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.Ifhe 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.
