((Hey guys! I just wanted to add a small little warning up here that this has some body stuff in it like graphic wise, but nothing too bad like bones sticking out or anything like that. There is also some sexual content, but just mentions of things, not really anything heavily NSFW. Although, I am sort of planning on a slow burn NSFW part in the future maybe?? I'm not sure, I'm still deciding on it. Anyways, I hope you enjoy this chapter!))

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It's been a good two years since you've even heard a peep from Dirk and Jane and it's had you on edge for the past two years. You knew for sure he wasn't the one to just disappear like that-well, he did once, but he died so that wasn't really his doing- but still, it was unusual. This meant he was planning something, you just knew it. That had to be why, even if Roxy insisted you were going mad from such a theory. Honestly, you probably were, but you couldn't control yourself or let your mind at ease. The only thing that kept you grounded was Jade and the constant shenanigans the trouble duo would cause. Dave and John were even more troublesome than Jade at points, and Jade turned into quite the lively one at the age of 7 now. She decided she wanted to be like you and so she started her hunter training last year. She was a year behind when she first started, but caught up quite quickly and thanks to her liking to Roxy, she was attracted to the rifle. Of course the base didn't trust a bunch of little kids with firearms, instead they had mock ones that would have the same feeling as one, even the force from shooting, but it didn't hurt anyone or actually shoot a bullet. All it had was a laser point to help with aiming to just get the basics down. It was quite enjoyable to see how quickly Jade got back up from her first shot as she fell back onto her back from the first blow, but she didn't hesitate from getting up. She really did make you proud.

However, that moment was not right now. You came home from work and you came home to a lovely family portrait drawn by Jade on the walls. The wooden walls. The walls that were impossible to get this paint off of. You don't know how she managed to get up so high on the wall, but you had a gut feeling that Dave and John helped her, especially Dave because he had drawn one of his old characters from a comic book series he used to work on before Dirk died. You hoped that comic burned in hell, but clearly, it didn't. You didn't remember the name of it and you refused to remember it.

You couldn't help but feel your blood boil slightly from it, yet you couldn't be mad at the same time. It was a nice thought, you had to admit that. She was just trying to do something nice, you just wished it was in a different way. You let your things slip down onto the floor as you walked over to the painting, a small sigh escaping as a tiny smile crept onto your lips. The quiet moment was interrupted by screaming coming from the basement, making you jump back into reality before running downstairs, your protective instincts kicking in.

"HOW THE FUCK DID A 7 YEAR OLD BEAT ME?!" You felt your mood change from worry to rage as a scream came from your own lips before tackling Dave down to the ground, getting him in a head lock as you kept him in a death grip. His own scream came along with laughter, clearly not seeing the obvious issue he caused with letting such fowl words to be said in front of Jade.

John knew as he was frozen, fear on his face as he covered Jade's ears, allowing her confused expression from the new vocabulary word she just heard and turned to John before asking so sweetly, "What does fuck mean?"

Now you shot death glares at Dave as you could feel his body heat up as his eyes looked up at yours, a nervous smile on his face. "Uh...I didn't say that-I said...duck?" He nervously said as he looked at you for approval for his sentence. You were still mad, but at least this might work.

Jade was far too clever though as a mischievous grin came upon her face. "No! You don't say duck with an "f" Dave! You said fuck!" She repeated once more as she couldn't help but laugh at the word, saying the word over and over again, seeming to enjoy the word on her lips.

Your grip tightened on Dave as he tapped his hand against your forearm to try to get you to loosen your grip, but you kept it tight before whispering death threats in his ear, "If I didn't promise myself to protect you, I would've already ended your life by now." Of course you weren't serious-well, kind of, you felt like you could if you really wanted to right now, but you weren't like that.

