Work Text:
Despite living in the same town she went to high school in, it was rare that Lady ran into anyone she knew. Most had escaped the city as soon as they could, going to colleges abroad, or marrying princes. She had gone to a private religious all girls school, and so it wasn’t strange that so many of them ended up marrying young, or fleeing across the country. She hadn’t even escaped that fate by technicality.
The call of her old name caught her off guard, so much so she didn’t turn around until someone clasped her shoulder. Lady pulled her gun on instinct, pointing it at the woman.
“Mary!” she exclaimed in shock, and Lady put the gun away. “That is you, right?”
“No,” Lady said.
The girl… Emma or Kaylee or something, Lady could not remember smiled broadly. “You always had such a funny sense of humor. Mary, it’s me, Kendra!”
Ah, that had been her third guess. Lady thought about playing dumb harder, but she remembered Kendra now. She was tenacious. “Right,” Lady said, “Been a while.”
“Like forever! How are you doing? You sort of disappeared after what happened with your mom… I’m really sorry about that.”
The worst part about Kendra is that she really meant it. She was one of the ones who’d taken all the teachings to heart. “Yeah, well, that was a long time ago,” Lady said.
“Still… I always wanted to reach out, but then your house sold and no one knew what happened. Do you have some time?”
Lady did, and had the feeling Kendra was going to try and sell her some sort of MLM. They were right outside Fredi’s, and Lady was craving an Irish coffee. “Sure, you been here before?”
Kendra glanced up at the sign and shook her head.
They took their seats at the bar, Lady ordering her Irish Coffee, while Kendra looked over the menu.
“Are you doing alright?” Kendra asked, “You look well.”
“I’m doing as well as I can,” Lady admitted.
“Yeah?” Kendra asked, “I always thought you were going to be a pro at some sort of sport, but never saw your name on any local teams.”
Lady smiled at that. “Pro at what?”
“I didn’t really know, you were the best on every team back in school.”
“No, I don’t really do that… although my job is pretty active…” Lady toyed with what to tell her. Finally deciding, “I’m a bounty hunter essentially.”
“That’s fitting as well,” Kendra said, “And makes sense why you pulled a gun on me.”
Fredi raised a brow at Lady as he gave her her drink. Kendra finally ordered a strawberry sundae. Lady chuckled.
“What?” Kendra asked, “The doctor said I could eat anything I wanted, as long as it’s not on the not allowed list.”
“That’s an interesting diet,” Lady said.
“The little one is not letting me keep anything down,” Kendra complained.
Lady reevaluated the woman, noting that she still has a mostly flat stomach. “Congratulations,” Lady said obligatorily, supposing that it really wasn’t weird for someone her age to be having a kid. In fact, it was exceedingly normal.
“Thank you,” Kendra said, “I’m excited, but also nervous… It’s my husband’s and I’s first baby.”
“You’re married?”
“Yes, two years ago…” Kendra sighed, “It’s actually because of him I was wanting to speak to you, are you married?”
Lady lied easily, “No, why?”
Kendra did a happy wiggle in her seat. “Then this really was fate. Okay, so my husband’s cousin turns out to have been a student of your father.”
Lady couldn’t help the darkness that fell over her. “Oh?”
“Right,” Kendra said, as if just remembering the circumstances of her mother’s death. “Did they ever… uh… find him?”
“I found him alright,” Lady said, and Kendra seemed wise enough not to say anything more on the subject.
“But that’s just how he knew you. His name is Louis, Louis Barker, do you remember him? I think he said he came around your house a few times.”
Lady was vaguely aware of some of her father’s students. They all blended together. “I think the name is familiar.”
“Well, he apparently had a big crush on you, but never said anything, what on account of you being sixteen and all.”
That made sense. More than a few of Arkham’s students had developed crushes on her. Never mind they were grad students and she was in high school. Or younger. The attention started in middle school.
“Now that’s obviously not a problem. He’s a really good guy, has a research job at your father’s university even.” She froze again, “Not that that’s a good thing because of your father, just that it pays well. And you were so smart in class, I always figured you’d only be interested in a real smart guy.”
