“Oh shit, I won.”

That was my first thought when I woke up the morning after my big victory over Baalphezar. It was more like early afternoon, but you get the idea.

Lydia was curled up next to me, clinging to me in a very human sort of way. I kissed her forehead and stumbled to my closet to find some fresh clothes.

Everything in my apartment looked weird and wrong, like everything normal was out of place somehow. I felt like my whole world should have changed. I felt like I should have changed, and the fact that I hadn’t was weird in a different way.

It had actually been weeks since I’d had Lydia in my bed, weeks since that horrible day when I met her Master in my bathroom mirror, and she formally became my supervisor instead of my lover.

Now she was my lover again, but what should have been a raucous celebration in bed had been more of a gentle exchange of comfort as we clung to each other in the dark, as if our fear of the unknown, the fear of being free, was more potent than any fear we ever felt for her Master.

I had passed out cold as soon as Evan and Evelyn left us alone. Then I woke up six hours later to find Lydia wrapped around me like she was afraid I would disappear. We made love in the middle of the night - gently, silently, with no words and no theatrics. She was hiding all her demon stuff, and Lydia had never felt more like a woman in my arms.

Lydia looked the same as she always did, a timeless beauty with blonde hair and blue eyes, with her face and bone structure just a little out of place, just a little too delicate and old fashioned for the modern world.

I expected her to wander in the kitchen and start making breakfast for us, but she was staying within a few feet of me, like she was afraid an angel or demon was going to pop out of the gray at any moment and carry me off.

“Hey,” I said, stroking her cheek. “It’s okay. We really did win.” I looked around an apartment I did not remember cleaning and said, “Shit. I really did win. I have so many phone calls to make, I don’t even know where to start.”

I needed to call Veazey and Denise and Judy and all the guys from Innovex. My old crew was still in Colorado, still safe on holy ground for a couple weeks, in case some other demon prince decided to take revenge for Baalphezar.

And as I thought about that, I immediately thought of the question I should have asked weeks ago. “Lydia, did your Master have a Master? Have I got a demon lord preparing to avenge him as we speak?”

“Perhaps,” Lydia admitted. “My Mas— my former Master built his palace on the first layer of Hell, in a kind of unclaimed territory close to the Lake of Fire. He reported to the lord of the second layer, whose name I would rather not say. If we’re lucky, that lord will see this as a transfer of power between two of his princes. Psongor will take credit for my former Master’s death and be intentionally vague about the details.

“He will pass you off as some unnamed pawn and casually dismiss any questions. Psongor is not exactly on our side, but you helped him accomplish something he’s been plotting for centuries, and once my sisters tell the story, he should believe he owes you a favor. Even if he doesn’t explicitly feel grateful to you, he should at least have an incentive to protect us, just in case he wants to use us again.”

“And if the truth comes out? If Baalphezar’s lord learns what I did and why?”

“The issue is not so much what you did as who he thinks you did it for. If Psongor can convince him your rebellion was his idea, then the Lord of the Second will assume you are not a threat because you are under Psongor’s control. My sisters will back up this story and do their best to discredit anyone who tries to spread the truth.”

“But if it does get out, and your Master’s Master comes for me, how much trouble am I in? How powerful is a demon lord, compared to a demon prince?”

“I don’t know how to answer that,” Lydia said. “The Lord of the Second is certainly older and stronger than my Master was, but he’s not a warrior. He’s more of a politician and bureaucrat, obsessed with maintaining a grand city on the second layer of Hell. I believe he’s more concerned with trade deals and infernal politics than he is with affairs on Earth.

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“That’s why he farmed so much of it out to Psongor and my Master. It’s easier to make portals from the first layer, and since there’s no rival lord in charge of the Lake, the whole layer tends to be ignored. If Psongor can keep the portals going and take over the missions that my Master used to do on Earth, this whole thing may be forgotten. But Timothy, this prediction is absurdly optimistic, and it counts on my sisters’ ability to keep your secret and discourage anyone else who might spread the story.”

“How much time have I got? Worst case.”

