Young Writers Society

Dimensions, like weather properties, are not isolated. All of the Heavens, all of Midgar, and all of Hell share the same space; however, they do not share the same planes of existence. The entranceways to each plane of existence (and beyond) are closely guarded secrets, and, with some exceptions, only beings of authority may pass freely between the planar walls.

There are notable exceptions. God, for one, may not enter Hell lest the doors be cast aside. Satan may not enter the Heavens lest they be toppled. Their actions in Midgar are minimal, contrary to beliefs on either side. This has left mankind in charge of its own destiny, which has been a cruel prank giving no one a good laugh.

But this series of film reels contain the story of how a group of demons escaped the confines of hell. What they find on their journey of escapism may shock and alarm you, so I must caution you ahead of time to look away if you are a sensitive soul.

A prisoner of Satan's has escaped his confines, causing chaos in Pandaemonium. During the pursuit, cosmic upsets rip voids throughout hell, opening gates to Midgar. We begin just before this point: your life in Hell, and through the portal. Or perhaps you have been assigned to Midgar and possess a host. That is your starting point.

Code: Select all

[djm]Host Name:[/djm]
[djm]Host Age:[/djm]
[djm]Host Sex & Gender:[/djm]

[djm]Trope Breakdown[/djm]
Answer here.

[djm]Type of Demon[/djm]
Answer here.

[djm]Weapons or Skills[/djm]
Answer here.

[djm]Appearance & Habits[/djm]
Answer here.

[djm]Personality & Traits[/djm]
Answer here.

[djm]Previous Role(s) in Hell[/djm]
Answer here.


How many times had the bellman circled the lighthouse caked in ice? Or another: how many times had Arnie circled the lookout and sandbagged, razor-wired landing pad awaiting for an abnormality? He had been told by Hiyaran weeks ago near the same location that, if he would not cease his walking on the frozen path--for it had caused others in Zamhareer to begin searching for abnormalities--he would be detained in a cell alone with no view of the rotted bay, no snow between his toes, and no loving neck nibbles from his imp of a bunkmate.

When Hiyaran's warning came to memory, it stopped him for a moment, but as the chips of mucus cracked off his nose and onto his feet, he remembered numbness.

Arnie began to walk again, this time towards the bagged-and-wired beachfront before he heard the buzzing of aircraft crossing the lake from Haelheim. Unlanding, it released its package that flew down into Arnie's frail arms and send him sliding in a skid of ice into the snowbank.

Yells besieged him as demongs descended to rob the cargo load of food rations. They all were cursing him. Damning his name for such a gift of abnormality, and he could not feel his lungs. This was, too, an abnormality, for it broke the numbness and allowed him the motivation to search the box for any remaining food...which was found in the form of a blackening-yellow corn cob, currently the home of dozens of maggots of varying sizes. He was impressed with the variety, and began to eat, licking his teeth for the juice of the corn, and picking his tongue so no bit of maggot got away from his desperate body.

"You know," called Hyaran in a celloesque baritone, "I've never been a gambling man until meeting you, Arnie. But now I feel like trying my hand at Craps."



"Look, Mista Lancasta. The last thing I wanna do is hold up you an' ya wife here with a meetin' widda principal, but the fact is ya kid's failin' his courses left 'n right 'n up 'n down! It's like bad grades just rain from Heaven like mana for this kid!"

Finn put his boots up on the pricipal's desk and crossed his hands in his lap. "Holly's Ma, Mama Steinberg, makes more donations to this school yearly than you could fit in all the gay strippers you've been stuffin' against your character clause since 1992, Rabbai Benowitz, and I think it'd break her heart just like Moses' lil' rock there if she found out." He raised his eyebrows at the principal's strained expression.

"...what kinda deal you after here, pal?"

"Sol's been denied tutoring six times at this chum bucket of an educating pit, and that sweet free tutoring is the only reason I let Holly send him here."

"What, you some kinda spy?"

"Ex-Marine, private eye, private security, police academy. Nice to meet ya. I look forward to the paperwork in Sol's backpack today, and I hope you enjoy your bagle today, it's already been payed for."

Finn hopped up and showed himself outta the room, closing the door behind him. Outside, he lit a cigarette and grabbed his cell patch on his belt. "Holly," he commanded." Soon, she popped up in one of his eyes, working at her computer.

"Sorry that I don't have much time, Finn. Had a new client from Cape Town demand a full overhaul of their agreement with us this morning, due by closing."

