Page 20 of My Demon Hunter (Hell Bent #2)

19

A LOSI N G BATTLE

C losing the door and leaving Lily behind to call her sister, Mist strode purposefully back to the kitchen to find the others. Their conversation fell silent when he approached.

“Did Bel tell you?” Eva said. “My dad has a friend named Sunshine who’s a real, live, heavenly angel, and she’s going to look in the Empyrean library for him for information on your brands. He’s going to call as soon as he hears back.”

Mist went still. “How long?”

“A week, maybe. It’s a big library, and she has to be sneaky since she’s not technically allowed to give information to Grigori.”

His momentary elation died swiftly. The escape he had sought... he was so close. So close, and yet so far. “Thank you,” he said, hating those two words and yet not knowing how else to communicate his feelings.

“Of course. I knew we’d be able to find something.”

He dragged his gaze from her hopeful smile and looked at Belial. “Could we speak in private?”

Belial’s eyes narrowed, but he nodded.

“But I need another martini,” Meph complained.

“Make it your damn self.” Bel stalked down the hall toward his bedroom, gesturing for Mist to follow.

They entered the largest bedroom of the apartment with a king-size bed and floor-to-ceiling windows. Sheer curtains billowed in the silent hum of the air-conditioning. Though he had more possessions than Mist, Belial’s bedroom was nearly as spotless, save for the rumpled blankets and clothes hanging out of the top dresser drawer.

Belial closed the door, stabbed his fingertip with a claw that grew from his other hand, and then pressed the bloodied tip in the seal on the door to activate it.

No one would be able to break that seal. Just the scent of Belial’s powerful blood was enough to make Mist’s head spin.

Bel crossed his arms and leaned against the wall. “What?”

“I need you to make me a promise.”

“No.”

Mist clenched his jaw. “Listen first. Please,” he bit out. “It’s important.”

Belial’s brow lifted at the use of “please,” and he waved a hand for Mist to continue.

“Paimon has increased the power of the summoning. Already, I can’t fight the compulsion to return for much longer.”

“So I’ll seal you in prison wards, and you won’t be going anywhere. You heard Eva. In a week we might have answers.”

“I don’t have that long.”

Belial’s eyes narrowed. “What are you saying?”

“I’m going back now.”

“Why the fuck would you do that?”

“I don’t have a week. I don’t think I’d last longer than three days, and I can’t risk it anyway. Lily is in danger. If there’s even the slightest chance—”

“What are you saying? Spell it out clearly.”

“I’m going to try to kill Paimon.”

There was a pause.

“Your life force is linked to hers through the brands,” Bel said slowly. “She dies, so do you.”

“I know that.”

“And what happens if you fail? Paimon is a Queen. She won’t be easy to take down.”

“If I fail, I believe she will still give up hunting Lily. She never cared about the prophecy until she found out Lily summoned me from her lair. This was always about my disobedience. If I fail, she will find something else to focus on.”

“Yeah. Turning you into hamburger meat as punishment.”

Mist swallowed and nodded.

“So... you’re going on a goddamn suicide mission. You’re going to martyr yourself even though I told you martyrs were fucking idiots.”

Mist nodded again.

“No,” Bel snapped. “That’s the stupidest plan I’ve ever heard. If you fail, you die worse than if you hung out here and casually burned to death. Hell, I’d take you out myself if it came to that.”

“I don’t care. I don’t want Lily to see me die, weak and mindless, trapped in wards. If I fail, then at least she won’t be there. But if I succeed... Everything I have endured will be worth something if I can die knowing Paimon dies with me. That is the legacy I want to leave behind.”

“Fuck leaving a legacy behind. I told you I would help you, asshole. I told you not to give me shit about sacrificing yourself. I even met with the fucking angel for you, and you’re giving up just like that?”

They stared at each other. Mist wasn’t changing his mind.

“Just go back to Paimon now if you have to,” Bel said. “If Lily can’t summon you again, I will personally go there myself and pull you out of the Pit. Lily said you killed one of the gorath. Kickass. Kill another, and I’ll kill the rest. Problem solved.”

Mist said nothing. Belial couldn’t do that, and he knew it. Unless he was there to surrender, Belial’s return to Hell would be considered an act of war, especially if he showed up in Paimon’s lair.

Hellfire sparked in his eyes like he knew what Mist was thinking. “Fuck this! I refuse to take part in your suicide mission.”

“I am not asking you to.”

“Then what are you asking?”

