A/N : This is just a fun little drabble written for Halloween. Tried to give it a Gothic-type feel, within the clichéd horror-movie castle. It just progressed into actually being on Halloween... anyways, enjoy everyone!

Dedicated and written for my friend V (also known as Arkunus), and to all of those who enjoy VxL and Halloween!

The gargoyle's outstretched talons ripped at her back, and she heard the distinct noise of cloth ripping. Cursing slightly, she shifted Kalina Ann to one shoulder to test the damage. Luckily enough, only a string was uncaught from her black blouse. She shifted the large gun back to both of her hands, ready to take down any oncoming attackers. She was beginning to hate this place and this job. It was always some big, creepy castle. Arkham always told her stories of places like this, where a demon with blood red eyes was always waiting in the shadows, ready to snatch the young heroine (who actually wasn't much of a heroine, and just sat around, screaming and crying) right into its jaws. Despite how old she was now, the stories stayed with her. It didn't help that she knew of the existence of real demons with blood red eyes.

The large Gothic arcs ran down the long, dusty hallway, looking somewhat like a large monster's ribcage of rock. Lady sighed again, as the great Leviathan came to mind. Couldn't she look at anything and not think of demons? She was becoming a little too paranoid in her age. Funny enough, she wasn't even that old. Just barely in her prime, and already scarred for life. Literally.

Dante is going to pay for this one… of all the things he knew she hated, he just had to love to annoy her by sending her off to these Dracula castles. Lady was starting to doubt whether completing her mission alongside him was such a good idea after all. Dante was a great man – err, demon – though he really got on her nerves often, but she feared that he was holding her back. He always assigned her the jobs to take care of the lower-class demons; nothing like a horde of Vanguards or a pack of Frosts. Always Hell Prides or Marionettes. (Both of which took only one fire from Kalina Ann to dispose of, giving her no satisfaction or any chance of an exciting fight.)

Her light footsteps made a surprisingly loud noise with each step, blowing faint clouds of dust around her ankles. Ah… the old clichéd dusty hallways that were "quiet, too quiet"… you could never go wrong with them.

Lady chuckled at her thoughts. Even her mind was becoming sarcastic. Another aftereffect of too much "quality-time" with the dem… Dante. Even after a few years, she still thought of him as a demon. Damn her father for making her feel this way. One thing from Dante, though, is he's easy to get along with. It was getting easier for her to associate with all things of the Underworld kind. She had actually had a few very interesting conversations with Nevan (who, despite being a succubus was highly intelligent and quirky) and quite a few with Ebony and Ivory (mostly consisting of embarrassing stories of Dante's past).

A spider dripped down from a gargoyle's snout as three bursts of sand appeared in front of Lady, the shape of monsters forming among the small brown whirlwinds. Again, Prides. Life gives you demons, make demonaid.

The closest one to her brought its' scythe down hard, and a shrill of metal rang out as she lifted the lower end of Kalina Ann to deflect it. One more scratch won't hurt mother. The blade bounced off and Lady did a spin kick, her red heel smacking it onto its back. She took a move from Dante and hopped aboard, kicking off a crumbling concrete wall and spinning in a fast circle upon the demon, the bladed end of Kalina Ann slicing through the low-level creatures. They fell in a heap of ashen sand, shrieks echoing. The final Pride under her feet joined its fallen comrades as she crushed its skinless skull under a boot. Lady dusted herself and Kalina Ann off in a dramatic fashion, job well done. She started to shift Kalina Ann onto her back –

- and then a shrill cry split the air, and a very misplaced tank appeared behind her, it's outer shell covered with some kind of orange flesh, which pulsated with each pump of demonic blood. A large green eye was situated below its cannon, and was unmistakably staring at her.

