((This is just a warning for this chapter because the second section does have a few nasty details, including a tad bit of self-harm, but not in a suicidal way. It'll make more sense once you read it, but that's all I'm going to say so I don't spoil anything. Also, this does escalate very quickly during the story, so you've been warned!))

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You woke up, feeling oddly more comfortable than you should be in your own bed. It was also a lovely morning as the sun shone through your curtains, making you feel warm to the core to the point you never wanted to leave. It didn't help that the birds outside were chirping to tunes that went unrecognized in your ears, but they still ended up to be calming. 

However, the weirdest part was that Roxy wasn't in the room with you anymore and telling by the way the sun was shining through the curtains, it wasn't even 8 o'clock yet. She never woke up past 11 unless she really needed to. That was an odd factor for sure and it made you worry about your pal. She was never the morning person, so this was out of character for her. It even smelt amazing in the cabin right now, like some sort of home-cooked apple pie and cinnamon. 

Alright, something was up and you had to crack this case quickly. You were always the first one awake (except for special circumstances), so you knew for a fact that no one was being generous and cooking this early in the morning.  If anyone were to be awake this early, it would be Jade, but she was never taught how to make pie and you were pretty sure Bec wasn't either, however you felt like you wouldn't be that surprised if it was him. With everything that goes on in your daily life, a dog making an apple pie wouldn't be that shocking.

This cabin might look like your own, but something told you it wasn't the same. You probably had Dirk to blame for this-except he's never seen the inside of your cabin so that wouldn't make sense to why the room size and everything is the exact same. Maybe it was your own dream for once, and for once you actually felt at peace.

You wished you could wake up like this every morning, but if you sleep now, you would wake up to the real world, so you decided to inspect what exactly was going on.

You slipped out from underneath the covers and you were...fully dressed already, shoes and all. Yeah, this was a dream because this was dream logic-unless you were in Dirk's dream space which made everything seem so real you couldn't tell the difference between the dream world and the real world. 

Wow, okay, back to the calm reality you were in right now that didn't include Dirk currently. You couldn't help but look down your shirt really quick to make sure the curse was gone too. Thankfully, it was. That was something you would never miss in any reality you were living.

Back to the point, you walked out of the room to hear a familiar voice humming from the kitchen. This voice wasn't one you haven't heard in a long time, so you instantly froze in place.

"Jake, dear, are you finally awake? I missed the sunrise with you this morning," You heard the gentle voice tease, a warming chuckle coming after it that sounded like honey, "You did look so calm though, so I guess it was my fault that my heart was too weak to wake you." You could hear the voice getting closer to the hallway and part of you wanted to run and grasp the person who the voice belonged to, but the other half wanted to run and hide. You were so stunned to the point you didn't have any time to react as the woman with was now suddenly right in front of you, already having your face cupped in her hands.

The hot tears were already spilling out as she gave you a sad smile, her own tears pulling in her eyes. She looked the exact same as you remembered her and was still as gentle as ever. Her smile lines were still all there along with all of her wrinkles that showed off how wise she was. Her dimples still showed when she smiled and those were the same dimples you woke up to every day, seeing them in your own reflection. 

"G-grandma...I...," You were speechless, you had no idea what to say as it felt like your throat instantly dried up, suddenly deprived of any form of moisture, "Hi." God, that was pathetic. After not seeing her for several years, the most treasured woman in your entire life, you could only spit out a simple "hi". It seemed to make her laugh though, which only made you cry more along with a painful smile from how overjoyed you were to finally see her again.

"Hello to you too," She hummed as she kissed your forehead before wiping away your tears, "Let's stop with the waterworks and have some tea, hm?" She gently removed her hands from her face down to your right hand, gently clasping it before pulling you along with her. 

You just had so many questions and so many things you wanted to tell her, but it was a huge storm to the point that you didn't know where to start.

Wait- what if the reason everything was so perfect and the reason you were with her was that you were...

"Wait," You suddenly stopped as fear struck you through your whole system, "Am I...am I dead?"

Another laugh from her as she rolled her eyes.

