Prologue

Viv opened the apartment door, propping it open with her foot as she juggled a few bags of snacks and soups for Thomas and tried to get the keys out of the lock. He hadn’t been feeling well this morning and had taken the day off. She had left him with some medicine and a bottle of water, but she knew they were out of soups and saltine crackers. She had decided to grab a few things and drop them off during her lunch break. Wiggling her key out of the lock, she looked up to find her best friend and roommate bent over the back of the couch, his boyfriend behind him gripping his hips and thrusting.

“Oh shit! Sorry!” Viv mumbled, slamming the door shut.

She stood in the hallway in shock for a minute before giggling. Okay then. That had never happened before in all their years together. Normally he was better at telling her he was having someone over. Was he even sick? Maybe D had stopped by to check in on him. Viv decided to leave the groceries outside the door and text him, in the event that he really was feeling bad. He could grab them later.

Viv climbed back into her car, knowing she was going to give him so much grief over this later. She started typing a text to Thomas, her fingers stopping suddenly. Did D have a tail and horns? She had been so shocked by seeing them having sex that she somehow missed that. But sitting here, thinking about it, she was pretty sure she had seen a tail and a pair of black horns. Maybe they were having some sexy role play?

Not her business. Viv hit send and turned the car on, only to scream at a knock on the window. Thomas stood there in his robe and bare feet. He made the rolling the window down motion.

“I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to interrupt! Just ignore me and go back to…whatever. I wanted to leave you some soup and snacks,” she said.

“Viv. Can you come back in? I need to talk to you,” Thomas asked her, his face serious.

“I’m on my lunch break. Can we talk tonight?”

Thomas shook his head. “I really need to talk to you now,” he replied.

Viv looked over her friend closely wondering why he needed to talk to her so badly. There weren’t any marks on him, other than maybe a hickey, and he didn’t seem like he was feeling that badly anymore. After double-checking that he was okay, she called her boss to see if she could take a half day. Her boss was great and since she rarely took off, it wasn’t a problem. Hanging up the phone, she climbed back out of the car.

When they got back to their apartment, D was dressed in clothes, no sign of horns or a tail. It must have been a costume, she thought. D seemed nervous as Thomas stood next to him, grabbing hold of his hand.

“So, there are a couple of things we needed to talk to you about,” Thomas said, biting his lip, a sure sign he was nervous. “D and I were thinking of moving in together,” he admitted, shifting on his feet.

Viv was shocked. She knew they had been getting along really well, even exchanging ‘I love yous.’ But she hadn’t expected this. She liked D, she really did, but this seemed fast. Were they asking her to move out? Or move D in?

“Um…can you…expand on that?” she finally asked, knowing she could be working herself up over nothing. “Do you need your own space? I can see if there’s a single bedroom apartment available in the building.” She really liked the location of their building and wanted to stay close.

“No!” Thomas shouted, running over to her, and grabbing her in a hug. “I will never, ever kick you out. You’re my best friend, my family. I just wanted to talk to you about options. See if D could move in here, or if you would be more comfortable with us finding our own place. He has a home out of town, but he wanted to move here permanently.”

Viv nodded, feeling relieved. That was something easy enough to work with. “I’m fine with D moving in. As long as you remember to let me know if I need to go get coffee or something. Although D is incredibly nice to look at, I’d rather not walk in on you two again,” she teased.

“Did you see anything weird?” Thomas asked cautiously.

Viv shook her head. “I’m fine with you role playing, or whatever. I just don’t need to see it, you know? Just like I’m sure you wouldn’t want to see me having sex,” she pointed out.

Thomas gagged. “No, I definitely don’t want to see that. Um. So. What if it wasn’t role playing?”

“Thomas. We’ve known each other forever. I’m fine with whatever you do that makes you happy. Role play, dress up, get kinky. I don’t care as long as you’re safe and happy. I just don’t necessarily need to see it, yeah?” Viv couldn’t figure out why he was pressing this. What he wanted to do with his partner was his business. As long as it didn’t cause him harm, it wasn’t anyone else’s concern.

