Part 2) He Is Awake
It was still dark out, and having left without preparing hardly any provisions Dante seemed to be, "Up shit creek without a paddle.", as he would eloquently put it. He waded his way through bramble patches, wild vines, and the occasional congregation of poison ivy with few gripes. Once in a while on his trek he would turn his head to gaze at the sky for signs that his former home was still ablaze. The edge of the forest drew near several hours later and this sight was met with an exhausted sigh from Dante.
"Finally," he said, "I can rest." But there is rarely any rest for the weary, as he would soon discover. Apparently, despite how far his home was away from the city, some ignorant being with a feeling of obligation called in a report of heavy smoke to the city fire department. They quickly discovered it to have been intentional and labeled the situation as 'Premeditated Arson', terms that Dante ironically knew fairly well. He always believed in the whole becoming the enemy to know the enemy saying. While the police were on the lookout for any suspects they ruled out the possibility of it being the doing of anyone in the home, for the time being.
Dante drew closer to the city, each step in his mind seemed to displace him even farther away. Half an hour later and with many instances of almost passing out he at last reached the city's outskirts. This city was known as Damascus, something Dante always found quite funny. Luckily enough for him he had a friend living in the city whose apartment he could crash at. Dante traveled along the grassy sides of the highway past several speeding automobiles and the occasional squad car. He quickly set eyes on one of those stranded automobiles left on the side of the road for one reason or another, and with a quick peek to the left and right he boarded it. One thing he did not learn at school was how to hot wire a car, that was thanks to basic cable.
Despite the dead headlights there was nothing else wrong with the car, unless the slight smell of rotting flesh bothers you, but who's weird like that? He headed westwards towards the radiant lights of Damascus and in no time his destination had been reached. He scanned the dingy street signs for 'Quarry Rd.'
"Hell yeah! O'course you can crash here mate!" That never failing cheer came from none other than Dante's friend Virgil. Dante never really thought that was his real name, and that he only said that to make him feel special.
"For a Goth dingo, he sure is perky...", thought Dante, even though he had known this being for a good long time. "I've got to hand it to you Virgil...you've always been dependable." , said Dante. His dingo friend now gone roommate nodded with a smile while standing aside to let Dante in. It was a modern scale apartment with three and a half bathrooms, three moderately sized sleeping quarters, two walk-in closets. About fourteen hundred and fifty square feet of space all together. Now with that image still fresh in your mind, sling black paint over the walls and ceiling. Throw down some fluffy black shag carpeting, and slap some Lamb of God, Insane Clown Posse, and any other posters of groups your parent's might not approve of in random positions on the walls in every room. Home sweet home, eh?
"Holy shit Virge, I never you were a Juggalo!", said the now excited wolf.
"I'm sure there's still a lot about me you never knew...like...", the dingo's sentence trailed off there. Then he leaned closer to Dante who was reluctant to his actions at first. The kiss was quicker than it registered in Dante's mind but when it was over he was left speechless all the same.
"Virgil...I..."
"Don't speak Dante, just get your ass inside already, s'cold out here."
The wolf found himself in a position all too well known to canines that morning, just before the sun rose. The quick rise of light made the black silk bed sheets glow eerily yet it caused the now awakened wolf to feel all the more welcomed. His bed partner groaned for a moment as Dante ruffled about to find his trip pants.
"Ugh. There we go." A cracking sound echoed throughout the room from the wolf's stretching, and the still sleeping dingo squirmed about. Dante strode, half naked, over to the picture window to stare down upon the jogging housewives and unknowing dog walkers with disdain. "Heh, fuck that..." There he went, with his hatred for things that were commonplace. Then he took notice of a seemingly pious older human woman, perhaps a preacher's wife or someone of the lot, shuffling down her white washed driveway to grab her neatly placed USA Today news paper. Then she caught a glance at Dante, in looking at him she showed everything that he hated most about people. She threw him a face of disgust, as if she had watched his earlier morning's love making with Virgil on a live video feed in High Definition.
Dante had half a mind to grab one of Virgil's rifles and meet that specific neighbor, but he only flipped her his middle finger with a smile on his face before stepping back out of her view. Dante made the Catholic cross gesture to bless his day, uttering a quiet, thankful prayer to whatever divine being may have been listening. He performed his morning routine, beginning with a hot shower, during which he was joined by his close friend.
"Before I let you in this shower...say it."
"Aww come on Dante do I have to?" Dante nodded solemnly.
"Fine," the dingo sighed before speaking again, " abandon all hope, ye who enter here."
"And you'd damn well better Virgil." With that Dante slid open the glass door to the shower. "Well Virge, what's the plan for today?" "Hmm, since you didn't bring hardly anything with you, let's get you some new clothes."
"Same store as usual?", asked the curious wolf.
"You've got that right, is there even any place else worth going to besides Hot Topic?"
"Mmm, not that I can readily think of.." Dante turned to Vigil, the water blanketing both of them , he closed his eyes and returned Virgil's kiss. In that same instance he used his foot to lower the temperature of the shower drastically, then he bounded out of the bathroom happily with a towel in hand just before the shower head reset itself and began spewing out the surprise. The dingo watched Dante's silver body disappear around the corner then exclaimed,
"Aagh!! Dante, what the fuck!" In the other room Dante smiled to himself then resumed drying off. Before he knew it, Dante was off in the passenger seat of Virgil's vintage Ford Mustang Mach One.
"Why don't we take your car?"
"Well because...you see...hehe."
"Not another word," Virgil smiled with a little shake of his head, "just get in."
...Some few minutes later...
"Ya know Dante, I never asked you what the deal was with the sudden move in.." Dante looked out of the window sorrowfully, but he quickly changed the subject.
"Hey, we're here!"
"Okay, you don't wanna talk about it then. I won't force you to."
"Silly pup, even if you wanted me to talk about it, I don't think you could find anywhere near enough force." He wiggled his rump tauntingly as he got out of the car and closed the door.
"The Damascus City Shopping Mall, spawning ground for all forms of demons."
"Ah yes Virge, but there's Hot Topic, Sanctuary for those with half a mind."
The two of them had made their way past the desensitized insensitive masses with little effort, before setting foot on that all too familiar black colored cement. A cheery mutt clad in all black, from the choker and the ear studs he sported to the clingy chains attached to his slightly worn in cargo pants, waved at them as they entered Hot Topic. His name tag read 'Rain'. A few Egyptian-esque tattoos were visible above the collar of his shirt. Those that drew Dante's attention first were just under the bottom lid of each eye. They accented his gaze in a way that chilled Dante's spine and held him still.
"Sir? Are you alright?", the charming employee inquired with a small air of concern. Dante snapped to as if water had been thrown in his face,
"Y-yeah, I'm fine..."
"Damn Dante, did he really strike you that hard?", asked Virgil.
"N-no...he struck me even harder.."