The devil doesn't always laugh. 
Sometimes, he weeps with you.
-Ellie Fox

My hands struggle to keep it close, I hear the shower turn off just as Mike shoves his way through.

His shoulder barges into me as the door bangs against the wall, sending me sprawled onto the ground. My hip connects painfully to the ground but I quickly scramble to my feet -backing away as fast I can only to have Mike keep taking steps forward with a terrible smile on his ugly face.

I'm shaking as he traps me against the wall, hands on either side of my shoulders while his eyes scan me.

"Well," His voice is gravely, not the strong velvet of his son's. "I see why he chose you. Small, weak, but fuckable."

"He didn't choose me for my body, asshole!" I shout at him, connecting my knee to his crotch in a split second.

He's not used to the women he has around him hitting back.

But shit, if I'm not going to fight this man I might as well go just off a bridge too.

Mike groans, slouching into me.

I take the opportunity to grab a fistful of his straggly blond hair and slam his nose into my knee. A sharp crack rings through the air and is amplified by my door slamming open.

I drop my hold on Mike, dunking under his arm only gets me a foot away before his hand tangles into my hair and yanks me back.

"You bitch," He snarls, face close to mine as he drags me into the air. "You broke my nose."

"Fuck you, douche." I spit back, literally, and the loogie lands on his right eye. "Bulls eye."

Thank you Papa Lee, for teaching me how to spit.

I can tell he's a person who's used to talk, and people letting him talk, and then violence because as I slam my elbow back into his throat and kick off the ground when he drops me, connecting my foot into his already broken nose, he wasn't prepared for it at all.

The roughly 6'4 frame that his son did get collapses back into the ground but I fell back from the impact to.

I am only 5'2 after all.

Pitiful short people.

Bah.

He sits up, I notice Xavier's frozen frame in the door way.

The look he has on his face- -I'll never forget it- -is of fear.

I didn't think anything made the Devil afraid, not like this.

He's terrified.

His hands are shaking.

And his blue eyes shine in tears.

The man that abused him, his mother, threatened his baby sister, got his one loving parent killed, hurt his family, is standing in front of him.

He's frozen, he can't handle it. So I'll handle it for him.

I'm knocked back into reality by the sound of Mike's pocket knife being flicked out.

It's then Cal runs into the room, stopping dead in his tracks as he sees the standing man with a weapon, me three feet away from Mike, and Xavier dead to the world.

"It's wonder boy," Mike quips. "Lovely."

Calum suddenly looks deadly, his eyes glaring daggers into Mike and his face set in stone.

His usual bright green orbs turn dark.

It reminds me that angels can fall.

And now I'm afraid as he takes a step forward, only to be stopped as Mike covers the distance between us and points the knife at my throat.

This doesn't make me afraid.

This makes me mad.

Very mad.

Mad that Xavier has to see this, mad that Mike keeps threatening him and the people he loves, mad that all my Wolf boy has gone through he keeps opening healed wounds.

"Cal," I say, my voice calm and flat. I sound blank, but anyone who really knows me knows that's bad. That's very bad. "Get Xavier out of here."

"Oh, but this is just the start of the show." Mike pretends to pout as Xavier mouth parts in a silent protest. "The fireworks haven't even begun."

My head snaps to him, and for the first time I'm glad that I went through what I did.

Because after words I trained with my grandpa, Papa Lee, and Cameron, about all kinds of self defense.

It wouldn't seem like it, but I can destroy a person.

I just have to get very, very afraid.

Or mad as it seems.

"No one was talking to you. Shut your god damn mouth, dickhead." I growl out.

Cal eyes widen in warning, warning me of the knife at my throat that could kill me if I said or did one wrong thing.

"Such a pretty thing like you shouldn't cuss." Mike says, bending his body into mine to whisper in my ear.

It feels wrong, so wrong, to have him pressed against me.

"Oh please," I snarl. "Get the fucking soap."

"Don't." Xavier finally stammers. "Don't hurt her."

He sounds broken.

"Calum!" My voice raises, making Mike flinch and the cool metal to press into my skin. It doesn't stop me. "Get Xavier out."

"No." Xavier protests.

"Awe, is the Devil going to cry?" Mike teases him, only fueling my anger as my boyfriend, the strong one, looks like he actually might.

"Are you the one that gave him that nickname?" I ask, my voice venom.

