Love & Remembrance Ch 3

Chapter Three

         Ailie let the warm water pound down on her back as she stood against the ceramic walls of the small shower. Steam curled upward as the water fell downwards, the mirrors and glass shower door misting until she became nothing more than a blurred outline from the outside. She let her hair out of its long ponytail, the length falling down her back until it reached her waist.

         Her amethyst eyes closed as the water began to pour onto her hair, relaxing her muscles and her nerves. She bathed quickly, hoping to get some sleep before Dante and the others showed up. The water shut off and she exited the shower, wrapping a dark grey towel around her body, never noticing the blue devil leaning against the sink top until she almost ran into him.

         “What the hell?!” Ailie exclaimed, backing away in surprise. “Why are you in here?”

         “Is it not obvious?” He questioned, and Ailie noticed he was naked from the waist up.

         “Crazy bastard, that isn’t happening.” She said, stepping around him.

         “I beg to differ.” He said, grabbing her arm lightly. She whipped her head around to look at him, and regretted it. When their eyes met, a fire began to burn in her belly; a fire that she thought had been extinguished long ago.

         Vergil reached a hand out to trail along her long hair, his fingers gliding over the shining tresses.

         “Please, don’t.” She begged, her voice hollow.

         “Why do you insist on pushing me away?” He asked suddenly, temper flaring. “Why is it so hard for you to understand what is going on? You know I cannot hurt you again, you saw to that quite effectively I might add.”

         “Don’t!” She cried, her eyes spilling tears freely. “Don’t you dare! You have no idea what it felt like! You just walked away, like everything we had meant nothing to you, and I’m pretty sure in that moment, it didn’t! You have no idea the torment you have put me through all these years. It may be easy to forgive, Vergil Sparda, but it is a hell of a lot harder to forget!”

         She was trying to control herself, but was finding it monumentally difficult.

         “You weren’t around; you didn’t have anything to feel. You probably don’t even remember, you’re just going off of what Dante and the others have said. I’ve had 43 years of this, how long has it been since you regained your memory? And what if you get another blow to the head? I’m not going to risk that happening again.”

         Her resolve was breaking, and she began to curl her hands into fists, tears spilling from her eyes like mini-rivers.

         “Andorra-“He wrapped his arms around her, cradling her head against his chest. She broke in his embrace, her soft cries turning into body wracking sobs. Her slender shoulders heaved, and he could feel her tears as they fell upon his black shirt. The hands she’d fisted now rested lightly around his waist, just below the small of his back.

         When her cries had begun to subside to hiccupping coughs, he lifted her into his arms, striding to the large bed in the room. He laid her down, and went to stand, but she stopped him. “Don’t go.” Her plea was quiet, almost inaudible. He nodded before slipping in the bed next to her, throwing the ivory colored sheet over her.

         Ailie nudged closer until her body was pressed gently against his. He curled one arm over her protectively, and she did not flinch away.

         “I’m sorry.” She started to say. “I shouldn’t have said those things to you, I was-“

         “Stop apologizing.” He said. “It’s rather tiresome. I know how you feel, or did you forget we did have ten years together?”

         Ailie sighed but said nothing.

         A knock at the door, caused Vergil to call out. “Who is it?”

         “The Easter Bunny. It’s me Vergil.” Dante’s voice sounded muffled from the other side of the door.

         Vergil looked at Ailie, but she was gone, and the bathroom door was closed.

         “Come in, Dante.” He called, standing to put his shirt on and make the bed.

         Dante walked in, closely followed by Lady, the only human; Trish, a demon who had been made in his mother’s image by Mundus; Lucia, another fabricated demon; and Nero, Vergil’s son.

         “So, no meeting tonight, huh?” Dante asked, throwing himself onto one of the rooms couches.          

         “Correct.” Vergil said, exiting the room. Dante’s eyebrows rose slightly, to which Vergil shook his head.

