I couldn't move.

    He was right there, all smug and grinning ear to ear. I could feel my heart hammering against my chest, or it was the music, I couldn't tell.

   It was like my eyes were glued to his. I couldn't look away. I didn't even register Soleil grabbing my arm and pulling me away back into the crowded space of the club. I could still feel his brown eyes trailing our frames as we dissappeared from his view, and I couldn't help the goosebumps from forming on my skin.

    "Okay, let me get this straight." Soleil started her speech as we stopped by a corner where nobody really went as it was far away from the fun. "That guy-- demon, is who you saw?"

    I barely heard what she said as I still continued to stare in the direction where they were sat. Soleil's voice turned into some unintelligible buzzing in my ears as the music still thumped around us, and my blood pulsed in my ears.

    Soleil snapped her fingers in my face, and that was the moment I managed to snap out of my daze.

    "Sorry, what did you say?" I asked as I brushed some of my red hair from my face.

    The horned girl sighed and placed one of her hands on my shoulder before pointing over in their direction and started speaking in an over exaggerated voice. "That demon is the one you saw? The one in the middle?"

    "Why are you talking like that?" I narrowed my eyes at her.

    "Because you weren't listening to me!" Soleil exclaimed, throwing her arms in the air in frustration. "Snap out of your little daydream. Those guys are demons."

    Vivienne, who hasn't spoken yet, was leaning against the wall whilst twirling a blonde strand of hair between her fingers. "And they are gorgeous."

    Soleil and I both turned towards her slowly and tilted our heads simultaneously. It was the typical look of "are you serious?" without actually saying it out loud. The blonde girl just shrugged in reply as her tail flicked back and forth to the rhythm.

    At least one of us was enjoying themselves.

    "What? It's the truth!" Vivienne stated as she pushed away from the wall and came to stand between us and threw her hands around both of our shoulders.

     She shuffled us around, so we were facing the bar. From the distance, we could see the demon group stand up and make they were towards it and sit down beside each other one by one, as if it was an organised pattern.

     Even now, I couldn't help but focus on the same boy. He carried himself with such confidence, and I couldn't deny that he was attractive. Okay, very attractive. His dark curly hair, almost black eyes, and that stupid smirk that seemed like it was permanently on his face. The one thing that seemed out of place was the fresh scar along his nose, still red with blood. The scar that I gave him only a few hours ago.

    But nothing changes the fact that he attacked me and that he is a demon. What happens to demons? The Fallen kill them, and that's what we will do.

    If only we weren't in this damned club.

    "Fuck them, I wanted a drink and now they are there." Soleil grumbled in annoyance.

    Soleil and I continued to glare in their direction, though I think she was focusing on all of them whilst I was staring at one person.

    Vivienne looked between us with a raised eyebrow and grinned as she stepped forward. "Who are they to stop us?"
 
    "I beg your pardon?" I replied back instantly, already understanding what she was about to suggest.

    Soleil was already shaking her head, also catching on.

    "This is the only place where no blood needs to be shed! Just ignore them for now, we came here to enjoy ourselves--" Vivienne motioned to the bar but the black haired girl cut her off mid-speech.

    "I will not sit next to a group of demons."

    The blonde gave a not-so-subtle side glance at Soleil before smiling again. "As I was saying, let's just forget they are even there, yeah? Have a drink or two and keep the urge to murder at a minimum, please."

    Before either of us could protest, Vivienne was already pulling us along back through the middle of the dance floor to the massive bar area. I tried to dig the heels of my shoes into the ground but it didn't stop the blonde from easily dragging me behind her.

    As we neared the bar I could already see the group of demons sitting there, chatting. The feeling of the cold blades of my knives strapped to my thigh started to feel even more obvious as I was just itching to use them. How beautiful would they be stained with a demons blood.

    Vivienne strutted up to the three chairs that were left open and took a seat in the middle one. Soleil, taking the opportunity took the one that was furthest away from the demons and gave me a sorrowful look. My eyes widened as I noticed who the last available spot was beside.

    "Fuck you, Soleil!" I hissed towards her as I refused to sit down.

    As if on cue, the demon with the pink hair nudged the girl with wings, who then nudged the boy with black hair, who then nudged the demon's shoulder who was my main focus.

    "Look who decided to join us!" The brown haired girl with the wings announced our arrival with a grin showing off her sharp teeth. "Angels!"

    Soleil and I immediately crossed our arms defensively but Vivienne didn't really care as she ordered us drinks. I was still stood behind my friends, protesting against where my seat was situated.