"You're still overdramatic as usual," She huffed as she began pulling you once again outside to the back porch, "But no, you are not dead." You felt relief seep through you like ice water hitting your skin when your body felt overheated from the spell. 

She let go of your hand and went to go sit down on the bench-like swing on the back porch as you sat down next to her. It stayed quiet and peaceful for a few moments as she leaned forward to pour the tea out into the two teacups. She put two sugar cubes in yours, just like you've always liked it as she added three to her own. She always had her own little sweet tooth, especially when it came to tea. 

She gently set the tiny teaspoon inside your glass before handing it to you, which you smiled to her as your thanks before you took the teacup and stirred the sugar and tea together. She did the same with her own before leaning back and taking a sip, a satisfied smile coming onto her lips as she did so. You desperately took a sip as it tasted even better than you remembered as the honey and vanilla like flavors danced wonderfully on your tongue all the way down your throat. 

"Do you think I wouldn't notice?" She questioned, a bit of sudden seriousness in her tone as she took another sip of her tea. You were instead shocked as you stopped your second sip and instead looked over at her with a quirked eyebrow. That question struck fear into you because it could mean so many things with how your life was going currently. 

"Uh...," You coughed out, trying to find a good answer which is something your sporadic brain did not have right now, "It depends on what you're noticing."

"The whole spell being cast on you." She eyed you back, her eyebrow quirking back as she pinned you where you sat. You knew she would never see you in your dreams unless it was serious, so you should've been expecting this.

"Oh...that little thing? You're worried about that?" You tried to play it off, but the way your voice cracked and how you were just plain terrible at lying, it didn't help your situation as she narrowed her eyes at you.

"Alright, so it's not a little thing-but in my defense, I didn't know his sword had a spell on it when he cut me! Plus,  I've actually been really trying to fix it, I really have! You could even visit Roxy in her dreams tomorrow or something because she can prove it!" Your voice was raised in pitch slightly from how nervous you were, and your accent was even slipping out more which your grandmother probably didn't notice. She had-er-has an even heavier accent than you and probably can't tell much of the difference when you're talking. However, she did notice your voice raising up in pitch.

She didn't talk back, but instead, she set her teacup down before pulling you into a hug, resting her lips on your forehead as she ran a hand up and down your back. You felt like a child once again as she used to cradle you the same way, and it made you want to throw up in an odd way. It felt so nostalgic to the point where you felt like suffocating as a lump in your throat formed immediately. 

"I'm not blaming you, sweetheart, I'm just worried for you. A corpse looks more alive than you do at this point. I know you try to hide it from that sweet little girl that you've been taking care of, but you can't keep it hidden forever." She sighed into your hair as she held onto you tighter. The words made you tear up once more as a small sniffle came from you as well. You wished you could stop crying too, that would solve a lot of problems as well.

"All in all, what I'm trying to say is that I want you to get better so you'll be less of a disappointment to me."

You felt the whole atmosphere change as the words that you feared to hear from her own mouth actually came out. Something was not right here. The sky was suddenly dark and the lively garden in the backyard was also changed to nothing but some dead plants in a matter of seconds.

"Sometimes I wish that you would've died before me so my legacy wouldn't be ruined by you."

Her calm words made you feel anything but calm as you could feel your heart painfully throb once more as you winced at the sudden pain coming back to you. 

This wasn't your grandmother.

You slowly looked up at her and her face-well, the rest of her face that wasn't rotten away-was melting away as her now purely white eyes bore into you, making you freeze in utter fear.

"Just give up already." Her now demonic voice hissed at you as her hands were now tightly around your throat, making you gasp for any air you could still obtain. 

The rest of her words just mashed up into a mess of scratchy voices and phrases from several different unknown languages. However, you felt like you could perfectly understand every single word.

The last thing you felt was something stab you right through the heart, exactly where the spell was which made your eyes shoot open. The last thing you saw was her decaying face before you blacked out.

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You woke up in a panic as you let out a scream of pain as your chest felt like it was on fire as you felt like someone was trying to rip your heart out. You acted like some sort of wounded animal as you scratched at your chest, trying to take the pain away as hot tears streamed down your face. At this point you felt like ripping out your heart and cutting off the infected parts would be worth it. Was it logical? Of course not, but you honestly didn't care at this point. 

