Work Text:
March 1998
If there was one thing Dante hated, it was hearing about a pretty good job and going to beat up some demons, but then getting there finding out that another hunter had already claimed the area and you were interfering with their work. Sure, Elise had been much nicer than most other hunter’s he’d seen and even tried to force him to take a cut of the pay (and somehow succeeded, if with a much smaller cut than she had tried at first), but he wished he hadn’t gotten called in the first place.
The devil hunter sighed, shoving his hands in his pockets and glaring at the pavement in front of him. Sometimes he hated how nice he was and wished he could be pickier about doing things for pay. Unfortunately for his bank account though, his parents had raised him too well for that to be possible.
He tensed, head immediately whipping around to his right even though he knew there wasn’t anything there- or at least, not on this street. If his instincts were right like usual…
Well, at least he knew Elise wouldn’t get upset for fighting demons on her turf and track him down like some other devil hunters he’d met, he mused as he took off to where he could sense the demon.
As he had expected, there was a Hell Vanguard chasing a girl not much younger than him. The girl was actually pretty good at dodging however- had she taken classes or something?- and even though he could sense her fear regardless of how far away he was she wasn’t letting that freeze her in place like others he had seen.
However, only took one misstep, something he had learned long ago and made him even more grateful for his extremely fast healing. The girl went down and he was rushing forward to get into range, hands already reaching for Ebony and Ivory-
Wait.
Did she just…
She did! The redhead just threw a knife at the demon and hit it in the eye before seizing the opportunity to keep running!
He half wished he wasn’t leaving town in the morning because he loved badass women like that.
Dante shook his head to get rid of those unhelpful thoughts and kept rushing forward, shooting the demon as it recovered from it’s shock, causing it to turn it’s attention to him. Half wishing he’d brought his shotgun for more damage, he rolled to his right when demon disappeared and a portal opened up beneath him, immediately shooting it once it reappeared, jumping up and performing rainstorm when it started blocking his hits, quickly landing on the other side and continuing to rapidly shoot it until it screeched one last time and fell, dissolving after a moment of stillness.
“Heh,” he grinned, spinning his handguns before tucking them behind his coat once more, “they just don’t make demons like they used to. I didn’t even have to bring out Rebellion this time.” He grabbed the knife, examining it for a moment before walking over to the girl and handing it back to her. “That was pretty badass! Think you’re the first one I’ve seen that jabs a knife in the eye instead of just screaming and otherwise panicking.”
She let out a short, almost breathless laugh. “Thanks,” she replied as she took it and stuffed it back in her pocket.
“No problem,” the devil hunter grinned, taking a closer look at her. Red hair pulled back into a ponytail, red jacket- excellent taste there- zipped up against the cold paired with jeans and a pair of short brown boots. She was much shorter than him, but that really didn’t say much considering how tall he was, and she was still probably slightly taller than the average woman.
She sighed, taking a few steps back to sit down heavily on the curb. “What the hell was that thing?” she tiredly asked.
Dante flinched a bit. He was all for people knowing what was out there, but he really hated being the one to explain things. He usually left that to Lady if she was around. According to her, it was easier knowing how to break things to someone when you knew what it was like to be in their shoes- something he couldn’t ever relate to no matter how hard he tried.
He finally sighed before sitting next to her, making sure there was more than enough space between them for her to be comfortable. “A Hell Vanguard- a type of demon.”
She groaned, burying her head in her hands. “Demons. They exist,” she said flatly, letting out a humorless chuckle.
He shifted uncomfortably. He never knew what to say in these types of situations, not least because he was half one himself. He’d accepted his heritage, but he couldn’t shake the fact that he shouldn’t be the one to comfort people after this kind of reveal because of it. “…Yeah,” he finally said softly, “they do. Wish they’d just leave us alone, but…”
She took in a few deep breaths before finally looking over at him. She had such pretty blue eyes… and he needed to quit thinking about these things. He wasn’t a teenager anymore; just because a woman was badass enough to stab a demon in the eye with a knife despite not knowing about them beforehand did not mean he needed to make a pass at her. Even if that was one reaction he’d remember for years because he’d never seen that happen before.
“Why is this the first time I’m hearing about them?” she asked.