    The demon who attacked me before turned towards us with a smug smirk as his eyes lit up in amusement. "Wow, how nice it is to see you!"

    "Couldn't say the same." Soleil retorted without missing a beat.

    "Ah, Snippy." He greeted my black haired friend with a nickname that made Soleil's eyes narrow even more.

    Vivienne, who was still barely paying attention, took the three drinks from the bartender with a perfect smile. She then proceeded to place them in front of us.

    "Blondie." The boy continued.

    I still continued to just stand there, my hands twitching at my sides as I desperately wanted to just end him right here. My green eyes were still glaring straight at him but when his brown eyes finally turned to me, my breath hitched.

    The demon tilted his head as his smirk returned even bigger than before as he placed his chin in his palm. "And the black sheep."

    "What did you just call me?" My voice came out a bit quiter than I imagined.

    "Is that not what you are?" He asked with a mocking frown. "The black sheep of the Fallen? No angelic features, no connection to the angels, only adopted by some. How tragic! You don't even have demonic features, you couldn't even be one of us."

    My fingers immediately curled around one of my daggers and within a moment the blade was against his neck.

    I saw the other demons also jump at the sudden action and all of them were ready to pounce if it came to a fight. Behind me Soleil and Vivienne also placed their hands on their own weapons. I wasn't planning to fight him, I only wanted this to serve as a warning.

    His face was so close to mine now that I could even count how many faded scars he had. The demon didn't even flinch when he noticed the blade against his throat, he only glanced at it once before locking his gaze with mine.

    "What are you gonna do, angel?" He whispered and I could see the sharp fangs that decorated his mouth, that annoying grin still on his face. "Kill me?"

    My grip tightened against the dagger as I pressed it further against his skin. "You don't get to call me names."

    "You can't fight me in this place, it's forbidden." His voice was like silk as he breathed out a chuckle. "Want to take this outside?"

    "You are not worth a fight." I spat and took my knife from his neck but still kept it pointed at him.

    The demon raised his eyebrows in amusement before lowering his voice so only I could hear. "You know, Lucifer told me a lot about you... black sheep."

    I got a bit confused on how the Lord of Demons knew about me, but at the moment I was too blinded by hatred to focus on that. "If you ever call me that again, I will come for you."

    He leaned even closer, his eyes twinkling with mischief. "Can't wait!"

    I continued to glare at him as I tucked away my dagger into its hidden spot once again. The demon leaned back in his chair and took a sip from his drink, his eyes never leaving mine. The others also settled down around us but still kept a weary eye on each other.

    Finally, I decided to sit down in the chair which happened to be beside the exact same demon who seemed to be my arch nemesis.

    "I knew this was a bad idea." Soleil mumbled to the two of us as she downed her entire drink in one go.

    "Aw, are we not good enough company for you?" The girl with the shaggy brown hair frowned.

    Soleil narrowed her eyes in the winged demons direction and leaned forward to get a better look at her.

    "As a matter of fact no."

    "Funnily enough, I think the same." The demon replied with a sly grin.

    The black haired angel crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow. "Then why are we even chit-chatting?"

    "I like getting under an angels skin." The winged girl answered Soleil's question.

    "And I like slicing a demons throat."

    "What's stopping you?"

    "Do you want me to slit your throat? Because believe me, I will do it with pleasure."

    "How intimate."

    Everyone's eyes flicked back and forth at the exchange and it was probably the only moment when both us angels and the demons were both in stunned silence.

    Vivienne and I's jaws were hanging open as none of the two seemed to be backing down. As I glanced to my right I noticed the three demon boys also looking between each other in confusion.

    "Is Roxanne...flirting?" The pink haired demon asked no one in particular.

    The boy with the longer black hair nodded slowly. "With an angel?"

    They both stared at each other for a long moment before I watched the one with the black hair turn to face us, but his eyed focused on the blonde girl beside me.

    Vivienne, who was just enjoying the show, looked over to him as if she sensed a pair of eyes on her. The pink haired demon looked over to where his friend was looking and noticed the tailed angel was the target.

    "Not you too, Minjun!" He whisper shouted but the other didn't seem to care.

    The demon, who I now knew was called Minjun, winked in Vivienne's direction. "Hey!"

    Vivienne stayed silent as her eyes flickered over him, once then twice, before frowning and settling on a one worded answer.

    "No."

    I couldn't help but snort at the wounded look on his face at my friends answer as she quickly shut his advances down.

