Page 48 of Demon with Benefits (Hell Bent #3)

She opened her eyes. Dimly aware of darkness around her, she looked down at herself and saw her arms were glowing. She lifted her hands and stared at her palms like she’d never seen them before.

Was she dead? Was she becoming an angel? She snorted. Not likely. But damn, this was weird.

A slimy, cold wet thing slithered up her neck.

She turned her head and saw herself looking into the glowing red eyes of a monster. Her monster.

“Are you the Grim Reaper after all?” she asked him.

His long tongue snaked out from between his terrible teeth again. The thing had to be three feet long, and he barely had to lean forward to lick around her jaw.

“Ew, Meph, that’s so gross.”

He licked her again.

She laughed. “That tickles!”

And then the light got brighter until her own glowing body blinded her. Meph shrank back as if the light hurt his eyes too.

And then it finally occurred to her what was happening.

She wasn’t dead at all. She was glowing . Like a nightlight, as Lily had described it. The same damn thing that had been happening to her twin for years. The goddamn prophesied witch twins.

They were supposed to be immortal, but until now, Iris had never seen any evidence of how that was possible. Sure, powerful witches were capable of extending their lifespans by hundreds of years. But they were not immortal.

But as she straightened in Meph’s lap and felt no pain in her head, no weakness from hunger or thirst, she began to understand.

The light was healing.

Duh. Of course it was. Lily had taken a tumble into a pit and battled with a Queen of Hell without getting a single scratch on her.

The same light Lily had stifled because she was afraid of it, the same light that had protected her in the fight with Paimon, the same light now shining from Iris’s own body... that was what gave them the power to be immortal.

It had cured Iris’s injuries, taken away her need for sustenance, and she’d bet a million dollars it would undo the effects of aging as well.

She jerked upright and stared at Meph with wide eyes.

“Oh my god,” she whispered.

He stared back at her. He looked surprised. She could have sworn he did. His face was a skull and his eyes glowed out of empty pits, but somehow she could read him plain as day.

“I’m healed,” she told him. “The light healed me. I feel fine. I feel better than fine. I feel amazing!”

His head came back slightly as if he was startled by her outburst.

“It’s because of you,” she said in amazement.

“If you hadn’t dragged me to this cave, I never would have figured it out.

I would have gone to the hospital and gone on with my life and never let go of the anger.

And if I hadn’t let go of the anger, I would have blocked my power forever.

No immortality for me! Nope, I’d be regular old Iris for the rest of my short mortal life. Holy shite, Meph!”

His head cocked this way and that. Oh god, he’s cute.

“You saved me,” she told him, beaming at him. “You’re my hero. My knight in shining armor. I fucking love you.”

And then she put her hands on either side of his face and planted a kiss on his horrible, terrible mouth.

Meph went perfectly still.

Iris quickly pulled her head back, feeling a little embarrassed. She had just kissed a skeleton monster on the lips. Or whatever he had for lips, which weren’t lips at all, but just a slash through his face full of teeth.

He stared at her. That face didn’t seem capable of expression at all, yet somehow, she was learning to read him. Maybe his eyes were a little bigger than usual.

“Sorry,” she muttered, cheeks heating.

He continued to watch her.

“So you don’t like kissing, then. That’s okay. You don’t have to. Lord knows the other Meph likes it enough for the both of you.”

Not for the first time, her heart gave a tiny pang that “the other Meph” was still out of reach.

She couldn’t resent a single thing about this Meph, who’d given up everything he knew for her, but, though she felt a little guilty, she still missed the Meph that would’ve made her laugh until she forgot to be worried about anything.

She’d taken that Meph for granted when she’d had him, and by the time she’d realized it, she’d lost him.

Stop thinking like that. Meph’s demon was still Meph, just another side of him, and he was no less deserving of love. In fact, it almost seemed like he needed more love. Like his demon was the ugly, sad part of him that he’d locked away and ignored.

Iris knew a lot about compartmentalizing, and she sympathized. Which was why, as much as she might miss the other Meph, she would never do anything to make him feel he wasn’t wanted exactly as he was.

She was still sitting on his lap, and she looked into his sunken eyes. They didn’t repulse her as they had before.

“We need to get out of this cave,” she decided, and she turned onto her hands and knees to crawl off him.

She didn’t make it far. In fact, the second she turned around, he caught her hips, holding her in place. Confused, she glanced over her shoulder and felt her cheeks heat again. Her ass was right in his face.

