I don't give a fuck about your name. Just let me go!" Her hands caught on fire, causing him to apply more pressure on her wrists.

"Stop that!"

"Sometimes I can't control it! Especially when I've been kidnapped by some nutjob who thinks he lives in the 80s!" Now that pissed him off.

"We slayed the fucking demons that were going to kill you, brought you here and bandaged you." He released her wrists and walked towards his desk. "If you still think that we wanna harm you or that annoying kid, be my guest to leave. But before that, you're gonna tell me what the fuck you are." Dante sat on his chair and kept staring at her.

"W-What do you mean?"

He took a deep breath before starting.

"You're not a demon. That's for sure." The devil hunter leaned his forearms on the desk. "What are you then?"

"I-I don't know." Phoebe put one lock of her hair behind her ear as he frowned. "I swear. I don't know! For all I know, I'm human."

"Are you trying to tell me that a bald man in a wheelchair will come right through this door…" He pointed at it. "And ask you to let him talk about his school?" It was her turn to frown.

"… Really?" The girl put a hand on her forehead, she was getting dizzy again and had to sit down on the couch. Somehow she was still feeling the same thing of when she saw those demons.

"Phoebe!" Billy came running from the door and practically jumped on her. It was rather painful.

"Billy, it hurts!" She said almost breathless, he apologized and sat by her side. "Are you ok? Did you get hurt?"

"No, I'm fine!" Phoebe let out a sigh of relief. "She bought me chocolate!" He pointed at the girl who was standing at the door frame. She had short dark hair and a few scars on her body. But what really caught her attention were her eyes: one was green and the other was red. She finally crossed the room and stood in front of Dante.

"That's on you, by the way."

"What?!" He widened his eyes. "It was your idea!" She just shrugged and finally looked at the wounded girl.

"Phoebe, right?" She nodded. "You can call me Lady." Wait, what? Who the Hell would name their daughter 'Lady'? It was probably some joke.

"… Should I call him Tramp, then?" She asked slowly. They both frowned. "Wait, are you serious? 'Lady'?"

"Just. Call. Me. Like. That." She nodded again. "Anyway, I brought you a shirt. Yours is almost all ripped apart, I just put it back on so you wouldn't feel embarrassed." The huntress tossed her a black shirt.

"Thanks." Phoebe stood up and took her old shirt off, tossing it on the floor, causing Lady to widen her eyes and stare at her. "What?"

"Do you just take your clothes off like that?!"

"… I'm bandaged." Dante couldn't help but laugh.

"Y'know, if you weren't that skinny, I think I would like you." He winked while she frowned.

"Okay, let's get one thing straight: no, I don't starve, I actually eat a lot. My Aunt has a gorgeous body, and a look a lot like her. And I'm only sixteen, I still have hope, right?" He laughed louder and she felt like throwing that bottle from before on his head.

"Whatever you say…"

She sighed and finally dressed the shirt.

"So, let me see if I got this right. You're demon slayers—"

"Devil hunters." Lady corrected and she rolled her eyes.

"Ok, devil hunters, and you saved Billy and me from those things—"

"Actually, we only saw you after they were all dead." Dante corrected.

"Let me finish." She hissed. "And then you brought us here because you thought I was a demon too?"

"Yeah. But Dante told me you're not a demon, so what are you?"

"An X-men." The huntress crossed her arms and glared at him deadly. "Can't stand any jokes, can you?" He sighed and put his feet on the desk. "We don't know. But she's completely harmless, even with a bottle in hand."

"This is so awesome!" Billy squeaked all of a sudden with his eyes shining like stars. "It looks like a comic! You fight demons and protect the people!"

"Protect people…" Phoebe whispered to herself. Then, the flashback of the house in flames hit her head again, however, that time she could also hear screams. She ran to the bathroom and they heard when she threw up.

"She might have a concussion." Lady stated. "Ok, it's time to take you to the hospital."

"No, I'm fine. I'm… I'm going home." She walked in the room again. "Thanks for everything and…" She looked at Dante. "Sorry for the bottle… thing." He shrugged.

"You'd never hit me anyway."

"Billy, let's go." She walked out of the door. The devil huntress waited a few seconds before going after her.

"Wait." They turned around. "Look, I don't who or what you are, but if I ever find out that you hurt someone, I'm going to hunt you down. Is that clear?"

"Yes."

"Don't talk to her like that!" Billy crossed his arms and tried to look as scary as an 8-year-old could. Lady simply ignored.

"Good." She slowly went back to the shop.

Phoebe sighed heavily and stared at the shop's neon sign. 'Devil May Cry'. Why would a demon-hunting agency be called like that?


	2. Chapter 2

**At first I didn't mean to take this long to update, but then I had to take allergens for a week and it made me sooooo sleeepy… Anyway, I'm sorry! It won't happen again (or at least I hope so…)!  
And I still get pretty confused about replying reviews in the site… Is that really supposed to be a PM, or should I answer here? OMG.  
Anyway, thanks, Savage Kill for your review!**

* * *

**Chapter 2**

Dante was soaked in blood. Not that the fight had been hard, on the contrary, it was rather boring. However, that fucking demon had to blow up in tiny pieces once he was dead. It was funny at first, he won't deny it, but at that moment all he wanted was to take a shower. When he opened the door to enter the shop he saw that Lady was sitting on his desk, already waiting for him.

"I just finished that shitty job you gave me." He pointed at himself, hoping she would see all that blood and leave him alone. "I'm not doing anything else for you for the rest of the week."

"I'm not here to give you a job… Even though you still owe me."

"Oh, I see, Babe." He smirked and leaned one of his hands on the desk. "Let me take a shower and we can do whatever you—" He didn't even have time to finish the sentence because a bullet hit his forehead. The hybrid growled as he took his way to the bathroom.

"Someone's killing some of my demons!" She yelled before he could reach the door.

"Not my problem."

"You **are** going to help me find out who that son of a bitch is." Dante rolled his eyes and finally looked at her. Lady was crossing her arms and glaring deadly at him. There was only one thing that drove her so crazy.

"Are they stealing your payment?"

"No."

"Then why do you bother?"

"Because…" She growled. "Would you like if someone killed your demons?"

He laughed loud enough for her to grab her pistol again and aim at him.

"No one stands a chance against the demons I enjoy killing. And if someone did for me those boring jobs of yours I'd actually thank that person." She shot again, but this time he dodged with ease.

"They're still mine and I should be the one killing them!"

"Let it go, Lady. Jeez, I didn't know you were that possessive." Dante finally entered the bathroom and locked the door behind him. He definitely didn't trust the huntress when she was mad.

"You can't run, Dante! You're helping me!"

"I'm having a pizza first!"

* * *

Phoebe was taking her electric guitar out of its case when Kevin, the vocalist of the band, crouched beside her and whispered.

"Are you sure this is a good idea? All I see is a bunch of drunk assholes." He was one year older than the black-haired girl. He had brown hair and eyes.

"You wanted a place, didn't you? This was the best I could get." She shrugged.

"How did you even find this rat hole? I've never been to this part of town."

"See the guy cleaning the glasses?" He nodded while she waved at the said guy and he waved back. "He owed me one."

"He owed **you** one?! What the fuck, Phoebe?!" He stood up and glared at the guy, about to punch his face.

"What?! Oh, God, Kevin, no!" She said disgusted. "Look, a couple months ago, I happened to meet his cousin who was trying to find him! And I helped her to get here. That's all, Jesus!" He sighed with relief. However, that was one big fat lie, since she helped that man to get rid of some lesser demons. Oh well, it was better off that way.

"Oh, sorry…"

"Can we please start the show?"

Kevin shyly went to talk to the rest of the band to make sure they were ready. Since they were, he grabbed the microphone and stared at the audience he was pretty sure that wouldn't pay attention to a single thing they were about to play. He started to introduce the members of the band; however, Phoebe wasn't paying any attention to it. She felt the blood start to rush through her veins: it was that feeling she had when demons were nearby. Before she could run to the closest window, she heard Jayce, the drummer, call her name.

"He just introduced you! Are you okay?" She waved at the audience while faking a smile.

"Yeah, I'm fine…" Even though she only felt it once, she already knew it meant a really powerful demon was approaching. She jumped when the door was suddenly opened and a couple entered the bar. Her eyes widened when she recognized the white-haired guy and the girl who had heterochromia – they were one very weird couple, no one could deny that. "Fuck." Of course she hadn't forgotten what the girl, 'Lady', told her four months ago.

_"Look, I don't who or what you are, but if I ever find out that you hurt someone, I'm going to hunt you down. Is that clear?"_

Phoebe had done nothing wrong! She actually helped some people who were being attacked by weak demons. Why were they after her? Kevin looked at her and got worried when he realized that she was frozen.

"Phoebe? Is that some kind of stage fright?"

Dante heard it and looked at the girl, acknowledging her presence for the first time. He remembered the name and the face, but couldn't remind where they had met. Lady was the one to state it.

"It's that girl we saved." Oh, yeah, the bottle attacker chick.

"Hey, at least I can enjoy some live music while eating my pizza."

Actually, that wasn't going to happen. As soon as Phoebe realized they were staring at her, she ran towards the backdoor. Lady immediately thought it was some kind of guilty confession and went after her.

"Hey, what the fuck, Lady?!" He asked though she didn't even bother to answer.

On the back alley the bar had a small awning atop of the door. The girl quickly climbed the dumpster and then climbed the awning, trying to hide herself. The huntress looked around and when the thought of looking up hit her, she was also hit by a pair of black boots causing her to fall on the ground. The other girl landed on the ground, took her dagger and pointed it at her.

"Look, I don't know why you're following me, but I've done nothing wrong."

"What?!" She narrowed her eyes. "You're the one who ran away and hit me on the chest!"

"Wait, so you were not—" Before she could finish the sentence, arms wrapped her waist and hands grabbed hers. Phoebe didn't think twice: she dug her teeth in the right forearm of her attacker.

"How come I only meet crazy girls?" Dante was actually grinning, not caring about the bite at all. She stopped and looked at him.

"Oh, it's you." She said nonchalantly. For the first time she realized he had icy blue eyes. What was he? A fucking albino? "Can you please let me go?" She faked a smile.

"You were attacking my girl."

"I'm not your girl!" Lady yelled as she stood up and Phoebe rolled her eyes.

"Okay, it was all a misunderstanding. I'm sorry. But it's not my fault that she threatened me!"

"Oh, really?" He finally let go of her hands. "And why would she threaten the skeleton girl?" She narrowed her eyes. Skeleton girl? Really?

"She's right." Dante crossed his arms and stared at the huntress who was snorting. "I thought she was dangerous. Apparently, I'm not that wrong." She pointed at her chest.

"Hey, just so you know, I've been helping people! I've already killed a bunch of demons. Ok, I wouldn't call a 'bunch' but—"

"You what?" Lady growled. Realizing where this whole situation was going, the hybrid went back to the bar to order his pizza. Then, he would come back to watch the fight while eating it.

"Well, they were pretty weak, but one of them was attacking a girl and—"

"They were **my** demons!" Phoebe arched an eyebrow. What did she mean by that? Was she some kind of demon summoner? "I can't believe you're the one messing with my jobs!"

"Uhm… Sorry?" Lady snorted. "Look, this is actually helping me control the pyrokinesis thing. I can't stop now."

"Phoebe!" Kevin yelled as he opened the door. "I don't know if you still care about this, but we need the guitarist!"

"One more minute!" He rolled his eyes and went back inside.

"You know what? Never mind." The huntress sighed and pointed at the door. "Just go."

The younger girl nodded and followed her friend. Before she reached the stage, she met Dante going towards the door with a pizza box on his hand. Her eyes practically shined as her hand reached it and grabbed a slice.

"Oh, thanks! I was starving!"

Under a normal circumstance Dante would say: 'Yeah, no wonder. You look like an Ethiopian child.' However, he was shocked at the fact that the girl stole a slice of his pizza and kept walking just like that.

"That's not for you!"

"Too late!"

"Fucker." He mumbled. "The fight's over already?! I thought you'd rip her liver apart or something like that." He asked as he saw Lady walking towards him.

"She's not a bad person."

"Lady actually complimenting someone? That's breaking news." The hybrid laughed loudly. "What changed your mind?"

"She's just trying to do something good."

"I still think she's annoying. Anyway, since my job here is done, I'm going back to the shop."

"… You didn't do shit!"

"I immobilized her. That's something." Lady crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes. The band finally started to play and the first song was AC/DC's 'Back in Black'. "Hey, at least they have a good taste in music." Dante left the pizza box on the nearest table and walked towards the door. "Are you staying, milady?"

"No."

When the song was over Phoebe realized that the feeling that demons were nearby had finally stopped. She looked around, but couldn't find the couple of hunters. The first time she saw Lady's mismatched eyes she thought it was pretty creepy. What if one of her eyes was red because she was actually a demon?

"Phoebe, what's wrong with you today?" Kevin was staring at her mad and worried at the same time. She had to blink a few times to snap out of her thoughts before answering.

"Nothing. Jeez, everything's fine."

"Focus, then."

"I'm focused. Mind your own business." He rolled his eyes and grabbed the mic.

* * *

After the show – which none of the drunken bastards paid attention to – Phoebe was heading home. Since the incident with Billy she only walked on the main streets, unless a demon she was hunting was somewhere nearby. Even though, she wouldn't get in any alleys. Until the scream of what seemed to be a little girl hit her ears. Then, the feeling that one of the infernal creatures was nearby hit her.

The teenage girl didn't think twice, something she regretted later, and ran towards the alley the scream came from. The brown-haired little girl was lying on the floor, crying. A demon had his long nails dangerously close to her. However, before it could even think of doing anything to her, a stream of fire hit him on the face, causing it to step away.

"WHO DARES INTERFERE?!" The creature roared.

"Oh, fuck, you talk." It wasn't good. If it could talk, it meant it was more powerful than the demons she had been hunting. What did the little girl do?! The said girl looked up and saw that the demon had backed away and then she stared at Phoebe's eyes, who desperately yelled: "Run!" She widened her brown eyes and started to run.

"SHE'S NOT GOING ANYWHERE!"

"Oh, yes, she is." As soon as it tried to grab the girl by her ankles, a fireball hit its eyes and a wall of fire wouldn't let him pass through to chase her.

"YOU'LL PAY FOR THIS!" Its giant paw hit the black-haired girl, causing her to roll on the floor, scratching her arms and face. She stared at his red eyes and wiped the blood that was running down her left cheek.

"I don't think so."

The demon tried to hit her again, but she rolled to the side, dodging the attack. Phoebe quickly stood up and hit it with a jet of flames. However, the creature still managed to survive it. That thing wasn't going down that easily, and that fact started to freak the girl out. She hit it with fireballs a couple more of times, before getting hit by its paw again, falling on the floor.

The infernal creature laughed as it walked towards the girl. She crawled, trying to stay away. It charged against her, however, the demon stopped when it felt something burn inside of him. It looked down and saw a dagger dug deep in his chest and finally realized why it was burning his skin.

"HOLY WATER?!" Phoebe's right hand was still stretched for throwing the dagger. Good thing she would always steal a bottle from her mother. Before the demon could react, she hit him again with a stream of flames and watched as it roared in anger and pain.

A few seconds later, her weapon fell to the floor as the creature vanished. She stood up with the strength she had left and took it. Then the girl leaned her back on the closest wall, puffing, and slid to the floor. She still had the feeling that a demon was around, though.

"You look like crap." Phoebe jumped when she heard the male's voice beside her. However, when she looked at him she just narrowed her eyes. It was the white-haired boy again, sitting beside her on the floor.

"You again?!" She saw him grinning. "Are you stalking me or something?!"

"You wish, babe." She opened her mouth to answer, but he was faster. "I heard the scream. But I was too late for the party, apparently." He shrugged.

"Where's your partner?" The girl still felt that a demon was in the area.

"She went home. Why?"

Wait, if Lady wasn't around even though she was feeling the presence of a demon then it meant… She widened her eyes and her jaw dropped. Of course! His white hair wasn't because of some albinism genes!

"Heh, I know I'm gorgeous. Don't be shy, you can say it." Dante's laughter woke her from her trance.

"Can you train me?" He stopped laughing as soon as he heard the question.

"Did you hit your head again?"

"Haha. No. I know you can beat the bigger demons, just help me to do the same thing."

"If you can't handle the demons, don't hunt them." He shrugged and checked her from top to bottom. "They'll probably tear you apart."

"Oh, let me guess: because I'm too skinny. This is getting old." Phoebe snorted. "I'm not stopping."

"Good luck, then, because I'm not a fucking teacher." The hybrid stood up and walked away from her.