         “So now what do we do?” Trish asked staring out of the window at the city, no doubt looking for a mall. Vergil repressed a growl as the she demon moved away from the window. They had a history, and he was none too happy about it.

         “I suppose we could just relax.” Lady said, propping her missile launcher, Kalina Ann, against the wall, being sure the bayonet did not scratch the wall. She took her sunglasses, revealing her bi-colored eyes. Blue for the left, red for the right. “We have no way for anyone to get in touch with us for jobs.”

         “Or get in touch with us period, for that matter.” Nero said, leaning against the door as it closed.

         “Ah kid, don’t be so down since you haven’t seen Kyrie in almost a week.” Dante said, propping his feet on the coffee table.

         “Shut up, old man.” The white-haired youth said, reaching for his double-barreled revolver, Blue Rose.

         “No guns or you sleep outside.” Ailie said as she stepped into the room, wearing a dark green long-sleeved shirt over dark grey jeans with a pair of black boots. Her long hair was braided, reaching only to her mid-back instead of her waist her bangs sweeping across her brow. The white streaks seemed even more pronounced now than before.

         Lucia strode up to Ailie, bowing her head before placing her right hand over her heart. “It is good to see you again, Ailie…my Queen.”

         “Please, no formalities Lucia.” Ailie said. “Though it is good to see you again, to see you all again.” She said, addressing the group in front of her.

         Trish came up and gave her hug before jumping away. “There’s no law against touching you is there?”

         Ailie smiled widely, genuinely happy for the first time in years. “No.”

         Trish hugged her again, tighter this time. When she let go, Lady came up and hugged her as well.

         “Well this is out of character.” Ailie said. “No offense but how are you still so young?”

         “I have been made a demon myself, only because I was tired of being tired all the time.” She replied, stepping back to her weapon

         “Well, then it seems we have no humans left, unless Kyrie is unchanged?” Ailie said, looking over at Nero.

         “No, she is no demon, but she is affected by demon blood.” He replied

         “Ah, I see. So every now and then, a little blood and she is young and vibrant again, still human, but immortal all the same.”

         “Pretty much,” he said, running his fingers through his hair before it fell into his face again. “So, what do we do now?”

         “First, we check everyone in.” Ailie said.

Iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

Once everyone had their rooms and were settled in, they all convened back into Ailie’s room. Dante promptly resumed his spot on the couch, while everyone else settled into the other various furniture throughout the room.

“Would anyone happen to know what demon is being brought before the council tomorrow?” Ailie asked, leaning against the wall closest to the window. “That way I’m not going in completely blind?”

“No clue babe.” Dante said, flipping through a magazine he’d found.

Everyone else shook their heads.

“Damn.”

“Are you not supposed to be ignorant, so as not to be biased in your judgment?” Vergil asked.

Ailie fixed him a cool, level stare. “Shut up.”

“Glad to see you two are getting along.” Nero said sarcastically.

“You can shut up too.” She said, fixing her gaze on him.

“Holy hell!” Nero exclaimed, finally seeing the change. “What’s with your eyes?”

“The color manifested when I was proclaimed Queen.” She replied.

“Speaking of which,” Dante said, flipping the magazine closed. “What else did you get when you became royal? Any perks?”

Ailie gave a mischievous smile before Dante found himself on the floor, his skin feeling as if it were on fire as electricity coursed through his blood. His body jerked, but he kept his mouth closed.

She released her hold on him, and he launched himself at her, but stopped inches from her face.

“You want another dose?” She asked. “Or would you prefer my bullets again?”

Dante growled in response. “Please stop using me as target practice, or as examples.”

“No problem, I believe I’m done collecting my debt.” She said, sidestepping him.

Lady and Trish began to laugh raucously, the idea of Dante being injured to collect a debt too much for them to handle.

“That’s a very good idea!” Trish said.

“Agreed.” Lady said. “Can’t wait to try it out.”

