"Alright, I think that's the last of it."

            Mark spoke out to Luke, who was in another room, decorating the house with colorful streamers. He placed down a package of red solo cups next to numerous amounts of beer on the dining table.

            Luke ran in, having the same joy in his eyes as a child on Christmas morning would. "Dude, you have to check out the strobe lights that we got. They look awesome!" He pulled on his friend's arm and forcefully walked him over to the other room.

            The pair looked up to the ceilings to see multiple amounts of lights hanging from above. "Watch this." The demon held up a remote to the lights and pressed a button.

            The lights flashed bright neon colors directly into the two teenager's eyes. Mark shut his eyes tight, trying to avoid hurting his vision. Even so, it was too late, he was already getting a migraine from all the pulsing lights. Luke, on the other hand, was loving the rainbow of colors that was projecting onto the walls of the room.

            "I still wish we could've gotten the fog machine."

            "Just be grateful that I let you use my credit card to buy this overpriced junk." The dirty blonde grabbed the remote out of the other's hand, turning off the lights. "You still need to pay me back for all of this." His eyebrows scrunched together, his eyes glaring at Luke.

            Luke scoffed, "Sure, Mark. Whatever you say." He exited, heading back into the living room.

            "I'm serious, Luke! Don't walk away from me, I'm trying to talk to you!" Mark stormed off, following the taller teenager.

            The two continued to bicker while a wall clock chimed, announcing that the time was 10 PM. Luke's phone buzzed in his pocket, when he took it out, he noticed all the text messages he received from the major cliques that said that they were on their way.

            Mark looked at his friend's phone, he was surprised to see how many people were coming. The text messages seemed endless, he couldn't believe that Luke got almost every student's phone number in such a short time.

            "Um, Luke...How many people did you invite?"

            "Not that many. Just the people in the cliques I told you about......And maybe a few more."

            "Lucifer, how many?"

            Luke paused, looking at Mark with the most innocent face he could pull off.

            "200 people."

            Mark was overwhelmed with emotions. He wasn't sure what do to first, yell at Luke or have a panic attack. I knew that his house was too small even if he had a backyard with a pool in it. Also, he had never been in a place with 200 people before. His anxiety levels started to soar through the roof. All that could come out of his mouth were mumbles of curse words and fear.

            Luke noticed his friend panicking and tried to calm his fears, "Mark, come on. Let's just focus on finding that fallen angel and enjoy this party. I'm doing all of this to help you, you know. You need to work on those horrible social skills you have."

            The shorter teenager finally remembered about their mission to find the fallen angel and panicked even more. "I'm not ready for all of this." He told himself in his mind.

            "Luke, you're not helping." Mark managed to blurt out.

            "Well, I tried my best." Luke shrugged his shoulders.

            "Luke, how are we going to do this? The finding the fallen angel thing I mean. There's going to be so many people and flashing lights and loud noises that annoy the hell out of me and basically the whole school is going to be at my house and-" Mark shouted at Luke, on the edge of exploding from anxiety.

            "Mark, how about this-" Luke stopped him mid-sentence, "I go party with the people and you go find the fallen angel. When you find whoever it could be, tell me and we'll deal with the bastard together." He smiled at Mark.

            When Luke smiled, his smile wasn't his usual mischievous grin or teasing Mark with a smirk. To Mark, he could see Luke actually trying to ease his fear with a genuine kind smile. His heart stopped beating out of control and began breathe normally again.

            "Ok, I can do that. But, how can I tell who the fallen angel is?"

            "On their body, they have a light blue tattoo of a cross. Hang out by the pool and see if you can spot out anyone with the tattoo, you understand?"

            Mark nodded his head.

            "Good."

            But even for Mark, good things don't last long. The doorbell rang and through the window, the pair could see a crowd of teenagers getting out of their cars. Luke's caring smile turned back into an evil smirk.

            "Mark, get ready to party."

***********************************************************************************************

Loud music boomed out of a stereo placed in the living room. A swarm of people jumped up and danced with the music. The strobe lights flashed down on the teenagers, enjoying the colors showering over them. They all held a red solo cup full of beer, drinking it down with delight.

"Luke? Luke!" Mark had lost Luke, 15 minutes into the party. Last time he saw him, he was drinking and dancing with John Murphy and the rest of the soccer team. He screamed out the other's name but it was no use. The music destroyed any noises that did not follow the beat of the song. He pushed his way through the crowd, looking for his friend when he felt two hands hook him on his shoulders.

