My Funny Demon Valentine (Hell Bent #1)

Chapter 14

14

La Belle et la Bête

B elial hunched on a flimsy barstool that threatened to collapse under his weight, lost in his thoughts. Currently, the band was between sets, and old-school hip-hop beats were thumping from the speakers while people took the chance to mingle and refill their drinks. That meant bodies were pushing up against him from all sides, invading his personal space and threatening to make his temper snap.

He tried to ignore it, still reeling about what he’d witnessed before Ash had fled. The curse had malfunctioned. Somehow. It had something to do with the music, but he didn’t understand how.

Ash had been bound by the angel Raphael after a big-time transgression, and it wasn’t like the heavenly prick had stuck around to explain the mechanics of it afterward. The only thing Bel could think of was that since Asmodeus was a demon, and music wasn’t exactly a demonic pursuit, something had happened while he was playing to counteract the binding.

They needed to experiment further, figure out what triggered the reversal, because Bel was certain tonight’s malfunction was only a temporary reprieve. Most likely, whatever had caused the curse to lift would fade after a short period of time and Ash would be back to his invisible, colorless existence.

They had a month until the dose of Nephilim blood Naiamah found wore off, and Bel planned to spend every spare second that he wasn’t searching for more blood—or a more permanent solution—investigating this new loophole in Asmodeus’s curse.

He was excited for his brother. He was also stressed as hell because he knew everyone was going to look to him as the provider of all the fucking answers. Answers he didn’t have.

Someone stumbled into him with enough force to jar him slightly to one side, and his temper flared. His hands flexed around the bar counter enough to dent the solid wood, and the burn in his eyes told him there were flames flickering in them. He squeezed them shut, taking deep breaths. In, and out. Inner peace. Inner fucking p —

Another person bumped him, and he snapped.

He lurched to his feet, stool screeching against the scratched wood floor, spun around, and seized the offending human by his throat. The man took one look at Bel’s eyes and tried to scream, except he couldn’t because Bel was cutting off his air supply.

The human’s friends caught on to what was happening quickly enough, and pretty soon there was a whole lot of “Whoa, whoa, whoa!” and “Calm down, man!” and general commotion. It all faded into a dull roaring at the back of Belial’s skull while he wrestled with the urge to burst into flames and send the whole place straight to Hell.

“Let the human go, brother,” Raum growled. The shifty bastard had just appeared from nowhere.

Belial’s fingers flexed. The humans around him continued to shout and panic, but his rage drowned it out like a river rushing in his ears.

“Just open your fingers and let him go,” Raum said, that deep voice the only sound to penetrate the din. “Think about it. You don’t want to make a scene here or Ash won’t be able to come back and play music.”

Asmodeus. The curse. His brothers. With a monumental expulsion of will, Belial forced his fingers to unclench and released the human.

“Yo, what the fuck, man?” someone was saying, trying to step up and get in Bel’s face.

The human he’d just let go of stumbled back and then grabbed his friend’s arm and shook his head with a panicked expression. The poor bastard had looked into Bel’s demon eyes and knew better than to fuck with him. After having his life spared, he likely wanted nothing more than to get out of there.

He had good survival instincts, then.

“S-s-sorry ’bout that,” he croaked at Belial without meeting his gaze, and then he dragged his friends back into the crowd.

The remaining bystanders eyed Bel warily, their murmurs lost under the thump of the house music, but eventually, the crowd shifted, and the vibe returned to normal.

“You need to get your shit together,” Raum said as Bel swung his head around to pin him with a glare. “If you can’t keep yourself from murdering people when we go out, you should stay home.”

Belial grunted, turning and sitting his ass back on that goddamn barstool. “People were bumping into me. I didn’t like it.”

“Then don’t come to a packed bar, idiot.” Raum glanced around. “Shit, and now I lost Meph. Thanks a lot, dipshit.”

Bel glanced over his shoulder to see if he could spot his loose cannon of a brother anywhere and saw nothing but a sea of human faces.

