Devil's Gone Down to Georgia

[x_devil_in_me_x]

Dante woke up alone, but he knew Syn had come back sometime in the night. He just didn't know what she had been doing. He shrugged his shoulders, if she cared to share what was going on, she would.

He climbed out of bed, looking at the clock to see that it was almost noon, which means he slept in late. He grabbed fresh clothes and headed to the shower. He could hear Syn, Nevan and Lady in the kitchen and knew that Vergil was most likely either in his room or the library. He jumped into a quick shower and dressed just as quickly.

As he was walking down the hallway, he decided to stop and see Vergil. He knocked on his brother's door and opened it, "Verge? You here?"

Comments

[bathed-in-shdw.livejournal.com]

Vergil had been dozing lightly with an open book resting on his chest. He jumped awake at the knock, blinking a little groggily as he sat up. "Yes?"

[x-devil-in-me-x.livejournal.com]

He grinned, looking at him, "Hey, how you doing? What are you reading?"

He walked in the room, casually settling against a wall and sitting down. He just wanted to be around his brother right now. He knew that Syn would most likely come back to check on them sometime, but right now, it was just the guys.

[bathed-in-shdw.livejournal.com]

"I'm doing fine," Vergil replied, sitting up more. He picked up the book, looking at it. "The Divine Comedy."

[x-devil-in-me-x.livejournal.com]

He chuckled, "Isn't that the book where Mom got my name from?"

Syn had bought that book a while ago, saying she was going to make him read it.

[bathed-in-shdw.livejournal.com]

"Actually, you were named after the author, Dante Alighieri," Vergil murmured. "I was named after the poet Virgil. Father knew both of them and wanted to name us after them."

[x-devil-in-me-x.livejournal.com]

He nodded, "I see. You always did pay more attention than I did. I regret that you know. There's a lot of things I would have done differently if I had known what I do know now."

He sighed, "Syn told me what you two talked about, what with you having to almost kill me to wake up my demon blood. I'm sorry I tried to kill you afterwards. I'd been so used to being human I forgot what I was."

[bathed-in-shdw.livejournal.com]

Vergil shrugged slightly. "I was asking for it with my blind pride. It...it hurt seeing what you had become."

He pulled his knees up to his chest and rested his chin on his knees. He was silent for a moment, then said quietly, "It was all for you. I wanted to protect you...like I couldn't protect Mother."

[x-devil-in-me-x.livejournal.com]

He moved from his position sitting down on the side of the bed, "After mom died and I thought you were dead, I went to live with the Redgraves. They just started calling me Tony, to protect my identity, Mel said. The only person that called me Dante was Syn, and she was three years old. I guess I just grew complacent with being Tony. I almost forgot I was Dante. When you showed up posing as Gilver, I was drawn to you, but I didn't think it was you. I thought my brother was dead. At least until the truth came out."

[bathed-in-shdw.livejournal.com]

"I thought you were dead, until I heard about a mercenary with inhuman luck." He stared off into space, seeming not to notice Dante's movement. "I couldn't protect anything...let alone myself..."

He vaguely remembered saying something similar once. On a tower roof in the rain, with the stench of blood in the air...

[bathed-in-shdw.livejournal.com]

Vergil had lost track of the time, not that he'd been keeping much track in the first place, reading quietly. He'd left his room only to get more books, returning to curl up on his bed. He'd be content to stay like this, until either Dante or Syn returned.

[deadly--whisper.livejournal.com]

Lady, Syn and Dante were enjoying each other's company, listening to music and working on the two bikes. They had lost track of time, and weren't paying attention to what was going on around them. Nevan was in one of the back storage rooms, organizing some of the boxes.

No one heard a bike pull up, No one was witness to Trish walking into the office.

"Well looks like the office is closed for the day. I think I'll go make myself known to an old friend."

[bathed-in-shdw.livejournal.com]

Vergil was completely engrossed in his books. So engrossed he forgot to pay attention to what was going on in the rest of the compound.

[deadly--whisper.livejournal.com]

Trish smiled, noticing that no one was around. Good, that meant no one would be there to stop her.

She knew which bedroom was his, and walked down the hallway, stopping beside his door. She knocked and moved to lean up against the door jam.

