Fan Fiction ❯ A Deadly Gambit ❯ Chapter 5

Trish lay still for a few more moments as her ribs knitted together, watching as her husband leapt into the air above the golem, literally stopping in midair for a heartbeat. Flame completely engulfed his red fist, then he plummeted onto the golem's back, hellfire erupting all around him. She then turned her gaze toward the woman. Dante could handle the golem now.

"What...what are you?" she screamed, looking appropriately frightened.

"Get the woman!" Dante snapped as he began to melt away the golem in the inferno. "The dog is mine!"

Trish curled her lip back in a feral snarl, getting to her feet. She built up a charge in her hands as she raced toward the shield, the electricity exploding forth a split second before impact.

For a few moments, it looked as though the shield would hold. But finally, it shattered with an audible, ear-splitting crack, and the woman shrieked in pain. Trish didn't give her a chance to recover as she snapped her hand around the woman's throat, pulling Sparda from its sheath as she raised her in the air, holding her up.

"You want to know what we are?" Trish snarled, jabbing the woman in the side with the tip of her sword. "We're the ones your mother warned you about."

"Don't kill me!" the teen gasped, her hands around Trish's wrist, trying to break her grip, her feet kicking uselessly in the air.

"And why shouldn't I?" Trish applied a little more pressure with Sparda.

"I'm too young to die!" she screamed.

Trish stared at her for a moment, then laughed. "You should have thought about that before you pulled this shit, you little bitch."

"You mean you're too inept to do this yourself!" Dante shouted.

"Huh?" Trish glanced back to him, watching him emerge from the molten rock, leaving blazing footprints on the stone behind him as he approached. "Whaddya mean?"

"That was a pathetic attack," he spat, glaring at the woman. "There's no way she could have pulled this off on her own. She doesn't know a damned thing."

"You're right!" the woman stammered. "I didn't do this alone!"

So she had a little bit more usefulness to her still. Trish sheathed her sword and, with her hand still around her throat, slammed the woman into the wall. Trish used her own body to effectively pin her while grabbing one of her wrists with her free hand. Stepping back, Trish released her throat and jerked the woman forward viciously, spinning her around and slamming her against the wall once more, twisting her hand up between her shoulder blades and then put her arm around the woman's neck. Trish stepped back, pushing down against the woman's back, and pulling up against her chin with her forearm, keeping her effectively immobilized in a very painful position, and turned to make her face Dante.

Of course, her position also made it very easy to snap the woman's neck. Just a quick movement or a fraction more pressure...

Dante's form returned to normal, but he was still enveloped in an aura of fire. "Who are you?" he demanded. "Who helped you?"

"Sarah," she sobbed. "I'm Sarah O'Neil! Please don't do anything to me! I'll tell you everything! It wasn't supposed to be like this!"

Trish snarled silently, but held her tongue. She was playing the bad cop role. Dante could play the slightly-less-homicidal-bad-cop.

"No shit," Dante said. "You're too pathetic to pull this off. Tell me who gave you all this, and where they are!"

"I don't know! A guy came to me, and offered me all this. He told me I just needed to come here, kill the caretaker, and this power would be mine!"

"Names! I want names! Who was it?" he shouted.

Sarah was outright sobbing now. "He didn't tell me his name! He was just some stiff in a suit with two panthers following him around! That's all I know! He showed me how to make a portal, he showed me how to get here, but he didn't tell me who he was!"

"What did he look like?"

"I don't know! He was wearing a suit and hat! I couldn't see him very well!"

"And?"

"And he had a briefcase, I don't know! He looked like some kind of businessman, or a lawyer or something! I don't know!"

Trish raised an eyebrow. "Two panthers?" she murmured. Why did that description sound so familiar? She quickly mulled it over, then it hit her. Blinking in surprise, she glanced to Dante, who met her gaze. Trish narrowed her eyes sharply and glared down at the woman.

"And two panthers didn't strike you as odd?" Dante shouted.

"She doesn't have enough brains to do the math," Trish retorted.

"He gave me all this!" Sarah protested. "What was I supposed to do? Say, 'gee, mister, what kinda freak walks around with panthers'?"

"Uh, yeah?" Trish said sarcastically. "That should have been a big clue!"

"No shit," Dante agreed. "Maybe she can do this math." He glared down at Sarah. "She's sold her soul to a demon, and she's going to rot in whatever hell she believes in."