Raum shot him a glare. “I’ll go find him. Just... stay here. And don’t kill anyone.” He slipped into the crowd, shaking his head.

Mumbling a curse, Bel spun back around and planted his elbows on the bar, dragging his fingers through his hair and trying to force his mind back to thoughts of Ash’s curse and not violence. Raum was right—if he couldn’t keep his shit together, he needed to stay home.

“Hey, can I get you a drink?”

The female voice snagged his attention, and he lifted his head to meet the gaze of a human woman standing on the other side of the counter. Her smile was innocent, but her eyes were full of invitation.

Belial lifted a brow. Sweet little thing like her? He’d chew her up, spit her out, and use her bones to pick his teeth after.

Tempting.

“I’m good,” he grunted.

He was already having enough trouble getting thoughts of Naiamah’s perfect, twerking ass out of his head, and the last thing he needed was to lessen his control with more alcohol. The drink he’d had earlier certainly hadn’t helped keep his temper at bay.

“Are you Ash’s brother?”

He frowned. “You know him?”

“He’s dating my best friend, Eva. She introduced us earlier.”

“Oh. Yeah, he’s my brother.” Say something flirty if you want to bed her, asshole.

A million sleazy pickup lines ran through his head, but he didn’t have the energy to verbalize them. Instead, he felt this empty feeling in his chest like there was nothing but a vacant pit between his ribs and spine.

“I’m Skye.” She reached a hand across the bar, and he shook it.

“Bel.”

“ Belle as in French for beautiful?”

He snorted. “No. Bel as in Belial.”

She smiled. “That’s a nice name.”

His brow lifted. Go google that shit and see if you still think it’s nice, sweetheart.

“It wouldn’t be bad if it meant beautiful, you know.” Skye leaned toward him, bracing her forearms on the countertop, offering a fantastic view down the front of her shirt.

“I’m not sure I agree.”

She smiled. “It would suit you.”

He managed a smirk. The female was smooth. “Are you making a pass at me, Skye?”

“If I was, would you object?”

He tilted his head, considering. He wondered how far he could take things with an innocent little human like this before she ran screaming.

Except then she suddenly straightened and blew out a breath. “I’m sorry. I’m totally leading you on right now and that’s not fair.”

He had to laugh. “Are you concerned for my virtue? Because I assure you, I have none.”

“No, it’s just...” She winced slightly and blurted, “I swore off guys for six months.”

“Really. Why?”

“Because I have no self-control. I love sex. I just... love men—and you are, like, the king of sexy men, by the way—but I’m looking for more. And I know that if I’m ever going to find something serious, I need to break this bad habit first, you know?”

He blinked. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

She laughed. “I’m not surprised. I’ll put it this way. Have you ever made a promise to yourself not to do something, and then you went and did it anyway, and you felt disgusted with yourself after? And then you promised it again, and broke it again, and kept doing it over and over until finally, you feel like you don’t respect yourself anymore?”

Belial stared at her. “I do know that feeling.” He’d practically invented that fucking feeling. It was like she’d read his mind.

“Well, I’ve given it a lot of thought, and I realized that the only way I’m ever going to respect myself is if I stop giving in. I have to put my foot down. I have to strengthen my willpower.”

Bel leaned way over the counter. He felt like he’d stumbled upon a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow. “So what do you do? How do you strengthen your willpower?”

“Easy. You use it. You refuse to bend. All those promises you keep making to yourself? You keep them. You say no. It doesn’t matter what the circumstances are, the answer’s always no.”

Belial nodded slowly, considering this.

“So, for me,” Skye continued, “that means when I say ‘no sex for six months,’ I literally can’t have sex for six months. No exceptions. Even if the sexiest man alive walks into the bar and sits right there on that stool”—she pointed right at Belial and raised a brow—“I still say no. Why? Because I made myself a promise, and there are no take-backs.”

“So how do you keep yourself from breaking it? Do you sign a blood— a contract?”

