I'm so sorry this took so long! Life got a bit crazy for a while, but to make up for it I've thrown the rest of the story into one massive monster mamma jam of a chapter. Please don't hate me!

Graphic Content: Gore, Smut

You sat in your hallway watching the front door, your foot tapping impatiently on the ground as you lost yourself in your thoughts. It had been a little over twenty-four hours since you had incapacitated Dark, you were a bit worried that he hadn't woken up yet, but he was still breathing. You had dressed the wound on his head to the best of your ability and you hoped Mark was still in there and that he was okay.

You were startled from your reverie by a sharp knock and you leapt up to open the door; an elderly woman quickly rushed past you without a word. She was short and frail-looking with long silver hair that was a bit tangled, though you didn't know if that was normal or the result of her rushed journey.

"I'm glad you called me, I didn't believe you at first, but I could sense him the moment I entered the street" she muttered, her voice low and scratchy, as she quickly went about starting preparations for the night ahead.

After you'd knocked Dark out and spent a bit more time double and triple checking that he was securely restrained and would not escape, you kept as much distance from him as you possibly could. You hopped straight onto your computer to try and find anything that would help you sort this out, it's not like you could ring the police. To your surprise, it didn't take long to come across something, a demon by the name of Aka Manah, referenced in scriptures from the ancient religion of Zoroastrianism whose description sounded almost exactly like Dark. Third of the seven sons of Lucifer, he is often referred to as the 'true son of the devil' as he is the most violent demon to ever be born in the depths of hell. His name is Avestan for the Zoroastrian daeva 'Evil Mind', 'Evil Purpose', 'Evil Thinking' or 'Evil Intention' and he selects possession victims dependant on their 'life-force' levels as he otherwise cannot survive on the surface plane.

It had taken you a while longer to find Roshanak, the woman who was now bustling around the unconscious man in your living room, but she claimed to possibly have the ability to perform the exorcism necessary to remove a demon like Dark. She had been extremely sceptical on the phone, she even hung up on you once, convinced you were prank calling, but you were persistent. You pleaded with her to at least check it out, you described the night you had met Dark, omitting certain parts of the story, you were still incredibly conflicted about that night and you just didn't want to think about it. She seemed concerned by what you'd described, as she was instantly eager to pay Dark a visit.

The scene in your living room was surreal once the exorcism preparations were complete, there were 5 tall, white candles placed in a circle around Dark's chair, the holders they were placed in were black, elegantly decorated and stood about a foot tall, they were also shaped in a special way around the candles so that it would be difficult to extinguish them. A small decorative container was placed at the base of each candle-holder, containing what you assumed from your limited research to be offerings to whoever Roshanak was going to call upon to help you.

Roshanak had placed a very thin white shirt on Dark as best she could without untying him and was fiddling with a thin piece of rope wrapped around it. She tied it with a double knot at the front, then round the back and to the front again, mumbling in a different language as she tied each knot. She then pulled a book from her bag and sat cross-legged on the floor, just outside of the circle of candles before handing you a thin wooden splint, a box of matches and a small stiletto knife. It was beautifully decorated, with an embroidered handle and symbols expertly etched into the blade.

"Light the candles. Make sure to stay out of the circle." You paused, staring at the items for a second.

"What's the knife for?" You asked before taking the items, admiring the craftsmanship of the blade.

"A last resort. I hope you won't need to use it." You raised an eyebrow at the cryptic response but put the knife in your pocket anyway. You had an idea about the knife's purpose but didn't want to entertain the thought. You then looked between the remaining items in your hands and the candle holders around the room, you were unsure whether you should be shouldering this responsibility, after all, you knew absolutely nothing about exorcisms in general, nevermind rituals from obscure ancient religions. What if you did something wrong? Nevertheless, you made your way around the room, igniting the splint and carefully lighting each candle and making sure your limbs kept a respectable distance from the edge once it was complete.

