Dante strode over to the door, shutting it just as the other door across the room inched open. He turned around to see a pair of brown eyes peaking out at him, fixed on him. Dante looked to the window and sighed.

“Sun’s still up.”

“Then close the curtains.”

Dante stood there a moment, debating. He loved the sunset, it was his favourite time of day. More than anything, he was bitter the twins had woken this one before the sun had fully set. He knew he wouldn’t get his way, though, and headed over to the window.

As soon as the blinds were closed, the door to the room flung wide. Dante turned to see a man with a faux-hawk of brown hair strut out into the living room, throwing himself onto the couch ass first. Dante rolled his eyes and the man looked over at him with a great grin, revealing brilliant white teeth, contrasting sharply with his deep brown skin. His fangs poked out only just between his lips, as if the smile were there to show them off. Not that they ever scared Dante. He’d met worse vampires in his life.

“Durante,” he said, with a nod of the head, his stupid grin ever present.

“Phineas,” Dante said, his jaws tight. There was no point being frustrated with him, though. He was a puppy who had no idea he could do anything wrong. And even if he did, he relished the idea.

“Why didn’t you invite them to stay?” Phineas said as Dante approached and took the recliner next to the couch. “They sounded like wonderful company.”

“If you like talking to someone will a pole up their ass then yes, they were wonderful. Besides, you freaked them out too much before the invitation could even be extended. You have to stop doing that, you know.”

“Why? They’d already payed, you’d done the deed, what else did you need from them?”

“Repeat business? Recommendations? They did say they’d tell their friends, and heaven only knows what they’ll tell them now.”

“I hope it’s a good story.”

Dante eyed Phin as Phin drank Dante in, like he fed off Dante’s misery. It used to freak him out, but he’d gotten used to it. That or learned to ignore it. Whichever it was, he could look at Phin now and keep his expression blank until, eventually, Phin would give up.

“You should have gotten more money from them,” Phin said, finally breaking eyes contact and looking to the front door. “They didn’t even flinch when you told them four grand.”

“I don’t push my luck,” Dante replied. “Nor do I ask for more than I need.”

Phin laughed and dropped his head back over the arm of the couch. “Dante, Dante, you’ll never get rich with that attitude.”

Dante snorted. “And what the hell would I do with a bunch of money? And since when has money interested you in the slightest?”

Dante watched as Phineas took this in, though he couldn’t see his face thrown over the arm. Phin had never cared about money. He’d always been the one to insist they go find some nice abandoned house and call it their own. Dante was the one who insisted they pay rent, buy food, and purchase clothing. He was the only one who cared to not steal everything. Phin would always tell him he was being too honest.

Phineas stayed motionless for a moment, and Dante might have thought he was thinking if he didn’t know better. He was lost in his own world again, something in Dante’s phrasing having triggered some imaginary place in his mind for him to live for a moment. Just a moment, though, and his head snapped back up to face his roommate.

“Speaking of which,” he said, as if he was going to remain on topic. Dante let it go, resisting the urge to sigh. “I need your help tonight.”

Now he did sigh. “Again?”

Nothing but a smile from Phineas. A mischievous grin that all vampires seemed to have. “We need to go out. As soon as the sun’s down. I want to catch them while they’re not expecting me. Like they might have a chance to make it home.”

Dante sighed. “And, of course, you know where they are.”

“I always do,” he said. He threw his feet off the couch and bounded to them, Dante watching with eyelids slowly drooping. “I’m just going to grab my kit and we’ll be off. Keep an eye out the window for me, would you?”

Dante grumbled something even he didn’t understand as Phineas bounced back to his room. After a moment of the door being closed, Dante hauled himself to his feet and moved to the window, trying to find some stamina. Unlinking the girls had been easy, but that didn’t mean it hadn’t taken a lot of energy. And if Phineas really did need him tonight, he’d need to find a reserve stash before they went out.

He pulled a corner of the curtain open and watched as the sun, with a sudden burst of energy, sunk down towards the horizon, the last of its rays soaring over the tops of the buildings directly in front of their apartment window. He was the one who’d chosen this apartment, and for this very reason. He was never up for the sunrise, as Phineas kept him up late most nights with these stupid jobs of his. Of course, Phin would also wake him up early as the vampire went to bed, but Dante was always tired enough to go back to sleep. He never saw the sun rise, only set, so he figured he should have the right view for it.