“I don’t know how to do this,” he said, looking over at D.

“I can show her?” D offered.

“I really, really don’t need to see,” she protested. Viv didn’t know why they would want her to see them naked again. Thomas had never been into exhibitionism before.

“Wait a sec,” Thomas told D. He looked her right in the eyes and said, “Remember the types of books you like to read? The paranormal ones?”

Viv nodded, really confused now. What did her books have to do with them getting naked?

“What if it was real?”

“That would be cool,” she said slowly, wondering if Thomas hit his head or something while they had been having sex. The frame on the couch was pretty hard.

“So, uh. D is a demon. But he’s nice, right? He’s not mean, most of them aren’t. I wasn’t sure if you saw his tail or horns when you came in earlier?” Thomas asked.

“I saw the costume he had on,” Viv admitted.

“Did you see a headband or belt for the tail?” Thomas pointed out gently.

“No, but there are plugs,” Viv replied, her face bright red, knowing that tail plugs were a thing.

D laughed, shaking his head. “No plugs for me,” he said.

Thomas grabbed her hand, looking at her intently. “Can you listen to me please, and not freak out? You’re my friend and I don’t want to lose you over this.”

“You’ll never lose me,” she protested.

“Okay. Just breathe and watch D,” Thomas told her, still holding on to her hand.

Viv watched as D took his shirt off. She made a noise of protest when he started unzipping his pants, but Thomas shushed her.

“Just wait.”

D shoved his pants down, stepping out of them, keeping his underwear on. There was a pressure in the air and Viv’s world changed. She knew her mouth was hanging open, her eyes wide in shock, but she was in no way in control of her reaction at this point. D had suddenly sprouted horns on the top of his head, a tail snaking out behind him. The horns were black and tipped in red, his tail a dark, deep, almost black-red color with black swirling designs. The tip was lightly pointed, almost arrow-shaped but with rounded edges. He had grown all over, both gaining a few inches in height, but also bulking up in muscles.

As she stared at him, D reached out his hand, now tipped in black curved nails. “You can touch,” he offered, his voice deeper, a little rougher.

Viv slowly reached out, lightly touching his hand. His skin felt different, a little tougher, more textured. The claws were real, and she jumped when the tail wrapped around Thomas’ waist. Viv sat down suddenly on the floor as her legs gave out on her. Her mind racing. There was no way a plug would allow D to move the tail like that. What the fuck?

Thomas sat next to her and started to explain that he had wanted her to know the truth. He didn’t want to keep anything from her, especially something so big in his life. Her brain felt fuzzy and a little lightheaded, but she was determined to get over it. D moved off to the side, coming back a minute or so later, his clothes back on. Viv briefly wondered if they made special pants with tail holes.

“Okay. I think I’m ready. Let me move to the couch first. I’m too old to sit on the floor for long.”

“We’re not old!” Thomas protested.

“Tell that to my butt,” she muttered, her left cheek starting to go numb. Viv shakily stood up, shaking her leg a bit to encourage circulation before sitting on the couch.

Thomas sat in D’s lap in the chair across from her. “I did meet D at a club. He was hot and could dance and was funny. He made sure I drank enough water, got something to eat. Just made me feel safe and cared for. Which is all I’ve ever wanted. I thought it would be a hookup or maybe I could convince him to go on a few dates, but D made it clear he was looking for something long term. We didn’t do anything more than kiss that night, maybe a few close dances. (More like grinding together, she thought, knowing how her friend danced with someone he was into.) We went on a date the next day and it was perfect, but D still didn’t put out,” Thomas teased his boyfriend.

“You know why,” D protested, his face pink.

“I know,” Thomas said softly, pressing a kiss to his cheek. “Anyway, I felt connected to him, super fast. I know I have an issue of falling quickly and was worried I was repeating this cycle again, so I was actually happy that D was taking it slow, even if I teased him about it. It wasn’t until about a week into our dating that D had to go out of town for work. He ended up popping in my room one night, looking like he had gotten into a fight. You were already asleep,” he said.

