A/N: A cute little story for spooky season! The demon names I use are taken from the DC comic's wiki about demons, they have that! The names are canon, the characterizations are not :D

| House of Mystery

| 10:15 pm

| On a Sunday

"And you're absolutely positive this new spell of yours is gonna work?" Zatanna inquired, circling the large dog crate in the middle of the living room. The vicious snarls emanating from behind its reinforced plastic walls had only grown in volume since their arrival. The magician had had very little faith that the cage was even capable of containing the beast inside, but the sigils they drew held steadfast; its metal hinged door was the only component that worried her now, as it shook with each heavy growl.

"Oh, ye of little faith," Constantine protested with indignation, though he did kneel down to check that the door was not actually at risk of collapsing. Everything was fine; the devil's trap remained complete and unbroken. As if there was ever any doubt, he was a master of the dark arts, after all.

"John…" Zatanna cautioned, joining him at the front of the cage. She grabbed the thick book from his nightstand, reading over the incantation again.

"Relax, Zee! I even did some research on this one, it's gonna work." Constantine skimmed through the entry, ticking off the spell components he had laid out on the floor as he went. "Looking good! All that's left is—"

"Ok, I had to break out the chem set for this one, but…" As if on cue, the door to the kitchen swung open, and Dick walked out, holding a small sealed thermos. "100 milliliters of distilled hemlock and snakeroot infusion, as requested!"

"Perfect, love, thank you!" Constantine took the potent concoction off his hands, pouring it into an awaiting plastic cauldron bought from Spirit Halloween. They were playing with some pretty toxic ingredients and he really didn't feel like ruining a perfectly good mixing vessel.

After lighting four candles and placing them on opposite corners of the crate, Constantine threw in the rest of the essentials, placed the spellbook in his arms, and raised an eyebrow at his companions. "Ready for this, ladies and gents?"

"Aww, I was kinda expecting there to be like a puff of smoke or tiny sparks or something when you tossed everything in there," Dick lamented as he took a couple steps back, ignoring the question.

"Unfortunately, that's only in the TV shows. I agree, though, the dramatics are sorely lacking these days!" Zatanna let out a laugh, giving him a consoling pat on the arm, also stepping back. "But yes, we are, in fact, ready."

"Ahem," Constantine cleared his throat, then thrust out a hand and began the incantation. "Te ka ra, babaloen! Em et gis torgi ka hee de rah fa onta se!" (Arise, wicked ones! Seal (this) creature closed in your dwelling!)

The snarling ceased.

Silence. Then—

WHOOSH!

A blue fire flared up high in the cauldron, melting the top of it away. Gusts of wind swirled in the room, brightness and heat filling the space. Zatanna averted her eyes, Constantine used his same hand to block out the blinding light, then poof! The flame snuffed itself out in the next second… followed by the creature in the cage continuing its grunts.

Zatanna walked up next to the blonde, placing a hand on her hip in disapproval. "You 'researched' it, did you?"

Before a word of defense could even leave the other's lips, a dissonant growl sounded from behind. They both froze, slowly turning back around.

Dick stood before them, the small explosion having mussed up his hair a bit, and there were a few smoldering embers around his shoes. He otherwise looked relatively unchanged, still wearing a black t-shirt and gray jeans, a blue accented leather jacket over top. However, instead of his trademark cerulean blues staring back, his eyes were solid crimson— sclera, pupil, and all.

"WHO DARES INVOKE THE NAME OF — uh…" The being's red glare faded back to normal as it blinked in recognition. "Constantine?"

"Huh?" was the blond's intelligent response.

"Huh! What do you mean huh? There's a demon in your living room! What happened?!" Zatanna nearly yelled, slapping the man repeatedly on his trench-coated arms, before swiftly spinning to the intruder in her friend's body, "And who're you? What did you do to Dick!?"

"Hey, you called me here, I don't know why we're being so fucking combative all of a sudden!" The imposter's voice even sounded like Dick's, though it reverberated with something - someone else's deeper tones, dark and powerful.

"Uhh, we did, yes! Apologies, mate," Constantine rushed out, putting himself in between them as a sort of buffer. "I meet so many of your kind these days, what was your name again?"

"Johnny, it's me! From that abusive hospice worker case you were working on?" When it didn't seem like that rang any bells, not-Dick sighed. It was a very odd noise, clashing and rumbling, like someone juggling a handful of rocks in their palm. "I am Kafir (Kuh-fear), the Horned One."

