The rest of their time at Kalas Hem was unexpectedly pleasant after all the insanity before.  Evabelle hung around with Aza.  CJ had gone back to Patrick to see some of his experiments.  So the girls wandered through the party rooms without him. 

Aza talked to just about everyone.  She chatted with the pixies, which got excited and began telling them about all the sorts of technology they were creating.  But they said it would be several decades before they could release them to the humans. 

Aza challenged the satyrs to a game of darts, and flattened them.  They called her to a rematch, but Aza just laughed and took their bag of gold she had managed to weasel out of them if she won. 

Then the two of them went out where the pool was, that was now teeming with life.  Evabelle stared at the mermaids.  Their scales flickered with an inner glow, and their skin was eerily translucent.  It wasn't quite how Evabelle pictured them, but they were still strangely beautiful.

Shaundee had mentioned the sirens, and now Evabelle could hear their songs.  They were oddly alluring, but they really only seemed to affect men, mostly.  Unlike the mermaids, the sirens remained underwater, until a mesmerized creature got too close.   When that happened, a hand would shoot from the water and snatch the poor creature and drag him down.  That was the mermaids queue to rescue him.    Apparently Shaundee had it all figured out.  Sirens were minor demon borns and mermaids were their opposite.  To insure the sirens remained happy she would allow creatures to be taken, but would never allow them to be actually drowned, so the mermaids were on lifeguard duty as well as vacation, it seemed.

It all appeared fine, but the thought of Night children here, made Evabelle nervous.  The thought of the cloaked stranger popped into her head. Not all of us.  He had said.

Aza on the other hand didn't seem perturbed at all.  In fact she decided to turn it into a game.  She would pretend to be enchanted by the siren's song and walk zombie-like toward the pool, but right as the hand would burst from the water, Evabelle's friend would dance away with that grin on her face.  She continued this, ignoring Evabelle's warnings, until the siren's got fed up with her taunting, ganged up on her, and managed to catch Aza.  Evabelle gasped as she watched her friend being dragged under, but then one of the mermaids, who had been watching, rolled her eyes as if she had been anticipating it and dove under.  She popped back up a moment later with a laughing Aza, and placed her back on the pavement.

"That was awesome!"  Aza cheered.

Aza's rescuer shook her head.  "Now you've had your fun, so stop pestering them."

The girls returned inside.  "I thought all the opposites hated each other."  Aza commented, wringing out her hair.  Evabelle noted her friend check to make sure the charm was still there.  "I mean those guys seem to have a more mutual relationship than the others."

Evabelle thought a moment.  "Well maybe the hatred sort of lessens as it goes down the line."

Once they were indoors again, they met up with CJ, and the three of them headed to the main party room.  Aza decided to brave one of the more questionable drinks at the bar.  CJ and Evabelle watched in horror as she drank the glowing, neon blue liquid.  She guzzled it down and then ordered two more. 

For a moment, Evabelle almost felt like she was back at home with all the laughing and Aza getting into trouble, except for the fact that they were surrounded by all these creatures that weren't supposed to exist.  It felt the closest to normal that she could get, all things considered.  She wasn't worrying about saving anyone, just having fun with her friends.

However, all good things must come to an end. 

Lucis, wearing his jacket, waved at them from across the crowd, beckoning them over.

"It looks like it's time to go."  CJ commented.

"Awww," Aza moaned.  "This place rocks.  Do we really have to leave?"

"You don't have to."  Said a voice that made all three of them spin around.

Del was leaning against the counter, a clear bubbly liquid in his hand.  "In fact I think we'd all prefer it if you stayed here."

Aza's eyes narrowed. "Is that so, you..."  Aza stopped and bit her lip, giving Del a strange look. 

Del quirked his mouth up into a cruel grin.  "Do you finally see what a problem you are?"

Slowly, Aza's fingers curled into fists.  "How could I have ever thought that you could be anything more than the monster that you are."  

Del's eyes darkened and his smile fell.  "I made the suggestion, but perhaps I'll insure that you never get the chance to come with us ever again, you brat."

Aza shook her head.  "You'd love that wouldn't you?  You just decided to hate me from the moment we met."

Del stared at her.  "I didn't decide to hate you flat out.  You put yourself in that position with your very first words to me, twerp.  'You're a jerk' if I remember correctly."

Evabelle blinked at her friend.  "Seriously that's what you said to him?"

Aza ignored her.  Her face was all red as she glared at the dark angel.  "And you have yet to prove me wrong."

Del sipped a bit more of his drink.  "Women don't like to be proven wrong.  I was simply ensuring that your immense amount of pride stayed intact, blondey."

