“Where’d he go?” Chrono hissed through his teeth, glancing around the wide dining hall. The hotel’s resident demon had slipped away once again, for the third time that night. The order had been given, and it had sounded easy enough- there was a famed ‘haunted hotel’ and the demons inside needed to be purged. And Rosette and Chrono were elected for the job.

“Hey, Chrono…” Rosette nudged the shorter demon. “Look over there.” She pointed. A threesome, consisting of a boy and two girls, were wandering around seemingly aimlessly, without taking interest in any of the refreshments, and definitely not in each other. The third was most prominent, as she had tanned skin and black hair, wearing some kind of golden collar over a white body wrap. She was glancing around nervously, and floating above the ground, her transparent, sandaled feet a few inches up from the ground. A large, one-sided axe sat like a hairpin in her dark hair, and she was fiddling with the handle nervously, as if considering using it.

“It’s okay.” Chrono replied. “She isn’t a demon, and the other two seem aware of her, in case she tries anything.”

Rina stopped mid-step, her violet eyes fixed on the ceiling. “Hey, Shiru, maybe I’m hallucinating but I could swear there’s some evil-monkey-bat-thing running around on the roof…”

Shiru’s long, dark-gray mane shifted, as he looked up, narrowing his eyes. “Either both of us are, or it’s there.” He confided, staring at the creature through the ceiling.

“You don’t think it’s going to…”

“Yup.” They both watched a sizeable crack appear in the roof.

“…”

“…”

“…! We gotta get out of here or the ceiling’s going to come down on us!” Rina always seemed miraculously quick on the uptake. But only compared to Shiru. Cleo, the mute Egyptian painter-ghost, was already staring horror-stricken at the ceiling, causing the glasses on several nearby tables to rattle in her panic.

Chrono blinked and looked around. “There’s some kind of energy buildup…” he muttered, looking around. “But it’s not the demon. Feels more like a powerful ghost, or…” he glanced at the dark-haired ghost. “Yeah, something’s bothering her, and if it’s getting to her while she’s already dead…”

The roof exploded, cutting him off. Concrete, glass, and wood rained down.

Rosette lost track of Chrono in the explosion, and fought to prevent herself from being buried. A piece of rubble struck her from behind, and her last thought was that she had to release the seal so Chrono could hurry up and find her…

There was a grating as claws were dug into the rubble above her and it was flung aside, revealing a faint, human outline in the darkness. Good…I made it with the seal… Wait! That’ s not Chrono! She struggled upwards, pointing her gun at the figure. “Who are you?” she demanded.

A pair of deep crimson eyes narrowed at her. Drat it! If only I could see! Rosette thought furiously.