The room temperature dropped the moment the last candle was lit, a breeze seeming to circulate from nowhere in an attempt to extinguish the gently flickering lights.

"What do you think you're doing, (Y/N)?" the voice was calm, but laced with malice and followed by an animalistic snarl that froze the blood in your veins. Dark was awake, and he was staring directly at you, his usually black eyes pulsing a that deep shade of blood-red that caused every hair on your body to stand on end. You could tell from the way his muscles were discreetly flexing that he was testing his bonds and you suddenly felt panic wash over you, Dark was inhumanly strong, what if he broke through the ropes? You turned to look at Roshanak, whose eyebrows were furrowed and her mouth set in a line, studying Dark intently, as if she couldn't quite believe what she was witnessing

"It's him, but he's weak." She then said dismissively, looking down at her book. "He'd have broken free by now. Don't listen to anything he says."

Dark snarled again, the sound was like nothing you'd ever heard, like it came from the devil himself. The atmosphere suddenly seemed to turn almost acidic, your skin prickled painfully as if it were being corroded and you had to sit yourself on the floor after a sudden wave of nausea hit you, the taste of copper filled your mouth and you had to try hard not to gag. Roshanak didn't seem fazed as she flipped through the pages of her book, pausing on a certain passage before she began to speak, words you couldn't understand rolled off her tongue effortlessly as she began the ritual.

Dark didn't seem to respond, at least not in the way you expected. There was no screaming, he didn't twist and thrash around in pain at the words the elderly woman was muttering, but the room became impossibly dark. You could barely see despite the fact the candles were still lit, as if the light itself had been sapped from the room.

"(Y/N)?" You froze, it felt like a hand had a vice-like grip on your heart at the pained whine. Despite Roshanak attempting to drown his voice out with hers, there was no mistaking it in your mind, that was Mark, but unlike you'd ever heard him before. He sounded terrified and in pain, your name croaking from his throat as if he'd spent the last few hours screaming. "(Y/N), are you there? W-what's going on?" You didn't answer, the rational half of your brain thinking it just a ploy by Dark to get you to release him. "Please help me, (Y/N), I know you're there!" You turned to leave the room, unable to bear the pleading any longer, but just as you were about to cross the threshold of your hallway, the voice changed back to a bone-chilling growl.

"Come here" Suddenly, before you could react, you felt an unseen force quickly suck you towards the centre of the room. You briefly heard Roshanak pause her chanting and begin to yell something before you breached the barrier of the circle of candles and you were blinded by white.

When your vision returned, you found yourself in a dimly lit hallway that you didn't recognise. You blinked and looked around in confusion, the hallway appeared to belong to a hotel, with multiple wooden doors lining both sides and one at the end, but none of the doors were numbered.

"What the fuck?" You whispered to yourself, tentatively going to open one of the doors closest to you. The door swung open to a small, empty room, the off-white paint was peeling from the cracked walls and at the other end there was a large window in the centre of the wall. You approached the window cautiously, peering through the glass to see what looked like Mark's living room. The view was swinging around the room disorientingly fast, as if you were watching through someone else's eyes. It didn't show much before panning up to view the ceiling and looping back to the beginning.

Confused, you backed out slowly to check the next room, revealing the same set up, though checking the window showed something different. Someone you recognised to be Mark's old roommate walked into view, you had only met him a couple of times, he was always on his way out when you'd go over to Mark's, so you just assumed he worked a lot. He was saying something but there was no sound so you couldn't make it out. He looked nervous though, his eyes shooting to Mark's front door which was just out of frame. He suddenly went to run as his arm was grabbed by whoever's eyes you were peering through before it, again, looped back to the beginning. Then it hit you, that was Mark's hand, though it was devoid of his natural skin colour so he must have been under Dark's control. Were you watching his memories? You shook your head, utterly confused, when you noticed a small key on the windowsill in front of you, it was pretty generic, bronze in colour and a little rusted.

