Azazel Draven Chapter 1 ~ Arrival

    Azazel Draven, better known as Azzy, hung his head in his hands as he sat on his suitcase on the derelict platform watching the train he’d arrived on roll out of the station with a loud whistle. He let out a loud sigh and blew his black hair out of his eyes, the heat was irritating him, even more so since he was dressed all in      black and the sun was high at this time of day. It was early summer and his parents,      Acacia and Vincent Draven, had thought it would be a good idea to send him to stay with his godfather and his family. Bunch of weirdoes the lot of them.
    “Hey look, it’s mini me.”
    Azzy looked up at the owner of the voice to see his godfather strolling towards him with his hands shoved into his jean pockets and grinning away like he always was.
    Azzy made a scoffing noise and rolled his eyes, “I’m way too cool to be a mini you.”
    Azazel crossed his arms and raised a sceptical eyebrow, “Is that so?” When Azzy          didn’t reply Azazel’s grin widened, “So tell me little man why exactly are you cooler than me?”
    “For one I'm not some old geezer living with a pair of bratty women... and what's up with your smiling all the time?” Azzy replied starring at Azazel accusingly.
    “Because I’m happy,” Azazel answered putting his hands onto his hips.
    “That’s stupid,” Azzy sneered getting slightly irritated. He was getting really hot now and it had been a long and boring train journey. In all honesty he just wanted to find somewhere to crash for a while and silently rage about the injustice of being sent to live in the country for the summer. There was nothing to do around here.
    Azazel laughed and ruffled Azzy’s hair much to the others displeasure, “What always happens when the sun goes down kid?”
    Azzy groaned, like he hadn’t heard that a thousand times, “The stars will always come out.”
    “Exactly,” Azazel replied giving him and light punch to the shoulder.
    “Whatever,” Azzy scoffed.
    “You’ll understand someday,” Azazel said with a sigh, “Well young man we best get you into the car so we can get you home eh?”
    Azzy, cheered slightly at the prospect of leaving the station got up quickly and grabbed his bag following Azazel to the car. He put his trunk in the boot and was just in the process of shutting the passenger door when Azazel turned to him and said, “And only one of them is a brat thank-you.”
    Azzy gave him an odd look, not sure who he was referring to and unable to tell if Azazel was offended or not so he settled for his usual tactic, “Leave me alone.”
Azazel stuck his tongue out at him, “Ooh look at me, I’m a hard-ass teenager.”
    “Shut up man I don’t even want to be here,” Azzy snapped, irritated at the Azazel for being so…happy.
    Azazel merely grinned and reached over with one hand to pinch Azzy’s cheek,      “Then maybe you should get you’re act together, then you wouldn’t have to come stay with your godfather and his ‘bratty women’.”
    Azzy glared at him and swatted his hand away, “Concentrate on driving you idiot.” With that final comment Azzy shifted so his back was to Azazel and contented himself with watching the country roll by out of the window.
      *****
    Pulling up outside the house Azazel leaned over and prodded Azzy’s shoulder, “We’re here kid.”
    “I wasn’t sleeping,” Azzy snapped as he jerked upright.
    Azazel leaned back and laughed, “Never said you were kid.”
    Azzy sneered at him and stormed out of the car, slamming the door behind him leaving Azazel laughing in the car. Going to the boot he hoisted his bag out and trooped towards the door grumbling under his breath and glaring at the front door as if willing it to burst into flames.
    He was about to reach up to push it open when the door moved inwards on it’s own to reveal a small girl with dark red hair down to her shoulders and bright icy blue eyes just like Azazel’s. “Oh, I thought I heard the car,” she smiled, “it’s nice to see you again Azzy.”
    “Hey Aella,” Azzy replied slightly snappishly, still smarting from behind caught sleeping.
    Aella’s cheeks coloured slightly and opened her mouth to reply but a call from inside the house had her dashing off in the direction of the kitchen. Azzy jumped when he felt a hand on his shoulder, “See,” Azazel whispered, “not bratty.”
    Azzy glared at his godfather as he moved past him into the house towards the kitchen. Instead of following him Azzy dragged his bag upstairs to the spare room that was always his went he was sent to live with his godfather and proceeded to collapse face down on the bed with a loud groan of frustration.
    There was a soft knock at the door and Azzy looked up to see Aella standing in the doorway, “Mum says dinner will be ready soon just to let you know.”
    Azzy just rolled his eyes and collapsed down on the bed, “You know I was supposed to be a concert tonight?”
    “Oh I’m sorry,” Aella replied and she looked it to. This was another thing that irritated Azzy about Azazel and Aella; they were both so damn sincere.