"Ohhh," Constantine snapped his fingers, "right! Wow, it's been, what? Five years? How've you been?" An elbow to his side had him crying out, the brunette who threw it clearly expecting him to hurry up and get to the glaring issue. "Uhh, we'll talk about that later, what are you doing here?"

"-in our friend's body?" Zatanna tacked on.

"You asked for me!" Kafir said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "You didn't use a binding ritual, I need a vessel to be up here! Since you two have some kind of anti-possession stuff on you, this was my only choice! If you didn't want me to use him, you should've planned ahead!"

At that, both mages awkwardly fingered their talismans: Zatanna's, a bracelet with a pentagram charm hanging off it and John's, a pocket watch engraved with a few holy symbols. The thought of Dick needing one, especially here, where several exorcisms had gone off without a hitch before, hadn't crossed their minds.

"Now, what do you need?"

"Well…" Constantine was about to show him the captured beast, which had since stopped making any noise, but decided instead to ask for further clarification. "No, wait, hang on, we didn't call for you. The spell I used was supposed to be a modified exorcism!"

"Ohh, you stupid mortals…" The condescending look Kafir pulled on them was unnerving; it was just so foreign. Before this, they wouldn't have thought it even possible for Dick to be able to have that facial expression. "Let me see the spell, I'll show you."

Constantine hesitated, holding the book against his body. "Mmm, the last time I showed you a spell, it spontaneously combusted."

"Because it never should have been in your possession in the first place."

"Says you! But that's not going to happen here, right?"

The demon shrugged, an expectant hand still outstretched. "No promises."

Constantine narrowed his eyes, making no move to hand it over.

"Can you just-!" Zatanna scoffed, snatching the book out of the warlock's hands and presenting the page at arm's length. "The sooner this is done, the sooner we can get Dick back." She cringed inwardly; he was probably watching all of this right now within his own mind, super confused.

"See, at least someone still has a modicum of common sense! Thank you, umm," Kafir nodded at her, searching for her name in the memories he was borrowing. Hmm, strange. Nothing there.

"Zatanna," the brunette supplied, and he thought no more of it.

Peering at the words held up to him, Kafir first directed a question to Constantine. "Is this the first of its kind you've tried?"

"Yeah, the normal exorcisms weren't working, so I turned to a new chapter." He could practically feel the glare burning into him. "I swear, Zee, I double checked and everything! It should've worked."

"Actually, it did work, but Enochian has always proven difficult for human transliteration." Kafir tapped a finger under one of the notes in the margins. "Unlike a traditional exorcism where you send something down, this is meant to summon a more powerful being up, who will then rid you of the problem themselves. Speaking of," he shooed them away, kneeling down to address the beast in the crate.

Opening the clasp, and therefore, disrupting the devil's trap, Kafir waved off the mortals' sounds of protest as an impossibly large dog padded out. It had a sleek black coat, and looked much like any other Doberman, if it wasn't for being three times as large as a normal one once it stood at full height. It also sported that many more eyes and rows of teeth.

"Oh, Lurgo! Aww, who's a good boy? You are!" Kafir cooed, giving the lumbering beast scratches behind a floppy ear. He went on like that for a bit, using a baby voice, and it was as if a less wheezy Darth Vader was there speaking in UwU. "You should be in Stygia, what are you doing here?"

"Causing massive amounts of property damage in a suburb of Central City," Constantine informed him. "And I'm pretty sure I caught it trying to eat some old lady's corgi!"

"Lurgo," Kafir tsked, "that isn't your territory. Get on home, you rascal!" The demon's affable smile suddenly slipped, a cruel sneer replacing it. "Where I'll be finding a suitable punishment for you and your master later." Again, as he wore Dick's face, the two who knew the human couldn't help the anxiety settling in their gut. It was so… wrong.

There was a yelp that escaped the 'dog' then, high pitched and obviously distressed. As Kafir tilted his head up at it, eyes blazing that dark crimson, the command of You may go left his throat, low and guttural.

A whine followed, but it obeyed, vanishing in the next moment, leaving an empty crate and snuffed out candles in its wake.

"Hellhounds, what can you do!" With a clap of his hands, Kafir whirled back to the magic users, grinning and blue-eyed once more. "Anything else?"

"Uhh, n-no, no. Th-that was it," Zatanna found herself stuttering a little. "Thanks…"

"Appreciate it, Kaf," added Constantine as he stepped forward to offer a handshake. "And not to cut this short, I promise to summon you again soon, but could you give us our man back now?"

