Evabelle was at the top of the stairs before any of the others had had a chance to get a word out. Del's cry of her own name was first, but Evabelle flung herself through the darkness before she had the chance to register the panic that had tinged his voice.

The swirling gray clouds and quivering grass met Evabelle's sight along with the back of a broad shouldered man, carrying the weight of massive white wings, that also shook against the powerful gale. He marched away, his head bowed.

"Coward," Evabelle murmured, just loud enough to be heard of the sound of the storm. Her hair blew in front of her face, but she shoved it back in time to see Lucis stop. "You are a coward."

"Is that all you have to say?" His hard tone should have shaken her, but that wasn't possible now.

"What else do I have to say?" Evabelle didn't scream it, but it had a power that she didn't know she could wield. "I waited patiently for you to tell me. I thought you were about to tell me back at our campfire when we first landed in the spiral. I know we were interrupted, but even if we hadn't I wonder if you would have made it through."

Lucis shook his head.

"You honestly didn't trust me. You still don't trust me. You never have." The words stung in Evabelle's throat, but not a speck of that emotion showed through.

"This had nothing to do with trust," Lucis snapped, his hands balling into fists. "This is you knowing what I am and realizing that I should have never been the one to come bring you back."

"Why didn't they kill you?" Evabelle suddenly asked. "The Anahalians have killed all the others that were known to have this demon heart. Averno escaped, but you were raised in Jovis for seven years after that. Everyone had to know after Averno killed my parents."

Lucis was silent. "I was given a chance," He whispered. "If I stepped over the line, then I would be." He snorted. "But don't think there weren't people who didn't try to take me out sooner."

That made Evabelle flinch.

Lucis turned enough for Evabelle to view his hardened profile. His mouth was quirked up, his eyes dark. "Everyone was terrified after they found out it was my father that was causing all the mayhem; that it was his henchman that was burning down our homes; that many of the disappearances were his murder victims, he'd hidden. They were afraid because we were the same, helpful, kind understanding people on the outside. But they feared I was doing all the same things, secretively, just like him." He laughed again. "Just like him."

"But you weren't," Evabelle whispered.

Lucis craned his neck and looked at her full on, making every muscle and bone in her body ache. "And how do you know that?" A purpling welt around his eye was visible to her now. A bit of blood peeked through at the corner of his mouth. She thought of Faux's bruised knuckles and now understood. "Because I know you." Evabelle answered stoutly.

Lucis closed his eyes, shaking his head again.

"You were my best friend, when we were little," Evabelle pushed. "You wanted to be a hero."

"I wanted to be my father," Lucis spat.

"To you, the man was a hero. You didn't know what he was doing behind the scenes. You saw what everyone else saw in him. You were fooled just like anyone else. He was a great man, who worked hard to help everyone. That's what you wanted."

"How do you know I wasn't lying to you?" Lucis shouted.

"Because you saved me!" Evabelle screamed.

Lucis rocked at her words, his eyes widening.

The memory was faint, distant, like an image far off and in black and white. It was one that Evabelle knew well, but had refused to face, though she knew she would have to eventually. "The night Averno killed my parents, he planned on killing me that night too. He'd somehow made the three of us sick. But before he could get to me, you came. You got me out that night. You flew me far, far away from the castle. I remember that."

It was a foggy memory, but there was one clear moment. A small blonde boy with wide blue eyes. He was covered in blood, but he reached out his hand to her and said "You have to come with me, right now!" There was no malice, just fear and hope that she would do as he said, so he could get her out, so he could save her from his own father.

"So many times, you could have killed me. So many times you could have killed Del, Aza, or anyone you wanted, but you didn't." Evabelle took a step forward and Lucis tensed.

"When I met Averno at Etheldreda's old lair, he tried to pass himself off as you," She confessed for the first time.

Lucis jerked up and stared at her.

"He tried to say you were Averno, that Lucis didn't exist, but my own heart told me otherwise." Evabelle put a hand over her chest. "I knew you and your father were two very different people. You still are."

Lucis blinked rapidly and shook his head. "But you don't understand. It's getting stronger. I-I can't."

Evabelle took another step at the break in his voice. "But you can tell me. You have to trust me. Let me in, Lucis. You always fight alone. Maybe let someone stand by your side."