"Mark, holy shit is that you? I can't tell, I think I smoked too much weed." Luke's breath stank of a mixture of alcohol and marijuana. He threw himself on Mark's shoulders, gaining support from almost falling flat on the floor.

"Luke, what the fuck happened to you?! I tried to look for you for 2 hours." Mark held Luke up with all of his strength, he didn't realize how heavy a demon could weigh.

"My night was so amazing, man. So, I drank 20 beers with the soccer jocks. I challenged that guy, John, to see who could drink the most beer. I won, of course, and he puked in your front yard. You should've been there, it was hilarious!" Luke laughed hysterically, taking another sip out of the beer bottle in his hand.

"Then, I went to smoke weed with some cheerleaders and volleyball players in the bathroom. Oh yeah, I almost forgot. This rich prep kid gave me his vape pen, do you wanna smoke it?" Luke dug through his pocket to pull out a black juul, jamming it into Mark's face.

"Get that shit away from me." Mark's face turned into disgust and shoving the juul away from him.

"Fuck, no need to be rude." Luke exclaimed to him. "Also, I already hooked up with five people." He grinned over to Mark, putting his head on the other's shoulders.

"Three guys and two girls. I'm trying to look for a third girl to hook up with right now. What do you think of this one? She's been eyeing me all night, I know she wants some of his devil dick." Luke idly pointed over to one of the girls hanging out near the front door of the house.

Mark viewed the brunette with short brown hair that had her back turned back on the two. She was wearing a crop top that exposed her shoulders and midriff, and short shorts that nearly showed off her underwear. When the girl turned around, Mark was shocked to see that the girl was his sister, Amy.

"Luke, that's my sister..."

"So, is that a yes?"

"No! Fuck no, Luke!" Mark screeched at Luke.

"Hey, hey. Chill, Mark." Luke backed away from him, before saying, "By the way, there's this kid named Tyson. He needs to talk to you about something; I think he's out by the pool."

Mark sighed, worrying about what Tyson wants to say to him. He dreaded hearing the words, "We need to talk", it was always the sign of something bad going to happen. Mark walked away from Luke and headed out to the backyard. From behind him, he could hear Luke yell out, "Don't forget about the fallen angel!"

**********************************************************************************************

Opening the patio door released the noise of people splashing into the pool and the smell of chlorine. The dark night sky's stars shined down upon the teenager's midnight swim. The pool party raged on, people taking off their shirts and diving into the water. Girls giggling as the men showed off, flexing their muscles. Mark's blue eyes scanned the area to see if anyone had the light blue tattoo associated with fallen angels. No one so far showed any signs of it. Afterwards, he strolled the edge of the pool looking for Tyson. He was greeted by a small splash to his legs, soaking the bottom half of his pants.

"Mark!" Tyson shouted from swimming in the pool. "Come in, man!"

"Tyson, you know how much I hate the water." Mark complained, adjusting his glasses.

"You're gonna get in this water or I'm gonna keep on splashing you." The volleyball player exclaimed, now splashing large waves of water towards his friend.

Mark chuckled as he begged Tyson to stop. Soon, the teenager gave in, "Fine, I'll get in, only for a little bit though." He stripped off his shirt and pants, leaving him to swim in his white boxers. As Mark got into the water, the two best friends started to chat.

"You're the last person I ever thought would host a party at their house." Tyson relaxed his arms, putting them on top of the edge of the pool.

"Me too, honestly. It was my friend that set it up the whole party though." Mark explained to him.

"You mean that new guy, Luke, right? I met him once. He seemed....alright, I guess." Tyson looked off into the distance, scratching the back of his neck.

"What do you mean by 'alright'?" Mark questioned Tyson, raising an eyebrow.

"Nah, it's nothing like that. It's just...Well...." Tyson looked back to Mark, searching for words to describe him.

"That guy. I don't trust him, something's off about him. I don't know what's his deal..-" Tyson continued to discuss what his thoughts about Luke were to Mark. Meanwhile, Mark was searching Tyson's entire body for a light blue tattoo. He looked at Tyson's chest, nothing. He looked at Tyson's arms, nothing. He looked at Tyson's hands, nothing. After examining his whole body, Mark was relieved to find out that there was no tattoo on his best friend.

"Mark, what I'm trying to say is-"

"Canonball!"