The door behind him creaked open, the only room in the apartment that didn’t have a window facing the sun. Dante didn’t turn to look. He didn’t care to. The sun was more interesting.

“Is it gone yet?”

“No.”

“Well, can you close the curtain?”

“You’ll be fine.”

He heard the door open, but didn’t care to see what Phin was doing or if he was even letting too much light in. Not that there really was any left; though the sun hadn’t completely set, the buildings were pretty well blocking all the rays now. All that was left to see what the red-ish tint in the sky, stretching up to deep blue and black.

“Tell me when you think it’s safe.” Phin’s voice came from the kitchen, like there was anything in there he’d find of interest. The fridge opened anyway and Dante listened as the contents shuffled around. He ignored it as best he could, knowing full well Phin was just trying to get a rise out of him. He grit his teeth and turned around, just as he remembered the letter. There was, of course, no sense trying to read it now. Not with nosey Phineas around.

“You should be good now,” he said, only sort of looking at Phineas, who straightened out of the fridge, his mouth full of heaven only knew what.

“You think?”

Crumbs spilled out as Phin tried to speak. Dante rolled his eyes and headed to the couch. “Yes,” he said. “I assume you know where this person you’re looking for is?”

“Of course,” he said, swallowing whatever food he’d been eating for no good reason. “I just want to catch them while they still think they’re safe. You know, the sun and all that.”

Dante avoided rolling his eyes. “Yeah, of course.”

Phin smiled and held up the bag he’d retrieved from his room. A black backpack, worn from excessive use. The kind of bag that would get you pulled aside at an airport. “Let’s go, then.”

Of course they had to stick to the shadows, which should have been Dante’s job to scout out. The sun couldn’t make it through the dense cluster of buildings in the city, though, and they didn’t have to stop at all. Which made Phin more than happy as he rushed forwards through the streets, Dante running along behind. The only reason he could keep up with the amount of energy he had now was because of the longer reach of his legs. He had almost a foot on Phin, who stood somewhere around five ten, Dante figured. Maybe shorter. Hopefully shorter.

“So,” Phin said as he slowed to a quick walk, his eyes darting around as he checked every street they passed. Dante came into step with him only a second later. “Those women. Twins?”

Dante just nodded.

“Knew you were sick.”

“Everyone knows I’m sick,” Dante said, his tone mirroring that which he’d used earlier with the twins. The flat, deadpan voice he used when he didn’t want to talk about something.

“That why you didn’t drive the price up?”

Dante frowned and looked over at him. “What?”

Phin looked straight ahead, only looking when Dante refused to turn away. Like Phin was trying to prove he wasn’t afraid of something. The truth, Dante supposed. “They didn’t think you could do it, right? They probably figured, you know, since you’re sick and can’t heal yourself, that you can’t help them. Is that why you didn’t charge them more? Afraid of losing a customer?”

“You know…” But he couldn’t find the right words to finish. Phin knew Dante didn’t care to be rich? He knew Dante could preform any magic completely unhindered by the illness? He knew Dante couldn’t heal himself even if he was the most powerful warlock to ever live?

“I know what?”

“You know where you’re going?” Dante said. “I want to get to bed at some point tonight.”

“Why? So you can brood around your study praying for sleep?” Thank God it was so easy to distract Phin.

“At least allow me time to do that.”

“They should be around here some… ah. Here, through here. I can smell them.”

“You can what?”

But Phin didn’t answer, instead slipped around a corner away from Dante. Dante frowned and followed, only to nearly run into the back of the man on the other side. Phin stared Dante down, trying to look serious.

“What now?”

“I need you to back me up,” he said.

Dante rolled his eyes. “I know. It’s not like we haven’t done this before.”

“But I need you to make me look badass.”

“Even my magic can’t do that.”

“Stop being smart. We need to look intimidating, alright? So stop looking so tired and pretend you could beat this guy to a pulp.”

“It’s going to take a lot more than coffee to give these arms any allusion of bearing muscles.”

Phin turned as if not having heard him and looked down the road. “Alright. Come on, then. Look alive and let me do the talking.”

“Yes, I know.” But Phin was already headed off. Dante let out one last sigh before trying to wake himself up, and followed Phin to where a body was slinking along a building’s edge.

Dante watched from a few paces back as Phin took on his character, throwing his old backpack over his shoulder and approaching the figure with his head held high. Dante didn’t need to see it, he knew there was a proud smirk on Phineas’s dark face. He walked just faster that the person slunk away, and by the time the person realized someone was coming up behind him, it was too late.