Lucis grit his teeth, his wide eyes narrowing again, his posture stiffening, like a frightened animal ready to strike out at the foolish girl, who was getting too close. "You don't understand."

"Then tell me," Evabelle cried desperately, moving forward steadily.

His breathing grew quick and ragged, his chest pumping up and down. "Get away from me!" he snarled.

"You think that this will stop me?" Evabelle shook her head. "You think demon heart will prevent me from loving you?"

Lucis let loose a roar that, poured into a pained scream. His emotions had burst through like a damn, gushing through the shattered remnants of his defenses, and just that thought appeared to be tearing him apart further. He whirled around and stretched out his wings, ready to take off into the hurricane, but Evabelle moved faster than she thought she could and lunged into the air as his feet left the ground. Her fingers curved over the semi-recovered wing. She felt the bone, still weak, shudder and Lucis arched back as they both fell back to Earth. Before they slammed into the ground, Evabelle slipped off his back, and the man twisted in the air, grabbed her and pulled her to him, wrapping them both in his wings.

Always protecting her.

The impact jarred them and suddenly they were rolling down into the ravine, quick and hard. Lucis grunted, the heat of him surrounding Evabelle, disorienting as he bowed his head over hers as they tumbled and spun into a maelstrom.

They rocked to a halt in the middle of the wide ditch, Lucis unrolling his wings, spreading them out over the ground on either side, giving him the appearance of a fallen angel. His head fell back into the grass, hair disheveled, eyes closed, exhaling uneven breaths, that Evabelle felt as her head rose and fell against him, where she could hear his hammering heart, pumping so hard that it rattled her bones.

She pushed herself up as his arms released her. She could have rolled off him, but she didn't. As his eyes started to crack open she knew he would run away again, so she let her wild whirlwind mind take control and placed her hands over his cheeks, cupping his face, before swooping down and colliding her lips over his.

It hurt.

Her teeth clattered, and a faint copper tang blossomed on her tongue. Lucis's entire body went rigid, and for the first time, fear took hold of Evabelle. Her sanity was starting to leak back into her brain before his arms encircled her once more and his mouth moved against hers, his head lifting a little, and Evabelle's hands slid to the back of his neck where she fingers twisted into the tangled blonde curls, she yanked him up more. His hand held her body tighter, moving achingly along her spine, compressing her against him as his lips burned bruising and fast.

Kisses shouldn't hurt. Or at least they shouldn't start with pain.

Evabelle had imagined her first kiss as a soft gentle kiss that maybe turned into something a little more, but this was never what she wanted. She always imagined the boy kissing her. She never thought she would be the one to make the plunge. Back at the Isles, they had almost kissed, but it was far too fleeting to count.

His tongue stole the taste of blood before he bit her bottom lip and she gasped and whined, fisting her hand into the front of his shirt, her nails scraping across his skin. Rippling waves coursed over every nerve in her body all starting where his crushed hers. It was like hundreds of drums pounded along her skin. A stampede of heartbeats, rushing over her, beating her, choking the breath from her as his grip around her, enclosed her. His hand clasped tautly at the back of her neck, the other dug into her hip as though to tear into her flesh.

Evabelle's head spun and she realized she couldn't breathe, but it must have added to her madness, because she didn't stop. She kissed him rougher and more rapidly between the heavy rasps, that were quickly smothered by his calloused hands and lips, stealing whatever shallow breaths she could snatch. She was not letting him slip away from her.

No storm on earth, no wild wind could rip them apart, though it did howl and swirl madly around the fiercely ardent couple.

It was a moment that was an eternity of agony and walls shattering, crashing around their ears forever and ever. And it all ended in the flash of a dying light, like a sun's bright flame on the horizon, burning hotter and brighter, before it was swallowed back up by the earth. Evabelle's closed eyes registered the fuzziness crawling into the corners of her vision, and sound itself was slipping into a dark pool, before she was thrust away, no-- thrown back into consciousness as pain erupted in her side and arm, where she landed.

She blinked back the dark patches from her eyes and stared at Lucis shoving dizzyingly to his feet, stumbling away from her. He turned and leapt again, this time with no way for Evabelle to catch him. He soared clumsily away as the storm berated him.

Abandoned again.