That caught Lady’s interest. Her father had been an expert in the occult. And with regards to her taste in men… she apparently liked stupid geniuses.
“See,” Kendra continued, “I’m the one trying to match make because I can just tell that he still thinks about you very fondly. But he just keeps acting like he just wants to ask you about your father’s research but obviously remembers what happened and didn’t want to ask you which is why… I… asked…” Kendra paused, “I am sorry. I’m being really insensitive right now. Forget about it. I’m sure you have all sorts of men throwing themselves at you.”
“More like throwing themselves off of bridges,” A familiar voice cut in. Lady glanced over her shoulder to see Dante enjoying his own strawberry sundae. When had he snuck in?
He met Lady’s glare and added, “I’m kidding, she just shoots the ones she’s seriously interested in.”
Lady narrowed her eyes harder at him. Oh he was paying for that, one way or another.
“Is this a… friend?” Kendra asked.
“Something like that,” Lady said, “Kendra, this is Dante, Dante, this is my old classmate.”
Dante smiled, bringing his strawberry sundae with him as he sat next to Lady. “Well Kendra, I think you would agree that these are some of the best strawberry sundaes in town?”
“It is pretty good,” Kendra agreed, “I can’t believe I’ve never come here.”
“Yeah yeah, it’s great,” Lady said, “So what exactly was Louis wanting to ask me about?”
“Oh that…” Kendra said, “I don’t really remember, something about a tower I think? Do you remember that terrible business around ten years ago? People thought they saw a tower come out of the ground out of nowhere! Well, he thinks it was a real tower! Can you believe that?”
The aftermath of Temen-ni-gru was something that confused Lady quite a bit. The demonic energy had interfered with cameras and so all of the pictures were hazy. A few buildings were destroyed, and so most assumed the sinkhole had opened up and sucked the buildings in. Unless someone saw the demons they assumed it was mass psychosis.
“But don’t worry, it’s all quite grounded in real research,” Kendra assured her, “And even if he is a little excentric, he is sort of loaded. I can tell you still enjoy a high life.”
Even as genuine as Kendra was, she had grown up with a father who made six figures and an heiress mother. She knew designer brands on sight.
Dante shifted in his seat ever so slightly. Some former student of Arkham was probably nothing, but something in her gut warned her that it was exactly what she worried it was. “I think I would like to talk to Louis, if at all possible,” Lady said.
“Gold digger,” Dante coughed into his fist. Lady punched him in the shoulder.
Lady directed the conversation back to Kendra and her husband and other things going on in her life. Until the sundaes were eaten, and Kendra went back to her business with a cheery goodbye. Lady followed Dante back to his office, hoping no one was there. Morrison probably knew about the Temen-ni-gru business, but Patty didn’t. Patty hadn’t even been born yet. No need for it to haunt her nightmares as well.
“How long were you listening?” Lady asked.
“Long enough to hear about Mr Academic.”
“Someone who reads as many dead languages as you do can’t make fun of someone for being learned.”
“Huh,” Dante said, removing his jacket in one elegant movement. She hated how mesmerizing his movements could be at times. He was so interesting to watch. “So you did like that guy?”
He was being weird. Lady leaned on his desk, and admitted, “I honestly don’t remember what he looks like, I just don’t want someone poking around Temen-ni-gru.”
Dante hummed in thought. “It couldn’t be raised again, could it?”
“I don’t think so,” Lady said, “but I don’t want to find out.”
Dante agreed with the sentiment, and sat down, pulling out a pad of paper from his desk and tossing it to her. She started making a list of questions to ask. “I don’t want to lead him down that path if he is just a brainy type who got curious about the wrong thing,” Lady said, “Although I feel like all of Arkham’s research partners or students who were interested in the tower were sort of… off.”
“The tower probably had some sort of curse on it, the type that gets in your head,” Dante said, “It’s not uncommon with demonic artifacts. It’s not even on purpose, just something about it seems to trigger madness in certain people.”
“Huh,” Lady said, “I’ve never felt that way. Are some people just immune?”
Dante looked at her in a hidden way, thinking some intense thought of his. “Seems so.”
