Upside Down

Chapter Two

After four days of rain, the sun finally cracked through the clouds. It fell on the bed and the face of a sleeping Dante. He cracked open a blue eye and quickly closed it, rolling over and facing away from the window. Falling back asleep, he felt something move against him. He cracked open his eyes and was met with a mess of midnight hair. It took him few seconds to register what he was seeing, but then it hit him, Valentina.

He sighed, was he ever going to catch a break? The events that took place two days ago replayed in his mind…

After the spar, Dante and Valentina proceeded to clean up the spare room. But it soon became apparent that it was a futile effort, there was too much stuff in the room; some of it Dante’s, the majority left from whatever was in the building before him.

“Don’t you have anywhere to put this stuff? Honestly, I’ve never seen so much junk in one room before,” Valentina said, her voice a mix of shock and annoyance.

Dante rolled his eyes, “Yeah well it’s not like I ever expected that I’d have a room mate, princess.” He looked around the room, taking in the site of all the junk. Then his eyes fell back on her and he gave his trademark grin. “I’m not the only with a lot of junk around here.”

Valentina crossed her arms and glared at him. “And what exactly do you mean by that? Are you saying I have a fat ass?”

Dante shook his head, grin still in place. “If you had a fat ass, I would have told you by now. I’m just saying you have a big ass.” The truth was, she didn’t. Dante wanted to simply get a rise out of her, little did he know it had worked like a charm.

Valentina uncrossed her arms, her balled fists falling to her side. She closed the distance between her and Dante and glared up at him. Before he knew it her fist connected with his jaw. He took a few steps back to re-steady himself and he looked back at her. He could feel her rage pouring off her; again something stirred deep inside him and he felt a twitch in his pants.

His grin spread on his face. “So I’m not the only one who likes to play rough, nice.” She flipped him off. “Heh, just tell me when and where, princess, I’ll obliterate your universe.”

She glared at him. “Prick.”

Dante gave a slight bow. “I try.”

Valentina looked at him with the glare that could stop anything dead in its tracks but something about this guy kept her interested. What is was she couldn’t begin to guess. During their spar, something strange stirred deep within her; she had only felt it once before, but it wasn’t as strong then as it was during the spar. She looked at Dante and shook her head before simply stacking the boxes neatly.

Dante gave her one last look and just smirked as he went off moving the boxes around to see what was hidden within. After opening a few boxes, he found an old picture of four people, three platinum blonde males and a golden blonde female. All four were smiling, the oldest male’s arm wrapped around the female. The younger two males, one dressed in blue, the other in red, each had an ice cream cone in hand.

“What are you looking at?” Valentina’s voice broke through his thoughts.

Dante shook his head and put the picture back in the box. He stood up and looked at her. “Nothing,” he looked around the room and sighed. “I give up. We’re just going to bunk together. I don’t know or care what half this crap is and I don’t give a damn where it came from.”

Valentina stared at him. “We’re bunking together? How? You only have one bed.”

Dante grinned. “Well it’s obvious. We’ll share the bed.”

Valentina crossed her arms. “No.”

“Why? Afraid I’ll bite?” Dante moved towards her. He watched as she tried to back away from him, but she was stopped by the wall. Dante’s grinned widened; he closed the distance between them. Placing a hand on against the wall on either side of her head, he simply stared at her.

He could see confusion and a hint of fear swirling in her eyes. He smirked and slowly lowered his head. He paused just millimeters from her lips, but then continued lower to her neck. He caught the slight increase in her breathing and grinned. When he was a breath away from her neck he stopped; he lingered there for several long moments, not moving. He listened to her breathing; it had increased, not a great deal, but enough that he knew he was having some kind of effect on her.

Valentina couldn’t move, she didn’t know what to do. His actions had severely caught her off guard. She was only able to stare wide-eyed at him before he stared to move in closer. When he was close to her lips, her eyes slid shut. After a few seconds she had felt him begin to move again. She could sense him moving lower to her neck, and then he stopped. As he stayed there, it took everything she had not to raise her hand and run it through his hair.

Several long moments went by, neither one moved. Valentina didn’t know what to do and Dante took pleasure in knowing that he was driving the girl in front of him insane. Both were still and neither spoke. The only noise to be heard was their breathing.

Then without warning, Dante moved away. He backed away from Valentina and crossed his arms over his chest. He watched her eyes slowly open and he gave a laugh. “What’s the matter, princess? You look a little out of it.”

Valentina glared at him. “Fuck you.”

“Heh, like I said, tell me when and where and I’ll obliterate your universe.”

Valentina glared at him and then left the room…

Dante was brought from his thoughts by a movement. He looked down to find Valentina slowly starting to wake. He rolled onto his back and watched her. She stretched under the covers and slowly sat up. She looked around the room and when her eyes fell on him she sighed.

“Can I help?” Dante had still been watching her when she turned to him.

“No, not really. I’m fine.”

Valentina rolled her eyes. “Whatever.” She got out of bed and headed out of the room.

Later that day Valentina and Dante were making their way back to his place, loaded with bags. The contents of the bags were clothes for Valentina. How did they pay for them? They didn’t. Dante took her to a shop that he knew the owner, Laces. It was owned by a petite plump, white haired lady named Mable. He had saved her shop many a time from demons that were simply trashing the city for fun. Mable was up in her years and very wise. And an interesting little fact, she had known Dante since he was a wee little thing. His mother had been a frequent shopper when she was still alive. She would even help out the old lady on the busier days.

