“That’s the one.” Digging in his pocket, Jude produced his phone and unlocked the screen. The background photo was a selfie of Jude and a demon with blueish gray skin and darker blue stripes lining his arms and neck. Gills framed his throat as he grinned widely, revealing jagged shark-liketeeth. “He looks scarier than he is. He’s actually a big dufus,” Jude said fondly, a soft smile playing at the corners of his mouth.
“An Elas?” Bryce asked, and Jude nodded as he scrolled through several pictures on his phone until he stopped at a group shot.
“Yeah, Toni is an Elas, and Gem is an Araknis.” He pointed to each of them in turn, then moved on to the rest of the demons Bryce recognized by face but not name, explaining what demon species they were. The final demon in the picture, standing beside the grumpy, pink raccoon, hadn’t been at Oliver’s ranch. “That’s Enfys. She’s a friend of Rusty’s, kind of new to the group.”
“She looks like a moth,” Bryce said before he’d thought better of it as he studied the beautiful woman with fuzzy antennas and dusty orange wings.
“She’s a Lepid. At least, that’s what Gem calls her since he refuses to use her name.” At Bryce’s confused expression, Jude shrugged. “She flirted with Rusty once, apparently, and Gem’s holding a grudge. Because I’m ninety percent sure Gem and Rusty are boning on the down-low. Just don’t tell Toni I said that; it’ll give him an aneurysm.”
Knocking Bryce’s arm with his shoulder, Jude laughed like Bryce was in on the joke and they were two friends gossiping instead of practical strangers thrust together at the whims of fate and a mutual acquaintance. Jude was Oliver’s best friend, and Bryce only knew Oliver because they’d gone to the same high school, a year apart. Charlie, Bryce’s older brother, had been on friendly terms with Oliver, but Bryce hadn’t run in the same circles.
He’d only reached out to Oliver because he was the sole person in the Hell dimension Bryce knew, and when he’d been accepted to the study abroad program at the last minute, he hadn’t known who else to ask for help. Thankfully, Oliver was good people, and he’d helped Bryce find aplace to live for the next year or so. He’d even arranged for Bryce to stay the night at his apartment in Chicago after his flight from Montana, and he’d also offered to pick Bryce up at the station and drive him to Zef’s place in the Envy district of the Pentagram.
Which was how he’d ended up on a train to Purgatory, sitting beside Jude, a guy he’d officially met last night when he’d Uber’d from Midway and slept at his place.
“Thanks again,” Bryce said as the train started to slow. “For letting me crash at your place and riding through the veil with me.”
“It’s no problem. I was heading to Hell either way.” Jude knocked Bryce’s arm again. “Us humans have to stick together, right?”
Bryce was saved from responding as the train lurched to a grounding halt. The speaker crackled to life, broadcasting a language he didn’t understand, but he mimicked the rest of the people in the cabin and stood up. Grabbing his bags, he passed the lightest one to Jude when he offered to help shoulder the luggage.
Stepping off the train into Purgatory station, Bryce gazed around with wide eyes, trying to take everything in at once. It was sensory overload. Foreign sights and smells. Even the air felt different, lighter almost, as if he was standing at a higher altitude.
He briefly wondered what percentage of the air was oxygen compared to the human dimension, but he didn’t get a chance to ask before a smooth baritone said, “Hey, bitesize. I missed you.”
Jude squawked as he was swooped up in two blue-striped arms, and Bryce stepped back to give them room for their embrace. Toni, the shark demon—er, Elas?—buried his face in Jude’s neck and nuzzled under his ear, breathing in deeply. Jude snickered but didn’t push the demon away.He wrapped the arm not holding Bryce’s bag around Toni’s shoulders and cupped the back of his neck, fingers delving into the deep indigo strands.
“I saw you Thursday, you weirdo.”
“Don’t care. I still missed you,” Toni said shamelessly. “I had to sleep alone for two nights, and I was sad and cold.”
With a kiss to Toni’s cheek, Jude said, “I’ll keep you warm tonight.”
A rather feral grin slashed across the demon’s face as he pulled out the embrace. “Fuck yeah, you will.”
Then he proceeded to kiss Jude deeply, with so much enthusiasm Bryce had to avert his eyes. To make matters worse, there was an obvious and lewd ass-grab thrown in. Yeah he didn’t want to see that, either.
Breaking the kiss, Jude half-laughed, half-huffed as he shoved Toni’s hand off his butt. “We are in public, Toni.”
“Sorry, baby,” Toni said, not sounding sorry at all. Turning to Bryce for the first time, the demon met his gaze with two pitch-black eyes. “Hi, Bryce.”
“Hi, Toni,” Bryce said with an awkward wave as Toni pecked Jude’s cheek, then his neck, making the smaller man blush.
“Oliver and Liel are waiting for us in Envy, and the train leaves in three.” Toni took the bag in Jude’s grasp and slung it over his shoulder like it weighed nothing.
Bryce trailed after the couple walking hand-in-hand, studying the prominent fin jutting from Toni’s back. It spanned almost the full length of the demon’s spine, peeking through a slit in his t-shirt. The sleeves had been ripped off so the fins on his biceps and forearms could stand tall.
He wore dark jeans and black boots, his blue hair slicked back like he’d stepped off the stage of aGreaseperformance. He was already talking animatedly with Jude, turning back every few seconds like he was trying tokeep Bryce in the conversation as well. Not that he was paying attention. There was too much to see.
Purgatory station was large and milling with people. Since it was the weekend, he figured it was probably less busy than it would be on, say, a Monday morning, but people still crowded the hallways and platforms. Announcements in foreign languages crackled over the PA system, and demons of every shape, color, and size surged past him.
Bryce saw a feathered demon with taloned claws instead of hands and an eerily gorgeous woman with sharp, ethereal features and a serpentining tail that ended in a fluffy tuft. Short, squat amphibious creatures, and brightly colored fairy-like demons. He’d done his research, so he could name a few of the species, but not all.
He followed Toni and Jude onto another train, this one much more familiar-looking with windows and seats lining both sides. Toni and Jude sat next to each other, and Bryce and his baggage took the two seats on the other side of the aisle.
“Zef’s been in a tizzy all week,” Toni said as he curled a chunk of Jude’s dark hair around his finger. “What if the food from my garden is not fit for human consumption? Will my homemade soap melt the human’s skin? How will I ever remove the bloodstains from the shower should he spontaneously disintegrate?”
Toni laughed boisterously at his terrible impersonation of Bryce’s soon-to-be-roommate. “They’re so funny, sometimes.”