The look had her feeling hot, even if she didn’t know if he meant it that way. She hated how he would rile her up at times. No one else had ever done it so effortlessly.
“I wish you could come, but I guess I can’t really bring a plus one to a date.”
“So eager to commit adultery?” Dante asked lightly. Maybe he was in a mood.
“Careful,” she teased, “You almost sound jealous.”
“Jealous that some idiot is going to pay for your dinner while you decide if you’re going to shoot him or not?”
“You say that like that isn’t most of what we do.”
“We do a bit more than that,” Dante said.
Lady smirked, “True…”
…
The dress was a number she’d picked up with Trish, not knowing when she’d have a chance to wear it. Dante never wanted to go out anymore, and Trish was hardly ever in town. She was a little disappointed to wear it to work, but at least she got the occasion.
Louis had been surprised by her phone call, out of the blue from Dante’s phone, barely able to sputter out a “I’ll see you then.”
It was the big night, something Dante kept teasing her about. She hadn’t seen him this lively in a while, and in a way it made her happy. But it was also sort of weird.
“Table for Louis?” Lady asked the serving staff. They found her reservation and led her to the table, Louis already there. He was nondescript. Not ugly by any means, but devastatingly ordinary. His eyes lit up when he saw her, although they snagged on her scars. Still, he was a gentleman and stood up to help with her chair. She thanked him, wondering when she had gotten unused to men being so polite to her. Well, there was the rest of the night to prove her wrong.
“Mary,” he said, “It’s so good to see you. It’s been too long.”
“Right,” Lady said, already scanning the wine menu. There were some good ones. “Kendra said you had some questions about Arkham’s research.”
This directness seemed to put him off. He smiled still and said, “I do have some questions… but those can wait for a later time. I’d rather hear you talk about yourself. You just dropped off the radar after what happened…”
“What is it that everyone thinks happened?” Lady asked. This was one of the questions she had come up with. There were some obvious connections to Temen-ni-gru in the night that her mother was killed. Anyone who had researched it would be able to tell. The official police report that considered the majority of it occult gibberish. Some of it was, and that was part of why it had been so incomplete. The other part was that it needed the blood of Sparda as well.
“Do you… do you actually want to know?”
Lady nodded once.
“Well, they said your father killed your mother in a fit of hysteria. And that you fled into the night not long after your recovery.”
“Is there an official story on what happened to Arkham?”
Louis shook his head.
A piano started playing, something rather morose for the atmosphere.
Lady tapped her fingers on the table. She needed that wine. The waiter came over with a wide smile. “And what will we be having?”
“A bottle of this,” Lady said, pointing to a french name she didn’t want to try and pronounce, “and I’d like the ribeye, medium rare."
“You are decisive,” Louis said with a small laugh. He ordered food as well, some sort of fancy pasta with truffles and garlic. Lady had noticed there was fancy pizza and was sure Dante would be incredibly disappointed by it. His sense of taste always was all over the place. He basically only wore custom clothes, she’d met his tailor, nice woman, and yet his favorite pizza was from the local hole in the wall.
“Kendra said you were a bounty hunter now?”
Lady nodded.
“Do you like it?”
“Nothing I love better in the world,” Lady admitted.
“It’s fitting,” Louis said, “You always had such a strong sense of justice.”
The wine finally came, and Lady took a long sip.
“What about my father’s work did you find so interesting?” Lady asked, “So much so you’d take over his position at the university? I think that dusty stuff should stay collecting dust. Sparda clearly didn’t want it to be messed with.”
“So you believe in Sparda?”
Lady fixed him with a blank look.
“I just never could tell how seriously you took religion classes.”
“I wasn’t interested at the time,” Lady admitted, “that changed.”
“I just think there is a lot that we don’t know about Sparda. Like, why did he stop interacting with humanity so directly? Why are demons so much less prevalent than before?”
“Because demons have gotten a lot sneakier and humans refuse to believe what’s right in front of their eyes,” Lady said, “It’s not all that hard to understand.”
“Like the tower,” Louis said abruptly. “Temen-ni-gru. A tower sprouted out of the city and no one seems to remember.”
