Page 47 of Demon with Benefits (Hell Bent #3)

BLACK AND BLUE

T HE NEXT TIME I RIS OPENED HER EYES, SHE WAS IN A cave.

It was dark, and the only light came from the red sky through the entrance beside her.

She saw the outline of rocky cliffs in the distance and immediately recognized the mountain range beyond Valefor’s castle.

She wanted to look out the cave mouth to get a better idea how far they were from the lair, but the idea of dragging herself that far seemed like too much trouble.

“Meph?” she whispered.

She was on her back, hips aching from the hard stone she was lying on, and she wondered how long she’d been unconscious. Her face was swollen, and her entire body felt like one big bruise.

But her head was the worst. It hurt like blazes where she’d been struck on the temple. Twice.

It felt like someone had impaled her through the skull with a spear, and it was still hanging out in there while her brains slowly leaked out her ears. It felt like she had a second heart, just pounding out a furious beat inside her skull.

A gentle hissing had her turning that throbbing head to the side, and she found that now-familiar creature of nightmares peering at her from beneath his hood, head cocked slightly.

At the first sight of him, her heart skipped a beat in fear. She knew he wouldn’t hurt her now, but she’d have to be dead not to be afraid of that mouth. So. Many. Teeth.

“Hi,” she whispered.

Scary or not, he’d fought against centuries of conditioning to save her, and she was starting to associate things about him with the Meph she knew. It was no longer such a big stretch of the imagination to believe they were one and the same.

He wasn’t pretty to look at in this form, but she was glad to have this freaky monster watching her back. Raum had told her that even the most powerful demons weren’t immune to his fear-feeding ability.

“You’re pretty badass, you know,” she told him.

His head tilted the other way.

Damn, she was so weak. She needed to go to a hospital. Her head was pounding, and there was a certain panicky feeling in her chest telling her something might be seriously wrong.

And she was so, so thirsty. She was pretty sure the concussion was making her extra dehydrated. She didn’t know anything about first aid, but everyone knew fluids were always near the top of the list of essentials to healing.

But how to explain all that to Meph? She wasn’t sure he understood a word she said, and he certainly wasn’t very good at communicating back.

Did Hell even have drinkable water? Demons didn’t need sustenance to survive and only chose to eat or drink for the fun of indulgence.

The only human residents were souls, and souls didn’t need it either.

It wasn’t like they were out wandering the plains, anyway.

From what she understood, they were mostly contained within the Nine Rings.

Mortals in physical form were not supposed to come to the underworld, and so of course there wouldn’t be amenities for them. And, judging by the gnawing ache in her stomach and the sandpaper feel of her tongue, her needs as a living human didn’t go away while she was a visitor here either.

“I need water,” she told Meph, her voice hoarse.

His head cocked back the other way, and he reached out and picked up a lock of her hair, leaning in to examine it.

“Yeah, it’s blue,” she said with a smile, but her heart sank.

She’d been sure he understood her before and had been trying to say her name, but maybe he’d just been picking up on her emotions. Maybe he’d just sensed their connection without understanding what it meant. And maybe he was just hissing because that was the only sound he could make.

“Can you understand me?”

He continued to study her hair like it was the most fascinating thing he’d ever seen.

“Then how did you know to say my name?”

It was starting to take a lot of concentration to stay awake. Her heart was still throbbing, and she really wanted to go back to sleep for a while.

Meph didn’t respond, and her eyes drifted shut. She felt his claws scrape over her hair some more as he collected more strands to inspect, and she smiled faintly.

“Guess there’s no chance of convincing you to take me back to Earth, huh? Or bring me some water?”

Nothing. Just more claws against her scalp.

It felt good, the sharp pricks of those deadly weapons like one of those awesome head massagers. Little tingles raced down her spine, and her muscles relaxed gradually.

“Thanks for saving me,” she mumbled, surrendering to the sensation. She felt safe here with him. She wanted him to understand and tried to force her brain to make words. But she was feeling so groggy, so tired, and so damn thirsty.

“If I’m gonna be stuck in Hell... glad it’s with you.” The claws sifted through her hair. Something cold and sharp scraped down her cheek, and she sighed softly. His touch was... nice. Maybe she wouldn’t have thought that if her eyes were open, but right now, it felt good.

