Road trip heart-to-heart.

"Do you like it here?" Ryan asked Marlissa while she stared out at the farmland bordering the highway.

"The countryside?" she responded, looking back at him.

"No, here on Earth."

"It's very different than the Abyss. Much more beautiful," she said, spotting some horses feeding in the field. "Humans are very interesting."

"How so?"

"Humans are short lived so they rush to do everything. Technology has changed a lot since I was last here four decades ago. And yet your emotions are still very primal."

Ryan understood what she meant -- he was an archeologist and yet he let his lust overwhelm him. Despite critical thinking, logic, and reasoning that had put homo sapiens above other animals humans still possess fundamental pre-programmed instincts that are very hard to override. In response, humans created gods. From those gods came dogma. And from those dogma came sins -- wrath, greed, sloth, pride, lust, envy, and gluttony. Religious leaders told their flock that these sins were bad and must be avoided lest they be punished in the afterlife. But those very clergy secretly embraced the vices, especially as they grew in political power.

"Do you want to stay here?" Ryan wondered, glancing at Marlissa to see her reaction.

"Yes," she responded with a weak smile. "I must admit that I do tire of my world but I cannot deny what I am. You cannot make a tiger into a house cat."

"Maybe there's something in the old book that could help you?"

"I am already bound to you by the pact and now by love," she answered with a smile but sadness in her green eyes. "However, there is no magic that can change what I am. A demon."

Ryan still could not grasp there was actually an Abyss filled with demons even though he had summoned a handful of imps and a succubus. His scientific mind reasoned they must be from another dimension, a whole different universe with different laws of physics. Somehow the ancient Sumerians managed to link our universe with theirs, perhaps with a wormhole. He was not an astrophysicist but he knew one in New York -- his father. "Before I found the book I didn't believe in the supernatural but now I'm married to a beautiful succubus. " he said, smiling to Marlissa. "If there are demons then surely there are angels too?"

"Yes there are," Marlissa replied with a surprised look on her face. "Your book does not mention the celestials?"

"No, it only dealt with demons. However, the ancient Sumerians did believe in angels, the Anunnaki."

"They are known by many names in different cultures. Whatever you call them they do not like my kind. So it is not surprising demons despise the celestials," she said, looking away nothing in particular outside the window.

Ryan felt he should drop the matter for now. They still had many hours before reaching Manhattan and he did not want Marlissa in a dour mood. Marlissa sensed Ryan's unease and smiled at him. "Do not worry, love. I do have a friend who is a celestial and she happens to be in New York City. At least she was there the last time I was summoned by mortals. You would love Grace. Despite the differences between our kind she is very loving and non-judgmental."

"I would love to meet your friend," Ryan said. He could not help grin because as an archaeologist he had the opportunity to delve into civilizations and societies that are not human. Any papers he would write on demons and angels would rock the scientific world, with many of his peers calling him a quack. For the next few hours they chatted about her life with her previous mortal masters and his life as a globetrotting archaeologist.

"Are you hungry?" Ryan asked when he saw a sign for an off-ramp to a truck stop.