6.

  Tav had found an excuse to take a shower after the other girls had already left. Alone in the showers, she turned the water as hot as it could go and let it damn near scald her skin. Showering was one of the few times her reasons for being in the academy didn’t weigh her down. Just there alone, nothing but steam and water around her, the only place where she could finally be herself.

  After her shower and naked as the day she was born and saw Cole standing there, a bit in shock at the sight of her, his eyes wide and his mouth agape. She screamed out and covered her breast as Cole went to cover his eyes. She screamed again and covered the two curved horns against either side of her head that bent just over her ears, exposing her breast to him. Cole shouted as well, and dove behind the lockers, as Tav reached one arm down to cover her breasts again.

  “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, I didn’t see anything,” Cole said.

  “You saw everything, you can’t tell anyone!” Tav said as she grabbed a towel and wrapped it around herself.

  “What are you talking about, I’m not going to tell anyone, I swear, I swear,” Cole said, his heart thumping as he stood behind the lockers. He just saw Tav naked, and as crazy as that was, he saw two horns on her head, “I’m not going to tell anyone,” he said again.

  “You’ve already seen everything, it doesn’t matter if you look at me,” Tav sighed, “I need to talk to you,” she said.

  Cole cautiously turned around the locker and saw Tav in all her beauty with a towel wrapped around her body. Her horns showed, her hair this kind of deep violet as opposed to jet black, her skin a bit paler, and her eyes an even brighter red.

  “Why do you have two…” Cole was still in shock, looking at the curved horns on her head.

  “Two breasts?” Tav said, scorn and sarcasm in her voice.

  “No, yes, no, I mean you have…are you a…I mean, you’re very pretty,” Cole forced a smile, trying to bring some levity to the situation.

  “You weren’t supposed to see this, no one’s seen this, you can’t tell anyone,” Tav said.

  “Why didn’t you have those earlier? I mean, they’re pretty prominent, the horns I mean, not your…” Cole paused for a second, “I mean those are prominent, did I mention how pretty you are,” his heart was beating so fast, he had no idea what to say.

  “You didn’t see them earlier because I wear a glamor,” Tav reached to her locker and pulled out her gold necklace, “I wear this, it conceals these,” she kept one hand on her towel and brought her other hand over her horns. She put the necklace on and sighed, “Just hope no one else sees them,” she said.

  “I can still see them,” Cole said.

  “I know you can,” she turned away from him, “It’s a weak glamor, it only works if you don’t know what I really look like, and you obviously know everything about what I look like,” she said.

  “I won’t tell anyone, but I have to ask, how do you have…those?” Cole took a deep breath and tried to relax while talking to this beautiful towel-clad horned girl.

  “If I don’t tell you, you’re just going to start asking about it, and if you start asking about it, people may find out, and I can’t let that happen,” Tav said.

  Cole raised his hands, “I swear, I won’t tell anyone, but you have horns, that means you’re a-”

  “It means I’m a demon,” Tav sighed, “Just say it,” she looked away from Cole, “It means I’m here to kill everyone, right?” she said.

  “Are you?” Cole thought for a moment about reaching for his sword, but this was Tav. This was that cute girl who caught his eye, this was that amazing woman who was able to best him in training. If Tav wanted to start killing people, it probably wouldn’t be hard for her to get started, “I mean, I’m sure you’re not,” Cole said

  “I’m a half-demon, my father really was the Betrayer, and my mother, well,” Tav looked down, “You know the stories,” she said, looking away, “Can you go behind the lockers again, at least let me get changed before I tell you my whole life story,” she clutched her towel to her body and Cole obeyed turning around and putting his back to the locker.

  As Tav changed, Cole spoke to her from behind the locker, “It’s nothing to be ashamed about, it doesn’t matter what your father did, who your mother was,” Cole said.

  “Easy for you to say,” Tav said as she got her clothes back on, “You have no idea what it’s like to have your lineage put this awful weight around you,” she said.

  “Maybe I do,” Cole said, “My father is the greatest Demon Hunter alive, and don’t even get me started on my brothers, everyone expects so much from me, I don’t know if I can live up to it,” he said, “I want to be a Demon Hunter, but my family puts weight on me too,” he sunk down.

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  “Your family is made of heroes, my family is made of villains, demons,” she turned to the lockers Cole was hiding behind, “I’m decent now, you can come out,” she sighed.

  Cole turned, with caution, to face her, “I’m sorry, I didn’t know you were in here, and I didn’t know that you were-”

  “Say it,” Tav said, “I’m a demon, just say it” she looked him dead in the eye.

  “You’re not a demon, you’re a half-demon,” Cole said, “I saw you in class, you could be a great hunter, your blood doesn’t matter, and it doesn’t matter if you have horns or not,” he said.

  “Well, I have them, and people will judge me because of it, so no one can know,” Tav said, “You need to promise me that you will not tell anyone. If word gets out that I’m a half-breed my time in the academy is over, I’m just going to have here all the same troubles the world would give me if I never wore this,” she brought her hand to her necklace.

  “I promise, I won’t tell anyone,” Cole said.

  Tav turned away from him, putting her head down, “Promises don’t mean anything,” she started to cry, “My father promised my mother he loved her, then he goes and gets himself killed fighting a Demon, he died fighting what I was, he was ashamed of me, so he gave up everything to try and redeem himself for making me.”