“You’re not so bad,” she mumbled. “A little freaky looking, sure, but I don’t know what all the fuss is about, honestly.

So you look like the Grim Reaper. Whatever.

I think it’s kinda cute, honestly. You’d be a hit at one of Suyin’s Halloween parties, lemme tell ya. The goth kids would go nuts for you.”

The claws continued to pet her cheek, and her awareness continued to slip away.

“But don’t get cocky,” she mumbled incoherently. “Doesn’t matter how much they love you, you’re my monster, and I don’t share.”

“ Isss ,” Meph hissed in that fingernails-on-a-chalkboard voice.

“Don’t worry.” She smiled faintly. “I’m yours too.”

Iris drifted in and out of awareness for the next... who knew how long. Time ceased to have meaning. Life had become a haze of pain and weakness.

In the moments she was awake, she was aware of glowing red eyes watching her, and it gave her a sense of comfort. If this was going to be her end, she was glad he was with her. In a way, it was fitting that he looked like the Grim Reaper. He would guide her into the afterlife.

The fact that dying while she was in Hell meant her soul would be trapped on the plains, never reaching the Nine Rings where humans were meant to be kept—and certainly never getting the chance to reach Heaven—was something she resolutely refused to think about.

It wasn’t that difficult, considering her brain was mush. She was distantly aware of sensations of touch—claw tips on her face, in her hair—and able to recognize faint emotions, but that was as much as she could make her mind work.

She felt contentment at being with her monster. She felt a distant sense of concern for someone else, though she wasn’t sure who. And she felt pain, always so much goddamn pain. And thirst. She was so damn thirsty.

Eventually the thirst gave way to delirium, and the pain mercifully vanished with that. The concern dissipated shortly after, and then she just felt the contentment. That was nice.

Occasionally, she dimly registered that she was being held. Cradled in shadowy, skeletal arms.

That was the last sensation she was aware of—arms wrapped around her, those lethal claws in her hair—before it started to fade again like everything else.

But this time, she knew it was for the last time.

She wasn’t sure how she felt about that. Everything was foggy, and it made it hard to care. She felt peaceful. Distantly, she remembered oceans of grief drowning her for years, too painful to feel, so she’d transformed them into anger. Anger was easier. Anger made you strong. Sadness was weak.

Or so she’d thought.

But really, she knew now, Lily’s method of handling her grief had taken the real strength. Lily had retreated into herself for several years, only to emerge anew like a butterfly from a chrysalis. A new woman. Changed by her pain into something beautiful.

Iris had let hers morph her into something ugly. She’d turned it into poisoned arrows that she shot at the people in her life and at her own self.

But right here and now, she was done suffering. She wasn’t a failure, and she’d never been weak.

Her parents’ deaths weren’t her fault. As much as she hated her mother’s decision, she understood that forcing Iris into that vow had saved her life. Without it, Valefor would have taken her and Lily. Valefor would have won.

Her parents had given up their lives so Iris could have one, and she was done wasting it with pain and regret. She was finally going through her own metamorphosis, transforming into a butterfly, free to fly away. Maybe she only had a few minutes left, but at least she’d made her peace.

She only wished she’d gotten the chance to be there for Meph the way he deserved. The way she wanted to be. She would love to show him the new Iris that had been born out of this suffering while he cradled her in his monstrous arms.

She’d been so determined not to get into another relationship after the Antoine fiasco, and yeah, it had been the right decision at the time.

But only a fool would fail to see how Meph was different.

And now, how she was different. If she could go back now, she wouldn’t hesitate to jump in with both feet, eager to see what the future held.

She regretted that she wouldn’t get that chance.

White light started to glow from somewhere at the center of her being.

Was this the end, then? She was resigned to it now, she supposed, but damn it, she hated leaving him like this.

Would he blame himself for her death? When he shifted back to human form, if he ever did, would he hate himself for not taking her back to Earth to a hospital?

Would he understand that she didn’t blame him in the least?

The light got brighter. And brighter still.

It brightened until it obliterated all else and burned behind her eyelids like she’d turned her face into the sun.