“No, I just choose to keep the promise. Then, I have to avoid temptation and stay away from situations that might tempt me to break it. That’s going to be the hardest part for me, but I’m determined.”

“I should do this,” Belial mused, thinking, yet again, of Naiamah’s perfect ass. Only this time, he was reflecting on the aftermath, when he felt strung out and disgusted with himself.

How many times had he sworn to never touch her again? And how many times had he caved and done just that? He hated her, she hated him, and he hated himself too every time he gave her what she wanted.

Bloody hell, he was her whore, wasn’t he? Naiamah had made him her whore. He’d never thought of it that way before, but now that he had, he couldn’t deny it. He fought down yet another surge of his infamous rage.

He was Belial, King of Hell. Rivaled only by Lucifer himself. He was no one’s fucking whore.

Suddenly full of determination, he slammed his fists onto the bar. Skye jumped about a foot into the air and nearly dropped the glass she was polishing. Unfortunately, he used a little too much force, and the solid wood dented under his fists. He flattened his palms over the holes so she wouldn’t notice.

“I will do this,” he told the startled human. “No women for six months.”

No Naiamah for six months, specifically. He’d use up all one hundred of his remaining favors to keep that promise if he had to, because he wasn’t touching her.

He supposed he didn’t have to swear off all women, but Skye had inspired him. He wanted a fresh start. He wanted to cleanse his palate, as it were.

Since the dawn of time and his infamous fall from Heaven, so long ago he didn’t remember it anymore, he didn’t think he’d ever gone six months without sex. Ever. So, was he totally delusional for agreeing to this now? Probably. Was it going to be the hardest thing he’d ever done? Likely.

Did he have any clue how he was going to keep his anger under control? None at all. Sex had always been the easiest outlet for pent-up energy that could easily morph into rage and hellfire. He supposed he’d be looking forward to a lot of buckets of water to the face, and he inwardly groaned.

Skye grinned. “I’m excited for you! Since we’re both doing it, let’s shake on our promise.”

She held out a hand, and he clasped it, her palm swallowed by his.

“Repeat after me,” she said. “I solemnly swear that I will not touch anyone in a sexual way for six months.”

Bel repeated the vow. It wasn’t a binding promise. There was no magical weight behind it. And moreover, he was a demon. He was supposed to swear things and then do the opposite. Except this time, he didn’t want to.

Skye smiled up at him. “I’m excited for this now, when before I was dreading it. Thank you.”

He nodded, dropping her hand and climbing off the barstool. Standing at his full height, he searched over the heads of the crowd until he spotted Meph and Raum.

“What are you going to do for the next six months?” Skye asked.

Keep my brothers out of Hell. Figure out what’s going on with Ash’s curse. Try not to murder any humans. Get rid of Mishetsumephtai. Try not to burn down the apartment. Stay the fuck away from Naiamah.

“Cooking. I love to cook.”

Her eyes widened. “You actually— You’re—” She shook her head roughly. “Wow.”

“You?”

“I’m in school. I’m going to focus on that.”

He nodded. “Good luck.” And stay away from monsters.

“Good luck with your cooking.”

Bel said goodbye to the surprisingly insightful human and shoved through the crowd without a care for who he knocked over. Grabbing his brothers by the ears, he dragged them out of the bar, feeling like something monumental had just occurred. It was dumb. All he’d done was make a verbal promise, and vows that weren’t contractually binding meant nothing to demons.

But somehow, this vow meant something to him. This had been the point of coming to Earth in the first place, the reason he’d been willing to risk everything to escape.

He wanted a fresh start. A new beginning.

Meph whined and Raum punched him repeatedly, but he refused to release them until they were on the street.

“What the fuck was that for!”

“We’re going home,” Belial announced, and then he turned and headed down the street without waiting for them to follow.

“Human,” the creature hissed at Eva, and she screamed some more.

