When Lucy woke up the apartment was quiet. She went to the bedroom and peeked in, curious. Aidan was lying on his side, sound asleep, with one wing half spread over his wife, who was snoring softly. The four children were all asleep too, but Lucy was a bit surprised to see they looked different now than they had earlier. The oldest girl, snuggled up next to her father, had become a half-cat, half aerian creature, her feline face serene in slumber. The youngest, cuddled between her parents, was still mostly human, but had acquired a set of wings to match her father’s and the two boys were now feline, one humanoid, the other not, and both were also winged.

Odd little family he’s got there, thought Lucy to herself. But it’s obvious how much they care for each other. I could wish my own family was more like that.

An hour or so later, as Lucy was sitting on the couch and reading, Flame Song emerged from the bedroom.

“Hello,” said Lucy.

“Hi,” replied Flame. “Thank you for letting us stay here.”

“It’s no trouble,” replied Lucy. “I owe your husband my life, so it’s the least I could do. Do you think you’ll all be going home soon?”

“I honestly don’t know,” said Flame. “Time between the two worlds is kind of strange. There’s no way to tell how long it’ll take our friend to work out how to bring Aidan home. Don’t worry about us moving in with you, I’m sure we can find somewhere else to stay if we’re here too long.”

“Look, I can more than afford to let you stay with me for as long as it takes. I’m serious about owing your husband. My life is worth more to me than any possible inconvenience from having you all here, and if not for Aidan I’d be dead right now. You can stay here for as long as it takes.”

“Thank you,” said Flame.

“You’re…” Lucy was interrupted by a crash from the bedroom. She and Flame both dashed in that direction. Flame got there first. Looking in through the door she saw Ariana still in the bed, sitting up and holding Shadowfire protectively, with Firedart clinging to her. Phoenixflare was standing on front of them, wings spread and sharp feline teeth bared in a snarl of defiance. Aidan was crouched between the bed and the near corner of the room with his right-hand long dagger drawn. On the floor a lamp, no doubt knocked over when Aidan jumped out of bed, was the obvious source of the crash Flame had heard. When Flame stepped into the room she saw the cause of all the commotion. Standing in the corner with an expression of sardonic amusement on his too-handsome face was the demon Asmodeus.

“Hello Aidan. You’ll be happy to hear that our little difficulties with one another are shortly to be over and done with,” said the demon.

Aidan drew the little dagger he always kept hidden at the small of his back with his left hand, said, “You’re right,” and with no further dramatics, threw it at Asmodeus. At that range there was no way he could miss his intended target. The dagger hit exactly where the demon’s heart would be if he’d had one. For a long moment nothing happened. Asmodeus smiled and looked down at the dagger, his hand lifting as if to draw it down. Then suddenly his eyes widened in pain and he let out a shriek.

“What have you done?” he howled, writhing with pain. His form twisted further than was humanly possible and began to lose all semblance of humanity, reverting to the ugly monstrosity that was the demon’s true appearance. Then even that began to dissolve, collapsing to the carpet in a pile of gooey slime.

“Yuck,” said Phoenixflare eloquently.

“Very yuck,” agreed Aidan. “But I am more than glad to see the last of him.”

“You mean just like that, it’s over?” said Flame Song.

“Yep,” said Aidan, suddenly grinning. “Over at last! No more assassins lurking, no more watching over my shoulder, no more worries about what nasty annoying plot he’s going to come up with next. It’s all over!”

“What do you think he was going to do?” asked Flame.

“I don’t know. No doubt if I’d given him a few minutes he would have told me all about his next clever plan, he was very fond of that sort of thing. But I wasn’t going to give him one more second than I had to.”

“Is he really gone for good?”

“Yes. Jordanis helped me put the spell on that dagger. He’s dead, completely and permanently. Gone forever.”

“Well, his mortal remains are making a mess of my carpet,” said Lucy with a somewhat shaky laugh.

“I’ll help you clean it up,” said Aidan.

Three weeks later Jordanis contacted them with the good news that he’d figured out the demon’s spell and Aidan could go home. He was surprised to find that he regretted leaving behind the friends he’d made. Owen, Lucy, and a handful of others had helped him through a difficult time and he would miss them. He took one day to say his goodbyes, made one last visit to The Sanctuary, and then he stepped through the portal with wife and children by his side and was home.

Flame threw her arms around Aidan in an enthusiactic hug. Then she hugged Jordanis too. “Thank you, my friend. Thank you very much.”

“Yes,” said Aidan. “Thank you. Thank you for brining me home at last. And,” he added, “Thank you for paving the way so that I can finally have peace. No more demons!”

“You’ll miss Earth a bit, won’t you?” asked Flame as they sat together in front of the fire, back in their own house at last.

“Just a little bit,” said Aidan. “But who knows, I may get to go back again someday. I’ve got a lot of living left to do. There’s room for many things to happen.”

“That’s true. For both of us life is still just beginning, isn’t it?”

“Yes.” He laughed. “It’s like a clichéd quote I heard back on Earth. ‘Today is the first day of the rest of your life.’ And it is. The rest of my life is in front of me.”

Flame smiled at him warmly. “And for the rest of my life you’ll be right there by my side.”

Aidan smiled back. “Always,” he said softly, and then he kissed her, and for a long time there were no more words to be spoken.