Great thinking, Ris. Let’s present ourselves like a cat in heat to this poor demon who obviously isn’t into—

He hooked his claws into her leggings and, with a rough jerk, pulled them down her hips, exposing her ass.

Her jaw dropped.

“Meph!”

A kiss was one thing, but this... she wasn’t sure she was okay with this. He didn’t horrify her anymore, but that didn’t mean she wanted to go this far.

He opened his slash of a mouth, parting those deadly teeth... and his long, red tongue unfurled.

“Oh, fuck,” she breathed, staring at him over her shoulder.

She knew where this was going, and she wanted it—No, she didn’t. Yes, she did. No, that was crazy, perverted, wrong—

He tugged her pants lower. Her breaths sawed in and out, and she continued to stare over her shoulder, waiting for the protest to rise to her lips.

She just had to tell him to stop. She just had to say no, they weren’t going there, and she knew he would listen. Her mouth was still hanging open, but no sound came out.

His tongue was so long that without even ducking his head, he extended the pointed tip between her thighs and probed between her flesh to stroke her core.

“Oh, fuck .”

Heat exploded in her body. Fuck, this was wrong. So, so wrong. She shouldn’t be into this. She should tell him to stop, tell him to—

That long tentacle delved deeper, sliding against her sensitive flesh, his saliva wetting her where she wasn’t already lubricated. Not that it would have taken long. Her brain might not have been fully on board, but her body sure was.

He was staring at her. It was hard to tell where he was looking with that pupilless red glow, and yet she somehow knew he was staring directly into her eyes.

His eyes on her, his mouth open, tongue snaking out of him straight to her pussy... It was so, so wrong. So, so—

His plunged the tip inside of her at least two inches.

Blood rushed to her head, and she threw it back and cried out. Fuck it. She was already in Hell. Who cared if this was wrong when it felt so damn right?

Too overwhelmed, she couldn’t look at him anymore, but the sight of his skeletal face with his tongue emerging between those sharp teeth was burned into her retinas as she closed her eyes. She pictured it and pushed her ass closer to his face, wanting more.

If she was a dirty demon whore, so be it. She was a demon whore for this one demon only, and she didn’t give a damn.

His tongue delved deeper, stretching her as he pushed further inside her. She was wet, but his saliva coated her anyway until moisture dripped out of her. He pulled his tongue all the way out and pushed it forward to her clit, using the pointed tip to rub it the way she liked.

He knew exactly how she liked to be touched, and it served as another reminder that this wasn’t some random monster—it was Meph. A weird, freaky part of Meph, but still him. It was okay to be with him like this. It was okay to like this, to feel pleasure.

“Oh god, that feels so good, baby.” She dropped her head onto her hands. Her pants were trapped around her thighs, keeping her from opening her legs further, but shit, it didn’t even matter with that tongue. He could slip it in wherever he needed to go.

He drew back, sliding along her pussy and back to her ass, and then he plunged forward, back inside her core again. She cried out as he started fucking her with his tongue, deep and hard. In and out.

“Oh my god, oh my god—” She bit her arm to shut herself up.

Sharp claws dug into the soft skin of her hips as he spread her apart. Sweat gathered on her lower back and brow as she drew closer to climax.

Resting her head on the crease of her left arm, she reached her right hand between her legs. She touched her clit and then felt back to where his tongue was sliding in and out of her.

Oh god, it was like she was being fucked by a tentacle. But it was a tongue. The longest tongue on planet Earth. No, they were in Hell. Whatever.

Her brain was mush trying to comprehend what he was doing to her. Feeling him sliding against her flesh, inside her body, made her head spin with forbidden desire.

“Yes, feels so good,” she moaned, pushing her ass even higher up, opening herself to him. “Fuck me with your tongue. God, that’s so fucking dirty. It’s blowing my mind.”

Her orgasm fluttered just within reach, so she moved her fingers back to her clit. “Oh, fuck, go faster. I’m gonna come.”

Her heart pounded behind her closed eyes as she rubbed harder on her clit, her fingers brushing against his tongue as he plunged even deeper inside of her, stretching her wider—

She screamed as her climax exploded like fireworks behind her closed eyes. Her whole body shook, thighs trembling, her fingers seizing against her throbbing clit. She pressed into it, extending her pleasure, until his tongue slid out of her and pushed her hand away.