"What is going on?" You whined to yourself, were you hallucinating? Did you hit your head after you were dragged backwards? You pocketed the key as you left the room to check the next one, finding it locked, you jimmied the handle, pushing against the door but it wouldn't give, so you pressed your ear to the wood. You knew it'd be a longshot as you'd only experienced complete silence so far, though your eyes widened in surprise as you heard a faint whimpering from the other side.

"It was me, I did it" The muffled sentence was being repeated like a mantra, it sounded like Mark. You hurriedly pulled the key out of your pocket, it took a bit of work to get the key into the old lock, for a second you didn't believe the key was a match, but eventually the lock clicked and you slowly opened the door.

Mark was sat on the floor in the middle of the room, crying with his face in his hands and shaking his head, he didn't seem to notice you as he never looked up, though your eyes were quickly drawn to the images through the window. It seemed to follow directly from the room before, with Mark's former roommate caught in his grip, there was pure, unadulterated fear in the young man's eyes as Dark's other hand gripped his throat, holding him against the wall and preventing him from moving, the complete lack of sound with the images somehow made them more terrifying. Mark's roommate then suddenly screamed and his eyes almost bulged from their sockets, the view panned down slightly to view Dark plunging his hand into the man's chest, thick, dark blood poured from the wound over Dark's forearm as he pulled the still beating heart back through the hole. You watched the light quickly fade from the young man's eyes before his now lifeless body fell to the floor out of view. Dark closed his blood-red fist around the organ in his grasp, his hand emitting a faint glow as the heart seemed to meld into his skin, concluding the memory.

You fell to the floor as a wave of dizziness overcame you and you had to swallow back the need to dry heave. You could barely comprehend what you had just witnessed, you shut your eyes to try and compose yourself but the images were burned to the back of your eyelids. It hadn't truly hit you until now what a monster Dark was, he was no incubus, he was a cold blooded murderer hungry for power, a true demon from hell. You hated to think how long Mark had been locked in this room, forced to watch Dark use his body to do these terrible things.

You managed to finally pull yourself together enough to crawl over to where Mark was still sobbing to himself and put a hand on his shoulder. He almost leapt out of his skin at the touch, pulling away from you as if you had burned him. His eyes widened once he realised who you were.

"(Y/N)? What-? How-?" he stuttered as he stared at you, not being able to believe his eyes. He looked tortured, he was pale, with deep, dark circles around his bloodshot eyes.

"It's okay Mark, I'm going to help you." he just shook his head.

"No, you can't be here, how did you get here? You need to leave" he rambled.

"I don't even know where we are or how I got here. I don't know how to leave" you explained, unsettled by how panicked Mark was by your presence. He just shook his head.

"You're not real, this is just another way for him to torture me." he said dejectedly, causing your heart to ache at how broken Mark had become. You grabbed his arm to pull him to his feet.

"Come on, we need to get out of here" he didn't respond, following you out of the room silently. You turned to lock the door to the room again, kicking the key under it before turning to Mark. You put your hands on his cheeks to force him to look you in the eyes. "I'm so sorry Mark, but that was not you, that was Dark. You are not responsible for what he does." His eyes dropped to stare at the floor, agonising guilt plain on his face, so you pulled him into a hug, it took a few seconds for him to return the embrace but he gripped you tightly as he began sobbing anew.

"I don't want to lose you too. It'll be my fault, I got you involved." You didn't respond, just stroked the hair on the back of his head as Mark let years of hidden torture and misery out for you to see.

After the tears stopped flowing you pulled away, giving Mark a gentle smile which he returned.

"Let's find a way out of here" you said as you both made your way to the door at the end of the hallway. This room was much bigger than the rest, with a large window that took up the entire wall. Through the window you could see your living room, though it was still impossibly dark even with the candlelights. You could only just see Roshanak, still sat just outside the circle continuing the ritual, she looked worried, her eyes flicking from the pages in front of her to the right. You followed her line of sight and gasped as you saw your own motionless body, lying just inside the circle. Mark seemed to notice too as he stared at you with wide eyes, his mouth opening as if to say something but his voice wouldn't materialise.