You were momentarily distracted from Dave when John began to speak to Jade, trying to ease the situation. You were happy to have John for that, even though he could be more devilish than Dave with his pranks. One time he took your body wash and replaced it with aftershave gel and it was right after one of your missions. It just happened to be the night when you got badly scratched up by some demons that night and you ended up waking up the whole house with your screaming. That was one of the most painful memories in your life and you made sure to let John know it. If only you were good with pranks as well to get him back. The best you've ever pulled was the stupid bucket of water on top of a door and what was planned for John ended up all over Roxy who just happened to have one hell of a hangover too that morning. Yeah, you really needed to work on your revenge pranks or really anything pranking wise.

"So, don't say that word ever again until Jake says it's okay for you to, okay?" John gave Jade a serious voice along with a pointer finger shaking at her which somehow made her feel extremely guilty. It even looked like she was about to cry. If she had ears and a tail, they would both be tucked down due to her amount of guilt.

"Okay uncle John..." She mumbled underneath her breath as a small sniffle escaped her which made your heart ache. God, you really sucked at being stern compared to the rest of them, you could hardly stand hearing her cry! If you even saw her tearing up you would break down into an ugly sob and apologize. Your heart has just been so weak lately, but that's a whole other topic that would take too long to get into.

With the tension gone from the room, you let Dave go after you flicked him on the forehead earning a small wince from him in return. He didn't fuss though, instead he just escaped from you and returned to his spot beside John to continue their game of Mario Kart. Jade crawled over to you first though to peck you on the cheek and apologize before wrapping her arms around your neck. You couldn't help but let out a small sigh as a calm smile forced itself onto your face before you hugged her back and kissed her forehead.

"It's okay pumpkin, just don't do that again, okay? Everyone makes mistakes for the purpose of learning from them." You spoke as sweetly as you could, even though your voice was a little hoarse from your mission from tonight. She smiled wide as she nodded, but it was soon quickly replaced by confusion.

"But grandpa, you don't make mistakes, do you?" She asked innocently which made you let out a small chuckle.

"Oh no, I especially make mistakes. In fact, I make a mistake everyday!" She gasped from your words as if this new information never crossed her mind, seeming almost bewildered by the fact that you could screw up. It was a nice feeling, but at the same time, you were usually in the wrong compared to everyone else. Man, Roxy must seem like some kind of god to Jade then if she thought that you didn't make any mistakes.

"Well...don't feel so bad! I make mistakes everyday too!" She grinned, showing off her two missing front teeth. You laughed softly before kissing her forehead. God, she was such a sweetheart.

"Thank you darling, that makes me feel 100% better already! Now, go back to your game with Dave and John so you can beat their butts again for me." You grinned back and gave her a wink which made her have one of the most evil looks you've ever seen.

"Alright! I can do that easily!" She broke away from your embrace before stumbling towards Dave and John once more. You hummed to yourself before getting off the floor yourself to head back upstairs. You flashed a quick death glare towards Dave before returning back upstairs.

You gently closed the basement door as muffled laughter could be heard from downstairs, making you remember that this was definitely not one of your many mistakes.

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"Jake!"

A muffled voice called from the kitchen, making you stir in your bed with a small groan. You didn't want to get up yet, even if it happened to be noon, you just wanted to sleep in this once.

"Jake! Breakfast is ready, now get your butt in here before it gets cold!" Ah Roxy, you had to love that woman.

It seemed like your normal calm morning as you finally tried to sit up, but a stabbing pain sourced from your chest when you sat up, making you whine in pain.

This was...new. Very new, but in a very bad way kind of new.

You glanced down to your chest to see the area on your chest where your heart is to be covered in some sort of...odd purple glow. It made your skin look infected and gross as some of the deep purple glowy stuff sourced through some of your veins around the area. You knew this had to do with that stupid spell Dirk still had on you, you just knew it. It's something about this purple color that just screams Dirk.

You did your best to get up out of your bed, but as soon as you stood up, you stumbled and fell forwards onto your knees as a wave of dizziness hit you like a train. You felt like throwing up as your world span around you. It didn't help with how much your chest was hurting either.