Your grandmother's words still rung so loudly in your ears as they made your head throb painfully and you couldn't even hear anything from how loud the ringing was in your ears. All that you knew was that you had to fix this stupid thing instantly so you could do your grandmother proud.

You didn't even realize how John had your arms pulled back behind you as you squirmed around, yelling about some nonsense as Roxy forcefully forced one of your pills down your throat to make you calm down.

It wasn't enough though, you needed to fix it, not temporarily relieve the symptoms.

"Rip it out!" Was the phrase you kept repeatedly screaming, not caring how loud or how sore your throat was from screaming so loud and desperately.  You knew a few sobs were mixed in there as you begged sometimes even for them to do it, but your wishes went unnoticed and not taken seriously.

Everything was just a messy blur as somehow managed to slip out of John's grip, quickly snatching your knife from your dresser as you instantly went for your chest. You only made a decent scratch before Roxy kicked it out of your hands and slapped you hard across the face.

The sudden movements from you and the hits from Roxy made some sense come back to you, but you were still in blinding pain.

Before you knew it, you were on your hands and knees, throwing up an unhealthy amount. However, it wasn't normal. It was purely black as it escaped your mouth. It seemed to shock the others in the room as Roxy instantly went to your side, gently rubbing your back as you kept throwing up. John was back with a bucket as you instantly took a hold of it, throwing up whatever was coming up like an endless stream. You knew that was probably an exaggeration, but it was for sure the most you've ever thrown up before, and you've been pretty drunk before. 

It didn't take long for you to become drained once more, instantly falling down on your side as you felt so incredibly numb as you could feel an ice pack on your chest where you managed to hurt yourself earlier. 

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You don't know when, but you managed to black out after last night, even though you didn't remember half of it. All you did know currently was that it had everyone so worried to the point that Jade and Bec were back in your bed with you again. Roxy was sitting in the chair as she had her eyes glued to you while John and Dave were sitting against the wall, falling asleep on one another. You really were lucky to have these guys.

"What the hell happened to you in your sleep?" Roxy whispered as she stood up, carefully walking to the other side of the bed where Jade and Bec weren't sleeping.

"I saw my grandmother.." You muttered back, wincing at the hoarse feeling of your throat. She widened her eyes as she looked at you with a serious look.

"Are you sure it was actually her?" She quirked her eyebrow up the same way your grandmother did and you felt sick again-but you kept it in.

"I think it might've been her at the start, but she just...changed in the middle of it and I.." You felt your feelings start to go overboard again so you took in a few deep breaths again to keep yourself under control. 

"If this spell was able to taint your time in the dream space with your grandmother, it's getting beyond serious," She stated as she gently placed a hand on your shoulder, "I don't think you'll be able to keep everyone safe here if you begin lashing out like you did last night."

You felt your heart sink to your stomach, but she did have a point. You had a gut feeling that it would come to this, but you thought you could've taken care of it at least a little bit. 

"I know, but I don't know where to go. I can't go to the base and I don't want to burden Rose." You sighed as you slowly sat up, only regretting your choice as a sudden wave of dizziness hit you, hitting you like a hangover. 

"I'm not saying you'll have to do it right away but if it gets any worse, it might be an option we need to take." She looked upset as she said those words as her bottom lip trembled. You knew she had a fear of separation and being left behind, especially after Dirk and Jane died and you really didn't blame her.

The more you thought about it, the more you realized how close you and Roxy really were. Of course, you knew you were practically attached at the hip, but the thought of leaving her for a long while really made you feel hollow. You two haven't been separated for any longer than a few days for missions that were away from this city due to the insecurities that kept you two from leaving each other's sides. 

Now you could also feel your own tears start to swell up in your eyes as your own lip began to tremble along with hers. Before you knew it, you two were hugging each other super close as you rested your chin on top of her head as silent tears fell from the both of you, trying to not wake up the others.

