A/N: I know I've been M.I.A for nearly two years, and I want to thank you all for being patient. Also, a thanks to those who have followed this story. If you have any questions, don't be afraid to ask. I'd like to hear from you guys. :)

Within Temptation

16. Frail Ties & Truthful Lies

Violet whimpered as his pale fingers tightened within her thick, aquamarine hair. The red-eyed devil smirked cruelly, watching the blood ooze from her lacerated nose and smear her pouty lips.

"I can kill you," he stated maliciously, "and frame your lovely body upon the wall instead."

Violet braced herself on her knees. She breathed heavily and, every several seconds, her body vibrated in uneasy tremors. She wasn't looking so great. She had broken into a cold sweat and paled tremendously. Accompanying the sweltering pain, fear overwhelmed her.

Through cloudy vision, Violet saw sudden movement behind Lazarus. It came and went in a flash of red. Lazarus frowned, having sensed another presence enter the room. His chest rumbled as he growled and he stood quickly, pushing her to the floor as he did so. Lazarus steadily approached one of the crimson pillars.

Violet observed and held in her breath, waiting, while the air around her went still.

Lazarus raised a leg, placing the flat of his bare foot against the marble post- and pushed. The pillar went flying forward and, within the same second, a gunshot rang out. The streak of red appeared once again as it dashed away from the arriving threat while Lazarus immediately caught the fired bullet with his bare hand. He merely glared after the invader, smoke hissing from his clutched fist.

Lazarus threw the round aside, and blood followed from his flesh wound. Violet noticed the gash rapidly heal, not even leaving a scar behind, and smooth porcelain skin it returned to.

Suddenly, a new round of gunfire erupted. Each and every one of the bullets struck Lazarus in a hectic frenzy. His body convulsed and jerked. Then, after what seemed like a discharge of one hundred rounds, the shots ceased.

Violet dropped her hands from her ears. The smoke cleared and Lazarus lay in a pile of his own blood. His body went still and lifeless.

Suddenly, his hand started with a twitch, and then his entire body began to convulse violently. A thunderous roar escaped his throat, rocking the foundation on its hedges. Peculiar shapes and angles shifted awkwardly beneath his skin. Every ligament twisted and turned taking on a revolting form much denied by nature and welcomed only in the deepest pits of Hell.

Striking ashen demonic wings blossomed from his back causing blood to spew from his torn flesh. The surface was quickly coated with silver and white scales of armor that traveled throughout his entire physique. Lazarus ascended into the air, and with a vibrant cry of rage, he set free a surge of dark energy about them. Pillars snapped and the floor cracked into lethal shards.

Violet stared horrified. Unable to move due to her weakened state, a fresh curtain of fear draped over her as bitter frost. Lazarus should've perished. An ocean of lead had been imbedded into his flesh, yet it only seemed to work as fuel, triggering the fire within him.

Time seemed to slow, her heart pounding along the seconds that counted down her impending doom. She could only brace herself for the incoming hurricane of debris. Jaded, olive eyes slid to a close-

A vibrant duster flapped into sight, belonging to a tall figure clad in red. Quickly, the being took Violet in their arms and transported her out of sight.

Lazarus wore smoldering eyes, like pits of crimson lava, and they narrowed, drinking in Violet's savior. "Oh, to be graced with the presence of a son of Sparda, what an honor!" He expressed quite dramatically with a bow.

A tinge of annoyance danced across the surface of Dante's brilliant cerulean eyes as he witnessed Lazarus' proclamation. "Tch." He dropped his gaze to meet Violet's stunned eyes that sparkled at the corners with unshed tears. "We have a bit of drama queen on our hands here, eh?" Dante set Violet down carefully, steel eyes observing the fresh blood and gash on her nose. There was a snap in his jaw as he ground his teeth together. "You should be okay here and none of that…" He swept a calloused thumb across her cheek, catching a shiny rogue tear.

His fingers snaked under her chin, tiling her head back slightly so Violet met his piercing gaze. "If you do that, I might just kiss you." Dante stated in a low, husky voice. As the young woman's lips parted in a gasp, he released her and spun on his heel, the tails of his crimson coat swaying behind him. Violet's gaze followed after the man as he climbed the banister, rising and standing tall as he looked down on his enemy.

"It seems Arkham has failed me once more in restraining you." Lazarus declared venomously, unable to contain the distaste towards the heterochromia-eyed man.

"Oh, Baldy? Yeah, I ran into him. I left him with someone else…someone I trust will take great care of him," Dante replied. "I wanted to confront the crafty bastard hiding behind the curtains, and give him a big ol' kiss with my fist. However, I come in here and find that said bastard has taken the part of Snow White instead." His glanced over at his twin brother floating within the glimmering orb.

"Sorry to disappoint, but I'm the one playing the cunning mastermind in this piece." Lazarus elaborated with open arms and extended wings.

Dante snorted. "And I'm always the one cleaning after everyone's mess. Honestly, what did that guy get himself into this time?"

"Your brother is an insolent pest. His pays for his misdeed incarcerated within an enchantment concocted by the oracles of Flame and Frost and once it shatters, he will be forever lost. I will kill you just the same, half-breed." Lazarus snarled.

"Well then…" A smirk stretched across Dante's handsome face. "This is going to be fun." The rebellious demon hunter commented under his breath. After tossing a hasty, spirited wink to the young woman behind him, he unsheathed his weapon and launched himself off the balcony, raining down to strike the awaiting devil.

