"How did you reform demons?

"How did you reform demons?" Ryan asked, glancing at his wife and her friend.

"Not just demons but also devils, daemons, and other fiends from the darker planes of existence," the angel replied while her graceful fingers caressed the ivory keys of the grand piano. "They are terrible beasts, filled with hate and wanton destruction but even a wild animal can be tamed."

"You tamed Chiryn?"

"As much as you tamed Marlissa," Grace chuckled. "I simply gave her a choice -- live peacefully by serving me or be destroyed by my blade."

"That sounds more like an ultimatum than a choice."

"I assume you threatened Marlissa after you had summoned her?"

"Touché," Ryan smirked. "So why does Chiryn serve you?"

Grace glanced momentarily at him to give him a smile. "To sustain this comfortable lifestyle. I did not come to this world with a bank account or credit cards."

"So this is like your Batcave," Ryan joked.

"A base of operations if you must but it is my home now," she replied.

"So how does she help you with this place?" Ryan wondered.

"Chiryn is the Mistress of Pain and Pleasure and there are plenty of clientele willing to pay a handsome price to spend time with her," Grace answered.

"So that makes you a madame?"

Grace stopped playing long enough to turn to Ryan and give him a stern look before resuming. "No, I am not. It is a mutual benefit of our arrangement -- she feeds on corrupt mortals and I have vast connection to the elites of politics and industry."

"Is this something God approves of?"

Grace continued playing the Nocturne while she turned to face him to answer. "Are you a religious man?"

"No," Ryan shook his head, wondering what she was leading to with her own question. "I'm a man of science."

"Ah, good!" she smiled. "It would be much easier for you to accept the fact that there is no God."

"And yet there are demons and an angel in this room with me..."

"We are merely creatures from other planes of existence -- parallel universes in your scientific jargon, if you will. Nothing more, nothing less. Angels, demons, and devils are simply what your cultures call us."