In one movement, Aza reached across and hit the bottom of Del's glass, so that its contents sloshed all down his front.  He snatched her wrist and pulled her close, eyes flashing.  "You call me a jerk when you're the one who—"

"That's enough."  Lucis stepped up and pulled them apart.  "We're going back to Calandra's."  The two wrestled against Lucis to get at each other again, but he wouldn't have it.  He glanced up at CJ and Evabelle.  "Come on, let's go."  Then he led his way through the crowd between Aza and Del, blocking one another from biting the other's head off.

They returned to the large black star in the middle of the storage room.  The portals were apparently back on.  They all waved goodbye to Shaundee and Patrick as Calandra chanted her spell and Evabelle felt rather light for a moment before seeing the dark interior of the mage's home. 

It looked as though it had never been broken into.  All the broken glass was gone and the curtains were open to reveal a storm raging outside.  Rain battered against the roof and echoed in the large building.  Evabelle shivered.  It was colder here than at Kalas Hem.

"Well?  I'm the one who what?"  Aza suddenly shouted.

Evabelle turned to see her still glaring at Del.

"You never finished your sentence back there."  Aza marched toward him.  "You said I called you a jerk when I'm the one that what exactly.  Come on, tough guy, I wanna hear it."

"Get out of my face, you rotten little rat."  Del shoved away from the rest of them and began to climb the stairs.  "I'm through with you."

"Well I'm not through with you!"  Aza stomped up after him.

The rest of the group glanced at each other.  Tru was still unconscious.  According to Calandra, she should wake up soon.  Faux had woken long before they had left.  He now gave a low whistle.  "A little more angry than usual, it seems."  He said.  "What's got them all tied up?"

Evabelle sighed.  "I feel like this is all Aza's fault.  By the sounds of it, their whole rocky relationship was because she more or less walked up to him and called him out."

Faux patted her shoulder.  "Well, she's not entirely wrong.  Del can be rather nasty at times."  He glanced back at Lucis, who was staring after the two.  "No offense."

Lucis pulled a face.  "I just hope they don't catch a cold."

"A cold?"  Evabelle asked.

"It looks like they went up to the roof."  Calandra said, as she kept a sleeping Tru suspended on a sheet in front of her.  "You can go and try to reason with them, but we're talking about two very unreasonable people, so good luck."  Then she began to take Tru upstairs to her bedroom.

The rest of them all separated as well off to do whatever they did, most heading for their own beds.  Lucis came up to Evabelle.  "Are you worried?"  He asked. 

Evabelle sighed.  "Well, you know, they're just being Del and Aza."

AZA

Aza was totally done with Del.  She was completely done with taking crap from him.  She had known he was a jerk from the moment they had met and he had spent the rest of that time proving her right.  Everything he said made her ears roar.  Everything he did, made her want to punch him...well except for...  Aza shook her head.  Never mind that!

            He led them to at door with a staircase leading to the roof, where he tore off his sweatshirt and flung it into the winds, letting his wings be battered by the relentless storm.  It was so loud with the rain beating down on them and air whipping their faces that Aza had to scream at him, which she had felt like doing anyway. 

            "You know what you are?"  She shrieked.  "You're a bully!  You just love to pray on the weak!  You exploit them and think that you're worth more than they are!"

            Del clenched his fists and whirled.  Lightning flashed behind him, lighting up his pale murderous face.  "You don't know what a bully is!  You don't know what you're—"

            "Don't tell me what I don't know!"  Aza cut him off.  "I know a bully when I see one!"

            "Are you sure you're not the bully just provoking everyone else?"  Del gritted his teeth.  "Why did you decide to target me?  That's what I want to know!  Why did you decide to instantly attack me?  Is that what you do?  Find someone and do whatever you can to get on their nerves?"

            "I saw the way you acted!  I recognized it from monsters I've known in my past!  You were the same!"

            Del shook his head and strode straight at her.  "Trust me; I'm like nobody you've ever met."  He said as he neared her. 

            "Well why do you hate me?"  Aza asked again, still shaking.  "I mean besides me calling you a jerk.  What is it that makes you look at me like you'd just love to throw me out?"

            Del was inches from her.  The lightning and thunder made Aza's heart race, as she never moved her gaze away from his daunting eyes.  "You're completely and utterly insane."  He said just loud enough to be heard.  "You jump off platforms, you fight things more than half your size, and you know that you could never beat.  It's like you're just trying to die."

            Aza threw back her head and laughed.  "Oh, like you care."

            "You think I don't care?"  Del's voice began to rise again.

"No!"  Aza whipped her hair out of her face.  "You don't care about anyone!  You only care about yourself!  And least of all, me!  You hate me! You—"

With no warning, Del's strong hands wrapped around her arms just below her shoulders; he bent down and pulled her in where their lips met. 