What really worried you the most out of this craziness was how this spell happened to suddenly get worse. You were pretty sure you didn't spill anything to Dirk in any recent dreams of yours that he haunted. How did this happen? Did Jane figure out something and tell him? Did he manage to snatch some information from Dave or John by any chance, or even both? Was someone spreading rumors about you?

Whatever the reason was, it seemed to dissapear as a new factor seeped through your system.

Heat.

Not just any normal type of heat, but a burning heat that made your whole body feel like you were an actual living flame. You didn't even have a shirt on or pants on and your fan was on full power since you slept better when the room was cool. You were really hoping you wouldn't fall ill like you did the first time you were put under this spell.

"Jake?" You heard Roxy call right from behind your door, but it sounded so much more further away as it blurred into the sound of your head pounding.

"Y-Yeah?" You managed to stammer out as you tried to get up, but your body was not having it. Maybe it was a sign that you should've stayed asleep.

"Is everything okay in there? I heard a thud so I just wanted to make sure you were okay."

"Uh...yeah! Everything is fine! I just, uh, fell out of my bed by accident!" Shit, she wasn't going to believe that for one second. You were awful at lying and she knew it.

"Uh-huh. Yeah, uh, no. I'm coming in."

Dammit.

You heard the doorknob turn which made you lunge towards one of your dirty shirts on the floor and slip it on, which your body did not seem to like. You managed to squirm it on, but with struggle as your chest was screaming at you to just stop moving. The heat sourcing through your body worsened too as soon as the fabric came in contact with your skin. You could feel a band a sweat start to form on your forehead and on the back of your neck. This was fucking terrible. You were going to get Dirk back for this one.

It didn't take Roxy long to see your pitiful figure sprawled out on the floor as she soon quickly rushed by your side, noticing your heavy breathing that you didn't seem to notice before. She gently placed her hands on your forehead as she quickly yanked them away with a small wince of pain.

"Holy shit Jake! You are actually burning! What did you do??" She was extremely worried as she tried to work on removing your shirt to help cool you down, but with some left over thoughts in your mind, you smacked her hands away. You were shivering, so maybe she could take it as you were actually feeling super cold which was common with severe fevers.

"I didn't do anything..." You heaved out between pants as you tried to sit up, earning another sharp stab to your chest causing you to remain in your position on the floor, "I just woke up and I just felt pain shooting through my ch-uh my body." Shit, you couldn't give the chest away because then she would inspect it.

"Did you eat something funny last night or something?" She questioned as she stood up, going over to grab the glass of water on your nightstand. She came back seconds later with it, helping you sit up and brought the glass to your lips, tilting it back as you could feel the cool liquid slip down your throat. That was one of the most refreshing feelings you gained all this morning, and of course it came from Roxy's help. You would really be screwed without her.

"N-No...I didn't eat last night..." Your sentences were getting more slurred as you gently gripped onto her shirt, trying to ground yourself in some sort of way. She probably would've flicked you for your response about not eating last night, but for now she just gave you a small disappointed sigh.

"Then this is really strange, we should take you to the hospital." Crap, no! You can't go there! You knew it had to deal with the spell, they couldn't do anything for you. You knew who had to see, but you really didn't want to admit it to Roxy what the issue was. Sure, it wasn't your fault, but you really didn't want it to be the spell either deep down.

"No, I can't go there.." You mumbled out as you took one of your hands to gently tug at your shirt in efforts to take it off. If you couldn't tell her what was wrong, you could just show her instead. She quickly got the message as she helped you sit up all the way before slipping your shirt off. The gasp that came from her lips meant that she saw it now.

"Jake...oh my god...I- what the hell?!" She discarded the shirt quickly as her wild eyes stayed glued onto the area on your chest. In all honesty, you had no idea what this was either, but you just knew it was bad and dealt with the spell.