"Oh, gladly, got lots to do back home! Let's catch up later, though!" Not. Inhaling deeply, Kafir closed his eyes and projected himself out.

Contrary to how the television shows and movies portrayed it, demons vacating their host was never much of a blatant thing. It was less 'violent black smoke emanating from one's mouth,' and more 'invisible to the mortal eye essence quietly descending downward.' The process was quick though, that much was true. Finding the way back to one's own awaiting body is as easy as one, two, thr— Hmm… uh-oh.

Slamming back into the mortal vessel, he found he was getting crowded by the people he had been trying to leave.

"Dick?" They spoke simultaneously. "Are you back?" "You alright, lad?"

"Uhh, nope." Red flashed in his eyes, there and gone in an instant. "Still me."

"What happened, what did you do?" Zatanna demanded, unable to hide the accusatory tone lacing her words.

Kafir bristled slightly. "I didn't do anything, there seems to be an issue on the other end."

"What sort of issue?" Constantine reached out to place a calming hand on both of their shoulders. "Is it something we can help you fix?"

"My body seems to be, ah, not where I… left it." Kafir could see they were about to launch into questioning, and so swiftly cut them off with another fascinating tidbit. "Also, I'm not sure where your friend went, because he doesn't seem to be… in here."

"I'm sorry, what?" Zatanna shrugged off the other's hand, and her earlier trepidation, fully moving into the demon's space. "What the hell does that mean?"

"I knew something was off when I couldn't search his memories before," Kafir told them, crossing his arms and tapping one bicep in thought. "Well, seeing as how no consciousness rose to take my place, either his soul has been lost to the ether - which I doubt because you held no other ritual and my jumping in was instantaneous - or, the only other plausible solution, he has overtaken my body."

"WHA-?" Letting out a frustrated groan, Zatanna massaged at her temples, trying her best to keep her voice level. "Are you saying you switched bodies? Dick is in a demon's body right now? And you have no idea where he is?"

"That is correct, yes."

Blinking away the spots swimming in his vision caused by the bright blue flames, Dick took a moment to readjust. It was suddenly a lot darker in here than he remembered it being.

And a lot smaller.

Ugh, John, what did you do?

He cast a glance around the room, registering that he was 1) alone and 2) no longer in the parlor of a lavish, interdimensional mansion. In place of cherry stained wooden tables and leather couches, there was instead a bed, a tall black bookcase housing several trophies, and a desk in the corner with a laptop, opened to what looked like an antiquated internet chat room.

Behind him, a door creaked open, and as the lights were switched on, he spun around to meet the new arrival.

"Oh my god." A girl stood in the doorway, a brown fabric violin case held in one hand. She looked to be about his age, maybe a little older, around her mid-20s, and was harboring an expression of surprise that probably matched his. "They weren't full of shit, it really did work."

With the way her wide-eyed stare never left his person, it didn't take long for Dick to realize she was talking about him… But why would she be?

"I was about to give up, it's been like three days! I mean, they said it wasn't instantaneous, and the ingredients had to fester, which, gross, by the way. Uhh, sorry, I've never done this before! Obviously!" The girl set her case down, thrusting out a hand for him to shake. "I'm Jacqueline, or just Jax, hi!"

"Umm, hi?" Dick tentatively reached out to return the handshake, only just then realizing that his fingers were clawed and his skin an unnaturally blue hue. And that was definitely not his voice, it doesn't reach that low an octave!

He yanked his hand back, running both hands along the length of his body, which he now noticed was much leaner and over a foot taller than it was supposed to be.

Gone were his dark jeans and shirt, replaced by black dress pants and a red satin shirt, over which he wore an intricately designed black vest and suit jacket.

Very… Victorian Gothic chic.

It was also right at this moment that he noticed a circle at his feet, drawn on the wooden paneling in chalk, various symbols following along the white outline.

Dick snapped his head back up, gaze finding a large rectangular mirror hung across from them in the hallway, jaw almost hitting the floor upon seeing his reflection.

Scarlet eyes set in a midnight blue visage looked back at him, swirling voids overflowing with the colors of fire and brimstone. Two large greyish curled ram's horns protruded from his skull, jet black hair coiffed perfectly around them. He gasped out a nervous laugh, hands flying to cover his mouth as he caught sight of fanged teeth.

"What the fuck?"

A/N: Thanks for reading/favoriting/following and drop a comment if you feel like it! Next chapter coming soooon...