A male teenager jumped into the pool, causing a massive wave to splash on everyone. Everyone cheered him on, behind Tyson were the soccer players. John Murphy and his clique encouraged their friend to jump again by yelling, "Do it! Do it! Do it!"

"That was awesome! Do it again, bro!" John called out.

The teenager shook his head, "Bro, I'm tired of swimming. Let's go drink some more!"

"We're staying out here. You can go if you want, Isko."

"Cool, I'll meet up with you guys later."

Isko was John's right hand man. While, John Murphy was a striker for the soccer team, Isko Fernandez was the goalie. He agreed to any plans that John made, even if it was to hang out during the weekend or torment someone. He was also one of the school's only Filipinos on the soccer team. The goalie had sun kissed tan skin and slender brown eyes. His long soaked black hair reached to the back of his neck. Even though, the Filipino had a baby face, there was stubbles of black hair growing along his cheeks and chin.

Isko took off a hair tie around his wrist and pulled his long thick hair into a bun. Mark glanced on his neck to notice a tattoo on the back of Isko's neck. More specifically, a light blue tattoo of a cross. The dirty blonde cleaned his glasses to make sure he wasn't imagining it.

"Mark? Mark? Are you even listening to me, man?" Tyson caught the attention of his friend.

"Oh, yeah, I'm listening. Sorry, I just had something on my mind."

Tyson sighed at his response, "I just want to say, I don't trust him with you. He seems like a bad guy. He doesn't seem normal and since you became friends with him, you always seem to be spaced out."

Mark fought back, "I'm not spaced out, Tyson! I'm just going through a lot right now."

"Then, tell me about it!" Tyson screamed, "I always try to talk to you but during the week, you completely shut me out. It's like being with Luke changed you. Please, Mark. Tell me what's going on. For real."

Mark desperately wanted to confess the truth to Tyson. He wanted to tell Tyson all the crazy shit that changed his life. But, he did not want to drag Tyson into this mess, he does not deserve all the stress he was going through now. Mark cared too much about his best friend, all he could do was continue the lie that haunts him from the inside out, "Nothing's happening, Tyson. Just trust me with this."

Mark watched Isko walk out of the backyard into the house, he needed to tell Luke before Isko got out of his sight.

"Tyson, I got to go do something."

"Mark, stop lying. Tell me the truth."

"This is really important, you don't understand."

"You can't run away from the problem. You need to talk about it, Mark."

Mark got out of the pool and started to dress back into his clothes.

"Mark, you were never like this. Why did you change?" Tyson was disheartened to see his best friend ignore him for so long. He was helpless to find an answer to Mark's sudden change in behavior.

"If you knew, it would only hurt you. One day, I'll tell you about this whole mess of a situation." Mark turned his back, walking back into the house and not looking back to see Tyson's sad face that would break his heart and soul.

**********************************************************************************************

When Mark found out where Luke was, he was flirting with a girl with straight long blonde hair. Mark snagged on his arm, "I found the guy."

Luke turned to him, "You sure?"

"I'm sure. We have to go."

The two ran off to go looking for Isko, Luke looked over his shoulder to yell out to the girl, "Text me, Angelica!"

The pair wondered where he could have gone, they checked the living room, front yard, and the backyard. They continued to search in the crowds of dancing people for the fallen angel. It was getting late and people were starting to leave, they had to act quick to find Isko before he could leave. Mark and Luke finally ended up standing in front of a locked bedroom door. Mark asked Luke one final time,

            "How are we going this?"

            "Just follow my lead, kid."

            "Can we do things without violence or is violence necessary?"

            "It's very necessary."

            Luke raised his foot and kicked down the door. In the bedroom was Isko and Amy making out on the bed. The couple shrieked as Mark and Luke entered. Isko screamed out, "What the hell, man?!"

            Amy pushed Isko away from her and glared at her brother, "What the fuck are you doing?!"

            Mark was disgusted by what his sister was doing but put that aside to response back, "Amy, we'll talk about this later. For now, you just need to get out of here."

            Amy got up from the bed and made her way out of the room. Before exiting, she punched her brother's shoulder, "We're not talking about shit later!"

            Luke ignored the sibling rivalry and focused his attention to Isko, "We know who you are, Isko."

            Mark butted in, "Just tell us what we need to know and nobody will get hurt."

            "I don't know what the fuck you're talking about." Isko's slender eyes narrowed in fury.