“I was going to say, I don’t remember the doorbell going off at all,” she replied.

“It didn’t,” Thomas said. “He literally just appeared. Apparently, they can create portals to places, although it’s to places they’ve already been or to a specific person. That night, he had ported to where I was. He had gotten in a fight, but it was work related,” Thomas said, looking at D.

D cleared his throat. “I guess that it’s my turn. So. Uh. Demons do live in the Underworld, Hell, whatever you want to call it. We call it Netherworld. We have jobs, houses, and families just like everyone else. There are angels too. We’re not really like Christianity portrays us at all. That was made up to keep humans in line by churches. There is a heaven and a hell, as it were, but we help keep the balance. Angels work for and guard heaven, or Arlysium, demons work for and guard the underworld. Lucifer and God are like CEOs of different companies. We help keep evil souls from coming back into the world, either as spirits or as reincarnations or possessions. Angels help good souls find peace, whether that’s hanging out in heaven, floating along as a spirit, or being reincarnated. Trust me, angels aren’t all purity and virtue,” he said with a smirk. “They’re just as naughty as anyone. Demons aren’t all bad, although we tend to be a bit more mischievous, maybe more promiscuous than most humans. We live a long time, and sex isn’t really associated with love like humans do. We do have mates though, same with angels and other kinds of nonhumans.”

“Mates? Like fated mates in the romance books?”

“Similar. We can recognize them by scent, although perfumes and colognes can block someone’s natural scent and make it hard for us to realize it. There’s a connection, but we still have to work at making a relationship, it’s not an easy give-me. I’ve known mates who have separated or gotten the equivalent to a divorce. Just because you are chemically compatible doesn’t mean that it’s going to work out. When it’s two nonhumans, it’s a little easier because we know what that connection means. When it’s with a human, it’s harder because we need to woo you a little more, plus explain everything and hope the person is understanding and accepting.”

“What happens if they’re not? Like what if you get paired with someone who hates anything not normal?” Like a bigot or ultra-conservative religious person. She didn’t imagine a pairing with a demon would go over well.

“There’s an emergency number to call,” he admitted. “They would have their memory erased. The nonhuman would continue on with their life, hoping that eventually they might be granted another mate.”

“Do you get more than one?” she asked, surprised.

“Sometimes. There’s been a few cases where a mate has been rejected, or one of them dies, and they’ve been granted another one. Sometimes the mate’s been reincarnated and this time they match.”

“Are you immortal?”

D shook his head. “No. We live a long time though. Thousands of years. We can choose to stay in hell as a spirit or be reincarnated in a new body. Our mate’s soul would stay the same, so we generally try to figure out what happened to them first. If they went to heaven then we could remain a spirt and stay with them. We’re not confined to hell, and heaven is just another plane just like hell is. If they’re in the queue to be reincarnated, then usually the nonhuman tries to be reincarnated around the same time.”

“What if you had a mate, they died or rejected you, and you were granted another one? How would that work when you all die?” Viv asked.

D grinned. “One big happy family. Usually, it ends up in a throuple and they all match to each other.”

“Huh.” Alrighty then. “Thomas is human. Will you have to watch him age and wait for him to reincarnate?” Viv knew it was rather personal, but she wanted to know.

“In cases like ours, with a human and a nonhuman, when we bond, the human’s lifespan will match. If I were to die though, Thomas would die as well if he’s older than a normal human. If I would die when he’s fifty or sixty and he doesn’t have any underlying health problems that would have killed him if he was a typical human, then he would live out the rest of his natural lifespan. If I would die when he’s a hundred and fifty, then he would die as well since my lifespan was what was keeping him alive. From what I’ve seen in other couples, it’s like the human stops aging and then suddenly dies one day.”

“You’d have to move away,” Viv said sadly, thinking of him outliving her and seeing her get old. She had thought they would grow old together with their respective partners. She was still happy for her friend, but sad for herself.

“Maybe eventually. D says there may be something that could conceal my age, something that would make me look like I was aging to most people. If we needed to move, you could always come with us,” Thomas offered sincerely.