    The boy beside me, who's name I still didn't know, looked extremely annoyed as he pinched the bridge of his nose. He glared at the two boys by his side who immediately shut up and took a sip of their drink instead.

    "Roxanne..." His voice slipped out as a warning.

    The winged girl didn't seem to hear as she and Soleil were still continuing their banter.

    "Roxanne!" The demon boy yelled, which finally managed to end the insult match between the two girls. "Enough."

    Said girl glared at him before giving a last cheeky grin to Soleil who seemed like she was about to jump across the table to murder her.

    Honestly I have no idea what they were even talking about, I stopped listening a while ago.

    "You two better hold me back before I drag her outside and murder her." Soleil muttered as she picked at her horns.

    Vivienne looked at her and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Now I see why you two were so against the idea of coming over here."

    I turned to her with a strained smile. "Vivi... it took you long enough. Angels and demons don't mix."

     The blonde girl nodded in agreement and slapped Soleil's hand away from her weapon as she noticed the horned girl reach for it.

    "We have the natural urge to kill each other." Soleil stated and tried to grab her weapon again but was once again slapped on the hand.

    Suddenly the three of us snapped our heads over to the demons direction as they hissed in pain simultaneously. The demon beside me glanced down at his wrist and nodded to the others as they all began to stand up. Soleil, Vivienne and I also stood, just in case, who knows what they were playing at.

    I did notice a faint glowing mark under the sleeves of his jacket. I will need to ask one of the Elders about it later.

    "Well, it seems our meeting has to come to an end." He spoke as he eyed each of us angels.

    My green eyes narrowed on his figure as the others were already halfway out of the club. "I'm so sad, I could cry."

    He gave me another one of his crooked grins as she stepped closer to me. His dark gaze shifted to the horns I style my hair into everyday and scoffed, but not before running a finger across one of them. I immediately stepped back and the demon raised his arms in surrender.

    "Just admiring the little horns! Very cute." The boy complimented but it felt more like an insult to me. "What's the inspiration behind them?"

    "None of your business." I snapped back.

    "Just being curious!" He said and then bowed as a dramatic exit. "Until we meet again, angel."

    With that he also dissappeared into the crowd alongside his group. I just stood there absolutely seething and about to go after them and maybe murder one or two. Soleil seemed to have the same idea as me as she was about to go after them when Vivienne pulled her back.

    The blonde girl shook her head, her tail also making the same motion. "They are already gone, Sol."

    "I don't care, I'll hunt them down one by one. Especially that girl. Her stupid flappy wings, ugh!" The horned girl complained in frustration but she also knew that they would be gone by the time we got outside.

    My eyes stayed locked on the exit where they dissappeared from. My hands clenched beside my figure and I felt the rage bubbling inside of me.

    Him and his insults. His stupid and gorgeous face. No, just stupid face. And that irritating grin. I hate him.

    Despise him even.

    How dare he even call me such names, who does he think he is? He doesn't even know me.

    A part of me however knew that he was right. I was the black sheep. I never fitted into the Fallen and I wouldn't even fit into the realm of the demons. I was just the random girl who was adopted by some real angels and raised like one of them but it wouldn't change the fact that I wasn't one of them.

    "Annie?" Vivienne's voice snapped me out of my daze.

    I turned around to face them and I could see the sudden concern etched across both of their faces. "Huh?"

    "Are you okay?" Soleil asked her eyes full of worry at my sudden silence. "Don't listen to him, he's a demon. Insultingus is what they do best."

    "I'm fine. Really." I answered and placed a smile on my face to reassure them, but it never really reached my eyes.

    Vivienne stepped forward and I could see the frown on her face getting bigger. "I'm sorry, this was a bad idea."

    Soleil and I both turned to the blonde in shock. Vivienne never really admitted that she was wrong so this was quite the surprise.

    "It's okay, Vivi, you just wanted us to have a fun night." I tried to console her but she still seemed down.

    Her tail flicked back and forth, but slowly now as if it was heavy and just dragging about, as she replied. "I know but I didn't think they would be here. And then you all started fighting--"

    "Hey, what about we go back to our rooms and draw their faces on paper, then throw knives at them." Soleil interrupted her moping with the best idea I have ever heard.

    "Immediately yes." I agreed.

    Viviennes eyes lit up and grabbed our hands excitedly. "Can we also--"

    "No offense, Vivi, but I think you should chill with your ideas tonight." Soleil joked as she began to pull us out towards the exit.

