SpellBound: Chapter 1
A/N: Well, this certainly ended up being way longer than expected. Certainly didn’t expect to post it so soon, but alas here we are. Hope you enjoy it and feel free to leave any feedback if you do!
Read the updated & latest chapters on AO3
Vergil x Witch!Reader
Word Count: 4,213
The job was supposed to be a short, sweet and simple one, just like always.
They’d go in, find the demons, kill them, and then be back at the shop roughly sometime before midnight. It was only supposed to be a mild swarm of relatively minor demons according to the report they had received for the job, so the brothers had no problem in assuming the job would be done shortly after they had first arrived. Unfortunately for them, however, such a statement couldn’t have been further from the truth. While there were in fact swarms of minor demons all about the place, the last thing either had expected was to find the very demon that had been responsible for controlling the swarms in the first place, otherwise known as the swarm’s ever abysmal queen.
While the job had taken only another hour or so more than expected to completely take out the swarms and track down what remained, it wasn’t without the brothers taking more than their share of hits; these particular hits consisting of powerful sting that would embed thick, venomous shards into its targets flesh. Due to the potency of the venom and the viscous material that oozes from the shards, it causes a great deal of pain for the victim while also making them hard to remove in the process, meanwhile slowing any regeneration to a halt while also gradually draining the target of its energy. And unfortunately for Vergil, his large devastating attacks on the swarm were exactly what had made the queen choose him to be her prime target. Although Vergil had managed to slay her by the end, it wasn’t without passing out soon after, leaving Dante to his current situation, dragging his unconscious twin to the one woman he knew would be able to help. And if someone of her skill couldn’t help then...well, let’s just say it was the last thing that Dante wanted to even consider right now. After all, there wasn’t a witch in this town that Dante knew that couldn’t handle demonic injuries better than her. She had patched up Nero and him plenty of times in the past, so if there was a good enough bet to save Vergil, this would be it. It didn’t matter what jobs she’d have for him later to pay for the supplies, Vergil’s health was his top priority, and there wasn’t a snowflake’s chance in hell he’d dare try and risk it.
Her shop was rather small and simple from the outside with a pleasing dark green and black lined exterior with a number of plants and hanging charms decorating the front view of the shop windows. Although Dante knew she wouldn’t likely be taking any customers around this time, likely mostly cleaning up right around now as it neared ten o’clock or so. He didn’t bother to knock as he came in, shoving the door open with his foot as he carried Vergil on his shoulders, a soft chime of a bell echoing throughout the shop that was only to be deafened by the sound of Dante’s frantic yelling.
“Y/N! Hey! Could really use that magic touch of yours, babe!” Dante yelled, Vergil softly groaning while fading in and out of consciousness, his side pounding with pain as the venom continued to flow through his veins, all the while gradually making it harder to breathe more and more by the minute. The shop was dark with the exception of the faint glow of the outside street lamps and the faint glow of light from the backroom, which bled in from the bottom of the cloth covered doorway behind the glass counter. Various concoctions, protective charms and medicinal herbs lined the nearby shelves. Had it not been for the direness of the situation, Dante might have considered being able to check out whatever new products you had in stock, perhaps even consider a refill on that cologne he liked to buy from you.
“Good gods, Dante, do you know what time--Oh...Shit. Okay. That explains a lot,” a feminine voice quickly added as her eyes landed on the unconscious and bleeding half demon in his arms. “Alright, come on. Get him to the backroom and put him on the table. I’ll get my supplies. Don’t try to remove anything until I say otherwise,” she ordered as she quickly darted into a nearby side room, shuffling through various bags and drawers, grabbing a number of small bottles, bandages and medical tools.
Dante made his way to the back of the shop, kicking open the door to the medical room before lugging Vergil over to the large padded table. It wasn’t the most ideal place for someone to rest, though it wasn’t as though the legendary devil hunter had come with much of a warning. While he was more than keen on identifying and slaying demons, he’d hardly consider himself an expert in dealing with such injuries in having relied on his own demonic healing abilities for so long, and it wasn’t as though he could ask his unconscious twin for such insight either. Besides, he knew the witch long enough to know she was capable when it came to dealing with demon-related injuries, and if anyone could get Vergil out of this mess.
By the time she had come back, she had a large tray in hand with a number of different labeled potions and concoctions. Tying up her hair into a tight bun and slipping on her gloves, she had begun to gradually pick apart what bits of fabric remained of the clothing around the main sight of the injury. Dante could feel his insides groan and twist at the sight of the wound, a dark purplish black substance oozing with a mix of blood, leaving behind a god awful smell that made him want to gag. He knew the damage must have been bad when Vergil had passed out, but he hadn’t realized it had been this bad.