Dante turned to fix each woman a hard stare before throwing himself back onto the couch.

Vergil smiled at the thought of his brother speechless.

“I am going out.” Lucia said. “I have to find some way to contact Matier, let her know all is well.”

“I’m going with you.” Nero said, following the red head out the door.

“May as well check out the sights.” Lady said, shouldering Kalina Ann. “Trish, you coming?”

“Yeah, there’s got to be a mall here somewhere.” The blonde replied, giving Dante an evil wink.

“Not with my credit card you’re not!” The red devil hunter said, following the two women out, leaving Ailie and Vergil alone again.

Ailie sat down in one of the rooms’ chairs, and sighed.

“It’s going to be a long conference.” She said, putting her face in her hands.

“What could possibly give you that idea?” Vergil asked sardonically, sitting next to her.

She sighed again and lifted her head, her face drawn and tired.

“Andorra, get some rest. I’ll make sure no one bothers you.” He said, putting his coat on again, but stopped when he felt a hand on his arm.

“Don’t go.” She pleaded. “I don’t think I can take being alone right now, even for a little while. I’m afraid that if I go to sleep, I’ll wake up, and this will all have been a dream.”

Vergil sat down again, cupping her face in his hand. She placed her cheek against it, closing her eyes as she wrapped her hand around his.

“I know you must get tired of hearing me repeat myself,” she said. “I’m sorry for doing so, it’s just that- well, I don’t know how to proceed.” She opened her eyes again, a light flush creeping into her cheeks. “That’s why it seems as if my attitude is changing so dramatically.”

“I figured as much, but why did you not say anything before now?”

This time she leveled her purple gaze directly into his cerulean eyes. “Isn’t it obvious?” She asked, standing. “When have I even been able to talk about how I feel and not feel like a complete idiot?”

“You’re not an idiot.” He said.

“I know it’s just hard not to feel like one because I can’t say what is truly on my mind when I need to. If I just had my telepathy powers working at full-force, it’d be so much easier!” She exclaimed, punching the wall and leaving a rather deep hole.

“Crap.”  She said, extracting her hand from the sheetrock, her knuckles bloody from having made contact with the stud in the wall. “That hurt more than I intended.”

“Since when are you the one to punch inanimate objects?” He asked, standing to meet her.

“Since they don’t hit back.” She replied shaking her hand to remove the wall dust as the wound began to knit itself back together.

“Rather foolish don’t you think?”

“It calms me when I get frustrated.” Ailie said, massaging the hand she had just injured a she turned to move the blinds from in front of the window. The sun was beginning to go down, painting the landscape outside in golden streams.

Vergil came up behind her, putting a hand gently on her shoulder. “And how often do you get frustrated?”

“Not very. When all you do is stay alone hidden in the catacombs of the Underworld, you have no frustrations or worries.”

“The catacombs?” Vergil asked, surprised she would stay there. “Why do you stay there?”

“Once I became Queen, I tried everything I could to find you, hoping maybe I could use my new-found powers to sway you away from your mad quest for power. I came close, but unfortunately I was just a tad too late, you had already left your position. I tried to locate you again, but there was no trail to follow, but I never gave up. The only time I would stop looking was for a council meeting. Save for the last five years, when I gave up any hope of ever finding you again.

“I was beginning to go mad, and so I abandoned my search to preserve my sanity, or what was left of it at the time. It has slowly become whole again, but I am still in a fragile state. Again, that is part of the reason for my attitude changes.”

She never stopped searching, she even almost succeeded. Vergil fixed his gaze on the woman before him, regret gripping him as he realized the extent of the damage he had caused her. Maybe the white in her hair was not from her family as she had been saying. Perhaps it was a sign of the stress she had been under.

Vergil reached, brushing the hair from her shoulder.

“I’m sorry.” He said.

“It’s not like you knew what you were doing,” she replied, putting her hand in top of his. “Amnesia has a funny way of screwing up one’s priorities.”