    Viviennes laugh echoed through the building which was still wide awake with dancing humans and supernatural beings like us.

    "You are probably right."

.·:*¨ ✘ 🖇 ✘ ¨*:·.

    The three of us ended up going through with Soleil's idea. We drew some horrible drawings of the demon group and managed to impale them multiple times with knives and daggers so many times that we didn't even recognise them.

    It was a very good therapeutic activity after the encounter at the club and the one I had before, the one I still didn't understand.

    I awoke to the sounds of other dorm doors slamming open then shut from outside the hallway. It was a bit annoying that our dorms were in crypts as the doors were very heavy and made loads of noise. The sounds just made my headache become even worse.

    As I glanced around I saw Soleil and Vivienne both still asleep. They decided to have a sleepover in my room after our late night activities and were too lazy to go back to their own rooms.

    My feet, one in a sock as the other pair was nowhere to be found, hit the cold ground as I snuck over to my wardrobe to get ready for the day. I tried my best to be as quiet as possible and to not wake them up since, opposite to them, I am an early riser and would never hear the end of it if I woke them up just now.

    Not bothering to be fashionable today, I settled easily on a black zip up hoodie and some loose jeans. When I moved over to the mirror is when I saw the work cut out for me. My hair was a genuine mess.

    I tugged and pulled at my wild red hair that was not even trying to be tamed before finally managing to curl my hair into the two horns atop of my head.

    I don't even know why I bothered sometimes.

    Taking one last glance at the two sleeping figures, in poses that did not look comfortable, I slipped through the door and started making my way towards the Academy itself. It wasn't far away, something that I was often thankful for.

    My headache was getting worse by the second and it even made me groan from the pain.

    Okay, this was not normal. Maybe I just had too much to drink or the demons got on my nerves so much that I suffered permanent brain damage.

    Definitely the latter.

    I walked past the many hallways of the dormitories before ending up in the large circular staircase leading up to the upper levels of the Academy. I had to take a big breath of air before starting to climb the annoyingly long stairs that often made everyone dizzy.

    The walls soon turned from stone to marble then to wood as I finally made it to the higher levels. Unlike other times when I took a right towards the classrooms or training rooms, this time I took a left. Towards the place only the Elders were allowed to or those who had their permission.

    I knocked on the door of the office of one of the Elders and waited for a sign of acknowledgement of my arrival.

    "Come in." The voice of Mavros, one of out teachers and an Elder, sounded muffled from the other side.

    With that I entered and closed the door after me.

    Mavros' office was quite spacious and was filled with gothic details and architecture. He had his own little library with thousands of books on either side and books scattered everywhere you looked. His desk stood in the middle of the room and a huge stained glass window was the only source of light which often cast different colours around the office.

    My teacher looked up from the book he was focused on and motioned me forward. "Ah, Annika. I haven't heard from you in a while. How are you feeling...after what happened yesterday in class."

    "Still a bit confused, do you know what it could've been?" I asked, hoping for an answer but felt dissapointed as I saw him shake his head.

    Mavros closed the book and pushed it aside as I sat down in the chair across from him. "Not yet, I fear. The other Elders are also looking into it but so far I haven't found anything."

    I sighed as I began picking at my nails. I couldn't deny the fact that I was frustrated that the Elders haven't even found an answer to it yet and how a demon managed to get in my head. An angels head.

    "Believe me, as soon as anyone of us finds something, you will be the first to know." He said, feeling my frustration. "We are just as confused as you are."

    I nodded along but hissed in pain as the sudden movement made my head hurt suddenly. It was as if someone stabbed a knife in my scalp and through my skull.

    "What about the other thing?" My voice grew a bit more hushed, as if someone could be listening. "Have you found answers for that?"

    Mavros' expression grew sour as a frown took over his face. "No, but I am trying. Are they getting worse?"

    Another sharp pain.

    "Yes, much worse."

    The black haired Elder hummed in reply and stood up to walk over to the window from where he looked out from. I have been here so often by now that I began to notice that he only does that when he is in deep thought.

    "Keep it hidden, I'll try to find something that can help as soon as possible." Mavros stated after a long pause of silence. 

    My green eyes fluttered closed for a moment before I opened them again. "Please, find some answers soon. I can't keep living like this."

    Mavros looked at me in sorrow as he began looking for a book on his shelf, his fingers gracing the spine of each book. "You know I will but I don't know how long it will take. However, until then, you must..."

    "Keep it hidden."