Lydia shook her head. “Impossible to know. We could live peacefully for years, or some rival lord could be assembling an army right now. If I was still serving my Master, I could use a mirror and contact one of my sisters, but now that I’m unbound on Earth, I can’t risk giving myself away. My best hope is that my sisters will check in with me as they’re doing missions up here, and keep us updated about how much danger we’re in.”

“So, I haven’t really solved anything by killing one prince; I have to be ready to fight demons at any moment, every day, for the rest of my life?”

“You’re only at risk if tales of your battle get out, and even then, most princes will be afraid of you. And even if they’re not intimidated by what you’ve done, remember it takes a lot of magic to send servants to Earth.

“If you had killed a particularly popular or powerful prince, other princes might rush to avenge him, simply to get credit for killing you, but my Master had been weak and abandoned for decades after your grandfather died. There’s no particular honor to be had in killing the pawn who killed him, unless one of them learns that you did it on your own, in open defiance of Hell.”

“Too damn many ifs and maybes in that explanation, as Veazey might say.” Shit, I needed to call Veazey.

I stood paralyzed for a minute, with no idea who to call first. I expected to wake up to a hundred texts from my anxious friends, but they seemed to be leaving me alone to rest and heal, as Evan told my story for me and acted as intermediary for anyone who might be tempted to call.

I needed to go to the potion shop and thank Denise, but she was likely to throw her arms around me as soon as I walked in, and what the hell would I do then? Denise and her mother were professional demon hunters. How would they react when they found out I had brought one home?

What kind of loyalty did I owe Lydia now that I had deliberately taken her into my home? Did I have a legit demon girlfriend now? I had certainly treated her like one last night, and she was acting more human than ever - tender, loving, and vulnerable in a way I had never seen.

Can you cheat on a succubus? Lydia certainly wouldn’t complain if I started splitting my time between her and Denise; b ut how far was I willing to go, even if I could tell Denise the truth?

I could start a relationship with Denise easily enough, sweep into that shop like a conquering hero and “get the girl” just like I had imagined a thousand times, but I couldn’t hide Lydia forever, and I couldn’t pretend I was keeping her as a platonic demon roommate, after spending hours in her arms last night.

No matter how carefully I tried to hide Lydia, Denise would eventually find out, and if she found out I was bedding down with a demon every night while trying to “date” her on the side, she would claw my eyes out and feed me to something in the woods. And the longer I took to tell her the truth, the worse her reaction would be.

I had gone from having no women in my life to suddenly having two. Finally free and clear to love the demon who had risked her life for me, and finally confident enough to start something with the hottest witch in Boston. But even if I could convince Denise not to kill Lydia, there was no way I could carry on with both of them at the same time.

Truth is, Lydia needed me, and I had promised myself from a young age that I would never cheat on a woman, even if she wasn’t technically a woman. I was too sentimental to split my heart between two women, even if Lydia would be okay with it. Of course, she would be okay with it. She had no choice.

I looked over at her and suddenly became aware of the overwhelming power imbalance that had opened up between us. No wonder Lydia was clinging to me. She had been cut off from her Master, her family, and her job all at once. She was counting on me for everything now, and to use that, ? No way I could live like that, exploiting Lydia while lying to Denise.

Maybe one day I could find a way for Lydia to be safe here on Earth, but until then, she needed me. I hadn’t really thought it through, in that split second when I had taken responsibility for her, but I had taken responsibility for her, and I had obligations to her now, as a wizard and a man.

Lydia read it all on my face and whispered, “It’s not too late. It’s not too late to send me back, if you’re having second thoughts.”

I shook my head. “You risked your life for me yesterday, and I will not turn my back on somebody who risked her life for me. That really is a matter of personal honor, and I would have a duty to protect you, even if I didn’t have half a dozen ancestors judging me from beyond the grave.”

“No,” I said. “We’re together now. For better or worse. I made a decision down there, and I stand by it, even if it means I have to have a few awkward conversations.”

“And Lydia,” I said, slightly embarrassed. “You can wear whatever you want, but do you think you could do that levitating against the wall thing again, whenever I’m in the living room? Seeing you there, it… it feels like home.”

She was back on the wall when I got home the next day. She hadn’t taken my Captain Cobalt poster down, but she had moved it a few feet to the right, so I could see them both at the same time.