"No," Mike laughs. "The foster system did after I told them how he killed his mother." He pressed the knife further into me, I feel a small sting and a trail of blood seep down me. "Fitting isn't it, to have such a monster like that be called the Devil?"

My teeth grind together as I see Xavier take a step back, as if the words were a physical blow.

His father has already hit him so much. I refuse to ever let him touch Xavier again.

"Funny for you to talk about monsters Mike, when you yourself are one. Until you become self aware, maybe we should name you Satan, Demon, God. The cruelest things in the world, you're then. I'll call you everything you hate, to prove you can't mess with my Devil until you grow your own horns." I tell him, tensing as he does behind me. "You're the real black eyed monster."

And it's true, his brown eyes so dark they look black.

How can someone like this, make someone as beautiful as the Devil?

Mike doesn't take kindly to my words as the knife digs further into me, opening my skin more.

My lips raise in a silent snarl, the fight never leaving me once.

"Leave her alone, God damn. I'll leave with you," Xavier pleas, it breaks my heart. "Just leave her alone."

"Calum I'm serious, I don't want him to see this." I grind my teeth together, not letting Mike dignify himself with a cruel answer. "At least cover him."

Cal raises a eyebrow, confused as Mike must be. The look on my face must have won him over, because he sends me a nod.

"Cover him from what? Me slitting your throat?" Mike laughs, and it's sinister. "I think he'd want to see that."

"No," I say and find that funny, my the edges of my vision blurry and I know how insane I must seem to be laughing. Does he honestly think I'd let him get this close to me, that knife this close to me, if I didn't think I'd survive? "What I'm about to do."

"You? Your weak, you can't so anything. You're stuck, pathetic really." Mike sneers.

"Isn't it funny then, how such a weak person can take down you?" I hum, and see Xavier tense completely. Mike's face must have changed, a change that Xavier must have seen before something terrible. "What does that say about you, Monster. Huh? What does that say about you?"

"I'm strong!" Mike raises his voice. "I'm not a monster. He is, he is. He's the Devi!" 

"Even fallen the Devil is an angel, you're still a monster. You'll always be one. Monster, Monster, Monster." I repeat, purposely tormenting him. "Hear that? I'm calling your name, Monster."

"What are you doing?" Xavier sputters. "He'll hurt-"

"I'M NOT A MONSTER!" Mike screams, interrupting him. 

"Don't interrupt him." I snap. "Monsters like you have to wait their turn."

That was the snapping point, like I predicted Mike drops the knife and wraps his hand around my throat.

In a split second Cal tackles Xavier back in the hall, looking strange, but in that same second my hands wrap around his wrist. I break it just like I was taught, causing Mike to scream in pain and drop me.

"You complete-" He seethes, only for me to cut him off.

"Shut up, Monster." I growl. "No one should hear your words."

I'm aware I'm being cruel, but as he goes to slap me with his other hand all I can see is red. Just like before I break that wrist too, twisting it even more until he falls back with a scream to the floor.

My foot hits his solar plexus, making him double over in a fetal position. Walking over him I grab the back of his head, slamming it into Aunt Faye's poor hard wood floors.

He groans, somehow still conscious. 

I step on his wrist as he tries to reach for me, grabbing his shirt I spin him to face me. "Monster," I address him, making Mike flinch. 

"This is for his mother." My fist connects to his mouth, where I know he kiss her without permission. I pull back, my knuckles split and his tooth loose.

"And this is for Liv." I head punch him in his broken nose, causing a sharp yelp to ring out. 

"And this is for my Devil." At this I knee him hard in the ribs, dropping my hold so he falls flat on his back. Standing on the spot I just kicked, I'm sure I fractured a few ribs. What am I even doing?

Police stream in the room, all shouting different things. Two of them run straight towards me as I slam his face into the floor again -successfully knocking him out. Arms wrap around me, separating the both of us.

The males holds me back, saying something that's deaf to my ears. 

"Let me go!" I shout, struggling in his hold. "I need Xavier, Xavier!" I scream his name.

Calum rushes to me, his face sporting a scowl as he talks to the officer.

I don't know why I can't understand their words, all I understand is I'm put in handcuffs and dragged out to a police car, my Wolf boy no where in sight.

"I can't believe I'm in jail for beating that douche up!" I yell, across from me Cameron scoffs at me. Cal and Jessamine sit together, they all came and the officers let them in my holding cell once they were assured I wouldn't hurt them.

