Actually, Dante wasn't that dead at all. Short of extreme measures, it took a lot to kill Dante. Certainly more then one lousy bullet to the head. Now if Skul had hit his heart, then that would have put him down for at least long enough to gain control, but Dante could only make a failed attempt in that split second of confusion.

'Dante' simply stood up, dusted himself off, and laughed manically, bullet still jammed in his thick skull. When he was finished laughing, he turned to Skulduggery, and spoke up as he walked towards the skeleton. "I'll give you points for your marksmanship, but I've got some bad news."

He continues by drawing his own pistols, though not without a hint of a trembling. Something was stopping him from firing just yet, but that doesn't mean he isn't going to try."It's gonna take a hell of a lot more then one lousy shot to kill me!"

Come on, shoot me again. I don't have all day. We've got a world-eating demon to kill, you know.