Fighting with Demons
David and Dante took turns recounting what happened. As they approached the part when the mufloni burst in and David jumped it with an improvised weapon in hand, everyone was relieved that Dante had not been gored.
“Yeah that would have made your day,” Anton joked.
“Do you guys know who trained it?” Lindsay prompted. She removed a piece of dust from her sky blue sleeveless top before returning her gaze on the three men beside her.
“Whoever it is, has recently been to the Gigli Island.” Dante answered.
“Gigli Island?” Anton repeated. “Is that where you go to have a good time?”
Everyone shot him a warning glance.
“It’s the last refuge for this endangered species of wild goat.” Lindsay broke the silence. “My uncle used to survey the site for the government, back when funding from a strong economy enabled him to do so.”
“You know I was just joking about the good time bit.” Anton mumbled, taking a sip from his bottle of beer. “Should we go there tomorrow?”
David checked his watch. “Looks like you mean today.” He admitted. “We should get some rest though, I remember having several bedrooms installed on the third floor, somewhere.”
“Sounds good.” Dante agreed, as he got up from the leather sofa, and placed the bottle in the disposal bin next to the spiral staircase.
“You guys want to sleep in the same room?” He offered as he walked slowly up the stairs, turning to see whether they were following him.
“Even if we did have several beds in one room, I just wouldn’t trust you.” David admitted briskly walking behind him, as Lindsay and Anton followed behind.
“Says the bro who sedated me earlier…” Dante whispered, so Anton and Lindsay couldn’t hear him.
“If you ever let on how you survived, and not from the gas attack like you told earlier, but from the wounds Nastassia inflicted on you, I swear what I do to you will pale in comparison to your earlier trauma.” David breathed on Dante’s neck.
“Yeah and what’s that!” David argued, as he turned around and came to a halt halfway up the staircase.
“Is everything okay?” Lindsay asked.
“Why don’t you ask David,” Dante replied, with an evil smirk. “I’m sure he’d love to tell you who the father of Diana’s sister is.”
David growled, picking up his brother by the shoulder and throwing him off the side of the staircase to the ground, nine feet below.
Dante’s body made a thud as it hit the wooden floor.
“Christ!” Anton exclaimed, “Is he okay?”
Lindsay and Anton rushed to the side of staircase.
“I’ll be fine.” Dante groaned from below, as he pushed his body up using his arms. He stood weakly, and dusted off his leather jacket.
Lindsay stood speechless as David sunk to the stair he was standing on.
“I don’t know what came over me.” He wondered out loud.
“You know I was just lying about you being the father and all that…” Dante admitted feebly. He slowly walked past them down the first floor corridor below.
“Call me when he’s himself again!” He shouted when they could no longer see him. “His usual, sedating his brother and now throwing him off a staircase, self.”
Anton sat beside David as Lindsay looked on.
“You know you seriously could have busted him up. Lucky thing he eats all those high-protein foods you described him purchasing.”
“As if a high-protein diet explains him just walking away after a fall like that.” Lindsay prompted.
“What do you propose, he’s a vampire?” Anton joked, as David looked at him seriously before getting up.
“Time to go to bed.” He said finally, leading the way to the third floor.
“God he is vampire!” Anton continued jokingly.
“Hence the reason why he should be sleeping.” David replied to Lindsay before adding, “I’ll talk to Dante in the morning to make sure there’s no hard feelings.”
Deep down he know his brother would try to get even with him.
When Dante was ten years old, he was very moody. His relationship to his mother was not as close as it was to his father, but he sought her attention nonetheless.
“Where’s mom.” Dante asked David in Italian.
“She’s gone.” David replied, as his brother slowly walked down the stairs.
“When will she be back David?”
David turned to look at his brother, but instantly turned away afraid he would give something away in his eyes.
“David?” He pressed. “When is mom coming home?”
At that moment their father walked pass. “Who wants some pasta?” He offered, wearing an impenetrable mask veiling his guilt.
“Sure, I’ll have some. Have you seen mom?” Dante asked.
“Mom’s not coming home boys.” He interjected.
“David… David?”
“Huh?” David turned looking at Lindsay, as he stopped in front of the map he had left earlier. He bent down to pick it up from the carpeted surface.
“I think we should get Anton to bed?” She said wearily. “He’s on about Russian vampires he swore he saw guarding the Berlin Wall when it was up.”
David raised his eyebrows. “Has he finished reading the last novel in the Twilight series?”
“Not yet!” Anton answered, behind them.
“Well when he does…” David confided to Lindsay, “those beliefs will likely change.”
“Never! Yarr!” Anton shouted as he ran around David and Lindsay up the flight of stairs leading to the third floor.
“You’d think he’d be use to the stuff.” Lindsay smiled in reference to the beer as she watched Anton run in a childlike manner before turning to look at them.
“Come on!” He exclaimed ahead of them. “I may have had some other drinks today, but I bet I can beat you to the third floor this place!”
“Keep it down!” Dante shouted. “Melissa enjoys the silence.”
“Whose Melissa?” Lindsay asked.
Dante thought for a second, and began running to where he heard his brother’s voice.
“Dammit, I can’t run with these heels.” Lindsay grunted from behind.
The noise led him back down the stairs to the only guest room on the first floor. A ‘Do Not Enter’ sign was placed on the oak door.
“Not again…” Dante murmured to himself, as Lindsay caught up to him.
“Did you find him?” She asked quietly.
“You’ll have to speak softer than that!” Dante shouted from within. “You’d be surprised how loud a bottle of beer can make you sound.”
“It was pretty loud.” David said, more softly to Lindsay who immediately flushed.
“Who is outside?” A female voice questioned Dante.