"Asshole." The girl whispered to herself. Anyway, it was okay, she didn't need him. She didn't need anyone, she would just keep hunting and improving. Glass half-full. "I'm gonna get myself killed…"

Dante looked back when he was about to leave the alley. Surprisingly, a huge fireball was coming towards him. He jumped back and dodged with ease, staring at the girl with a grin on his face afterwards.

"Woah, babe. You're actually hot." She rolled her eyes and walked towards him, pointing a finger at his face.

"Okay, you either listen to me, or I'll put your sore ass on fire." He arched an eyebrow. Phoebe was crazy indeed; one second she was fine and then on the other she was about to break everything on her way.

"You're overestimating yourself." She crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes. "You may scream whatever you want, I won't give a shit." The hunter kept walking but unfortunately, she followed him.

"I'm just asking for help! Don't be a selfish bastard!"

"I already saved your life! You can't ask me anything else." A wall of fire suddenly appeared in front of him, making him stop. Dante turned around and snorted.

"I can pay you."

"No, you can't."

"Three thousand dollars." He arched an eyebrow and crossed his arms. How could she even have that money?

"You don't have that money."

"Maybe I do, maybe I don't. You'll never know." Phoebe grinned.

"Stop by the shop tomorrow with the money, and then we talk." The hybrid snorted and scratched the back of his head. With that much money, he would finally pay his debt to Lady and she would leave him alone.

"Yes!" She let the yell out as she jumped with joy. "I won!"

"I still didn't agree to this."

"Oh, you will."

* * *

On the next morning, Phoebe walked desperately through the school corridor looking for someone. As soon as she sighted him, she moved so fast that the poor boy almost had a heart attack. He had dark brown hair and eyes, wore jeans and a Megaman T-shirt.

"Arthur, please tell me you need help with the bullies."

"Damn it, Phoebe, where did you come from?!" His glasses almost fell off his face. "No, not today, why?"

"Shit. I need a hundred dollars."

That's what she did when she needed money. She would beat the bullies whenever the nerds needed help, as long as they paid her.

"… My parents need a babysitter tonight." The girl looked at him as if she were about to kill him. "… We can find someone else."

"I need the money for this afternoon."

"Have you asked Taylor if she needs help?"

"You're the last nerd I'm asking." Phoebe crossed her arms and leaned her back on the locker. Arthur didn't seem happy for being called a 'nerd', but she completely ignored him.

"We're not the only 'losers' around… Have you ever tried the woodwork club?"

"… Does that exist?" She arched an eyebrow as he slowly nodded. "Wow. Anyway, thanks. You're a lifesaver." She kissed him on the cheek and left, not even noticing the way he sighed.

* * *

Dante was asleep on his chair with his feet propped on the desk. Everything in the shop was peaceful, not a single mouse could be heard. Until the door was bursted open and black-haired girl tossed a backpack that hit his stomach. He growled and opened his eyes slowly.

"I brought your money."

"And you're taking it back." He took the backpack from his lap and let it fall on the floor.

"What?! We had a deal!"

"No, I said we'd talk about it. I'm saying no, that's talking. Now do me a favor and walk out that door."

"You were going to say no from the start." Phoebe stated as she crossed her arms and snorted. "Can I at least know why?"

"Because I don't want to." Dante shrugged.

"Open the backpack." She was now staring at him, holding back a smile.

"I don't want your money." He arched an eyebrow.

"You can have it." The girl shrugged. "You need more than I do. This place is a wreck."

There was something wrong about that. However, curiosity got the best of the hybrid and he picked up the backpack. He laughed when he opened the zipper: just like he had thought.

"You never had the money." There was just a brick inside of it. "Did you really think I wouldn't look inside before agreeing?"

"Well… At least I tried." Phoebe turned around and walked towards the door. "See you around, Dante."

"Wait, Jack Skellington." He stood up and took his guns and sword. At first she was frowning, but then she got curious, watching every single move. Dante walked past her and made a sign for her to follow him.

"Where are we going?"

"To hunt some demons." He grinned.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

"You have one message: '_Hey, Tara, it's me, Neil Boller, I've been calling for a few days... I really wanna see you again.'_"

Phoebe froze when she heard that name. Why was the quarterback, the most popular guy from her school, calling her aunt? Did she…? Oh, shit. She went to her aunt's bedroom and didn't even knock on the door. Fortunately, the woman was just combing her hair.

"Why did Neil Boller leave a message in our answering machine?"

"Who?" She didn't even look at her niece.

"6'0" tall, dark blond hair, green eyes…"

"Oh, the handsome quarterback!" Tara finally turned around and arched an eyebrow when she realized Phoebe had crossed her arms. "… What did I do now?"

"He's one of the guys from school who would love to see me dead. Also, he's seventeen. Isn't that illegal?"

"First of all: you're not exactly adorable most of the time. Secondly, I've never cared about age." The woman started to tie her hair in her usual messy bun.

"You told him you were twenty, didn't you?" Tara stopped. Her violet eyes now staring intently at her niece's bluish-green ones.

"Don't you dare tell him otherwise." Phoebe sighed.

"Are you ever going to call him back?"

"Hell, no. He's handsome but he's terrible in bed…"

"Really?!" She laughed and sat on the bed. "Tell me more."

"No." She stood up. "I'm starving. Let's go have breakfast."

Phoebe got disappointed, but she followed her to the kitchen anyway. They could already smell the pancakes Johanna was cooking and Billy was already sitting on his chair, waiting for the food.

"Morning, Billy. Morning, mother." They greeted back. Tara just waved at her son, neither her or the religious woman would exchange many words when they were in the same room. Johanna placed the pancakes plate on the table and they started to eat.

"Good morning." A tall black-haired man showed up in the kitchen. He looked a lot like Tara, except for the blue eyes.

"Fwathjert, yhwou're hwuomie?!" The girl asked with her mouth full and he frowned at her.

"Phoebe von Heffner, where are your manners?" He sighed. "You are just like your aunt..." Tara laughed with her hand covering her mouth.

"Oh, Erwin, you're adorable." He narrowed his eyes as he sat down. "Why did you already come back from Germany?"

"I'm not going to discuss this right now. How's school?" The man asked for both of the kids. Billy just nodded; he had always been afraid of him and avoided saying any words that would make him angry.

"The same." She shrugged.

"I had to go to the principal's office at least 5 times while you were out of the country." His wife said nonchalantly. "Some kids are paying her to beat some 'bullies', as they call them. This is not what Jesus wanted when he died for hum—"

"Shut it. I don't care." He stared at his daughter's eyes. "Did you come up with this?"

"Uhm… Yeah."

"Interesting…"

"No, it is not." Johanna frowned. "It's wrong and she should be grounded." Erwin pretended not to listen and everybody else did the same.

"Anyway, I gotta go." Phoebe stood up and put the last piece of pancake in her mouth.

"We are not done yet."

She shrugged and left, causing her father to sigh and frown at his sister. She never knew how to behave, and he blamed her for not being an example to his daughter or her own son.

* * *

"Hey, handsome." A beautiful brunette trailed her index finger over his biceps. Dante growled. He hated when people woke him up.

"What?" He mumbled.

"I gotta go. Can you walk me to the door?" She asked seductively. The hybrid refused to move one single muscle just to look at her. Laziness usually got the best of him.

"Can't you do it by yourself?" He growled. She frowned and got out of the bed, wearing her clothes as fast as she could.

"You're an asshole."

She stormed out of the room. Dante sighed, put his pants on and went after her. She was already opening the door and he would have called her name, if he remembered what it was. The door opened before he could say anything and Phoebe went in. She looked at the brunette, acknowledging her presence, and went to the couch. After being trained for 2 months, she already knew that every Saturday and Sunday morning there was going to be a different girl he had fucked pissed off. He knew how to attract women that got pissed off quite fast.

"Who is she?" She pointed at Phoebe, who just looked at her and answered nonchalantly.

"His half-sister." She had come up with that so they would either think she was adorable, or just forget her existence.

"Just so you know, your brother is an asshole."

"Oh, I hear that a lot."

The brunette glanced at Dante one last time and left, slamming the door behind her.

"Oh, I think that one was a keeper." He laughed at what she said. "You didn't even have to lie that you were going to call her. What did you do?"

"I didn't do shit. She was crazy." They both laughed. "I'm gonna take a shower, order a pizza for me."

"Hey, I don't follow your orders." He completely ignored her.

"No olives."

He shut the bathroom door as she sighed. The girl stood up and walked toward his desk, picking up the phone and dialing the pizza place. After ordering, she sat on his chair. That was a first. For the first time she noticed the picture frame on the desk, and couldn't help her curiosity.

"Wow, she's beautiful." As soon as her fingers touched the frame a scream cut through her years.

"_MOM!_"

Phoebe blinked a few times, confused. It seemed so far and yet so close. She stood up and looked through the windows, however, there was nothing to be seen. She put a hand on her stomach, starting to feel nauseous.

"Dante, did you hear that?" She yelled so he could hear her in the shower.

"Hear what?"

"I-It sounded like a child…" Was she crazy now?! Maybe it was a family thing, after all.

"What?" He laughed. "I always knew you were on drugs. So what is it? Coke?" The hybrid opened the door and exited the bathroom. He had his pants on again and a towel hung around his neck. "Shit, you're pale. More than usual, I mean."

"I'm okay." She slowly shook her head, snapping herself out of it. "Wait, what do you mean by 'more than usual'?" The girl narrowed her eyes. "Do you even have a mirror?!"

"Yes, and it tells me every day how gorgeous I am."

"Oh, really?!" Phoebe laughed. "Are you sure you're looking at a mirror? Maybe it's a huge picture of Brad Pitt, you know."

"I'm better than Brad Pitt." The hunter winked at her. "Now get the Hell out of my chair." Grinning, she propped her feet on his desk, crossed her arms and stared him in the eyes.

"Make me."

Dante laughed. As if it could be considered a challenge. He just grabbed the feet of the chair and flipped it around, causing her to spin quickly and fall with her face on the floor. He positioned the chair back and sat down.

"Happy?" He looked at Phoebe, who was still facing the floor.

"It hurt, you jerk."

"You're gonna cry?" The girl finally stood up and saw him grinning. She punched him in the arm and sat on the desk.

"Can we please start the training now?"

"I'm waiting for the pizza!" Right. She had already forgotten about that. She placed a hand on the picture frame again and Dante watched every single move. Fortunately, no screams were heard that time.

"Your mother?" He nodded.

"Good guess."

"Not really." Phoebe stared at his icy-blue eyes. "… You have her eyes." Her voice sounded so soft that for a moment she doubted it had really come out of her mouth. He broke the eye contact and looked at the picture.

"No, I don't."

She didn't know what else to say. None of them talked too much about their lives and she definitely wouldn't push the subject. The hybrid was glad she didn't do it, but also noticed the awkwardness in the room.

"I can see your nipples through that shirt." The black-haired widened her eyes and Dante had to control himself not to laugh.

"What?!" She looked down and only then remembered she was wearing a bra. "Haha." They heard somebody knocking on the door.

"Finally!" He stood up. "There's a hole in my stomach, already."

* * *

For what felt like the millionth time, Dante was able to knock her down before Phoebe could even try to burn his coat with a fireball. He crossed his arms and grinned at her. She just rolled her eyes and swore under her breath. They were training on the roof and it was already noon.

"Still pretty slow, are we?"

"I hate you." He laughed.

"No, you don't. Otherwise you wouldn't be here."

"I'm out of options, Lady creeps me out." She slowly stood up. "Can we have a break? I'm starving."

"Me too. There's this diner—"

"I'm not having pizza." Did he ever eat something else? How could he not get tired of just eating pizza?

"I don't care about what you're going to eat or not. But I'm having my pizza." Dante opened the door that led back into the shop. "Are you coming or not?"

"You know what? I think we should call it a day so I can go to other place and eat what I want. If I smell another pizza, I'm gonna throw up." He rolled his eyes as she passed by him.

"Fine."

"Fine."

They remained in silence until they reached the office. Phoebe took her backpack and quickly waved at him, not even caring to look. As soon as she touched the door handle, though, he teased:

"They have cookies, y'know." She stopped right away and, since he couldn't see it, mouthed 'fuck you'. "Peanut butter cookies."

When she was about to turn around and try to kick Dante in the stomach, the door was burst open, causing her to lose her balance and almost fall on the floor. A fat guy entered the shop and raised his arms.

"Dante! I have a job for you!" The hunter raised an eyebrow.

"Enzo? What the hell? I haven't seen you in months."

"Yeah, yeah. I've had some troubles." He glanced at Phoebe and checked her from hair to toe. "Jeez, you're not kidding when you say you have rotten luck with women."

"Excuse me?!" She crossed her arms and glared at him deadly. Dante just laughed.

"Well, at least she has a pretty face."

"Says the fat-ass."

"Enzo, that's Phoebe." The hybrid said before she could turn the poor guy into ashes. "She's a Devil Huntress."

"Oh, good! So you can both help me." He smiled at her, but she kept glaring at him.

"I'm not helping you, you piece of shit."

"Hey, c'mon, are you a Devil Hunter or not?!" She rolled her eyes and sat on the couch. "Oh, never mind. You won't make a difference anyway."

For the next ten minutes, Enzo explained the job as Dante got more bored by the minute. Sometimes the girl would laugh at his expression. Basically, he had won a valuable ring in a poker game that he didn't know some demons were after it. And he couldn't get rid of it because it wouldn't come out of his finger.

"I think it'd be better if we just cut his finger out." Phoebe grinned at him.

"I won't say it's a bad idea." The hybrid had his hands on his hips. "Let's go to the diner now. I just lost ten minutes of my life."

"Hey, aren't you going to help me?!"

"Stick around and I'll kill the demons when they show up, I'm not wasting my time going after them." He opened the door and was about to leave the shop, when he realized the girl was still sitting on the couch. "Aren't you coming?" She didn't answer. "Phoebe?" Nothing. "Whatever." He closed the door behind him.

"What happened?"

"I don't know and I don't give a shit. Let's go." Enzo nodded and followed the Devil Hunter.

Phoebe blinked twice, snapping out of her thoughts. The burning house was haunting her again. Each time it happened, things were getting less blurry.

"What?" She looked around only to realize she was alone in the office. "When did they…? Shit." She stood up and walked toward Dante's desk, staring at the picture frame again. The girl was afraid of touching it, though. Instead, she decided to open the drawer and pick a magazine to read.

She found a pair of gloves in there, one of them had a cut in the palm and a lot of dried blood on it. Phoebe touched it quickly, just to put it aside, however, it was enough to send a shock through her body.

"I'm staying,—"

What was wrong with his stuff?! Did they have a life of their own?! Okay, sometimes some of his Devil Arms would say something funny, especially Agni and Rudra, but they were Devil Arms for fuck's sake! She closed the drawer in a hurry and stood up. Only then she realized she had dropped a paper on the floor. She took it and couldn't help reading it.

"_Today is your birthday! So the Love Planet has a very special thing planned for you!_"

What is seen, cannot be unseen. Not that Phoebe cared about the fact that he enjoyed strippers, she enjoyed male strippers herself. But now it was really hard not to pretend it was his birthday, even though he didn't seem to care about it. She sighed and put it back in the drawer.

* * *

Dante had already finished his pizza and his strawberry sundae and still there were no sign of demons. Enzo paid the bill and they left the diner.

"Enzo, are you sure you didn't see these demons while you were drunk, you fat bastard?"

"No, they're after me!" His whole body shivered and he hid behind the hunter, who hit him in the head. "They're coming!"

A dark smoke surrounded them and they slowly turned into the five demons that were hunting Enzo and his mysterious ring. Dante smiled and pushed the poor fat guy aside with his right foot.

"So, you want a piece of this poor bastard?"

"Son of Sparda." The biggest demon hissed. "Don't get in our way."

"Sorry, that's not an option." He pointed at Enzo, who was trying to hide behind a dumpster. "You see, the poor guy happens to be my friend."

"You can't stop us!" Ironically, Ebony's first shot hit the smallest demon and killed it right away. The hunter seemed pretty disappointed.

"Seriously?! Is that all you got?!" Dante took Rebellion from his back and swung it only once, hitting two of the demons at the same time. They instantly died. He sighed and stared at the two remaining creatures. They tried to charge at him, but bullets met them midway, making them disappear in the smoke they once came.

"Thank you, Dante! You're a life saver!"

"All that drama for this, Enzo?" He ran his hand through his hair and sighed again. "I was expecting something better."

"Sorry if I'm being chased by demons that want my head!" The hunter rolled his eyes. What a big waste of his time. He started to walk away from Enzo. "Hey, where're you going?"

"Back to the shop." He didn't even look back.

"Okay, and just wait! I'll find some big job for ya!"

"Yeah, I hear that a lot." The hybrid whispered to himself. He wondered if Phoebe was still there and if she realized they had left. She could be really slow sometimes.

