Page 4 of Demon with Benefits (Hell Bent #3)

Guess I need a new hobby, then. “Don’t think I’ll be able to make it.”

“Told you, you don’t have a choice. What else are you doing on a Sunday morning that’s so important?”

Meph said nothing. He wasn’t sure why he was suddenly keeping secrets from Raum. They were tight. He relied on his brother a lot to keep him in line, and that weak, un-demonic part of him was grateful for that steady presence. Since the day they’d met, Raum always had his back.

“Fine,” he said, giving in. “I’ll be there in twenty minutes.”

“Ten.”

“Fifteen.”

“One minute late, and Mist will eat your face for breakfast instead of whatever Bel’s cooking.”

“Sounds kinky.”

“Everything sounds kinky to you.”

“That’s ’cause I’m more fun than you.”

“Or maybe you’re just stupider.”

“Or maybe you—” Meph lowered the phone and looked at it. “Damn it, he hung up on me.”

“Are you heading home?” Jacqui asked without looking away from her piece.

“Yeah. I’ll come back after though. I want to get this thing assembled today.”

She hummed in reply, but her attention remained on her work.

Meph shoved his phone back in his pocket and stared some more at the nearly complete Flayed Alive . Despite Jacqui’s lectures, he couldn’t help but wonder why he felt compelled to create such fucked-up art.

You’re a shallow piece of shit with no substance or personality.

Yeah, Iris was probably right about that. He might have said those very words about himself, and he certainly thought them often enough, so why had it stung to hear her say them aloud?

Your stupid jokes are just a distraction to keep people from catching a glimpse of your sad, miserable life.

Also possibly accurate.

“Penny for your thoughts?” Jacqui asked. He glanced over and found her looking at him. “It seems like you’ve got a lot on your mind.”

“Oh, uh...” He shook himself out of it. “Just dunno how much color I wanna add, you know? Trying to decide whether to paint it with a lot of detail or leave it mostly gray.”

Jacqui set her clay hand down and came to stand beside him. “Hmm. That’s a toughie.”

“Color would make it more graphic.”

“But the lack is also suggestive.”

“Yeah.” Meph considered this. “It’s empty and cold. And kinda... unreachable. It makes it feel less real to the viewer, you know?” He gestured to the statue. “Only he knows what he’s going through. You can stand here and stare at him all day, but he’s just gonna be gray and blank.”

“The viewer will always be detached from his suffering. His pain goes too deep to be glimpsed by an outside perspective.”

“Exactly.”

“Well, which speaks to you more?” Jacqui turned that shrewd gaze on him. “Do you want his suffering to be shared by another? Or do you want him to be forever trapped alone in his colorless world?”

“I dunno,” he replied.

“Leave it for now.” She winked. “You can always change your mind later.”

Meph didn’t so much as glance at Iris during breakfast. It was like she wasn’t there.

Whatever, though. She didn’t care. She barely even noticed, in fact.

If she did notice, it was only because she was glad to have the break from his attention. Every time she ended up in a room with him, he fixed those red eyes on her like lasers, and they burned right through her. Anywhere she went, she could feel him watching her.

Right now, however, he sat across from her at the table, but instead of facing her, his body was angled toward Raum beside him, his arm slung over the back of the chair. He didn’t pay any attention to her, so she didn’t pay any attention to him.

Easy. Simple. Exactly what she wanted.

She didn’t notice how he was so built he managed to fill out the shoulders of his enormous hoodie.

She didn’t notice the way a lock of black hair fell over his forehead into his eyes, or how the lines of Sheolic script tattooed down the left side of his face accentuated the curve of his cheekbone.

And she definitely didn’t notice the tongue piercing that flashed when he licked his coffee spoon.

She’d wanted him to leave her alone, and he was. And, even better, he didn’t appear to be the least bit mad about their fight. In all likelihood, his goldfish brain had already forgotten about it. Win-win.

So why did she feel on the verge of screaming? She needed to get out of here. Away from these people that weren’t really people. Just... away.

The minute she shoved her last bite of food into her mouth, she was out of her chair and making excuses to leave.

“Already?” Lily asked.

“I made plans.” Plans to hide from everyone and not get out of my bed the rest of the day.

Lily was giving her an unreadable look, but she stood too. “I’ll walk you to the door.” She smiled at Mist, who was sitting beside her in his hulking demon form, all dark gray skin and eerie yellow eyes, and then followed Iris.

Iris glanced back at Belial before she rounded the corner. “Thanks for breakfast.”

