Sympathy for the Demons (Promised to the Demons #1) - Lidiya Foxglove Page 0,67

me. Bevan was knocked back by the sudden blow.

"I want her," I said. "I want Jenny for my own."

"She's mine," Bevan panted. "Actually, she's not anyone's. But she loves me, and I love her. So good luck with that." He looked down at his pants legs, too short for his legs, and he grinned. "How much power did you give up rather than admit it?"

"Maybe you turned the tables on me for a moment, I'll give you that, but now you've also stirred something in me that will not be put to rest. I saw that vision of Jenny...and she is meant to be my bride."

"Game on," Bevan said, springing back to his feet and waving his hands to change his clothes. He'd stolen a good half a foot off of me. Gillian, Jameson and Uram were all gaping at us like fools.

"Heh," Jameson said.

I singed his feathers. "You still serve me, Jameson."

"It's true," Jameson said, shrugging. "We have such a long history together, I guess I just can't serve another master."

Thank the gods, I thought. It would be a truly great humiliation if any of my servants defected to Bevan. I sensed that even Bevan was still tied to me, but it was getting dangerously close to a bond we shared equally rather than the relationship of a master and servant.

"I serve you, Bevan," Piers said. "I gave you my power. Hopefully, you can give me what I want."

Bevan glowered at Piers, but then he brushed his fingers across his head. "Take back your human body, Piers. And then please go away, because I don't want to look at it."

Chapter Thirty-One

Bevan

Talk about a power trip. No wonder demons were always attacking people and destroying stuff. I felt like I could take on the whole world right now. I had taken in so much of Variel's essence at once that the old Bevan was dead, and Jenny would probably swoon when she saw the new Bevan. I was so much taller, so much bigger...

The next night I spent with her would be a new experience. I wanted her right now.

I whipped my hand back from Piers the second I felt him starting to transform. I didn't want anything to do with him. It grated me that I had to give him something he wanted just to get the better of Variel. Variel was a worthy opponent, at least. Piers was a pit viper. Or was even that comparison unfair to vipers?

Piers and Helena had a strong family resemblance, which was probably one reason I didn't like looking at him. I loved Helena and Piers didn't deserve her features. But while Helena was a cute blonde, she used to call Piers "Hitler Youth". He was fair, a little too pale, with a slender build typical of bookish warlocks. His face bore some burn scars and now he was missing a hand, although it seemed to have healed while his body was doing whatever bodies did when a demon turned you into something else. Too bad. I would have liked to see him show up screaming in pain.

Still, he had gone through hell lately, and his face showed it. He had this heavy look on his face that wasn't confrontational. Maybe his battles with the family were done.

And he immediately lifted his hand in surrender when I looked at him. "I'm sticking to my word, Bevan," he said. "I don't want anything else from you. But I am going to look for Jenny. She fed me when I was at my lowest.”

"No. I don't need your help." I narrowed my eyes at him. Yeah, the last thing I needed was Piers angling for Jenny as well. "Just go home."

"I'm not going to interfere," Piers said. "But I owe her something. You might need me. Then, I'm gone."

"Where will you go?" I asked suspiciously, because I'd met Piers' parents, and I knew he actually could not go home, nor back to the council. He was dead to the wizards at this point.

"A monastery," Piers said. I couldn't tell if he was joking.

Well, that probably was about his only option outside of the human world, and I couldn't imagine Piers in the human world.

"All right. You can come with me as long as you follow my orders and keep quiet. I don't want to hear from you."

"You two have a history," Variel said.

"You just noticed?"

Variel's hand—still larger than mine, and clawed—clamped on my throat. He leaned in close to me. "I did underestimate you,