Ash was there in a heartbeat. One moment he wasn’t, and the next, he was standing in front of her, blocking her view of the monster. To a certain extent. The thing was huge and towered over both of them, especially with those enormous black wings. She could see its yellow eyes over the top of Ash’s head, and its long, whip-like tail snapping restlessly from side to side.

“Asmodeus. Your human has the Sight.” Its voice was deep and rumbling, and Eva had to fight back another scream.

“How did you find me?” Ash asked.

“Your Nephilim blood was wasted—I scented you here a week ago. All I had to do was wait for your return.”

Ash cursed. Brain firing off a whole lot of What the fuck? , Eva slowly reached down to the cutlery drawer beside her. Sliding it silently open, she felt around inside until her fingers clasped around a big carving knife.

No, she had never stabbed anyone before. No, she didn’t have any epic self-defense skills—she was a musician, for god’s sake. And yes, she probably had no hope of fighting off the monster if it decided to attack her, but she wasn’t exactly thinking clearly at the moment.

“It is time to return to Hell, Asmodeus. You can’t hide forever.”

Hell ? Was he serious? Images of bat wings and gargoyles flashed through her mind, and she realized that yes, he might very well be serious.

“I’m not going back.”

“You have no choice. It’s against the rules.”

“I haven’t done anything. Why can’t I just be left alone?”

“It’s against the rules,” the monster repeated.

“I don’t give a flying fuck about the rules.”

“We are demons. Following the rules is our role in creation.”

Oh god. Demons . They were demons!

No, wait. That was ridiculous. Completely insane. But it would explain the bat wings and those freaky yellow eyes. There was a loud buzzing ricocheting around Eva’s skull, and it made it damn near impossible to think straight.

I could be hallucinating again. But this feels way too real.

“Is that why you destroyed Eligos?” Ash said coldly. “Because he wasn’t fulfilling his ‘role in creation’?”

The demon-monster fell silent, his tail waving back and forth with increased agitation. His , because once she got over her initial shock at his appearance, it became obvious he was male. He wore only a pair of black leather pants, and his upper body was built with lean muscle.

“You will come now,” he finally hissed. Like a snake.

“No.”

“It would be a shame if any harm came to your pretty human.”

A low growl rumbled in Ash’s chest, and he stepped backward, closer to her. Eva’s hand tightened around the knife. It suddenly crossed her mind that they were both still naked, but it was the least of her worries at the moment.

“You can’t hurt her, Mist. It’s against the rules.” Ash’s tone was mocking.

The creature bared his teeth in a horrifying, sharklike grimace. “I was given dispensation to do whatever is necessary to return you to Hell alive. It is understood that there might be collateral damage.”

“If you lay a claw on her, I will destroy you. You know as well as I do that I don’t make idle threats.”

Mist’s head cocked to one side in a feral way, shifting his mane of shoulder-length black hair. “You have formed an attachment with this female. You actually care about her wellbeing.” He appeared perplexed. “I do not understand this phenomenon.”

His head jerked back up to center, and he hissed between his saw-blade teeth. “You’re lucky it was I who found you. Come with me now, and your failings will remain a secret. If anyone else learned of this, you would find yourself in worse trouble than you’re already in.”

Ash’s growl was starting to sound less and less human.

“Careful or you’ll scare your human,” the monster said. “Or does she already know what you are and accept you?”

“Leave her out of this.”

“You are the one that involved her. If you really cared for her, you would have left her alone.”

Ash was still growling, his hands curled into fists, his stance spread like he was ready to spring into battle at any second. Eva just stood there naked as a jaybird, knees trembling, clutching that knife with a white-knuckled grip.

“I don’t want to fight you, Mist.”

“I have my orders, and I must fulfill them.”

“You could choose to disobey them like I did. You could be free.”

“That is not an option for me.”

“Why not? Why are you so loyal to Paimon? What does she have on you?”

Mist growled and tensed to attack, and then several things happened.

