So far everything has gone pretty well. I’d met Vikki at a conference at the university, she was closer to my age than a lot of the college age students-me being just out of the Army, and she’d spent time doing archaeological digs in Greece.

We got along well with some of the projects, and she suggested we get together after the semester ended for drinks. We hit it off fairly well, and after the first ‘date’ we scheduled a real one. It had gone pretty good so far, and we were tentatively probing when we could squeeze in a third date.

I was feeling pretty good as I went to wash my hands. Pizza is tasty but messy. I was just about to head back to the table when I smelled brimstone. The room seemed to spin and get smaller-no something much bigger was attempting to squeeze into the mens room. I turned around, staring at the chest of a hulking demon, arms like tree trunks, and eyes blazing.

“Just what are your intentions with MY daughter?!” he yelled, loud enough that I knew others outside the restroom had heard it. I was generally an intelligent dude, but at times, wasn’t smart. Plus I made this same mistake before.

“What the hell dude?” I yelled back at him, the demon blinking in surprise. “Look, she’s a lovely lady, but one, my intentions are totally honorable, and two, if you’re looking to ruin your relationship with your daughter you’re doing a bang up job of it!”

“What in the infernal do you mean-”

I held up my hands placatingly “look, I know you care about her-but I made the same mistake with my sister, and someone dating her. It took her almost five years to talk to me again, now how pissed is she going to be if she hears you yelling in here?”

The demon frowned.. “A lot. Look-”

“It’s only our second date. She’s got an early class tomorrow, I was going to drop her off at home soon. If you want to grill me without her finding out, I can meet you later.”

That was probably even dumber than telling him off. But I recognized the concerned look on his face. He crossed his arms, “the address is on your phone-be there no later than an hour after dropping her off.” with that he vanished with another stink of brimstone.

Crap. Fortunately this was one of the fancy Italian places that had lots of scent soaps..though it took me another five minutes to get enough of it on me. Still she kind of gave me the side eye as I came out. “Anything wrong?”

“Nah” I said, truthfully enough. Either it wasn’t gonna be wrong, or it wasn’t gonna matter afterwards.

45 minutes later she was home and I was pulling up to a Denny's about 20 miles outside the city on the interstate. The town Didn’t have a name, and oddly enough for a place like this, there was quite an assortment of vehicles outside. Harleys, sportbikes, an old BMW with a sidecar, Fords, Toyotas, even a horse and buggy and a 39 Packard. My Civic didn’t look too out of place, though

I figured it was the right place when I noticed the hostess working the register was slightly transparent, and dressed in a uniform that looked like it was from the early 70s. The decor matched at least, and Vikki’s father was easy to spot, looking comically large sitting in a booth at the end, the coffee mug looking like a kids cup. His horns almost hit the cheap chrome light fixture over the table

He looked up as I approached. “Wasn’t sure you were gonna show.”

“I’m a man of my word” I replied, taking the seat across from him.

“That's good, I hate having to chase down mortals.” he replied with a very sharp toothed grin. The phantom waitress drifted over, and I ordered coffee and a Superbird. She drifted off towards the kitchen ,and I waited for my coffee. It was a long day after all.

“So,” he finally said “you were right-if she kenned me there, she’d probably have thrown me through the wall.” he took a sip of coffee and chuckled “just like her mother.”

I simply nodded, as the waitress brought my own mug. “Like I said, I made that mistake myself. Sometimes you can’t save someone from bad choices. At least my sister realized hers was a bad choice after a few years.”

The Demon smirked “Before or after she forgave you?”

“Before, obviously. Some things mere males were not meant to poke their noses into.” I replied.

He laughed, his booming voice rattling the pans back in the kitchen, and causing some of the other diners to glance up at us. Our food came and we came to an understanding while we ate. I could date Vikki, but if I cheated on her, my soul would blister for a thousand lifetimes. Good thing I'm not a cheating type. We parted ways, and he paid for my meal, before climbing into the Packard and driving off.

I drove home in silence, pondering. Yeah, she was a literal half demon..but she did say her family was complicated. I guess we’ll hit a movie or something this weekend and see how it goes.