"T-The spell...it's the spell." You huffed out before relaxing into her arms once again, it was too painful for you to sit up right now. She really didn't seem like she wanted to believe your words and you didn't either, but she knew what it meant.

"Okay, I'm going to call Rose then to let her know it's an emergency today. I'll tell Dave and John the situation too so they can watch over Jade today." She gently laid you down on the ground before getting up to go towards wherever she set her phone down earlier.

You couldn't really care for all the yelling and fussing coming from other areas of the house from Roxy on the phone and the concerned fussing from the duo. You really didn't care. The only steady thought in your mind was Dirk as if he was luring you towards him, pulling at you to come find him, even if you had absolutely no fucking clue where he was located.

All you knew was that you wanted him but at the same time, you wanted to strangle him.

What a bastard.

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You woke up for the second time today, unsure of when you exactly passed out in the first place. You were pretty sure it was when you were on the floor of your room, but now you were in the back of Rose's shop. You knew this room well because you came in for monthly checkups for the spell, and it was always the same thing. Rose forgot what she used to enchant Dirk's sword since it was her first and only time ever doing something like that. So basically you became her test subject as she would try new things every time, and a majority of them were painful. However, none of them were nearly as painful compared to the pain you felt this morning. You needed to figure out what was happening soon before it got even worse, maybe infecting your whole body.

For all you knew, you could be slowly dying.

Okay, never mind, that was a scary thought. You would rather not even dare think of abandoning Jade like that right now and the others. It wasn't the most pleasant mindset, especially since you were secretly terrified of dying. Well, if it was for a good cause, then it wasn't as scary-except this was not for a good cause. This would just make Dirk feel even more confident. That's the total opposite of what you needed right now.

With a small sigh, you sat up, feeling a tad bit better compared to this morning already. It was probably a potion Rose gave you or something because you could actually sit up without feeling like your world was spinning at unbelievable rates. That was at least a good sign that she could settle down the symptoms for now. You really didn't want Jade to know about this spell yet or you hoped you could just get rid of it completely as she would never have to know in the first place. You didn't want her to actually know how truly weak you really were.

Your eyes scanned the room until they landed on the old Gothic grandfather clock in the corner so you could see the time-well, at least try to. Your mind was still hazy, so it was a bit hard to read. From what you guessed, it looked like it said "6:24" and you were sure it meant in the afternoon. It would be dark outside if it was in the morning and you were pretty positive you didn't sleep through the night. Well, unless you did and it was 6:24 of the next day. That could be the case, but you doubted it.

Might as well inspect the damage of your chest clearly now though since you had the chance to. It sounded quiet in the shop so Rose was probably out fetching some herbs or something for a potion for you and Roxy was probably back at the cabin for now or something. You really had no idea, but you didn't really care. You needed to see this damage for yourself before you fainted again or felt that awful heat again.

With a tad but of struggle, you managed to get off of the table she had you laying on as you were careful not to mess up any of the herbs laying around it. You then stammered towards the bathroom, taking it easy so you didn't end up on the floor again like earlier today. No one was around to help you this time either, or at least you thought so. Maybe Kanaya was here, but you just always felt bad involving her in this too. You already felt horrible bringing Rose into this, you couldn't afford bringing her wife into it too, although Kanaya was a vampire of...sorts. It was complicated, but she drank blood was all you really knew. Rose's cat wouldn't be much of a help either since it was, well, a cat. A very weird one though with an interesting name that you can never remember for some reason. You were just bad at names.

With a weak push, you managed to open the bathroom door and flick the lights on which took a couple seconds for them to flicker on, making your eyes squint at them. Out of all the rooms in the shop, this was the more bright one with the fluorescent lights shining directly into your eyes. You blinked your eyes a few times before closing the door behind you just so if anyone was here, they didn't catch you doing weird things to inspect the area on your chest. You really had no idea what to call it since it wasn't a wound, even though it felt like someone was constantly stabbing you with a sword there. It wasn't really an infection either, so you'll just keep calling it that weird area. It seemed fitting enough.

