...

"So, that kid actually loves Pip? How touching." The girl rolled her eyes. She couldn't relate or even begin to fathom why love was so fixated on in the human realm. Why didn't they just screw, tear each others heads off, and be done with it? It seemed so simple to her.

"Yeah, in his own twisted way. That's why he's getting harder to control...those repressed feelings are coming to the surface. The kid's body is weakening rapidly, too. If Pip doesn't agree to help me soon...," He trailed off, intent on watching the mirror.

"Yeah? What's gonna happen?" The girl asked, hungry for the gory details.

"Well, let's just say it won't be pretty." Damien responded. "I can only possess someone for so long before their body gives out. I'm hollowing him out slowly...and once there's nothing left, the host dies."

Her eyes lit up when she heard this. "Oh, Damien, that's just awful!"

"It's awful, but I can probably use that fact to my advantage," Damien said, a glimmer of an idea growing in his brain. He smiled. "We'll just have to wait and see, baby."

...

Against his will, Pip was becoming concerned for Craig.

After Damien had pushed him and disappeared, Craig had fallen to the floor and hadn't gotten up. Pip could hear his raspy breathing filling the room...a sound that made his own throat ache.

"Craig?" He whispered. "Craig, are you okay?"

Silence stretched across the room. Anxiously, Pip listened for any signs that Craig was beginning to stir. Outside, morning birds were beginning to trill in the trees. Their song, which made Pip feel wonderfully (if only partially) normal again, was a welcome sound when Craig's silence continued.

"Craig?" He called again.

All at once, Craig flung his upper body onto the bed, his eyes wide and staring. Choking back a scream, Pip could see that a terrible tranformation was coming over him. Craig's skin was becoming a mottled grey color around the edges of his face, and the whites of his eyes were yellowing rapidly. His hands, which were hooked into the bedspread so that he wouldn't slide to the floor again, resembled dark claws. A foul odor arose from him, causing Pip to shrink away in overwhelmed disgust.

Pip's heart filled with pity. What was Damien doing to him? Did he intend to use him up until there was nothing left? Pip was astounded at the extent of Damien's cruelty.

With great effort, Craig was trying to pull himself onto the bed. Grabbing one of Pip's legs with a gnarled hand, he was able to make it...his breath becoming even more labored in the process. More than anything, Pip wanted to hurl that twisted hand from his leg, but resisted the urge. After all, Craig couldn't help what he was becoming...could he?

"Craig," Pip cried, "can't you fight him at all? He's going to kill you!"

Craig didn't answer, instead, he gently placed a hand on Pip's chest. Without any effort at all, he yanked on his pajama top, causing buttons to go flying in every direction. Pip's pale torso, like an untarnished snowfield, was left completely exposed. Craig ran a nail up the middle of his stomach, causing Pip to shiver uncontrollably. Delicately, he traced the contour of each of Pip's ribs, a look of supreme concentration on his face.

The stench exuding from Craig's flesh was becoming stronger now. His movements, which had been swift and unnaturally fast before, were slowing down and becoming stilted. Pip was astonished to see how quickly Craig was falling apart in front of him.

"Craig! Stop! You've got to listen!" He yelled, desperately.

Silently, Craig draped his hands around Pip's throat, and for a moment, his touch was almost tender. Lovingly, he stroked Pip's throat and then slowly, he began applying pressure. Pip gasped as he felt Craig's grip becoming stronger...until his air was completely cut off. Feeling his eyes bulging out of his skull, Pip began to writhe under Craig's death-grip. His mouth gaped open in silent pleading.

Craig continued to tighten his grip. His face was passionless, his execution of the task methodical. Not only was his body breaking down, it would seem, but so was his brain. Craig was truly becoming a device for Damien's evil...even through Pip's agony, he could see there was no sense in trying to reach him any longer.

I feel so warm, Pip thought through the pain. Who knew it was going to end this way?

He closed his eyes. Pip certainly didn't want his last image on Earth to be of Craig's inhuman face. Faintly, he believed he could hear the bones and sinew within the column of his neck creaking and grinding.

Why aren't I afraid? Am I actually ready for this? Rational thought was becoming difficult now, but he still managed to ask himself these questions.

Did he want to die?

The pain and the warmth were reaching a Hellish zenith now. As Pip could feel his body giving in, as it began to slacken, he readied himself for the inevitable.

Just promise me wherever I end up will be better than this place, he pleaded to some unknown force. He didn't exactly believe in God, but he hoped whoever heard him would be merciful of his soul.

Suddenly, through the fog of lost breath and the serenity that comes with acceptance, Pip realized he was able to breathe again. While he had been slipping into the warm waters of eternity, Craig had let go of his throat. Dimly, through the black spots that obscured his vision and the ringing in his ears, he could hear screams that leeched the blood from his veins.

Pip's throat was throbbing with a fire that made him want to sob. Opening his eyes, he could see weak morning sunlight dappling the carpet, and the birdsong in the trees was stronger. Horribly, he also took in the sight of Craig convulsing against the far wall. He was clutching at his flesh, digging his nails in and tearing at it relentlessly. Sickeningly, Pip could see that he was removing chunks of flesh every time he pulled his hands away. The pieces of meat that flecked the carpet were a dingy gray.