The way back to the shop took only 10 minutes. He kicked the door open, but the office seemed to be deserted. Dante looked around, trying to find any signs of the girl, and that was when he realized there was something on his desk. Was that a…

"Cupcake?" He raised an eyebrow. "What is this thing doing…?" There was a piece of paper underneath it. He took it and got pretty confused when he read it.

"_Happy Birthday! Well, I tried to find something that had strawberries on it, but… That cupcake was the best thing I could find…_"

The hybrid couldn't remember telling anyone about when his birthday was. He hated celebrating birthdays. He opened his drawer and saw the Love Planet paper and that was when it hit him: He could've told the girls while he was drunk. There was a stripper who was really into him, probably she was the one responsible for this.

He sat on his chair and enjoyed his cupcake. It was delicious.


	4. Chapter 4

**YES, LADIES AND GENTS, I'M STILL ALIVE! Sorry about that. Writer's block and all that. I don't even have a good excuse. D:**

* * *

**Chapter 4**

Phoebe opened Billy's bedroom door and widened her eyes. The whole room was covered in black smoke and she started to cough as soon as it hit her lungs. She called for her cousin at least three times while she walked around the place, not being able to see even a thing. All of sudden a laughter broke the silence and the boy showed up in the middle of the smoke.

"EUREKA!"

"What? You found out how to kill us all?!"

"No." He ran out of the room and the girl followed him. "I finished my first robot!" All she could see was a pile of Lego that barely reminded her of a robot.

"I'd love to say 'hooray' but…" She scratched the back of her head. "What exactly am I looking at?"

"Wait for it…" Billy pointed a remote control at it and pressed a button. Then the pile of Lego started to move really slowly, finally becoming something that looked like a robot. "IT'S A TRANSFORMER!" He squeaked.

"Yay, it turns from a pile of crap to a robot!" He frowned. "Ehm… I mean… AWESOME!"

"ISN'T IT?!" He smiled and hugged his 'transformer'. "I'm so getting an 'A+'."

"Well, when don't you get one?"

"Okay, I'll put it inside a box to take it to school on Monday!" Billy ran to his bedroom, closing the door right away. Phoebe just shook her head lightly and laughed.

The girl took two more steps before another bedroom door was opened. Tara put her head out and called her attention. She sighed and looked at her aunt, wondering who she had brought home and needed help hiding.

"We have to talk."

"What did you do now?" The woman seemed hurt.

"Oh, God." She put a hand on her chest. "My niece is always thinking the worst of me." Phoebe rolled her eyes and crossed her arms.

"Cut the dramatics."

"It's not about **my** men, Phoebe. Just come in here." The girl arched an eyebrow. As she took too much time to do what her aunt was saying, she simply grabbed her arm and pulled her.

"HEY!"

Tara shut the door and sat on her bed, gesturing for her niece to do the same. However, she didn't. She sighed and crossed her legs, that woman was naturally seductive, it was impressive.

"Who is he?" Oh, shit.

"Who?"

"Don't play dumb with me, Phoebe, you know that's what I do for a living." She rolled her violet eyes. "We rarely see you around now. It's been five months, actually."

"Oh yeah, because I love staying home and having to deal with my mother." She snorted. "What's wrong? You're worried that I might be having sex with the whole city or something?"

"You know that I'd be proud of you if that were actually true." She smiled. "But sometimes, you come home with blood on your clothes. What's going on?" The girl narrowed her eyes. "Oh, c'mon! You know you can trust me!"

"Maybe some other time." She opened the door and left.

"You know that I can find it out if I want to!" Tara sighed when her niece just waved her goodbye. "That girl has a talent for getting herself in trouble."

* * *

Dante rolled his eyes for the hundredth time on that day. Goddamnit, he just wanted to be alone, why didn't Phoebe have enough IQ to understand that? She was standing on his doorstep for over an hour, knocking on the door every 5 minutes and saying things like "open the door" or "I'm here for you, c'mon". He didn't want to see or listen to anybody. What could she do? Say "I'm sorry your family got completely screwed 11 years ago"? It wouldn't bring his mother back, or make his brother let go of his quest for power. Or make him feel happy again.

Sure, he enjoyed killing big demons, but it only made him feel alive, not happy. Maybe it was only his killing instinct thanks to his demonic blood. He enjoyed the girls presence too, it was the closest he has had to happiness ever since. The hybrid sighed and ran a hand through his hair; the girl was knocking on the door again. It was snowing outside, he was waiting for her to feel cold and finally give up.

He stared at his mother's portrait and cracked a smile, reliving all the good moments he had: the smell of her hair, the way she got worried when one of her sons got hurt even though they would heal in a second, and the way she cooked. Finally everything went quiet, the huntress had at last given up… Or so he thought.

"Hey." Dante inhaled deeply and counted to ten when he saw the girl coming down the stairs.

"What the fuck are you doing here?" Phoebe breathed to answer, but he cut her before she could form the first word. "How the Hell did you get in here?!"

"There's a tree which one of the big branches leads right to the window of that room full of crap." Her voice was much lower than the usual.

"Nice, I'll get you outta here and then cut that branch." He stood up, grabbed the girls arms and pushed her towards the door.

"No, wait!" She tried to escape from his hands even though she already knew it would be no use. "I just wanna help you!"

"Phoebe, for the last time: I don't need help!"

"I brought you two bottles of Everclear!" Dante raised an eyebrow and slowly let go of her arms. When his eyes fell on her hands, realizing they were empty, she said very quickly: "It's outside! You didn't expect me to enter through the window with my hands full, did you?!" He just crossed his arms, causing her to sigh heavily. "Once you mumbled something about how you couldn't get drunk easily and whiskey was getting too expensive. I thought that maybe it was worth a shot… Literally. I mean, it has one Hell of an alcohol percentage and—"

"You look like some weird cotton creature." His randomness caused her to raise an eyebrow.

"… What?" Then he pointed at his hair. Phoebe slowly ran her hand through hers and realized it was covered in snow. "… Fuck." The hybrid started to laugh. "Haha, now you laugh. I'll get this out and you get your beverage."

She walked towards the bathroom and he towards the door, opening it right away. It really wasn't one of her tricks. He took the bottles and put them on his desk, grabbing one and reading its label. The alcohol percentage _was_ high.

"Where did you get that?"

"I kinda stole it from my father. He's really into alcohol in general." Phoebe said it from the bathroom, still trying to get rid of the snow.

"Does he drink that?" Dante laughed. "That's what you have left when you marry someone like…"

"Johanna." She also laughed. "I'm so going to Hell for laughing about mean things people say about my mother." The girl finally got back to the living room.

"I wonder how she would react if you said: 'Hey, mommy, guess what? I hang around with a half-demon!'" They half-demon opened the bottle and took a long sip. The liquid burned all the way through his stomach: just the way he liked it.

"She has a stock of holy water. She'd probably throw all of it on us and yell: 'I'M PURIFYING YOU ON THE NAME OF THE LORD!' and hit us with crucifixes."

"And kids, that's the story of how I died to an ordinary woman." They both laughed. He then showed her the bottle, asking if she wanted some.

"No, I kind of have a drinking problem." He arched an eyebrow.

"You? Really?! Tell me more about it, Drew Barrymore." She frowned and crossed her arms.

"I'm not an alcoholic."

"That's what they all say." He smiled.

"I just… Tend to open my legs."

Dante started to laugh in a way he thought his lungs were going to come out through his mouth, and then he would suffocate until death. Phoebe couldn't but giggle, realizing how stupid the whole thing was. Why can't she shut the fuck up?

"I wouldn't call… it… a problem." The devil boy said while trying to regain his breath.

"It looks like I just saved your day." She considered the idea of getting that bottle and shoving it right up his ass.

"You have no idea!"

"Okay, I just came for the delivery. My job here is done." The girl turned around and walked towards the door.

"Oh, c'mon! Don't get mad at me!"

"Too late." Phoebe said in a fake tone of hurt. "No, seriously, I'm gonna leave you alone now." She turned around again and opened the door, letting the cold breeze in.

"Hey, Pheebs." She looked back with a clear expression of confusion. Did he just give her a nickname? "Never mind." Dante shrugged and sat on his chair.

"What?" She hated when people did that.

"I said: 'never mind'."

"Oh, no. Now you're gonna say it." He kept staring her in the eyes while he took another sip of his Everclear. The girl crossed her arms. "Dante."

"Calm down. I was drinking, goddamnit." He put the bottle down and propped his feet on the desk. She inhaled deeply. "I was just going to say that you're actually getting hotter." It was true; Phoebe was really starting to have some curves.

"Please, I've always been hot." The hybrid laughed loudly.

"You poor thing. Don't you have a mirror at home?" She showed him the finger, causing him to laugh even harder.

"Night, Dante." And she left before he could answer.

It took him a while before he could stop laughing, and it took him another while to realize that he was truly laughing on his mother's eleventh death anniversary. While still sober, he spent his time wondering if it was a good thing or not.

* * *

On the next day Phoebe skipped a few classes so she could get to the Devil May Cry earlier. She was concerned about Dante, half-devil or not, it was still a lot of alcohol for only one person. On the outside everything looked just fine, and she even felt relieved… Until she opened the door and the lifeless body of a demon fell on her, sending her to the ground.

"Fuck!" She pushed it away from her and only then realized it was really dead. It looked like some kind of hell hound. "… Great." The girl said when she saw her clothes soaked in the creature's blood. "Dante?" She called as she stood up and looked around.

The shop was a mess: there were at least twenty corpses of demons all over the place, and Phoebe asked herself how she hadn't noticed the smell of blood before. His desk had been flipped over, as well as his pool table. The jukebox was still working, however, there was no record being played. One of the couches was cut in half and the other one, besides the stains of blood, also had a white-haired boy sleeping over it. More like red-haired, since he was soaked in blood she hoped that wasn't his.

"Wow." Now she regretted bringing him the beverage. Phoebe walked towards the devil hunter and kneeled beside him, resting one of her hands on his arm and shaking it lightly. "Dante? Are you okay?"

Her words hit Dante's ears and head as if he were standing beside a big church bell at 6pm. He growled and turned his back to the girl. The novice huntress sighed and stood up, cursing herself for the disgusting thing she did next: dragged every corpse to the bathroom, including the one that has hanging on the ceiling fan, and used her powers to incinerate them. The smell caused her to twist her nose and focus on only breath through her mouth.

"What the fuck is this smell?" He asked as he showed up on the bathroom's door. "… Didn't know you were a fan of hot-dog." That joke just killed her on the inside.

"May I ask what the Hell happened in here, Dante?!"

"Just a party. I'm sorry you didn't get an invitation." His brain hurt when he cracked a smile. The hybrid put his palm over his forehead and groaned. "Fuck."

"Wait, I'll make you some coffee. Just… try not to kill anything else inside the shop." Phoebe headed to the kitchen, jumping over Rebellion that was lying on the floor to get there. She opened all the cabinets, not finding a single trace that coffee has ever existed in that house. "Why am I not surprised?" The girl whispered to herself and went back to the office. "Okay, it looks like I'll have to buy you coffee."

"Dressed like that?" Dante pointed at her white blouse and brown leather jacket, both now red. "I mean, dressing like that in the snow will probably make people think that you are Canadian, no problem… But all that blood… I don't know, they'll think you're crazy." His mockery caused her to glare at him with murderous eyes.

"You know this is your fault, right?" He shrugged and she sighed. "I'll get one of the few normal shirts you have and—"

"Just go home, Pheebs." It all went silent for a whole minute; even the hell hounds' corpses stopped burning. She inhaled deeply and looked around, seeing his cry for help in every stain of blood and in every destroyed furniture. Then, she went back to his eyes and finally let the air leave her lungs.

"I'll wash myself, get the shirt and then leave." If he didn't have such a good hearing, he probably wouldn't have heard what she had said. Phoebe took her leather jacket off and threw it on the floor before going upstairs and entering the bathroom. Her blouse, however, would go straight into the trash can. Even her white bra had a few stains of blood.

She grabbed a towel and turned the faucet on, placing her head under the water and washing her hair and head, both covered in the dense red liquid. Then she dampened the towel and rubbed it against her torso. Once the novice huntress was finished she threw the towel on the floor and stared at her reflection on the mirror. She hated when she couldn't help someone. A flash of the burning house hit her head, the screams intensifying by the second.

"Fuck. Not now. Not now." Phoebe closed her eyes and put her hands over her ears. Now she could also hear a child crying. "It's okay, this is just your mind fucking with you. It's never happened. You never killed anybody." She took a deep breath and almost had a heart attack when she heard Dante knock on the door.

"Did you die in there?"

"Can't people use a bathroom anymore?!"

"I've already finished my shower and you're still there." He said as he dried his hair with a towel. The girl suddenly opened the door and he couldn't help but stare at her breasts, pitying the fact that she was wearing a bra. Noticing that, she snorted. "What? They're staring at me."

"Just give me a shirt." Phoebe pushed him lightly and walked towards his bedroom. The hybrid checked on her ass at first, but when he looked at her bare back he arched an eyebrow.

"You don't have any scar."

"What?" She looked at him over her shoulder and he pointed at her back. "… Seriously? Not even a tiny one?"

"Nothing. You healed completely from that wound." Dante walked past her and opened his closet, grabbing a black shirt and handing it to her. However, she was so deep in thought that she didn't notice it. "Pheebs?"

"Have you always known that you were half demon?"

"Not exactly half demon. My brother and I have always healed almost instantaneously, we knew there was something there. But you're not a demon."

"What am I, then?" He slowly shrugged. "I'm starting to feel like freaking Carrie." The hunter carefully put the shirt on her shoulder.

"Y'know, when we learned that we had demonic blood we had no idea what that meant. We didn't know what a demon really looked like or what it did. We were only seven." They were staring at each other's eyes, and for the first time Dante noticed that she had freckles all over her nose. Phoebe, on the other side, had never noticed that his eyes had a few traces of gray. "Then, a few months later, our… father disappeared. That's when the first demons came to hunt us. We were probably protected before, I don't know. But when they… her… Anyway, I saw what they were capable of. What I was capable of."

For the next thirty seconds they only could hear each other breathing. She didn't think that ignorance was bliss. Or that Dante was half as terrible as he thought he was. That was the moment she realized he loathed himself and why. Without thinking, the girl closed the gap between them and put her arms around him. It felt weird for both of them at first, the only person she would hug was her cousin. And he hadn't been hugged in a really long time.

He slowly put his arms around her and enjoyed the moment. Phoebe thought that he still smelled like blood, and the hybrid thought that she smelled like hair dye.

"Nice boobs." He said as he started to feel uncomfortable, ruining completely the mood.

"Oh, grow up!"

* * *

Tara was leaning against a far wall when she finally saw her niece leaving a place called "Devil May Cry" and wearing a shirt that sure wasn't hers. A smile took place in her beautiful face, until she saw a little creature with red glowing eyes limping towards her. "Not today, darling." She rolled her eyes and quickly gestured with her right hand. The shadow of the building quickly made its way to the poor thing and crashed it into tiny pieces. "Nasty little things."


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

It was one Hell of a storm on that night. Nobody would dare to leave their houses unless they really had to. It didn't affect a trio of devil hunters and a horde of demons, though. Dante grabbed his sword and smiled, but before he could start, he stretched his left arm to stop Phoebe from moving any closer.

"You stay back. You're completely useless in the rain."

"Excuse me?!" Her jaw dropped and she put her hands on her hip. "I'm not useless in the rain!" She picked up her dagger and showed it to him, causing him to burst into laughter.

"Step aside, people! We have a dangerous person with a dagger here!"

"I wanna see you say that when I shove it right up your ass." She grumbled.

Lady rolled her eyes and grabbed one of her guns, starting to shoot at the creatures before they kept going with the arguing. Dante licked his lips and jumped on the biggest demon, throwing it on the floor and stepping on its head.

"Let's rock!" He cut its head off and threw it on another demon that grabbed it in its hand and seemed confused. Before it could realize what was really happening it was kicked on its own head and it rolled all the way to the mismatched-eyed huntress' feet. She stared at the hybrid with her murderous look again. Dante laughed, grabbed Ebony and Ivory, jumped really high and started to spin in midair while shooting on the demons.

Phoebe focused in only one demon, throwing her dagger between its eyes. Then she jumped and landed on his shoulders, taking her weapon back, breaking a bottle of holy water on his eyes and jumping back to the floor. Meanwhile, one of the infernal creatures hit Lady on her arm, making her drop her handgun. She quickly grabbed her submachine gun and destroyed the demon's head.

When the creature tried to attack the youngest girl with its blade, she rolled to dodge the attack and saw the handgun on the floor. Phoebe picked it up and aimed at the demon's head. Of twelve bullets, only two hit the creature and it wasn't on the head. It fell on the floor and she blew the barrel of the gun, laughing after that and pointing at the corpse.