Lady buried the anger that rose when she thought about the tower. Louis saw her reaction. “Did you see it? I did. It was incredible.”
Lady nodded.
“I’ve tried to get to the bottom of it, but when it fell the necropolis collapsed under it.”
“What use would finding it be?” Lady asked, hoping that Louis had not been gripped by that same madness her father had. “It’s a good thing it was destroyed. Nothing good can come from it.”
“Lady, I thought you of all people would understand that not everything you were taught in Sunday School is true.”
Lady narrowed her eyes. She had fallen off the wagon majorly when it came to church, but that didn’t mean she liked listening to what no doubt was going to be gnostic garbage. Still, she needed to hear him say it so she could promptly ruin his life so that he didn’t ruin someone else's.
“Oh? And what did Sister Paul get wrong?” Lady asked, swirling her wine. She was losing her appetite.
“There is a portal to the underworld in the ruins of that tower,” Louis confessed, “and I believe if we can open it, we could have limitless energy.”
Lady laughed. She couldn’t help it. She cursed internally. Now she was going to have to play along. He was definitely compromised. Hopefully she could figure how what demon had him and how. It might not be too late to save him.
“I know it sounds fantastical, but the equation, and the readings I’ve made around the site match my theoretical models."
“I thought you were an archeology major,” Lady said, “When did you become a physicist?”
“I double majored,” Louis said, some sense of modesty.
“There is this energy called demonic power, your father wrote about it… Lady, I think I know why he killed your mother.”
“Do you?” Lady challenged.
Louis nodded, not seeing how angry she was getting. Before he could continue, the food arrived. Lady found her appetite back. She threw back the rest of her wine and started digging in.
“So tell me, why did my father do it?”
“I believe your mother, and yourself, must have some sort of ancestry connected to Sparda. The seal required the blood of Sparda, but who knows where he is. Your mother’s line is ancient and the earliest records trace back to the destruction of the tower.”
Lady paused her eating. “You think I’m related to Sparda?”
Louis nodded. “You see, the seals were released, which makes me think your father must have collected some of your mother’s blood. Now, he must have gone with the more drastic option of thinking it required life blood, when that’s just one reading of it.”
Lady pat her lips demurely. “You figured all that out… too bad the tower was destroyed. And rightfully so. Almost like someone finished their father’s work.”
Louis’ eyes went wide. “You were there. So was Dr Arkham! I knew it. I take it he failed?”
Lady fixed him with a smile. “What do you think?”
“All for the best,” Louis said, “He was clearly mad.”
“And you aren’t?” Lady asked, “Let me guess, you want my blood?”
“Only a small amount,” he admitted, “And it is secondary to my interest in you. You’re so beautiful Mary. You always have been.”
The music stopped, and someone came to stand next to them. Lady glanced up to see a familiar face in an unfamiliar outfit. “Do we have an issue here?” Dante asked.
Lady glared. She could handle this on her own, but Dante shot a look her way that said, ‘just wait.’
“No, we’re doing just fine,” Louis said, “Right Mary?”
Lady was still trying to figure out what Dante was trying to tell her when she saw him fidget with his coat sleeve. He wore a nice suit, with his hair actually styled for once. She glanced over at Louis’ wrist and saw a scar of an arcane symbol there.
“Dante?” Patty asked, turning around in her seat, “Lady, what are you doing here?”
Lady cursed.
Louis furrowed his brow. “Mary, do you know this man?”
She cursed. “Louis, I think I need some air.” She stood up, and made her way outside, leaving the bill for him. He was going to follow her right into the dark alley where anything could happen. She had to confirm what he was.
Sure enough, a few minutes later Louis came outside. “Mary, what was that? I’m sorry about all that, I shouldn’t have talked about it at all on a first date. I was never the best with women…”
“It’s not that,” Lady said with a sigh, “Although bringing up my father who murdered my mother and tried to kill me doesn’t endear me to you at all. No, my issue is this.”
She grabbed his wrist and twisted, fully revealing the scarred symbol. He paled.
“So tell me, what demon did you sell your soul to? Or did you do what Arkham did and turned yourself into one?”