"You've done worse, Holls."

"Their closing."

"Sheesh. So the meeting went well."

"You got the tutoring?"

"For free, of course."

"Nothing's really free with how much guilt I pay my mother each year, honestly."

He puckered his lips. "If you want your time as an emotional slave to be over, you call Barbera Steinberg and let her know it!"

"You sound like you're heated...you told him about the photos, didn't you?"

"I told him what he'd done. No photos needed."

"He could come after us with lawyers."

"We could go after the school with lawyers, Holly!"

She whispered: "What've we said about you turning me on at work?"

"Only if I'm in person."

She nodded. "I have to go now. Working my fingers off. I'll rip into you when I get home."

"Until then, babe."

"Until then."

As the phone turned off and Finn dialed the Midgar Rail for his house, a woman came to him, tapping him on the shoulder. Turning, she was a young lively woman about his age with wide, glasses-framed eyes and wavy hair in bundles. "Excuse me, sir, but you just." She bit her lip. "You stepped on my stuffed monkey..."

Finn looked down, reached down, and picked up the monkey, which looked much more like a monkey-man hybrid. His feet and hands were frostbitten, and his eyes were sunken in. "The detail is amazing. Do you sell these? My son loves tigers and lions."

"Not...really." Her eyes narrowed as she backed away slowly.

"What's wrong? It's okay if you don't sell 'em. I like artists for art 'n all that."

"It's opening...to the park! COME ON!" She grabbed his hand and ran like hell. "We have to get to the park!"



Hyaran held Arnie by the throat, dangling him over a private cell. Stripped of all clothes and forced to vomit his last meal into the drinking water for all the others, he was left with nothing. Not even his shit was left to reconsume for vitamins, as Hyanar had made sure to purge him of every last thing. "Riotous thief, worthless little monkey...may your days in Zamhareer wither you into the fodder for our livestock!"

Arnie fell down into darkness, eyes growing wide and dilating. He held out a hand to break his fall, and suddenly, as the doors slammed above, as he could feel the chill of the encroaching skulls below, something shifted.

There was light! There were buildings and sunlight and nature! It was like Midgar had come to greet him before the end, and below shouted onlookers as he dove down in flame. "MOVE! GET AWAY! HE'S HEADED STRAIGHT FOR THAT MAN!"

“It’s time,” the man said solemnly. He stood before the prisoner’s cell, holding the key. When the prisoner looked up at him from the old stone chair, the man nodded and opened the door. Crossing over to the chair, he gave a quick study of the prisoner, before unlocking the silver chains binding the prisoner to the chair. The prisoner stood up and looked at him with hollow eyes, shaking off the large bugs crawling over his skin. “Please don’t try to escape. I would have to kill you, and despite everything, I still call you a friend,” the man with the key said. The only response he received was a slow, tired nod.

They left the hallway of cells, and the prisoner that there were still no others in captivation. Trials here happen fast. And infrequently, he thought to himself as they marched onward, around corners, through doorways, and up stairwells. The prisoner began to wonder if his guard even knew where they were going when they arrived at the courthouse. It was a massive oval, with elevated rows of seating surrounding the black platform in the center. He was guided to the stage, where he silently stood.

“Djinni Kekiuji, you have committed what most call the highest level crime. Killing another Djinni, one who is the Qarīn of a human still alive, is a crime punishable by banishment to hell for eternity,” the man at the head of the council said slowly, but with a heavy voice. “Have you anything to say in defense of your actions?”

Kekiuji said nothing, instead choosing to keep his head held high.

“Very well. We of the High Council have decided. You shall be sentenced to imprisonment in the lowest depths of hell for sixteen centuries.”

The man who had escorted Kekiuji spoke up from his place by the doorway to the trial room. “That wasn’t much of a trial at all!” The council collectively looked at him, holding eye contact. Finally he broke away and stared at the ground, saying nothing more.

A red light flashed behind Kekiuji, and he was consumed in seconds. Suddenly, he was falling. So that’s it, huh? No parting words or final meal or anything? Just a light, and I’m in hell? That’s pretty tacky, he thought to himself with an inkling of triumph. At least he left the courthouse in style. There was that.



“You killed her! She’s dead now, and it’s your fault!”



“Why? What horrible threat could a twelve-year-old girl have possibly posed?”



“You’re absolutely right. I don’t understand why you would betray me.”



“No, I don’t think I would ever forgive you.”



“Try me.”