For a moment Aza stood there in shock. In one moment her brain swam in nothing but tumultuous rage, blasphemous words, and agonized fury, to be completely wiped away into a sense of utter nothing.  It was a blank relief from chaos, but then her mind blossomed into true madness for it was then that she found her eyes fluttering shut and accepting the warm mouth against her own. Slowly, she began to trace the shape of his lips with hers as she returned his kiss.  Aza felt Del's sharp intake of breath as one of his hands slid to herback as to press her closer to him, while the other moved up to the back ofher neck. It was cold and wet, yet it spread an electrical static that dancedalong Aza's bare skin.  Her own hands traveled up the front of his shirt that clung to his lithe body, where she grabbed handfuls of the sopping material.  She could feel the muscle under the shirt and beyond that, she felt his heart pounding like the booming thunder that surrounded them. His lips pushed firmer, more wildly against hers. Aza gasped and arched against his body thatmoved in around her, sopping black feathers encircling her, drowning her as shereturned the exuberant yet almost painful pressure.   

Around them the lighting continued to flash.  The rain continued to pour down on the unlikely pair.  It was strange.  Never would Aza have thought that she would kiss Del, and she most certainly did not believe she would enjoy it, but in one way or another it felt right, it felt more right than anything that had happened thus far.  Somewhere deep inside her a voice was crying out in triumph.  Finally! As if she had been waiting for it.

Aza's arms somehow found themselves wrapping around the dark angel's neck as his hands slid around her waist, pressing her closer, harder until Aza's feet didn't even touch the ground anymore.  His mouth was fast and hot, a fire that bled into her own, scorching out the rain.  Nothing mattered, every part of Aza was enveloped in that one moment.  Icy wind, pelting rain, blasting thunder, and flashing lightning could not dampen the blazing inferno that had lit the two bodies, holding to the other.  Their surroundings were nothing.  Nothing could stop this.  Nothing...

Somehow, through the relentless storm, something soft reached Aza's ears.  It was familiar, a small gasp, a shocked inhale of breath, though soft and almost impossible to hear through the unyielding rain and constant nearly deafening thunder, Aza quickly recognized it, and suddenly... Aza's eyes flashed open.  It was as though she had been hit over the head as reason returned to her.  She yanked her arms back, pressed her palms flat against Del's chest, and shoved him away from her.  He staggered away, shaking his head as though dizzy.  When he looked up his mouth was open in plain shock.

            Aza whirled to see Evabelle standing in the doorway.  Her eyes were wide, her mouth agape.  Evabelle stumbled back a few steps from the two of them.  Aza opened her mouth to stop her friend, but Evabelle shook her head, her eyes flashed a brief sense of pain before she spun around, and rushed back down the stairs, before Aza could get a sound out.

            "Evabelle!"  She finally cried, but she knew Evabelle could not hear her.  Aza's heart pounded.  She clenched her fists feeling her anger return to her along with a painful swirl of guilt wrenching at her heart.  She rotated back to Del who looked absolutely horrified by what had just happened.  His violet eyes were wide, his dark hair was plastered to his face as the rain streaked down his pale features, his mouth was still parted the way it had been when Aza had pushed him away.  "You!"  Aza screeched.  "What were you thinking?  Why did you kiss me?"  Aza could feel herself trembling.  Her heart pounded so hard in her chest that it actually hurt.

            Del shook himself, trying to return to his usual demeanor, but he still looked shaken.  "What about you?  You kissed me back!"  He bellowed in return.  Another flash of lightning blazed to life, lighting up Del's face once more, reflecting something that Aza had never seen in him.  He appeared paler than usual.  He looked almost ill.  

            "I... you... just."  Aza stuttered, completely flustered as she tried to bring up some retort to throw back, but with her head spinning she couldn't think of one.   Instead she merely growled in frustration and wheeled away to chase after her friend.

            Aza floundered down the steps, nearly slipping as she sloshed her way to the bottom.  She had to get to Evabelle, she had to explain.  How Aza was going to do that, she wasn't so sure.  All she knew was that she had betrayed her friend.  She felt absolutely sick to her stomach for the fact that she had kissed someone her friend liked.  It had to be against some kind of best friend code.  But that wasn't the worst of it.  True, she had pushed Del away, but she hadn't wanted to.  Aza's lips still tingled where his mouth had been.  The worst part was that she wished Evabelle hadn't come, she had wished to continue to hurt her friend, and that in itself was unforgivable.   

EVABELLE

Evabelle felt completely and utterly numb.  Somehow she went from the roof to her bedroom, and there hadn't seemed to be anything in between.  Did she just run here?  She couldn't remember.  All she saw was, Del, his arms around her best friend, and Aza clinging to him as though, he was her everything. 

