Page 51 of Demon with Benefits (Hell Bent #3)

He decided to stop messing with her. “The magic of a major shift takes clothing and other items on the body with it. A minor shift, like Ash’s demon form, for example, doesn’t have enough magic to do that, so the clothes rip if they get in the way.

But in my case, they just kinda... poof.

I’m lucky ’cause otherwise I’d lose all my piercings too.

” He poked his tongue at one of his lip rings.

Her eyes widened. “I didn’t think of that.”

Meph went to stand at the mouth of the cave and surveyed the landscape.

After draining Valefor and stealing Iris, his demon had flown them up to the mountains behind Val’s lair, outside the castle walls.

It was a strategic place to hide. Because of the view it afforded of the valley, it would be easy to spot anyone coming after them.

His demon might be deranged, but at least he had some sense.

Iris pulled on her leggings and hoodie— his hoodie, he noted with a pointed look—and came to stand beside him. He pretended to grumble about it, but really, he liked the look of her wearing his clothes. It felt like a claim.

“You don’t have a shirt?” she asked, and he shook his head. “You want your hoodie? I’m also wearing your T-shirt underneath.”

He shot her a look, which she returned with a sheepish smile. “Nah, it’s cool.”

She looked down at the tears in the front. “Sorry it got wrecked.”

“I want to rip Valefor’s fucking head off.” Not because he cared about the hoodie. Because of how close those claws had come to Iris’s soft skin.

She looked over the valley. “You and me both.” And then she turned to face him, and her eyes lit up. “Let’s do it, then.”

“Huh?”

She pointed at the castle in the distance. “Let’s go back there, rip his head off, and burn the pieces.”

Meph’s jaw dropped. “Did you hit your head again?”

“Think about it. I’ve tapped into my cool powers.

If the glowing thing starts again—and I know it will when I need it—I’ll be untouchable.

I saw Lily fall into a huge pit and get up without a single scratch.

Valefor won’t be able to hurt me. And you can shift back into your demon form.

Val screamed like a baby when you turned on him.

He’s terrified of you. Between the both of us, he doesn’t stand a chance. ”

Meph was still staring at her. “You’re definitely concussed.”

“No, I’m not!” Iris threw up her hands. “Look, I’m tired of that asshole.

I was so mad at him for years, so full of rage.

Now that I’ve faced off with him, I can see he’s just a slimy old horse face, and he isn’t worth my time.

I’d be happy to leave him here to rot and never think about him again, but he threatened Lily.

He threatened to tell Lucifer where your brothers are hiding.

He threatened to hurt you and me and everyone we care about. Meph, he has to die.”

Shit, but she was right.

“Killing demons—permanently—is against the rules,” Meph reminded her. “No one gives a fuck about the weak ones, but a demon like Valefor... we’d be in deep shit.”

“You’re already in deep shit for escaping Hell. What’s one more crime to add to the list? Plus, how would anyone be able to prove it was us?”

Meph’s eyes narrowed. She had a point, damn it, but he still didn’t like this. “Iris, if I shift again, there’s no guarantee I’ll shift back.”

“That’s bull. You half shifted for sex and—” She stopped. “What was that anyway? How did you do that?”

“I dunno.” He frowned, trying to recall the moment when his demon had surrendered him control. Except... it hadn’t happened until after the sex.

“I think... my demon wanted to fuck you, but he’s not really good at emotions.

Even pleasure. He doesn’t feel much except hunger.

I think he figured that if we had sex with you together, it would be more enjoyable for both of us—” He broke off and winced.

“I sound like a fucking lunatic, saying we . Jesus.”

She reached out and clasped his arm. “No, you don’t. It makes sense. And I already told you I think of you as two different people, so it doesn’t seem weird to me.”

“Until today, I would have said my demon was asexual. I don’t think he’s really capable of that kind of desire.

But he feels possessive of you, I guess, and he wanted you to have pleasure.