“Good bye.”



He hit the ground with a thud, pain jutting through his legs. The cell around him was small, too small for him to fit in human form. As a result he was forced into his cat shift, but the size of the cell made no difference anyway. He was trapped in his cat shift because the prison walls sealed his abilities. Even if he could fit as a human, he wouldn’t be able to change into one.

He glanced around at his new home. Sixteen centuries was a long time, even for a normally immortal being, so he settled down and made himself at home. There was a wall of red bricks behind him, and on each side of him there were barred inlooks to the next cell over. The cells were inhabited by hollow, shadowy figures who said nothing, did nothing. Their cells were much larger than his, and yet they seemed so much smaller than him. Kekiuji shivered seeing just how badly imprisonment in hell could break you.

In front of him was a hallway. It had an orange dirt floor with barred walls. Periodically the bars would be disrupted by small pillars for torches to be propped up. There was no natural light, ad so the torches were the only sources. Their flickering flames made the whole prison glow orange, and that combined with the red aesthetic made Kekiuji decide hell was extremely cliché.

A red-cloaked figure walked by the cell through the hallway, followed by a second. Keys jingled at their sides, further satisfying the cliché. Kekiuji glanced around at his new residence, in hell, and then at the keys, and decided he wasn’t fond of this place. He also decided that he wouldn’t be spending the next 1,600 years of his life in here.

He would be escaping, sooner or later. Though preferably sooner.



And there was the light. It was just like the light in the trial house, sixteen years ago. This time it didn't consume him, but he approached it slowly. No other cell contained this... this... rift. He reached out to touch it, and suddenly, just like before, he was falling.

He hit the ground with a thud, but this time he ignored the throbbing pain in his legs. It didn’t matter, because he had been successful. There was sun on his skin, and he had the room to stretch his arms and legs. It actually worked. He was on Midgar, not in hell. He escaped, with just a bit of assistance from some transdimensional entity or something. Now there was only one thing left to do. He stood straight and made his way down the street. With any luck, he would have ended up down the street from...

That was it, he was sure. That was her apartment. He walked towards it, then picked up speed, faster and faster and faster, until there he was, at her door. A deep breath filled his lungs, and nervously he reached for the doorbell. It was difficult, but he finally pressed it. A ring echoed inside, and footsteps hurried to the door. It was pulled open to reveal in a woman in her mid twenties, wearing what appeared to be a business suit. She glanced down at him in confusion. “A cat?”

“Yeah, it’s a long story. Normally I’d be in human form for a conversation like this, but I kinda lost my transformation stability. Side effect of being magically sealed
for over a decade. It’s either cat or floating cloud with a voice. Your choice,” Kekiuji mewed.

She stared for several seconds before turning around and holding her head, walking away. “I knew those weren’t just brownies last night,” she muttered. Kekiuji slipped into her apartment as she pulled the door shut.

“No, A’isha. I’m real. This is real,” he argued, following her. She spun around and looked in disbelief.

“Assuming that you are somehow not the creation of my high as hell mind, what exactly do you want from me? How do you even know my name?”

“I’m you!” He waited for a response, but was met by none. “Well, I’m not you, not exactly. More like your counterpart. Your representative in the other world. I’ve been in hell for the past sixteen years, but I-”

“My counterpart went to hell?”

“Err, yes.”

“That doesn’t surprise me. Anyway, you..?”

“I broke out so that I could come to you. My crime wasn’t entirely my fault, believe me. I’m not evil and corrupt.”

“But why did you come to me?” she asked skeptically.

“Because I need a favor from you. It’ll take some getting used to, but I think you’ll find it’ll make your life a lot more interesting.” He waited hopefully for a response, tail swishing back and forth in excitement.

She hesitated before finally groaning. “Fine. What do you need?”

"We should do it just once."

"This doesn't seem right."

"No one asked you, Niya."

That was it. The air around her seemed to swallow herself whole. There was a hazy, foggy light that circled around two other demons. One of them being a close friend of Niya. His pearl wings were bent behind his back and his yellow eyes were narrowed in slits, staring hard at the yellow demon. She felt smaller than she was and ended up looking down from the repulsive manner from her friend. He only grunted, not saying sorry or anything, and then looked towards the other demon, a rose-colored demon with white wings. They were discussing a possible route out while Niya seemed to be thinking to herself. There were periods of time where Niya would just think to herself, spacing out and ignoring the rest of what the world had to present for her. The only thing she ever did was write scrolls for a Higher level of Hell that's all she did. There was a strong liking to go and be something greater but her sadness and demotivation seemed to drag her down and prevented her from doing anything.

