Page 53 of Demon with Benefits (Hell Bent #3)

Both times Meph’s demon had turned against Valefor had involved her, Iris realized with a flash of insight. She was the catalyst that allowed him to think outside the obedience Valefor had drilled into him.

Of course he was getting distracted now. She was standing outside in the hall where neither of them could see her.

She thought of that terrible horse-donkey-goat head with those pitch-black eyes, and her stomach pitted. The last thing she wanted to do was face him again. But she had to. If they were going to get out of this, she had to.

She took a breath, swallowed hard, and then stepped around the corner.

The scene before her wasn’t what she’d been picturing, yet it somehow fit. Valefor sat behind a messy desk. There were pages of illegible notes spread around him. Bookshelves in complete disarray lined the walls. The window behind him overlooked his desolate territory.

There was a hellgate in one corner, and her heart raced. She was so close to escape she could taste it.

“You returned of your own accord, I see,” Valefor said coolly.

Her gaze snapped from the surroundings to him, and she was amazed she’d been able to look anywhere else.

He was in demon form and had already regenerated from Meph’s previous attack.

Or did he look thinner than before? His lion body was hidden behind the desk except for his formidable paws, which were folded on the surface before him.

Great horns twisted from his skull, and the shiny black orbs of his eyes were like soulless pits.

Beside the desk, demon Meph was looming. Long and lean like the shadow of a reaper, he twisted his head around to stare at her over his shoulder in that bone-chilling, owllike way.

“It saves me the trouble of having to hunt you down,” Valefor said to Iris, “though it wouldn’t have been too difficult.

My tracking spells told me you were still within my territory, and it would only have been a matter of flying up there to grab you.

Mephistopheles took you to one of his favorite caves. He often brings prey there to eat.”

Valefor smiled. “Or did you think you were special? Did you think that because he attacked me and flew off with you that he’d changed?

Oh, no, child. He has always been temperamental and difficult to control.

Do you think this is the first time he’s feasted on my servants and seemingly double-crossed me?

Did you think he’d changed his loyalties for you, a mere human witch? What a ludicrous notion.”

He’s full of shit. He’s lying. Despite her assurances, Iris couldn’t help glancing at Meph. She looked into his empty glowing eyes and searched for any sort of recognition. Any sign that what Valefor was saying wasn’t true.

She saw nothing.

Shut up. That doesn’t mean anything. He won’t turn on me.

And yet she couldn’t help thinking, I should have listened to Meph when he said he didn’t want to shift again. I should have trusted his judgment. Damn it, why am I always pushing?

But she’d been so certain, so deeply confident it would work out.

Valefor seemed to sense her insecurity, and he pressed on.

“Mephistopheles has been mine since his creation, over nine hundred years ago. You’ve known him mere months, and you think you have some claim over him?

Even the other demons he allied with had to convince him to avoid his true form in order to control him.

But he has always been mine. He has always obeyed me. He has always returned to me.”

Meph was the source of Valefor’s power, Iris suddenly realized. Meph was the reason Valefor had become a Duke of Hell and solidified his hold over his territory. Not because he was a powerful demon in his own right, but because he’d found a way to control Meph.

And when Meph had escaped with Raum all those years ago, Valefor had begun seeking other sources of power to stabilize his rule. That was why he’d come after Lily and Iris.

He wasn’t like the others—Mist with his deadly hunter instincts, Belial with his epic power, or even the traitorous Murmur with his army of souls.

He was just... a poser.

Iris couldn’t help herself. She laughed.

Valefor blinked. Even Meph managed to look surprised.

“You think you’re so scary.” A voice in her head told her to shut up, but she ignored it. “But you’re not!” She dissolved into giggles again.

She swore she could see the steam coming out Valefor’s ears.

“You need Meph or you’re nothing. Isn’t that it?

Meph’s the one who got you your territory.

Meph’s the one who tracks down your enemies.

So of course you can’t get mad at him when he shows up and eats your entire castle full of servants.