The enormous demon nodded his platinum blond head from his seat at the head of the table.

His face didn’t change at all. His sharp features could have been cut from stone.

Iris fought back a shudder. Belial freaked her out.

She’d heard about his rage attacks—how easily he could lose control, and how bad it could get when he did.

Everything with these guys seemed pretty normal—until it wasn’t. Things could escalate to a whole new level of fucked up in the blink of an eye.

Iris didn’t like anything that wasn’t what it appeared to be. If they were demons, they ought to look like demons.

She appreciated that about Mist. Sitting there with his deathly sharp claws and teeth, leathery wings folded at his back, he was the only one not putting on a charade.

“Bye, Iris.” Eva waved and smiled. Raum and Ash nodded at her. Meph didn’t look at her at all.

“Bye.” She knew she wasn’t the demons’ favorite person either, considering she’d been openly antagonistic toward them when they first met. She was pretty sure they only tolerated her now because Lily asked them to.

Iris gave one last look at Meph, waiting for him to glance at her. Just an acknowledgement of her presence in any way. Just a split second of those red eyes locked on hers.

It didn’t happen. He appeared to be studying the wall with deep concentration. Shaking her head at herself, she finally spun away and walked around the corner to the door.

“I wish you could stay,” Lily said while Iris zipped into her parka. “You’re always in such a hurry to leave whenever we hang out lately.”

“I’ve been busy,” Iris replied, avoiding her gaze.

“With what? I thought you were cutting back shifts at Le Repaire?” A dusty old occult shop in the Mile End neighborhood, Le Repaire des Sorcières—The Witches’ Lair—was, in actuality, the business front for the Montreal witch coven, who met regularly in the basement.

“Who told you that?” Iris asked with a frown.

“Suyin did. I was there yesterday.”

“What were you doing there?”

“You know what. I’ve been trying to find info on Mist’s brands? On how to remove them? It’s pretty much consumed the last six months of my life?”

Shit. Iris hadn’t thought once about Lily’s burning obsession in the last while. Mist didn’t seem to care—the poor guy had been branded for thousands of years, and he was just grateful not to be tied to Paimon anymore—but Lily sure did.

The brands had forced Mist to serve the evil Queen of Hell, but when Lily had inadvertently defeated her, the magic had bound him to Lily instead.

Sure, “defeat” meant simply watching Paimon get swallowed up by a gorath, one of the hideous centipede monsters that lurked in the bowels of her lair, but the magic hadn’t cared.

Lily, of course, did not particularly enjoy having the power to forcibly summon her boyfriend or stop his heart at her leisure, and she wanted Mist to finally be free.

Mist claimed he had no problem being connected to Lily because he trusted her not to abuse her power.

It was all very sweet and somewhat disturbing.

Iris frowned. “But I thought Eva’s dad’s angel friend was going to bring you information or whatever.”

“You mean Sunshine?” Lily looked impatient. “Dan met with her once, but she didn’t know anything. Apparently, she promised to search in the Empyrean Library for more information, but it’s taking a long time. That was months ago, Iris. What has gotten into you lately?”

“Nothing.” Guilt made Iris’s stomach churn. She should have been making more of an effort to be there for her sister. Lily may have proven she had a more natural connection to her power, but Iris had more book knowledge.

“Are you sure you’re okay, Ris? You seem off lately.”

Why does everyone keep asking me that? “I’m fine.”

“Okay...” Lily didn’t look like she believed her. “I’m having a movie night at my place this Friday. Will you come?”

Iris pulled her tuque on and made a face. “Really?” It went without saying that the demons would be there.

“Please? Just one movie?”

She couldn’t resist those doe eyes, damn it. And she had a hell of a lot to make up to Lily after all the lying she’d done.

Keeping the truth about their parents’ deaths from her sister was one of the worst mistakes Iris had ever made, and if she’d had any less of a compassionate sister, it could have ruined their relationship. Instead, Lily had pretty much forgiven her on the spot.

Iris cringed whenever she thought about that. She didn’t feel like she deserved it. In some way, she almost wanted Lily to hate her for it.

Yet Iris wouldn’t change her twin for the world. Since they’d left Ireland nearly a decade ago, Lily was all she had. The least she could do was sit through one movie.

“Fine. I’ll be there.”

Lily’s radiant smile assured her she’d made the right decision. “Thanks, Ris.”

“Anything for my baby sister.”

Lily rolled her eyes. “You’re one hour older than me.”

“A lot can—”

“—happen in an hour. Yeah, yeah, I know.”