In stride, Lazarus summoned a brilliant scythe within his own hand. Their blades clashed, igniting a fury of yellowish sparks between the devil steels.

Dante was the first to withdraw, jumping back several feet. Lazarus was quick to close the gap between them. He cried out, pulsing forward with a hungry swing.

Dante shifted his position in a heartbeat, avoiding the scythe's deadly edge that had become millimeters from penetrating his chest. Lazarus swung again, and Dante ducked, rolling to his right. With a firm grip around Rebellion's hilt, Dante launched the blade and it spun toward Lazarus with spirited velocity.

Lazarus brought his blade up just in time block the attack. However the powerful collision sent him sliding back. A scornful chuckle left the white devil's mouth as the tremendous double-edged sword whirled back to its master. Lazarus pierced his devil's sickle into the floor, creating a chilling lesion in the ground beneath their feet. A lethal ray of dark light emerged from the fracture and it shot in the son of Sparda's direction.

Dante was quick to react, gesturing a command of his own with a swat of the arm. Abruptly, the environment had become swallowed within a white, almost colorless aura and the enemy and his round of attack slowed its pace. This gave him the opportunity to escape danger in a blink of an eye. He shot a few maniac rounds from his beloved pistols before all returned to normal. The beam zoomed passed him in a flash and it vanished in contact with a pillar. Shortly after, the column burst into splinters of granite.

The clang of metal on metal resonated in Violet's ears as blades continued to viciously clash. The two devils moved wildly, displaying such unbelievable speed, it was nearly impossible to follow. She could not keep up as they moved in distortions of red and white. She also could not distinguish whose blood spilled like rain across the shattered floor.

Tears blossomed in her eyes and she squeezed them tightly shut continuing to listen to the fierce battle below. She brought her hand to rest gently above her heart. It felt as if someone were squeezing it tightly. Her breath began to come in short and shallow gasps as oxygen darkened to panic. She was absolutely terrified.

The unmistakable sound of crinkling ice beckoned in the air then. It began as a strident pop followed by several seconds of silence, and then the noise erupted. It was startling and unpleasant like a sudden, reckless hand sweeping down untoned cords of a guitar.

The abrupt sound startled Violet's eyes open. The light greens widened as they absorbed the scene before them. The blare had come from the sphere that contained the body of the man in blue. What Violet thought was ice was actually the enchanted orb cracking. Ghastly tendrils had spread from the bottom up. Pale blue light shined through the lesions, fading in and out of sync.

"What the hell…" Dante said. He halted his perilous dance with Lazarus, but kept a defensive stance as he watched. Atop of sphere, the souls of the dead screeched in anticipation. There was the body, another chance at breathing, another chance at life.

"Yes. It is finally reaching its dissolution. Once the enchantment collapses, his body and power shall be in my possession," Lazarus said. He looked back to the second son of Sparda with mischief in his gaze. "I'm afraid I am going to have to cut things short. Time is of the essence."

"You-" Dante started, ready to strike, but was interrupted by the chilling shrieks of Arachne. Several of these monstrous spiders appeared, raining down on thick lines of web. They circled him with razor-edged limbs clicking against the floor in a slow, menacing approach.

Lazarus smirked widely. "You'll make a scrumptious snack for the queen."

One demon crawler shot forward with a piercing cry, forearms raised to strike, but it soon fell victim to Dante's powerful pair of blades, Agni and Rudra. Swift cuts from this duo and several more giants were severed into two with spoiled green fluid spilling from their innards. Pale bodies of infant Arachne scrambled hungrily from one of the monstrous corpses and toward the half-demon.

Dante sheathed his twin blades and reached behind him, drawing out Ebony and Ivory. A flood of bullets rained down upon multiple Arachne newborns and they perished, bursting into nothing but green stains upon the floor.

Dante caught Lazarus marching toward his twin brother from his peripheral. He aimed, but an observing spider snapped its sticky web from its nasty mouth, knocking Ebony from his grasp.

Violet watched the black pistol fly and land in the pile of debris close below her with a clack!

She eyed the gun intently, squeezing the posts of the balcony railing with trembling pale hands, and with a deep breath pushed herself on her feet.

"Going somewhere, darling?" Lazarus called from behind, a hint of amusement in his tone. Violet could feel the chill of fear venture up her spine and its nasty tendrils coiled around her body freezing her in place.

Suddenly, Lazarus snatched her arm and spun Violet around to face him. She was momentarily dazed, but apprehension soon snapped back into place when she felt one of his hands cup a tear-stained cheek while the other dug into her shoulder. He leaned forward. Violet squeezed her eyes shut, trying to move out from his embrace but he held her there.

"No-" But what she expected never came. Lazarus had dropped his hand and instead, rested it on her waist. His breath hit her ear as he chuckled. Violet shoved him away with as much strength she could muster, but Lazarus returned in a haste seizing her flailing arms.

"Allow me to help you." Lazarus said as she struggled against him. He leaned down. Violet's eyes widened as his whispered words entered her ear. He pulled back with a wide smirk stretched across his face.

The pain erupted in her chest as she was knocked back, then in her back as she clashed against the concrete railing. She fell over the edge.

Violet did not scream, nor did she cry out as she descended, for she could not breathe. The last thing her eyes captured was the grinning man with eyes as red as blood, and the ringing of his words in her ears:

"You'll make a pretty little blood stain at my feet."

She was dead as soon as the awaiting sharp edges of granite penetrated her skull and cut through her heart.