South Park property of T. Parker and M. Stone. Ella Tweak, Nico and Lilith belong to me.

Gentle warning: Drug use, underage drinking, sexual references and the usual dose of swearing in this chapter.

*

The woman on television panted furiously, her face contorted in what Kenny was certain the director meant to be frenzied ecstasy. In reality, it looked more like she was being eaten from the toes up by crazed piranhas. Kenny reclined and lit the joint tucked into the corner of his mouth. Kevin had shit taste in porn. Kenny had wondered for years if his brother, now 18 and living in his own apartment, had been gay. If he was, he had the closet door bolted. Kenny looked away from the television and surveyed the messy living room, wincing slightly as his sore lower lip took a pull of the joint.

Three days ago, his father went on a whiskey-fueled rampage unprecedented in its ferocity. Unfortunately it involved, as it so often did, in pounding Kenny with his fists until the boy was punch-drunk, bruised and bleeding. The ritual pummeling only ceased when Carol McCormick fled to the bedroom and locked the door, sobbing. When Kenny had been able to stagger to his sister Karen's room, he gave her what little money he had and told her to go get something to eat, insisting she spend the weekend a friend's house. Kenny walked three miles to his brother's apartment that night with a full compliment of bruises, a painfully swollen black eye and a split lip.

Kevin urged Kenny to come live with him, as he so often did when Kenny showed up on his doorstep, battered and shivering. Kenny always stayed a few days and then headed back home. He worried more than anything that his absence would provoke Stuart McCormick to take a fist to Karen. Still, it would have been nice not to go home again. Ever. Kevin had a decent job as a mechanic and he already paid for Kenny's phone. He had Tivo, Xbox, a laptop, central heating and, best of all, a lot of food. Despite the promise of security, Kenny couldn't leave Karen behind.

Kenny flicked off the porn, completely unaroused by it. He put on the news and watched the weather. It was late November and absolutely bitter. He stared at the weather lady's chest as she rattled on about the extremely low temperatures in store for the upcoming week, taking a very deep toke of his joint. His phone chirped in his pocket. Fishing it out, he found he'd received ten texts in the last thirty minutes. He exhaled a stream of smoke into the hazy room and settled back to read.

Heidi: where r u?! if u don't call back in 10 min we r done!!!

God. He'd forgot about Heidi. They were supposed to be going out again. Oops.

Bebe: hi ken doll! library if u want help with English.

Kenny gritted his teeth at "ken doll". Bebe started calling him that in 7th grade and it caught on briefly with Cartman, until Kenny's right hook persuaded him to stop. He scrolled through the next couple of texts which were from his sister, saying that she was spending a week with her best friend and one from Stan inviting him over to watch the Broncos game.

Heidi: it's over. ur pathetic.

Slut.

5551372: 133 alpine court. midnight.

Kenny finished his J and considered the text. He didn't recognize the number. Still, he was intrigued. It was about three hours to midnight and he'd had no intention of going to school tomorrow. It was Thanksgiving week and he never went to school on the Monday and Tuesday prior to the holidays. Why bother?

Kenny stood and wandered into the kitchen, pulling open the fridge. He fished out a beer and pulled the tab. The cool, pale light played over his bare chest, all sharp angles, flat planes and pale skin adorned with blooms of purple bruises. Kenny tipped his head back and drank, knowing that if he drank enough his body would stop hurting. The world would stop hurting.

*

Ella's room was dark, as all the rooms in the Tweak house were now required to be. She sat on her bed clad in blue pajamas, hair braided for sleep and peered out the window at the street below. There was no moon out, and the lone streetlight on the court offered a dim shield against the onslaught of night. She heard the click and twist of her doorknob and smelled the heat before she felt it. Nico.

"Get away from the window." He said coldly.

Ella turned away and faced him. His amber eyes glittered in the dark. He grew stronger, more forceful, by the day. Stronger as her brother faded. Stronger as her parents went through their daily routines, jerked along by invisible strings, their eyes clouded. She wasn't entirely sure how much longer her brother would last. He wasn't missed at school. Her parents, at Nico's command, had withdrawn him for home schooling. She wondered how long it would be before he did the same to her.

Nico picked up her phone and scrolled through her texts, deleting most of them and answering a couple. "Bebe Stevens is having a skating and slumber party next Friday. You will go to that." He said, replacing her phone on her nightstand. He took her face in his hands, roughly. "Behave. I'll know if you don't. Smile and tell them whatever they need to hear so nobody asks any questions."

Ella nodded, the heat of his hands was intense. He could burn her, if he wanted to. He'd done it to Tweek.

"Now I want-" a brief pulse of green light behind him caught his attention and he turned his back to her.

Ella peered around Nico and saw a dark haired girl who looked about her age and build with big deep green eyes. She tugged at her leather bodice and straightened her long black skirt.

"What are you doing?" the girl asked, looking curiously at Ella and giving her a tentative wave and a black-lipsticked smile.

Nico balled his fists. "Lilith. Go. Home. Now." He annunciated each word through gritted teeth.

Lilith ignored Nico's bunched up face and glanced around the room, eyes lighting on Ella's drafting table. She squinted at the drawing that was neatly clipped to the table and then nodded. "Nice." Lilith turned her attention back to Nico. "No, seriously. What are you doing? D has been looking for you, and I miss my bestest big brother." She said, examining Ella's laptop curiously.

"Nothing." Nico was curt. She was always following him around, embarrassing him. "Now go home." His face shifted from irritated to alarmed as Lilith crossed the hall, went into Tweeks room and then returned, shaking her head in disapproval.

"I am soooo telling. Damien is gonna be pissed, and dad will kill you when he gets home." Lilith waved at Ella again and was gone with a snap of her fingers, and a green flash of light.

*

On the street outside, two lean figures kept vigil. As a green light pulsed in the upstairs window, the darker of the two turned to his companion.

"Iz strange, no?" he asked the taller boy beside him, and lit another cigarette from the one he was already smoking. "I 'ave 'ad zis place under surveillance for weeks now. Ze boy, Tweek, he never leaves." He exhaled a cloud of smoke. He'd berated Kenny for showing up drunk, but the cold seemed to have sobered him up. Christophe scanned the street nervously and then looked back at Kenny.

"Strange." Kenny nodded, his blue eyes fixed on the upstairs window. He frowned a bit at the second pulse of light and lit his own cigarette. It seemed familiar somehow.

Christophe took a jerky drag of his cigarette. "Now get out of 'ere beetch, before you blow everyzing. I will keep watch and text you later." He gave Kenny's shoulder a shove and watched as the tall, slender boy made his way down the street, his tattered orange scarf whipping in the wind behind him.

R&R greatly appreciated! ^.^