"Who's useless now?!" All of the remaining creatures were already dead. "… In my defense, I just got the gun." The demon grabbed her left ankle and growled, startling her. She stepped on its head until it finally died. Dante laughed at her.

"Which happens to be mine." Lady took it off her hands and put it back in its right place.

"Hey, Luke 3:11. 'Whoever has two tunics is to share with him who has none, and whoever has food is to do likewise.'" The other two hunters arched their eyebrows.

"Did you just quote the bible?" Dante bursted into laughter. Phoebe shrugged before answering.

"There are days my mother only talks in biblical quotes." She scratched the back of her head. "Those things get stuck in your head just like Britney Spears." She finally decided to check her watch and widened her eyes when she did so. "Oh, shit. Shit. SHIT!" The girl started to run away like a crazy chicken.

"Hey, Pheebs, what happened?" He yelled, however, there was no response.

No one had noticed that yet, but whenever the Devil Hunter called her by that nickname, Lady had an eye twitch. The first time she heard it, eight months ago, she thought he was just trying to tease her. When she realized that "Pheebs" actually liked it, the twitches started. What was going on? Could it be… jealousy? She eyed him from head to toe and shook her head lightly.

"Let's go back to the shop. You can ask her about that later."

Dante looked at her and if you asked him what the best thing about rain was, he would definitely answer: "white blouses." Specially if the girl was not wearing a bra. Her breasts caught his attention in such a way that Lady noticed immediately what was going on. She withdrew her handgun and shot him in the head without thinking twice.

"… What the—"

"My eyes are up here." She pointed at them and then walked away. Dante snorted, removed the bullet from his forehead and followed her.

Maybe that was the reason why she didn't have a cute nickname. Or maybe because "Lady" didn't match with anything, really.

Meanwhile, Phoebe practically threw herself in front of a taxi and yelled for the driver to stop. The poor man almost had a heart attack and gave her a long honk. She shrugged and opened the door to the passenger's seat. Before getting in the car, however, she saw her aunt on an alley on the other side of the street. Was she… killing a pack of demons? The girl slowly closed the door and waved at the driver to go. He called her a 'crazy bitch' in his Indian accent and left.

"What the fuck, Tara?!" The woman froze when she heard her niece yelling. Knowing there was no point in hiding it, she let her see how she was controlling the shadows when she crossed the street and stopped at the beginning of the alley. "You can… Why have you been hiding that from me?!"

"Yes, I can control the shadows… And so can your father. Twins usually share one of their powers." Phoebe widened her eyes.

"Twins?! No, you're like… 10 years younger than my father!"

"Sweetie, do you really think your father looks like he's almost in his 50's?" She rolled her violet eyes and touched the back of her palm on her chin.

"No…" The girl answered in a really low voice. "Wait, what's that supposed to mean? If I'm not getting already crazy, I'm pretty sure he already had the appearance of a 30-year-old man when I was a little kid—" She stopped mid-sentence and her jaw dropped. Neither her father nor Tara had aged since she was a kid! "No, that's impossible. People would've noticed!"

"What people? The neighbors we don't talk to?"

"Uhm… My mother, maybe?"

"Don't make me laugh. She only pays attention to the Father of the church she goes to and that's all." The woman watched as her niece scratched the back of her head, her expression showing how confused the poor thing was. "Go on, ask your questions."

"I…" Phoebe shook her head lightly. "Oh, my. I don't even know where to start." She hugged herself and looked up, the rain was starting to bother her. Not that she was feeling cold or feared that she would get a cold. "Can we please go somewhere else? I'm tired of being soaked."

"Sure." Tara snapped her fingers and, all of a sudden, they were not in the alley anymore, but in a beautiful living room decorated in shades of red. Phoebe widened her eyes and looked around. They were also completely dry. The black-haired woman walked to the couch and sat down, gesturing for her to do the same.

"… Did you just teleport us?"

"Oh, I wish. The things I'd do if I could teleport… Show up completely naked on Brad Pitt's bed and then—" She bit her lower lip and her niece snapped her fingers in front of her eyes to bring her back to reality. "Anyway, this is an illusion."

"An illusion?" She arched one of her eyebrows. "So, it means that we're still in the alley, in the rain?" Her aunt nodded. "… Did you just do that to show off?"

"Guilty as charged." Tara shrugged. The girl snorted and hit a palm against her forehead.

"What are we?"

"Fairies."

There were two whole minutes of utterly silence. Phoebe kept staring at the violet eyes in front of her until it finally hit her. She inhaled deeply and shouted: "WHA—" However, her aunt bursted into laughter and she realized it was not even worthy finishing her question.

"You should have seen your face!"

"Tara." She clenched her teeth and narrowed her eyes. "This is fucking serious!"

"I'm sorry!" Tara wiped her tears with the back of her hands. "Oh, my, that was funny." She saw her niece taking a deep breath and she cut her before she could even start. "Okay, okay. We are witches. I'm serious this time."

"Witches?! Like what? Like the Wicked Witch of the West? Or more like the witch from Hansel and Gretel?"

"Neither." She crossed her legs and started to comb her long dark hair with her fingers. "It's hard to explain. We have magical powers, never age, but our bodies are still almost as fragile as a human body."

"I was supposed to have a scar on my back. A demon attacked me and the wound was pretty bad back then." Her aunt tilted her head. "I'm not telling you this story right now."

"It takes a while, but as long as the wound is not lethal, it heals completely. That's why we don't grow old."

"And men are also called witches? Not… wizards or something like that?" The girl twisted her nose, everyone always pictured witches as female beings. Imagine if Gandalf was called a witch, instead of wizard. Awkward.

"No, we're a matriarchal society … Not that we really are a society, but if we had one, it would be definitely be matriarchal. Anyway, we don't give a shit if they don't like it." Phoebe arched one of her eyebrows in clear confusion. "You see, legend goes that all witches are the descendants of Hecate, the Greek goddess of the moon and, guess what, witchcraft."

"… Are you trying to say that we came from a goddess?"

"Not at all, she was a mortal in fact. This whole myth began after she… Let me start from the beginning. Hecate was a woman who was able to channel the powers of the moon and nature… Like a sorceress, but with very limited powers. She found a very handsome man to marry and f—"

"Don't kill the mood." The girl interrupted and narrowed her eyes.

"… Anyway, she got pregnant." She said nonchalantly. "On the day she delivered the child, Hecate accidentally, so they say, channeled both powers and united them. The unborn child absorbed this essence and that's how the world's first Witch was born: Helene, an immortal girl who had no affiliation to neither Heaven nor Hell, but only to the real energy of the earth, allowing her to control the elements and do things that were beyond any human's reach. When Hecate died of old age, Helene spread this whole goddess myth."

"It was a good tribute." Phoebe shrugged.

"Indeed. Years later, Helene had 5 descendants, and the first four inherited a portion of her powers. The oldest twin sisters, Lysandra and Aphrodisia, were the most powerful. While the other twins, Zephyros and Hagne were the less powerful ones. Kleon, the youngest, had some real bad luck and was born completely powerless. A mortal. The poor thing thought he was cursed. I mean, who wouldn't? Sleep all day. Party all night. Never grow old. Never die. It's fun to be a witch."

"… You got that from 'The Lost Boys', and they're vampires." She narrowed her eyes.

"Whatever, girl." Tara rolled her eyes. "Where was I? Oh, yes, he thought he was cursed. Not wanting the same destiny for his children, he… raped his older sister, Aphrodisia." She laughed when her niece widened her eyes. "Ancient Greece, Phoebe, Ancient Greece… Helene got shocked at her son's actions and cursed the unborn child. It would have powers, but not of a witch's. Instead, the child would be born as a creature of Hell. When the little girl was finally born, they say she had light green skin and—"

"Oh, my God! She was the Wicked Witch of The West!" There was a long pause in the illusionary room.

"There is no Wicked Witch of The West! Anyway, she had light green skin and crimson hair. She was a demon, so Helene took her grandchild and gave her to another demon who would take the girl to her righteous place: Hell."

"What happened to Aphrodisia?"

"Well… Ironically, she had the power to slow down time. So, she could've stopped Kleon if she wanted to. However, the naughty girl chose not to. Lysandra started to think that her sister was no longer worthy of such power, and cast a spell on a bracelet before giving it to Aphrodisia as a gift. When she wore it, it immediately stripped her out of her powers and she became a mortal. They say that Kleon and Aphrodisia spent the rest of their lives together, and that Lysandra still has the bracelet, using her sister's powers whenever she pleases. The end!" Tara let out a sigh of relief.

"Whoa… Okay, who wrote that greek tragedy? Euripides? Jeez…"

"No, but he wrote 'Medea' who was also a witch." She blinked at her.

"Oh, God…" Her mind was a mess; she had too many questions and no idea of what she was going to ask next. "Okay, how you really are?" Tara inhaled deeply. "Don't start. Just answer."

"I was born in 1684." Phoebe widened her eyes.

"That's three hundred and—" Her aunt threw a pillow at her.

"Don't say it out loud!"

"Okay, Jeez... Next, what about Billy?"

"Yeah… He's not really my son." Phoebe's eyes widened again and her jaw dropped. "His mother died in my arms after she got shot by her ex-husband she was running from. He was 1-week-old and she asked me to take care of him."

"B-But… You were pregnant! I remember!"

"So does Johanna, because Erwin manipulated your memories." She said nonchalantly, only realizing her mistake a few seconds later. "Damn it, Tara! Learn how to keep your fucking mouth shut!"

"… He did what?"

"He can manipulate memories! That's why you think I was pregnant."

Phoebe felt dizzy for a while, seeing the memory of her aunt being pregnant being slowly erased from her head. Now she remembered how the woman showed up with a child out of nowhere.

"Oh, my God! I remember now!" She ran a hand through her hair. "Why is my father married to my mother anyway?!"

"Yeah… One night stand went wrong. She didn't use to be like that, you know, but her parents… Pffft. Johanna got pregnant; your grandfather pointed a shotgun at Erwin's face, he did what they wanted."

"… It doesn't sound like him..."

"Right?" For now, she would hide the truth about how her brother needed a disguise. Phoebe didn't buy it, but she would let it slip for now. She had too much stuff in her head to care about her parents.

"Why did you hide all of this from me?!"

"We already had too much trouble hiding your powers from your mother, and erasing her memory every time you used it in front of her! And you were leading your life so perfectly normal that we didn't want to go through… this."

"You didn't have the right to hide something like that from me! You lied to me my whole life!"

"No!" Tara raised her index finger. "We never said you were human or normal. I doubt that **you** ever thought something like that."

"Yeah, but when someone asks you if you're human, because they're thinking you're a demon, it's pretty bad because you have no idea of the answer!" She covered her mouth with her hand after letting that slip. Her aunt rolled her eyes.

"I know you were attacked by demons and that you're slaying them now." She said completely bored. The girl frowned. "I told you I could find out anything I want to." Phoebe sighed.

"One last thing… It's been four or five years that I sometimes have a weird flashback… I'm inside of a burning house, and I hear people scream… Is this a real memory or not?"

"I guess your father did a poor job on this memory… Or it is too strong." The girl's heart skipped a beat. "This house burned down when you were five years old. Nobody knew you were in there until my brother got you out. After that you didn't talk to anybody for a whole year, until Erwin decided to erase that memory. It was probably the trauma."

"… Did I do it?"

Tara laughed.

"What? No! Your powers only manifested two years later. We were starting to think that, somehow, you were human. Don't you remember that?"

"Yes, but in the flashback I can't quite recall how old I was… Why I was in there, anyway?"

"That house was our neighbors'. You were friends with their little boy… What was his name again? Hugo?"

"What happened in there?"

Tara became very serious after that question. She snapped her fingers and they were back at the alley. The rain had already stopped, but they were still completely soaked, of course.

"Sweetie, some things are better left unknown." Phoebe didn't know why, but that sentence sent shivers down her spine. "Let's go home."

"No, I have to go to the airport… Kevin is moving to England today and—" She checked her watch and realized she was way too late. "Damn it!"

"So?"

"You know what? I need to think about all this. It's… Too much information." She wasn't lying, her head hurt like Hell. The girl was having a bad time about being lied to her whole life. There was also the fact that Billy, the little boy she considered as a young brother, wasn't even really her cousin. Not that things between them were going to change, but it was still awkward.

* * *

Dante had come up with the idea of betting money on a billiards game between them. Lady was winning, of course, but he would never mind as long as he could get a good look at her ass every time she hit the ball. Or at her breasts, if he positioned himself right. There was only one ball left, which was pretty sad.

"I hope you have my money." She raised her eyes and looked at him.

"Don't bet on it, babe." He smirked and the girl rolled her eyes. "I can pay you in other ways, y'know…"

"Don't make me shoot you." The huntress went back to focusing on the game and hit the ball, however, the pink one missed the pocket. "What's wrong with me today?!"

"You probably have your mind elsewhere."

"I'm not thinking about sex, Dante." Lady frowned and wondered if hitting him with the stick would cause any damage on him. Probably not.

"You're the one who brought the subject." The hybrid positioned himself and hit. He didn't score either.

"I gotta go." She said all of a sudden, leaning the stick against the wall and walking away.

"Hey, Lady—" The black-haired girl slammed the door behind her. "What the fuck is wrong with these women today?"

Lady didn't even notice that the rain had already stopped; her head was a complete mess of feelings. Was Dante attractive? Of course. Did she picture herself with him? Not in a hundred years. Whenever he breathed close to her, she felt her skin crawl. Not that she hated him, the huntress knew that he was a demon with a good heart, but it was still hard to get over her despise for them. Then why did she feel jealous every time Phoebe was around?

When she looked at her right, she saw she was in front of a bar's door. Not sure of what she was doing, she went inside and sat on one of the stools. There was a black-haired woman by her side, and she seemed to scan Lady with her violet eyes.

"I don't think you're getting anything in here, sweetie."

"I think that's kind of my problem." The woman laughed and took a sip of her bottle of beer.

"Tell me what you want and I'll get it for you." She winked and watched as the girl frowned.

"Why would you do that for me?"

"Because you look like you need it." She winked again.

"Get me some… vodka."

The woman snapped her fingers to call the bartender's attention and ordered when he looked at her. He filled the glass and gave it to her, who then passed it to Lady when the man looked away.

"I was reckless and screwed things up pretty bad today. You?"

The huntress held back the urge of rolling her eyes when she tried to start a conversation.

"I'm confused. That's all."

"Hm… It looks like it's about a guy." She grinned before taking another sip of the beer.

"That's none of your business." Lady snapped.

"Sweetie, you're sitting in a bar drinking vodka. You need a friend."

"Says who." She had that murderous look in her eyes.

"Come on, you can trust me. I'm good listener **and** adviser." The girl sighed.

"There's this guy I've met about 2 years ago—"

"I knew it."

Lady took a deep breath while counting to ten and continued.

"Then we met a girl—"

"They say that love is just like grass. We water it, it grows, and then comes a bitch out of nowhere and it comes to shit."

"… Can I finish?" She said between her clenched teeth.

"Please."

"And they got really close. And I think I'm starting to feel jealous, but I'm not into him! At all!"

"Oh, I got it already." Lady widened her eyes. "Do you have any close friends? Family? Boyfriend? Anyone you can rely on?"

"Well… They both are my friends, I guess."

"You guess?" She slowly nodded. "You don't want the guy. You want what they have."

"What?"

"You know, when you walked right through that door at least ten people in this bar got uncomfortable. You have that exterior that pushes people away from you."

"Yes, because I'm fine by my own." The woman laughed, causing her to give that murderous look again.

"We always need people to rely on, sweetie. A friend, a family member, a lover… Sometimes even a one night stand per night!" She took some money out of her bra and put it on the balcony. "Think about it." Stood up and walked to the door.

"Hey!" Lady called and she looked at her from over her shoulder. "Thanks." The woman nodded and left. "Why does she seem so familiar…?"

* * *

Phoebe opened the door and saw Dante with a slice of pizza hanging from his mouth while he cleaned his pistols. The jukebox was playing Metallica. She silently closed the door and leaned against it, watching him. He put Ivory down, took the pizza out of his mouth and raised his eyes to look at her. She didn't move.

"You make a good statue, y'know."

"I found out."

"What?" He seemed confused. She took a deep breath before answering.

"I'm a witch. My father and my aunt are witches and they're over three hundred years old. Three hundred." She mouthed the last part as she slid to the floor, sitting.