This time a full kiss. An enraging, aggressive, and brutal kiss for a man that did not trust her. She'd let all her frustration and anger out into it, and now she felt drained and sickened.

Slowly, Evabelle managed to push herself up into a standing position, stumbling and gasping at the throbbing that she now recognized over her entire body. She lifted her shirt and saw the ugly finger shaped marks, darkening around her side. Her arms, back, and neck felt a similar pain. Her shoulder felt wrenched. Her lips were swollen and tender. When she spat on the ground, there was a lot more blood than she realized.

Another wave of nausea almost had her to her knees again, but she staggered back up the hill, her head swimming in and out of focus.

Blearily, she glanced up to see Aza reaching a hand out to her. "Are you okay?" She whispered. The words almost disappeared in the wind, but Evabelle heard them.

Evabelle shook her head.

Del stood just outside the black hole door with his arms crossed. "You didn't hear the whole thing."

Evabelle wiped her mouth on the back of her sprained wrist. "I know Lucis isn't evil. I know he would never hurt me. Why is he so afraid he will now?" Her throat choked on the words, her eyes burning from the physical and emotional toll.

Del sighed. His stern gaze softened. "I'm so sorry, Evabelle. I know we should have told you. Lucis loves you. I think he has since we were kids, and the thought of losing you, terrified him. He thought he could control it. He worked so he could control it. He had to close off the powerful emotions that fuels the heart, but you can't completely love something that's closed away, neither could he completely love you. You know that."

Evabelle took in several shaky breaths, her mind reeling back.

The wall.

Lucis's wall.

The wall that closed everyone off to some extent. No one got too close. Lucis's perfect strict mannerism preventing people from seeing his flaws, his deeper passion and turmoil. The person whom, when Evabelle had first met, had had a hard time connecting to. Something had never seemed right with him. It was so different than the Lucis that Evabelle had been remembering in her dreams. He'd changed in the time they'd been apart. He'd put up a wall. A wall that she'd hated. The glimpses of the other side of wall were brilliantly bright, full of life, but also secrets and burrowed darkness.

"In the end your angel heart beat through the barriers he'd made to keep his demon heart quiet," Del confirmed her horrors. "Him loving you was okay, but then you fell in love with him...and your love woke up the monster that he'd prayed he'd put to rest."

* * * * *

Calandra and Shaundee sat at one end of the table, deep in their magic to find CJ and to distract any prying eyes. Various hues of green hovered around them, their eyes rolled back, their mouth moving, uttering gibberish to those of the untrained ear.

At the other end of the long island, so as not to disturb the mages, Evabelle sat shivering in her seat. Aza was beside her, holding her hand as Del and Faux sat across them. Faux did not appear to be angry with Del and his outburst against him. The scrawnier man only stared sadly at Evabelle. Del kept eye-contact with her, even though, she could tell he was itching to turn away.

"Some say that demon heart is like having no heart at all," Faux murmured. "But," he went on when Del made a soft snarling noise under his breath. "Lucis had one of the biggest, kindest hearts I've ever known."

Aza shook her head. "I just don't understand. Demon heart isn't like being a psychopath unless you choose it?"

Del leaned back, his mouth working hard as though he were chewing on his tongue. "Lucis once told me that he thinks it feels like what an addict must go through. A need that hurts if it's not filled. The easier choice. When he sees a situation that he could hurt someone, it would be more natural for him to do it. When we were young he didn't feel it at all, but it was after our father left, the king and queen were dead, and you had been hidden among the humans that the signs started to show. When children failed or did something embarrassing in class, he'd smirk, chuckle, and even started to join in."

"So what?" Aza asked. "I'm guessing you did the same."

Del rolled his eyes. "Yeah, well it wasn't normal for him. His instinct had always been to go pick them up, encourage, and defend. Joining in childish mockery had always been an insult an him. If he ever teased it was light and it was more to make the person laugh, not feel bad. He never stepped over the line. But he started to do it. He'd point out other's weaknesses and exploit them. I watched him bring a group of little girl to tears."

Evabelle shuffled in her seat and winced. Aza's eyes flashed over and trace over the bluish marks littering her friend's skin. The brunette picked at her clothes as if to cover them up, adjusting her position, turning away from Aza.