First, giant wings exploded out of Ash’s back—the very same wings Eva had seen back at the nightclub. Similar to the monster, they were black and leathery and had fine, fingerlike bones separating them into jagged sections, and a large, curved talon at the top.

Not a hallucination.

Then, Ash started to... grow. He got bigger and bigger until he was nearly as large as the other monster. And then his skin turned red. Bright, crimson red. Foot-long black claws grew out of his hands. Huge, black horns extended from the sides of his head, curving along his skull and then swooping upward to sharp points. Just like she’d seen at the club.

Oh god, Ash really was a demon.

Eva screamed.

Ash lunged.

And the other demon... dissolved into smoke.

He reformed in front of Eva, but Ash must have predicted this because he attacked again from behind. The two demons collided in a whirlwind of movement, far too fast to be detectable to human eyes. Flashes of red skin and black wings passed before her amidst animalistic growls and grunts.

The other demon dissolved again, and reformed behind Ash, and then there was a great crash as Ash was thrown—literally thrown —across the room. He hit the brick wall hard enough to kill a man and crumpled to the floor.

Eva screamed yet again as Mist reformed right in front of her. He was reaching for her, about to grab her. Up close, she realized his skin was a dark, ashy-gray color, almost black, and patterned with strange designs around his neck, forearms and chest. He was seconds from grabbing her—

Huge, red Ash attacked again from the side, and the tornado of fury spun around the kitchen, drowning out Eva’s continued screams. It traveled across the room, ramming into the fridge, the walls, the piano, the sofa—

There was an enormous crash! as they smashed into the wall of windows, shattering the glass. The two battling demons went right through and disappeared into the night.

Silence.

Eva ran to the window, choking on horror and shock and the bile rising up her throat, arriving in time to see an elegant swoop of black wings. Ash landed on his feet on the ground below. His wings folded against his back, and before her very eyes, he shrank. His skin returned to his original color, his hands became human hands, his horns retreated into his skull and disappeared.

There was no sign of the other demon.

Staring at Ash’s tiny form from three floors up, human except for the wings folded against his back, her denial finally slipped away. Everything she’d seen in that club had really happened. Everything she had just witnessed here had really occurred. The amount of sheer terror coursing through her veins assured her that this was no hallucination.

This shit was one hundred percent real.

Knees shaking, Eva almost collapsed. Almost. But knowing the danger wasn’t over, she fought back the urge to fall apart. As she watched, Ash spread his wings again. He crouched and leapt, and with a great pump of the leathery appendages, launched into the air. Several more pumps of the powerful wings sent him higher, and Eva realized he was coming back to the apartment.

She backed away from the window, torn between wanting to flee in terror, stab him with the kitchen knife, and throw herself into his arms. Instead, she grabbed the blanket off the couch and wrapped it around her naked body just as Ash returned.

With impossible grace, he tucked his wings against his back, shot through the jagged hole in the glass, and flared them back out. He landed crouched on one knee, one hand braced forward for balance. Straightening to his full, naked height, he looked at her cowering by the wall and winced.

“So... that happened.” He rubbed the back of his neck.

Eva stared at him, clutching the blanket closed with one hand and that stupid kitchen knife with the other.

Ash flexed the wings, folded them back against his body, and they... disappeared. How in the hell is that possible? How is any of this shit possible?

“Are you okay?”

She nodded mutely.

“He didn’t hurt you at all? I have no sense of smell, so I can’t tell if you’re bleeding or not.”

“I’m f-fine.” Her voice came out as a hoarse croak.

He nodded. “We need to get dressed and get out of here. Your apartment isn’t safe anymore.”

“What about the m-monster?”

“He’s gone for now. I got him pretty good with my claws, and he needs time to heal. But he’ll be back. You need to come with me, Eva. It’s not safe here.”

“You’re b-bleeding.”

Ash looked down at himself. There was a sizable gash down his side, along his obliques, and another smaller wound in his shoulder, near his throat. The side wound was far worse. The skin was flayed open and there was a significant amount of blood running down his hip and leg.