"Just promise you won't leave me Jakey," She sniffled as she pressed her face into your shoulder more, trying to hide her tears from you as you tried to do the same, "I can't lose you like them either."

You could feel your body begin to tremble from such a thought. You didn't know what the true ending of this spell was or what it would truly do if it totally took over your heart, and you had a gut feeling that Dirk was clueless too. Maybe it could kill you, but maybe it couldn't. Still, maybe was a chance of you dying and you couldn't have that, not when you would leave so many precious people behind. 

"I would never dream of doing such a thing, that's why I'm fighting every day so I won't end up like that." You whispered into her hair as she let out a small choked sob that got mixed into a small bit of laughter from her. 

"God, that sounds so cheesy." She scoffed as you couldn't help but let out your own small chuckle as you gently patted her back. You knew she was quick to lighten the situation, no matter how serious the situation. 

"You're right," You hummed, "But I do mean it."

"I know." She sighed before sitting up straight again, but not breaking off the hug as she kept one hand on your shoulder and used the other to wipe her tears away. Her eyes glanced at your shirt as she snickered to herself. 

"You might want to wash that shirt asap by the way." She grinned slightly at you as you already knew there were makeup stains from her mascara there on your white shirt. It just had to be the white shirt too.

"Maybe I'll keep it as a souvenir." You teased as she simply rolled her eyes with a small chuckle. 

"You better get it framed then so it doesn't get ruined." 

"We couldn't have that, now can we?" 

You both stared at each other for a few seconds after that before both of you broke out into a fit of laughter.  This time you two forgot about the others in the room as you two just let it loose, letting the laughter ease your stressed state.

You just really wished it could stay like this forever, even when the others woke up and ended up in a massive pillow fight-it was much better than facing the world by yourself.

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Its been a couple weeks since you had the serious late-night conversation with Roxy, and it still felt like you were stuck in that moment. It was all that was ever on your mind lately and it's been driving you crazy. She had a point and you just hated the fact this one time that she was right once again. Your time spent with Jade was even clouded by the thoughts swarming through your head. It wouldn't be too long before you would have to explain to the base about you needing to relocate; however, you really didn't want to.

These constant swirling thoughts really made hunting even harder too. You really didn't need that baggage on top of your physical status that handicapped your abilities enough as is.  You groaned as another attack got laid on you from a weakling from the small nest you were terminating. It was a class 1 demon, yet it still somehow landed a pretty good attack on you which bugged you even more. With a quick shot to its head, it was down in an instant as you found satisfaction seep through your system from seeing the smug look being removed from its face. God, these things really annoyed you sometimes, especially of late.

What was even more stupid was that when you took this job up with Roxy, she was taken suddenly aside for some "classified business" the base needed her to do. It was probably more of a serious job since you've really been dragging everyone else behind. You were forced to take lower level jobs and since you had to work with a partner, one of the others would get dragged into it. Usually, it was Roxy and you knew she was more than capable of handling much more complicated jobs. 

It took some convincing to allow her to leave you be as you took this mission on by yourself. It had a huge red stamp on the case file that read "URGENT", so you knew you had to take care of this one as soon as you could. John and Dave were already out on a mission and no matter how bad you've gotten lately, you have never ever returned a case file and you refused to do that now.

So, here you were, fighting off a complete demon nest by yourself. It wasn't a hard job as it turned out to be quite a bore for you. All it was filled with was simple class 1 and 2 demons, maybe the occasional 3, but that was it. It annoyed you so much because you should be out there fighting off the high-class demons, even a level 10 by now. You got so close before this whole chest thing happened, and more and more things just seem to love to cause inconveniences to your life. Now it was simply mocking you as more low-class demons kept trying to act tough and sneer their teeth at you.

They didn't look so tough once they were out cold on the ground. You even kicked the one that managed to lay an attack on you earlier as you watched the limp body flip on the floor, making a series of 'thud' noises that progressively got softer as it rolled down a set of stairs. It was overkill, but you swore those set of stairs weren't there before. Were you really that distracted from your thoughts that you didn't even see a staircase? It's a good thing you kicked the demon down the stairs because that could've been you.

