After a full afternoon of gaming, Mal finally took a break to use the bathroom. He removed his headset and immediately heard the tone of his comm sitting on the table by his bed. He rolled his eyes, and took his time in the bathroom. The comm was still chiming when he came back, so he walked over to the table and picked up the earpiece. Brushing the long red hair away from his ear, he put the earpiece in and tapped the button.

“Finally.” Ty's voice sounded irritated, but Mal was used to that. “Why did you take your comm off?”

“I've been busy,” he said flatly.

“Yeah, I've had kind of a busy day too, what with the little drifter emergency in the desert. Thanks for your help with that, by the way. Really appreciate it.”

“Your sarcasm is tiresome. Now what do you want?”

“It's about Jay. You're sure she's not a demon, right? Not even half-demon?”

“I'm fairly certain. Even if we ignore her lack of wings, I couldn't sense any demonic power within her. Why do you ask?”

“Because I'm pretty sure we just saw her open a demon gate.”

Mal scoffed and sat back in his gaming chair, picking up his controller to start a new match.

“A demon gate, you say? How would you even know what one looks like?”

“I don't. But I just saw a weird black void appear in front of her and she pulled a crazy black sword out of it.”

There was a dramatic pause, both in the sense that Mal fell gravely silent, and in the sense that he dramatically pressed the Pause button.

–

A few minutes later, the twins and their demonic roommate gathered in the boardroom to talk about me behind my back. How polite of them, right?

Mal dressed up for the occasion, which he rarely did in my experience, but then he also rarely left his room. I never would have thought anyone could top Ty in the department of trying too hard to look cool with their wardrobe, but Mal took the grand prize. He had a tailored black jacket and slacks that looked reminiscent of the style of Japanese school uniforms. Somehow, his bat-like wings folded neatly under the jacket so you'd almost miss they were there if you weren't looking for them. The outfit was all black except for the white dragon design that wrapped completely around the torso, vaguely imitating traditional yakuza tattoos. Considering he didn't grow up on the same Earth, I'm not sure how he managed to pick up the same ignorant fascination with Japanese culture as the insufferable guys I went to middle school with.

“You didn't bring the sword back with you?” he asked, leaning forward and resting his elbows on the table, fingers tented.

“It disappeared,” Deejay said, his feet up on the table, leaning back in his chair so far that it's hard to understand how he didn't fall over. “I couldn't find any trace of it.”

“Strange. And nothing else came through?”

“Nothing we could see,” Ty replied. “It only lasted maybe a second.”

“When this rift appeared as you said, at the moment it opened, did the sky seem to darken somewhat? As if the light were being drained from the landscape?”

“I think so. It definitely seemed darker. Does that prove anything?”

Mal leaned back in his chair a bit, leaving his hands flat on the table. “I'm hardly an expert on such things, but from my limited knowledge, what you have described to me sounds very much like a demon gate. Is there any possibility I could see her demonstrate this again?”

Ty shook his head. “That's unlikely.”

“The way it happened,” Deejay added, “we're thinking this is something she can only do while she's in her whole crazy blood-rage mode. I'd rather not try to induce that again.”

Mal laughed condescendingly. “You two attract the most wretched creatures, don't you?”

“Aw, don't be so hard on yourself.”

Deejay patted his hand mockingly, and the condescending smirk left Mal's face as he stood up to leave.

“Let me know if she starts speaking. I think we have much to learn from her. Until then, keep her on a short leash. She's too unpredictable to be trusted on her own.”

He turned and strode away. Ty turned to Deejay.

“Is he seriously giving us orders?”

“Kinda sounds like it. Did he get a promotion or something?”

“I'm not sure. I think you'd have to ask one of the co-presidents of this organization.”

“Good idea. Mister Co-President, did you promote Mal?”

“No, Mister Co-President, I didn't.”

“Okay, that's what I thought. And neither did I.”

“So basically he's barking out orders like he's in charge despite not being in charge of anything.”

“Well, I guess we could make him in charge of something. How about Secretary of Demonic Affairs?”

“It has a nice ring to it.”

Mal turned back, a half-sneer on his face. “You two really think you're amusing, don't you?”

“Yes,” the brothers answered in unison.

Mal rolled his eyes and got on the elevator. He glared back at them as the doors closed.

“We're running out of soda. Order more.”

“You got it, Mister Secretary!” Deejay said with a cheerful salute.