She shook her head. She didn’t want to be the third wheel for the rest of her life. “We’ll see what happens,” she replied vaguely.

“If I freaked out, what would have happened?” she asked suddenly.

“Mind erase,” Thomas admitted, chewing on his bottom lip again, watching her nervously.

Viv reached over and smacked his arm. “Jerk.”

“I knew it would be fine!” he protested.

“There’s more than angels and demons, I assume?” she said, looking at D.

He nodded. “Shapeshifters, vampires, Fae, djinn, Shadows.”

“Are they all like you? Jobs, regular life?”

“Most. Think of it like being a different race. Even us demons and the angels have a human form we take to go out on Earth. Same with the shapeshifters. Older vampires go out in the day, newer ones have an allergy to the sun. It doesn’t kill them, but it does make them weaker, making them pretty much human. Shadows have it the roughest; they generally don’t have a solid form. It takes a lot of effort to make one. If they have a mate, it’s easier for some reason.”

“Where do you live? Or work?” she asked, realizing that D had been vague and changed the subject whenever she asked.

“I have a home in Netherworld. I work more of an office job; I sort the souls as they come in. Most of the time they belong there, but every so often we get one that was lost and sent in by mistake. I send them back where they belong. The others who belong there, I sort and send to different areas. For those souls, it’s not a fun place to be. There is punishment for what they’ve done. I help decide the level of punishment they deserve and send them there. There are others who administer the punishments. Not everyone there works with the souls though. There’s the same type of jobs humans have; garbage collection, cleaning, food service, shop keepers, creatives. My dad works in punishments, my mom is a painter. She has her art in galleries both in Netherworld and on Earth.”

“How did you get in a fight at work, if you have an office job?” she asked. Were office jobs more violent in the underworld?

“There was a particularly strong soul that didn’t want to be there. He had been brought in by an Enforcer after terrorizing Earth. He had escaped custody a couple of years ago when they first tried to bring him in and had been haunting and possessing people since then. He jumped around a lot, which made him harder to catch. He tried fighting his way out when he was brought to me.”

Wow. Okay then. Office jobs there could be more dangerous. Although if she thought of it more like a jail, she imagined people who worked in human law enforcement dealt with similar situations.

“Why would you move here? Is Thomas not allowed in Netherworld?”

“You’re here,” D said simply, hugging Thomas tighter.

Viv looked at Thomas wanting more of an explanation.

“You’re here,” he repeated. “I could go there since I’m D’s mate, but you can’t. Humans aren’t allowed unless they’re mates. They go mad, like crazy. We’ll vacation or take date nights there, but I’m not missing any time with you,” he said, tears in his eyes.

Because she would die before him, she realized. She held her breath and counted slowly to three, keeping her own tears in. How horrible would it be for her friend to watch her age and die? She didn’t want to waste any time with him either, but that didn’t seem like something that would be good for him.

“Nope. Don’t even think about it,” Thomas said firmly when she opened her mouth. “I’m a grown-assed man and I’ve made up my mind. I am not leaving you. I don’t care if I have to change your diapers when you’re old, I’m not giving you up until I have to.”

Viv surprised herself when a laugh escaped. “Ew. Just hire someone at that point. I don’t need you touching my bits.”

“Good point. Don’t make me give you up, okay?” Thomas pleaded, giving her teary puppy eyes.

She never could say no to those eyes which is why they had gotten into trouble at school so many times. “Fine,” she huffed, not really angry but trying to tease him. “Are you really okay with moving in here?” she asked D. She didn’t want him to give up everything just to make Thomas happy either. There was a compromise somewhere.

“I am. You guys are a pair, I’ve known that from the moment I met him. If it gets to be too tight or awkward, we can talk about other options. I’ve been thinking about it a lot. If need be, we can buy a larger-sized house close to both of your jobs. I can port from anywhere to work.”

“That would work,” she agreed. She didn’t need a repeat of today. Or even a two-family house might work.

