AN: Omg… I'm graduating Sunday!! Give it up to me, fourth in class! Now on with the story…

Part Three: Rehearsals

Chapter Seven: Insight

Kane bowed before her in all his black-and-green, chains, and spiked glory. He looked up at her, jade eyes sparkling. "I think I love you."

Auriella laughed while the other boys his behind their grins. She knelt down next to the keyboardist, kissing his cheek in a friendly manner. She knew the boy was playing, grateful to have her on board. It was cute, though, the attention he was giving her.

"I love you, too, Kane. You mind if we go over that song just once more though, before you go ahead and pop the question to me?" She asked of him, a grin holding her lips up now.

"Oh, right. We were rehearsing, weren't we?" Kane joked, standing up along with the songstress.

"Yeah, yeah," Ray laughed. "At least Kane won't leave the band since Auri is in it."

Nikolas busied himself with tuning in the strings of his guitar. He looked up long enough to give the blonde goddess a sly smile. "Auri, eh?"

"Spicy name," Adam agreed, playing a few chords as he spoke.

Auriella fiddled with the microphone, twisting her sneaker-clad foot in the cemented floor of the garage. "Are you four renaming me now?"

"Just a band name. And it just so happens to be a part of your name. So, no big deal," Nikolas commented, finished tuning now. "Ready to go, guys?"

"Born ready, Nicky!" Ray howled, doing a little beat on his drums.

"Whatever you say, Dollface," Adam yawned in agreement.

It was strange. They were strange, the boys of this band. They could be so friendly, jabbing insults and compliments alike in their varied voices and personalities. She found it exciting how easily she fit in with this testosterone-filled world. She didn't feel that she could be so open like they were, fooling around with each other and cracking jokes, but the laughs they had at all of their expenses filled her with joy.

She had only been part of Our Beloved Departed for part of a day, and somehow, she knew this was where she belonged.

"I haven't learned anything yet," Ella admitted to the boys as they took position. "And I don't know what responsibilities I'm supposed to have. I mean, I could probably write a song, but nothing like Leo."

Kane snorted, running his lithe fingers over the keys of his instrument. "Auri, lovely, Leo did nothing for us but sing his little manly self right out of our doors. Dollface and Adam write lyrics, and Dollface does music. All this you see is because of the cute and adorable guitarist of ours."

Nikolas waved the boy off, a smile on his face as he shrugged his shoulders. "You're making me blush."

"I came up with the name," Ray said, letting his input be noticed.

Auriella smiled. Their previous singer, Leo, lost something great when he left the band. She was glad to be a part of this.

"Okay, fellas. We have to get me up to date so we can sign up for the Battle," Ella exclaimed, taking charge now.

"Oh, and for our gig Tuesday night," Adam hissed, revealing that fact just now to the singer.

Ella blinked at him, her stomach tightening up as Kane laid the first beat out, a light tinkling sound then joined by the heavier sounds of a drum and bass. Nick wouldn't begin playing until Auriella started singing, lifting her voice with his melody.

Tuesday night?

She felt the music settle into her bones, and on cue, her hand caressed the microphone and she parted her lips to let out a low, earthy growl. Everything just came out naturally.

xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

"You didn't say we had a gig," Ella mumbled as Nikolas was driving her home later that night. Her throat felt raw from practice, and she hoped she wouldn't lose her voice before Tuesday.

"Sorry. It slipped my mind in the excitement. Besides, the gig will be good publicity for you," the blonde boy informed her, sending her a sideways glance. "Our big night, unveiling Auri!"

She fidgeted in the car's seat, wondering how that was going to be. "We doing the whole makeover scene soon, then?"

"Tomorrow. Right after school. Me and the guys will pick you up."

She groaned. "Right after school?"

"That a problem?"

Her mouth twisted up in the corner, a lump settling in her stomach. Cheerleading practice, after school… But the makeover—she knew for sure—was so much more important right now. She needed to make a good impression on the fans the band already had.

"It's fine,. After school tomorrow it is!" She said cheerily, even though there was a sense of dread settling over her now.