“Ah, Alex,” Phin said. “How convenient to find you here.”

The boy, maybe seventeen at most, turned as pale as the moon as he turned around. He swallowed hard and backed up into the wall.

“Phineas,” he said. “I… uh… what are you doing out so early?”

Phin shrugged, coming to a stop just a few feet in front of the cowering boy. “Thought I’d catch a few rays. You know, while the sun’s still up and everything.”

“Oh? Yeah? That’s… nice. That’s nice. I, uh, really should be-”

“Going?”

Alex just swallowed. Dante could almost feel the joy emanating from his roommate. He looked away for a moment, doing his best not to think about it.

“I won’t keep you for more than a minute,” Phin said. “I just need what you owe me, and I’ll let you be on your way.”

“About that,” Alex said, his hand flying to the back of his head. “I mean, I tried, really I did. I even broke back in to the folks’ house and tried to find something.”

“Oh come on now,” Phin said. “Don’t tell me you couldn’t find anything at all of any value?”

“They’d thrown everything out, honest. Look,” he said, reaching deep into his pocket. “I found some cash. They were hiding it, but I found it. Maybe this once I could…”

Phin heaved a deep sigh and took a step forward. Dante followed on autopilot. Alex shrunk farther into the wall. “See, the thing is, I could give a damn about money and you know that full well.”

“Give me a week,” Alex said. “One more week, and I swear I’ll have something for you. I swear.”

“What are you going to do?” Phin asked. “Just find something tomorrow and try to place enough sentimental value on it that I’ll accept it as payment?”

Alex shook. “I’ll find something, honest.” He looked back down the alley, as if he might find an out there, like he might be able to race to the exit before Phin caught him. Of course he wouldn’t; Phin was wicked fast. “My friends might have stuff. Maybe an ex. I’ll look harder. I’ll find someone.”

“No,” Phin said, letting his backpack drop from his shoulder and swing in front of him. “I’ll tell you what you’re going to do.”

He unzipped the top pocket of the backpack and reached in. He felt around for a moment before letting the backpack drop. In his hands, he now held two needles and two vials, both filled with a clear liquid. Alex watched this, as if knowing what was in those vials, and there was no fear in his eyes. Of course, Dante knew what was in the vials, too. The boy was right to not be afraid of one of them. He should have been cowering at the other.

“This one,” Phin said as he stuck one of the vials with the needle, drawing the liquid out before letting the empty vial clink to the ground. “As you know very well, contains the drug you’ve been needing to repay me for. And this one,” he said, sticking the second one. “Is the reason they call it demon drug. This one contains a poison which, once in your blood stream, will kill you in thirty seconds. A minute if you’re lucky. Except,” he said, now looking between the two needles in his hands. “No, maybe this was the demon drug, and this was the poison. You know,” he said, smiling to himself before looking up at Alex, who was now shaking. “I can’t actually remember which one’s which.”

Of course he knew, though. Never once had he pulled a needle on someone without knowing exactly what was in it. It was all for show. A terrible, stupid show, but it worked. It worked because everyone was already afraid. It was just a question of whether Alex would realize this or decide to run instead.

Alex watched the two vials a moment before realizing what Phin was getting at. That’s when Dante saw it, the spring in his legs, bending, ready to bolt. Sideways, it looked like. Dante reached for some strength, it wasn’t like he needed much, and waited. As soon as Phin took a step forward, the boy sprung. He didn’t make it two steps before Dante stopped him, walling him in with whatever magic was in the air at the time. Alex hit it mid spring and fell back to the ground. He looked up at Phin, terrified, and pulled out his last trick.

He wasn’t human anymore, and it happened in the blink of an eye. Suddenly, Dante was looking down at a furry, fat ball, a creature he wasn’t even sure existed. He’d been around enough shapeshifters to know how to reverse it, though, be the creature real or imaginary, and reached out, feeling for the switch in the cells which took the boy from human to ball of fatty fur flesh in a second. Every cell in his body flooded with magic, pulsing like blood to the heart.

Dante didn’t have to try, simply willed the magic to change the cells back, and it did, turning the creature back to its human self just as quickly as he’d disappeared. His clothing, which had almost slipped off when he changed, hung off his body in odd ways, the collar of his shirt now stretched and ripped from having his head, arm, and half his chest grow back into it. His pants were down around his knees, and he scrambled to pull them back up.

“Impressive,” Phineas said. “A wombat?”