With a small defeated sigh, you did a quick check of the area to make sure it was cleared before heading down the set of stairs. You made sure to try and avoid the limp body as you stepped over it quietly. The lower level was only lit up by some hanging lights that would flicker every once and a while. The wiring looked ancient, but did they seriously have to flicker? It made everything seem so cliche. At this point, you were sick of the cliche things, but then again, practically anything and everything could annoy you right now.

The only thing that didn't annoy you was the fact that it was oddly quiet down here and there were already quite a few dead bodies of demons down here-well, minus the one you kicked down here yourself. It looked disgusting as there were even piles of dead bodies stacked on top of one each other. You even dared to say that it looked like someone was already here before you and took you the heart of the nest before you even stepped foot in the building. You were thankful for them managing to finish up the majority of the job for you, but of course, you were very freaked out at the moment. No one else at the base was handed this file, that's why they sent you and only you to do the job. For all you knew, there wasn't another base around in the city, but you could be wrong- even though you highly doubted that unlikely fact.

You kept your guard up as you kept your trigger fingers ready, awaiting any moment for some higher class demon to pop out to attack you. You just seriously hoped it wasn't a class 10 demon just awaiting you in the shadows. At that point, you would probably just drop everything and leave. Quitting this job sounded much easier than handling that situation if it were to happen.

A small groan from the distance made your already heavy heartbeat to increase in speed. However, as your job states, you must go investigate the noise. It went against all horror movie scenarios or really anything that involved saving your own goddamn life. However, it could be a civilian making that noise, so you had to go check it out. Your job was to protect the people from demons so they didn't have to worry about such things so they are left to think it's all made up. It kinda sounded like an FBI agent, but with more demons and other supernatural beings.

You slowly began to maneuver towards the noise with your whole body on alert as you kept your pistols raised, one in front of you and one ready to shoot at whichever direction it needed to just in case of a surprise ambush. 

"P-please, there's no need to kill me! I promise to do whatever you ask, I-I swear it! I do!" You could hear the weak cries from a lower class demon as they begged and pleaded for their life. Of course you didn't have to help said demon in question, so you simply hid behind the other side of the doorframe. You clung to the woodwork as you carefully peered your head into the opening, watching the scene in front of you.

"It's clear that I don't really need you as I am capable of handling situations on my own." The familiar voice of a woman made your eyes go wide as you saw none other than Jane stand there, her red eyes glaring daggers towards the now sobbing demon underneath her foot. "Plus, my orders were clear."

Orders..? Wait, even she was working for someone? That was news to you, but it was for sure some amazing insight. You were now fully interested as you almost wanted to lean closer as if you were a child listening to someone read you a story and it was now just getting to the climax.

"B-but miss, I could help things go even more smoothly! I promise I won't be a b-burden, oh I swear it!" Their words were hardly formed into something that could be understood by your ears as it began to all blur together in their desperation. It didn't help as they squealed out in pain as Jane dug the end of her heel even more into their neck. The worst part was the grin on her face that sent chills down your spine. You were even starting to feel sorry for the demon beneath her foot.

"Sorry, but that wasn't my mistress's orders." She hummed before taking her sweet time to slowly, yet surely kill the demon beneath her foot. You couldn't help wince as you heard the ear-piercing cries of the demon beneath her foot. You felt like throwing up, but if it meant throwing up black again, you kept it in. 

However, even from such a gruesome experience, you figured out that she was working for someone else other than Dirk. It seemed off when she said "orders", you knew she wouldn't say such things if it was a plan she helped create. She would only say such a thing if she was working for someone and not with someone.

"Jane!" You heard another familiar voice call out frantically as you could hear footsteps coming from behind you. You quickly tensed up as you pressed yourself into the corner of the wall and hoped they would just run past you. 

You felt your chest begin to heat up as the cause of its misery was in your sights once again and it was the real one at that. The spell side of you wanted to leap out and just hold onto him, but luckily you still had a somewhat sane part of your brain that was forcing yourself to freeze in place. It was like you were trying to force yourself to become part of the wall at this point with how hard you pressed yourself against it. Luckily it was a dark corner as Dirk clearly had his sights set on the raven-haired woman past the doorframe. 