"Niya, did you hear me?" the pearl demon yelled, roughly shoving Niya. She stumbled back and looked up, beady-eyed. Her breath was caught. Their staring eyes seemed to seep into her soul and cause her to panic internally. Finally, after a beat or two, she finally nodded. The trio ended up wandering through the corridors of the underground with red pillars scattered throughout. The lead demon moved quickly, zigzagging through the small spaces between each of the pillars. Niya was having trouble catching up with the two ahead and wanted to give up, turning back. But she knew if she returned, the other two would be living the life upon Earth while she was stuck in the mailroom. It was the envy that grew inside of her and continued to grow until it persuaded her to do better. Niya wanted to fit in with everyone else and didn't enjoy being left behind. Through her life of being down under, it seemed only fitting that she was left behind. Few of friends end up pressuring her to do a variety of things which some of those things she ended up saying yes to.

The trio finds a boarded up opening in the furthest part from the mailroom. Splintered wood boards crossed over each other and behind it was a dark tunnel. Small flakes of dust seemed to disappear from the small pockets of sunlight into the darkest and a slight wave of coolness washed over the three. Niya began to feel unsure about the tunnel and started to shake lightly. The rose-colored demon looked over and frowned.

"What is the problem with you?" he snapped. This caused the pearl demon to look back and narrow his eyes again.

"Are you wanting to back down, Niya? Return to the hellish mail room where we aren't as important as the higher up?"

Niya muttered a quick apology and attempted to regain herself. The pearl demon smirked and turned back again, beginning to break down the wood blockage. When he was finally done, the coolness began to hug the trio from the front. The pearl demon moved forward, stepping over the clutter, followed by the rose demon. Niya looked down the tunnel and sighed before following after.



Rebecca was busy putting away books to not notice a cough behind her.

"Miss Applesugar, the library is closing," a man's voice muttered. She only hummed a response, replacing the final book on the shelf. It was lightly storming out as thunder and lightning clashed against the clouds. Most of the library had lights shut off and people were leaving to go back to their homes.

"I'm almost done, Mr. Gregg. I have one more book to put back and then I'll leave," she promised before moving past the man, who, in return, sighed. He then followed after Rebecca, furrowing his eyebrows.

"You said that the last time I told you to leave."

"I know, I know but-"

"Rebecca."

She stopped walking and looked back at Mr. Gregg."Don't worry, Michael. I'll leave, I promise." She then walked past and towards the back end of the library. Mr. Gregg went in the opposite direction, shaking his head. Rebecca continued to work with shoving books in the create places and beginning to think that the teenagers that came to the library were doing this as some cruel joke. The time went by faster than she had expected and the second time she looked up from what she was doing, it was midnight.
Hastily, Rebecca finished placing books away. Most of the lights were off in the library by the time she left and the hallways felt eerily cold from the lack of warmth that the A/Cs provided. It was raining slightly when she stepped outside, walking to her car. As she was walking to her car, there was a faint meow from behind her. Rebecca ignored it and attempted to unlock the car but the meowing continued.
Finally, she turned around and saw a yellow cat slowly walking towards her. The cat had beady green eyes with white paws. It came in front of Rebecca and continued to meow until she squatted down. Rebecca then left her hand out and the yellow cat pushed its head against it. There was a sense of love that grew in Rebecca's heart and within seconds, she decided to take the cat home with her since it was late and it couldn't possibly belong to anyone. She then lifted the cat and placed it inside the car, followed by her getting in and driving home.



The plan worked for the most part.

Niya was now riding in what she assumed was a car. She was in her cat form which seemed to be working easily for this plan. Both of her friends were off somewhere else and she had mentally promised herself that if there were dire times, she would find a way to reach out to them. For now, Niya settled in the backseat with her front paws in front. It wasn't a long ride and she enjoyed looking out the car. It did give her time to try to think of a plan of attack on how she was going to latch onto her host. One attempt could be clawing into her arm but Niya didn't want to hurt her. So, she ruled that idea out the window. Another attempt she could do was while her host was busy getting ready for bed, she could transform into her demon form and seep into her mind. Or, perhaps be in her cat form. Niya weighed the options before deciding that while being in her cat form it'd be the safest option than her owner turning around and seeing a yellow demon flying.