“That does not make things better. If anything, it makes things worse, because I have no idea what happened aside from what has been told to me, and truthfully, I don’t know what I’m apologizing for.”

“I know that Vergil. That’s part of the reason why I’m so civil, instead of the woman scorned I should be.”

A long silence passed between them, during which Ailie tried to read his mind, but to no avail. Her powers were waxing, and he had his guard up. She knew this would be her last council meeting as Queen. Soon it would be time to name a successor, and she had no idea what candidates the council would choose for her to consider.

“Andorra,” He said slowly. “Tell me what happened.”

“Huh?” She turned to face him, eyes wide with confusion.

“Tell me what happened after that night.” He said again.

Ailie seemed to struggle with her answer before saying defiantly. “No.”

“It would help-“

“No, Vergil it would not help. Not now, not with a council meeting so close, it would most definitely not help me right now.” She said strongly, her power beginning to fill the room. “And it would not help you.”

Ignoring his instinct to stay silent he told her this. “Running from this will not solve anything.”

With no warning, Vergil found himself placed against the wall, the familiar tingling in his body that meant she had control. She stood in front of him, looking up into his gaze, her amethyst eyes narrowed slightly. “Do not speak of what you do not know.”

“I do not want to have this conversation again,” She said, walking towards the door. “At least not until the council is disbanded.” She walked out of the room, slamming the door. When the lock clicked, Vergil felt her power disappear and he regained control of his body.

“This is going to be much harder than I thought.”

Iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

         Ailie hotwired the bike Vergil had parked in the back, starting the engine with a roar before tearing off into the city. The wind whipped her hair out behind her as she sped through the mostly empty streets, catching glimpses of people as she passed. She eventually reached the edge of the city and sped out into the snow, ignoring the frigid winds that whipped at her face.

         Night had completely fallen, and Ailie had still not returned.

         “Damn it!” Dante said. “Just what I need now, the Queen to get herself lost or hurt. If anything happened to her, the council is going skewer me-“

         “Oh stop it.” Vergil said. “It’s not your fault she disappeared, it’s mine.”

         “That’s not going to matter to the council,” Dante said. “I was the one they sent for her, so if she does not arrive on time, or in less than perfect condition, I’m the one that has to suffer.” Dante’s voice was strained.

         “What are we supposed to do?” Lucia asked, her soft eyes worried. “She has not slept in two days, and she is susceptible to the cold. We do not even know what direction she may have travelled in-“

         “Lucia’s words were cut off as the roar of an engine was heard in the distance. Nero went to the window to see if it was Ailie or not, but all he could see was a single headlight heading towards the hotel. “I think it’s her.” He said.

         They all waited patiently as the headlight turned into the parking lot, slowing to pull into an available area. The orange security lamp illuminated Ailie’s small figure as she dismounted the bike before disappearing into the shadows leading to the entrance.

         “Yeah, she’s back.” Nero said moving away from the window.

         “Maybe she just needed some alone time.” Lady offered, shifting into a more comfortable position on the couch.

         “Whatever the reason,” Dante said, holstering his twin guns, Ebony and Ivory, “She’s going to get an earful when she walks through that door.

         “Not tonight I am not.”

         The entire room turned to see her standing in the doorway.

         “Bullshit.” Dante said, walking up to her until his face was inches from hers. “I don’t care that you’re the Queen, or that you can use your powers to do whatever you like to me, you shouldn’t have gone off on your own like that.”

         “Dante, move.” She said in a threatening tone.

         “No, not until you listen.” He said.

         Ailie sighed. “Dante if you want to bitch at me fine, but can it wait until I report some rather unsettling news?”

         “What news?” Dante asked.

         “The council is no more.” She stated slowly. “I tried to contact my fellow members, but I got no response. I tried to teleport to their current locations, but the ones I managed to lock onto were slaughtered. All nine members are dead, I am the last.”

         The room fell silent.