I would never hurt them.

Ignorant Police.

Bah.

They said Xavier came, but got held back for questioning.

It's so stupid. 

All I want is him.

But no.

"I can't believe you got arrested again." Cam shakes his head at me, making my scowl deepen. "Grams is really gonna kill you this time."

"It's not my fault someone decided to hold a knife to my throat, and it wasn't even random!" I hiss. "He meant to hold a knife to my throat in general. What a dick move!"

"You've been arrested before?" Cal sputters.

I ignore him, my vision still blurry and I can barley understand what they're saying. I only know how mad I am, and that Xavier's not here.

"That's all you say to someone threatening you with a knife?" Jessie sputters, knowing I've been arrested before. 

I ignore her too.

"Not to mention he really pissed me off with the whole Devil thing that stupid douche, ugh. Why is it so boring in here." I seethe, kicking the bench. "I want to punch in that Monster's face again."

"Emmeline no." Jessamine says sternly, making me pout. "Get out of fighting mode already, don't you know how much you already hurt him?"

"I don't care," I growl. "He deserves worse."

"I think he got what was coming to him, just saying." Cam says, making me snap my head to him in a glare. "Angel boy can you remember the injuries?"

"Both of his wrists fractured, a dislocated thumb, hurt ribs, a broken nose, two chipped teeth, one knocked out, and  a split lip that needed stitches and a cut and bruising on his forehead." Cal recites, giving me a thoughtful look before gulping. "How did...how did you do all that? Mike was a good fighter."

"He didn't expect to be hit by me, or me insulting the way I did. He's so dumb that I figured when he'd snap he'd resort to punching me or something like he's used to doing to chicks instead of stabbing me or something." I explain, crossing my arms stubbornly. "And I really wish he put up a actual fight so I could say I kicked his ass fairly. Total douche."

"Wait you figured?" Screeches my best friend, making me cringe. "What if you were wrong?"

"Stabby stabby?" I say, my voice raising as I see how red she got as she stands. "In my defense I was pretty sure."

"Pretty sure?" Cam yells, standing as well. "Pretty sure is still not sure enough."

"That's an opinion." I huff, yelping as Jessamine slaps me straight across the face.

Her and my cousin lunge for me at the same time, I squeak and take off. God damn why is everything so blurry.

We begin to run circles around the bench, but Jessie unable to catch up she stops sort, surprising me as she's not behind me anymore but suddenly in front of me and I didn't hear her stop. I yelp as Cam smacks into my back, making me stumble forward with him right behind me, having stopped not to do exactly this to my best friend.

My face connects with a metal pole, making pain radiate through me on both sides as Cameron's full weight clams into me. 

I groan, slouching against the pole as the idiot peels himself from my back. 

"Sorry Emma," He says, but sounding anything but apologetic. "But I have to say, that's karma."

"Karma." I say slowly, not being able to believe him. "For what?"

"For risking your life just for a fight." He says, shrugging.

"It's not just a fight." I say, appalled. "You don't get it, you have no idea what that man has done. He's lucky I'm not the type of person that would kill him, because if I was he'd be dead. He deserved what he got. I did what I did for Xavier and his family, call it revenge or whatever but that was defense of myself and others. He touched me first, made me bleed first." I shrug. "I won't get charged."

"I didn't even see it." Cal admits. "So there's no proof of that."

"Yes there is." I say, my eyes narrowing at his stupidity. "You saw him cut me with the knife, and even if you didn't see how I hurt him after you knew those injuries occurred after that."

"Oh, you're right."

"You don't say." I mutter sarcastically. 

"You're free to go." A police offer tells me, swinging the door open.

Before her or anyone else can say anything Xavier rushes in the room and grabs my face, kissing my roughly. I gasp, but kiss him back, not expecting it when he bites my lip as he pulls away, harder then he needs to.

"Just needed to get that out of my system." The Devil says, staring at me with emotionless blue eyes.

My jaw drops as he takes a step back, turning on his heel and leaves without looking back.

Tears fill my eyes and I take a deep breath, my hands shaking as I look at Calum, hoping that like always he has the answers to his best friend's coldness.

But this time he shakes his head, looking sad.

"I'm sorry," The Angel says. "But I have no idea what just happened."

Why does he sound so far away?