Viv nodded, feeling touched that they wanted to still keep her close, but also at the end of her ability to keep the tears in. “Is there anything else I need to know right now?” she asked. It had been a lot, and she was feeling wiped out and ready for a nap. Not to mention a cry.

D shook his head. “I think everything else can wait. It’s not something you can talk about with anyone else,” he cautioned.

“Oh! There is something else I have to show you!” Thomas shouted as he jumped up. He threw his robe off, thankfully wearing underwear. “Look!” he said, thrusting his arm in front of her face.

He now had a tattoo around his arm. It looked similar to the ones D had. D pulled his sleeves up, showing off his new band too. This one was more stylized than the others. It looked like there was a cursive script as well, but she didn’t recognize the language.

“When did you get a tattoo?” she asked, surprised. Thomas had never expressed an interest in getting ink before, probably because he had a low pain tolerance.

“They’re not tattoos! When we mated and accepted each other, it showed up. Pretty cool, huh? It looks badass and it didn’t really hurt much.”

“What’s the language?” she asked, curious.

“Netherkin and Entiretium. Netherkin is the demon language, Entiretium is the universal nonhuman language. It shows I’m mated. Mine says Mate of Thomas, and Thomas’ says Mate of D, although it is my entire name which is hard to translate to English. Most nonhumans have something similar in their language and in Entiretium. Shapeshifters and vampires also have bite marks.”

“That’s pretty cool. Do the rest of your tattoos mean something?” she asked, incredibly curious.

D nodded. “Family line, job and level,” he pointed out. “Sometimes there are others, like for children, or those we take under our protection.”

Viv didn’t want to get into what that meant right now. She just wanted to escape to her room and to let her brain digest everything.

“I’m so happy you guys found each other, and I can’t wait for you to move in, D. That means I get your lasagna more often,” she teased. “My brain is exhausted though, so I’m going to go take a nap. Be warned; I’m going to have a ton of questions later.” She gave them both a hug before going to her room.

Climbing on her bed, she grabbed a pillow, thinking over everything. How did they get here? Thomas was her family, her best friend, her brother from different parents. They had always been together. They grew up just a few houses apart, attended the same high school, even dormed together in college. She had been there when he came out to his parents in high school. To be fair, she thought that everyone had known since he was younger but had waited to say something until he did. There were a few assholes in their school, but in general Thomas was liked and it had gone as well as she could have hoped for her friend.

After college, they both stayed local. Viv worked as a librarian, having worked there in college part-time and then hired on full-time after graduation. Thomas was a grade school teacher and they had found an apartment to share that was close to both their jobs. She enjoyed her work; she viewed being a librarian as someone who helped others. She had free rein on what books to stock, and made sure to have a wide variety, including self-help, banned, and LGBTQ+ books. She loved sharing her knowledge and love of reading with others.

The paranormal romance book section had always been her favorite. She adored the fated mate book trope. How awesome would it be to have someone just know you were perfect for them? To know they would always be faithful to you? She had thought it was a nice fairy tale until today. When Thomas had met D a few months ago, he had raved about him the next day. She had been wary, especially after finding her last boyfriend in bed with someone else. Thomas tended to see the good in people and he had been screwed over several times with his trusting nature. But then he had brought D to meet her. He had been extremely handsome; tall, towering over both of them at six foot six inches, dark auburn hair that looked like it was on fire when the sunlight hit it, piercing green eyes. D had actually taken the time to get to know her, and at this point she considered him a good friend as well. He wasn’t threatened by her and Thomas’ friendship. He took excellent care of Thomas and was everything she could have asked for in a partner for him.

She had always known that someday one or both of them would find their significant other and had hoped that they could still stay close to each other. Viv was happy that Thomas had found his person, while at the same time feeling sad and like she was left behind. Which was ridiculous since Thomas made it clear he wasn’t going anywhere. But he would outlive her by thousands of years. He would watch her age, getting slowly more frail and sickly until one day she died. How was that fair or good for him? But if it was reversed, she wouldn’t want to give him up either. The undeniable heartbreak would be worth having many more years together. Viv covered her face with a pillow as she let the tears flow, not wanting him to hear her cry.