Charon opened the door to blue-eyed brunette woman in her late forties. Despite being middle-aged, her gentle beauty was exceptionally well-preserved. "Do you know Rachel Church?" the co-ruler of Purgatory asked.
"She's my daughter," the woman said, a hint of sadness and regret in her voice. "I'm Rebecca Church... though I may soon be changing my name back to Rebecca Shepherd." She said the last words with a note of bitterness.
"I'm Chris Purcell," Charon said, shaking Rebecca's hand. "I'm a friend of Rachel's girlfriend."
"Mom?" Rachel gasped. "What are YOU doing here?!"
"I came to apologize for everything," she said. "Your father saw your Tweet and went nuts. He said absolutely horrible things about you and Maisy that I refuse to repeat. No decent human being would EVER call ANY woman names like the ones he used, let alone their own daughter! I know I've followed his lead in the past, but hearing him call you every sexist and homophobic slur in the book woke something up in me. I... I stood up to him. I told him exactly where he could shove it, and... well, he handled that the way he always handles things." Rebecca pulled up her shirt to reveal a nasty bruise on her ribs.
Astaroth fumed at the sight of what Joshua Church had done to Rebecca. She nearly said something but she didn't want to interrupt what was clearly an important moment between Rachel and Rebecca.
"I hate that he does this to you, Mom," Rachel whispered sadly.
"Josh tried to defend me from your father, but he just got a broken nose for his troubles."
"Josh?" asked Charon.
"That's my brother," Rachel explained. "We call him Josh for short because Joshua Jr.' is too much of a mouthful."
"We both stormed out after that," Rebecca went on, "but not before I told your father that he's a miserable excuse for a human being and making it clear that I'm divorcing him as soon as possible. All he could say is some feeble rambling about divorce being a sin. I'm staying at Josh's place right now. Poor Penny's shocked that a pastor could treat his family this way."
"Penny?" Charon asked.
"That's Josh's girlfriend," Rachel answered. "She's just like him: super-religious, but also super-kind. Oh, and also super-nerdy. She actually prefers to read the Bible in its original Classical Hebrew and Ancient Greek!"
Remeila wondered to herself if "Penny" could be Penemue, her bookworm sister. Remeila knew that Penemue was currently on Earth under the name of Penny to court a husband. Even more suspicious, Penemue had recently written to Remeila to tell her that she'd started dating a good-hearted young man who was trying to get out from under the shadow of a tyrannical, bigoted preacher father. Could that young man be Josh?
"Can you forgive me for not standing up for you all these years, Rachel?" Rebecca asked. "Can you forgive me for parroting his bigoted talking points to you when you tried to come out to me?"
Rachel hugged her mother tight. "Of course I can! All I've ever wanted since I came out is for things to be normal between us again... and for you to get away from that hateful, violent monster. I can't believe you're finally free!"
As Rebecca hugged her daughter, she glanced around the room. "I'm not interrupting something, am I? Are you having a party? I can..." She trailed off as she laid eyes on Princess Astaroth. It had been a long time since she'd last seen her demonic ex-girlfriend, but she still looked as lovely as ever.
"Astaroth?" Rebecca asked disbelievingly as she slowly walked toward Lucifer's beautiful sister. "It's... it's been years. Why are you in my daughter's apartment?"
"You might call it family business," Astaroth smiled as she placed a loving hand on Rebecca's shoulder. "You see, Maisy's my niece. Her real name is Princess Miasma Morningstar."
Rebecca's eyes went wide. "Really?"
"I hope you're not mad that Rachel's dating a demon like me," Maisy said nervously.
"How can I be when rejecting a demon doomed me to years of abuse at the hands of a man worse than the demons he preaches against?" asked Rebecca. "Being married to Joshua put everything into perspective. I'm glad Rachel isn't making the same mistakes as me."
"There's still time to fix things between us, Becky," Astaroth said to Rebecca, wrapping her ring-covered fingers over Rebecca's own hand. "Rachel found the necklace I gave you so many years ago. I saw all the joy my visits as 'Ashley' brought you. I can tell you still love me. It was your parents and the loutish preacher boy they'd picked out for you talking when you rejected me, not your own soul. It hurt more than anything I'd ever experience, but I never blamed you. I blamed the people controlling your life. Well, you're free now. I'd love to start over with you."
"Come to Hell with you? Become a demon?" Rebecca asked, her heart fluttering with equal measures of nervousness and euphoria. "I... I think I'd like that. I have to admit, the idea intrigued me even in the old days. But... do you really still want me? Two and a half decades have passed since we broke up. I've gotten older while you stay youthful and timeless."
"Don't worry about that, darling," Astaroth giggled. "The years shall fall away from you during your transformation rite, leaving you as youthful as your own daughter."
"But what about the police?" Rebecca asked. "People will notice if I just vanish!"
"The usual procedure is to stage a house fire using a flesh dummy," said Astaroth.
"But I'm staying with my son," Rebecca countered. "We can't just blow up Josh's house!"
"You got here in a car, right?" said Charon. "We can set up a fiery car crash."
Rebecca smiled. "Well then, I suppose I have no excuse to not start living my life the way I always should have." She tenderly kissed Astaroth's lips. "I would love to start over with you. I want to see your home... I want to see your body as it truly is."
"I can't wait to show you the real me," Miasma smiled as she kissed Rebecca back. "We can go just as soon as we finish packing all the things here that Rachel and Miasma want to bring to Hell with them. How's it coming, Miasma?"
"Just finishing up, Aunt Astaroth!" Maisy called back. "I'm just packing our photos, and then we'll be done."
"Sounds like we'll be off in just a few minutes," Astaroth said. "I think you'll be very impressed by your daughter's new demon form."
"She's been transformed already?" asked Rebecca.
"Indeed," Astaroth nodded. "Her legal name is now Lady Tenebra (though it will become Princess Tenebra after her wedding to Princess Miasma), but she prefers to continue to go by the name Rachel. You'll get a new name, too, but nobody's going to make you use it outside of court."
"New names can wait," Rebecca smiled. "I'm just happy to reclaim an old love."