"You are quite the troublemaker aren't you (Y/N)?" You froze, as did Mark, you felt the familiar sensation of your blood running cold as you slowly turned to face the demon in the doorway. Dark slowly crossed the room to stand in front of you, watching the window with a smirk, admiring his handiwork.

"What is this place?" you demanded, not taking your eyes off him. He turned to you, his smirk only widening as he outstretched his arms to gesture at the room around you.

"Welcome to Mark's mind, do you like what I've done with the place? It's just a little thing I came up with on short notice so I wouldn't have to listen to Mark's snivelling while my plan comes to fruition." he sneered at Mark, whose face turned to thunder.

"You made me kill my best friend" Mark growled, before launching himself at his oppressor. Dark effortlessly flung him away into the wall, causing him to cry out in pain as he hit the floor. You ran over to help him but your arm was grabbed by Dark.

"Ah ah ah, you've spoilt my fun quite enough young lady, though I must congratulate you on your research. You almost had me, shame all that effort you went to was only good enough to keep me inside that circle" He then threw you against the opposite wall, you saw him quickly close in on you through the stars in your vision. He looked down at you while shaking his head, you couldn't look away from his deep onyx eyes, almost losing yourself in them as your head swam from the contact with the wall. "You really thought you could stop me? I should have killed you when we first met. How did you make me so weak when you radiate such a powerful life force?" he questioned rhetorically before he grabbed your throat and pulled you up to his eye level. His eyes began to glow and a smile spread across his face as you struggled to breathe through his grip. "Now I'm finally going to have full control of this body. I'll have the power to destroy your little exorcism attempt and the surface plane will be my domain." he pressed a quick kiss to your lips, though you barely felt it as you felt your consciousness begin to fade. "It's such a shame I have to make this quick, you're so beautiful when you're in pain."

"No!" you heard Mark yell faintly in the background as you saw Dark pull his other arm back, ready to end your existence. Without thinking and with the last of your energy you quickly grabbed the dagger Roshanak had given you, thrusting it forward with all the strength you could muster.

You choked and gasped for air as you were promptly dropped to the floor. Dark stumbled back a few steps, staring incredulously at the hilt that was sticking out of his chest.

"What have you done? What is this!?" he bellowed as a thick, viscous substance began to ooze from the wound, it fizzled as it touched the floor before seeming to evaporate, leaving only black dust. You couldn't respond as you continued to gasp for precious oxygen, staring in wonder as Dark's chest began to concave in front of you. "No! I won't let you take this from me!" his screaming was pained as he staggered forwards, reaching towards you in a final desperate attempt to take your life, but before he could get too close, Mark shot up from his position on the floor and shoved him away from you. Dark released a demonic yell and his body contorted unnaturally in pain before eventually succumbing to the dagger's power, his screams faded as he disappeared back to whence he came, leaving the dagger sitting in the large dust pile.

You barely had time to process what had just happened when a wave of intense dizziness overcame you, you fell back to lie on the floor, vaguely aware of Mark leaning over you, he looked worried.

It felt like only a blink, it perhaps was, but you opened your eyes and found yourself staring at your living room ceiling. You sat up with a groan, gently shaking your head to try and clear the grogginess from your brain.

"You did it." you heard Roshanak say, and looked up to see her with a relieved smile on her face. You only had the energy to nod weakly as you looked over to check on Mark. He hadn't awoken yet, which caused a pang of worry to shoot through your chest, it must have shown on your face as Roshanak put a hand on your shoulder, squeezing reassuringly. "He's been locked in his mind for some time, it may take him a while to wake, but he'll be fine." Your tense shoulders relaxed a little in relief and you smiled gratefully at the older woman as she went about collecting her things together.

You worked together to untie Mark and move him to your sofa, making sure he was lying comfortably before you went to see Roshanak off.