“Well, doc? What’s the verdict?” Dante said half-jokingly in an attempt to try and ease the anxiety that was buzzing around his head like a swarm of bees that just had its hive kicked and throttled.
“Well....Good news or bad news first?” Y/N asked, not removing her gaze from Vergil as she reached for a cloth and rubbing alcohol with one hand, carefully pulling apart pieces of torn clothing from the sight of the wound with the other to get a clearer view.
“Does it matter?”
“Touche. Well, good news is you came in at a good time. The poison is still fresh and can be dealt with soon. Your brother will be in a world of pain when he wakes up later and probably will have to be on rest for at least a week or so to give his healing abilities time to fully recover and kick in,” she explained as she began to clean away portions of the venom before tossing the pieces into the nearby bin. “Bad news is it may take him some time to regain consciousness. Possibly a day or two, maybe three if the venom has gotten far enough. It’ll take some time for his abilities to kick back in as I said before, but ultimately he should be fine.” Cleaning up more of the area, she quirked a brow over to the devil hunter. “You two got cocky, didn’t you?”
“I--well, I wouldn’t say we but--”
“Dante,” Y/N said, her brow narrowing sharply with the scorn only comparable to that of a mother who just caught her children doing something naughty. “I’ve warned you about getting cocky, demon powers or not. You can’t always rely on your old man’s little gift to get you out of scraps.”
As much as Dante wanted to brush her off, he couldn’t be more painfully aware of the fact as he stared down at Vergil, closing his mouth and swallowing whatever retort he had for her. She was right after all. She always was. Even though she hardly looked more than a day or two over 28, he knew all too well that Y/N had more than her share of wisdom to give when it came to situations. He dared not guess her actual age, knowing it would likely end up with a hit from something that made Vergil’s summoned swords look like mere needles.
“Alright, hand me those tweezers to your left. I’d say we’re about ready to pull out a number of these shards,” she said, wiping her brow as she tossed the last of the cotton balls into the nearby trash. “You might want to keep him held down just in case. He may be unconscious for now, though there’s no telling how his demonic half may react once we start pulling these out.”
“Speaking from experience, doc?”
“Dante, please, I’ve seen how you handled me picking glass shards out of you the last time you came in here for medical,” Y/N scoffed, rolling her eyes as she eyed the smaller pieces first, gently testing the deepness of each of the poisonous shards with the end of the tweezers. “Last I checked, young man, you very near shifted on me.”
“Oh come on, it wasn’t even--”
“Twice.”
Dante could feel himself grimacing at the memory as Y/N carefully adjusted her glasses and moving the nearby bin closer to her. Even though there were plenty of times where he could have easily healed up on his own, she was always there to patch him up with that undeniable motherly scorn that she always kept in hand when she was ready to lecture him for his infamous recklessness afterwards. So much so that she basically became the resident healer for the shop, Lady and Trish often coming in for various business when they’re not on the clock. Regardless as to whether it’s demon killing bullets, pain relieving salves, or natural beauty products, there was always something the girls and him ended up coming around for. Nero and Nico weren’t much different, occasionally popping in and out for things that ranged anywhere from basic medical supplies to even just raw demon components, there wasn’t anything this keen eyed witch didn’t have in stock.
“Alright, if you’re done standing around and ready, I’d suggest pinning him down by his shoulders while I begin to pull these out. He might just stay asleep throughout it, though there’s never really any way to tell how a demon is going to react to something like this. Half demon or not,” Y/N said, positioning Dante at Vergil’s shoulders and waiting till the devil hunter was sure to have a full grip on his twin. “Ready?”
“Ready as I’ll ever be, babe.”
“Very well. Just don’t be surprised if you get stabbed.”
“Oh, babe, you don’t even know the half of it,” Dante laughed softly as she merely shook her head and began to gradually pull out each shard. She started with the smaller and thinner pieces to experiment, meanwhile keeping a close eye on her patient to check for any reactions. Aside from the faint minor groan, there wasn’t much of a reaction, much to her silent relief. She really wasn’t in the mood to have to clean up any more blood than she usually had to, and the last thing she needed was to have Dante of all people pinned into her wall late at night. It didn’t matter how much she enjoyed the son of Sparda’s company, there was only so much she was willing to clean up because of him. Sure, he brought in more than his share of components for devil arms, potions and other things from jobs, though there was only so much property damage she was willing to let slip by.
