Gambling With the Dark Side
S.N. Blade and Doux Gamine
Chapter 2
Condemned to Purgatory
The shear power and force of it all overwhelmed Draco to his knees in misery. The thoughts where all clicking one by one: he was now a play toy for some deceitful demon, he was going to die because of this idiotic mistake, he was in for a great deal of pain, and his father would kill him. Well, his father would not kill him, per say, but would come a great deal close to rendering his son paralyzed whilst providing a ripe specimen for St. Mungo's. These thoughts were brimming the edge of the cup and about to overflow when he felt his own fingers tapping impatiently as if the demon was waiting for him to finish his winy and evidently irrelevant thoughts. This took Draco by surprise and he began furiously shaking his hand about in an effort to stop the involuntary motion.
"Mon Dieu! I'm so screwed."
All train of thought stopped when in his head he heard a deep, powerful voice say, "Massster Malfoy, how lovely it wasss for you to releassse me from that awfully ressstr-ictiiing book. I'm sssorry but my thanksss is not what will befall you during my ssstayin in this unfortunate but beautiful body."
"What do you plan on executing in my once sacred body?" Draco said attempting to hide his fear, but beknownced to him the demon had access to many of his deepest thoughts. "This is most unfair and I do hope you don't ruin my life to horribly during your stay." Draco sarcastically and painstakingly calmly proposed.[jdb]
"Ruin it? No, Massster Malfoy. Take it?" the demon paused eerily, the suspenseful silence nearly tangible. "Yessss." it hissed hungrily. The smile of the demon could be felt and it scorched Draco's brain, its gleeful cackle reverberating between his delicate lobes. It only laughed harder when the pale boy winced and he could tell the damned entity was feeding off his own discomfort. "Don't worryyy, my chiiild, all will be jusssst fine.Draco had the grace to raise his eyebrows in disbelief; the demon might have slight control over his body, but that did not mean Draco was suddenly stupid and could not see the truth. Okay, it won't, sssooo condemn me! Ha, I already am,it stopped to bask in its own humorous pun. I guessss you're sssstuck with me then; what a piiiity." Its evil smirk rivaled that of the one inherited by each and every Malfoy . It was quite horrible, being able to feel its emotions when it wasn't using his body to express them. "I can already tell thisss isss going to be quite entertaining."
"Bugger off, won't you?" Draco attempted to appear calm; he was anything but.
"No can do." Draco became almost unbearably uncomfortable in the silence that pursued. He could feel the demon scrutinizing him and briefly wondered if the demon could also comprehend his thoughts now that it inhabited his body. Without warning, it spoke quickly, the words falling like a hissing spigot. "You can take thisss resssponssibility gracccefully without protesssst or it can be done the hard way with no remorsssse on my part and with plenty of conssssequencccce; you need not guessss which I prefer."
"What happens if I refuse, as any Malfoy would, and do not condone your havoc wreaking?" he asked almost aristocratically.
"You ccccertainly do not want to know," the demon snapped shortly.
"If I didn't want to know, then I wouldn't have asssssked," was his snide, mocking reply. The thing blonde let a one cheek tense in a half grin, finding his last minute joke slightly entertaining being that it obviously irritated the demon. In reply to his insolence, the demon happily sent a heat bolt through the boy's body in warning.
"Watch your tone, it warned complacently as if it were scolding a child for talking back. Needlesssss to sssay, it issss not very pleassssant on your behalf and death comessssss much quicker with an extra dossssage of pain and agony."
Draco looked distressed but also upset that a Malfoy could be defeated so simply; it was a new feeling and it washed over him like a hot flash. He felt the urge to growl but held it back with considerable control, a well practiced habit since childhood. "Well, let's see..." he pretended to contemplate deeply, "make it easier to hand my soul over to the devil and do your bidding without question or put up a good fight and die a brutal death anyway. Hmm...tough decision, I'll get back to you in a few days." Despite his careless exterior, Draco's life was practically flashing before his eyes, as they say. His future already lay out in front of him, unless, of course, he could get out of this; after all, he wasn't a Slytherin for nothing. He saw himself being fucked with in the most infuriating ways (as he liked to think of it) and made a complete fool. This could lead to worse, possibly self-humiliation or his father beating the shit out of him as the older Malfoy loved so much to do.
Draco picked up the cursed book with a parseltongue title in pealing gold scroll. Quickly he began rifling through the decrepit leaves, not understanding the text and therefore not entirely knowing exactly what he sought. As he came across the page that condemned him to this purgatory, he ceased his search and peered at the diagram for the text that was obviously what had released the demon. Moments before he had realized what was happening to him, he had understood the diagram, but in the light of his so-called new life, it meant absolutely the same as mudbloods did to him, nothing. Studying the diagram further, the younger Malfoy was amused to discover something considered extremely personal when concerning demons, a subject that most refused to discuss. "You're a girl."