Dante shrugged. “Not something people really want to acknowledge before it’s thrown in their face. It’s also not like this area is crawling with demons from what I’ve heard.” Which was actually pretty surprising. Sure, most devil hunters had a wider base of operations than him (he and Lady really only operated in Capulet city and the surrounding area, but that was only because it had been where that damned tower had risen and demons were drawn to the area still), but Elise shouldn’t be able to cover so much area practically on her own, especially considering there were a couple colleges and big cities like Racoon City around. Eh, if it was something to worry about he’d find out sooner or later.
The redhead sighed. “What exactly am I supposed to do with this information?”
He shifted once again. “Just… be careful, I guess. Stay aware of your surroundings and all that stuff. Also keep knifes on you to throw in their eyes because that was completely badass.”
A real laugh from her this time. “I’ll keep that in mind,” she said, shaking her head with a smile on her face. She hesitated a bit. “…Is that what all demons look like?”
“Nope. Just Hell Vanguards. And Hell Prides, but they’re basically like smaller and way less annoying versions of the Vanguards.”
“How many types of demons are there exactly?”
“Uh…” that was actually a very good question, one he actually didn’t have an answer to. “A lot? I don’t know, new types keep popping up every once in awhile, hard to keep track of them all. Usually they don’t look anywhere near human though unless they’re like succubi or incubi or whatever. I mean, the stronger devils can, but most would refuse to do it because they think humans are beneath them.”
“No bright red demons that look like a shirtless guy with tiny horns and a forked tail?”
Dante laughed at that. “If there is, I haven’t heard of one, that’s for sure! Seriously though, it’s rare that a demon not designed to seduce people looks human. Some do, yeah, but they’re extremely rare like I said. And even then they don’t actually know how to act human and just stick out like a sore thumb.” Even his own dad had had problems sometimes and he’d been wandering around the human would for a couple millennia, and he’d actually tried to fit in as best he could.
The redhead sighed before sarcastically saying, “Well, this is great. This asshole canceled on me with the most stupid reason I’ve heard in awhile and I find out demons are real. Best night I’ve had this year.”
“Wait, a guy canceled on a girl that’s badass enough to throw a knife at a demon? Is he an idiot?”
She snorted. “It’s not that impressive,” she insisted, but he still caught the grin she turned her head to try and hide.
“Believe me, it is. Usually people just scream and freeze up but nope, you just kept dodging and made a counterattack when you had to. Where did you learn those moves anyway?”
“Brother was in the military and I made him teach me some stuff. He didn’t really want to, but I convinced him.”
“I would have loved to see that conversation, I bet it would have been amazing.”
“Oh, he came around to my side very quickly, let’s put it that way. By the way, what kind of guns were you using?”
“Custom M1911s. I’ll let you see them if you’ll give me your name.”
She smiled. “Claire. Claire Redfield.”
“Claire,” he said, testing the name. “Name’s Dante, oh beautiful and badass Valkyrie.”
Claire groaned, burying her head in her hands again, but not before he caught the small smile. “Better line than I’ve heard lately, I’ll give you that.”
Dante grinned, but took his handguns out and handed them to her in lieu of saying anything more. After a minute of examining them, she asked, “How’d you learn how to shoot both at once? It’s hard to learn that. I would know, I tried.”
He shrugged, leaning back on his hands. “Loads of practice I guess. My mom taught u- me when I was a kid and I kept using them this way since.”
She hummed and handed them back to him. After a few moments, she asked, “You want to go get ice cream or something? It’s still early, I don’t want to go home yet, and I know a great place to get some.”
“They sell strawberry sundaes? If so, that’s a definite yes.”
Claire laughed at that one. She had a really nice laugh. And he really needed to quit thinking about all this. “Pretty sure they do, just follow me.”
He grinned, getting up and stretching before following.
“So, how good is this place?”
“Really good. They make all the ice cream fresh themselves. Even better is the fact that they put a bunch of rock music on instead of boring old pop.”
“Really? Damn it, I wish I lived here just for that!”
“You don’t live here?” she asked, turning around to stare at him in surprise.
Dante shook his head. “Nope, live over in Capulet a few hours away. Someone got the wrong number and called me about a demon infestation. Ended up meeting another devil hunter that was nice enough, but still.”