And when we had sex, I guess, he kinda wanted to feel close to you.

So he let me half shift so I could take the lead a little bit.

Except it wasn’t really me, either.” He pinched the bridge of his nose. “I’m so confused.”

“If this is the first time your two halves have worked together, it makes sense it would feel strange.”

“Yeah...” He dropped his hand and looked at her. “That is kinda what happened. We were working together.” He started to smile. “Teamwork. Me and my demon tag-teaming my witch.”

She laughed. “You only have one dick, stupid.”

He snagged her around the waist and pulled her against him. “Only need one to make you scream.”

Her eyes sparkled with mischief. “Oh, I don’t know, I might—”

“You so much as look at another guy’s dick, I’ll rip it off and make that fucker eat it.”

She started to grin wickedly.

“And then I’ll tear his arms and legs off, and I’ll let my demon feed on him until he shits himself with terror, and—”

“Okay, okay, no need to get so graphic. I have no desire for anyone else’s dick, and I’ll never look at another as long as I have yours.”

“Mine’s the best.” He bent to nip at her throat.

She giggled. Straight-up giggled. So cute. “The very best.”

He growled his approval, and his bites turned to kisses, trailing along her jaw toward her mouth.

“The only one I want,” she murmured, and he figured she wasn’t just talking about dick anymore. “No one else.”

He stopped before he kissed her lips and looked into her eyes. “Only you.”

She leaned in and made contact before he could, but she pulled back from the kiss before he could get busy showing her who she belonged to.

“Now let’s go kill a demon,” she said, and that wicked smile curved her lips again.

“I still haven’t agreed to this plan.”

“But you will. It’s the only plan that makes sense.”

He released her and stepped back. “I don’t want to shift again. For one, I don’t know if I’ll be able to shift back, and for two, my fucking demon obeys Valefor—”

“Not anymore. He turned on him, remember?”

“Yeah, but how sure are you that’ll stick? We’re talking centuries of conditioning, Iris.”

Her eyes softened. Iris’s did. He still wasn’t used to this sweet-talking, soft-eyed Iris.

Part of him was jumpy, expecting her to lash out at any second, but the other part was enjoying the hell out of it. It was nice to not always be walking a knife’s edge with her. It was nice when she looked at him like that.

Fuck that, it was not nice . He was obsessed with it.

“I’m one hundred percent certain,” Iris said firmly.

“You weren’t there when he—Well, okay, you were there.

” She laughed. “You’re right, this is a bit weird.

But what I mean is... I know what I saw.

I know the minute he decided to turn on Valefor.

I watched him cross that line, and I know there’s no going back. He won’t betray me.”

Meph was hesitant to agree with her, considering what was at stake, but somehow, he believed her. Now that he was thinking about it, he was pretty sure he remembered being able to communicate with his demon, convincing it to listen to him.

When his two sides had come together in the cave, it felt like something had shifted. He wasn’t about to merge completely with his demon—thank god—but he felt a certain level of affinity with it he’d never felt before.

Since the day he’d first shifted to human form, all his energy had gone to making sure that he never shifted back, that he never gave into that side of himself, that he never let the ravenous monster out of its cage.

He didn’t always succeed—hence why Belial had gotten good at roasting him with hellfire—and it had been a constant struggle.

But now, thanks to Iris, he could almost believe he could live harmoniously with his demon. He could almost imagine a life where he could shift forms if he needed to protect himself or her without worrying about going on a killing spree and never being heard from again.

But that was still a very real fear.

“I don’t know.” He dragged a hand through his hair.

Voluntarily shifting so he could bring Iris back to the last place he wanted her to be sounded like the dumbest thing he could possibly imagine.

“The minute Val wakes up, he’s going to turn on you,” Iris pressed. “He knows where your brothers are, and he’s going to shout it to the underworld.”

