Mortals (Devil may Cry book 2)

Sticklers

We were home by the time Brook arrived. We were sitting in the living room, awaiting her return. We had decided not to confront her, as we could use her to get information about Tobias. Perhaps there would be a slip of the tongue from her in the future.

We also agreed not to fill her in on any more of our plans, else risk having her relay it to Tobias. I still could not believe that she was doing this.

When the door opened, we all acted as if we were occupied with a nearby object. I buried my nose in my book, The Maze Runner by James Dashner.

Vergil spoke up be fore Dante and I had the chance, "Brook? Where'd you go off to?"

"I, uhhh, went hunting."

I looked up, "Why didn't you take me? I didn't hunt for a while. I just got back not that long ago."

She shrugged, "Why are you all up?"

"Well," Vergil answered,  "Cassi woke me up when she left to go hunting, and Dante was up for a while playing Black Ops 2."

The floor creaked, and Juliette shuffled into the room, rubbing her eyes, "Is this a party? Why wasn't I invited?"

I smiled, "Didn't want to wake you up."

"Ah." I watched as she drank some water and disappeared back down the hall.

"Well," Brook interjected, "I'm going to bed. Hunting makes me exhausted."

We waited until we heard her door shut before we spoke. And even then we kept out voices down.

"Did you see how easy her lies rolled off of her tongue? " I asked, leaning closer to everyone.

Dante sneered, "Like your guy's lies? I suck at lying, so I kept quiet."

Vergil tapped his chin, "I believe she suspects that we know... Yes this is definitely a threat."

I licked a fang. This girl... she seemed trustworthy at first. But now? Not so much. Had she been a spy all along? Was that why she first helped Vergil and I? The thought of her betrayal made my blood boil.

Vergil leaned in close, lowering his voice, "Keep an eye on her. Not a single word about our plans should be discussed around her. Okay? We will also need Juliette in the upcoming future. Her powers will help us quite well. But I don't think we should fill her in on our problems. Perhaps she can get information from Brook."

We nodded. We needed Brook to be shut out.

~o0o~

"Okay... so I mix this wolf hair with..... what?"

Vergil chuckled as Juliette stared at him, appalled, "Yes I know it is gross. But it works."

She took the vial from Vergil with a disgusted expression, and dumped the liquid into the boiling pot on the stove. At once, the room filled with an obnoxious stench that made my eyes water.

I yanked my shirt over my nose, "Dude! That could gag a maggot!" I rubbed my eyes hard, trying to dry them.

Vergil put a hand over his nose, coughing and gagging. Juliette looked horrified, "Did I do something wrong?!"

"No..." Vergil said between coughs, "But we usually do this in well ventilated areas."

I helped him open all of the windows, and waved the air towards them with my little book. They went back to mixing ingredients, and soon Juliette had a spray can full of Wiccan spell stuff to open gateways to Limbo.

"Okay," Vergil said,"Lay out the template and spray. There is a fairly weak rift here, so you wont see the full extent of the effects as you would in a full rift. But at least it is practice. "

I watched as she sprayed the foul-smelling mixture onto the floor, evenly coating the template. When she rolled it back, it revealed a pattern on the floor that glowed gently.

"Great," she said,"Now how am I going to get this off my floor?"

"It will disappear on its own. That is the beauty of this spell."

Vergil snapped his fingers before slapping his forehead, "Ah, I forgot. I need to teach you the Devil's Trap. It is a design that, when sprayed on the floor, can capture a demon and make them powerless. It is quite unique."

Juliette was a quick study, mastering the design as if her artistic mind came alive and flamed at her finger tips.

Brook came shuffling into the living room, and at that time we all went silent. She stared at the designs on the floor, watching them shimmer and disappear.

"Whatchya doin?"

"Practicing Wiccan stuff," Juliette mused, carefully finishing another design.

Vergil observed quietly as Brook took a bottle of water from the fridge. He jumped slightly as his phone rang angrily is his pocket.

He cleared his throat and answered,"Hey Beth. What's up?"

He was quiet. I could faintly hear his female worker at the Order on the line.

"Okay. I'll be there soon."

He slipped his phone in his pocket, nodding to Juliette, "C'mon guys. We're wanted at the Order. Brook?"

She shook her head, "I'll stay."

Juliette shrugged, "I'll stay too. I'm tired."

I silently thanked Juliette. She was staying to monitor Brook. Dante accompanied us as we got in the car. I was ready to see what breakthrough we had now.

~o0o~

When we arrived, Beth was waiting by the door, "Ah! Good, you're here. We have something you'll be happy to see."

They had found Tobias again. They had found a lot of other info too. As expert hackers, the workers were able to patch into Tobias' s database, and they were going right through it.

"So," Beth started," Tobias has a few workers with him that gather intelligence. We can take them out. According to this file, he has at least fifteen different-"

A face appeared on the screen. One I recognized as Tobias.

"Ah, there you are. Did you really think I wouldn't notice you hacking my computer?"

My eyes fell on the triangle formation of three scars on his forehead. Exactly like Mundus's.

He acted like he was looking around the room, scanning the workers' faces, "Nice place you got here, Vergil. Too bad it'll be trashed. I've got a SWAT team on the way. Pity, hasn't this happened before?" He clicked his tongue a couple of times, "You've really gotta be more careful."

"Get him off of there!" Vergil snapped. His workers rushed to obey.

His eerie red eyes rested on me. He winked, "Good luck with my team. Hope you have some fight left." He pointed at me,"We're to meet soon. Toot-a-loo!"

His picture disappeared from the screen. His eyes burned into my mind, and his voice rang in my ears.

We're to meet soon.