"It was all subtle, but I knew something was wrong with my brother." Del went on. "Kayne drew us aside a few months after everything, and explained to us what demon heart was. I was terrified I had it. We both were actually tested, since we were the only children that had ever been born from someone with it." Del closed his eyes. His jaw tensed. "We waited. I was an anxious mess, but Lucis sat calmly. Before they came out to tell us he leaned over to me and murmured. That I was going to be okay." He said that last part through clenched teeth. "He knew when Kayne was explaining that he had it. And I think I knew it too. I told him that he couldn't have demon heart, but he just smiled at me and looked away. We both knew I was lying."

"But you told us that they killed all the people that had this monster heart thing." Aza shook her head. "Lucis is hated and now I'm beginning to see where it comes from, but they didn't kill him."

Del turned his face away at that, his grimace was bitter and painful.

"They gave him a chance," Evabelle whispered.

Faux leaned forward, taking charge for a moment. "He hadn't broken any laws. They couldn't condemn him for doing nothing besides having a condition...well I guess they could, but Anahalians don't do that."

Del snorted but still didn't look at them.

Faux sighed. "Averno was discovered later than any other with demon heart, while Lucis was discovered earlier than anyone else. Averno had secretly committed and gotten away with so many crimes, while Lucis had yet to have to chance to do anything like that. So the commission that had served under the king and queen came to an agreement. They would keep an eye on Lucis to make sure he didn't step out of line. Everyone was informed of the situation to insure safety, but that was what ended up ostracizing him from the Anahalians. Lucis had a ton of friends before everyone knew the truth. He was popular, because of his outgoing, friendly attitude. He always wanted to help people."

"Everyone told us that while I looked just like my father, it was really Lucis who acted just like him," Del muttered. "They said he was practically the same person as him when he was that age."

"And because he acted like that, everyone assumed it was just that - an act." Evabelle shook her head, holding back a grunt of pain at the strain in her neck.

Faux and Del nodded in sync.

Averno was loved, revered, a legend - as Faux had explained. His whole life everyone had looked up to him because of his good nature, but everyone had feared and disgraced Lucis for it all because of his father.

Fury welled up in Evabelle at the thought.

"There was a teacher that held him back when the rest of the class left." Del's eyes darkened. "He tried to rip Lucis's wings off."

"What?" Aza balked.

"I'd say we were about twelve at the time." Del murmured, his gaze slipping further and further away. "I came in and punched him in the nose to get him away from my brother, who was unconscious. He was in the infirmary for a week. It probably wasn't necessary to be there that long, but we had to make arrangements for a new teacher, and Kayne figured it would probably be best if we didn't go by the school for a little while." He shook his head. "Twelve years old marked the first attempt on my brother's life by his own people."

Aza blinked several times, squirming too. "So no one besides you ever defended him? You and Kayne?" She turned her harsh stare onto Faux. "Where were you during all this?"

Faux held up his hands. "Easy, you've got to remember, I'm four years older than these dingoes. I was in a different class. I actually met him when he was in the infirmary. I decided to visit him. I mean of course, I knew who he was. Everyone had heard of the monster child. "

"Monster child." Aza bristled.

Faux hung his head. "The son of the man with the demon heart had a lot of names. Monster child, devil child, devil spawn, just plain spawn, and the list goes on." he swallowed. "However the most popular name was...Lucifer."

It didn't surprise Evabelle. It just spread that cold, sick feeling further into her lungs. Averno had even compared the two names and their similarities to her face. They sounded similar. The meant the same thing.

"The point was, I had heard of him, but we hadn't met until after that teacher incident. I wasn't treated the best for my heritage. And I shared my own genetic resemblances with my own psycho parent." Faux stated all this plainly.

Evabelle allowed herself a glance to her best friend. She had known that Rommel was Faux's father. No one was aware that she knew, but Aza was certainly new to this information. The small girl stared at Faux intently, not interrupting him as he continued. Everyone was coming clean and boy was is a lot to take in, even for those who were acquainted with some of the revelating knowledge.

"After hearing about what happened, I decided to go meet him, and," Faux took a deep breath. "I saw a kid, who had been injured by someone he was supposed to be able to trust. I saw a child, who had been deserted by so many people. His father had murdered his mother and set Jovis into a spiraling panic and everyone expected him to be the same.