He stepped into the other room as even you could feel the tension build from where you were. The way Dirk sounded so worried or even desperate when he called her name earlier made you wonder what exactly happened between the two of them.

With caution, you removed yourself from the wall and this time carefully and quietly got onto your knees and crawled back towards the doorframe. You didn't want to risk being seen, so you needed to get as close as possible to the ground. You peered once again from the doorframe as you watched the conversation unfold.

"Dirk...What are you doing here?" She sounded surprised to see him, but also unhappy by that fact too as she had a small frown on her face. Her eyes even read that she was a little mad too. Goodness, this was definitely some good tea to spill with Roxy once this was all over.

"I've been looking for you all over! It's been months, Jane, months!" He exclaimed, trying to raise his voice in anger, but all that came out was worry. It's been forever since you've heard him sound so sincere, it was a sign that the real Dirk was still in there after all.

"You left me no choice if you so kindly remember." She hissed out, kicking her latest victim over to the side as their face now faced you, making you silently gag to yourself for a brief second.

"No, you decided that killing innocent people was more enjoyable." He hissed back, straightening his stance a bit as if he was prepared to fight if needed. You honestly felt like you had no right to see this scene right now, but at the same time moving would be just as deadly.

"We were given new lives Dirk, a whole new start to do something different! I don't know much about my past and neither do you, but unlike you, I've decided to let that go. Maybe I was meant to forget all of that stuff in the first place! That means you probably were too," She lowered her defensive guard as she began to ramble to him with more ease, but still giving off an intimidating appearance, "But you refuse to let go of that little pest of yours, whatever his name is."

You could feel your stomach drop as fear struck you as you could tell she meant you when she said "pest". Maybe you did have a right to be there if you somehow ended up indirectly being the cause of this whole issue. It wasn't even your own choice, but of course, your life still hates you right now so this wasn't as surprising to you as it should've been. It was still scary though to see the anger in her eyes to be aimed at you, even though she wasn't looking at you.

"Well, that 'pest' is keeping me from going even more insane. Maybe this isn't such a bad thing to let go of, have you ever thought of that? Maybe we weren't meant to die which is why we're demons right now. Maybe we were given a second chance to do something right, not screw up everything even more." He sighed, clearly annoyed and even a little hurt. With his words, you couldn't help but feel your face heat up a little bit while embarrassment flushed through your system. The spell side of you was doing flips and felt like going off with him right now if you really meant that much to him. Still, the fear of Jane kept you locked in place, and for once, you were happy for it. Man, the spell made you feel like you had an awkward high school crush all over again as you were in this stupid puppy love phase as it was clear he was mentally abusing the hell out of you. It was seriously cringey, but it was a nice feeling compared to the constant pain from the spell.

"I feel like I finally have a purpose again though! Shouldn't you support me for that or something?! I'm actually enjoying myself again as I carry out her orders, can't you see that? With you, everything was so gloomy and boring while you put up a big act of being a demon to kill hunters, but in reality, you haven't even finished the job of killing off one. I like to torture my victims too, but you have to be holding a world record if you do finally manage to kill him." She scoffed as a more confident and cocky attitude of hers slipped out along with her teasing. Dirk seemed to flinch a bit but didn't seem to be phased by it. Well, at least he looked like he wasn't. You really wished you could still read him like you used to.

"It's not such a proud title to hold if it means killing innocent people." He growled out, trying to show some form of a threat. It seemed like it was hard for him to fight her, even with simple words. "Plus, you aren't free anymore. All your purpose is in your mind is doing what you want, but in reality, you're being controlled by a high-class bitch." 

Jane seemed to become instantly enraged as she snapped, her eyes seeming even more of piercing red as she lunged at Dirk, screaming from the top of her lungs.

"You know NOTHING about her!" She hollered out as she tackled Dirk to the ground. Dirk groaned from the impact as he didn't put much of an effort to fight back as she began clawing at his face.

