Hopefully.
He sucked in a breath and squared his shoulders. He felt unprepared, like maybe he should have brought his backpack or something. He should have, shouldn’t he? The only things he had with him were his wallet and his phone, so he didn’t have a change of clothes or anything like that.
He briefly thought about calling one of his brothers, but he knew they’d try to dissuade him from doing this, and he didn’t want them to. No, he’d go to Hell, spend some time looking for his mother, would hopefully find her, and would come home. When he did, he’d call his brothers and force Yancey to sit with Calyx so they could talk things out. He wasn’t going to allow Yancey to fracture their family more than it already was without Caitlin.
But first, he had a mother to find.
Staring at the portal wasn’t going to help him, so he closed his eyes. He took a step forward, then another, but nothing felt different. He’d expected to feel something when he crossed the portal—tingles or some kind of movement—but he was pretty sure he was still in the witch’s shop.
Until he opened his eyes.
He was definitelynotin the witch’s shop anymore. In fact, he had no idea where he was, but he knew it wasn’t in the human realm.
He wasn’t sure what he’d expected. His father had talked about Hell and the area from which his mother came from many times, but he’d never been there. Justin’s mother had always been the one to visit his father, so all of these stories were secondhand. Justin had thought he knew what he’d find here— small villages, maybe some medieval-looking towns—but it was more modern than he’d expected.
That didn’t mean it was beautiful. It definitely wasn’t, but he suspected that was because he’d ended up in what looked like a bad part of town. The street looked like any rundown city block. Broken windows lined the concrete apartment buildings. Some had been boarded up with rusted metal sheets and wooden panels, while others were open, creating the impression of gaping mouths.
Trash covered the sidewalks, and the air stank of sulfur and rotting fruit. There were signs that people lived here, like laundry hanging between fire escapes, graffiti on the walls, and faint music that drifted from somewhere, but everything was just slightly off in a way Justin couldn’t explain.
Since he had no idea where he was or where to go, he was relieved when he noticed a demon coming out of the closest building. It was a full demon, unlike Justin, who looked human until one looked closer.
This demon had a tail swishing behind them, hooves instead of feet, and black horns and claws. Their skin was a deep shade of orange. They wore a black skirt and had a bag hanging from their shoulder. They looked lethal, and they probably were. Their aspect didn’t mean they were going to attack Justin, though, and he told himself not to be scared. He could do this. He could talk to the demon. In a way, he belonged here as much as they did. It wasn’t his fault that he’d never visited.
“Hi,” he said, waving.
The demon stopped moving and stared at him. They weren’t attacking or doing anything, just staring as if they’d found something interesting. Maybe they had. Justin didn’t know how many humans visited hell, but he couldn’t imagine it was many.
“I’m sorry to bother you,” he continued. “As I’m sure you can tell, I’m not from here, and I need help. I’m looking for my mother. Her name is Anya Onemo, which my father said wasn’t a common name around here. He also said she grew up here. I thought you might have heard of her. From what I know, she has long dark hair and dark eyes.” It wasn’t much to go on, but it was all he had. Now that he thought about it, hoping he could find his mother with only this information had probably been a bad idea. To be fair, he wasn’t exactly thinking straight. He’d lost the only mother he’d ever known, along with his brothers, even though he was sure he’d get them back soon.
The demon’s eyes widened. “Anya?” they asked.
“That’s what my father said, yes. She visited the human world a few decades ago, obviously,” he gestured at himself. “I’ve never met her, though. Have you heard of her?”
The demon started backing away from Justin as if he were afraid of him, which didn’t make sense. Justin might be half-demon, but he was pretty sure there wasn’t much he’d be able to do if this demon attacked him.
“I’m sorry, did I say something I shouldn’t have?” he asked, stepping forward.
The demon turned and ran. Justin was so shocked, he stopped moving, and he stared at the demon’s back until they disappeared around the corner.
What the fuck had just happened? Why had the demon been afraid of him? He understood why humans were sometimes, but here, people should be used to seeing demons.
He looked around, and while he noticed a few people watching him from the windows of the buildings around him, no one came downstairs to ask what he was up to. The street was empty, and something told him it would stay that way until he left.
With a sigh, he started walking.
This wasn’t how he’d imagined his visit would go. He hadn’t exactly expected anyone to welcome him with open arms, but running away from him? If everyone reacted to him that way, it was going to be impossible to find his mother, let alone stay here for any length of time. Hell, would he even be able to find someone who could open another portal for him?
He told himself not to worry, even though fear gripped him. He’d find a way home. If the demons here really were afraid of him, they’d want him out of Hell as soon as possible, right? They wouldn’t want him sticking around, terrorizing them. They might not even want him to pay for the portal, which would be a good thing because he hadn’t thought about how he’d do that before he’d decided to come. He hadn’t thought of anything before he’d decided to come.
He was an idiot, wasn’t he?
The sound of several people walking in unison made him turn. He plastered a smile on his face, hoping he could finally find information, but his eyes widened when a group of demons who were clearly soldiers or guards turned around the corner.They all wore the same black uniform, but thankfully, they didn’t have weapons.
Not all of them, anyway. Besides, Justin suspected that most didn’t need weapons to do damage. Unfortunately, it looked like they wanted to do damage tohim, so he quickly stepped back and raised his hands. “I’m sorry,” he quickly said. “I don’t mean to bother anyone. I’m just looking for my mother. Her name is Anya Onemo, and she grew up in the area. I don’t know if you know her, but I’d be grateful if you could point me in her direction. I won’t bother anyone else. I just want to find her.”
Several of the demons glanced at each other. Justin had no idea what that meant. He wanted to ask, but he also didn’t want the demons to take offense.
“You’ll come with us,” one of them declared, stepping forward as if to grab him.