Dante finished his pizza slice and sat by her side, placing an arm around her shoulder. She rested her head on his shoulder and told him everything. She wasn't worried about the fact that she was a witch, she didn't feel much different after finding that out, what troubled her was the whole new world of information and her aunt's last sentence about things that are better being left unknown. Sometimes he lightened the mood with jokes or really bad puns. They moved to the couch and kept talking until Phoebe fell asleep with her head on his lap and a bottle of beer in her hand. He took it from her hand and let her sleep peacefully.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

All of a sudden Enzo had showed up at the Devil May Cry claiming he had 'one last job' for Dante. Unfortunately for Phoebe he was not dying, but only moving to Europe. Apparently there was an abandoned building in Downtown crawling with demons and the Mayor needed the terrain to build a new hospital – or so he said. The 9-store-building used to be a luxury hotel back in the 40's, however; it was shut down 20 years later when people started to be mysteriously murdered inside the rooms. Eventually they found out the reason.

"… I'm not going in there." The girl gulped as she heard the sound of wood cracking from the inside.

"You scared?" The half-demon laughed.

"The place is falling apart!" She pointed at it. "And we both know that in less than a minute of fighting you're going to demolish it! Who needs a wrecking ball when they have you?!" Phoebe crossed her arms and stared at him accusingly.

"Damn it! Now I want a dramatic entrance!" He looked up, searching for the perfect place to break with his sword and get inside.

"Did you even pay attention to what I just said?"

"Of course." Dante didn't even glance at her. She took a deep breath and approached him, talking very close to his ear with a seductive voice.

"I'm not wearing a bra." He didn't even budge. The witch hit the back of his head with her right hand and the Devil Hunter finally looked at her. "I said the place is fucking falling apart! Pay attention!"

"I can get in there and fight without destroying it." Phoebe arched an eyebrow. "Right, let's make a bet, then." He stretched his arm toward her.

"Okay. If the building falls before you get out of there, you're my bitch for a week."

"And if I get out and it's still standing, you get off your shirt." He grinned maliciously and grabbed the handle of his sword as her jaw dropped.

"You **were** listening!" Dante laughed and got inside. "Damn it!" She followed him, causing him to look at her from over his shoulder.

"So you're coming?"

"I don't wanna miss the action." The huntress shrugged. "But if this place turns into my burial ground, I'd like you to know that I will do everything to come back and haunt you for the rest of your life, devil boy." They reached the stairs and elevator and she pointed up. "The upper levels are yours. Have fun."

"And I'll ignore you with ease." He kicked the elevator, breaking the door and getting inside. Then, he broke its roof with a punch and waved at the girl. "See ya later, Pheebs." The half-demon jumped, grabbed the elevator's cables and started to climb them.

"I was going to ask 'what about the stairs?' but I then I remembered it's you!" Dante grinned when he heard Phoebe shout.

It took him less than a minute to reach the ninth floor. He kicked the door with both feet and it fell on a dark green creature that had long members and claws, sharp teeth and glowing orange eyes. The hunter stepped on it as if it were nothing and the poor thing screamed. It drawed the other demons' attention, making at least thirty of them to gather around the Devil Hunter. He licked his lower lip and withdrew Ebony &amp; Ivory.

"Let's get this party started!" The hybrid pointed his guns at two demons that were on completely opposite sides and started to shoot. It didn't take long for them to succumb and for the other creatures to attack him. Their long claws tore his skin apart; however, he didn't care as it would heal quickly. Instead, he hit them with a few punches and kicks and grabbed the handle of Rebellion, spinning it around himself and cutting their heads off. Dante hit the tip of the sword against the floor and propped his elbow on its handle. "Well, let's see if quantity will win over quality. Otherwise, I'll just have to kick Enzo's ass." He then proceeded to the next floor.

Meanwhile, Phoebe had heard some weird noises coming from the basement and went down there to check it out. Apparently it was coming from the generator, which was surprisingly still working. The deafening noise that was coming from it didn't let her hear the footsteps of a large quadruped creature right behind her. It seemed to be made of sand, had a long tail, a big mouth with rotten teeth and a forked tongue. The demon wrapped his tail around her left ankle and raised it, causing her to hang upside-down. The witch crossed her arms and stared at the place his eyes should be. The infernal creature was probably blind.

"A descendant of Hecate." It hissed and sniffed the air again. "They say your meat is delicious." Phoebe frowned.

"The barbecue is on me, then." She created a huge fireball and threw it at the demon's face. It growled and let go of her, causing her to fall on her back. The huntress got up immediately and positioned herself in a defense stance.

"I'm Rakshasa and I will not tolerate the insolence of a witch!" Another fireball hit his face, causing him to growl louder. "You're dead!"

Then a stream of fire hit his torso. Completely annoyed at the girl who was now laughing at him, the spikes of sand that were on his back started to leave his body. Realizing what was about to happen, Phoebe prepared herself. Once he shot the spikes in her direction, she created a few fireballs to hit and stop them. She also had to crouch to dodge one she hadn't seen coming. Rakshasa prepared himself to attack her with his mouth when his nose caught something.

"What is this other smell…?"

"Y'know, there were a bunch of cats outside. Maybe they're mistaking you for a sandbox."

The witch snorted when she saw the white-haired hybrid walking down the stairs like some kind of God. She had killed all the demons of the ground floor, reached the basement and that was enough time for him to kill all the demons of nine floors. Fuck you, life, for not being fair.

"I know that smell… It's the smell of that wretched traitor, Sparda!"

The girl arched one of her eyebrows and looked at Dante. For the first time he noticed that he had never fought a demon that was powerful enough to talk alongside Phoebe. He mentally hoped she was completely clueless about his father. The last thing he wanted was to answer questions about it.

"His name is actually Dante." She said slowly and a bit confused.

"Of course… The Son of Sparda!" He hissed. "I will crush you!" Rakshasa stomped, creating a wave of energy that hit everything around him and raised a few points of the floor. The pair of hunters jumped to dodge it.

"So the sandbox knows a trick or two!" Dante grabbed his sword and grinned.

The previous attack had cracked the generator, which was now making a much louder noise. Phoebe looked at it and widened her eyes; it was about to explode.

"Dante, we gotta get outta here!" She shouted.

"This party is not over yet, Pheebs."

"No! The generator is going to—" It exploded before she could finish her sentence, sending each one of them against the wall. The whole building started to shake and it didn't take long for the ceiling to start falling down. "Shit! Dante!" She looked around and found him fighting with Rakshasa. "What the fuck are you doing?!"

"Go! I'll catch you later!"

"I'm not leaving you here!" Phoebe created a jet of flames to explode a huge piece of rubble that was about to fall on her head. Then she pointed with both hands at the ground underneath the demon, creating a column of fire from that spot. Rakshasa didn't have much time to agonize: the Devil Hunter quickly stabbed his mouth with Rebellion. He watched with a smile on his face as the blood poured from the creature.

"Dante! The fucking building is falling on us!" She managed to snap him out of it. Dante glanced back at the demon one last time and noticed a book with a dark leather cover was coming out of his mouth.

"A demon that eats books? That's a first."

"It means he's probably more intelligent than you! He probably wouldn't be standing under a falling construction! Take that and let's go!"

The hunter did as told, but as soon as his fingers touched the book a wave of demonic energy rushed through his body, causing to trigger. Phoebe only saw a flash of it, since he managed to control it and change back to his human form quickly. He reached the girl and they made their way out of there. As soon as they stepped on the street the building fell to pieces. The girl was panting, thankful for the edifice not to fall on them. Dante, on the other hand, had a big smile on his face.

"So… I think I won the bet." She widened her eyes and looked at him.

"What?!"

"The building was still standing when we walked out of it."

"My ass! It was already falling!"

He laughed. "It's okay. I won't make you take off your shirt **now**." She frowned and crossed her arms.

"You're not doing it because you didn't win!"

They argued all the way back to the Devil May Cry. Dante always pointing out that the building was still standing when they left and that it wasn't his fault that the generator had exploded. And Phoebe pointing out that most of the edifice had already fallen when they got out. The hybrid decided to try a different strategy, then.

"Okay, I got it. You're ashamed of taking off your shirt."

"What?! Me?! Oh, okay, you want me to take off my shirt, I **will **take off my shirt—" She narrowed her eyes and raised her index finger when she realized what was going on. "… Don't play mind games with me, Devil Boy."

"It was worth a shot." He shrugged.

"I'm the one who won! You should be doing whatever I told you to do right now!"

He sat on his chair and propped his feet on his desk. "The building was still standing." Dante explained slowly. "Admit it, Pheebs, you lost."

"Yeah, except for the little fact that I didn't lose!" The witch snorted. "You know what? I'll call Lady and she'll decide who has won."

"If you call Lady for that she will rip your liver off with her bare hands." Dante arched one of his eyebrows. "Just admit it. You lost. Forget about the bet."

"I didn't lose!" She yelled. All of a sudden her expression changed when she looked at his hand. "… That book is still in your hand."

He looked at it. The hybrid could still feel the energy flowing and maybe that was why he couldn't let it go. It felt like it was glued to his hand. It glowed purple as soon as his fingers tried to open it, sending a wave of electricity through his body.

"Let me see it." Phoebe put her hands on the book and needed some strength to pull it from him. She also tried to open it. "Nothing."

"But it didn't glow or gave you a shock."

"Maybe it didn't like you." She giggled and he rolled his eyes. "Maybe aunt Tara knows something about it…" She left it on the desk and looked in Dante's eyes. Her curiosity about the whole Sparda thing was killing her, but she had no idea of how to start the conversation. "Can I ask you something?"

Of course she wasn't letting that crap go. The hybrid took a deep breath and asked: "If I say no, will you let it go?" The young witch shook her head lightly while biting her lower lip. Damn you, women, and your seduction powers. "… Go ahead."

"When that demon back there called you 'Son of Sparda', did he mean **the** Dark Knight Sparda?"

"Maybe."

"Dante!"

"Yes, he meant the 'Dark Knight Sparda' or whatever you people call him." He rolled his eyes. "Happy?"

"Why haven't you ever told me that?"

"You never asked." Dante shrugged and opened his drawer, searching for something.

"Yes, because everybody goes around asking people if they're Sparda's children." Phoebe crossed her arms and stared at him. He didn't answer, though. "Okay, I got it. You don't wanna talk about it."

"Good to know you understand. Hey, is it past midnight already?" She arched one eyebrow, but checked her watch anyway. "… Do you know how witches tell time?" Phoebe looked back at him, frowning. He was already chuckling.

"Please don't."

"With a witch watch!" The devil boy bursted into laughter and the girl rolled her eyes.

"Your jokes kill me on the inside."

"Ok… Seriously, is it past midnight already?"

She slowly nodded, preparing herself for another pun. However, he took a package from the drawer which was wrapped in black and orange paper. Dante handed it to her and she widened her eyes.

"How did you find that out?!" The girl practically yelled.

"… What?"

"That today is my birthday!"

There was an awkward silence in the room. Those were not exactly his intentions, and Phoebe was starting to think he was stalking her.

"… Actually, since it's Halloween, I was going to tease you because, y'know, witches… Halloween…" Only then he saw the whole picture and started to chuckle. "You're a witch and you were born in Halloween…" She frowned.

"Don't." Phoebe closed her eyes and waited for the worst.

"Okay, okay…" He laughed. She let out a sigh of relief and started to open the package. "Happy birthday and Halloween, then."

"… Thanks."

"Are you blushing?" Dante started to laugh all over again when he saw the pink on her cheeks.

"It's makeup." She didn't even look at him to answer.

"That showed up all of a sudden?"

"It's magical." The girl drawed a rainbow in the air with the palm of her hand while whispering. "Oh, my God. Is this a…?" She took the object from the box to have a better look. It was a black semi-automatic pistol. "A .45. That is fucking awesome." The witch raised her right arm and the hybrid leaned on the desk to high five it. "No, seriously, hands down, best birthday gift ever."

"C'mon, don't tell me you didn't like to get dolls as a cute little girl?"

"Actually, I think I burned most of them." She twitched her nose as she spoke.

"Lemme correct myself: horror movie creepy little girl."

"It's easy for you to say. You boys get the best toys!" Phoebe ran a finger through the barrel of the gun and then went to the trigger. The Devil Hunter slightly changed his position on the chair as he watched her. "You do remember I'm horrible with this thing, right?"

"Yeah, that's why I'm taking you to the shooting range this week. If I let you fire that thing without supervision, you're probably gonna put a bullet through your own skull accidentally."

She folded her arms and glared at him murderously. "I'm not **that** horrible." He laughed as she rolled her eyes. "Anyway, I should take that book to Tara already." The girl put her left hand on the book and Dante's hands quickly covered hers, not letting her take it. "Dante!"

"… It was reflex." He slowly raised his hands and she took the book. "But you can't go yet. You still owe me something." The white-haired boy grinned.

"… You lost, Dante. Let it go."

He snorted and ran a hand through his hair. "Y'know what? I don't need this. I have my ways of getting what I want." Dante propped his elbows on the desk and smirked. Phoebe, on the other hand, just arched one eyebrow.

"Forget it, dude, I'm **way** out of your league." She laughed.

"Are you?" The half-demon slowly stood up and walked to her. "Because I say that I can and I will get what I want." The girl laughed again and crossed her arms as she got closer to the Devil Hunter.

"Give me your best shot." Phoebe said each word slowly and with a smile on her face.

"It'll be my pleasure."

Dante grabbed and lifted the witch by her waist, causing the girl to quickly put her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist. She felt her heart skip a beat when she looked him in the eyes and heard his laughter. Phoebe also laughed, pretty nervously, though. She put her right palm over his cheek and leaned her head against his. The devil boy's hand went to the back of her head, pulling her hair a little. Her lips were about to brush against his when the door was bursted open, and she got away from him like a cat who had just been hit by a bucket of ice water.

It was Enzo and he had a big briefcase with him. "Hey, Dante! The contractors are really happy! You even saved them the trouble of wrecking the building, your destructive nature finally had some use!" He pushed the Devil Hunters aside to walk between them and put the briefcase on the desk. When he opened they saw the big amount of money inside. He took a few packs and handed them to Phoebe. "That's your share. Sweet twenty percent. And for Dante…" The fat guy picked up a hundred dollar bill and handed it to the white-haired boy.

"… What the fuck, Enzo?!"

"Hey, the rest covers for all the loss I had previously. Whenever you damage a building, the streets or a bridge,** I** have to pay for it!" Dante snorted. "Anyway… I think this is goodbye! It was really nice working with you for all those years!" He smiled and shook the half-demon's hand who even cracked a smile. Somehow he was going to miss that fella.

"Try not to get yourself killed in Europe, you ugly fat-ass."

"I can handle myself, man! You know what? I think I'm even going to miss you too—" When Enzo turned around to look at the girl he was talking about, he realized that she wasn't in the shop anymore. "Where did that crazy chick go?"

"… Shit." The Devil Hunter said under his breath.


	7. Chapter 7

**I'd like to thank the reviews, it was really nice of you guys!**

**SO SORRY about the wait, my computer broke when the chapter was almost done, it took weeks to get fixed and I had to rewrite the whole thing. Sigh. Always do a backup, kids.**

**Warning: this chapter contains sexual themes. ****Sex. Sexo. Sesso. Hentai. Voulez vous coucher avec moi, ce soir. ****Two people fu—Aaaanyway, you got it. If you're not comfortable with it, just skip it. (insert a little heart here)**

**Chapter 7**

Dante hadn't seen Phoebe in a week. He was starting to worry about the girl, since she was always at the Devil May Cry and sometimes he even wondered if she was homeless. The Devil Hunter had no idea if she was in trouble or if he had overdone things with her right before Enzo walked in the shop. He had a talent for screwing things up.

Coming back home after having a strawberry sundae at the diner, the hybrid opened the door and grinned when he saw a ginger girl standing right in front of his desk, her back facing him. She was hot, had all the curves in the right places, one hell of a perfect ass and was wearing a tight black dress. She had a book in her hands and didn't even notice when Dante approached her. He slowly put a lock of her wavy hair behind her ear, causing the girl to arch one eyebrow and look at him. Finally recognizing her, he snorted and leaned on the desk with his elbows propped on it.

"Damn it, Pheebs!"

"Who were you expecting? The little mermaid?" Phoebe closed her book and left it on the desk.

"I was expecting a hot girl I could bang."

"Well, hot girl. Check. That you can bang…" She twitched her freckled nose. "Try a little harder."

"Challenge accepted." Dante grinned. "Where were you? I haven't seen you in days."

"Yeah… I believe Tara knows everything about that book, but she won't say a word about it. She just sat in her bedroom staring at it all day! It was a little bit depressing, really, and I was really worried about her. But yesterday she hit on our 18-year-old neighbor, so she's already getting better."

"Is that all?" The redhead quickly nodded. "We were going to the shooting range this week, remember?"

"Yes! I'm sorry! I should've told you what was going on, sorry."

He gestured for her to let it go. "Anyway, what is it with your hair?"