  Cole was a bit unsure about what to do, he reached out and put his hand on Tav’s shoulder, “Hey, I swear, as the seventh son of a seventh son, as a man who is destined to purge all evil from this world, I will not tell a soul about your secret, I swear that if I break that oath, I will never slay a demon again for as long as I live,” he turned her to him, and he saw a face crying.

  “Why are you saying that? You’re the seventh son of a seventh son. You’re supposed to kill things like me, you’re destined to wipe people like me from the face of the earth,” she said.

  “I’m not destined for anything,” Cole said, “Seventh son of a seventh son or not, it’s just a legend, it doesn’t mean anything,” Cole said, “Nothing about what are families are mean anything.” He put his hand on her shoulder, and she ripped it away.

  “Tell that to Angelica, tell that to all those people who know who my father is,” she brought her hands up to her horns, “It’s already rumored I have these, some of them are surprised I don’t as far as they can see, it doesn’t even matter if I wear this stupid glamour,” he brought her hand to her necklace, “People still talk about my father, they don’t think I hear them but I do,” she bit her lip, closed her eyes, “I wanted to become a Demon Hunter to prove them wrong, but now you know and now everyone is going to know,” she said, a tear welling up.

  “Listen to me,” Cole grabbed her shoulder again and forced her to face him, “No one is going to know, I promise you, no one will ever find out,” he said, “I promise, you can trust me,” he said.

  “How can I?” she said, wanting to slap him, “How can I trust that the destined hero isn’t going to let everyone know what a monster I am, how can I trust what’s said the greatest warrior our time may ever see to not route out someone who’s just another demon!”

  “You’re not a demon, you may be a half-demon, but you’re half human, that’s good enough for me,” Cole said. He had so much going through his head, in all honesty, he wanted to kiss her, she was so pretty. He wanted to kiss her, hold her, and tell her that everything was going to be okay.

  Tav closed her eyes, and took a deep breath, “I was never here, you were never here, and you didn’t see anything,” she said.

  “I didn’t see anything, I was never here, you were never here,” Cole said.

  “I need more of a promise than that,” Tav said.

  “I swear, as the seventh son of a seventh son, I was never here and I saw nothing,” Cole said.

  “When we’re in class, you’re going to see me with horns, you know what I look like now, that means the Glamor won’t work on you anymore, you can’t ever look like you notice them,” she said.

  “That’s not what I’m going to notice about you,” Cole said.

  Tav rolled her eyes, “Do you need to see these again, “She reached for her shirt to pull it up.

  “No!” Cole said, stopping her, though part of him wanted her to go for it, “I’m not going to notice your horns, I’m going to notice that you’re a kind girl, a nice girl,” he said, feeling a bit bashful because of, or despite the fact that he had just seen her naked as the day she was born, “I’m going to notice a proud and strong Demon Hunter, someone who despite all the bull her family lineage has put on her can overcome it, Tav,” Cole smiled, and again, felt like he wanted to kiss her so bad.

  “If anyone finds out about me, I’ll know it’s you who did it,” she looked at him with a deadly look of a demon in her eyes. She reached out and summoned her pitchfork, “If anyone finds out about this, I will kill you,” she said, putting the tip of it to his throat.

  “I swear, no one will find out,” Cole took a step back. Even though this girl was holding a point to his throat, she was still so pretty.

  Tav sighed and put her weapon down, “I’m sorry, it’s just, people are talking about me, you’re not the kind of person who’s going to talk about me, are you?” she asked, looking up at him.

  “No, I won’t tell anyone, I won’t talk about you, I won’t say anything about you,” Cole said.

  Tav took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and felt a little relived, “I can trust you right? Seventh son of a seventh son?” she asked.

  “Seventh son of a seventh son, my word is bond,” Cole said, “If I talk about you, it’s only because I’m talking about how great of a hunter you are, I’ll never speak of your linage, but if we go on a hunt together, I’ll be glad to have you by my side, I’d be honored to have you by my side,” Cole smiled.

  “We’re both Demon Hunters then, despite the boons or weights our family puts on us, we’re both Demon Hunters,” Tav looked down.

  “We’re demon hunters,” Cole said, “Hey,” he put his hand on her chin and turned her to face him, he wanted to kiss her so bad right now, “We’re demon hunters, despite the boons or weights, but we don’t have to think about that, let’s just be Demon Hunters,” Cole smiled.

  “I guess it’s better that you caught me if you’re someone willing to keep my secret, it’s better you caught me than someone else, or worse, Angelica,” she scowled at the mention of that woman’s name.

  Cole smiled, “She’s so fake, not like you, even if you hide behind a glamor, you’re more real than her with or without it,” he said, his smile growing wider.

  “You’re not going to tell anyone, are you?” Tav smiled, knowing she could trust this great hero before her.

  “Can’t go telling everyone that the seventh son of a seventh son fancies a demon, what would people think?” Cole smiled, feeling a bit of tension from this whole experience distilled.

  “Thank you,” Tav wrapped her arms around Cole and pulled him into a hug. Not knowing what to do, Cole wrapped his arms around the lady and spoke into her ear, “Your secret is safe with me.”