“He can’t. He vowed not to—”

“He’ll find a way. You know he will. That was way too loose of a vow—even I could find a hundred loopholes. He’ll come after me. He’ll come after Lily. Eva will be in danger. Think about it, Meph. It’s the only way.”

Meph did think, and he realized she was right. If he could control his demon, he was confident he could overpower Valefor. It would be so easy to fake that he was slinking home to his master like a loyal pet and then drain him as soon as he got close enough. From there it was a matter of—

“Can you conjure hellfire?”

Iris’s eyes widened. “No. I never learned the ritual. I always stayed away from Sheolic magic, but I know now that was stupid. It’s been on my study to-do list, but I’ve been avoiding the coven lately, so...”

“I don’t know how either.”

“What? But you’re a demon. Can’t all demons do it?”

He shook his head. “Only the most powerful demons can summon it at will, like Bel. The rest of us learn the magic, but as you might have guessed, my demon isn’t too keen on book learning. And after I shifted, well...” He shrugged. “Still not keen on book learning.”

Iris laughed. “Shit, well, what do we—? Belial.”

“Yeah, but he’s not—”

“We’ll go in there, you suck Valefor’s soul or whatever the hell—”

“Not his soul. His life energy. Demons don’t have souls.”

“Whatever. Then we’ll chop his head off, drag the pieces back to Earth through a hellgate, and get Belial to ash him.”

His brow lifted. “Bloodthirsty little thing, aren’t you?”

“You love it. But wait.” She held up a hand. “Unconscious people can’t travel through hellgates, can they? So does that mean—”

“Unconscious people can’t, but dead people can. And last I checked, decapitation generally results in death.”

“But Val’s a demon. He’s not actually dead until we burn him with hellfire. He’ll just regenerate.”

“Yes, but he’s temporarily dead. Demons are cool like that. We can die and come back.”

She frowned. “When you fed from him earlier, did it kill him? Or was he just unconscious?”

“Just unconscious, unfortunately, but that was only because my demon was more focused on getting to you. If he feeds from someone long enough, he can kill them.”

“But they’ll regenerate unless you also cut their heads off and burn them with hellfire.”

“Correct.” Meph grinned. “Now you’re getting it.”

“Okay. So that means you can just feed from Valefor until he’s dead, and then we can use the hellgate.

We can skip the decapitation part.” When he grimaced, still not particularly enthusiastic about the whole plan, she planted her hands on her hips and smirked.

“Admit it, it’s a flawless plan, Meph. Foolproof. ”

Meph shook his head. Iris was trapped in Hell for the second time, and instead of plotting the quickest escape, she was standing there talking him into first-degree murder with a smile on her face.

“You’re fucking crazy,” he said. And I love it.

“Thank you. Now can we go?”

Meph took a breath and focused on the well of hunger that always lived inside him. The lid was off now without his binding tattoo, but that hardly mattered considering he was about to willingly dive in. The minute he gave it the slightest attention, his demon churned and immediately began to rise.

He fought the urge to slam it back down and turned to Iris. “If I’m going to do this... I can’t promise I can control him, okay? You have to be one hundred percent sure you know what you’re doing because once I’m gone, I’m gone.”

“Hey.” She stepped up to him and took his hands. “You’re not gone. You’ll be right next to me the whole time. And don’t worry about it. Your demon and I are pals. We got this. I’ll be right here waiting for you when he decides to let you shift again.”

He searched her gaze. “And what if he doesn’t?”

“He will. But if he needs to wait for a while, that’s perfectly fine with me. He’s good company, you know. A great listener.”

Meph snorted. “That’s because he can’t speak.”

“A nice change.”

He shot her a mock glare and then took a breath. “Fine. You win. We’re doing this insane plan. But if something happens to you, I’m going to go apeshit and go on a killing spree. All the blood and death will be your fault, got it?”

She beamed at him. “You say the sweetest things, baby.”

He shook his head, closed his eyes... and let his demon rise.