Dating for Demons by Serena Robar

irresponsible to let that kind of information disappear.
    “Of course we wrote it down. All demon knowledge is categorized and written down. The information is kept safe, hidden.”
    “So where is it now?”
    “Destroyed. All of it. Along with the Demon Slayers who guarded its secrets.”
    I noted the tenseness of his shoulders and how he clenched his jaw. He was a statue, wrapped in his pain.
    “It was your family’s duty, wasn’t it? Your grandfather who studied ancient pagan scripts? He was a retired Demon Slayer in charge of the archives, wasn’t he?”
    Hunter gave me a brief nod and my heart went out to him.
    “When did this happen?”
    “Not long ago, six weeks. I was away and when I returned I learned my family had died in a fire. The police blamed faulty wiring in the kitchen. Our home was quite old, but I know it wasn’t the wiring. It was arson. The archives were under the house, protected in stone catacombs. There is no way the fire could have gutted beneath the house unless someone deliberately set it in there as well.”
    “Hunter, I’m so sorry.” I put my head on his shoulder and squeezed his arm.
    “That framed text in the library, the one that was etched? I believe it was etched from the archives. Who made that etching, Piper? That person is responsible for the fire that killed my family.”
    “I don’t know, Hunter. All I know is that display is new. It was just moved in the day we looked at it.” I thought about the room a moment. “What about the other symbol? The one on the wall you got so mad about? What does that mean?”
    After a moment’s hesitation, Hunter pulled off his T-shirt. At first I thought it was a trick of the moonlight, the way the symbol on his chest flashed silver and black, but his tattoo had an iridescent quality that seemed to shimmer. It was the same symbol we’d seen on the wall.
    I traced it with my finger. “What does it do?”
    He shivered under the coolness of the night or the soft touch of my finger, I couldn’t be sure. “It protects me from demon possession. A demon can never enter this body, even as my essence leaves, as long as I wear this symbol.”
    “If you lived in the house over the archives, how come you don’t know how a demon possesses a vampire?”
    “I’ve been gone a long time. I was fostered out to another Demon Slayer and was supposed to return home to finish my training and take over the ancient archives. But I … I left.”
    “I don’t understand. What do you mean you left?”
    “I mean I quit. I didn’t want to be a Demon Slayer. But I’m a Legacy. I have no choice and I wanted, well, I wanted a choice.” He looked ashamed of himself.
    “I’ll find out about the etchings. I promise. I’ll find out who did this to your family and we’ll stop them,” I vowed.
    “The only way to stop them is to tell me who the Protector is, Piper. That is the only way.”
    I felt like screaming, crying and running away all at once. I couldn’t tell Hunter that Colby was the Protector. As far as Hunter knew, it could be anyone at Psi Phi House and I had to keep it that way. Colby was my best friend. She would not bring about the end of our existence, she just wouldn’t. Demon or no.
    “What I want to know,” the cat interrupted us without preamble, “is how come she can hear me talk?”
    We frowned at him. “You mean not everyone can hear you jabber on when you’re not licking yourself? Gee, lucky me,” I said.
    “Now don’t be getting mad at me. It’s not my fault your boyfriend here wants to kill one of your little friends. I just wanna know how come you can hear me.”
    “I’d like to know that as well.” Hunter looked at me in question.
    “How the hell do I know? It’s the first time I’ve ever heard a cat talk, I can tell you that.”
    “Can you sense demons, girl?” the cat asked.
    “Uh, no. This is the first time I’ve ever heard of demon possession. Duh.”
    “Is it?” Hunter asked. “Remember when we first