"Thank you so much for your help, I don't think I could ever repay you." you said as you shook her hand. She raised her other hand in a dismissive manner.

"Just knowing that demon is not on this plane of existence is enough payment for me. Well done." You smiled and waved as she made her way out your door before closing and locking it behind her.

A few hours had passed and you were starting to get worried again, you had spent the entire time watching Mark closely, searching for any signs of him regaining consciousness. You had taken the bandaging off his head to check the wound, which seemed to be healing well. You were considering calling an ambulance and were in the process of thinking up an explanation for Mark's head injury when you saw him shift slightly, a barely audible groan escaping him as his eyes slowly fluttered open. You heaved a sigh of relief.

"Thank god, you're okay! How are you feeling?" You asked earnestly, you'd missed those soft brown eyes, the warmth behind them a stark contrast to Dark's cold, empty gaze. Mark didn't respond straight away, staring into space as if he were listening for something, he then sat up, a large smile spread across his face and he suddenly looked more relaxed than you'd ever seen him before.

"He's gone. He's really gone" Mark said in disbelief. You smiled and nodded, then gasped as you were suddenly enveloped in a tight embrace, he stood up, lifting you from the floor slightly in order to grip you tighter. You returned it immediately, revelling in the sensation of Mark's muscular arms surrounding you. The world felt right again, you were safe. "Thank you (Y/N), thank you so much!" You heard Mark's voice waver and felt tears begin to soak your shoulder, so you quickly pulled away.

"Hey, what's wrong?" You asked, using your thumbs to gently wipe away his tears. Mark shook his head, the smile returning to his face.

"Nothing, I just never thought I'd be free of him. I thought he was going to kill you. I'm just a bit overwhelmed." You just smiled and pulled him back into your embrace, holding him tight and never wanting to let go.

"(Y/N)?" You barely heard Mark speak, you pulled back from the embrace again to find him staring deep into your eyes, before he slowly closed the gap and gently touched his lips against yours. You felt your heart pound in your chest as you closed your eyes to return the kiss, you heard him grunt in approval as he wrapped his arms around your waist, pulling you closer. You threw your arms over Mark's shoulders to push your fingers through his hair and pull yourself impossibly close to him as the kiss grew more heated, you felt Mark's hands slide down over your butt to your thighs and gasped as you were lifted off the floor and gently laid down on your sofa, Mark wasting no time crawling on top of you to reconnect the kiss.

The sensation of his lips against yours felt both familiar and brand new at the same time, they were firm yet loving, passion behind the lust, so different from Dark's expert but unfeeling touch. You screwed your eyes shut tighter to rid yourself of any more thoughts of him, he was gone now.

You had no trouble losing yourself in the moment with Mark, his every touch sending sparks up your spine and frying any thought you may have. You felt Mark's fingers slide under your shirt and gasped as the cool digits made contact with your hot skin, gliding along the curve of your waist to your breast. His lips began to move down your jaw, leaving light nips as he made his way to your throat causing a wanton groan to escape you as you lightly dug your nails into Mark's back. You heard him inhale sharply as he ground his hips against yours, you felt arousal surge in your gut and you arched your body against his, pushing your hands under his shirt to indicate you wanted it removed. Mark quickly obliged, almost tearing the fabric from his skin before throwing it haphazardly to the side. You marveled at his chiseled torso, reaching up to run your fingers over the ridges of his muscles, taking care to memorise every inch of the Adonis above you.

You finally locked eyes with Mark again, he was breathing heavily, lust blazing behind his gaze. He gripped the bottom of your shirt and you sat up slightly to make it easier for him to pull it over your head, he reached behind you to expertly unclasp your bra before descending on you again, crushing his lips against yours and grasping your breast, squeezing rhythmically. You mewled into the kiss, your every nerve felt like it was on fire and you couldn't think straight, you just knew that you were irrevocably attracted to this man and you needed him to know it.