“Once I destroy Paimon, Valefor will still be a problem. That is the reason I’m telling you this. I need you to protect Lily and her sister when I cannot.”

“You know I will, though fuck you for putting me in that position. I’ve already got a bone to pick with Valefor for what he did to Meph, so don’t worry about him. But Lily will go right ahead and summon you back as soon as she finds out you’re gone, and you know she can do it.”

“Tell her not to try. I’ll draw a hellseal on myself the second I get back there.”

“She’s going to be pissed.”

“Yes.” It was the one thing making him hesitate, knowing Lily would be hurt by his leaving.

You have so much worth to me... I already know what it’s like to lose people I care about, and I don’t want to lose anyone else.

His stomach churned, but he forced the guilt away. He had to do this. He’d been over it again and again, and it was the only way.

“I have one more request.”

Bel cocked a brow, hellfire still dancing in his eyes.

“On one of my last missions before I was sent to hunt you... I broke the rules. There was another rogue.”

“Eligos? I thought he was destroyed.” His eyes widened. “You sly dog. He’s alive, isn’t he? You lied.”

Mist nodded. “He’s hiding behind wards in the Gaspé region. He thinks I’m still hunting him and that I don’t know where he is. I had planned to tell him he was free as long as no one else caught him, but...”

“You’re going on a suicide mission, so you can’t, and you want me to go.” Bel did not look impressed. “Why not ask someone else?”

“If I do, then they will ask why I can’t go myself.”

A vein bulged in his temple. “So you asked me because I’m a soulless bastard who doesn’t give a shit if you die.”

Mist wouldn’t have put it in so many words, but it was close enough. Belial was older than he could fathom, and a certain detachment from everything had always lurked in his eyes. He was the epitome of apathetic—so long as the flames of his temper were not stoked.

Bel’s jaw shifted. The hellfire had totally consumed his eyes now. “You know what? Fuck you, Mishetsu. Discard my offer of help. It didn’t mean shit anyway. Go on your suicide mission and lie to your witch. You want me to watch out for her, fine. You want me to find Eligos and scare the piss out of him, fine. But just know that I think you’re a fucking idiot, and I’d like nothing more than to punch a hole through your skull. And if you don’t get out of my sight right now, I will.”

He reached over, smudged the edge of the seal, and opened the door. “Go on. Get out of here. Go give up on your life.”

Mist’s stomach churned. “It’s the only way.”

“I don’t give a fuck. Go.”

Belial’s eyes burned with wrath as Mist searched them, looking for something. He wasn’t sure what he sought. Bel had given him the promises he wanted. There was no reason to feel so conflicted.

Without another word, Mist walked past him out in the hall. The door slamming behind him made him flinch, but he didn’t turn around.

“No damn way am I hanging out in a house full of demons! Have you lost your mind?”

Lily winced at the way the phone speaker distorted her sister’s shrill voice. “Mist said there are wards around the apartment, and as long as we stay within them, no one can find us here. He said he has a plan, and he just wants us to hang out here where it’s safe for the time being. It’s not forever.”

“I don’t give a damn about the stupid wards. I can make wards myself. I’m not going anywhere near that flat.”

“This is serious, Ris. Please.”

There was a pause. “Tell me why you actually believe the demon when he says you’re in danger. I thought he went back to Hell. For god’s sake, Lil, I thought you’d given up on all this ‘there are good demons’ crap!”

She wasn’t going into that right now. “Mist said there’s some prophecy about blood-born twins. It sounds silly to me, but he said that regardless of whether it’s true, Paimon believes it, and she’s hunting us.”

She paused, phone pressed to her ear, waiting for Iris’s response.

And got nothing but silence.

“Iris? Hellooo? Are you still there?”

“Yeah,” she croaked, and Lily instantly knew.

“You’ve heard of it.” Her heart skipped a beat. “Why didn’t you ever tell me?”

Iris ignored her questions. “So you’re saying some uber-powerful demon is coming after us? How’d he find us, though?”

“Well... I summoned Mist.”

“You did what ?”

Lily tipped her face up. “Can we just talk about this from here? When we’re safely behind the wards?”

“If you think you can be all like, ‘Oh, by the way, I summoned a demon. Okay, byeee!’ and then expect me to talk about it later, you’ve got another thing coming.”

“Fine,” she snapped. Her sister could be the most infuriating person on the planet. “I summoned Mist out of Hell because he was taken back by Paimon, who controls him by these horrible brands.”