Mable had told Dante many times if he ever needed anything, she would help him free of charge. So Dante had now finally found a way to take up the kindly old lady up on her favor.

“So what’s the plan for the rest of the day?” Valentina asked, looking up at Dante.

He shrugged. “Well I don’t know what you have planned but I’m taking a nap. Your clothing needs cheated me out of it.”

Valentina huffed in annoyance and said nothing more to him. Dante smirk, he enjoyed pissing her off and annoying her. He couldn’t explain why, he just knew that something in him greatly enjoyed it.

They reached the office and instantly Dante sensed that something was off; he could feel that there was someone or something in his office. What it or they wanted, he didn’t know and he didn’t care. He turned to Valentina; she was staring up at him with a confused look.

“Stay behind me,” he said, and pressed a finger to her lips cutting off her forming argument. “Don’t argue, just do as I say.”

She rolled her eyes but nodded. He turned back to the office and pulled out Ebony and Ivory, ready to bring them to life if need be. They made their way into the office. At first nothing seemed wronged, but everything in Dante was screaming otherwise. He looked around the office, vaguely aware Valentina pressed against his back. When he couldn’t find what he was looking for, he snarled.

“Alright, cock sucker, drop the illusions and come out!” He barked.

A deep mucus choked laugh filled the room. “Your senses are sharp, indeed, Son of Sparda.” Slowly a skeleton like figure dressed in dark crimson robes materialized before Dante. Its eyes burned a dark green color as what appeared to be blood oozed from them. Its hands still had the veins and muscles wrapped around them. It didn’t walk; in fact it glided over the floor.

“What business do you have here?” Dante demanded of the demon.

It laughed again. “I have come for the girl that stands behind you.”

Dante smirked. “You mean my new doll? Sorry, pal, but you can’t have her.”

“Heh heh, we’ll see about that,” the demon grinned and summoned a scythe unlike any other; its blade a resembled a saw blade with hundreds of little teeth along the whole outside edge. It took up a fighting stance. “I will destroy you, Son of Sparda!”

Dante rolled his eyes. “Sure, I’ve heard that before.” He then shoved Valentina away off to the side as the demon rushed towards them. She hit the floor but was up in a matter of seconds. She ran towards the spot where her sword lay, but was stopped by Dante. “No, just take cover. This guy isn’t all that tough.”

Vaguely knowing what she was doing, she kept her eyes glued to the fight as she made her way over the desk. She crouched down, but was still watching what was going on. A voice in the back of her mind was screaming at her to run away. That it wasn’t right for Dante to fight what should be her fight.

Valentina was all too aware of why the demon was after her. It was the very same reason she ended up where she was. It was the exactly the same reason her family was…she shook her head, trying to suppress the painful memory. It was hard though, and being around Dante made all that much harder…his eyes where the same color as the ones that haunt her. The only difference was that his weren’t cold and full of malice and greed as were the eyes she had run from…again she shook her head, forcing herself to watch the fight.

Dante blocked a swing of the demon’s scythe; a shower of sparks rained down. He shoved the demon from him and dodged another attack. Rolling over to the couch, he grabbed Rebellion and swung a heavy blow at the demon, but it was blocked. The two were locked in a stale mate for a few seconds before the demon opened its mouth. Thick slimy vines shot out of the mouth.

Dante jumped to dodge them, but they were a second quicker. The thick vines slammed into him, causing him to go slamming into the wall behind him. The vines pinned him to the wall, taking root in the wall. The demon laughed and turned to the desk in which Valentina had decided to hide under.

“Come on out, little girl, there’s nothing for you to be afraid of…yet,” He began to laugh but he was cut short. Ebony and Ivory roared to life from where Dante was pinned, punching hole after hole through the demon. A few moments gave a deafening screech and exploded in cloud of dust and blood.

The vines pinning Dante shriveled and fell away. Dante fell to his feet with a thud. He assessed the damage done and was happy to fine it wasn’t much. Shaking his head at how weak the demon was in the end, he made his way over the desk. Valentina was still under the desk. He smirked.

“You can come out, princess, the boogie man’s gone.” She came out from under the desk and looked around the room. When her eyes fell on him, he could see pain and fear swirling around. He raised an eyebrow, but said nothing. Instead he questioned her about the demon. “So, who was that guy? An ex boyfriend?”

Valentina rolled her eyes. “Oh please, don’t be stupid, Dante.”

Dante snorted. “I only asked because he seemed to know you. So I figured it was some ex that you wronged or broke his heart and he was looking for a little revenge…or to get you back. I mean he gave it all he got, he must have really loved you, but in the end I was stronger.” He got up from the desk and strode around to where she stood. “So how ‘bout a kiss for the victor?”

Valentina got right in his face. “You want a kiss?” Her fist slammed into his gut, knocking the wind out of him. “How’s that? Doesn’t it just take your breath away?”

Dante looked up at her. “Now is that anyway to repay me for protecting you from that thing?”

Anger rolled off the girl before him in crushing waves, taking him by surprise. “I didn’t ask for you to protect me. I didn’t ask you to do anything for me. That demon was after me! That was MY fight, Dante! I was more then capable of fighting him and winning, so next time bugger out!”

With that she stormed past him and up the stairs. She paused and turned to him. "Taking me in will be the biggest mistake of your life, Dante...don't say I didn't warn you." With that she turned and made her way down the hall leaving Dante confused and still slightly out of breath.


Yay! I finally got the second chapter done! Tell me what you think.