His wounds...! Pip thought sluggishly.

The wounds he had inflicted with the gun were slowly growing larger. A gelatinous fluid was oozing from each of them...it seemed to be a mixture of blood and the black vapor that had immobilized him. As it seeped from his body, the horrible smell Pip had detected before intensified unbearably. The only time Pip had experienced a stench like that had been when he'd visited a slaughterhouse for school: thick, meaty, riddled with an intense fear.

Craig continued to scream, his howls akin to the sound a rabbit makes when murdered by a fox. His eyes bulged almost completely from their sockets, and he turned them on Pip, pleading. Trickles of blood began to escape from their corners, like they'd been popped with a pin.

Although Pip's throat was in agony, he tried to call to him. "Craig, Craig I'm sorry!" He croaked, the words barely audible in the early morning symphony of bird calls. "I'm so sorry!" He whispered pathetically. Pip hung his head, unable to stomach the sight of Craig's decay any longer.

"Don't tell me you don't want to watch the show?" A voice next to him asked incredulously.

Pip whipped his head around. Damien sat next to him, his legs crossed, his face amused. Absentmindedly, he chewed on one of his nails, while Craig's screaming intensified. "Isn't this what you wanted, Pip?" He asked, slyly. "He'll never screw around with you again, that's for sure."

"No!" Pip mouthed, his voice almost completely gone. "I didn't want this at all! I may hate Craig, but I never wanted him to suffer this way! Please - make it stop!"

"So, you don't want him to die?" Damien asked, his eyes narrowing.

Exhausted, Pip shook his head. "No, I don't! Please, Damien..."

"I can still save him. He's not that far gone." Damien stretched like a cat, and looked deeply into Pip's eyes.

"Fine, yes! Do it! Hurry!"

"Oh, no, no, no, no, Pip. You have to give something in order to get something, you know that. What kind of demon would I be if I didn't demand payment for my services?" He smiled.

A profound stillness came over Pip. Although he was no longer being strangled by Craig, he could still feel a noose tightening around his neck. He stared at Damien, completely at a loss when it came to dealing with his conniving nature.

"You...wouldn't..." He breathed.

"Oh, but I would. Say the word, Pip, and I'll save your little boyfriend. Refuse me, and he dies. Oh, and I'll leave you strapped to this bed for your parents to find. If you don't die first, of course. They're not due back until next week, right?"

Pip knew that he had been defeated. Hanging his head, he couldn't bear to look at Damien any longer. Vaguely, he could hear Craig's death-throws becoming more violent, the sounds making his stomach clench like a fist.

After all of the agony Craig put you through...are you really going to sacrifice yourself for him? His mind screeched. After he pushed you down the stairs? After he practically raped you? After the years of constant abuse and fear and...

The thoughts died in his head. It was true that Craig had wounded his body for years, and would continue to do so if given the chance, but Pip couldn't let that fact alter his decision. He couldn't allow the misdeeds of another to strip him of his humanity...if that happened, that would mean Craig had managed to take everything from him. Pip had shed plenty of blood at the hands of Craig, but that blood did not contain his compassion.

"Well, what's it going to be?" Damien asked, impatient.

Numbly, Pip nodded his head. There was not enough strength left within him to vocalize his assent. He was more tired in that moment then he could ever remember being.

"Wonderful!" Damien exclaimed. "He'll be back to normal in no time!"

With a snap of his fingers, Craig's screams stopped. Gently, his body rose into the air, and a halo of warm, clear light enveloped him. From his position on the bed, Pip could feel the warmth of it fall across his body...and for a moment, he could forget that he'd just made a deal with the Devil.

...

The pain was dissipating, thankfully.

Craig could feel himself being covered in the purest warmth he had ever known. It was as if the sun was lodged within his chest, and he was lighting up the entire world. The wounds on his hand and neck were beginning to close...even the pieces of flesh he'd ripped away were growing back...

His mind was becoming blissfully clear again...

And it was all because of this beautiful light...the light that he had always seen radiating from him.

Maybe there was hope for him after all.

...

"There we go. That sack of crap is as good as new." Damien said.

Pip looked over, and saw that Craig was sleeping peacefully on the floor. Somewhere deep inside him, a minute joy surged.

Damien leaned against Pip softly. "We're going to have so much fun together, Pip. You just wait and see."

Fear loomed its sinister head within Pip's breast. In his heart, he knew he had made the right decision in saving Craig...but what was to become of him? How many were going to suffer because he had insisted on saving this one person?

With a shudder, he contemplated the time that stretched ahead...of the moments filled with Damien's cruelty and colored with the blood of untold numbers.

Bleakly, he could feel the tears building behind his eyelids, but he was smart enough not to let them fall in front of Damien.

A thought that had been rolling around in his brain for years came back to him now...a question he'd be asking himself for as long as he walked this Earth as a slave of Hell:

When would this madness end?

...

The End

... of part one, anyway. Thanks for reading! :) To everyone who's commented so far - thank you! I really, really appreciate it.