"What?!" its temper flared, literally, and the heat made Draco squirm uncomfortably. "Nonssssensssse, sssssuch rubbish."
"Look, right here, you're female, admit it."
"If you musssst know," it controlled itself admirably, "I am jusssst assss much of a male assss you are, Massster Malfoy."
"Don't be silly, it shows it right here," he said, balancing the book on one hand to allow himself to point with the other. Suddenly, a cacophony of hisses incorporated with vowels assaulted his head leaving him momentarily dazed when they ceased.
"Ssseee? I am not a girl." The insult stung the demon.
"See what? You proved nothing!" Draco replied, still slightly confused of what had just occurred.
"Did you not here me? Did you not read what it ssssayssss below that dreadful diagram?"
"That was you? Argh, no, I don't know that retched language." This statement further insulted the demon and Draco could feel its burning hatred quickly concentrating, causing him to cramp in pain.
"It issss not retched! It sssurpasssesss your time when thingsss were meant only for what they were worth! If you could only sssspeak it, you would underssstand."
"That still doesn't prove to me you aren't female," he said through the immense pain. Draco was purposefully directing the conversation to an area that continued to cause discomfort in the supposed female demon, disregarding the fact that it was, in a way, causing him to practice self harm.
"I shall transssslate then, you imbecccile." The demon must have been reading it over again, for its translation was only a summary. "In short, it ssssayssss that although the depiction issss female," it annunciated carefully as if reading to a mere simpleton, "the demon called forth may be either gender." As if this proved its point, the anger melted away, the cramp dispersing but leaving Draco in a cold sweat.
"I don't believe you," he wheezed, "you could very well be telling me that instead of truly translating it."
"Well then," the cramp returned, "I guesss I am forccced to teach you my language then, sssoo that you may read it yoursssself."
"Can that be done? I didn't think one could just simply learn parseltongue."
"I will sssee to it that you can, Massster Malfoy. I will not have you think I am the oppossssite gender." Draco expected the cramp of anger to be dropped, but after moments of futile waiting, it remained.
"Aren't you going to let the cramp go? I got your point when you made it."
"I ssssuppossse, though I'd love to leave it jussst a while longer." Before releasing Draco from the pain, the demon caused one final sharp cramp that caused Draco to double over instead of holding his stomach restlessly as he had been. 'This demon is now the bane of my existence and I have no say in it. There must be a way to rid myself of this cursed devilish creature,' he thought.
"Ah ah, Draco, sssssuch thoughtsssss will lead to more disssstasssssteful torture on your part. You were not allowed to infiltrate thissss forbidden placccce but yet you defied your father and did ssssso anyway. Later issss not good eeenough," drawled the demon, "you should know better when dealing withhh my kind. You brought thisss on yourssself ssso don't be surprisssed when you sssuffer the conssequensess, you little brat."
"Fortunately, I've never had the pleasure of the company of your kind," the young Malfoy wryly insulted, examining his nails as if he were unconcerned with the pressing matters at hand. "Ohh, did I bruissse your little ego, young masssster. Ha. Well then fortunately, you have no notion of the amount of control I have over your now ssssullied body even with my manifesssstation being only momentssss ago." Draco found himself extremely skeptical but guiltily reminded himself that only moments ago had his smooth fingertips been drumming the dusty shelf on seemingly their own accord and tensed them, folding his long arms to protect himself like some cowardly child.
"Ah, yessss, you remember."
"Yes, well, don't do anything like that again, understand me? This is my body, not yours, and I control it!" he barked furiously, hoping his growing fear was not evident but knowing it was all the while.
"You control it, do you? Sssssssleeeeeeeeep." Before Draco could fight off the consuming nausea his body met the flagstone corridor without any graceful finesse, a dull thump the only evidence of his lithe frame's weight. The action caused him to expel the book very quickly and without a thought. 'Thisssss issss going to be ever ssssoooo delightful,' the demon thought with glee in his native tongue, 'ever ssssoooo delightful.' [snz and jdb]
Note from S.N. Blade – I swear, I pushed to get more length on this chapter, but my counterpart insisted we post. I told her it was not significantly longer such as we promised, but she blatantly insisted she didn't care, she was too anxious to get it out. Although she is my humble Queen, she needs to get her head out of her arse (because she spends too much time up there looking for me, her peasant poo) and start considering what you the readers want. No matter what, I promise you, the next chapter WILL BE LONGER!
Note from Doux Gamine- We shall see. Muahahaha
Disclaimer: Neither the characters or the situations are ours, although the plot is as well as the demon. Steal it, and we'll let him loose on you without remorse.