In the end, Niya only hoped this whole operation worked and if it didn't, she rather not thinks about that.



Rebecca carefully took out the newly found cat and carried it to her small house. It was tucked between two other houses that looked almost like it and since it was midnight, she also assumed the people inside were sleeping. Digging her key into the front door (after awkwardly moving her arms around the cat), Rebecca opened the door and after shutting the door with her foot walks to the kitchen.

"I'm going to get your food tomorrow," Rebecca muttered, patting the yellow cat on her head and in return, the cat purred into the palm of her hand. Yawning, Rebecca walked tiredly up the stairs and into the bathroom. She flicked on the light and stared sadly into the mirror. Her hair was all over the place and her mascara was smudged around her eyes. She then quickly removed her makeup and hopped into the shower. Afterwards, Rebecca went into her bedroom and saw the yellow cat on her bed, staring fondly at her.

"Ah, you wanna sleep with me tonight, kitty?" She then went over and patted the cat on her head before getting dressed. The storm from earlier was beginning to pick up as lightening colored the sky and thunder shook the windows. Rebecca patted the bed slightly as the yellow cat wandered over, purring against her hand.

"Tomorrow's gonna be a good day, kitty," Rebecca muttered as she fell asleep.

"Can you see me?"

Rebecca woke up in a black box. There were brightly lit circles on the walls and white lines on the floor that shot out at random points. She was laying down also but sat up, trying to pick at her surroundings.

"Where am I?"

"You do not need to worry, Rebecca Applesugar. I am here to help you, an echoy female voice stated. It then drifted away down the endless blackness in front of her.

Rebecca stood up now and was suddenly forced to walk. She looked down and realized there was a treadmill like path that continued on. There were voices all around that whispered and shrieked. She ended up trying to outrun the treadmill but it was fruitless.

"Do you know where we are at, Rebecca Applesugar?

"I want to leave," she shakily said. The echoy voice laughed.

"I'm afraid you can't because we are inside your own mind."

As the voice finished speaking, the black box grew brighter as various lights switched on. There were small gray-skinned creatures moving around and through small office spaces. They were muttering under their breath and repeating the same job over and over again. Rebecca felt a wave of sickness wash over her as she began to sway on the treadmill.

"These are your working bees of your brain. The parts where you tend to overwork or do the same job over and over again. They do not rest until you rest and since you never seem to rest, they continue to work, the voice explained. They continued on as the lights shut off. In another section of the box, a set of lights turned on revealing a little girl crying in her bedroom with a teddy bear clutched in her hand. A doctor was also in the room and was reading something off a clipboard.
Rebecca felt herself stumble back as the treadmill ride slowed down.

"This was the day you found your mother and brother died during when your mom was giving birth. Your father wasn't home at-"

"I know what happened. Can we just continue on?" Rebecca begged, her voice cracking. It was a dark time when this happened because her mother was a role model in her life. That single thought continued to bring up painful events that involved her father and a number of school nights that she would go unrested because of the lack of dinner that was on the table. Luckily, she began to resent her father and moved around. All of those horrible memories seemed to make her the person she was today and thankfully, something like that would not happen again.

The treadmill stopped at the last place in the box and it was still dark except for a singluar spotlight that was on a yellow cat. It was staring at Rebecca in an eerily fashion with its tail flickering behind, up and down.

"What're you doing here, kitty?" Rebecca asked, stepping off the treadmill ride. The cat didn't say anything in return but only stared at her. The cat then hopped off of where the spotlight was and began to walk towards Rebecca. It then sat on its hunched and looked up, a mysterious gleam in its eye.

"You're an interesting specimen, Rebecca Applesugar. With all the stress inside your mind, you still continue to overwork yourself. It's a trait that few share because they believe that stress and overworking should not go hand in hand but you continue to do so. You're stubborn. I like that," the voice stated. Its voice shifted from echoy to a crisp voice, as if it was right in front of her.

"Where are you?"

The voice chuckled before sighing. "Why I'm right in front of you?" The cat then shifted. The yellow fur melted and stretched in yellow skin. The paws were transformed into small, sharp claws and the head was stripped of the pointy cute ears to a bald ugly yellow. Rebecca stumbled back, falling onto the treadmill behind her. Her thoughts were racing, trying to piece together if this was a reality or a nightmare. She began to pinch herself but nothing worked. She then looked towards the cat but it was gone. In replacement of the cat, there was a yellow demon staring evilly towards Rebecca.