            "Don't play all innocent with me, you lying bastard!" Luke got into Isko's face and yelled at him.

            Mark pulled Luke away, hoping not to start a fight, "Isko, all you need to do is say you're a fallen angel, answer some of our questions, and we'll let you go."

            "I'm not a 'fallen angel' or whatever the hell that means. I don't have to answer questions about anything, especially to assholes like you." Isko pointed his finger to the pair.

            "Then, what the hell is this?" Luke latch onto Isko's neck and pointed at the light blue cross tattoo.

            Isko's tough guy act faded away as soon as Luke pointed the tattoo out. His eyes stared at Mark and Luke, realizing who they were, "You two....You two are...?"

            "He's Hell's army leader and I'm their warrior." Mark announced, "We just need you to answer some questions and we'll leave you alone."

            "S-stay-" Isko stuttered out of fear, "Stay away from me!" He punched Luke in the face knocking him down and dashed to the exit.

            Mark wrapped his arms around the fallen angel and pulled him back into the bedroom. Isko struggled to get out of his grasp but was too weak. Luke pulled himself up from the floor, ready to give revenge to Isko.

            From Isko's back, angel wings started to grow. Mark was pushed down to the ground as Isko attacked him with his wings. Luke ran up to the fallen angel to kick him, Isko defended himself using his wings as a shield around his body.

            As Isko was distracted by Luke's attempts to charge at him, Mark saw a beer bottle on the floor. He grabbed the bottle and smashed it over Isko's head. The fallen angel fell down and blood rushed down his face. Luke gripped onto Isko's shirt and pushed him against the wall.

            "Tell us who Heaven's army leader and warrior are!" The demon demanded for Isko to answer.

            "I-I don't know! I left Heaven so long ago, I forgot. Please don't hurt me!"

            "You didn't forget, now tell us or say goodbye to your worthless attempt at a human life." Luke pulled out a dagger from his jacket pocket and held it up against Isko's throat.

            "Luke, that isn't going to help! Let him down!" Mark pitied for Isko, seeing how much pain he was in.

            Though, Luke thought against it, he dropped the dagger. Isko fell down to his knees, his breathing was labored.

            "But, I do know where they usually go to discuss their strategies." Isko told the pair, "They meet at the back of the school library, near the historical documents section. The time they meet is at 4:50 PM." The fallen angel nervously spoke, "Now, please don't kill me or turn me back to Heaven. I can't go back there, they'll torture me!" 

            "We can't let that happen, weakling." Luke told Isko, "We know you're going to tell Heaven's army leader all about this right? So, they can kill us with a surprise attack."

            Isko shook his head violently and cried, "No! No! No! I would never do that! Please! All I want to live like a human, they have it so easy!" He explained, "In Heaven, they try to make you into the perfect solider and force you to break down your individual spirit. They believe that in order for human souls to rest in peace, we as angel soldiers, our souls must be in pain."

            The fallen angel begged desperately, "That's why I left, I couldn't take it anymore! So, please spare me and I will forget this even happened."

            Luke stared down on Isko, not caring for his pleas of mercy. The demon raised his dagger up but Mark shouted at him, "Luke, stop it!"

            Luke was shocked to hear Mark trying to stop him. The two looked each other in the eyes, "Let him live, we don't have to kill anyone. He's already in so much pain." Mark glanced down to Isko, who's eyes were full of tears as the pair were deciding his fate.

            "How do we make sure that he doesn't tell Heaven's army leader and their warrior, then?" Luke talked back to Mark.

            Mark had an idea, but it would involve him hurting Isko, which as the last thing he wanted to do. Deep down, he knew he had to do it, to protect himself and Luke from getting discovered.

            The human harshly kicked Isko's head back to the wall, Isko coughed up blood and spit out a tooth. "You do anything to me or Lucifer that could cause us any harm. I promise that you will regret it." Mark exclaimed down to the fallen angel, "Now, get the hell out of my house."

            Isko's legs wobbled as he hassled to get up, his wings slowly retracting back into his spine, "You're insane. Both of you are fucking insane." He ran out of the house as fast as he could, leaving blood marks everywhere.

            Mark stood in place, unable to believe that any of that happened. His brand new, clean white sneakers that he bought last week, now painted a bright red from the blood. The whole house was silent, except for the stereo that played in the background. The silence was getting unbearable for the demon and he wanted to break the ice. Luke questioned over to Mark, "Did you enjoy the party?"