“So far precisely zero percent of that makes sense.” Iris snorted. “The demon was in trouble, so you just summoned him on the fly? Do you have any idea how absurd that sounds? Lil, you’d have to be crazy powerful to manage that.”

“That’s what everyone keeps saying, but I’m not. Whatever the case, it’s not relevant. The fact of the matter is, I summoned Mist, and Paimon sensed my magic or whatever, since it was within her realm—I still don’t really understand how that works—and now she thinks we’re these prophesied twins that this demon Valefor has been hunting, and she’s after—”

“Valefor?”

“Yeah. That’s the part I hadn’t got to yet. Apparently, Mist thinks Valefor killed our parents and their coven with the fire. Not arsonists.”

Silence.

“Iris?”

More silence.

“Iris? Do you know something about this? Is there something you’re not telling me?”

“I’ll be there in twenty minutes. Text me the address.”

“Iris! What—”

She hung up.

Lily lowered the phone and stared at it, a chill creeping up her spine. Every instinct she possessed told her Iris knew about Valefor and the fire. But if that was the case, why hadn’t her sister told her? Surely Iris wouldn’t be so cruel as to lie about their parents’ deaths for nearly a decade?

The door opened, and Mist’s towering form filled the frame.

“Mist.” She leapt to her feet. She had so much she wanted to say suddenly, and yet the words stuck in her throat.

It didn’t matter, anyway. A moment later, he was across the room, kicking the door shut behind him, and burying his claws in her hair as he took her mouth in a passionate kiss.

“My Lily,” he murmured, pushing her back onto the bed. “Mine.”

She melted for him instantly. “And you’re mine.”

They tore at each other’s clothing madly until there was nothing but skin on skin. Dark gray skin on pale pink skin. A demon and a witch. The most unlikely of allies, which made what they had all the more precious.

Sprawled on her back, she cried out as he pressed her legs open and thrummed his tail tip against her clit. She saw his hand shift to human form as he reached down and penetrated her with one finger... two... three...

“Mist!” The stretch hurt, especially after their first round of lovemaking only hours ago, but knowing what awaited her made her ache with pleasure instead of pain. Looming above her, his tongue swirled around her mouth while he stimulated her with his tail and spread her with his fingers. When she climaxed, he covered her lips with his and swallowed her cries.

He didn’t waste a second. While she was still shaking from release, he aligned their bodies and slowly pushed his hard shaft inside of her. “Oh, god, Mist—”

He stilled at her gasp, body shaking with tension. “Hurts?”

“A little.”

He started to pull out.

“No.” She gripped his arms. “Hurts a little, but I want you. I don’t care.”

“Lily...”

“Just go slow. We’re made for each other, remember?”

Their gazes met, and even then, in the midst of their passion, she could see the tightening around the corners of his eyes and something clouding his focus. He felt miles away from her, when before she’d seen straight to his soul.

The distance gutted her. She needed that closeness back. She needed to know she wasn’t losing him.

“More, Mist.”

He pushed deeper, slowly enough to give her time to adjust. And she did, though she knew she would hurt later. It didn’t matter. This was worth it.

Then his tail teased her clit again, his big hands holding her legs open, and the pain dissolved into liquid pleasure. Her arousal coated his shaft, her muscles relaxed, and he sank deep with ease.

They moaned together as he rocked inside her, and there was nothing but the two of them.

His thrusts deepened amid furious growls, and she could do nothing but hold on for the ride, calling his name over and over. He fixed his teeth over her bite mark from earlier but didn’t bite down, though she honestly wouldn’t have minded.

With a groan muffled against her neck, he came apart, his wings snapping out as his body locked up. He swelled inside her, and she couldn’t hold back her cries at the intensity.

A moment later, he collapsed, rolling onto his back so he didn’t crush her. She draped herself across his chest, feeling tiny and cherished as he wrapped his arms and wings around her and held on for dear life.

“My Lily,” he murmured.

“Mmm. That was unexpected.”

“I saw you and I couldn’t help myself.”

“I loved it.”

He opened his wings, and she sat up to look at his face, expecting to see the same happy, drugged expression he’d had the first time they were intimate.

Instead, his eyes were haunted. His face was drawn, his eyes tightening in the corners, his mouth pressed into a line.

“What’s wrong?” she asked, pushing a lock of hair off his forehead. “What aren’t you telling me?”

Yellow eyes shifted away, and that was when she finally saw it.

Pain. He was in so much pain, and he was trying to hide it from her.