"You really fit in, Auri. The guys love you, and you harmonize amazingly," Nikolas complimented from his seat.

"I really love it. I feel the music, so that helps."

"Thanks."

Ella glanced at the boy, a smirk appearing on her face now that she had him alone. "Oh, wow. You know what I just thought?" She looked him over, seeing their similarities.

He shook his head, keeping his eyes on the road. "What's that?"

"People will think we're siblings. We really look alike."

"Think so?"

"Uh-huh." She twisted her hair around her finger, thinking. "Don't you boys have lives outside of this band?"

"Not much. Adam has a girlfriend, despite his facial hair," he laughed, and she tried to imagine the kind of girl the bassist would be interested in. "Everyone else does his own thing, you know?"

Here it was. What she really wanted to say… "Why haven't you asked Torrence out yet?" She threw out there. His face grew red with the question, his hands tightening on the wheel. Was he going to run off the road?

"Well… Uh…"

The last time she tried to talk to him about Torrence, he remained silent before changing the topic. She wasn't about to let him get off that easy this time. "It's Robert, isn't it?" Ella answered for him in the form of a question. She knew Torrence; Torrence would love Robert even if he killed her.

"She loves him," Nikolas agreed, without even knowing her thoughts. "It's a love she's not willing to let go of yet."

"Torrence loves too easily, despite her angry and rough attitude sometimes," Ella whispered, easing her way into revealing her best friend to Nikolas. "I guess that's what made us friends when we were young. She just loved anyone who cared."

"What made her angry?"

The girl sighed, laying her head back against the seat, trying to remember exactly what had happened to Torrence to change her from an innocent, naïve kid to an angry, lost girl. "I don't know the exact circumstances. It had to have started in second grade, though. The Hudson's, her previous adoptive parents, they told her she wasn't their real daughter. They said that her parent's hadn't wanted her, and they were the only ones Torrie had in the whole world now. Then they told her she had a lot to live up to, trying to make her new parents love her so that it would make up for her real parents. They tried to make her achieve the impossible… They said she had to work for love. And if she didn't, no one would love her. "

Nikolas gripped the steering wheel even tighter now—from anger this time—until his fingers turned white form the effort. "Harsh. Who says that to a little kid?"

"People with no remorse. In any case, with anyone she met, she kept a barrier up. And if they showed her anything resembling love, she loved them at least five times as much as they cared for her. She's had some crappy boyfriends that way." Auriella bit her lip, pondering her friend's past, afraid to look at Nikolas and see the pain and rage in his blue eyes.

"So, she's learning then. I show her affection, and she's not biting," he muttered drily, and Ella could see he was hurt by that. Why was he different? Why Nikolas?

Auriella smiled at him. "If she's noticed—and I believe she has, even though she hasn't said anything to me yet—she might be taking her time. Maybe you're right, and she is beginning to learn what you and I have always known. She might want to see if you're real…"

"And there's Robert," Nikolas reminded the girl in a bitter tone.

"And there's Robert," she agreed.

"I don't know if I can hold out and wait forever," he told her, but his voice held no conviction.

He could hold on and wait. She knew it, "For a girl like Torrie, it's well worth it."

"Thanks, Auri."

"No problem, Dollface." Auriella pursed her lips and drew her eyebrows together in sudden thought. "Why do the guys call you that, anyway?"

The guitarist groaned loudly in almost a pitiful cry that made her almost want to say never mind. Almost.

AN: I guess, I should say a few things in case anybody was wondering. … Anyway, SotS is more of a filler book for the series. It's like a stepping stone leading up to many things for the Daughters. It may not seem like it, since really, Hailley and Blaze are not very involved in this book, but this is a stepping stone to their futures as well as for Anthony, Nikolas, and Chris. Also, as another note, in The Scroll's Prophecy, I mentioned the similarity between Obie and Vanessa, and I thought I would include that in this story, using their children instead.

Next Up: Oh, yeah. The boys of the band give Ella her makeover. And yes… I went there. Lol.