Something came over you as your chest throbbed painfully before you took a hold of your pistols and stood up, coming out in the open as you pointed them at Jane. You closed in on them before pressing the barrel of one to the back of her head and then the other to the back of her neck. She instantly tensed up and halted her attack on Dirk.

You were screaming inside of your mind as you had no idea what just came over you. It was clear with your statement that you couldn't defeat her, especially if a class 1 demon managed a hit on you earlier. You knew she was probably around an 8 or possibly even a 9. This was clearly a stupid idea the shock in Dirk's limited expression even told you this was stupid. 

"See, he's a pest." She hummed out which made you tense up even more, feeling your skin get cold from pure fear. She stood up as your pistols followed her every move before she turned to face you, a satisfied smile on her face.

"I was worried you weren't going to come out from your hiding spot. I was actually told to come here and kill you and it seems like the trap worked." Her tone made you tremble as she stepped closer, allowing one of the pistol's barrel to be pressed against her forehead. There wasn't a single sign of fear on her expression as she dared to take more steps closer to you, never once moving her eyes away from your terrified ones. 

"Wait...why me?" You managed to get some words out past your dry throat as you could feel the sweat begin to build up. It made no sense why someone was after you since you clearly weren't much of a threat. 

"I don't ask questions, I just do as I'm told." She nearly purred out as her daring eyes never looked away from your own still, even when Dirk began to finally get up after the shock was out of his system.

"It's because of me." Dirk interrupted as he shot a glare to the back of Jane's head before flicking his eyes towards you-or at least you imagined that's what he was doing. He still wore those ridiculous shades, but based on his body language and tone of voice, you just guessed what his eyes would be doing right now.

"Now that makes sense. I didn't think you were much of a threat, but to get after Dirk, she just needs to get rid of the only thing he cares about anymore." You felt your chest begin to shoot pain throughout your body again as those words escaped her lips, making you wince. Right now really wasn't the best time for this, as it usually had horrible timing, but especially right now.

"Shut up, I don't care to hear such things." You muttered out as your chest sent another wave of more intense pain through your nerves as you lied. Dammit, you seriously hated this thing. 

"Clearly that curse of yours is telling me otherwise." She hummed which all of this was really out of her character. She wasn't like this at all when she was alive. It must be the rumor that once someone turns into a demon and they allow the darkness to consume them, they have a complete mood switch. It was the only reason you could think of that made the most sense.

"Why don't you kill me then if you think she's after me?" Dirk stepped closer to her as she perked up slightly in interest, her attention wavering from you as she glanced behind her shoulder. It didn't last for long though as she grinned slightly once more towards him.

"Like I said, I like to torture my victims." With that simple sentence, she quickly disarmed you as you helplessly watched your pistols being ripped from your grip with ease before you saw her hand reach out for your chest. Your eyes went wide as you knew exactly what her goal was. It was your weakest spot and even a simple touch by someone could make you feel some of the most intense pain you've ever felt. This spell really infected you that badly.

You did your best to block her, but with her demon class and your handicapped abilities, she managed to have you against the wall with her hand pressing down harshly onto your chest, right over the weakest part of it too. You could feel your eyes snap wide open as your head snapped back before one of the loudest and painful cries ripped from your throat. You just couldn't stop either as she kept her hand there, adding more and more pressure every moment. You practically couldn't catch your breath as you tried to grasp for anything to help you. The sides of your vision began to go white as she pressed down especially hard, making an even more pathetic cry to come from you.

Usually, when this happened, you were at least given a small break before it got too bad, but there were none of those as it was a constant intense pain. Your head was blank of all thoughts before as all you could manage to think about was how painful it was. Even that was hard because it was getting to the point is almost impossible to describe. If you ever managed to somehow have your heart end up being slowly pulled out of your chest, you imagined this is what it would feel like times 20. 

You honestly didn't know how long it lasted for because everything was a blur, but as soon as you felt the hand off of your chest, you immediately crumbled down to the floor and just laid there, letting reality slowly sink in. Your mind was still blank as you just felt so hollow as you trembled, gasping deeply for air. The pain was so intense that now you just felt completely numb. The only thing you managed to process was the fact that Jane was now dead due to her dead body being there right beside you. Her now dead eyes stared coldly at you, but it didn't mean anything to you right now.

