Page 36 of Demon with Benefits (Hell Bent #3)

Hound in her arms, she stepped outside, pleasantly surprised to find it was a sunny day and not too cold. It seemed fitting after last night and the mission she was on now. It felt like a good sign.

A tiny red stain in the unswept snow outside her neighbor’s door caught her eye, banishing her glow. It looked like blood. Her eyes narrowed as a chill swept down her spine.

She shook her head. It was only a drop. Likely, Mr. GQ had gotten a minor cut from slipping on the ice in his Versace loafers. That would also explain the strange prints in the snow around the door—like someone had fallen.

She shuddered a little as she turned and headed down the stairs, though it was hard to pull herself away for some reason. Her neighbor gave her the creeps, and she wasn’t sure why. Faust whimpered a little, so she cuddled him closer.

The sunshine and warmer weather put her in a better mood, and by the time she made it to the demons’ apartment building, she’d forgotten the blood-in-the-snow event.

She buzzed their flat and only flinched a little as Belial demanded to know who it was.

When she made it upstairs, the door was open, so she went in without knocking.

The minute she took off her coat, Raum appeared. He leaned against the wall and crossed his arms. “Thought I told you not to get involved.”

“Did he come home last night?”

Raum’s eyes narrowed. “Why do you care?”

“I’m not completely heartless.”

His raised eyebrow said he didn’t believe her. “Don’t worry about it. I said I’d handle it, and I will.”

Her heart skipped a beat. If Meph had come home, wouldn’t he have just said so? Which meant he hadn’t. And Raum still didn’t know where he was.

“I also told you I’d call when I was coming to get the phone—”

“Oh, no,” she interrupted, “I came to drop off Faust. I have to work at Le Repaire today and tomorrow, remember?”

Raum wouldn’t remember, because she hadn’t told him that, because she didn’t really have to work.

His eyes narrowed like he suspected the lie, but then Faust started wiggling in her arms, eager to get to his favorite person in the world, and she saw Raum cave.

“Okay,” he said with a shrug, but his gold eyes lit up when she set Faust down and the little puppy went racing over.

Raum scooped him up. Though he did a good job maintaining the dark and menacing vibe, there was something so adorable about seeing a guy that hot holding a puppy that Iris couldn’t help but smile.

“I’ll take the phone if you have it,” Raum said.

“I forgot to bring it, actually. My bad.”

Also a lie. The phone was, in fact, in her pocket.

“Do you mind if I use your bathroom before I go?” she asked. “I have to pee so bad.” She tried to channel a bit of her twin sister as she plastered on a demure look.

He still looked suspicious but said, “Fine.”

“Thanks.” She ruffled Faust’s fluffy head as she passed, feeling Raum’s stare on her back. Bel was cooking in the kitchen as usual, and he shot her a glare too. She offered what she hoped was an innocent smile and kept going down the hall.

She did, in fact, have to pee, though that wasn’t the real reason behind inviting herself in. After washing her hands, she cracked open the door to make sure the coast was clear.

She could hear Belial and Raum talking in the kitchen as she tiptoed to Meph’s bedroom door and tried the handle. To her surprise, it opened. She’d expected him to lock it. Did he really trust his brothers that much, or did he just not care if anyone went in his room?

She slipped in quietly, closing the door behind her. A part of her was hoping to find Meph asleep—an easy end to her mission—but the unmade bed was obviously empty. It looked like he’d thrown the covers off the last time he’d gotten up and never bothered to fix them.

She shook her head. He was such a slob.

The rest of the room was equally chaotic, so much so that she needed a minute to take it all in. There were clothes everywhere . She’d thought it was bad the way he managed to leave more and more stuff at her place every time he came over, but that was nothing.

There were clothes draped across the bed and over the back of the desk chair. There were piles on the floor. The closet doors were open and clothes spilled out like they’d burst through of their own accord. The floor of the closet was a sea of sneakers.

Instead of grossing her out, however, the mess made a pang shoot through her. It was so characteristically Meph. The chaos. The comfortable, homey vibe. Something about it made her want to crawl into the rumpled bed and never leave.