"Hope you like warm climates, bitch," Trish spat. She was just waiting for the go ahead to snap her pathetic little neck.

"Please!" Sarah sobbed. "Please don't! I can change!"

"Pathetic little tramp!" Dante snapped. "You can't just say you want out now!" He shook his head, raking his hand through his white hair. "Throw 'er down, babe. She's a stupid bitch, but I'm not gonna send a human to hell."

That was not what Trish was wanting to hear. She glared down at the woman in disgust. It would be so easy, just a little more pressure, just a little quick motion, and it would be all over.

But it wasn't what Dante said to do.

In the end, she merely snarled, then released her, giving the woman a vicious shove away, sending her sprawling on the stone floor.

Dante waited patiently for Trish, knowing her well enough to have a reasonably solid idea on what she'd do. Not that he'd complain if she snapped the little witch's neck, but if they killed her now, she'd go to hell. All that would do for them is strengthen the enemy. The girl was as good as dead, unless she could move real fast in the next couple of hours.

"Mundus would just love to get his hands on you," Dante snarled, "make something nice and rotten, and barely worth the bullet I'd waste putting you down." He grabbed her by the front of her robe and lifted her up. "Listen closely, and you just might live. You get your ass onto church ground and you claim sanctuary and you stay there for the rest of your life, and you try and beg God for forgiveness, 'cause you made a deal with a demon and it's gonna take the highest judge in existence to get you outta that fate."

"Maybe a convent," Trish suggested dryly, and looked to the stairs, growing bored as she straightened her clothes.

There was a thud as Dante threw the girl back to the floor. "And take your goddamned dog with you, or I'm turning it into a crispy critter!"

Trish shot her one last look, then walked up the stairs.

 

2

 

 

Dante started to follow her, then stopped, looking back to the woman. "And release those ghosts from whatever sick shit you've got them doing!" he shouted back, and began to catch up with Trish. "The deal's over for the demon, he's gotta collect now. She better get a move on."

"Silas, that slimy little shit," Trish growled as they reached the cellar. She stalked out ahead of him to the lawn. "I suppose it too much to hope we'd have heard the last of them."

Dante shook his head, following her back to the bikes. "Shara's the only one who'd heard the last of him, her and her family," he said, recalling the young woman who got on the bad side of a few demons by way of an encounter with Dante. "That was the contract." He felt a twinge of amusement, recalling the high-stakes gamble the woman made, along with her attorney brother, and managed to out-legalese the demon lawyer.

"Yeah, well, hope springs eternal or something," Trish said, raking a hand through her hair as she stopped between their motorcycles.

"I bet the fucker didn't even plan to get us involved in this one," Dante replied. "Michigan's not close enough to New York to factor us in."

Trish laughed a bit, looking around. The sound wasn't one of humor though. It was too dry, and had the wrong note to it, borne more from the release of adrenaline and tension than from any amusement. He silently stepped up behind her, slipping is arms around her waist, hugging her gently. After a moment, Trish turned around and wrapped her arms around his neck, burying her face against him in a tight hug.

They held one another for a few moments, and Dante gently stroked her hair as they both came down from the battle high. Gradually, Trish's grip relaxed.

"So, wanna crash in town," she asked quietly, "or wait till we go home?"

Dante grinned slightly. "It's a long haul back to New York."

"Hope the motel's got good walls." Trish pulled away to go to her bike, then stopped, giving him a saucy smirk. "And if it doesn't, well, that's just too damn bad for everybody else, then."

He laughed, gently grabbing her wrist and pulling her back to him for a quick kiss. "That's my baby."

 

3

 

 

Trish parked in front of their room at the motel, and hopped off her bike, then grabbed her bag and walked to the door. She pulled off her helmet, shaking her hair free while she waited for Dante to unlock it.

He opened the door, pushing it wide as he stepped back. "After you, babe."

Trish flashed him a smile and walked in, dropping her bag in front of the nondescript dresser where she set her helmet, and started to shrug her leather jacket off. It slipped off her shoulders, and when she reached behind herself to pull the cuffs over her hands, Dante's arms went over hers, loosely pinning her. Trish closed her eyes, relaxing against him when Dante slid his hands up her shirt and over her breasts as he nuzzled her neck.

"I love you, Trish," he whispered, kissing her ear.

"I love you too, Dante."