         “That’s not all.” Ailie said, her hands balling into fists. “I have reason to believe that whoever murdered my colleagues is on his way here as we speak.”

         “Who would do such a thing?” Lucia asked, shocked.

         “Why?” Trish asked.

         “I can answer your question Trish.” Ailie said. “It’s because my time as Queen is coming to an end, and it is time to name a successor. The council was supposed to present qualified candidates for me to choose from tomorrow, but now, with no meeting tomorrow there will be no candidates.”

         “Wait,” Lady said. “You aren’t going to be Queen anymore?”

         “No.” Ailie said.

         “Why not?”

         “Because there is no heir from my bloodline, so we have to choose another from an equally powerful bloodline.” Ailie said sadness in her amethyst eyes. “And it looks like someone wants to rule out the competition. And if that happens then the demons will most likely be granted free access to and from the human world, and many people will die. We have to find out who this person is, and stop him.”

         “You are coming.” Vergil stated.

         Ailie sighed. “We don’t have time to discuss this; did you not just hear me say that the murderer is on his way here?”

         Suddenly an explosion rocked the tiny room, and a gaping hole appeared in the wall.

         As everyone shook the wall dust off of them, a loud booming voice was heard from outside.

         “Queen Andorra, I know you are in there, come out where I can see you!”

         “That’s Bakumut!” Ailie hissed quietly. “Oh shit, we’re dealing with a murderous dragon, how frickin’ wonderful is that?”

         “If you do not come out, then you will forcibly removed by-“

         “Hey!” Ailie called out, standing to her feet as she approached the hole in the wall. “Hang on a second, at least give me a chance to walk to where you can see me, Bakumut.”

         The dragon she now looked upon was easily one hundred feet long and three stories high, with long sharp claws and wickedly curved teeth set in a huge jaw. The scales on his reptilian body glistened sliver in the moonlight while his golden eyes glinted dangerously in the dark. The huge scaly wings were resting against his spiked back which ended in a long, spiked tail that doubled as a club when needed.

         “Ah, Queen Andorra.” The great beast growled. “How nice to finally meet you. If I may introduce myself properly, I am King Bakumut of the Mountain Dragons of the Roxul Mountains.”

         “King?” Ailie thought to herself. “I thought Jazeen was the king. If that’s true, then this cannot end well.”

         “I thought Jazeen was King?” She asked, silently signaling for the group behind her to leave the room.

         “Regrettably, Jazeen has passed on.” Bakumut replied, a slight tint of pride in his voice.

         “That is regrettable.” Ailie agreed. “I do believe I missed the announcement for his burial and your coronation. Though it was my understanding that Jazeen’s daughter, Lazuk, was to be named King, or Queen, I’m not familiar with the dragon monarchy.”

         “Lazuk was unfit to lead the dragons!” Bakumut said heatedly. “No female sould ever be in a position of power.”

         “You mean just for the dragons right?” She asked, bravely stepping closer to the dragon. “Because surely your comment can’t be aimed at myself too, no?”

         Bakumut laughed, a low grating sound deep in his throat.

         “I mean ever. I am here to take over your rule as Master of all demon kind. For too long we have been separated from each other, it is time for the dragons and demons to live as one again. Andorra, give up your position freely and you will be spared an untimely death.”

         “And I refuse?” She asked daringly.

         “Then you will die.” The reply was simple.

         Ailie pretended to think for a moment. “Hmm, let me think. This is going to be a tough decision…”

         “Choose carefully, little woman, you may regret the words you speak next.”

         “A dragon who threatens the Queen, I suppose I’ll answer this way then-“

         Suddenly, Ailie lifted her hands to the sky and the night air became alive with static electricity moments before bolts of blue-white lightning began to descend from the heavens.

         “You  will regret this!” Bakumut roared just before he was struck across the head with a rather large bolt.

         “Now!” Ailie called to her comrades just before she teleported them away to a safer place.