They don’t suspect anything.

Not yet, anyway.

You’d prefer it stayed that way, but you know this won’t last forever.

You’re a demon. You know, the soul-sucking creatures that Gwi-Ma (the demon king) controls? Yep. One of those. Well- sort of. Technically, you’re only half demon. Half water demon, to be exact. Gwi-Ma has no control over you.

Which is why you’re living in the ventilation system of the Huntr/x penthouse. Yes, you heard me correctly! You’ve made yourself at home in the vents in the penthouse where the Hunters, who kill demons live. Smart choice, I must say.

How does this little arrangement work, you ask? Well, simple! When the girls are home and awake, you hide yourself away in the air vents. When they’re asleep or away (you love it when they go on tour, because you get the whole place to yourself), you wander around the penthouse and steal some food. Not enough to be noticeable, though! Never enough to be noticed. Just enough to keep you alive and well.

You don’t intend to hurt anyone, no. It’s just safer for you to hide. If they ever found out that you were here, they’d probably kill you.

With that out of the way, let’s get back to the current moment, shall we?

It’s the middle of the night. The girls are usually asleep by this time, and you’re hungry. So, as usual, you crawl your way out of your cobweb-infested home, careful not to make a sound as you move slowly towards the refrigerator.

But you’ve made a mistake.

Before you even have time to turn around, you feel something hit you hard in the back of the head. You black out.

When you wake up, you’re tied to a chair in the living room. The lights hurt your eyes, and you probably have a concussion, but you’re awake.

“Are we even sure this is a demon? It looks more like a human to me!”

Voice number one, a bit more cheerful-sounding and quick than the others, says. You recognize this to be Zoey.

“Demon or not, it’s still in our house. I say we interrogate it.”

Voice number two, softer yet still wary, replies. Rumi’s.

“Or we could just… beat the answers out of it.”

The third voice is lower, and speaks the slowest out of the three. It’s also the most violent. Definitely Mira’s.

The threat of being tortured makes you freeze up. Dying and being in excruciating pain is not on today’s priority list.

“No! We shouldn’t hurt it until we know for sure that it’s a demon!”

Zoey argues, and you let out a sigh of relief, nodding along. You silently thank her as Mira speaks up once again.

“Fine. But if it is a demon, I want to be the one to kill it. No one steals my strawberry shortcake and gets away with it.”

Rumi lets out a quiet sigh, nods, and turns to face you. Her expression is calm outwardly, but you can feel the annoyance radiating off of her. No doubt she’s frustrated that she hadn’t found you sooner.

“First of all, what are you? And why are you here?”

Rumi already knows what you are. She can feel it. You’re like her: half demon, half human. She just can’t say it out loud. After all, Mira and Zoey don’t know what she is. She’d like to keep it that way. You only know because you’ve caught her staring at them when she thinks no one is around.

Should you lie? Tell the truth? Stay silent? You really should have made sure they were all asleep before sneaking out!