Gently setting the last of the small pieces of shards into the bin, she moved on to the larger pieces. These ones were likely going to cause either the biggest amount of pain in dealing with them, though at this rate they were emitting far too much venom for her liking, and unless she wanted a possible dead half devil in her clinic, these would need to be dealt with. She motioned for Dante to strengthen his grip with a low nod before continuing, a part of her holding in her breath as she began with the first piece. She couldn’t help but notice several signs of the venom as it started to accumulate more, meanwhile noting symptoms such as his increased heartbeat and breathing and enlarged pupils. She would have to get some of the potions from the back to help relieve any bodily stress later once this was done, that and perhaps set up an IV to ensure his body would get more fluids. She could use a number of the shards’ leftover venom to form an anti-venom potion later, though first things first was biting off the head of this metaphorical serpent. She would also have to bring out some of the finer charcoal from the back for this one. The less the poison is allowed to get into the bloodstream, the better. There’s more tensing and wincing from Vergil despite remaining mostly unconscious, every now again mumbling incoherently in his sleep.
Delirium. Most likely a side effect of the poison. I’ll have to check him for a fever after this, Y/N noted silently as she pulled out another piece, this time placing the larger pieces into a small glass container on the tray next to her. While she’s relieved to find out most of the larger shards still contain most of their venom, it does little to comfort her in the half devil’s recovery. Although she had never met or knew the half devil personally, she had come to hear enough from Nero and the others to have grown a sense of curiosity and intrigue regarding the older twin. To be the infamous twin brother of Dante of all people and the missing father of Nero, arguably her more favored customer of the Sparda bloodline, she’d be lying if she said she wasn’t interested in learning more about this mysterious devil of a man. That, and it was hardly so often that such a man could ever catch her eye the way he did.
All that was left by the end of it was the largest piece, the piece she was admittedly the most apprehensive about regarding how it might draw out his inner devil, possibly risking the chance of having his devil trigger activate in self defense. While she was sure Dante could likely handle things in the case that it did, there was always that sense of caution and wariness that would linger in the back of her mind. Some might call it paranoia, but for Y/N, she called it survival. As both her mentor and life experience had so often taught her time and time again, you can never be too careful with devils or any such hybrid, even if they claim to be fully in control of themselves. All it could take is a mere slip of conscious control to have it make all the difference for someone like her, regardless of whatever magic she might have at her disposal.
“You good there, Y/N?” Dante asked, likely having noticed her lack of movement and the sudden shift in her gaze.
“Yes, yes, I’m fine. Just...give me a moment. I just don’t want to risk anything with this last piece,” she replied, pausing to wipe her brow before taking several deep breaths in an attempt to compose herself. “Alright, counting backwards from five. Five...four...three...two...one.” Carefully placing the end of the shard at the end of her tweezers, she gave one swift twug, the piece coming free with a sicking sound, blood quickly pooling around the entrance of the wound minutes later. Although Vergil had hardly shifted into his devil trigger, there had be a close flicker of power that had emanated around him, all the while letting out a cry of pain amidst his delirium before falling back into unconsciousness, leaving the witch and Dante to stand back in silence as they exchanged breathless looks between Vergil and themselves.
“Is he...will he--” Dante began somewhat nervously as he turned to her.
“He’ll be fine now that the pieces are out yes. I just need to clean the wounds next. I have some charcoal I’ll also need to feed him to get the toxins out of his system. I’ll need to turn him on his side in case he purges anything so that he doesn’t drown in his own vomit,” she explained, carefully dropping the last chunk of shard into the container. She sounded a bit too calm for her own good admittedly, though she’d rather the numbing shock than the overwhelming physical panic to take over. Besides, she had a patient to tend to, and the last thing she needed was to get lost in her own head. Taking another deep breath and running a hand through her long hair, she motioned for Dante to hand her the nearby rolls of bandages.
“I can take care of the rest here myself now that the worst is over. Why don’t you head home and get some rest, big guy? No offense, but you look and smell like shit.” Y/N chuckled tiredly, applying peroxide to some cotton balls as she began to clean the remaining wounds.
“You sure, babe? It’s late and--”
“I’ll be fine, Dante. There’s not much left to do and I have a feeling your brother isn’t going to be getting up for a while. I’ll have an IV and some regeneration spells going for him in the meantime while he rests,” she said, not bothering to look up at the younger son of Sparda as she continued clean each of the wounds. “I’ll give you a call as soon as he wakes up.”
“Haha, yeah. I suppose you’re right. I did bring him to the best witch and healer in Redgrave City,” Dante chuckled, earning a soft scoff of amusement from the witch across from him as she gently shook her head, trying her best to hide her amused face.
“Yes, yes, you can kiss my ass all you want later. Now shoo. Run along and go home already, dumbass. Take a shower too. You utterly reek of demon guts. Oh, and don’t worry about the bill. We can talk about arranging that after tough guy here wakes up and recovers more.” She could barely contain her amusement as she heard Dante’s laughter turn into a tired groan before sighing. She hardly named what the price would be and here he was already complaining, not that she had expected anything else from the infamous devil hunter.
“Alright, alright. Just promise not to work me into the ground like last time, babe,” Dante sighed as he lingered in the doorway. “Don’t think I could take working another all-nighter like that ever again.”