You raked your nails down his back as he began trailing rough kisses down your throat again, your breath hitched as he continued to descend between your breasts, occasionally taking some skin between his teeth causing your body to jolt and you cried out from the pleasure/pain. You barely noticed that Mark had hooked his fingers into the hem of your jeans and underwear until he had pulled away and was tugging the last of your clothing from your body. He threw the fabric to the side and sat back on his knees, staring at you hungrily, you suddenly became a little self-conscious, biting your lip as you started to curl into yourself, you were quickly stopped when Mark placed his hands on your thighs.

"Fuck you're beautiful" he whispered huskily, falling forwards to attack your lips once more, pressing his body against you, his hips gyrating against yours as his hands roamed over any part of your body he could reach. You whimpered when you felt his clothed erection grind against your exposed entrance, the deep, guttural groan that erupted from Mark caused a shiver to run up your spine and the knot that had formed in your belly to coil tighter.

Mark broke the kiss, moving to suck on the flesh of your throat again and you closed your eyes, not being able to reign back the noises falling from your lips. He shifted to push his own lower layers from his body, his length sprung free and you yelped and bucked your hips as you felt the tip rub against your hypersensitive bundle of nerves. Mark sank his teeth into the now bruised section of skin on your throat and you inhaled sharply, arching your body and clawing at his back wrenching that spine-tingling sound from Mark's lips again. He released your flesh from his teeth, his heavy breathing in your ear making your hairs stand on end.

"I'm sorry, I can't wait any longer" he groaned as he ground his hips against yours again, his rock-hard member sliding deliciously against your opening.

"Then don't" you whined, surprised you were able to form words at all, your senses were completely shot and you weren't able to form many coherent thoughts. Any thoughts derailed, crashed and burned however as Mark wasted no time plunging into you, causing you both to cry out in unison.

"F-fuck" Mark choked, burying his face in the crook of your neck as he started to move, rocking his hips back slowly to firmly push back in. You gripped his shoulders, nails digging in as you tried to contain the volume of your pleasured screams for your neighbour's sake. You had to stop yourself from finishing then and there, your nerves so overloaded with the sensations Mark was inflicting on your body.

It didn't take long for Mark to speed up, his hand moving down to grip your thigh, pulling it up to give him access to press deeper, you mewled uncontrollably, rocking your hips to meet his thrusts. Your body suddenly lurched involuntarily and you saw stars.

"Oh god…" You croaked. He'd found it and he knew it as his thrusting instantly became harder and more precise. Your toes curled as Mark consistently pounded that spot, his arms curled around you, gripping you tightly to give him better leverage. You could feel the knot in your gut coiling tighter and tighter, threatening to come undone any second.

"M-Mark!" you called out, throwing your head back against the sofa cushions, you were so close to the edge. Mark groaned into your throat again, biting down on your flesh as his rhythm faltered, his thrusts becoming erratic.

"Say my name again" Mark breathed, his voice low and strained, a thin sheen of sweat forming on his rippling muscles as he moved, still making sure to hit the spot that sent shocks through you.

"Mark!" You almost screamed, you saw white as your release came crashing down upon you, every muscle in your body contracted as wave after wave of ecstasy bombarded your senses.

"(Y/N)… I'm gonna-" Mark didn't manage to finish the sentence, he rammed deep into you a final time with a low growl before collapsing on top of you.

You both lay there for a while, gasping for breath, your body twitching occasionally from the powerful aftershocks of your orgasm. Mark eventually shifted, lifting some of his weight off you, his breathing still a little laboured as he kissed you gently.

"I love you" he whispered against your lips, you smiled wide, happiness bubbling in your chest as you caught him in another chaste kiss.

"I love you too"

Well, there it is. Again, I'm so sorry it took so long to update and I hope this extra long chapter helps to make up for that. Thank you so much to everybody who took this journey with me, despite long waits between updates I really enjoyed writing this story and I hope you enjoyed reading it just as much. If you have any questions, requests or just want to chat, feel free to drop me a message.

With that, I bid you adieu. Til next time, you beautiful people.