“I have received help from beyond the pale,” Louis admitted, “but I believe we were misguided in thinking all spirits are evil.”
Lady couldn’t help the grin. “I can guarantee the demon you’ve made a deal with isn’t one of the good ones. I know all of the good ones.” Lady pulled out a gun. “Now, where is your friend? I’m sure he wants to meet me.”
Before Louis could respond, he screamed in pain. The symbol writhed and his arm began to expand.
“Sparda…” an inhuman voice intoned, as Louis became a terrible demon.
“Do I look like Sparda?” Lady asked, “and I took a shower, I shouldn’t smell like him…”
She started the fight, hoping that Patty would stay inside. Right as she was about to finish the demon off, a volley of gun fire caught the demon. Lady glanced behind her to see a very serious Dante return Ebony and Ivory to their holsters.
“I had that!” she exclaimed, “Why did you follow me?”
“What? I thought this was your cry for attention.”
“Since when do I want attention from you?”
“Since you dressed up like this,” he said, “and you just killed your date.”
“You killed my date,” Lady muttered.
“Regardless, Mrs Redgrave, let's go before the real piano player gets out of the closet I locked him in.”
Lady laughed, “Fine, what are you thinking of?”
“Well, there’s this high end club, dress code and everything,” Dante said.
“You haven’t wanted to go dancing in forever,” she said, “What changed?”
“I guess I was just feeling a little nostalgic.”
Lady found his arm and welcomed the future haze. She needed a strong drink to distract from thoughts of Temen-ni-gru. And Arkham. And her mom.
…
Dante was relieved that Lady hadn’t picked up on his… feelings about her going on a date. Even if he knew it wasn’t a real date, it still annoyed him. It was one thing to hear about her letting some guy buy her drinks at a bar, but it was another to see her all gussied up for a date. Even at his most apathetic, he couldn’t just sit there. Especially when there was such a strong connection to her past.
But watching her dance now to goth rock was doing something to him. He knew where this was going to end. He should stop it. She deserved something better than him. It was a miracle she had stuck around as long as she did, he could thank his debt for that. And her tenacity.
“C’mon,” Lady said, face flushed from drinking, and smile wide on her face. She’d probably cry a bit later, she usually did, and he’d hold her, like he usually did. But for now, he’d let her pull him onto the dance floor.
Dante wished he could get drunk easier.
Because while she was trying to escape thoughts of her father and her mother, he was trying to avoid his brother. The brother he’d killed.
Lady stopped her gyrating and placed her hands on either side of his face, forcing him to look at her. The multicolored lights flashed, obscuring her eye color.
“If I’m not allowed to think about it, you aren’t either,” she shouted, “Tonight we’re Mr and Mrs Redgrave, right?”
He smiled, and let her pull him back into the dance, showing off his moves. Her eyes lit up and she made to match him. They ended up clearing the dance floor a bit until the song ended. Lady stumbled to the side to receive, to her delight a complimentary pair of shots. Dante stole them; she’d had more than enough, much to her annoyance. “I asked if they had a strawberry sundae!” she yelled over the music. “They didn’t, this place sucks! Let’s get out of here.”
Dante led her down the streets back to his office. She was already getting handsy. It made him wonder sometimes if she did this on her own too often, and if she got handsy with other men. It was a silly thought, they may be married on paper, but it was just due to Lady’s mercenary nature.
He tried to act like it didn’t matter to him.
It would hurt less when he found out.
In his office, he went to lock the front door, but was distracted by Lady pulling him into a kiss the second they were inside.
“I’m just going to tell people who don’t know me I’m married so this doesn’t happen again,” Lady murmured against his mouth. “I hate all of my old friends.”
Dante knew the feeling, even if he didn’t really have old friends. It’d been bad enough when Ernst had shown up. “Yeah?”
“Yeah,” Lady said, “Come here Baby Boy.”
She had a good way of distracting him, he had to admit. He’d lost the tie a long time ago, but she stopped him from removing his coat. “Leave it on,” she said, “I haven’t ever seen you dressed up like this.”
“You like it?”
Maybe in a suit he looked more like the type of guy she wanted.
