Devil May Care

.4. Devil May Care .4.

"You don't have to carry me, Dante." I was still in Dante's arms. He'd been carrying me since we left the haunted building.

"You're still shaking," he said bluntly. I looked at my hands and noticed he was right. Knowing he wouldn't put me down until I had calmed, I instead opted to cling to him as opposed to argue with him, until we got back to the office. Dante had finally put me down (I hate being picked up.), and I went to sit on the couch, "I don't mind you doing whatever you want, but – what the fuck was that all about?" I barely acknowledged him, but heaved a deep sigh as I buried my face in my hands.

"Hey," Dante sat down next to me, one arm around my shoulders and a hand on my knee. "C'mon, you'll be fine." Not entirely sure what to make of that, I didn't reply to him – I wasn't in the mood. I turned to him and wrapped my arms around his body. Hesitantly, he started running his fingers through my hair. I soon started to relax – soothed by Dante's gentle touch...

I awoke the next sunrise, curled up on the couch – Dante was asleep at his desk. I got to my feet, stretching, then went over to look out of the window. It was rather cloudy, possibly cold out, too.

"Damn," I sighed. As an Osirian, my strength and powers are enhanced by sunlight – so cold and cloudy weather can leave me ... somewhat weaker than usual. A loud clatter from behind startled me, though, thankfully it was only Bennu.

"Damned bird," Dante's tone was annoyed as he shooed my phoenix off the desk.

"Bennu," I whistled as I held out my arm for the bird to perch on. He obediently flew over to me. I walked back over to the couch, holding my precious pet close.

That afternoon, I went out shopping with Lady. We were in one of the town's high-end boutiques that I frequented...

"That looks good on you," I looked again at my reflection. The dress I had on was 'form-fitting'; dark blue, backless and came just above the knee, slit up the right-hand side. Lady had spotted it first – insisting it would suit me.

"I'm not sure, M. It makes it look like I'm trying to be sexy." I voiced my opinion bluntly.

"So?"

"I'd never hear the end of it from Dante..." At that comment, Lady sighed a sigh of contempt.

"Honestly. What do you see in him?" Lady was one of my 'close friends' – I'd known her the longest of anyone else I know in this reality. There was a pause as I considered whether or not to answer.

"I don't know." Was my reply, taking Lady by surprise.

In the end, though, Lady had persuaded me to buy the dress. As we left the store...

"I might head over to Devil May Cry with you," Lady muttered, "Get the money Dante owes me."

"Yeah, good luck with that." I laughed.

"Well, we can't all be posh rich kids." I didn't pay full attention to what Lady had said – something else had caught my attention... "What's wrong?"

"Ra above..." I trailed off, startled. It was him! My 'stalker'! "That man..." He was staring right at me. "...He's been following me." Lady followed my gaze – when she saw the man, he ran.

"Shit. Hasn't Dante done anything?" She sounded genuinely worried for me – and angered by the notion of Dante not doing anything about it.

"He doesn't know. I wasn't going to worry about this, but..." I looked over at Lady, before shaking my head a little, "...I can deal with this. There's no need to involve Dante." I seemed to be convincing myself more than Lady.