If he’d been a normal man, he’d probably have been unconscious already, and she would’ve been screaming and calling an ambulance, but nothing about this situation was normal.

“Damn.” Ash shrugged and looked back at her. “We need to go.”

“I— I don’t know.”

“I won’t hurt you.”

“You’re a— a—” She couldn’t get the word out.

His gaze was so intense, it felt like he was boring a hole into her head. “Say it. I know you know.”

“D-demon.”

“Nailed it.”

“You could be lying to me about all of this. Demons lie.”

“Yes, they do. But I’m not. Unfortunately, there isn’t time to prove that to you. You’re just going to have to trust me.”

Trust a demon. Wasn’t that the number one thing you weren’t supposed to do?

Ash sighed, gaze landing on the knife still in her trembling hand. “Look, I don’t blame you if you’re scared of me now. It means you’re smart. But think about it—who do you trust more, me or Mist? If you stay here, Mist will be back for you. He knows you’re with me, so you’ve become a target.”

Eva did think about it. She wasn’t ready to believe a single word out of Ash’s mouth at this point, but she had to admit that between the two creatures fighting in her house, if she had to trust one, she’d pick him in a heartbeat.

Her gaze traveled to the gaping hole in her window, and her breathing hitched. Somehow, that stupid hole in the glass felt more real than anything else. “My apartment... I can’t just leave it like this.”

“You can call someone to come fix the window, but we have to go.”

“My c-cat.” Her protests were nonsensical, but she was just trying her best not to fall apart.

Ash looked impatient. “We can’t bring your damn cat.”

“I’m not leaving him.” It was the strongest her voice had sounded so far.

“Fuck.” Ash scrubbed his face with his hands, and it was such a humanlike gesture that she could almost forget he’d been a red-skinned, horned giant five minutes ago. He looked up. “Do you have a car?”

She nodded.

“Fine. We’ll take your car, and you can bring the cat. But I’m driving, and we have to go now.” He didn’t wait for her response but went back into the bedroom where she assumed he was getting dressed.

Eva stood there, wrapped in the blanket, staring blankly ahead. She felt numb. In shock, probably. Definitely.

“Eva, come on,” Ash called from the bedroom.

She was crazy for going anywhere with a man who’d admitted to being a demon. She ought to run out the door right now and not stop until she’d reached another province. No, another country. No, fuck it, she’d buy a flight to another continent and hide there for the rest of her life.

But that wasn’t an option, was it? That monster was coming back for her, and he could probably find her anywhere in the world. Ash was right: she’d rather trust him than Mist any day.

And then there was that little whisper inside her that had suddenly gotten louder. It was telling her she was close to something vital, close to uprooting the dissociation that had plagued her her entire life. It told her she needed to keep pushing, to dig deeper, and despite her fear, she wanted to listen.

She wasn’t losing her mind, she hadn’t hallucinated, and the world wasn’t as ordinary as it seemed. Surely that meant there was more to her existence as well? Surely that meant she could find a way to feel whole?

She forced her feet to work and managed to walk in a daze into the bedroom, dropping her useless weapon on the kitchen counter as she went past. She reached her room just as Ash came out. He was wearing pants but had his T-shirt pressed against the wound in his side to stem the bleeding.

Somewhere in her bewildered brain, she remarked that he still looked like her sexy, not-quite-a-boyfriend-yet boyfriend, but she couldn’t reconcile that image with everything she’d just seen. She wasn’t ready to bridge that gap yet.

He reached for her as she approached, and she recoiled. He winced and dropped his hand. “Grab a change of clothes. I’m not sure when we’ll be back. I’ll find your cat, but I’m not touching the little bastard. You want him, you carry him out.”

“D-don’t hurt him.”

Ash scowled. “I’m more concerned about him hurting me. Cats hate me.”

“W-why?”

He gave her a dry look. “Because they have good goddamn instincts. Now, hurry up. I’ll be waiting.”