Maya's mother chose that moment to wake up.
Linda Chen opened her eyes, looked around at her destroyed kitchen, saw her daughter standing next to a devastatingly handsome man with amber eyes and an aura of otherworldly power, and did what any practical mother would do.
She reached for her phone to call the insurance company.
"Mom," Maya said quickly, "maybe we should talk first."
"Talk about what, sweetheart? The fact that my roof is gone, there's plaster all over my good china, and you're finally bringing a boy home?" Linda struggled to her feet, brushing debris from her hair. "Though I have to say, your timing could use some work."
Elena stared at Linda in amazement. "She's taking this remarkably well."
"Honey," Linda said, giving Elena a look, "when you've spent the last three months having dreams about demons and wondering if your daughter was having a psychotic break, a hole in the roof starts to seem pretty manageable." She turned to Asmodeus with the kind of polite smile she reserved for Maya's friends. "I'm Linda Chen, Maya's mother. And you are?"
Asmodeus looked completely nonplussed. Maya realized that in six thousand years of existence, he'd probably never been asked to introduce himself to someone's mom.
"I'm... Lucien," he said after a pause. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Chen."
"Lucien Morningstar, I assume? From that game Maya's been obsessed with?" Linda's tone was conversational, but Maya caught the sharp look in her mother's eyes. "The one she's been playing eighteen hours a day for the past few months?"
"Mom," Maya said desperately, "it's complicated."
"I'm sure it is. Lucien, dear, are you responsible for my daughter looking like she hasn't eaten a proper meal since Christmas?"
Asmodeus—the King of All Demons, destroyer of civilizations, terror of the heavens—actually looked ashamed. "Indirectly, yes. I'm afraid my... influence through the digital realm may have contributed to some unhealthy obsessive behaviors."
Linda nodded like this was perfectly reasonable. "Well, at least you're honest. Elena, is it? Would you mind helping me salvage what we can from the kitchen? I think Maya and Lucien need to have a conversation."
Elena looked back and forth between Maya and Asmodeus like they were both insane. "You want me to leave them alone? He's literally the Devil."
"And she's my daughter, which means she's stubborn enough to hold her own against the forces of darkness." Linda started picking up pieces of her broken coffee mug. "Besides, if he wanted to hurt her, he wouldn't have bothered with months of courtship through a video game."
Maya felt her face burning. "Mom, please don't call it courtship."
"What would you call it, sweetheart?"
Maya looked at Asmodeus, who was watching this domestic scene with fascination. "I honestly have no idea."
"Then perhaps," Asmodeus said, "we should figure that out." He gestured toward the back door. "Walk with me?"
They stepped out into Linda's garden, where the roses were blooming despite the approaching winter. Asmodeus moved among the flowers with surprising gentleness, occasionally touching a petal with one finger.
"Your mother is remarkable," he said after a long moment. "Most humans who encounter me either worship or flee in terror."
"She's had time to process. The dreams you mentioned—were those from Malphas or from you?"
"Both, actually. Malphas was trying to corrupt her through her worry about you. I was... visiting her subconscious to understand where you came from." Asmodeus looked embarrassed. "I wanted to know what kind of life had produced someone like you."
Maya sank onto her mother's garden bench. "Someone like me?"
"Someone who looked at the King of Demons and saw potential for goodness. Someone who spent months trying to make me smile through a computer screen." Asmodeus sat beside her, careful not to touch. "Do you understand what that means to a being who hasn't experienced genuine affection in millennia?"
"It means you're lonely," Maya said softly. "Just like I was."
"It means I'm in love with you," Asmodeus corrected. "Which is problematic for numerous reasons."
Maya's heart stopped. "You love me?"
"Completely. Irrevocably. In a way that goes against everything I've been for the past six thousand years." He looked at her with eyes full of wonder and terror. "Maya, I am the source of temptation, corruption, and evil in this universe. Being near me should be destroying your soul. Instead, being near you is... fixing mine."
Maya reached for his hand without thinking. His skin was warm, human, real. "What does that mean?"
"It means we have a problem. The kind of problem that could reshape the cosmic balance between good and evil." Asmodeus squeezed her fingers gently. "The other Lords of Hell are already sensing the change in me. Heaven has noticed too. And there are rules about beings like me experiencing redemption."
"What kind of rules?"
Before Asmodeus could answer, the garden filled with golden light so bright Maya had to close her eyes. When she opened them again, they were surrounded by figures in white robes—angels, she realized, with wings like liquid starlight and faces that hurt to look at directly.
"Asmodeus," one of them spoke with a voice like cathedral bells, "you have violated the Covenant."
Asmodeus moved protectively in front of Maya, his own form shifting into something more obviously supernatural—taller, with shadows wreathing around him like living armor. "Michael. Still as dramatic as ever, I see."
"You have formed an attachment to a mortal soul. You have allowed her influence to alter your fundamental nature. This cannot be permitted."
Maya stood up, moving to stand beside Asmodeus despite the overwhelming presence of the angels. "Why not?"
The angel—Michael, apparently—turned his attention to her, and she felt like she was being examined by the force of creation itself. "Because, mortal, if the King of Demons can be redeemed through love, then the entire structure of cosmic justice becomes meaningless. Every evil act, every fallen soul, every punishment we've administered becomes questionable."
"So you're here to stop it," Maya said, understanding flooding through her.
"We're here to offer him a choice," Michael said. "Return to Hell, abandon this attachment, and resume his role as intended. Or face annihilation—complete erasure from existence—to preserve the cosmic balance."
Asmodeus laughed, but there was no humor in it. "And Maya? What happens to her in either scenario?"
Michael's expression didn't change. "The mortal will be... adjusted. Her memories of this relationship will be removed. She will return to her normal life with no knowledge that any of this occurred."
"No," Maya said immediately. "Absolutely not."
"You don't have a choice in this matter," Michael said.
Maya felt her bloodline power surge, and suddenly the garden was filled with a different kind of energy entirely, older, wilder, more primal than either demonic or angelic force.
"Actually," she said, her voice carrying power she didn't know she possessed, "I think I do."