What the hell….? Oh shit. Instinct and adrenaline burst into her veins as she leaped up to a row of broken columns that eventually led to the top of an arc as the cannon's end was pointed at her. An explosion rocked the castle and she lost her balance but saved it by diving into a forward roll onto the arc. The fleshy-tank charged ahead to end up half-way under the arc that held the skilled hunter upon it. She bunched her legs to jump into a back flip when a figure came down upon the tank at bullet-speed. A spark erupted throughout the military vehicle and the demonic eye twitched uncontrollably before the spark became full-out lightning bolts. The tank gave a sigh, and exploded with tremendous force, gouging holes through the stone walls and blowing Lady backwards at break-neck speed.

Something caught her before she collided with a wall, but she still received quite a jerk from the impact. She and the person holding her landing softly on the ground, quite a ways away from the hole in the ground where a chunk of pathway had been lost. She caught red on the edge of her vision and turned quickly, brushing out of the arms that had saved her.

"Dante, what are – " and she stopped, seeing the doppelganger. The wolf in sheep's clothing. He may look like him, but as Dante had once said about the woman, Trish, "he did not have his fire". She held back a snarl. "Vergil. Back from the dead, already?"

"Such a shame, really. Hell didn't want me."

She stomped a boot like an angry child. "I assume you'd like a thanks for that?"

His face remained as stone-like as ever, glacial eyes narrowed at the woman he had saved, remarkably. "You know what happens when you assume, Mary."

Lady chuckled harshly, stepping back farther from the true demonic half-demon. She ignored her true name. "Grew a sense of humor in Hell, Vergil? How unlike you."

He sheathed Yamato at his side with practiced grace, and threw out his arms in an open gesture. "You'd be surprised what a few hundred years in Hell will do to you."

She couldn't help but be curious, and the aimed Kalina Ann slowly slid down a few inches. "A few hundred years? You've only been dead – " she chuckled again, "excuse me, gone for three years."

He shook one gloved finger like one would at an ungrateful child. Lady could see why she had mistaken him – well one, they were twins, of course. But his once ocean-blue coat had turned a dull crisp brown, tainted with spots of bright red and dark brown blood. His hair was also down in the way Dante wore his. No hairgel in Hell. She thought darkly. His voice stopped her in her thoughts. "You should know better than that, Mary. Time runs differently in the land of the dead." He swept a fold of his tattered coat behind him in a dramatic fashion, looking up and down Lady's body, noting that her attire hadn't changed much. She didn't even twitch under his gaze. She had been training. "You grew your hair out." He said, matter-of-factly.

"Three years dead and you come up here to say that?" She quietly wondered what he had gone through in Hell, but knowing him, he probably had enjoyed the ride. He was always the side of Sparda who embraced his demonic heritage, after all. He seemed changed, and not by his appearance alone.

"Frankly my dear, I don't really know why I happen to be back up here." He snorted derisively.

She laughed at him coldly when she realized. "Ironic. Today's Halloween."

"…Halloween?"

"Of course. You know, Day of the Dead, Old Hallow's Eve, crazy amount of kids going out for shits and giggles."

"I know what it is, girl." His tone had gotten deeper. "Day of the Dead, hmm?" He ran a thumb along Yamato's handle. "I think it's time to give Dante a little… Halloween scare."

His plans stopped her cold. He knew how Dante had grieved… "You don't mean that."

"You presume to know what I am going to do? Still foolish as ever, just like your pathetic father." He made his way to brush past her.

She grabbed his arm, hard. "You can't mean to do that. You cannot." Her fingers thrummed with an invisible energy.

"Unhand me." He said, without looking at her.

"You're kidding, right? How can you do that to your own brother?"

He snorted again, a habit that contrasted with his aristocratic features. "What do you care, Mary?" He leaned in close enough for her to feel his breath on her naked neck. "I never kid." He jerked his arm out of her hand roughly, and continued walking on, leaving a confused and angry Lady behind him.

She raised Kalina Ann to his back and glared at him through icy-violet pupils. "I won't let you do this to him, not after the way he was after you fell into Hell."

He turned to meet her with an equally icy stare. His itching thumb unsheathed Yamato in a movement as graceful as when he had sheathed it. One minute it was covered, the next, naked in his hand. "Try and stop me then, human." He said, smirking.