"He smiled at me." The corners of Faux's mouth lifted at the thought. "He asked me if I was okay. We were strangers, he was the one in the infirmary, and he instantly thought of me first. A lot of people would have said that was just part of his act, but it was genuine and I refused to believe anything else. Lucis is a good man. He always has been."

Evabelle nodded, ignoring the pain it sent down her spine.

"But actually there was another person who stood behind Lucis," Faux said. He glanced over at Del, who didn't show any sign of breaking his secluded silence, making Faux roll his eyes before he looked back at the girls. "Tru,"

Aza released a snort of disbelief.

"It's true," Faux pressed. "No pun-intended, but Tru was in their class. I actually heard a lot about them from her, specifically."

"Yeah, you heard her call him Lucifer." Aza shook her head.

"She told me how she hated the way people treated him. She lost her own friends because she shouted at them all to keep their fat mouths shut."

"What changed her mind?" Evabelle asked.

Faux swallowed. "My aunt and uncle, her parents, were infected with the Annihilator virus. No one knew how they could have gotten it. They hadn't been near the quarantined zone, no one they knew had contracted it recently. There was an investigation done and some of Lucis's dna was found in their house, even though, he had claimed to have never been. People had been suspecting him of being Averno's spy in Jovis for years. They thought that maybe he had gone there and infected the home. The whole thing blew up into a huge commotion. There was a trial and everything, but he was let go because neither Tru or I showed any sign of the virus, even though we had been living there too.

"Tru was scared and frightened and didn't know what to think. She took it out on Lucis, told him she couldn't believe she'd ever stood up for a monster, and that he deserved to be locked up, not her parents. She probably would have apologized for it after she'd come down from all the crazy, but..." Faux rubbed his jaw, trailing off, eyes straying toward the shimmery surface of the table.

Del finally cut in. "Look, the point is, he didn't want you to know because he's lost everything because of it. The thought of losing you was always something that stood in his way."

"He didn't lose you," Evabelle looked at Del. "But he might of lost me if he decided to keep hiding it. You lose people by keeping secrets." She glanced over at Shaundee, who was murmuring spells, her own dusty aura strongly pulsing around her. The mage's eyes that had been on Evabelle dashed away.

Evabelle looked back at the Anahalians. "He didn't even tell me himself. You two knew and didn't let that cloud your judgment."

Faux wrapped his arms around himself, looking expectantly at Del, who spoke. "Demon heart derives an instinctive hatred toward angels. Averno ended up hating our people, but there's a suspicion that he had a special deeper loathing for your father."

Evabelle blinked. "What do you mean?"

"Your mother was found stabbed in her bed. King Zion was..." Faux's face slowly drained of blood, his complexion taking on a greenish tinge, matching Calandra's magic.

"Found staked all over Jovis." Del finished. "His wings were nailed to the front doors of the palace like a banner. The rest of him, took several days to gather up, and in the end they never found his heart."

Evabelle pressed her shoulder blades into the back of the chair as if she could somehow get away from those awful words. Images of her father's head on a pole, bits of bone and blood everywhere, brought bile bubbling in the back of her throat. She clapped a hand over her reddened mouth.

Aza put a hand on Evabelle arm. "Okay, that's enough," She told Del.

His embittered gaze lessened at a look to Evabelle.

"Evabelle, you have 'angel heart' just like your father," Faux took the torch again. "The theory is that since it technically makes you more angel, it somehow inflames the hatred that they already have. Essentially, Lucis had a natural desire and instinct to hurt, torture, or kill people, primarily that is directed toward angels and their descendants, but number one on that list, is you."

Aza shook her head. "Wait, wait, wait, you're telling us that Lucis is in love with Evabelle, and she's the one he wants to kill the most?"

The bruises that littered Evabelle's body. The blood at her mouth. The ache that tore at every fiber. He was holding himself back. Thrusting her away because he was seconds from ripping her apart. Evabelle's eyes burned as Aza spoke. "Chaos is and angel that fell in love with a demon,"

"What?" Evabelle jolted.

"It's a quote you told me, I think. It was by...by..."

"Christopher Poindexter," Evabelle said.

Aza nodded. "Yeah. I figure that's what's got to be what's going on in Lucis's head, right? Chaos?"