” She cackled. “You’re shaking in your boots at the thought that he might turn on you again. ”

“I have centuries of practice controlling him,” Valefor snapped. “I have done things to him that you would not survive, and he simply endures his punishment. If I were so afraid of him, tell me, how would I have managed that?”

Iris ignored him and turned to Meph. “Babe, I really want to get home. You’ve got a nice juicy meal in front of you—even I can tell how terrified he is—so can you eat him up so we can go? I’ve had enough of Hell to last, well, forever.”

“Silence, witch!” Valefor demanded, but Iris didn’t miss the slight tremor in his voice. He rose to his feet, looming above her with his impressive size, claws flexing at his sides.

Iris was the wildcard. She made Meph unpredictable. Therefore, she was the biggest threat.

“If you hurt me,” she told Valefor, “Meph will turn on you again.”

“He is loyal to me.”

Meph’s head tilted back and forth as he listened to their argument. She didn’t want him to see her as another person vying to control him, so she decided a different tactic was in order.

“I understand if you want to stay in Hell,” she told him, ignoring Valefor again.

“I really can’t stay though. It’s too dangerous for me here, and I need to get back and make sure Lily is okay.

I’ll really miss you if you decide you don’t want to come, but I won’t try to force you to do anything you don’t want to do. ”

She took two tentative steps to her right, toward the hellgate. This time, when she spoke, she addressed Valefor.

“I’m going to use this hellgate to get back to Earth, and you’re going to let me. If you try to hurt me, Meph will turn on you again and you know it. So you’re going to let me leave, and you’re not going to come after me or Lily ever again, got it?”

Valefor growled. “I will not be manipulated.”

“Try it,” she snapped. “Try fucking with me and see what Meph does.”

He said nothing.

Iris took two more steps toward the gate. It was not currently connected—unlike the one in Meph’s bedroom, she could feel no Sheolic magic thrumming from the sigil—which meant she’d have to activate it herself.

She didn’t know how to properly initiate hellgate magic.

After she’d returned to Earth following her and Lily’s accidental trip to Hell, it was the first thing she’d started researching.

The knowledge that if she’d known how to do it, she could have prevented Lily from getting thrown in the Pit with Paimon had been a pretty big motivator.

But it had only been six months since then. She hadn’t had time to practice properly. She’d stupidly thought that there was no more immediate danger.

Still, she was going to try, and she hoped like hell her instincts would kick in and her newfound power would help get the job done.

She stepped closer to the gate. Valefor still hadn’t moved. She kept expecting him to lunge at her at any second. He was twice the size of her. He could take her down in a heartbeat, and they both knew it.

But he was letting her go. Because he knew she was right—he could only control Meph as long as Iris wasn’t there.

Her heart was breaking at the thought of leaving Meph behind, but she promised herself it wouldn’t be forever. She’d come back with Bel, Raum, Ash, and Mist and drag him out of here kicking and screaming if she had to. But right now, she had to save her own ass.

Iris stopped at the edge of the gate, still facing Meph and Valefor, her feet inches from the outside line on the floor. Then, she closed her eyes and focused.

Feeling the magic of the gate behind her, she tapped into her inner power and visualized the other gate she wanted to link it to. She pictured the sigil on the floor of Meph’s bedroom. She pictured the messy clothes strewn all over the place and the smell of his cologne in the bedsheets.

She felt the magic connect. Holy shit, I’ve done it. The gates were linked, and she could feel the hum of energy at her back telling her it was active. Her escape was so close.

She looked at Meph. “I wish you’d come with me.”

“Silence,” Valefor hissed. “Leave now before I change my mind.”

She gulped, glancing between the two demons. One step backward, and she’d be through the gate.

“Please come?” she whispered to Meph. “I can’t offer entire demon armies for you to eat, but I can offer you a safe place surrounded by people who care about you. Remember Jacqui? And your brothers? They all miss you. They all want you back—”

“That’s enough!” With a roar, Valefor lunged.