Once your eyes adjusted, you got a good look in the mirror of the disgusting area. It was still glowing and you could see some of it seep into your veins that were leading up your neck. It didn't get far up your neck, just to the base of it. It still wasn't pleasing though. The lowest it traveled was just below your chest to the middle-ish area of your rib cage. The worst of it was the center area on your chest where your heart is. You swore you could see the glowy stuff pulsing in time with your heart beat, but you chose to ignore it for now.

Now here came the hard part: does it hurt to touch it?

It should've been obvious that it would hurt the way it looked, but your stupidly curious mind just had to know by figuring it out for yourself.

Guess what?

It hurt like a bitch.

You hissed in pain from just a gentle touch, making you regret that decision. Of course it was going to hurt.

"Damn, looks painful." You heard a familiar voice say from behind you, making you instantly freeze and reach up for the razor left out on top of the sink-top. Your eyes flicked upwards in the mirror to see a blurry figure of Dirk standing there behind you with his stupid cocky grin.

Wait, you haven't seen him in person for two years.

Shit, why now?

You groaned as you gripped tighter onto the razor, ready to cut a bitch at any second.

"Yeah, no thanks to you." You mumbled, feeling the heat rise back through your nerves. You really didn't need that right now either, but it was probably due to Dirk being here or something.

"Not my fault you were careless." He hummed back, taking a couple steps closer to you which made your shoulders tense up. How was he here? Well, he is able to come into Rose's shop, but why now is a better question? Out of all dramatic places he could've reappeared, he just decided to magically appear inside a bathroom. You actually let out a small snicker thinking about him waiting behind the shower curtains just for you to wake up and come in here by chance. What a loser.

"Could you just-uh, go? Please? I'm really not feeling up to this right now." You huffed as you kept your eyes glued to him through the mirror, watching his every move, even when his shoulders would gently rise and fall from his breathing.

"I'm not actually here, you could just wish me away, even though it wouldn't help." He shrugged, stepping even closer to the point he looked like he was only a foot away from you now. You took this chance to study his features. They looked the exact same from those many years ago and you hated it. You were getting older and even more ugly as the days went by when he got to look like a super model while you prune up. You already had a couple gray hairs on your head from mainly how stressed out you were all the time- but still! You call it cheating.

"I don't believe you. You can't step out into the real world like this." You noted, feeling pretty confident in your answer. That was quickly destroyed from his chuckling as he shot you a dangerous look in the mirror. Shit. Not fair. It felt even hotter in here now.

"Hm, I'll let you believe in that answer just because it's cute seeing how cocky you can be." He purred, making you shiver as you made motion to use the razor if he stepped any closer. This was stupid and you sincerely hoped this was a dream. Although the heat was reminding you that it wasn't just a normal dream since your body was starting to feel the symptoms all over again.

"Oh bugger off already, will you? I'm tired of this stupid game of yours. It's rather boring." You tried to keep calm by pulling that off, but it was clear you were struggling to keep yourself up as you leaned a bit on the sink for support. Maybe he didn't notice. You really hoped he didn't notice.

"Oh? You're bored just as it started to truly heat up?" He glanced at you up and down with those words and you just knew that was a stupid pun. It was a stupid pun that meant he knew exactly what was happening to your body right now.

"N-No...it's just been...boring and stale, that's all. It's also getting old." You tried to keep your cool even if you felt like a million degrees right now. This was so pathetic.

"You haven't stopped thinking about me though. For such a long time, I left you hanging, giving you a chance to break free, but you are the one that clung onto it. You're the one who wants to keep this little charade going." Those words didn't make you freeze up, they actually made you pissed off. How dare he accuse you of being the one clinging onto this? That "break" he gave you was literally for two weeks. Of course you're still going to think of him when he's literally in your dreams every night by his own will, not yours!