“It’s just different,” she said, “Just for tonight…”
Dante wasn’t about to argue with her. As usual, she kept up with him and then some. Her endurance was almost superhuman. As they fell asleep, it almost sounded like she told him she loved him.
…
Patty arrived to Devil May Cry the day after the disastrous dinner date to the sight of Dante behind his desk as usual.
“Dante!” Patty started, but was shushed by the man behind the desk. He also looked a bit worn out, although that was sort of his normal.
From upstairs a woman shouted something, Lady coming down the stairs to glare at him, until she saw Patty.
“Oh hi Patty,” Lady greeted, “Sorry we couldn’t talk yesterday. I’m going back to sleep.”
“Do not throw up on anything,” Dante told her as she trudged back up the stairs. She flipped him off.
“What happened?” Patty asked once the woman was gone, “Why’d you ruin Lady’s date?”
“I didn’t ruin anything,” Dante said, “he did that himself.”
Patty smirked, sensing a hole in the man’s cool exterior. “Oh yeah? Lady didn’t look like she was expecting you. You sure you didn’t want to sweep in on a white horse and rescue her?”
“Rescue Lady?” Dante asked, “I’ve only ever saved her from herself. That woman is frustratingly competent."
Patty started fishing for information, “what happened after she stormed out?”
“What usually happens,”Dante said, awfully chatty, “Lady has terrible taste in men. She said something caustic, and he got upset. She then proceeded to drink her troubles away--” Dante caught that he had maybe gone a bit far. Patty knew what binge drinking was. That was why her friend Jenny from the orphanage didn’t have her mom anymore.
Patty made a note to look up what caustic meant later and charged forth with, “that doesn’t answer why you were there.”
“I was there because I was the pianist,” Dante said, and Patty couldn’t tell if he was lying or not. “And even if Lady can take care of herself… I get sentimental sometimes.”
“Sentimental?”
“She knew the guy through her dad… and I’ll tell you now don’t bring that up to Lady.”
“Like I can’t bring up your dad?”
Dante looked at her for a moment before smiling. “No, because I love my dad. There’s just not much to say. But Lady’s dad was a bad guy. She doesn’t like thinking about it.”
“If she doesn’t like thinking about it, why’d she go on the date?”
“That,” Dante started, “Is grown up stuff you don’t need to worry about. Now what do you need?”
Patty stared at him in astonishment. “I wanted the story!”
“And you got one,” Dante said, “Now leave.”
“You’re so rude!” Patty exclaimed, “This is why you’ll never get a girlfriend!"
“That the only reason?”
“You also let your single female friends sleep in your bed,” Patty said, “I can’t imagine any girl would be okay with that.”
Dante smiled. In defiance, Patty sat down on the couch and turned on the TV. “My mom is on a date,” Patty said.
“A date?”
Patty nodded. “Last night was a mother daughter dinner so I would know she likes me the most. I mean, of course I know that…”
“Huh,” was all Dante said.
“And it’s not like I don’t want her to be happy… but it’s just weird. Like why does she need more than me.”
“Probably also adult stuff,” Dante said.
“Gross,” Patty said.
“I didn’t mean it like that,” he said, “I just mean… there are things you shouldn’t put on a kid.”
Patty hadn’t thought about that. “Like what sorts of things?”
“Stuff you have no business worrying about yet,” Dante said. He paused, and then turned his head slightly. “Excuse me,” he said, and went upstairs. Patty frowned and tried to focus on the TV. But the curiosity was killing her.
She crept up the stairs, and caught a faint, “I haven’t seen you this fucked up in a while.” That was Dante. Lady’s voice was too quiet to hear.
“Yeah, there could have been something in the wine. Demonic aura can do some weird stuff. You were the one doing shots at the bar though.” Dante laughed, “I probably didn’t help.”
Patty wanted to hear what Lady was saying, and crept up another stair. It creaked and Patty froze. Dante paused and said, “Oh you think Patty is way too nosey for her own good? Someone really should teach that girl manners!”
She tried to run down the stairs, not wanting to deal with weirdness. One thing she knew for sure, Dante was never getting a girlfriend. It almost seemed like he didn’t really want one… Patty didn’t know what to make of that.