Arms were wrapped around you as they managed to lift your limp body off from the floor as a steady stream of tears poured from your face, the only true sign you were alive besides from the trembling. You didn't even have the energy to move your eyes much, but your head was moved for you as one hand cupped your cheek, making your head turn towards a blurry sight of Dirk.

It looked like he was crying as well, but it was hard to tell at this point.

"I didn't want to do it." You could hear him mumble as his shades were now hooked on his shirt collar which allowed his eyes to be locked onto yours. You couldn't even move your mouth much from the amount of processing your body was still doing. You were lucky you could still manage to kinda hear and see everything right now.

"I really didn't...but she wouldn't stop it. I told her to stop, but she refused. I had to." He kept rambling as you still listened while he simply cradled you in his arms on the ground. You didn't realize that you two were on the ground or even that he had you on his lap. 

"I really had to. I tried everything in my willpower for the past couple of years to keep her alive...I knew this would happen, but not so soon." He continued as you began to gain some feeling back, but it was barely any. You could manage to move your finger some and at least move your mouth some.

"It'sssss....a...a-lright." You somehow managed to slur out, even if it was very incoherent. It made you sound like a malfunctioning machine.  He looked towards you with a little more worry as he shushed you while your thoughts gathered some more.

"Stay quiet for now. Rest your voice and save what little energy you have right now. You still need to get home." He muttered as he gently moved some of your hair out of your face. You really didn't understand how he went from being such an asshole for years to suddenly being so gentle and kind. Maybe this was another trick of his.

"Can't...I..c-c-can't go." God, you sounded horrible as you felt your head begin to bob, threatening for you to pass out at any second. 

"Can't go home?" He questioned to clarify as all you could do was simply try your best to give him your response with your eyes. Luckily he seemed to understand but was still confused.

"Why can't you go home?" He seemed really concerned as he tried his best to help you sit up a little more properly now as you slowly began to regain more of your senses.

"Dangerous.." Your words sounded a little clearer, even if it was very short, it sounded a bit better.

"Because of the spell?" He seemed a bit more hesitant as he eyed you more carefully, trying to study your every move, even though that wasn't much besides you wiggling your fingers and enjoying the sense of being able to move them again.

"Mmmmhmmm." You hummed out as you tried moving your legs some too, only gaining some reaction out of them. Damn, that wasn't a good sign. You needed those to walk. At least your thoughts were mostly back in order as you could think clearly now, but you just couldn't communicate them quite well yet.

"Then...stay with me."

It took your body a moment to react but it didn't take long for your brain to process it as you began to mentally freak out. Just because he was being kind and caring now didn't excuse him for everything he has done. Plus, if it weren't for him, you wouldn't be stuck with this spell issue in the first place.

"No....bad i-idea." Your sentences were getting better as you tried to move away from him, but his grip tightened so you wouldn't end up falling over onto the floor again.

"Do you have a better one?" He questioned which did make you think for a moment. He had a point. You couldn't turn to the base for help and you didn't want to burden Rose, so it was so far the only option. However, there had to be a catch.

"Reading your eyes, I know you think there is a catch to it and there is." He sighed out as he sat you up in a more straight position to help you stay focused.

"If I let you stay with me, I need you to help me with whatever tasks I need." Yep, that sounded like a horrible idea. You had no idea what sort of "tasks" he was talking about, especially with the "whatever tasks" part. 

"Only if...others stay safe.." The sentence surprised you as you could feel yourself wonder what the hell you were thinking. It wasn't the spell talking either. It was actually you.

"Of course. You can't tell them either though." He removed one of his arms from around you and moved you back some so you could reach his arm properly. It looked like he was offering a handshake to close the deal.

You stupidly enough took his hand and shook it.

That's all it took to sell your life away.

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((Hey guys! Sorry it's taking me forever to come out with chapters lately, I've just been wrapped up in a lot of weird things lately and this story hasn't been my main concern tbh. I haven't given up yet, so don't worry! 

Anyways, thank you for reading once again and I'll see you in the next chapter!))