Evabelle's palms stung and she surprised herself by finding her nails biting viciously into her own hands. "He's not a demon," she murmured in that strange calm, detached voice that she herself had a hard time recognizing as her own.

Del gave a 'hmph'.

Both girls looked up at him.

"I think you're confusing what's going on in his head with what's going on in yours," He leaned back with his arms crossed again and nodded at Aza, before his eyes flicked back to Evabelle. "And you're right. My brother is not a demon, but what is going on in his head is pure Hell."

~(F-I-N-A-L-L-Y!!!! We have the truth and a kiss! It's true it was full of angst, but dang it just needed to happen.

I have to apologize for getting this chapter out so so so late. I had a bit of a decline in drive to work on it and then I went back and forth on cutting things and adding things. I almost cut out the Shaundee telling Eva about the Etheldreda-Calandra sauce and combined the next chapter with this one, but it just made an even bigger mess. So I'm sorry about so much emotional info dumps in this chapter too. There's a lot. It's something I'll have to fix going back, but I figured you guys would want something posted, so here you go. I'm sorry for the messy, messy mess!

So I definitely want to hear your thoughts on this, though. I know people were questioning the ship--which is totally warranted. But now that you know what's been going on, do you feel like things make more sense? This hopefully explains a little as to why Lucis was treated differently and why he kept pulling away. If you look throughout both book one and two, you'll see him slowly unraveling. I kept mentioning those walls that Evabelle kept seeing, kept trying to pry down, unknowing that they were what was protecting her...

The reveal of Lucis having this 'demon heart', I don't figure it was that shocking. I had a few people guess it earlier on. And others were close by guessing he'd been infected by the Annihilator virus. So I know this wasn't that big of a plot twist, if at all. But don't you worry, your pretty little heads. There's a rather big shocker that is coming in a few chapters that has me excited and terrified about your guy's reaction...I think a lot of you are going to be mad......

Also, the general concept of 'demon heart' (finally the title drop). I'd love to hear your thoughts, but I do understand it still had some more exploration and revealing of all it entails. We will certainly be getting more on that and it's disparity between the 'angel heart'.

So it was Faux, who decided he couldn't take it anymore, so PRAISE to him. He yanked it out of Del, and Evabelle took it out on Lucis. Lots of angst.

Also, I have to advertize this again, but I've posted an entirely new story (non-related to this one). It's a fantasy-adventure story called: 'The Fate's Chosen'. It's filled with fun elemental magic and fun new characters. If you guys would PLEASE check it out and leave your thoughts that would be AmAzInG!!! I have a goal to update Demon Heart every other weekend, and then update The Fate's Chosen during the off weekends. So this weekend chapter 1 of The Fate's Chosen will go up!

And I have to give a shout out to DanielaFranco386 for already reading the prologue and commenting on it. She's so awesome! :D

And another shout out to another amazing girl is Izzy_Gold I've got a few pieces of fantastic art of our sweet Luvabelle that I finally feel is appropriate to show you

***CHALLENGE TIME***

After that beautiful loveliness... we're going to rate ALL the kisses! So there has been officially 7 kisses in total from book one and two and I want to see your list from your least favorite to your most. What goes into the grading is of course whether it's your ship, how well to you feel the connection between the two characters, and the writing of the kiss (which is the most judgment on me, on whether I can write good kiss scenes.) Also if you want to mention a brief thought about why that kiss is the number that it is, that would be awesome! -especially if it specifically has to do with the writing for me to improve or to let me know I'm on the right track in writing those scenes :D-

So I've compiled a little list of all the kisses from the books and the chapters that they are in, so if you would like, you can go back and read through them again so you can judge the writing accordingly, as well. :)

Del & Aza rain kiss (from AW ch 13.2),

Kai & Saya kiss (from DH ch 6.1),

Aza & CJ/Etheldreda kiss (from DH ch 7.1),

The Mistress & Averno kiss (from DH ch 17.2),

The Mistress (with Evabelle's form) & CJ kiss (from DH ch 17.2),

Del & Aza fever kiss (from DH ch 20.2),

Lucis & Evabelle windstorm kiss (from DH ch 21.2).

I'll be making my own list for this as well, but I won't put it up until chapter 22. I don't want my reflected thoughts to interfere with yours. I want to see what you think! :D

Thank you all! Hopefully there will be more to come soon!!