Mabel ________________________________________ After getting the chefs and staff into shape Mabel stood at parade rest at the edge of the kitchen, taking a moment to reflect on current affairs. She had initially taken this job three years ago to take advantage of a rare opportunity, working at a place that caters primarily to demons. The owners, a sweet couple of ghoul class demons, had been only to happy to hire a fellow demon. Since demons were such a small and spread out group it had been very hard for them to hire any demons, much less one that was actually qualified to work in a kitchen. The human employees were very good at keeping silent about things, part of their briefing was that they did not ask questions of their patrons. She couldn't help but sigh as she thought about three of her questionable employees. Ashburn, a perfect waiter by nature, had been an easy hire. His customers always left good reviews and even a few sensed what she did, that we was more than human. Despite his attempts to hide his failing health her Mabel's demon instincts could sense the soul inside of him. It was hard for her to stay mad at him, and she was honestly worried for his health, as well as the others. Eric, another recent hire, was a more questionable hire. She had been concerned about his ability to wait tables, being as reserved as he was. Much less the fact that they had many clients that looked very frightening, wearing large cloaks and other articles to hide their forms. But she had been pleasantly surprised at the boy's adaptations thus far. Eager to please he had even more happy customers than those of the chatterbox Ashburn. Yet another sigh escaped her lips as she thought of the last hire, and one that frankly wouldn't have been around this long if it weren't for her suspicions, Zack. The boy was a hard worker, she had to give him that. The kid seemed to eat dishes and spit them out clean, but even still he was not the best for customer service. Reserved to the point of hostility to others he seemed to be hell bent on ignoring the world outside of his sink. This was part of the reason she had sent him to the floor, to get him to open himself up a little. He had not shown any indications of poor health, unlike the Ashburn and Eric, but she knew her senses told her he was also a demon. She was worried about scaring him off, and as such had been a little nicer to him than others. Though Mabel would never admit it she was a loss as to what she should do about the boys. Demon culture had very few rules, but one of the big ones was that the father of a demon child was obligated to help them transition. It was a sacred rite, and something held dear. Most demon fathers were actively engaged in their child's life as they grew up, with or without the human mother's involvement. It was uncommon for a father (or grandfather) to simply abandon their own children (grandchildren), especially since their rarity made them so prized. Since demon females were infertile the men would have to mate with humans females to procreate, but even then it could take years for a child to actually form. Many men spent centuries trying with different women before a child was actually conceived. When one was born, especially a male, it was cause for great joy in the family. Mabel had no idea why these boys had not been contacted yet and it worried her greatly, especially the oldest of them (Ashburn). She had no friends to confide with and she was worried that if she spread the word many fakes hoping to "adopt" them would show up, and she had no way to test who was the real father or grandfather. But time was clearly not on her side, some demons could make it to middle aged without a ceremony but it was obvious they were not part of this group. It was not unheard of for non-family to do the ceremony and guide a demon child into the demon world, but those were in cases where the father/grandfather had died or, rarely, disowned the child. And even then it was almost always a single child, not a group of three. And NEVER had it been someone from a different class of demon. "This whole situation is just f*cked up" she muttered to herself angrily