Chapter One

Another bloodied lip, another swollen hand… our fights seemed almost pointless, yet we continued to find reasons to beat the shit out of each other on a regular basis. Maybe it filled some void that evolved when Cam chose his side, or maybe it was something that always existed between us, even when we were brothers.

Walking away through the haze of dust we always left behind, I almost had the inkling to turn around and quote a line from Princess Bride: "Good night, Cam. Good work. Sleep well. I'll most likely kill you in the morning." Except we wouldn't kill each other, not yet anyway. We'd both had our chances to take each other out - a lucky hit here, a cheap shot there – but for whatever reason, neither of us could go through with striking the other with the fatal starshot.

The road to Lucinda's apartment didn't feel welcoming at the moment. I knew she'd be upset by the wounds that would heal quickly, but it was the reason I fought Cam today that would really hurt her. I didn't have it in me to see the spark in her eye disappear, so I turned left instead of going straight and walked into Roland's bar.

"Hey, D-man. Where've you been hiding?" Roland called out as soon as the door closed behind me, taking away the blinding light from the outside that made it impossible to see faces as they entered.

He set a full glass of ice and watery brown liquid on the counter in front of the chair I always occupied. "Thanks, Ro," I said, looking straight down in the glass, not bothering to answer his question. I flicked at the condensation dripping down the glass before I finally hooked my finger over the rim and brought it to my lips, swallowing the entire volume in with one motion.

"Looks like Danny needs another." Gabbe's sweet, southern drawl felt like nails down the chalkboard, but the moment she had perched herself next to me, my annoyance had dissipated. "What's with the long face," she began. "Oh." She licked her thumb and wiped it along my lip line. "There ya go, sugah. Good as new."

"Thanks Gab," I sighed, swirling the ice around the empty glass. "And no, I don't want to talk about it."

"Talk about what?" Arriane asked, pulling a stool closer to the other side of me.

I turned my face towards her, rolling my eyes as she started laughing. "Not helping, Arr." I returned my focus to the new drink Roland had placed in front of me.

"Did you at least break his bones this time?" Arriane was practically bouncing in her chair, begging for details of the fight she'd missed.

"Maybe you should ask him," I suggested, speaking to the ice floating in my drink. I could feel his presence as he entered the bar, the air seemingly getting thicker and darker.

Cam took a seat in a booth near the dart board, immediately looping his arms around two intoxicated women. The laughter alone was enough to propel me towards him.

Unfortunately, Roland didn't take kindly to us destroying his bar and forcefully grabbed my arm before I'd taken two steps. "D. This is my place and if you start your shit up in here again, I'm going to be the one to finish it." His head tilted in the direction of the hidden starshot he kept behind the bar for extreme emergencies.

While I doubted his threat was real, I respected him enough to honor his wishes and settled back onto my seat. "After all the fights he's started in here and you're going to stop me?" I shook my head, but wouldn't meet his gaze, instead keeping the rest of my demon related comments to myself while finishing off the second drink.

Despite being a demon, Roland had always been a good friend. If it wasn't for me, I'm not sure he'd even been among the fallen. Then again… it made me question something that should've been answered long ago: do we really have a choice in our paths? We were never granted free will, which is why many of us were willing to fall. Were we created with these sides built in?

Arriane, Gabbe, and even Molly couldn't deny their allegiances. Roland, on the other hand, seemed to quietly align himself with Satan, a decision he has never explained to me. "We all have to pick sides, D," he said with a shrug when I asked him many years after his wings showed his choice.

"Not all of us," I said aloud and then realized I wasn't in that long ago place.

"Well you might not, but I'm going to go have some fun chasing away Cam's hookers," Arriane said as she flitted away.

"You haven't been this upset about fighting with Cam in a long time. What's eatin' at you, sweetie?" Gabbe draped her arm across my back and rested her head on my shoulder.

She was right; I wasn't usually affected like this after a good brawl with Cam, not since we turned our backs on each other and he picked his side. Before that, there was little I wouldn't do for him. He was my closest ally and the one who refused to pick sides, like me. He was the one who was there every time I lost Lucinda, the one who would kick the shit out of me if I spiraled too far into the darkness that followed every fiery end.

I sighed deeply, pushing the empty glass away. "Nothing important, Gab." I turned to smile at her, but it felt more like a wince.

"Aww, honey. Is everything okay with Luce?"

I knew Gabbe meant well, but I didn't want to have deep relationship conversations with her. It was bad enough they knew as many intimate details as they did. "No, Luce is fine. She's working on hard on her dissertation."

"Oh, that's so exciting. Does that mean I can start planning…"

I cut her off immediately. "Don't start with that. Not today." I quickly stood and threw some money on the bar before walking away from Gabbe.

"Oh, no. Where do you think you're going?" Arriane stopped me with an angry hand on my chest.

"Ruining Cam's sex life wasn't enough for you tonight?" I asked, trying to divert her from the conversation I didn't want to have.

"Yeah, he always picks the stupidest… wait a second. You're not getting out of this easily. Cam told me. You don't believe him, do you?"

Her hand lowered just enough that I could force myself past her without pushing her against the wall. "I… I don't know." I stopped for a second with my hand on the door. "I can't afford to risk it now, either." My fist collided with the door with a muted thump as I exited out to the barely lit street.