"You shouldn't be scared, Rebecca Applesugar. I'm here to help you with your stress and everything else. Now, come here. We begin the process now." A wave of darkness and nausea washed over Rebecca and as it was beginning, she remembered how much she hated cats.

Marius

Escaping Hell had been far from easy, and he wasn't about to let his inability to find the perfect host prevent him from achieving his goal. He had never been sure of what he would do after he completed his plan. He was still shocked that he had managed to pull off the majority of it. But if he was ever going to finish it off, he had to find a human whose life would be easy to slip into. A boy was preferred, but he wasn't too picky.

This was why he found himself carefully watching a high school at dismissal time. From his limited knowledge on how humans lived, it was the younger people that were often ignored. An adult would be extremely noticeable. But a shy student? They would essentially be a nobody. And while a younger kid may have been the better choice, a teenager would give him the freedom that he needed.

He waited.

And waited.

And waited.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity but had actually been five minutes, he saw a boy exit from the school. His arms were laden with books, and he seemed to be exiting the school alone. This was the type of kid he had been searching for. Now all that he had to do was get the boy alone and possess him. He hadn't taken a host before, but it couldn't be that hard, right?

Arthur Croft

As he headed home, his heart was heavy with the thought of the test he had surely failed. He had studied so hard for that biology test, but he had been unsure of what to put for at least half of it. His aunt wouldn't get mad – she never did – but he knew it would weigh down on him for the rest of the day. If only he had studied more about photosynthesis!

He needed a distraction. Though reading a book would certainly work, doing so while walking would most likely lead to a repeat of last week's disaster. He still had the bruise on his forehead from that. He would just have to take the shortcut.

He took a turn into the mostly uninhabited section of town. The property there had always been terrible, and only the desperate would purchase or rent one of apartment complexes. Businesses would suddenly pop up, only to close less than a week later. It was precisely why he rarely chose to cut through it. He would normally take the longer walk around it.

And if he had chosen to do that, he would have avoided a fate that was currently unimaginable. He couldn't have possibly known what was lurking in the darkness, and, if he had, he most likely would have laughed it off as a poor excuse for a joke.

“Hello,” a voice cheerfully called out from an alleyway. The voice sounded like it could belong to someone his age or even a little older. But there was something that didn't seem right. He couldn't put his finger on what it was, but he knew that there was something abnormal about the speaker.

He should have run when he heard it. The owner of the voice was a complete stranger, and he knew that something was wrong. But his combined curiosity and impulsiveness caused him to turn to the alleyway. Whoever was inside it was too far away from him to see.

“Hello,” he hesitantly said. “Do I, um, know you?”

“Not yet, but you will in a bit,” they answered.

They moved closer to where he was. He could begin to make out their form. He rubbed his eyes. They couldn't possibly have a tail and horns. It had to be his imagination. But even after he did so, the outline of a tail and a set of horns stubbornly remained.

“So what's your name?” they asked. Their tone was pleasant.

He didn't see in harm in telling them.

“Arthur Croft,” he replied.

They took another step forward. It was suddenly quite clear to him that he wasn't dealing with something that could be classified as normal. A pair of black horns curled out of the other teen's forehead, and his tail swung back and forth behind him. When he smiled at the trembling Arthur, a pair of fangs glinted in the sunlight.

“Well, Arthur, my name's Marius. I'm what you'd call a demon, and you,” Here he raised his hand and pointed at him. “are going to be my host for the rest of your life.” Then he muttered something under his breath that sounded suspiciously like, “assuming I can figure out how to possess you.”

He stared at him.

Marius stared back.

“Wh-Why me?” he managed to get out.

Marius shrugged. “You look like a good host, I guess?”

“But doesn't this sort of thing happen to bad people?” He should have been running away from him as fast as he possibly could, but he was sure that the demon could easily catch up. “I haven't done anything that would put me into that category.”

“You're a perfectly good person, and that's exactly why I need you to be my host,” Marius said with a grin that didn't reach his eyes. “No one will ever figure out that I'm possessing you. This was a nice chat, by the way. I have a feeling that I'm going to enjoy this.”

His books slipped out of his arms as Marius took control of his body.

Marius

Marius smiled as he grabbed the books. This was going to work out as well as he had hoped. He would live Arthur's life just as it had been lived prior to his possession. He had expected it to be a bit more difficult, but controlling his body was easier than he had hoped!

Then his finger twitched as if it suddenly had a life of its own.

Shit.