            Evabelle fell back onto the sheets of the bed and stared at the ceiling.  Why was she upset?  Del and she had never been anything.  Yes, Evabelle liked him, but that was all.  He had never given any inclination that he returned her affection.  But why Aza?  They hated each other, at least that's the way it had seemed.  Suddenly the conversation at the pool came to mind.  "Are they..." Well apparently they were.

Evabelle had just expected to go up there and tell them to come inside to stop them from catching a cold.  She had gone up there to break up their constant argument, to try and calm them down, but no.  It went absolutely nothing like she had predicted.  

            Just outside Evabelle's door, she heard something slide to a stop along with heavy breathing and a bit of coughing.  Evabelle closed her eyes as the door slowly creaked open.  There was a brief silence then, "Evabelle?" 

            Evabelle didn't respond.  She heard Aza inch her way into the room.  She could hear the sound of dripping water as it slid off her friend onto the wood floor.  Aza stopped and Evabelle opened her eyes and slowly sat up.  She looked at her friend standing there.  Aza was watching her expectantly.  She was biting her lip and her hands were clasped in front of her.  She looked like a small child who had just been caught doing something she knew she shouldn't have been.  It looked as though she had come to beg forgiveness of Evabelle.  And in that instant, Evabelle felt the sudden urge to cry, but she stopped herself.

            "Evabelle," Aza said again.  "Evabelle, I am so sorry, what you saw up there... I... it just, sort of--"

            "Please stop."  Evabelle interrupted.

            Aza's eyes widened.  Evabelle watched the water dripping from her friend's hair onto her face.  It almost looked like tears.

            "You didn't do anything wrong."  Evabelle said calmly.  "You have no need to apologize.  I guess I just didn't know how you really felt about him."

            Aza shook her head.  "Evabelle, no!  I don't feel that way for him at all!  And I do have a need to apologize.  Evabelle, I knew you liked him.  I was just an idiot.  I don't know what came over me.  Please you have to believe me."

            "Just stop!"  Evabelle was surprised at the harshness of her own tone.  She turned away.  She couldn't even bring herself to look at her friend.  "I don't want you to apologize, Aza.  I'm the fool, Aza.  I don't know what love is, I don't know what it means.  If you care about him like that, then I don't want to hurt you in any way."

            "But Evabelle, I don't!  I don't love that jerk and I never will!  We're just desperate hormonal teenagers.  You have to believe me, Evabelle," she said again.  "That I don't have any of those feelings toward him at all.  What you saw was the perfect display of immaturity and idiocy."

"Was it your first kiss?"  It slipped out of Evabelle's mouth before she could stop it.

            There was brief hesitation from Aza.  "What?  No!  No way!  My first kiss was Thomas Maughn.  Then it was Brendan Hinks. After him it was..."

            "Besides truth or dare or spin the bottle, Aza!"  Evabelle exclaimed, and then bowed her head.  "I mean your first real kiss."  She whispered.

            There was a longer hesitation this time.  Then finally Aza responded.  "Yes." 

            Evabelle finally looked back at her friend.  "Aza, I'm okay, I promise.  It was just a stupid crush.  I don't know if I'll ever find someone who loves me like that, but Aza don't throw something like this away just like that, okay?"

            Aza smiled.  "Trust me.  Del and I would never work out."

            Evabelle thought back to where she saw the two of them holding one another as though they needed the other and sighed.  "Whatever you say, Aza." 

            "Evabelle," Aza went on, ignoring Evabelle's last comment.  "I know you will find someone who loves you as though you are the light of their life.  In fact you may not need to go that far to find them."  

            Evabelle watched Aza as she left the room to go change into something dry.  Then she fell back onto the bed to stare at the ceiling once more.  Sometimes Evabelle hated being a desperate hormonal teenager.  Having stupid crushes that if you see with someone else, could break your heart.  It was annoying.  She was young, she didn't need to worry about that sort of love anyway, but Aza's words kept repeating inside her head.  "I know you will find someone who loves you as though you are the light of their life.  In fact you may not need to go that far to find them." 

            I am definitely a hopeless romantic.  She smiled a little sadly to herself and closed her eyes.  And soon Evabelle drifted off, to the sound of endless rain battering against her window.

~(A/N: Sooooo what did you think? ;) I have a hunch that a lot of people might like this chapter. But do tell me if the kiss scene was actually good. I've never written a scene like that. So tell me was it too much? Was it too little? I'm curious if you thought that it happened a little too soon, or were thinking it was about time? Well just please tell what you think overall and please give it a vote if you thought it was good!

Alright now this challenge is technically from part one, but they're still part of the same chapter. Tell me who are your top three suspects for who let in the vampires and the vagi, and set the werewolves on them. Oh and also tell me why you think it is them.

I'm not saying who it is, but I'm curious about who your thinking it might be :)~