Two weeks of tough, back-breaking training went by and we had all improved our combat skills and teamwork skills tremendously. Shade and I even grew to consider each other as friends! well, sometimes.

----------------------

I whacked on Shades dorm room door with as much force as I could.

"Shade! I swear to god, if you don't get your cocky ass out here in two seconds I will -"

The door immediately swung open to reveal Shade standing in the doorway with his signature smirk.

"Whats wrong Princess?" he asked arrogantly.

I practically felt my jaw hit the floor as I stared at his fake, innocent face.

"You know fully well whats wrong" I shouted poking him in the chest.

Shade, had taken it upon himself to put wilderberrys, the supernatural worlds stronger version of dyes into my shampoo! so long story short I now had a weirdly murky green coloured hair. Yes it will come out, but since my hair was white, it will take twice as long.

Shade lent lazily on the doorframe and grinned widely down at me.

"Nice hair" he laughed.

That was it. I lunged forwards int this chest and sent him flying back into his room.

"You. Stupid. Idiot!" I screamed punching his chest.

He lay there frozen for a few seconds, allowing me to take my anger out before he caught my hands.

"You done?" he asked with another smirk.

I looked down at him and grinned, his eyes widened in fear as he realised that I was planning something.

"Not even close" I grinned jumping up of him.

He got up and watched warily as I walked back towards the door.

"Watch your back, this is war" I warned flicking my green hair over my shoulder.

I darted down into the common room.

"Hey guys" I called to Chase and Orpheus as I darted past them and up into my own room.

When I entered the room, my eyes scanned around for Thea.

"Hey, Thea!" I exclaimed when I spotted her sitting by the fire with Alexis.

I darted over to them and thumped down onto the ground.

"Could you do me a huuuuge favour?" I pleaded.

"Someones in a good mood, sure why not" she replied with amusement.

"Do you think you could get me some essentia daemonium, please?

Essentia daemonium, (or demon essence) is a special herb that makes any non demon-blooded species break out in an itchy rash. It is not very harmful so it is the perfect way for me to get back at Shade.

"Who's it for?" she asked arching her right eyebrow.

"Who do you think?" I laughed pointing at my hair.

She nodded her head and got to her feet.

"You're in luck" she laughed walking over to her bed.

She rummaged through her draws until she pulled out a small wooden box.

"It's tasteless so put it in his water" she instructed handing me the box.

"Thank you" I sang happily.

"Coming downstairs?" I asked them both.

"No, we're gonna stay here for a bit. See you later?" replied Thea.

"Sure," I said excitedly, nodding my head.

She shook her head in amusement and watched me leave the room. I walked back down into the common room and joined Chase and Orpheus who were still sitting on the couch, reading their own books.

"Hey again," I said happily.

"Aurora. You know I love you, but green is really not your best colour" laughed Chase in surprise as he glared at my hair.

I rolled my eyes and let out a sarcastic laugh.

"What happened?" questioned Orpheus.

"Shade," I said plainly.

His face dropped a bit and he shifted in his seat uncomfortably, I guess he still wasn't entirely fond of him. I spent some time catching them up on how I was going to get him back. Chase smirked mischievously and Orpheus just grinned at me.

I heard light footsteps against the stone floor and became surrounded by Shade's electricity. It was no longer painful in any way, It just felt like a weird tingling sensation that affected my mood in different ways depending on Shade's mood, although I still hadn't picked up enough courage to tell him about it so I just decided to deal with it.

"He's coming, act natural" exclaimed Chase, leaning into the seat and pulling up his book.

I looked at Chase's attempt at 'acting natural' and sighed.

"The book is the wrong way around you idiot" I whispered flipping the book around.

I quickly slumped into the sofa next to Orpheus and pretend to look at something in his book.

"Hey" greeted Shade nervously.

I shot him a glare to make it seem like I was still mad at him and Chase gave him a small wave. Shade walked further into the room and sat down next to me. I glared at his smug face and narrowed my eyes.

"I'm getting water, anyone else want a glass?" I asked plainly.

Chase and Orpheus nodded, I began to walk to the kitchen when Shade's voice stopped me.

"Don't forget about me princess" he called after me.

"How could I?" I scoffed, not showing him the huge grin that was on my face.

I pored the water and added the herbs cleverly to my own drink before walking back into the room with them on a tray. I passed them along to the boys and sat back down. Shade sniffed his glass suspiciously and looked at me, I avoided his eye contact and adjusted my sitting position.

"Swap with me," he said confidently.

I put on the best horrified and startled expression that I could and reluctantly swapped our glasses. I watched with satisfaction as he downed half of the glass.

"Nice try" he smirked taking another sip of his water.

I burst out laughing and mirrored his smug grin before downing my whole glass. Shade looked at me in horror and spat out whatever water was left in his mouth, but it was too late.

"Essentia daemonium" I laughed smugly.

"But... that means" he stuttered as realisation.

his mouth gaped open and he set the glass down and ran up to his room. I cheered happily and high-fived Chase and Orpheus. It worked! I honestly didn't think he would fall for it but he did.

"Did you see his face?" asked Orpheus curling over in a fit of laughter.

I laughed with them before I got up and made my way up to his room knowing that the rash should have developed by now. I opened the door to see Shade shirtless in front of his full-length mirror, my cheeks reddened as I took in his perfectly muscled, well-defined body. I moved further into the room and shook my head ready to gloat in my victory.

"HA! you got the wrong herb" bragged Shade turning to face me.

I looked over his body and confusion flooded over me, there was not one mark on him.

"No, Shade that's impossible" I gasped spinning him around forcefully.

I inspected his back but again, there was nothing, his skin was perfectly clear. My blood turned to ice as realisation set in, the herbs will only not affect you if you have demon blood, but that would mean... No, I know he can be an asshole but there's no way that Shade is a demon I thought, although I knew that that was the only possible answer.

"Shade, look at me," I said gently.

He turned around and the colour flooded away from his face as he clicked on to what was happening. I allowed a beam of pure starlight to flow out of my hand and shined it onto Shades distraught face. His red eyes glowed brightly and then deepened to the point where the black almost consumed the red.

"I'm part demon?" asked Shade, already knowing the answer.

I nodded my head and an unusual expression formed on his face, making his eyes return to their usual bright red colour. I hated seeing him this way, Shade was the type of guy who had strong walls built to prevent others seeing his emotions but here he was standing infant of me, vulnerable.

"Its ok" I cooed, not really knowing what to do.

"No its not, I've always known that I wasn't normal, but I never fully understood why... why everyone important to me left, I have no family, they were the first people to leave me and I was always clueless to why I was never accepted... clueless to why everyone left me, so after a while I stopped caring... stopped trying to understand. But now I do understand, I... I'm a monster" he said slowly looking at the ground.

My heart suddenly felt heavy, I looked at the broken boy before me and held back my own tears. I walked forwards and embraced him in a hug for the first time. The electricity surged though me at our close contact and he tensed slightly before pulling me closer to his body.

"You're not a monster," I said firmly.

"I can't lose anyone else, especially you Princess," he said keeping his voice surprisingly steady.

"You won't lose me... I promise" I said quietly.

He relaxed into the hold and sobbed quietly into my hair. I stayed close to him, allowing myself to be his comfort until he pulled away and looked me in the eyes. He had regained his controlled expression and smiled weakly down at me.

"Thank you"

I smiled back at him and stayed to keep him company until I was sure that he was really ok.

Our stupid pranks had ended up revealing something that none of us could have imagined, Shade was part demon. But one thing I did know is that I was going to keep my promise, he would never lose me, not without a fight.