"I see you're well, Vergil."

[bathed-in-shdw.livejournal.com]

Vergil jumped at the voice, head shooting up in alarm. He stared at her for a moment, then scrambled backward until he hit the wall and screamed.

[deadly--whisper.livejournal.com]

Trish laughed, enjoying his torment. "What? You aren't happy to see me?"

Syn had come in to get a drink, when all of a sudden she heard Vergil scream.

"DANTE!" She yelled, alerting the half-devil. Then she took off in a run, coming into the hallway and seeing the reason for Vergil's scream.

"Trish!" She ran at the woman, spearing her in the side, knocking the woman away.

"Syn!" Dante wasn't far behind. He pulled Syn off of Trish, "Go to Vergil!"

He picked Trish up and slammed her into the wall, "What are you doing here?"

Trish grinned, "I just wanted to see you."

Dante shook her, as Syn ran into Vergil's room.

"Vergil! Are you ok?"

[bathed-in-shdw.livejournal.com]

Vergil whimpered and clung to Syn, trembling and almost sobbing with terror. He couldn't think, his mind was completely blank, and all he knew to do was seek safety.

[deadly--whisper.livejournal.com]

She wrapped her arms around Vergil, holding him tightly to her, "It's ok. She can't hurt you anymore. I'm here now."

She turned to Dante and Trish, "Dante, get that bitch out of here!"

By this time, Nevan and Lady had both arrived. Lady was in shock, and Nevan was fighting the urge to slaughter Trish.

Syn would have agree with her, "Trish, I swear if you ever come near him again, I'll rip your god damned throat out."

Trish grinned, "I doubt you could, human."

Syn growled, "Don't doubt me. I would do it. Dante, Now!"

Dante threw Trish over his shoulder and took her out of the house, "Trish, I don't know what in the hell you think you're doing, but I don't want you here from now on. You're not welcome here anymore. You didn't come to see me, you came to torment my brother, and you don't feel a bit guilty. I don't know what is your malfunction, but get out."

She grinned and walked to her bike, "See you later, lover."

He turned, hearing her drive off, and made his way back into the house and to Vergil's room.

Syn rubbed Vergil's back soothingly, whispering nonsense words in his ear, "It's all right, Vergil, she's gone."

[bathed-in-shdw.livejournal.com]

It was several hours before Vergil finally stirred, whimpering faintly as he started waking up. He curled up tightly on his side, shivering slightly before slowly opening his eyes.

[x-devil-in-me-x.livejournal.com]

Syn looked down at him, running her hand over his hair, "Hey Vergil. You all right?"

Dante turned around and put his arms on the bed, and his chin, "Hey, bro. It's all right, she's gone."

[bathed-in-shdw.livejournal.com]

Vergil didn't answer, glancing briefly up at them before lowering his eyes.

[x-devil-in-me-x.livejournal.com]

Syn frowned, the look on his face not promising, "Vergil, look at me, please."

Dante looked at her, "What you think?"

She shook her head, and didn't answer.

[bathed-in-shdw.livejournal.com]

Vergil cringed slightly, then reluctantly looked up at her. While his eyes weren't blank like when he'd first arrived, they were still wide and frightened.

[x-devil-in-me-x.livejournal.com]

Syn saw it all there in his yes. The fear and the submissiveness and it killed her, "No." She whispered before bending down to brush a kiss on his forehead, "I'm so sorry. We shouldn't have left you alone. It's not your fault. You did nothing wrong."

Dante looked at him his heart breaking, "Can you talk to us?" He reached a hand out, touching Vergil on the arm, needing that contact.

His other hand grasped Syn's, fearing what she feared, and knowing they had a long road to haul.

[bathed-in-shdw.livejournal.com]

Vergil glanced at Dante's hand, but didn't pull away at least. He looked down after a moment, pulling the blankets higher.

[x-devil-in-me-x.livejournal.com]

Syn shook her head, "He won't speak. I think we're back at square one."

Dante sighed, "Yea, looks like."

Syn looked at him, "Go tell Nevan and Lady. I'll stay with him."

Dante nodded and stood up, going to do as she said.

Syn looked down at Vergil, running her hand through his hair, "Sleep if you want to Vergil. I'll be here watching over you."