"Excuse me?" You hissed out as you glared at him, "I'm not the one who hasn't even tried to back away. I've been trying so much to the point I even tried dating a couple other people! One was a girl named Arenea-even though she turned out to be a succubus-but still! I tried! I still am trying, you just keep barging in at the worst times!" You didn't know why, but you were tearing up now. Maybe it was because no matter how hard you tried to break away from Dirk, you actually did always come back to him. Sometimes you even found reassurance from seeing him in your dreams. Was it pathetic? Oh yeah, big time. It got so bad that you even downloaded tinder just to try and distract yourself. Yet, the only thing you could do was compare everyone to Dirk. He was right about you, but you were also right about him and he seemed to notice it.

"Seems like you're still not weak enough yet for me to manipulate you fully yet." Noe he seemed annoyed as he rubbed his temples, looking frustrated that his plan wasn't going his way still. At least you still had that. Even though it seemed like you were getting weaker, and you were, he was still so behind. However, this chest thing was a bad sign that he was getting stronger now and you needed to take this more seriously.

"Man, even figuring out about Jade wasn't enough for me."

Wait.

What?

Your world fully stopped as that name rang so loudly in your ears, making it the only sound you heard for a few moments.

There was no possible way he just said that name. Not even Jane knew about Jade, so how did he figure it out?

"What did you just say?" You asked carefully just to make sure that he actually said what you heard and not something your mind made up just then.

"Oh, right. I forgot to mention that I finally found out your little secret. She is rather cute and innocent. I bet you named her after one of your favorite flowers. Jade, right?" He grinned at you through the mirror, making you want to crumble down to your knees and wonder where the hell you screwed up that badly to cause him to find out the one thing you really, really didn't want him to know. Your thoughts were racing as you wondered just how long he has known, and how he knew what she looked like. Did he also know where you lived to find out or what? Whatever it was, this was not okay.

"No, no. No no no. No no no no no no no." That was the only word to come rapidly spilling out of your mouth as you saw him fully enjoy your crazed expression and suffering.

Before you knew it, he flashed behind you to grasp your neck tightly in your moment of weakness as he pressed his lips near your ear.

"Maybe I could talk to her in person, hmm? Tell her all of the stuff she's never even known about you, tell her how truly pathetic you are. Maybe I could even recruit her to become a demon if she ends up that disgusted with you afterwards."

You set off like a time bomb at those words, even if you were being choked by this crazy demon. You took the razor and immediately slashed at one of his hands-except, he wasn't actually there. The only flesh that was real was your own.

An instant cry of pain shot through your vocal chords as you felt yourself cut the side of your neck, just barely missing the wind pipe in the front of your neck. Your hands shot up to try and stop the bleeding as you ripped away one of the cloths from beside the sink and placed it harshly against your wound to try and stop the bleeding. It was everywhere as it seeped from your hands and onto the cloth. It even dripped onto the tile flooring of the bathroom and some even dripped onto the sink.

You barged out of the bathroom, stumbling around to find the first aid kit or really anything to help.

Luckily, Roxy was actually there now as she instantly dropped everything and ran off to grab the first aid kit before returning back to you. She forced you to sit down as she was shouting at you for being such an idiot. Yeah, you were one. You just got so caught up in the moment that you forgot that Dirk somehow managed to now advance hallucinations now. It was scary, it scared you.

You don't really remember much of the rest before you passed out once again from the neck injury and just the overwhelming amount of information you just received, but all you do remember is that now you are truly fucked.

You were going to kill that bastard, even if it killed you with it.

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((Hey! I finally fixed this chapter, although it's not nearly as long :,) I hope you guys enjoyed it though and I'm sorry for disappearing for two months! I'm going to try and update some more soon, I'm just so busy with Junior year, it's KILLING me with all of this stress!! (No joke, I already got sick and fainted once from being so stressed, I'm loving it :)))))) )

Anyways, it feels great to be back! I'll see you guys in the next chapter!))