Alex just looked up at him, still struggling with his pants. His hands shook, and no colour remained in his cheeks. Dante almost felt sorry for him. Almost.

“I see you’re eager to leave,” Phin said. “And so am I. So let’s make this quick.”

He bent down next to the boy, bringing one of the needles up to his neck and pressing it against the skin without breaking it. “Give me something of value to you, and I know you have something, and I won’t inject whatever is in this needle. Refuse, and we’ll find out which one this is, alright?”

“I… I don’t have anything, I swear,” Alex said. There were no tears in his eyes, though, and for some reason that was enough to convince Phineas that he was lying. That was what he always told Dante, anyway. They’ll cry if the mean it, if their life means that much to them. Otherwise, they’re lying and trying to see how far you’ll go before they have to give in.

“Well, I know one thing you still have,” Phin said and pushed the needle through to a vein on Alex’s neck. Of course he could find a vein. The vampire always found a vein.

Alex let out a shout but didn’t beg, didn’t try to find anything for Phin, so Phin continued and pushed down on the plunger. Alex’s mouth dropped open, but the boy knew he wasn’t going to die. The drug started to work right away. The colour rushed back to his cheeks, and life back to his eyes. A calm washed over him, and the tension left the alley in a single breath. Alex looked at Phin now, his face calm and far off. Phin just smiled.

“Well,” he said. “I suppose I know which one was in that needle now, don’t I?”

“Yes,” Alex said, his voice as calm and distant as his expression. “I suppose you do.”

“Now, do I have to pull out the other needle, or are you ready to co-operate?”

“I don’t want to die.” But he did’t sound too concerned about it. Phin just smiled.

“I know,” he said. “And I don’t really want to kill you. So please, whatever it is you’ve been keeping from me, now would be the time to present it. Otherwise, I still have this needle, and you know you’re not going anywhere.”

Alex looked at him a moment, as if trying to process what Phin was even saying. Then he nodded and reached to his hand, pulling a ring off his finger. After a moment, he handed it to Phin.

“Please,” he said. “Please, I don’t want to die.”

Phin stretched his hand out for the ring and Alex dropped it into his palm. He was as good as a zombie on the drug. Dante looked away, disgusted.

“Thank you, Alex, that will be all for now. And if you find yourself needing some more demon drug, you know where to find me.”

Alex sort of nodded, so Phin turned away. He didn’t even look at Dante as he passed by, probably trying to achieve some dramatic effect. Dante looked at Alex one last time. The boy was lost in his own world now, high out of his mind. A jab to the neck would do that pretty quick. He sighed and turned, refusing to let himself think of Alex anymore, and followed Phin back out to the streets.

“It’s almost cheating,” Dante said as he came into step with Phin.

“Cheating?” Phin said as he twisted the ring between his hands, admiring his new toy.

“Giving him the drug like that. Of course he’s going to give you what you want.”

“He was the one valuing this over his life beforehand,” Phin said. “He didn’t know I wasn’t going to kill him.”

“So he’d rather die than give you that ring.”

Phin smiled. “Which makes this a very valuable item. Lots of sentimental value.”

“Which is the true addiction here?”

Phin looked over at him, his brow flat. Dante matched his look. “Well, don’t judge me mister ‘high and mighty,’ ‘I’d rather pay rent and do honest work’ McGee. I’d rather embrace the fact that I’m not human and live for what makes me happy.”

“Because it’s all about you, isn’t it?”

“And you.”

Dante raised an eyebrow, but kept his eyes flat. “Oh really?”

“It’s all about family,” he said. “Because everyone else in the world is out to fuck you over. If you don’t have family, you have no one.”

“Well, good,” Dante said, not withholding his sarcasm. “The vampire and the warlock are the big happy family. Let’s go find some shifters and succubi to join us while we’re at it?”

“We’re a family of two,” Phin said. “And trust me, you do not want to invite the succubi along. They will just use you.”

“Like you use me?”

“You help me,” he said, looking at Dante with the most serious look Dante had even seen on the vampire’s face. “Willingly. Because you care. That’s different. You know you don’t have to come if you don’t want to.”

Dante sighed and looked away, because he didn’t want to have to respond to that. Along one of the building’s they passed, lit now by a streetlight as the sun had gone down, was a “for sale” sign. On the building over, one read “for rent.” He took a mental note of the number and turned away, walking back down the street with Phineas in silence.

Next Chapter: Dante