The massive demon leapt off powerful hindquarters toward her, his claws poised to cut through her flesh like butter. Iris stumbled back into the gate, and the ground vanished beneath her feet.

The demon watched the prey disappear. His master lunged at her, swiping his large claws right where she had been standing moments before. Had she not fled, the blows would have struck her down.

The demon did not like that.

He didn’t like that the prey had left without him either, but the master had promised him more feeding if he stayed. He could prolong the frenzy and consume another castle full of fearful beings. He’d already fed so much, but he was still hungry. He was always hungry.

What the hell are you doing? the weakling hollered in his head. The demon had successfully suppressed his voice while he was lost to the hunt, but of course, his feeble counterpart forced his way through now. Don’t just stand there! Eat this fucker and go after her!

At that moment, the master straightened from his post-pounce crouch beside the empty hellgate and spun around.

“I let her escape, of course,” he informed him, clearing his throat.

“Just needed to give her a bit of a scare so she would shut up. I’ll go after her later and finish what I started, but for now, we need to focus on Murmur.

Your little rebellion is over, Mephistopheles.

You will obey me now or suffer the consequences. ”

The demon growled. He was tired of obeying. The weakling’s suggestion echoed through his mind. Eat the fucker.

Eat the master. But the master was not for eating—

Why not? He’d done it before, and it had gone quite well for him. He’d gorged himself, escaped the pain of the hellfire whip, and stolen the prey and claimed her as his own. He had chosen to give her pleasure instead of fear, and she had accepted him. She belonged to him now.

And then you just let her leave the second Vale-fuck offered you some food? If she’s yours, then go get her, damn it! Stick to the plan!

“You will go to Murmur’s lair as I ordered,” the master declared, striding purposefully toward him, a claw pointed in his direction, “you will feed to your heart’s content, and you will bring me back that book. You will go now.”

Still, the demon hesitated. Though the master promised more hunting, the prospect of another mass feeding didn’t seem quite as thrilling anymore.

Not without the prey at his side. He had enjoyed it most when they were together, when he could keep an eye on her and make sure no one tried to eat her but him.

Not that he would. He had decided not to. But if someone was going to eat her, it would be him. She was his prey and no one else’s.

He had enjoyed her presence on his hunt.

She’d followed him throughout the castle while he consumed every demon he could find, showing her how quickly he could drain them to shriveled husks.

He dropped the best corpses at her feet.

Once, when he glanced back at her after ripping the legs off a demon that tried to flee, she had managed an encouraging smile, though her face had an unusual greenish tinge.

She had even followed him up to the heart of the master’s lair, where she’d waited outside while he...

His recollections ground to a halt, and his head tilted.

“What are you waiting for?” his master demanded, but he ignored him. “I told you to go now, so you will go!”

What had he been supposed to do again while the prey waited? There had been a plan, hadn’t there? Some purpose behind returning to the master’s lair beyond feeding?

A purpose beyond feeding. He couldn’t imagine what could be more important than that.

Killing Valefor! the weakling all but screamed across the void separating their psyches. We are supposed to be killing Valefor so he can’t try to control us or hurt Iris ever again, remember?

His mind, usually consumed by the primal drive to hunt and unaccustomed to critical thinking, spun. Iris was the prey. The master wanted to hurt Iris. The master had already hurt Iris. And he would have hurt her again had she not escaped on her own. He would have killed her, in fact.

No, the demon did not like that at all.

No shit, dumbass. God, you are so stupid it makes my head hurt. I’m honestly embarrassed that we share the same brain.

“I told you to go!” the master screamed, an unmistakable tremor in his voice. Fear. There was suddenly so much of it, he could taste it in the air.

Come on, eat this piece of shit and then go get our witch.

The master wanted to control him. The master only let him eat the people that he wanted him to eat and only when it suited him. The master flogged him when he didn’t obey or when he ate the wrong people. The master had threatened his witch and forced her to leave him.

The demon hated the master.

He hated him so much, in fact, it was stronger than his hunger.