"Oh, that? I got sick of the black and I found out that there's a spell to change the color of the hair. Witches don't bother to create healing spells, but useless things like this…" The girl crossed her arms and snorted.

"Well, if it were useless you'd still be brunette." She shrugged. "The red really suits you, though."

"… Yeah, it's the natural color of my hair, actually."

"So… You're red-haired and you manipulate fire…" Dante smirked and she immediately stared at him with murderous eyes.

"Make **one** joke and I'll dye it black again." The smile disappeared from his face and she sighed in relief. "Good. I don't really like the color of my hair; I guess I was just curious after not really seeing it for a while. I guess I'll just dye it blonde."

"What?! No! For fuck's sake, Pheebs, what's wrong about you being ginger?" The hybrid stepped away from his desk and walked around her, eyeing every detail of her body. "It makes you look like a very hot and expensive whore." He said seductively as she laughed.

"Okay, I'll just add that to my cons and pros list. Pros: red hair makes you look like an expensive whore. Cons: people call you names like 'Strawberry'."

"Hey, anything related to strawberries should never be in a cons list!" The devil boy went to his electric guitar and turned it on. "Y'know what? I challenge you to a guitar duel. If I win, you won't ever change the color of your hair. If you win, you can even dye it pink, I won't say a word."

"… Are you really thinking you can beat me in my own territory?" Phoebe crossed her arms.

"You scared?" Dante grinned.

"Not even in a hundred years." She laughed and turned on her own guitar. The witch started to leave it in the shop since nobody would let her play it at home. And she wasn't even spending much time at her house anyway. "The challenger chooses the song. I'm that nice." She grinned.

"Prepare to go back home crying like a little girl." He started to hit the first notes and she soon recognized the song. It was _One_ by Metallica.

"Good choice, devil boy."

He winked at her and started to show off, putting the guitar behind his back and still being able to play without missing a note. Phoebe crossed her arms and just stared, annoyed, while she waited for her turn. When it began, the redhead raised her chin and stared him in the eyes as she started to play. She didn't miss any notes either and mockingly bowed to the half-demon once she was over.

It was Dante's turn again; he went to his knees as he held the guitar and started to sing. "I can't remember anything, can't tell if this is true or dream, deep down inside I feel to scream, this terrible silence stops me." He rose back to his feet with a jump. Surprisingly, the hybrid actually had a good singing voice, it was husky and, along with his attitude, reminded Phoebe of a rock star.

"Now that the war is through with me, I'm waking up, I cannot see, that there's too much left of me, nothing is real but pain now." She started to mumble the lyrics along. They were both playing now and starting at each other's eyes just waiting for the other to make a mistake.

Phoebe got closer to him, trying to tease the half-demon and cause him to miss a note. However, the clash of egos was starting to become nothing in comparison to the sexual tension in the room. Dante's instincts were taking over his mind and when she took a deep breath and slowly bit her lower lip, it was the breaking point for him. He let his guitar fall on the floor and took the one in the girl's hands, pushing both away. Then, all of a sudden, there was no more distance between them, their bodies and foreheads were touching, they were breathing heavily and staring at each other's eyes.

One of the half-demon's hands went to the back of her head, slightly pulling her hair. He ran the tip of his nose all the way through her neck as one of her hands also gripped his hair, her breath warm on his left ear. Now, with no hair dye, he could finally feel her scent, and even though the Devil Hunter could not tell if it was her shampoo or cologne, she did smell amazing. She sighed and bit his earlobe seductively, and then it was the witch's turn to pull his head back, causing him to look into her bluish green eyes. Dante bit and pulled her lower lip slightly before kissing her hungrily. The witch escaped from his grip and broke the kiss for a second, only to take her boots off, jump, put her legs around his waist and kiss him back. He held her with one hand and walked until he sat her on the desk.

His mouth went to her neck, licking and sucking it fiercely as he squeezed her ass, making a moan escape from her lips. Phoebe quickly unbuttoned his shirt and threw it aside, running her hands through every muscle of his torso as she bit his jaw, his neck and trailed kisses and licks all the way to his abs. He took her wrists with his right hand and held them above her head, laid her down on the desk, unzipped and slipped the black dress down to the witch's waist, smiling as he finally saw her breasts. She bit her lower lip and chuckled. "Finally, huh."

The hybrid got on top of her, his crotch between her legs and his mouth on her left ear. "I'll make you enjoy this more than I am." He said in a low husky voice. The redhead sighed as she felt his tongue slowly running through her left breast. He was torturing her, there was no doubt about it. Her hand went to his shoulder and her nails sank into his flesh, which only made him grin.

"Goddammit." She breathed out and shut her eyes. The girl was holding herself not to yell at him to stop, it would only feed his already enormous ego. The half-devil finally stopped the torture and put her nipple in his mouth, sucking and licking it, and then went to do the same thing with the other one. Phoebe moaned and was about to push him toward the couch when he licked her neck and placed his mouth on her ear.

"Am I trying hard enough now?" She would never have thought that Dante's husky voice had such a powerful effect on her. She laughed lightly, sat back on the desk and placed her hands on his butt, squeezing it.

"I don't know." The witch said seductively. "I haven't seen anything yet." He grinned maliciously and rocked his hips against hers so she could feel the massive bulge in his pants. "Now you're talking." She gasped.

"Horny bitch." He said, grinning, before his lips captured hers, their tongues exploring every inch of each other's mouths. Her hands went to his abs, feeling every muscle all the way to her objective: the zipper of his pants. The hybrid pulled away from her to take it off along with his boots. There he was, completely naked in front of her, and she couldn't help but stare at his massive erection while biting her lower lip. "I'll take a wild guess and say that you like—"

Phoebe stood up and kissed him while gripping his hair with both hands. Then, she placed her mouth on his ear and whispered: "Please, don't ruin the mood." The hybrid rolled his eyes and unzipped her dress, finally taking it off completely and only leaving her with her black panties. He licked her hipbones and around her belly button. As soon as he stood up she kissed the half-demon hungrily and pushed him towards the couch, sitting on his lap. "Wait here." The redhead whispered seductively on his ear.

"You know I'm not good at that." He smirked and watched as she walked towards her purse and took a small square package out of it. She made her way back and handed it to him. Dante opened the package and started to put on the condom as the redhead slowly took off her panties, teasing him. Once she was completely naked he pulled her by the hips, causing the girl to sit on his. She propped her hands on his shoulders, bit his neck and adjusted herself as he massaged her breasts. Phoebe lowered her hip and sighed when his tip brushed her entrance, then he placed a hand on the back of her head and kissed her fiercely. She moaned inside his mouth as she kept moving down.

"Shit." The redhead breathed out. The Devil Boy placed his hands on her hip as she started to move up and down. He sighed and bit her jaw, neck, and then finally put her left nipple inside his mouth. It was really hard to find a woman who would be on top of him like that. The time between her moans decreased as she moved faster, however, all of a sudden she looked Dante in the eyes and slowed down. He gave her a puzzled look and groaned when he saw her biting her lower lip.

"Don't tease me, woman." The girl pretended she didn't listen. She really thought she had the control over the situation, the poor thing. All of a sudden, the white-haired boy caught her by the waist, stood up and, before she could even realize what was going on, her back was being pressed against the closest wall.

"Woah, how—" Phoebe moaned loudly when he began to thrust. He was rough, even in the way he held her, but she was not surprised that it made her feel even hornier. Her nails got deep into the flesh of his back, opening a few wounds, causing him to growl and to bite her neck in a way that would definitely become a bruise.

The red-haired witch hid her face on his neck as she felt her orgasm coming; the whole damn thing was feeling so good she was starting to feel guilty for not doing it before. Dante squeezed her ass as he tried to hold himself back, but the touch of her nipples against his chest was not helping. He only let himself go when she also reached climax.

"Holy fucking shit." She said between short breaths.

He grinned and looked her in the eyes. "I hope you're not expecting that's it." The hybrid held her chin and licked the sweat out of her left cheek.

"Never." The witch grinned back and pulled his lower lip with her teeth.

"Excellent."

* * *

Phoebe didn't even know exactly how they got on his bed and had already lost track of which round they were in. She only moaned and dug her nails on his back as he moved inside of her, both close to reaching their orgasms once more. Dante licked the crook of her neck and then kissed her when he felt his blood running through his back. The redhead moaned loudly inside of his mouth and pulled away when she reached her climax and moaned even louder. The half-demon gave a few more thrusts before his orgasm hit him. They were both panting heavily, but the witch knew he would be fully recovered in a couple of minutes. She, on the other hand, had never felt so exhausted in her whole life.

While still lying on top of her, he bit her earlobe and ran his hand through her ginger hair. She sighed and closed her eyes. The bastard was definitely good at it. "You know, you were the one who quit the duel, so… You kinda lost." Phoebe chuckled as he groaned and laid down by her side.

"Seriously?! After all the orgasms I just made you have, you're saying I lost?!" She opened her eyes and stared at his icy blue ones.

"It was a guitar duel. It's not my fault if you lost focus." She laughed. "Also, we're in a modern world now. A man is not responsible for a woman's orgasm anymore." The redhead bit her lower lip as the hybrid grumbled a few swear words.

"Are you really thinking about becoming blonde, Strawberry?" Dante grinned when the smile disappeared from her face and she sat on the bed.

"Don't you dare!"

"I know your weakness, now. Don't push your luck." He laughed when Phoebe twitched her nose.

"You're a bastard." She mumbled.

"You're a strawberry."

"Go fuck yourself."

"I've just fucked you. Several times. I don't need that now." He laughed even harder when she punched him on the arm. Deep down inside they were both glad things didn't get weird between them.

"Holy shit!" Phoebe stood up with a jump, causing the Devil Hunter to look around, wondering if she had seen a cockroach in the bedroom or something. "It's late!"

"… Do you become the White Rabbit or something after sex?"

"I have to go back home, get in my bed and pretend I was sleeping the whole time. Otherwise I'll spend the rest of my week listening to my mother's religious bullshit and I'd really like to avoid that." She said as she desperately looked around. "Okay, where are my clothes?!"

"Downstairs."

"Right." The witch practically ran towards the door as he smiled like the cat that ate the canary at her every movement. She stopped by the doorframe, however, and looked at him. "Dante…" He looked back at her. "Never mind." She turned around and walked toward the stairs.

"What the fuck?!" Dante stood up and went after her. "What is it?"

"It's nothing." The girl was putting on her panties and saw when he mouthed the word "strawberry" as he crossed his arms. She rolled her eyes and took her black dress from the floor. "It's just that… I hate people meddling in my life, so if we could just keep this between us…"

"Relax, I'm not changing the neon sign to 'I fucked Phoebe'. It's not appealing and people might think I am a perv."

"You **are** a perv."

He shrugged. "I know you like it."

Phoebe laughed and closed the zipper of her dress. After putting the boots on, she walked towards the door and looked one last time at Dante. "Thanks." And left.

The hybrid looked around and smiled, he had been waiting for this for more time than he would admit. Who would've thought that skinny, clumsy girl would become **that**? He picked up his clothes and went back upstairs.

* * *

It was almost morning when Phoebe opened the door to her apartment. She tip toed inside, trying to be as silent as possible, and walked towards her bedroom. Everyone in the house was probably sound asleep and she felt relieved, letting her muscles relax a little. When the girl placed her hand on the doorknob all of a sudden the light of the hall was turned on and she even thought of pretending to pass out. She looked at Johanna, who was crossing her arms and tapping her left foot on the floor, and sighed. So fucking close.

"Where were you? I thought you were sleeping."

She arched an eyebrow. "Why are you up, then?"

"I went to the kitchen to have a glass of water." Nice, Phoebe, you and your terrible timing. "You were sinning, weren't you?!"

"… I guess we both know the answer to that question." The brunette opened her mouth to speak, but the girl cut her off. "Look, there's nothing you can say right now that will ruin my mood. So save it."

"I want you out of this house!" There was this vein popping out of Johanna's forehead, and she was having a really tough time to focus on her mother's eyes.

"Yeah, right. You always say that." Phoebe opened the door to her bedroom and got inside. "'Night, Mother!"

The woman gritted her teeth and looked at Tara's bedroom door, it was slightly open. She walked to it and practically yelled. "This is all your fault!" And then she went back to her own room. The raven-haired witch didn't even look at her, she only had eyes to the book in her hands. Now she was the only one who could open it, however, she didn't have the guts to.

"You only asked me two things and I feel like I have failed both." Tara was astonished when her niece came back home with the hardcover book, claiming that it had a weird reaction to 'her partner'. No matter what, Phoebe would never say his name. She was protecting him, of course, but it was useless since the older witch knew that boy all too well. After all, he was part of one of the promises she had made years ago.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

It was that time of the year again that Lady simply hated. In almost every corner she would see a fat old man in red wishing Merry Christmas as snowflakes fell on the top of everyone's heads. She hated the cold. And she hated that the image of her mother putting a star on the top of the tree would haunt her head. The brunette used to love the holidays, but now all she had left was a silent and empty apartment during Christmas Eve. She wondered if Dante felt the same way, even though it was hard to picture a family of devils celebrating Jesus' birth day.

"Actually, they say Jesus was born in March. Or was it May? I didn't give it much attention." Lady widened her eyes and stared at the white-haired boy walking by her side. Was he reading minds now?! "... You were rambling."

"Oh."

"FYI, we did celebrate Christmas back then." He ran a hand through his hair.

"I didn't mean to-"

A huge fire ball hit the wall in front of them. When they looked at the direction it came from, they saw a walking... snowman. A huge walking snowman that was already melting for trying to attack Phoebe. Dante whistled and grinned.

"Is that your new pet?" Only then she acknowledged their presence.

"Sure, every girl needs their own possessed snowman!" The thing roared and she shot another fire ball at it, hitting its face and making it melt once and for all. "Who would possess a fucking snowman? Am I trapped in _The Nightmare Before Christmas_?"

Dante yawned. "It's probably just a lower demon trying to be funny. Lady can handle it, I'm going back to the shop, I need some sleep."

"So you can have the money while I do all the work?! No way. I'm not wasting my time with this shit." The brunette crossed her arms and looked at Phoebe. "You do it."

"Hey, I have stuff to do! Either we all go, or I'm out."

"Fine, I'll go. What about you, Dante?" He yawned again when he heard his name. Why couldn't everyone just agree to leave him alone?

"No fucking way. I want a strawberry sundae and the diner is about to close." The hybrid turned on his heels and started to walk away. "See you later, girls." Lady narrowed her eyes and took her pistol, aiming at his head. Phoebe quickly went to her side and put her hand down.

"Easy, Lady. Let's try to avoid any unecessary bloodshed, okay?"

"The contractor only talked to him! If we do the job he-"

"Calm down." She said slowly. "I'll talk to him." The redhead walked in a hurry toward Dante. The other huntress started to follow her, and she quickly turned around to sign to Lady to stay where she was. Phoebe got in front of the hybrid, causing him to abruptly stop. "Lady wants to put a bullet through your skull. C'mon, it'll be quick. She's afraid you'll get half of the payment for doing nothing."

"She can shoot me all day. Just tell her to wait until I eat my sundae. And the fella hired me, he's giving me the money directly once this is done and I rightfully could get it all if I wanted." She crossed her arms and inhaled to answer, but he just put his over her lips. "Pheebs, there's nothing you can say right now that will change my mind."

She glanced at Lady to check whether she was paying attention and, fortunately, she was angrily staring at the sky. She hated snow. The witch then placed her hands on his chest and leaned in, keeping her mouth close to his ears. "You know, I bought this new red lingerie, and I'd hate to take it out all by myself later." He tried to kiss her, but she took a step back and slowly walked away from him.

Dante quickly followed her and walked past Lady. "Let's get this over with." He muttered. The brunette widened her eyes and stared at the witch, who winked at her.

"How did you—"

"I have my ways, Lady." She grinned.

During their search, they found more possessed snowmen, but no sign of the responsible. They were in the biggest square of the city, where most of the snow creatures were, looking for clues when Lady saw a blonde girl sitting on the fountain. She was probably in her early 20's, wore black clothes and was crying her heart out. Phoebe stopped by the huntress' side and crossed her arms.

"She's a demon." Lady quickly took her gun and aimed it at the girl, causing the redhead to grab her arm and put it down. "Can you please wait before you unload your ammo? We don't know if she's responsible."

"We see a demon, we kill it. That's all."

"You can kill me! I don't care!" The blonde demon said between sobs. "I do everything wrong!"

"If she starts singing that last Christmas somebody broke her heart, I'm outta here." Dante crossed his arms.

"He has two little children, I just wanted to impress them! You know, a talking and nice snowman! They'd love it!" She cried even harder and Lady's trigger finger was getting itchy by the second.

"He as in… Our contractor's husband?" The witch asked.

"Oh, the guy is lucky..." Dante slowly nodded.