He kept an eye on her as he replied and was relieved that she barely twitched when he mentioned demons. Sure, she could be waiting until she’s safe at home to freak out, but if he was reading her right she was more resilient than that.
They were heading towards the main streets if the noise he was picking up was any indication. Good; demons usually didn’t go after massive groups of people for reasons he’d never been able to figure out, and even though he couldn’t sense any other demons he liked Claire enough to not want any more demons to come after her tonight. (Or ever, but he’d accept tonight.)
“Wish I had brought my bike,” she mumbled after another couple minutes of silence.
Dante immediately whirled around to stare at her. “You’re a biker?” he blurted out.
Claire grinned. “Yep! Use my free time to work on her.”
“I wish that were me. Trying to save up to get one of my own, but it’s taking so long. Granted I don’t help my own case most of the time, but still. What stuff are you doing to yours?”
Dante couldn’t help the small smile he let show on his face as her eyes lit up as she excitedly talked about what she was doing to her motorcycle. Why did he have to already buy the train tickets for tomorrow afternoon? Yeah, he probably wouldn’t be able to keep in touch long term, but it was nice to find someone to talk to about stuff like this besides Lady.
“Sure this is fine?”
Claire grinned at the man beside her. “Yeah, I don’t live much farther away, and you said you have to get up early to get to the train station in time.”
Dante scoffed, a grin on his face. “I can handle a bit less sleep, but if you’re sure you’ll be fine…”
She sighed and shook her head, but couldn’t keep a small smile off her face. He was only trying to make sure she felt safe after all; he hadn’t actually said it, but it was clear through his actions. “I’ll be fine, thanks Dante.”
He smiled at her. Damn, he was a handsome one; most of the guys she went out with didn’t look half as good. They also weren’t anywhere near as kind and courteous, especially the ones that just wanted to get into her pants, something he’d never brought up once. It was refreshing.
“Nah, the pleasure’s all mine. Been awhile since I found someone with such good taste in music.”
“Been awhile for me too; my friends aren’t near as much into the same kind of music as me. It was great to finally talk to someone that actually understands what I’m talking about.”
“Same here. My friends don’t get some of my music tastes and think I’m crazy.”
“More like they’re the crazy ones.”
“Exactly!”
Claire giggled a bit as he grinned at her, but eventually they both sobered up and just stared at each other. She finally sighed after a minute and said, “Well, I could have done without finding out that demons exist, but this was fun, a better night than I’ve had in awhile.”
Dante just smiled. “Yeah. Makes the pain of getting out here for a mix up kind of worth it.” He bit his lip and shifted a bit. “…You have my number right? Feel free to give a call if you’re ever in the area. It’d be nice to talk to someone with good music and motorcycle tastes again.”
She smiled. “Will do, Dante. You take care of yourself and don’t eat three sundaes in a row again, you hear?”
He snorted and rolled his eyes, but did nothing to disguise the grin he aimed at her. “Hey, got to get my fruit in somehow!”
“Yes, so healthy with all that sugar.”
“I thought so! Anyway, hope we meet again someday!”
“So do I. Maybe with less demon attacks though.”
“That’d be the day. Stay badass, Claire.”
She couldn’t help but laugh at that. “You too, Dante!”
Claire took a moment to watch him walk away, raising two fingers in kind of salute and not turning back, before heading towards her apartment.
She still didn’t know how to feel about finding out demons were real. She hoped she could just leave that in the back of her mind and never have to deal with them again, but at the same time… at least she knew now? He had given her a quick rundown on some ways to get away from some of the more common demons if she ran across them without a weapon, so she was probably in a better place than she had been tonight.
She was also extremely happy that Dante took the time to talk to her and help her calm down. If she’d been alone, she would have just rushed home and assumed that she had lost it and kept looking over her shoulder for months on end, paranoid that the demon would be behind her of she let her guard down. She was so grateful that hadn’t come to pass. Yeah, she was still a little shaken, but it wasn’t the highlight of her night now.
She really hoped that one day she’d see Dante again. He was just a great guy to talk to; somewhat cocky and prone to stupid puns and comments, but still kind and somehow able to make her laugh.
Well, if she ever saw white hair, she’d know to take a second look and see if it was him. It’d be nice to see the guy that made her go to bed with a small smile instead of curling under the covers terrified of whatever lied in wait in the shadows.