What Would You Give

Mark Thy Words

The first time Roe had ever encountered a demon was the day before Dante's mother had died and he had disappeared from her childhood. She remembered it like it was yesterday and even the pungent odor that surrounded the area was still fresh in her mind. She remembered its horns and slick black tongue as it stared her down like she was the last morsel in sight. It wasn't until Dante had pushed her out of the way that she remembered to breathe and actually move her little legs. 

Demons were less of an issue for her now as she encountered them frequently in different forms. Most of the time it was Demon's parading around in human form in order to blend in quietly, but she could still smell the slight odor that they carried with them. There was no way to describe the odor, only that it was unique and it smelled similar to sulfur. She could tell by the strength of that odor how long a demon had been in the human realm and if they were wearing skin or if that was just how they looked. It was a messy business. 

Which lead her to why she was following Dante through the streets at night. Of course he could smell that odor too, but his sense of smell was much better than hers and he knew exactly where it was coming from. With the amulet as bait, he was trying to draw out the demons to see what was really going on and he had asked her to go with him just for the satisfaction of a midnight walk. Not that she minded. Cade was at Maggie's so she was free for the evening. 

"So, let me get this straight, Nina is the descendant of Alan Lowell?" Dante looked down at her as she walked next to him with his hands in his pockets. 

"Yes. Basically, the Black House has been trying to find it for well over a century, but with Nina moving about all the time its been hard to track down." She could smell the faint odor in the air that meant something was out and about. "I was hired to find it within two weeks, but when I did manage to talk to Nina, I did a little digging." Roe put her  hand on her pistol in preparation for the demon ahead who would probably make its appearance known shortly. Dante stopped in his tracks with a question on his mind. 

"What do you do exactly?" He turned around and looked at her, wondering how she got caught up in all of this. 

"To put it bluntly, I'm a thief." She said walking past him and without even bumping into him, she was able to get the necklace out of his pocket and kept walking in front of him. Then she turned around with a smirk on her face holding the necklace up for him to see. "See?" 

"Very funny. Give that back before something bad happens." Dante noticed something move in the shadows next to the alley she stood in front of and lunged for her. "Roe! Move!" This woman was going to get killed. 

"Huh. That's interesting." She said pulling out her pistol as the gaping mouth of a demon came at her, but instead of being able to move, she was suddenly on the ground with Dante standing over her and the pendant has slipped from her hands. 

"Hey shit for brains, leave her alone." Dante had his pistols drawn and trained on the demon in front of him. "It's me you want to deal with." He shot the demon in its head, but the creature did not go down that easy. 

"If I could just get the magic stone..." The creature had turned its eyes to the sidewalk where the necklace lay and began to reach for it, but Dante got to it first by rolling and then drawing Rebellion off his back. "No...the magic stone! I need it!" The demon roared as it took a swipe at the hunter and Roe scrambled to get out of the way knowing that she was very outmatched here. However, when Dante sliced the demon's arm off, it almost squealed and she almost felt sorry for it. 

"Good luck getting it with one arm, Shithead." This was Dante's style of combat. Annoy the demon until it was in a blind rage and then take advantage of the situation. At some point he had put the chain of the necklace in between his teeth so he could use it as a distraction. Everywhere the stone went, the demon's eyes followed, almost like a dog with a tennis ball.