Dancing With the Devil

Chapter 15

Third Person P.O.V. (Nero)

"The hell are you doin' here, kid?" Dante snapped at Nero, not moving from where he stood. "This is no place for you to be poking around-."

"That's quite enough, Dante," Officer Star scolded the red-clad demon hunter, waving the unexpected arrival into the room. "Ignore him, son. Come in and have a seat, you look exhausted."

Dante stopped himself as the young male approached the empty chair where Morrison had been sitting. It seemed as though he'd been drained of all his energy, and the distant look in Nero's eyes told another important tale; he was worrying about something. What it was, exactly, Dante had no clue.

"When did you first meet Rose?" Officer Star asked the young swordsman.

"A month and a half ago," Nero replied immediately, keeping direct eye contact even though he looked about ready to fall asleep at a moment's notice. "She made a necklace for my girlfriend."

"And you watched this process, I'm assuming?"

"Yes."

"Can you describe what her right arm looked like, please?"

Nero visibly curled in on himself, bringing his right arm closer to his chest.

"Young man-."

"My name is Nero."

There was a long pause as Joshua cleared his throat. Dante was shocked that the officer hadn't reprimanded him for snapping like that, but given how tired the young swordsman appeared, it was probably a given that his temper would be on a shorter than usual leash.

"My apologies. Nero, could you please describe what her right arm looked like for me? It's the only piece of information that I lack, and quite possibly the most crucial," Joshua asked in a gentle tone.

Dante had noticed that the younger male was very hesitant to comply, and that he'd pulled the sleeve of his coat all the way down to completely shield his own right arm from view. He was going back to his instinct of hiding his arm from unfriendly eyes. The fact that he was doing this made Dante's skin crawl. All his life, he'd heard human- and demon-kin alike flaunt his name about as though knowing of him alone were some sort of trophy. As a result, he took a great deal of pride in the fact that he was part demon, but Nero on the other hand... He seemed to fear it. Though not of his own volition. Because of the hatred that came with being a partial demon. With that being said, Dante's inner demon was enraged that Nero would want to hide his arm.

"Nero, go ahead and show him," Dante said calmly, desperately trying to mask the edge of anger in his voice. "There's no need to hide anymore."

Joshua seemed much more interested as Nero tentatively rolled up the right sleeve of his trench coat. The young swordsman's heart picked up an unnaturally fast and offset rhythm as the Commanding Officer stood up and walked over to him. Nero had to fight his own instincts just to remain seated when he felt the officer's touch tracing the blue crevice that ran up his forearm. He visibly jerked when the same curious fingers ghosted over his palm.

"Amazing," Officer Star breathed, earning a confused stare from Nero. "I apologize. It's not every day that a partial demon walks into my office." He gives a nod of his head towards Dante with a sly grin dancing across his face. "With the exception of this asshole."

Dante scoffed and sauntered over to the window, muttering under his breath. Nero chuckled to himself, feeling slightly more relaxed now. That feeling of comfort vanished as Joshua asked him to remove his coat. The only times when Nero felt comfortable taking it off were when he would return to his flat in Fortuna to sleep for the night, and also if he needed to change or have a shower. Whenever it came to the humid summer temperatures and sweating like a dog, he toughed it out and made sure to properly clean his coat after the day's work was done.

He knew Dante wasn't really looking out the window for the view, that he was in fact very aware of the situation. After careful consideration, Nero shrugged his coat off.

Joshua's reaction was instant, but it wasn't at all what the two partial demons had been expecting. The officer examined the boy's demon arm in awe, though he refrained from touching it any further, which made Nero feel much more at ease once again.

"Is the colour pattern on Rose's arm the same as yours, or is it different?" Joshua asked, pulling out a sketchpad and a pencil.

Dante was the one to reply to this as he said "Black on the exterior armor, but the softer crevices are bright orange." He paused for a few moments before adding "don't ask how I know... At least not with the kid here."

Nero rolled his eyes. Given the demon hunter's reputation, it was most likely something he never wanted to know.

Officer Star went to his desk and pulled out a box of pastels. He showed them to Dante, who picked out the appropriate ones and began coloring the sketch without hesitation. Nero quirked an eyebrow at this. He'd only seen Dante so focused on a task the last time they'd fought, and even then he'd seemed to have his mind elsewhere. However, in this instance, he was hyper-focused, the orange pastel in his hand moving with swift delicacy across the page. When he finished with the orange, he switched to the black and repeated the process. Had his curiosity not been piqued, Nero would have been content to just lay back in the soft leather chair and doze off. He sat forward in his chair, scanning over the drawing very carefully. The more he stared at it, the more it seemed to be coming to life, and the more he felt a burning responsibility to find her.

The room was silent for a whole minute, broken by the Commanding Officer, who seemed hesitant to speak, yet he overcame that quickly.

"To get this straight, sending my men to search for Miss Rose would not only be a wild goose chase. It would sending them to be slaughtered in cold blood."

Dante nodded sharply, starting to pace the length of the room. He was anxious to get going, that much was clear.

"Dante, with all due respect, I can't afford to have you wreck the whole city looking for one woman."

It was at this point that Nero did possibly the most stupid thing in his life to date. "I'll go with him. To keep him in line."

All eyes in the room turned to the boy, and Morrison pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Listen, kid... I appreciate your enthusiasm, but even I have a really hard time with him. You sure you wanna take that responsibility?" He grumbled, concerned for the boy's mental health. Yes, he worried about his safety as well. Considering, however, the tale Dante had brought back with him, he figured Nero could hold his own.

"We can't afford to waste any more time, can we?" Nero countered as he began walking out of the office.

"Right you are, kid," Dante chuckled, following him out.

The pair walked in silence until Nero veered into The Devil's Lair, taking a seat in the booth closest to the double doors leading to the kitchen. The young man looked to the older partial demon with a raised eyebrow.

"Are you gonna sit down or keep standing there like an idiot?"

Letting out a less-than-impressed scoff, Dante meandered over and sat opposite Nero. Knowing he had no money on hand, he felt a stab of disappointment. It meant that he couldn't buy pizza and a sundae.

"If you want food, then you tell me everything you know about my father," Nero grumbled, waving over the same waitress that had served Dante the first time he'd been here. "Diana, would you get a double order of whatever he likes, please?"

"Sure thing, Nero," she replied happily, scribbling the order down from memory. "Two sixteen inch, crispy, extra cheese, pepperoni, no olives. Anything else I can get for you two tonight?"

"Do you have any strawberry sundaes?" Dante asked, a little too eager.

"I'm afraid the closest thing we'd have is a strawberry cordial float."

"Eh, I'll take it."

As she was turning to Nero, the boy nodded with a quiet "On my tab."

Once she was gone, Dante leaned over the table between himself and the teenaged partial demon. "I never would have pegged you for-."

"Why I come here is none of your damned business, Dante," Nero snapped calmly, looking him in the eyes. "Either you start talking or I'm eating the whole order while you sit there and watch. Your choice, Old Man."