“Oh, no, that’s all right.” Jacqui smiled. “Go ahead and touch anything you like. Art is meant to be experienced with the senses.”
Meph spun around with a delicate clay sculpture of a dragon in hand. “This is cool.” He grinned and held it aloft.
Raum, Ash and Bel all winced.
“Thank you,” Jacqui said brightly.
“Meph,” Bel growled, “if you don’t put that down right now, I will fu—” He glanced at Eva’s mom. “I will...” He trailed off, apparently unable to complete a threat without the word “fuck” in it.
“Be angry,” Raum finished for him.
Meph returned the dragon to the shelf, and they breathed a collective sigh of relief.
“Right,” Eva cut in. “Guys, meet my mom, Jacqui. Mom, this is Ash, Bel, Meph, and Raum.”
Poor Jacqui seemed a little shell-shocked. “Wow— Sorry if I’m a little— I can honestly say I never expected to have visitors of your— Well, what you are—”
“Demons?” Meph said, that stupid-ass grin never leaving his face.
“It’s not offensive to call you that?” Jacqui asked, still wringing her hands. “I don’t want to say the wrong thing.”
Raum shrugged, stroking the little gray cat that had jumped back into his arms. “We are what we are.”
“Being offended is for humans,” Meph agreed.
For some reason, Jacqui appeared charmed by the idiot. “You know, that’s probably true.” Then she looked at Ash, and her expression turned calculating. “So this is the mysterious man who has captivated my daughter.”
He shrugged weakly.
Her eyes narrowed. “Hmm.”
“He probably looks boring and ugly to you,” Meph piped up, “but that’s only because he’s cursed.”
It took all Ash’s self-control not to punch him in the face. “Meph—”
“He’s actually a handsome devil.” Meph chuckled at his own joke. “Before he was cursed, he was actually the Prince of Lu—”
“Shut up,” Raum hissed in a low voice. “You don’t tell your girlfriend’s mom you were the Prince of Lust.”
Jacqui was still studying Asmodeus intently. He’d been interrogated by Lucifer himself and never felt this fucking uncomfortable. “He doesn’t look boring or ugly to me,” she said. “Actually, he’s quite striking. Definitely not invisible.”
Everyone stared at her.
“But that’s impossible,” Belial said. “His curse makes it so that any potential sexual partner is completely uninterested—”
“Bel, stop,” Ash groaned. God, he was worse than Meph.
“Well, that explains it right there,” Jacqui said. “I would have to be the world’s worst mother to look at my daughter’s boyfriend as a potential sexual partner.”
Ash put a hand over his face and wished to disappear.
“Oh my god,” Eva said. “I can’t believe we’re having this conversation.”
“Eva, darling, he’s very handsome, and I can’t wait to hear you play music together, but you can rest assured I have no designs on him. I am, after all, a married woman—”
“Mom! Seriously!”
She smiled at Ash when he lifted his head. “It’s nice to meet you. Thank you for keeping my daughter safe.”
