Massie Block groaned softly as she trudged down the halls of Octavian Country Day School. The boys were roaming the halls, and Massie had to remind herself why she wasn't allowed to go hug Derrington and smile and be a part of the most glamorous couple ever.

She opened the door and stepped inside a room, which had been designated as her fifth-period class. Inside, she found a large room with books piled onto floor-to-ceiling shelves, with windows in even intervals in between. There was a large table in the middle of the room, made of some sort of dark wood that curled delicately at the ends of the legs. The chairs matched, having the same flourishes at the bottoms, but they had red velvet cushions on the seat, back, and arms. She sunk into one, next to her friends.

"Massie! What's wrong?" Alicia Rivera asked, widening her brown eyes. Her friend looked exhausted.

"Nothing," Massie said, popping a piece of a Chocolate Nut Brownie Luna bar into her mouth. She'd rather die than let The Pretty Committee see that their flawless alpha was having problems sticking to rules that she had made.

"Fine," Alicia said, sensing that Massie wouldn't want to talk about this anyway.

"Where's the teacher?" Claire Lyons wondered out loud. Her wide blue eyes scanned the room almost distractedly.

"Who cares?" Dylan Marvil muttered.

"Uh, hello?" Kristen Gregory said. "I do."

Massie smiled softly. "Does anyone even know why this class is called 'Committee'? What are we gonna do in here? We're already the Pretty Committee, what other one is important enough for us to be in it?"

Just then, an elderly woman walked into the room, smiling grimly as she surveyed the group of tall, lithe, popular students. She clapped her hands, and every single candle on the chandelier above their heads went out.

Someone screamed.

"Students," the woman said, in a shockingly firm voice. "Do not be alarmed. Just look at each other."

They did, and realized they were glowing. Massie could see everyone clearly, her eyes noticing that Derrington (oops, Derrick) was across the table and looking at her. Great.

"This glow you see, it is called Luminus Angre Azul. The glow of the Blue Bloods." The woman smiled, and it was a real smile this time. "I am Cordelia Van Alen, and you students are the top of your class, the most popular, the most gifted, and the newest batch of Blue Bloods."

000000

This doesn't make sense, Massie was thinking. How could it be true? It just wasn't.

They weren't pretty or popular or extremely convincing just because they were born to be so. No, they were all of those things because they were-and this was the weird part- immortal? Because they'd had many centuries of lives to perfect all these talents? Please. And they thought they were Angels, banished from Paradise for following Lucifer, the Dark Prince who sought to kill them all. Yeah, right. So, these people thought their students were vampires? Again, yeah right.

Cordelia was going around the room, designating each student as some fancy Angel, and stating who they were supposedly "immortally bonded" to.

After a while, she reached TPC.

She pointed at Kristen. "Seraphiel, Angel of Song."

Griffin. "Metraton, Heavenly scribe. You are bonded to Seraphiel."

Claire. "Gabrielle, the Uncorrupted, who will bring news of salvation to our people."

Cam. "Michael, Pure of Heart. Bonded to Gabrielle."

Alicia. "Xi Wangmu"-there was brief laughter at the complicated name-"Angel of Immortality." (The laughter quieted.)

Josh. "Valerius, Angel of Life. Bonded to Xi Wangmu."

Kristen. "Kuan Yin, Angel of Mercy."

Kemp Hurley. "Lucifer, Prince of The Dark. Bonded to Kuan Yin, after his sins were forgiven."

The Senior Members (old people who had been disillusioned for longer, Massie noted) bristled a little, and Massie swore she heard one of the white haired ladies whisper, "Now, exactly whose bright idea was it to bring him back?"

Dylan. "Meiji, Angel of Forgiveness."

Chris. "A new soul." Cordelia peered downward at him, almost disapprovingly. "But the Blood they gave you is bonded to Meiji."

They pointed at Derrington. "Abbadon, Angel of Destruction."

Then Massie. "Azrael, Angel of Death. You two are the Twins of the Apocalypse." (There was a little bit of laughter, and TPC exchanged high-fives.)

And then they said three simple words that crushed Massie's "immortal" spirit like nothing else could have.

"Bonded to Abbadon."