“Considering what that payment was for, it was well deserved. Can’t exactly use magic to repair my shop all the time because you and Nero love crashing into it so much whenever you’re around,” Y/N chuckled. “Tell you what, buy me a drink next week and I’ll consider going easy on you for it. Deal?”
“Whatever her ladyship wishes,” Dante winked as he got up with a soft grunt, giving a slight wave before heading out the door.
“Tsk, tsk, devil hunters, I swear,” Y/N sighed as she leaned back in her seat, gently tossing the bloodied swabs into the trash before picking up one of the bandage rolls. Her gaze turned gentle as she looked at the sleeping form of Vergil, softly smiling as she shook her head and carefully began to bandage him. “I swear, you’re far too pretty for your own good, handsome. Now if only men like you were only half the trouble,” she softly chuckled with a bittersweet grin. “But then again, I suppose you boys wouldn’t be nearly as interesting then.”
Gently placing her hand against his face, she couldn’t help but admire the sleeping devil’s features, noting details such as the fineness of his cheekbones and the pleasant smoothness of his skin despite the slight hint of a small fever she would have to compress later. Though, as deep as she was in her thoughts, they weren’t deep enough to note the way Vergil seemed to gently press his face into her hand, causing the witch’s heart to race with a slight flutter, her own face suddenly growing slightly warm within seconds; almost as though a brief and sudden flame had suddenly been lit inside her usually cool collected form. It had been a long time since she had felt the touch of spring in her face like this, and it only made the feeling grow the more she would try to deny and suppress it.
No, no, get your head out of the gutter, you idiot, she quietly scolded herself as she shook her head in a futile attempt to regain her composure. He’s just your patient. Nothing more. However, it didn’t seem to matter how much she tried to admonish herself as her hand remained firm at the sleeping man’s side, her eyes admiring the way the moonlight from the window softly illuminated his features with a pleasant and almost angelic glow. She couldn’t help but smirk at the beautiful irony of the statement, though she didn’t mind it any less.
She had him turned over on his side as she fed him the charcoal solution, carefully holding the fresh trash can she had fetched for him as his body purged whatever it could before eventually falling back into a peaceful sleep. Setting him up with an IV, a cold compress, and a series of healing sigils to project the regeneration spell she had picked out, she was ready to leave him until she felt something grab her wrist. She had expected many things that evening, though the last thing she had in mind was to see the bleary eyed Vergil looking up at her, his eyes red and barely open as they gleamed with tears. She had expected a bunch of delirious gibberish to come out, though found herself taken aback with what did follow.
“P-please...don’t go...stay with me...”
To say she was more than a little surprised was an understatement, and as much as she wanted to pass off such a tender and vulnerable statement, as being merely the product of fever induced delirium, there was something in his eyes that seemed to almost plead with her. His voice was hoarse and cracked, almost as though pleading through a cracked and fractured mirror. Between it and the the soft pleading gaze he held on her, she felt as though she were listening to a frightened child, who dared not be left alone to face whatever nightmares the dark had to offer him. And despite the nagging urge to withdraw and hide, to run off and leave him alone to face whatever demons would greet him in the realm of dreams, there was something else. Something so painfully familiar and real in the way he looked at her, she could hardly stand to turn her gaze. For even the briefest moments, she wasn’t just staring at an infamous devil hunter and elder son of Sparda.
Rather, she was starting at someone who had been through untold accounts of trauma and pain and for so long had built up a wall of steel and ice in hopes of protecting themselves from the cruelty of the world around them. Someone who simply wanted to feel safe and comforted in the looming darkness, and most of all, desired to not be alone when they needed her most. For even the briefest of moments, she wasn’t just looking at him. More than anything else, it was as though she was suddenly staring in her very own reflection.
And little by little, the flame within began to only further bloom and grow, leaving the walls of ice to gradually thaw and shrink.
Gently placing her hand over his, she silently nodded, pulling up a chair beside him as she continued to gently hold his hand. “Alright. I’ll stay with you, Vergil,” she whispered, speaking with the gentleness one would expect a mother to use on a frightened child in hopes of coaxing the demons away. “I’ll stay however long you wish me too. I promise.”
Vergil had let out a soft sigh of what she could only describe as relief, watching the man gently close his eyes and fall back into whatever bliss she could offer him. Although it wasn’t the most comfortable position, she was willing to see her promise through to the end. Gently humming an old tune she had not dared sing in years, she remained beside him, only coming to stop once she was sure the dark slayer had officially fallen back into the realm of dreams. She would occasionally move to change his cold compress or IV, but even then still continued to remain by his side throughout the night before eventually falling asleep there herself.
All the while blissfully unaware of what would come to greet her in the morning yet to come.