She wandered across the room, intent on exploring the desk, though she wasn’t sure what she was looking for. A clue as to where he’d gone, maybe, like a gym membership card.

But when she approached, something else caught her eye.

On the far side of the room at the base of the window... a hellgate was drawn on the floor. It was cleverly disguised by piles of clothes strategically placed over the outer lines.

She nudged them aside with a foot, and it became obvious it was an active hellgate. When she focused, she could feel the unpleasant tingle of Sheolic energy.

After drawing, a hellgate sigil had to be activated with Sheolic magic in order to link it with another and make it operational.

Meph had already completed this step, leaving the gate alive and humming in the middle of his bedroom.

Wherever this gate led, it had to be somewhere he went frequently to be worth the risk.

Did his brothers know he had an active hellgate in his room? Wasn’t it dangerous to have an open door into their apartment, considering they were supposed to be in hiding?

If there was anywhere Meph would go to disappear, it was through here, Iris was certain. Following random hellgates to unknown destinations was one of the stupidest things a witch could do, but she... trusted Meph. She knew the gate wouldn’t lead her somewhere unsafe.

It was a surprising revelation. The only people she trusted were Lily and Suyin, and she would sure as hell ask questions if either of them asked her to walk through a mysterious hellgate. Yet here she was.

With a shrug, she stepped into the sigil.

It was a perk of being a blood-born: humans needed to drink demon blood before they could use hellgates, but not blood-born witches.

Whatever it was that gave Iris her natural abilities made it so she could use a gate as easily as a demon.

There was an old myth that blood-borns were descended from demons, but seeing as demons were infertile—new demons were created, not born—she knew that theory to be bullshit.

Immediately, the magic caught her like a hook behind the navel, and she was pulled through the vortex—with a brief stop in Hell on the way, the air stifling and the red skies burning her retinas.

She staggered out of the gate and into the wall of.

.. an office. The air was fresher and considerably warmer than Montreal, though she could hear a heater running somewhere.

Around her were more piles of clothes. She breathed a laugh, any remaining fear vanishing as she confirmed this was indeed a safe place.

She crossed the room, opening the door and peeking out. Her eyes widened as she took in a spacious... art studio? Tall windows opened onto a lush cedar forest. It was raining and misty outside, and there was no snow.

“Oh good, you’re here,” a voice said suddenly, and Iris barely managed to stifle her sound of surprise.

Only after she’d spoken did Iris see the woman at the other end of the room, bent over something on the table. She kept speaking without looking up.

“Magalie called me back about the gallery show, and she’s thrilled you’ve agreed.

She promised she’ll take care of all the transportation from your studio to the gallery, so all we have to do is get the pieces through the hellgate.

I was thinking we could do a test with something rough to make sure it doesn’t get damaged in transit, but I’m sure—”

The woman finally looked up and saw Iris. She froze. Iris froze too.

“Who are you?”

“Um. Iris.”

“Lily’s sister?

Iris nodded. “Who are you?”

“Jacqui.”

Iris’s eyes widened. Of course. This was Eva’s mysterious mom, the woman Meph had been talking to on the phone. “Where am I?”

“On Vancouver Island. You came through Meph’s hellgate?”

Iris nodded. “He... comes here a lot.” She’d been about to phrase it like a question but stopped herself. Sometimes the best way to extract information was to pretend you already had it.

“Yes, he does.” Jacqui’s eyes lit up. “He told you about his work, then?”

Except, when Iris went to lie, the words stuck in her throat. Something about this woman made her want to be a good person.

So she said, “No.”

“Oh.” Jacqui’s face fell.

There was another awkward pause until Iris found the guts to ask, “What were you talking about? Is Meph in some kind of art show?”

It sounded ridiculous to even say aloud. As if Meph would be into that. The idea was laughable.

Jacqui was silent for long enough that Iris started to think that, maybe, it wasn’t so laughable after all.

“But that’s crazy. Meph would never... He isn’t...”

