Page 95 of Demon with Benefits
“No!”
“Weak and a liar,” Suyin said. Iris spun around to find her friend behind her. “A filthy, dirty liar.”
“W-what?”
“You think I wouldn’t find out? I thought you were a true witch, but apparently, you’d rather be a demon whore than stand up for what you believe in.”
“No! It’s not like that. Lily—I had to for Lily—”
“I don’t want your excuses. You were always weak. I’ve never seen you earn the title of blood-born with your feeble powers.”
“Stop it!” Iris shouted. “Don’t throw your fucking judgments at me!”
“Leave Meph alone,” Raum said. Iris spun around again—he was behind her. “He’s better off without you. He doesn’t need you anyway.”
“But I don’t want to—”
“He’s a brilliant artist,” Jacqui said from beside him, her lip curling, “and what are you?”
“I just—”
And then, suddenly, she was looking at Meph. Human Meph.
“You were never good enough for me.” His eyes were cold. “I suffered for centuries, I learned to overcome my pain, but you? What have you done besides cast judgments and try to make me feel weak?”
“I know,” she whispered, the denial draining from her. “I know, and I’m sorry.”
“It was all a lie anyway,” he sneered. “The feelings I said I had for you were a li—”
He stopped.
And suddenly, they were back in the dungeon. The vision, hallucination, whatever the fuck that was, faded, and Iris blinked through the tears obscuring her vision. She was shaking from head to foot, her heart racing so fast she couldn’t catch her breath. She could still feel the heat of the flames licking at her skin.
The monster peered at her through sunken red eyes.
Valefor’s voice echoed across the dungeon. “That’s enough.”
Meph twisted his head, slowly and fluidly, to stare at the other demon over his shoulder.
“I don’t want you to drain her to death. I still have uses for her. You can feed more later. Come away, now.”
Understanding dawned. Whatever Iris had seen was some kind of hallucination of her fears and shame. It had shown her all her worst nightmares, and she’d been lost in the vision.
And the monster, Meph’s monster, fed off it somehow. It made him stronger. She’d felt his energy swelling as he ate up her terror and self-loathing. The more fear she’d had, the deeper and more intense the vision had become.
That was why he was so powerful, she realized. That was why Raum had said he could defeat almost any other demon, no matter how much stronger they were than him. Everyone had fears. The more powerful and mighty, the more they had to lose—and the more they had to fear.
“Mephistopheles.” Valefor’s voice was chiding, like he was speaking to a child. It made her feel sick. “You will come now.” He simply lifted the whip in his hand, and Meph flinched like he’d been struck by it.
Slowly, Meph rose to his considerable shadowy height. Without a backward glance at her, he floated away toward his master.
The entire thing made her want to scream and throw up. He was terrifying, and what he’d just done to her was the worst kind of psychological torture, but somewhere in there, he was still Meph. And he still obeyed Valefor because of the centuries he’d spent here being “broken,” as Raum had said.
Worse,herMeph was gone. She didn’t know this Meph, didn’t know how to communicate with him. She didn’t think he would care enough to try. Rationally, she knew there was only one Meph, and that this monster was part of him, but it still felt like a loss.
Valefor bid Meph to stay put and then walked toward Iris. She was still on the ground, her bound feet preventing her from standing easily, and her fingers scrabbled uselessly at the cold stone floor as she tried in vain to scramble away.
Valefor snatched her by the throat and lifted her to her feet. She tried to scream despite the constriction on her airway, thrashing in his grip, her bound hands landing blows that did nothing against the powerful demon’s strength.