David opened the unlocked door. The room’s lighting was turned on with the large window wide open. Two backpacks and a bottle of water lay besides the door and in front of the single Queen sized bed that Dante lay on. A large window was open behind the bedroom allowing a gust of wind to enter.
A red-haired female dressed in lingerie immediately rushed to the one open backpack and pulled out some clothes.
Lindsay entered. David’s half-naked brother gave her a warm smile.
“Oh good,” He said. “Company.”
“Let me guess.” David said, looking at the woman who had now managed to put on black sweatpants with a white t-shirt.
“Yeah she was in duffel bag you glanced at earlier.” Dante admitted, looking at Lindsay who had now turned slightly paler.
“She was in a duffel bag?” She shouted at Dante, who immediately plugged his ears with both fingers.
“The beer, remember. Makes you sound louder than you think sound.”
Lindsay stopped pursuing her question but chose to continually stare at the woman standing in front of her.
“Did she comply?” David asked, ignoring the woman’s presence.
“You’d be surprised to know what some people would do for a rich guy…” Dante answered with a smile towards Melissa.
“Speaking of money…” She spoke up, looking at Dante with her golden yellow eyes. “I am still being paid for coming here?”
“Yes.” Dante answered. Lindsay gasped.
“But not for the sex?” Melissa continued.
“Have we had any?” David prompted with a glance towards David.
Melissa thought for a second. “No….”
“There… that answers your question!” David concluded, sitting up. “You know, I should really thank you two for saving me a fortune.”
“I’ll take a rain check.” Lindsay joked. She felt nauseated at the prospect of this woman demeaning herself for David’s brother.
“Didn’t you think to check the duffel bag your brother had?” She exploded to David, who felt like plugging his ears as well due to her volume.
“I honestly thought he packed belongings for this mansion.”
“Right.” David interrupted. “Although the chocolates and wine were inside the same duffel bag as the lovely Melissa here, though I had to rummage around this place for a washer, dryer, and that tie, you also found in the bag.”
“The cell phone?” David pressed.
“I always keep a spare in my vehicle, added that to make things interesting and so you could call me if you couldn’t find your way after you woke up.”
“You mean he left you outside…” Lindsay asked, more quietly.
“Didn’t we cover this earlier?” David interrupted before being cut off by his brother.
“Long story short.” Dante explained. “I left a sheep tied down by my goodie bag to accompany him as I dumped his body in the field outside.”
“If everything’s alright. Can I just take the money and go now?” Melissa asked.
“Not yet. It’s night if you haven’t forgotten and you’re miles from where I found you. I’ll drive you back in the morning.”
Dante suddenly realized someone was missing from their conversation. “Where’s Anton?”
“He had too much to drink so I let him wander upstairs when I heard noises from this room.” David replied adding, “Melissa you sleep here for the night. Dante and I have to find a friend.”
“Isn’t she your friend?” Melissa asked, looking at Lindsay.
Dante moved to the side of the bed and grabbed his dress shirt from the floor. Dusting it off, he stood up and walked towards David and Lindsay. “Yeah she’s not exactly a bright one.” He whispered buttoning the shirt.
“I heard that.” She yelled as they closed the door and left the room.
“How do we find Anton? Last time I checked he was heading for the third floor.” Lindsay asked.
“I should really tag you guys with GPS, would make things a whole lot easier.” Dante replied as Lindsay punched him in the shoulder. She flinched as she made contact.
“Didn’t David warn you I was on a high protein diet?”
“More like steroids.” Lindsay hissed.
“Enough you two” David shouted. “We have to move quickly.”
“How dangerous can a drunk man be in a house this big?” Dante asked before realizing the answer. “What are we waiting for let’s go! Move people!”
After five minutes had eclipsed, they had arrived on the third floor. A long corridor greeted them from the top of the stairs, carpeted with turquoise rug with at least eight rooms on every side. Straight ahead was a statue featuring a miniature of Michelangelo’s David.
“Yeah, he’s spent a lot on this place.” Dante said looking at Lindsay’s expression.
“Anton?” Davis shouted.
There was a brief moment of tranquility before the lighting turned off. Knowing they were side by side, they held each other’s hand and turned in a back-to-back position.
“Lights on,” Dante commanded loudly.
“It’s trained to recognized David’s voice!” Lindsay replied.
“Lights on!” David repeated.
The lights flickered on, illuminating Anton’s round face in front of Lindsay.
“Ah!” She screamed, as Dante grabbed Anton by the shoulder.
He looked into Anton’s eyes that had become dilated.
“Was he on medication prior to coming here?” He asked Lindsay.
“I didn’t see what he was taking, but he frequently went through his backpack on the way here. Thought it was just gum, but didn’t ask him for any since I always carry my own.”
“Hmm…” David prompted, pressing his left palm on Anton’s heart. “Heart rate accelerated, eyes dilated, he’s unstable.”
“Can you sedate him until the drug wears off?” Dante murmured to David, carefully maintaining eye contact with Anton whose face had not changed since the lights turned on.
“The sedation would be too much for his brain. It would just increase the effect of whatever he took earlier.”
“We’ll we can’t just leave him here.” David growled, upset that he had let Anton wander upstairs while he went to check on his brother.
Anton’s hands were bruised. His nails had flakes of white paint from the mansion, indicating he was scratching at something. The fluctuation in the lighting provided a good indicator he had been tampering with the controls every floor of the mansion had installed in the walls.
“I’ll take him downstairs, see what I can find to prevent him from hurting himself or one of us.” David suggested at last.
Dante looked at the statue ahead. “This floor has a lot of room, couldn’t we just lock him in the room with the least amount of valuables until his body returns to normal?”
Anton’s body jerked violently, but David and Dante maintained their grip on each shoulder.