…
“She gone?” Lady asked in a low voice. The room was dark, but Dante could still see well enough.
“I think I scared her off,” he said.
“I really think I was poisoned,” Lady continued, “That creep absolutely wanted my blood… So annoying. You’re annoying too. Mr no hangover.”
“What can I say,” Dante said without saying anything more.
“You should probably go entertain her more.”
“Why should I do that?” Dante said, “I’d rather be here.”
In a rare show of clingy-ness, he laid down, pushing his head into her chest. Lady held him there on instinct almost.
“If she runs back in here how are you planning on explaining yourself?”
“I’m listening to your heart beat,” Dante responded. To make sure it didn’t stop. He’d already set up Lady with her morning recovery drink, a health smoothie and a glass of ice water. He was going to need to clean his margarita blender now. He hated how fragile she could be at times.
After a moment, Lady said, “he thought the ancestor that made my blood special was Sparda.”
“I heard.”
“Really?” she asked, “from all that ways away, while playing piano?”
“I can see in the dark too,” he reminded her.
“I was just thinking… a child of ours would be perfect for unsealing Temen-ni-gru.”
Dante froze.
“Two in one,” she mused. “Good thing the tower is destroyed.”
“Yeah.”
Dante hoped she couldn’t hear his heart beat now. She had basically laid out a reason why they shouldn’t have kids, but now it was in his head. Not that he wanted kids. Or he did. He didn’t deserve them. No one deserved to have him as a father. Before he could stop himself he said, “we’d make a pretty cute one.”
Lady was quiet for a long moment, then said, “yeah we would.”
Once more in conflict with himself, he started kissing her chest, and upwards. Lady frowned, but without real fire said, “I don’t feel up to any funny business, especially with Patty in the office. Let me up.”
Dante helped her up, and brought the smoothie over. “I don’t understand how you drink that stuff.”
She smiled, “a good diet is how I’ve stayed so cute over the years.”
He couldn’t deny that she was cute, and left her to her health smoothie. He pressed a kiss to her forehead, always sentimental after their nights together. She smiled, and he left her to convalesce.
Patty was watching TV, and Dante sat next to her.
“Is Lady okay?”
“Yeah, she’s fine.”
Patty looked at him with a question in her eyes. Dante wasn’t going to deal with that. He was drained emotionally. The thinking was starting to catch up. He needed to go find a demon to kill. Something strong that got his mind off of everything. Off of Temen-ni-gru, and his blood, and his brother, and Lady going on dates, and fatherhood that was never going to to happen. To his surprise, Patty leaned her head on his arm.
“Are you okay?”
Dante laughed. “I’m great,” he lied.
“Could you teach me how to play piano?” Patty asked.
“Do I look like a piano teacher?” Dante asked.
“Maybe,” she said, “You could be.”
“I’d need to get the piano out of storage,” he grumbled, and then said, “You gotta be serious about that. Don’t waste my time.”
“I wouldn’t!” Patty said, “I just thought the music was really nice.”
Piano always made him think of his mom. She was the one who had taught him--and Vergil. But the memories didn’t hurt, they made him feel warm. Like how he always felt when he did something to honor his mother.
“Fine,” Dante said, “give me a minute.”
He went to the garage and pulled out the piano. Getting it through the door was a pain, but he managed, setting it down rather roughly against a wall. He glanced around the garage for the bench, cursing that he’d let Trish and Lady put all their motorcycle stuff in there. He might be messy, but he understood his mess.
Finally, he located the bench, and brought it out, Patty already at the piano. He set the bench in front of the piano and sat down, patting the space next to him. “Now, what do you want to learn.”
“I want to learn something nice, that people can dance to. Not what you were playing last night.”
“Alright,” Dante said, thinking to the one that his mother and father had danced to when he was young. It was light and playful, a sort of innocent jaunt. He smiled as his hands moved over the keys like riding a bike.
Patty watched in rapt interest, clearly trying to figure out the patterns in his hands. Upstairs, he could hear Lady humming along. And maybe everything wasn’t so crushing.