"You did not kill Marlissa like other demons? Why?"

Ryan glanced over to Chiryn and his wife and noticed that the two women were giggling while taking selfies with Marlissa's new phone.

"You did not kill Marlissa like other demons? Why?" he asked.

"Because she, or any succubi for that matter," Grace explained, glancing over at the two succubi sitting on the couch, "are not products of the Abyss."

"They're not demons?"

"Some are and some are not," she shrugged.

"What...?"

"Their ancestors were once angels but they were corrupted in the planes of Hell and the Abyss -- fallen angels as the religious scholars would call them -- during the ancient otherworldly wars," Grace explained. "However, they are not very different than the finches of the Galápagos archipelago or the appearance of the various human races when homo sapiens trekked out of Africa."

"So some succubi are devils?" Ryan wondered, trying to understand the history and ecology of the succubi.

"Yes, Chiryn is one." Grace answered. "So to answer your original question, I did not kill your wife because the wickedness in her heart was not of her choosing but of instinct -- we do not punish the lioness for hunting her prey to feed. I believe in redemption of our long lost cousins."