When Jacqui spoke again, her voice was considerably cooler than before. “Meph hasn’t told anyone about the hellgate, and if you didn’t know about his work, then presumably, he didn’t tell you either. Out of respect to him, I think it would be best if you returned to Montreal.”

“But he—I—”

Jacqui sat with a polite smile on her face, hands folded in her lap. She was beautiful, with warm dark skin and high cheekbones that accentuated the subtle tilt of her eyes.

A surge of jealousy filled Iris, though she knew it was irrational. She knew about Eva and who her dad was. She’d been solemnly sworn to secrecy, not that she would have talked anyway. She had no desire to endanger the life of Ash’s girlfriend, who was kind and welcoming whenever Iris came over.

And now, here was Eva’s mom, perfectly lovely, with a friendship with Meph that Iris hadn’t been privy to. Iris trusted Meph enough to step through the hellgate to an unknown destination, yet he hadn’t trusted her enough to tell her about whatever he was making here. And she didn’t blame him.

“I’m looking for him,” she blurted, horrified to feel her throat constricting and her eyes stinging. She thought she’d gotten all the crying over with last night, damn it. “I can’t find him, and I need to—”

“He’s not here,” Jacqui said, frowning. “I haven’t seen him in a couple of days, actually. Did you try calling his phone?”

Iris pulled it from her pocket and held it up. “He left it at my place. He left after we—after I—I haven’t seen him since.”

“He didn’t tell Raum where he was going?”

She shook her head. And then, before she knew what she was doing, she was blurting out the truth.

“He told me he had feelings for me, and I shut him down. I just... panicked. But he’s so hard to understand, and he never does what I expect, and he swore up and down he didn’t want any commitment, so I never thought he would say that.

And the few times I tried to get him to open up, he shut me down so fast, I—I guess I just kept my guard up so high that when he said that, I lashed out. And now I need to tell him I—”

She broke off and closed her mouth with a snap. Jacqui sat very still, as if assessing the safest way to avoid setting off the crazy witch. Iris almost laughed.

“He makes sculptures,” Jacqui said.

“He what?”

“Would you like to see some?”

“But I thought you said... ?”

“Yes, but I changed my mind. If we’re intuitive enough, art can be like a window to someone’s soul, don’t you think?”

“Um...”

Jacqui was already out of her chair, beckoning Iris to follow as she headed across the studio. “Here, I’ll show you what he’s put together so far for the opening.”

Iris was led to a cordoned-off area in the far corner, blocked by tall dividers. Inside was a collection of sculptures. There were over a dozen of them, some so big they were life-size.

She took one look, and her mouth dropped open.

“Aren’t they beautiful?” Jacqui said. “He’s been working nonstop for months. I’ve never seen anyone so driven.”

They were beautiful. They were also horrifying. Dark and disturbing and hauntingly lifelike. Gut-wrenchingly animated.

There was a man, face contorted with a scream, who had no skin left on his body.

There was another man who appeared to be flogging himself with his own severed arm.

There was a monster with a huge open mouth eating the face off another.

There was a man with his limbs broken at horrific angles, bones stabbing through the flesh.

There was a man screaming in abject terror as he was flogged by a whip that hovered in space with no one at the other end.

Val did what you do to any wild creature you want to train: He broke him.

Iris stared at the graphic sculptures and had a pretty good idea where Meph had gotten the inspiration for them. The thought that she’d ever accused him of lacking substance burned a pit of guilt into her stomach.

She spun around to face Jacqui. “I have to find him.” At this point, she didn’t care about hiding her vulnerabilities. She let her conviction shine in her eyes, letting the other woman see how much this meant to her.

Jacqui nodded eagerly. “Go on, then. Go and get him.” She practically shooed Iris toward the office she’d come from. “And tell him I want to speak to him when you do! He was so reluctant to agree to the art show, and I’m not letting him back out now.”

“There’s no way he’s backing out,” Iris said vehemently, staring at Jacqui and seeing the same impassioned look reflected in her eyes. “I will drag him there if it’s the last thing I do.”

Jacqui smiled. “It was nice to meet you, honey.”

“You too.”

“Now, go get your man!”

Iris turned and ran.