[ WP ] Write about a boy who gambled his life with a demon

Everyone's heard of miracles. Those near-death experiences that turn for the best. Denny's hoping for one of those miracles, praying to every deity ever known. He's running out of time, out of air, but he still prays. He has faith, even though it's dwindling, that he'll find the strength to pull away from the tide, swim to to safety, instead of being swept away to another realm. Something hovers above him, near him. He can feel the chill through his whole body as the being approaches, waits for the invitation to save him. His miracle is here. Denny does n't know what it means, to swallow the thing whole instead of salt water, but he does, opens up his heart and soul to the beast. It curls inside him, happy for the warm body, and directs him in the right direction, through the waves and the storms, using its strength to take them home. Denny is home, but the demon is fully entrenched. 
 
 Malificent is delighted. She nearly purrs when she wraps herself in the new body, rifles through the memories of this new mind. The body's handsome, in shape and fully-formed. She ca n't find any defects, any blots of pain or disease in his memories. He's fresh and alive and so ready to be ruined. 
 
 Out of all the bodies she's taken, all the lives she's lived, she's never seen such richness before. Maybe once, in the 1700s, when she inhabited the Duchess of Cordoba, did she even come close to such splendor. Denny has nine cousins, four siblings, two parents and a litter of squalling friends who celebrate his return. He has such love, all crammed in that little house. So many souls that Malificent can pierce and suck dry. The Duchess had servants, blind devotion, but never this kind of love, the kind of bond that's so strong it almost pains the demon to break. 
 
 Even more than the friends, Denny has this girlfriend. Her name is Sarah, and she's beautiful, and loves the boy. Loves the body now, Malificient thinks, because Denny is gone. Well, he's still present, still has his memories and thoughts and dreams, but Malificient has taken control, stolen that tiny piece of free will that he never knew he had. 
 
 When Malificent sees the cross around Sarah's neck, she wavers. She wonders if she should press on in this body, take this life. It's her's, she's earned it, but entering into a church is only asking for trouble. It puts a beacon on her -- a demon in a boy's skin, just asking for an angel to come down and pluck her clean. 
 
 Malificient does n't know much about the other side. It's a pity, she always thought, how the spiritual planes never really spoke. She only knew her role, her most basic purpose: to eat and consume the souls of humans. She was n't even really sure she'd ever been a human. Maybe, once. But she had no memories from that life, only echoes of feelings long since faded. She had n't even fulfilled her purpose, not really. She'd never eaten a soul in its entirety, just consumed it until only the remnants clung to the bone. Of all the demons she'd seen, all the evil she'd felt, what feared her most was the unknown. Eat the soul and then what? Malificient had a feeling that even after such a feat, she'd never feel truly full.