"Ex-husband! He asked for the divorce, but that bitch won't let go! Then, she found out I am a demon and now she has hired three Devil Hunters to take me down!" She tried to wipe out her tears, but to no avail. "I love him! And I won't even get to say goodbye!"

"Ok, that's enough! We know you are a Succubus." Lady was about to shoot her, but Phoebe was still holding her wrist. "Will you let go already?!"

"She's not dangerous! Look at her! She's crying in the middle of the snow!" The demon actually thought that was pretty offensive, however, decided to remain in silence. "Besides, Dante is still here, so she's most probably not a Succubus."

"Strawberry,—"

"Don't call me Strawberry! Especially in front of other people!" She yelled.

"You should be well aware that Succubuses don't have power over me. They flirt, I flirt back willingly." He winked at her. "And I'm really not interested in whiny demons."

"You're the son of Sparda, aren't you?!" The demon slowly stood up. "Your father was also a demon who fell in love with a human! You gotta believe me!"

"Who am I to say if he really was in love with her or not?"

"Are you actually buying that crap?!" Lady yelled and pointed at the blonde. "She's just faking it!" The demon sat back down and started to cry all over again.

"… I believe her." The other two hunters quickly looked at Phoebe after she said that. "What?!"

"I knew you were soft." The hybrid smirked as he teased her. "I bet you cry while watching 'Ghost'."

"Go fuck yourself. And let's be reasonable, people, what would she gain from possessing snowmen? Scaring off some children? Lady does it all the time and we don't put a bullet through her skull!"

"Hey, babe." The blonde demon looked at him. "Just run to your Prince Whatever and leave the stupid magic decisions with my redhead partner here." Phoebe death-glared at him. She only tried to make that dog talk once and because the poor thing was lost. And it ended up meowing, but who cares?

"It wasn't magic, actually, but thank you!" She got up with a sparkle on her eyes and hugged the witch, almost breaking one of her ribs. The poor redhead mouthed the words 'help me', but that only caused Dante to burst into laughter. "Thank you so much!"

"You're welcome." Her voice almost didn't come out at all. The demon finally let her go and practically danced her way home. "I think she might've damaged one of my lungs."

"If later she ends up killing someone, it will be on you." Lady put her handgun back in the holster and started to walk away. The other two hunters stared at each other's eyes, and the white-haired boy signaled for the girl to go after her.

"What? Why me?" She whispered.

"You're both women, you're supposed to understand each other. Sisterhood, SisCode, something like that."

"Where did you get that from? Sometimes** I** can't understand myself!"

He snorted, trying to hold back his urge to laugh. "That explains why you are all crazy."

"Bite me."

"Oh, I will. Later, when I help you with that new lingerie." Dante winked at her. Then, he pointed at Lady, who was almost out of sight. "Now, go."

She rolled her eyes and sighed. "Fine, I'll do it." Phoebe ran after the huntress and, once she reached her, started to walk by her side. "Hey, Lady, what-"

The brunette stared at her with murderous eyes. "What do you think you're doing?"

"Asking what's going on...?"

"Oh, you wanna know what's going on? You left the closed circle you and Dante have to come and talk to me? I'm so flattered!" She was yelling and the witch covered her left ear before she could become deaf.

"What the fuck are you talking about?"

"Whenever I walk into the shop, you suddenly stop talking. Whenever I try to hang out with you guys, you act awkwardly."

Phoebe blinked a few times, processing the whole information. "Wait, you actually **want** to hang out with us?" She arched one eyebrow. "You know we act awkward? Because you're always shooting Dante in the head. He tells one joke and _BANG_! And no, I don't enjoy watching his blood spill on the wall."

"It's Dante. I bet it only tickles."

"It's a fucking bullet piercing a skull. Of course it hurts." Phoebe folded her arms. "But this is Dante, he won't show any signs of pain. And when he does, trust me, it'll be unbearable." The other huntress looked down at her weapons. Okay, maybe it hurts a little. "Show up later at the Devil May Cry."

"Why?"

"My mother always cooks too much food for only the five of us. After supper, I'll steal whatever's left of it, including the turkey, and take it there." The redhead started to walk away from Lady. "And I'll confiscate your guns."

"I'm not giving you my guns!" Phoebe arched one eyebrow and crossed her arms. "… Fine, you can have them." The brunette rolled her eyes.

* * *

Billy was jumping around the house, eager to open his Christmas' presents. Every five minutes he would ask his cousin if she knew what his mother had bought to him and Phoebe would shrug, pretending she didn't know. Actually, she had traded the presents, since Tara never understood the nerd things her son asked for. It was really cute how the boy would get so excited, she had never liked Christmas herself. Maybe because her mother would refuse to buy her anything because "this date is all about Jesus" and would say long prayers before they could eat until Tara got sick of it and grabbed the first bite before she was finished. Then the two women would fight for the rest of the evening. Lovely times, indeed.

The delicious smell of the turkey was causing her stomach to roar and she walked to the kitchen, trying to find out if she had to starve for much longer. However, Johanna kicked her out before she could even ask. The eleven-year-old boy practically materialized in front of Phoebe, but before he asked about his presents again, she raised one of her palms in front of his face. "Wait. Do you know where your mother is?" Tara's bedroom door was open even though there was no sign of the witch in the house.

"Uhm… No. Aunt Johanna said she left half an hour ago. Why?"

"Nothing, I just had to ask her something." The redhead had been trying to convince the woman to tell her about that book she and Dante had found almost two months ago. Wait, now she had an opportunity to take a look at it. "… Billy, come here." The boy nodded and followed her to Tara's bedroom.

"Wait, what are we doing?" Phoebe placed her index finger on his lips.

"Look, Tara took one of my... things and hasn't returned yet. I'll just take it and leave. Watch the door." She said the last three words slowly.

Billy saluted her and took position in front of the door. "Yes, sir." The girl smiled and entered the bedroom.

Obviously the book was not on her desk and nowhere in plain sight. She opened the closet and threw most of the clothes on the bed and started to search for the book. There were a lot of tiny velvet boxes of jewelry, common boxes full of what she thought were letters, and even more pieces of clothing. Phoebe opened the drawers, but didn't find anything. "Did she put that book in another dimension or something?!" She mumbled as she put the clothes back in the closet. The girl got on her knees and crawled under the bed. She created a small flame on her palm and saw a big wood chest with golden carvings all over it and it had a big silver lock. "Aha!" She pulled the chest and placed it on the bed. Then, she quickly went to her aunt's vanity and picked up a hair clip and put it inside the lock, trying to open it up. It took her a while, but she managed to unlock it.

"Okay… What do we have here?" The first thing she saw was a big velvet box which she quickly opened only to confirm her suspicion: there was nothing but a necklace in there. A big, beautiful gold necklace carved with diamonds with a big blue stone as a pendant. Curiosity got the best of her and Phoebe took the jewel in her hands to take a better look.

"_… Victor?_"

She widened her eyes when she heard her aunt's voice and looked back. However, Billy was still standing in front of the door and the woman was nowhere to be seen. "… What?" This kind of thing had only happened to her once, back in the Devil May Cry. Maybe there was something wrong with Tara's stuff too. She blinked twice and looked back at the necklace. The witch was about to take it back to the box when suddenly everything around her turned black. "What the hell?!" The redhead looked around and saw a bed behind her with a man sitting on it, he had blond hair that was starting to become white. Phoebe walked around to see his face as he covered his mouth with his right hand and started to cough loudly. The man looked at his own hand and sighed when he saw the blood.

"… Victor?" Tara walked in the room and sat by his side. Her dark hair was not tied in the usual messy bun, but instead it was loose, falling down her back. She was wearing a long dark blue nightgown and had a glass with a red liquid in her hands. The woman placed one of her hands on his forehead, checking his temperature. "You're hotter than usual, darling." She tried to smile.

Phoebe could finally see the man's face. He definitely was on his late 40's, and the tuberculosis caused him to look like a walking dead. Victor was skinny and how his skin seemed loose showed that he had lost a lot of weight in a short period of time. His green eyes were almost lifeless.

"Don't give me that look." He wiped the blood out of his hand with a handkerchief. "Your potions are helping." He took the glass out of her hands and drank the red liquid.

"They are not healing you, though."

"From what I read from that book of yours, it cannot heal infections. It only decelerates the spreading." Victor smiled as Tara sighed.

"Cut the medical crap. It doesn't make me feel better."

He placed his right hand on one of her cheeks and kissed her lightly. "Let's change the subject, yes?" He took a big velvet box from under the bed and showed it to the witch. The blond man opened it and Phoebe saw it was the same necklace she had in her hands.

All of a sudden the redhead could see the walls of Tara's room, the vision – or whatever you can call it – was over. Her head started to throb and she placed one hand on her forehead as she sat on the bed.

"Phoebe." Billy whispered, but her headache wouldn't let her pay attention. "Phoebe! Mom's coming!" Realizing his cousin wouldn't budge, he quickly left his post and ran to his bedroom, hiding behind the door.

Tara pretended she didn't see her son running away, she knew Phoebe was looking for the book, she wouldn't stop trying to make her talk. However, once she saw her niece holding her necklace, she froze. Thankfully, the girl didn't see it. "Phoebe?!" The dark-haired witch quickly took the golden jewel from her hands and put it back in the box. It made the girl's headache stop immediately.

"What the…" She closed her eyes and tried to find out what was going on.

"**I** should be the one asking that, darling." Tara placed the velvet box back in the chest. "I wouldn't be shocked to see you with that book, but my jewelry? If you wanted to borrow something–"

"I **was** looking for the book. Then, I found that necklace and just wanted to take a closer look at it…" Phoebe sighed. "That was when… Who's Victor?"

The redhead had never seen her aunt looking so serious like at that exact moment. "Do you have retrocognition?"

"A… What?"

"Do you usually see things that have already happened?"

"I've never **seen** anything. I've heard a voice once, maybe twice…" Phoebe scratched the back of her head. "What's that?"

"It's retrocognition. You can see the past. I don't know exactly how it triggers."

"Can I… stop it?"

Tara shook her head lightly. "You can control it. But that's one of your powers; you can't simply get rid of it." She saw her niece mumble something. "He's Billy's great-grandfather."

Phoebe widened her eyes. "What?!"

"Before Victor died, I promised him I'd take care of his family. And of course I didn't do a good job, otherwise his mother would still be alive."

"You loved him." She said nonchalantly. Realizing the awkward silence in the room, she decided to leave her aunt alone. "I'm sorry." The younger witch was already leaving the room when she heard Tara's voice.

"For what? It all happened a long time ago."

"For messing in your stuff."

Tara smiled, if her niece knew how the woman knows almost everything about her life, she wouldn't be sorry about it. Phoebe blinked a few times, confused by her smile, and left the room.

* * *

Dante was swearing under his breath as he looked at the cards in his hand. Lady was in the bathroom and left her cards on the table. The hybrid looked at the door, and since it was still locked, he leaned on the table and picked the huntress' cards to take a look. That was exactly the moment the door opened, and Lady grabbed her pistol.

"Are you fucking cheating, Dante?!"

"I was just guarding your cards." He snorted and sat back on his chair. "You gotta relax."

"Oh, really?! What exactly are you guarding my cards from?" She pointed the gun at his head. Fortunately, Phoebe opened the door, her hands full of tupperwares. She looked at Lady and sighed.

"Lady, guns."

"But he's cheating! Just because he already owes me 300 dollars!"

The redhead widened her eyes and stared at Dante. "300 hundred dollars?!" She left the tupperwares on the table and walked to Lady, stretching her arm in her direction and gesturing for the girl to hand her weapons. The brunette snorted and gave the witch her handgun and her submachine gun.

"I'm nice to ladies." He shrugged and opened the tupperwares to take a look at the food. Phoebe, however, was still staring at the other huntress.

"What?! That's all I have."

"You forgot that big thing that's always on your back." Kalina Ann was leaning against the table.

"I'm not shooting that inside. I'm not insane."

"Lady."

"Do any damage to my shop and you'll pay for it." Dante took a piece of the turkey and the girl quickly slapped his hand. He snorted and left it alone. He was starving, why did he have to wait for Lady?!

"Fine, you can take it." She rolled her eyes as the other two people smiled. "But if you don't return my stuff before I leave, you're dead."

"Sure."

"Can I eat now, for fuck's sake?"

"The food is cold, wait a minute!" She took the tupperwares and headed for the kitchen.

"C'mon! I'm starving!"

"You're always starving. Keep losing to Lady and you'll be starving **and** homeless."

Lady actually cracked a smile and sat back on the chair. Dante snorted and took back his cards only to have them snatched by the huntress. "You saw my hand, you're paying me more hundred dollars for that and we're starting over."

"... Pheebs, don't you wanna join us?"

"You know I don't know how to play poker." She yelled from the kitchen.

"That's exactly why I'm inviting you."

"Okay, you can teach me how to play it. But don't go crying on me when I kick your ass."

Dante started to laugh. "In your dreams, Strawberry."

"… You're so dead, Devil Boy." She said under her breath.

By morning, they both owed Lady a lot of money. But at least Phoebe managed to win a couple of times, while Dante's streak of loss caused even Agni and Rudra to burst into laughter. For them to shut up, he had to take the swords and throw them on the wall, making a hole that took weeks to be fixed.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

"Phoebe, can you pass me that handgun?" Lady pointed at the weapon that was lying on the coffee table. She was sitting on the couch, tying her boots, while the ginger was on her feet with a bottle of beer in her hands. Phoebe looked at the gun and looked back at the brunette.

"… I'd better not."

"… Do you want me to say 'please'?" She arched one eyebrow and the other girl shook her head.

"No! It's just that… Look, you don't want me touching your stuff any time soon." Since the witch had found out about her power of retrocognition, it had become stronger too fast, which caused it to get out of hand. Half of the things she touched would trigger a memory, and they were all bad. Phoebe was still asking Dante to forgive her for seeing Vergil fall in Hell, even though he had already said it wasn't her fault.

"Is this about that… thing you do?"

"Yes, it's about the thing I do. Even though you make it sound illegal and weird." She took a sip from the beer and looked through the window. "Ugh… I need to kill something."

"You're not stealing my job."

The witch quickly sat by her side and pouted. "What if I told you I'm sad? And depressed. And sad."

"… You don't have powers over me." Lady arched an eyebrow and stood up, ready to leave. The redhead snorted and hid her face in her hands.

"Aaaaand that's exactly why I prefer to hang out with men."

"By the way, where's Dante?"

"Sleeping. He spent the whole night on a mission."

"… And you've been sitting here for hours?" She arched both eyebrows. How could someone stay in that shop for so long if it had nothing to do?

"No, sometimes I walk around." Phoebe watched as the other huntress sighed and rolled her mismatched eyes. "It's better than my house, at least I can listen to my thoughts in here." The redhead shrugged.

"… Okay. When he wakes up, don't forget to tell him I have a clue on that liver-eater demon." Lady took her handgun and put it in the holster.

"Why haven't you told me that before?!"

The huntress arched her eyebrows as she slowly answered. "I did. That's why I said 'don't forget'. Pay attention, Phoebe!" The witch ran to desk to get a post-it and a pen. "Do you know that old record shop in downtown?" She shook her head lightly. "One that's been out of business for years?"

"Oh, and that's falling apart?" The brunette nodded. "I know where that is."

"Good, and there's no problem if Dante destroys the place because no one can find its owner."

"Yeah… I'm not telling him that. He might get excited and end up destroying the whole block." She rolled her eyes and placed the pen back on the desk. Lady laughed and nodded in agreement. Then, she picked Kalina Ann up and placed its strap on her shoulder.

"Bye." And Lady left the shop while adjusting her balance to carry that big weapon. Phoebe always wondered how long it would take for her to have a chronical pain on her back or something.

The girl looked up while hitting the post-it lightly in her left hand, wondering if she should wake up Dante or not. He had only been asleep for a couple of hours, he needed the rest. On the other hand, the demon could decide to hide somewhere else while she was waiting. The redhead slowly walked up the stairs and walked to the hybrid's bedroom, which he had left the door open. She leaned her left shoulder on the door frame and watched the way he was sprawled on bed, with both arms outstretched, and only in his pants.

Usually, if one looked close enough they would notice that at least a muscle of his body would be contracted. But right now the hunter seemed so peaceful that Phoebe just couldn't wake him up, even part demons needed to rest sometimes. She cracked a smile and cautiously walked to the bed table, leaving the post-it there. The girl was about to turn around and leave when she heard the bed creaking and, before she could look at it, the witch felt a pair of arms close around her waist that pulled her. She only watched as Dante crawled on top of her and brushed his lips against her right ear.

"I know I'm handsome, but watching me sleep is a little too much, don't ya think?"

