Bat Out of Hell (Promised to the Demons #2) - Lidiya Foxglove Page 0,34

"Sir, calm yourself," he said.

Variel looked around as if for an escape, or someone to whip, maybe. Now I could see just how comfortable he was with doing that.

"Jenny!" He was shouting, and I took a step back. Before, I was angry at him, but now I felt scared. "Most of that was hundreds of years ago!"

"Most of it!" I cried. "But that was just a couple weeks ago! Jameson still had wings a couple of weeks ago! And what have you ever done that helped anyone?”

"I am a demon," he huffed. "A demon. I was not born to help anyone at all, and in fact, I have helped quite a lot of people, because without me, Uram would have been killed, and Gillian would probably be sold into whoredom, and Jameson would still just be a sad male harpy surrounded by female harpies and learning to read by giving sexual favors to an orcwife, and you would still be with Bernard!"

"You're--you're horrible," I sputtered. "All of that and you're giving yourself a pat on the back? If you're so wonderful, why did all of your other servants leave as soon as you were gone? And they stole your horses too!"

His chest heaved with a few breaths that seemed to cause him pain. He scratched his claws through his hair and let out a little hiss. "I do not know how to be...anything but a demon."

The queen nodded at Lady Ceres, and with the impassive expression of someone concentrating on their work, she lifted one hand in my direction and the other in Variel's. I swallowed, trying to beat back my anger and sadness, but it was like trying to choke down something bitter that filled my mouth again and again.

Lord Variel let out a scream, and his back arched. Lady Ceres seemed to be causing him pain.

I froze. Was this the punishment?

I felt her magic brushing me, feeding on my emotions somehow.

And then, Variel began to change.

Chapter Sixteen

Jenny

Lord Variel stumbled and then bent to his knees, as he clutched his head. His horns were growing, and his body was contorting, his feet tearing through his shoes as he grew talons. His hair was growing out, and becoming coarser, running down his neck and encroaching on his face, and even as he tried to clutch his head through what seemed like great pain, his hands started melting away from him, turning into long single claws. His arms were spreading, growing into wings like huge black-brown bat wings.

He wasn't turning into a bat, but the most terrifying demon an artist could envision. The red in his eyes consumed the pupils and the whites until they were just a vivid, fiery red. Even his tail grew spikes at the end, like a mace. His hair melded with fur that covered his back and shoulders and framed his face like sideburns. This was all quite visible since the transformation had torn up his clothes.

And like Jameson in his harpy form, he didn't have hands, or even toes, just claws. Every part of him was now a sharp weapon, capable of nothing but blunt destruction.

"This is how Jenny sees fit to judge you," Queen Morgana said.

I was starting to worry I might pee myself. I could hardly watch Variel lift his head from the ground and look in the mirror.

"Jenny..." Variel let out a sound that was somewhere between a grunt, a growl, and a wail. "I am this much a monster!?"

"I didn't do anything. I wasn't thinking anything. I--"

"Don't be ashamed of what has transpired," Queen Morgana said. "Lord Cyrus says your heart is very pure. Your subconscious will show a true vision of Lord Variel's actions."

I saw Bevan standing up from his seat, his hand slapped to his head, looking like he wasn't sure if he should rush to my side or intervene somehow.

I don't think any of us knew what to do.

"Will I now be trapped in this form forever?" Lord Variel asked, getting to his feet slowly, testing out his altered shape. His wings seemed heavy, and I thought he might be shaking the same as I was.

"Not necessarily," Lady Ceres said. "But you will have to find your own way back to what you were."

I was hugging myself. A part of me wanted to tell them to put him back to the way he was.

Another part of me felt that Variel had humiliated everyone around him. High demons lived very selfishly, and maybe it wouldn’t hurt him to know