"It's so rare to see you with your mouth shut that I was enjoying it." She chuckled. "Did I wake you up?" The redhead was almost sure that she didn't make any noise on her way from downstairs, nor when she placed the post-it on the bed table and yet, there he was.

"Yes, when you were yelling at Lady for not telling you about the demon."

Phoebe frowned and looked at him. "Was I that loud?" Dante chuckled and raised his head a little to look back at her.

"Half-demon, remember?" He pointed at himself. "My hearing is much better than yours. However, there are situations in which you are **really** loud." The hybrid smiled maliciously.

"Oh yeah, I forgot you're almost a dog." He quickly licked her right cheek and started to laugh when she narrowed her eyes and tried to wipe it away with her palm. "Ugh. Totally uncalled for."

"I've licked worse places."

"… True." Then she realized they were way off the subject. The demon could decide to change its hiding spot; they didn't have time for that. Unfortunately. "We gotta go, Dante."

"C'mon, Pheebs, let's be quick and then we go." He bit her neck and squeezed her breasts over the shirt, causing Phoebe to bite her lower lip. However, it wasn't enough to change her mind.

"We **never **are quick. And the demon might hurt someone if we take too long, it has to eat, after all. The bed will still be here when we come back." She smiled.

Dante sighed and got out from top of her, she was right. He sat on the bed and started to put his boots on while Phoebe combed her ginger hair with the tip of her fingers. The Devil Hunter stopped, though, when he heard the main door downstairs being opened.

"Is anybody home?"

That female voice sent shivers down the witch's spine and her body froze completely. The hybrid, believing it was just another ordinary customer, inhaled to answer the woman. "I'm c—" And that was exactly when Phoebe placed her hand over his mouth.

"Shhh!"

He slowly turned his head to face her, his blue eyes full of malice. "Have you changed your mind already?" She didn't even pay attention to his muffled voice.

"That's my mother's voice!" She whispered.

Dante started to laugh, believing that was some kind of joke. However, he frowned when he realized the serious expression on the redhead's face. Why in the world would her mother be in his shop if she didn't even know of the existence of that place – or so he expected? Then his expression changed again, to something that Phoebe couldn't read. All of sudden he got out of bed and walked toward the stairs. The witch desperately went after him.

"What are you doing?!"

"She's a customer." He grinned.

"No, she's not!" She got in his way and placed her hands on his shoulders. "Pretend you're not here. She'll leave." But his curiosity would never let him do that.

"What if your house just got attacked by demons?"

"Pfffft, don't you think I'd know if that happened? And besides, my mother has so many bottles of holy water that they'd self-explode!" Dante tried to get past her, but the redhead just took a step to the side and got in his way again.

"Look, it's about my daughter… I think she's possessed."

The hybrid snorted, trying to hold back his urge to laugh. When that failed, he covered his mouth with his hand. Phoebe just stood there with an annoyed expression on her face, with her arms folded.

"You gotta be fucking kidding me." She said under her breath. Dante took the opportunity and slipped past her.

When Johanna was looking for someone to help her, she had no idea she would end up with suck a… terrifying aura. There were skulls hanging on the wall. Some had horns, but none of them even resembled a human's. Were those… Trophies? She took her black chaplet in her hands and started to pray. When the woman saw the white-haired and shirtless boy coming downstairs, she started to pray even louder.

"If you came to pray, you definitely came to the wrong place, Mother Superior."

"I'm doing you a favor. This place is full of sin."

"No shit." The hybrid whispered to himself and chuckled. He sat on his chair and propped his feet on his desk, causing the woman to narrow her eyes. "How can I help you?" Meanwhile, Phoebe was hiding on the steps upstairs.

"I already said: I think my daughter is possessed." Dante was having a hard time trying not to laugh.

"Okay, maybe I could look into that." The redhead narrowed her eyes and controlled herself not to throw her boot in his head. "Do you have any pictures of her?"

"Yes." The religious woman took a picture from her purse and handed it to the Devil Hunter, being careful not to touch him. As soon as he looked at it, the smile disappeared from his face. The girl in the photo looked a lot like Johanna, they even shared the same shade of brown hair, except for the hazel eyes. And she was also a little older than Phoebe. "What?! Could you tell from the picture that there's something wrong about her?" That snapped Dante out of his thoughts.

"Demons aren't like ghosts, Mother Superior." Could it be that Phoebe had a sister and never told him? "Wait here." He went upstairs and signaled to the redhead to follow him to the bedroom.

The girl was smiling; completely unaware of what was going on. "Is the picture **that** bad?"

"No, because it's not even you in this photo."

"Oh, very funny. Lemme see it." But she widened her eyes when he held the photo in front of them. "What the hell?" She said slowly. The witch took the photo from his hand to take a better look at it. "That's… That's aunt Robin."

"Wait, what?"

"She's the youngest child… My mother was only seventeen when she—" When Robin was born. And Tara had already told her once that Johanna wasn't so religious when she met Erwin. "My grandparents raised Robin as their child." Phoebe whispered to herself.

"And that reinforces my theory that all nuns have a dirty past." Dante grinned. "She's always trying to keep you in a tight leash, but she had a **lot** of fun back in her days. It's totally not fair if you think about it." He started to laugh but then remembered about the more pressing issue. "Wait, do ya think your aunt, half-sister, whatever, is possessed?"

"Nah, she just became a vodouist. That's all." She handed the photo back to him. "Religion fanaticism makes you forget that people are free to believe in whatever they want. Or in nothing at all."

"You okay?"

"We weren't raised as sisters." The girl shrugged. "I'm not going to lose my mind over that." Dante nodded and walked to the door. However, before he left, he looked at her and when he was about to ask if she was sure, she snapped. "I'm fine, Dante! Just get my mother out of here."

"Whatever you say." Then he finally left.

"I am!" Phoebe controlled herself not to yell, Johanna could end up hearing.

Johanna was still standing in the middle of the shop, refusing to touch anything and much less sit on anything. When she saw the white-haired boy again she was impressed by the fact that he didn't care about putting on a shirt. What happened to good manners?

"I was talking to my partner who's… an expert in possession. And she, he… **He** told me that there's no way this girl is possessed." Dante handed her the photo and sat back on his chair. The woman raised an eyebrow.

"But you said that demons—"

"I was wrong." He shrugged. "Good luck with your daughter."

"You are going to burn in Hell for not helping others." She showed him his chaplet and left in fury. The hybrid bursted in laughter as Phoebe slowly walked down the stairs.

"Be grateful that she didn't throw a bottle of holy water at you."

"Is she always like that?"

"Twenty-four-seven." She sighed and sat on the desk. "Let's go after the demon, I already had to kill something, but now…"

* * *

The old record shop was a two-store building which the letters from the sign had fallen years ago. Nobody knew who the owner was, and old people that lived nearby back in the 70's claimed that one day, all of a sudden, the store wasn't open. They also said that a beautiful blonde woman worked there, but she would give a different name every time someone asked. Dante threw away the piece of wood that was blocking the window and got inside, Phoebe right after him; they were soaked from the rain. It was no surprise that the place was completely dark, and she created a small flame in her left hand to light the way.

"_… The ball is on the other side of the street._" The redhead heard a bored female voice. It was her retrocognition again. She still didn't know what was worse: when she actually saw something, or when she only heard voices.

"_… Excuse me?_" The male voice sounded confused. The girl could already notice the solemn tone his voice had.

"_The Masquerade Ball being held on the other side of the street. You're going there, right?_"

"_No, why would you—_"

"_Your clothes._" She answered slowly.

"Pheebs?" The witch didn't even realize she was standing in the middle of the store while Dante was waiting for her to get to the second floor.

"Oh, sorry. Let's go." She went after him, the wood creaking with each step they took.

"_… I fail to see what is wrong about them when everyone around me wear lots of colors that do not even match._" Phoebe heard the female laugh in response. "_I was told you could give me the location of a certain demon._"

Dante opened the door he believed that would lead them to the upper floor; however, it was only a room full of books. When the witch approached him, they light from her flame allowed them to see a big collection of weapons hanging on the wall. The hybrid whistled and picked up the rifle to take a look at it.

"_I have no idea of what you're talking about._" The female voice said in a melodic tone.

"Whoever owned this shop was either a hunter or helped hunters." Phoebe mumbled.

"What did you see?" He leaned the barrel of the gun on his shoulder. It was a 230 Winchester model, he was definitely keeping it.

"_I was also told to say something about a… strawberry sundae._"

"I heard. In fact, I still am. Pass me that shotgun." Phoebe pointed at it.

"Winchester M97. Whoever owned this place had a thing for Winchesters." The hybrid said while taking a look at the weapon that was now in his hands.

"Who doesn't?" She took the pump-action shotgun from his hands. Dante closed the door and they went back to search for the stairs.

"_Now you're talking._" There was a brief pause. "_Eva. But if you go around telling my name, I'm gonna have to deal with you…_"

"_Sparda._"

The redhead widened her eyes and her feet stopped moving. Since the Devil Hunter had finally found the stairs, he didn't even realize she was in shock and quickly went to the upper floor.

"_… Like the demon from the legend?_" She asked while trying to hold back her laughter.

"_Precisely._"

"_Your parents must be interesting._"

An unbearable silence filled the shop then, the memory fragment was over. Phoebe wasn't sure of what to do; Dante would never talk about his father, no matter what. But she couldn't keep the fact that Sparda frequented the shop away from him. Well, if she told him he wouldn't be mad, just ignore it and live his life like he had never known it. It was worth a shot. The witch started to walk up the stairs, each step making a long and loud creak everytime she took a step.

The Devil Hunter started to hear a long and loud growl, though the demon refused to show itself. He started to click his tongue and snap his fingers.

"C'mon, Whiskers, show yourself." The demon hissed, his glowing purple eyes finally showing in the middle of the darkness. Dante grinned and took his sword, but the purple orbs disappeared again. "You wanna play hide-and-seek? Fine."

"Hey, Dante." When the creature heard Phoebe's voice it immediately tried to jump on her. Thankfully the witch was paying enough attention to see the creature and throw the flame she had in her hand in its eyes. She created another flame right away, allowing the hybrid to cut one of its legs off with Rebellion.

The demon growled loudly and jumped on Dante, throwing him on his back on the floor and managing to puncture his chest with its claws. The impact opened a big hole and they fell to the lower floor, Phoebe widened her eyes and kneeled close to it, looking down to try to find the half-demon.

"Are you okay?!"

"Relax, Pheebs, Whiskers and I are just playing." He took the rifle from his back and touched the barrel against the demon's face. After he shot, the creature fell to the side, dead. The redhead jumped in the hole to get down faster, flexing her knees as her feet touched the ground. When she looked at Dante, his wounds were already healed.

"Oh, well. It's over." The demon opened its eyes again and hissed as he tried to jump on the witch's back, but she squatted just in time for it to get past without even touching her. Phoebe created three fireballs, one after the other, and shot them at the creature. It screamed until the Devil Hunter sliced it in half with a single vertical slash. "… Now it **has **to be over." He chuckled.

"What were you going to say before?"

"Oh, yes, I f—" She stumbled on a table and almost let the record player fall on the floor, holding it in the last second. "_That's The Way (I Like It)_" started to play, but she already knew it wasn't real.

"… I refuse to dance like that." Sparda was standing in the middle of the shop, staring at the blonde woman whose back was turned to the witch. Phoebe got closer, trying to take a good look at the Dark Knight. For a second, it just felt like looking at a Dante that just decided to brush his hair back — which she now hoped that he never has that stupid idea —, and wore a ridiculous monocle over his left eye.

However, when she looked in his eyes, she couldn't find anything familiar. The witch had already told him he had his mother's eyes, even though he wouldn't believe. There was something mysterious in Sparda's eyes, they were not easy to read, and they missed the sparkle his son had. If one really paid attention to Dante's eyes they could almost read his mind, and maybe he was unconsciously aware of that, since he would often use his bangs to cover them and, when that wasn't enough, he would look down.

"How are you going after a demon in a Disco if you can't even blend in? It's not that hard! You just have to be more like Travolta."

"… I don't need to blend in. And is that Travolta going to be there?"

"What?! No! I'm talking about John Travolta." Sparda didn't even budge and Phoebe heard the woman sigh. "… Saturday Night Fever?" And again, no response. "Carrie? The Boy In The Plastic Bubble?" He shook his head lightly. "Oh, my… We need to work on that."

Phoebe finally turned around to look at the owner of shop and her jaw dropped when the blonde took her hand off her forehead. She wasn't just some random chick that the redhead would easily forget when the memory was over. She was the woman from the framed picture on Dante's desk, also known as his mother.

"You just hate everything about the 70's, don't you?" Eva started to laugh. The witch smiled as she realized how right she was. Dante took a lot after his mother. "If you walk in there dressed like that they'll run away thinking you're Dracula. I mean, Dracula is a vam—"

"I understood **that** reference." Eva laughed again. "And I do not hate **everything **about this decade." Sparda walked to the record player and changed the records. The blonde woman got on the tip of her feet to take a peek at the cover.

"Elton John?" She grinned "Awn, you're soft."

"_It's a little bit funny, this feeling inside. I'm not one of those, who can easily hide. I don't have much money, but boy if I did, I'd buy a big house where we both could live._"

"Come here." The white-haired demon grabbed one of her hands and turned her around, placing his arms around her waist as soon as she faced him.

"_If I was a sculptor, but then again, no. Or a man who makes potions in a travelling show._ _I know it's not much, but it's the best I can do. My gift is my song and this one's for you._"

Eva slowly placed her arms around his neck and followed his rhythm. They were completely focused on each other's eyes, getting to the point of rarely blinking. For the first time Phoebe saw a sparkle of emotion in Sparda's eyes.

"_And you can tell everybody, this is your song. It may be quite simple but now that it's done. I hope you don't mind, I hope you don't mind, that I put down in words, how wonderful life is while you're in the world._"

The witch was hypnotized, not even realizing the single tear that was falling down her cheek. Their foreheads touched and Eva closed her eyes, fully appreciating the moment.

"_I sat on the roof and kicked off the moss. Well a few of the verses, well they've got me quite cross. But the sun's been quite kind while I wrote this song, it's for people like you, that keep it turned on._"

Sparda also closed his eyes and they stayed like that: slow dancing and feeling each other so close. They really loved each other, no one who watched that scene would dare to deny it, it was written all over their faces, their gestures, even in their eyes for crying out loud! Phoebe just wished there was a way to show it to Dante.

"_So excuse me forgetting, but these things I do… You see, I've forgotten if they're green of they're blue. Anyway, the thing is, what I really mean… Yours are the sweetest eyes I've ever seen._"

"If that's your plan to catch the demon, it might work if it's a she." She said, playfully, as she wrapped her arms around his chest and rested her left cheek against his shoulder. Sparda just smiled in response.

The music stopped all of a sudden and when Phoebe realized she was back to reality, holding the record player to save it from a certain death. She put it back on the table and wiped the tears that were falling down her cheek.

"Pheebs?" It wasn't hard to figure out when Phoebe accidentally activated her retrocognition, she would either become very pale all of a sudden, or start screaming if the memory was horrible. It all happened too fast. However, that was the first time he saw her crying.

"Give me a sec." She took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. But after that the witch smiled and looked at him. "Come here." Dante walked to her and she grabbed his right hand, putting it on the record player under hers, making him give her a puzzled look. "I—I don't know if this is going to work…"

"Don't tell me you're trying to exorcize the record player."

"Nope. Wait." Phoebe closed her eyes, it was her first time trying to activate her power willingly, and she didn't even know if it was possible to make other people access a memory. She opened her eyes when she felt the Devil Hunter slowly taking his hand from her grasp. Their eyes met for a second and the redhead knew he had seen it. He turned around and left the shop.

Dante just stood there, looking up, as the rain fell on his face and washed the tears he was trying to hold back. Since he failed, his only option was to hide them. He missed his mother so much it hurt in a way that devastated him. At least, seeing her so perfectly right in front of him, even if it was just a memory, soothed his heart in a way he never thought possible. The hunter heard the girl's footsteps right behind him and felt her arms wrap tightly around his chest, her fingertips brushing the spots of his shirt that the demon had torn. She leaned her cheek against his back and they both sighed.

"I'm fine." The hybrid said in a low voice.

"I know." Phoebe shrugged. "I'm just cold."

He smiled.

* * *

**RIGHT IN THE FEELS. While this chapter was still in my head, I had no idea it would be so… FUCKING CUTE. God, I love the fact that I was able to insert a Eva x Sparda here. 3**

**So, yeah, I made Eva a bit of a badass. I can't stand the thought of her being some kind of damsel in distress. I mean, look at her husband! Look at her children! That woman must've been amazing.**

**I'd really like to read your opinion, guys, because this chapter has a special place in my heart right now.**


End file.

Devil May Cry, Drama, Friendship