    Pushing himself into a sitting position on the bed Azzy leant forward on his knees, “It's not your fault, it's my stupid parents and your wretched dad for offering to take me this summer! Bastards,” Azzy paused for a second glaring around the room, “I’m going to miss all the parties with my friends and everything.”
    Aella leaned against the doorframe and rubbed one of her arms nervously, she herself was very close to her dad and to hear Azzy talk about him this way was a little upsetting. She chewed her bottom lip nervously, “I’m sorry.”
    Azzy rolled his eyes at her, what was with this girl and apologising so much anyway.
    “Well I’ll…I’ll see you at dinner,” with that Aella left, closing the door softly behind her and leaving Azzy alone to sulk.
    As it turned out Azzy decided he wouldn’t go down to dinner, instead he opted for lying on his bed and glaring at the ceiling. Not that he’d have eaten much anyway, he himself was a vegetarian and watching people eat meat was something else that irked him. Not that he’d ever mentioned it to Azazel, Emel or Acacia; come to think of it…he hadn’t seen Emel at all so far. Not that he cared, she was the most annoying woman he had ever met, he really couldn’t understand why Azazel had married her.
    He looked out at the sky, it was purple and pink, the sun was setting, he sneered and turned away from the window. He should be on his way to a concert right now, not alone and stuck in the middle of nowhere. A knock at the door startled him out of his reverie, “Who is it?” he called.
    “It’s me,” a voice called back, Aella’s.
    “What do you want?” Azzy snapped annoyed at being interrupted.
Aella pushed the door open a crack and shuffled nervously, “Well I had an idea.”
    “Oh yeh, and what’s that?” Azzy sneered not sounding at all impressed, Aella may have been less than a year younger than him but as far as Azzy was concerned she was a baby.
    “Wait here,” was all she said before dashing off.
    Azzy rolled his eyes and rummaged around in his bag for a pack of cigarette. He’d just slipped one between his lips and was in the process of lighting it when she returned, dashing into his room and closing the door in a hurry, leaning against it and clutching something close to her.
    Lighting the cigarette Azzy examined the object more closely, it was Azazel’s glider. A long wooden pole with a latch you pulled to extend a pair of wings like a regular hand-glider would use. The big difference being that Azazel, and Aella, had the ability to manipulate the wind as they pleased so rather than glide they could essentially fly.
    Catching on to what she was thinking Azzy sat up quickly, “What the hell are you doing? Did you ask your dad?”
    Aella winked at him and gave him a cheeky grin, “Nope, but he’s been teaching me how to fly it and I reckon I can take a passenger.”
    Azzy made a mocking noise, “And where are we gunna go, we’re in the middle of nowhere. There is nothing to do here!”
    Aella shifted her weight from one foot to the other nervously, “Well…I thought that maybe I could fly you to the train station…or something.”
    Azzy’s face brightened immediately, “WHAT REALLY?! Hell yes lets go! I can’t go to the concert,” jumping up Azzy rummaged in his trunk for his backpack, stuffing some stuff in it he moved towards the doorway, “mom took and burned my tickets but you can drop me at the train station and I’ll be outta this hell hole.”
    “Well…alright,” Aella frowned slightly at his reference to her home but pushed it aside as she followed him out of his room and down the stairs. Looking around to check that her parents had gone to bed the two of them snuck out of the front door and into the night.
    Releasing the latch Aella watched as the wings spread out on the glider and waiting for Azzy to get on the back. “Alright, let’s go!” Azzy demanded as he climbed on.
    Aella bit her lip and pushed off hard using the wind to push the glider upwards and turned towards the train station. The ride was a quiet one, Azzy was too excited about the prospect of getting out of the ‘hell hole’ and Aella wasn’t sure how to approach him without him snapping at her again.
    Soon the platform was in site and the two descended slowly just as the train began to pull into the station. “Well uh…have fun,” Aella whispered nervously running a hand through her hair and twirling some round her finger.
Azzy gave her a sarcastic smile as the train rolled to a stop behind him, “Thanks a lot, babycakes see ya sometime when I'm a famous musician or something.”
    “Um…uh…Az…can I come?” Aella flushed and ducked her head as Azzy turned around to look at her.
    “You can’t come with me,” Azzy sneered, “Go back to your precious life.”
    “I won’t get in the way,” Aella fidgeted as Azzy turned again and stepped onto the train, “I promise.”
    “Why do you want to come with me?” Azzy demanded getting impatient, “Don’t you like it here?”
    “I do like it…I just want to see what you like,” she looked up at him imploringly, “you always seem so sad when you come to stay.”
    “I am not sad, “ Azzy spat, “I just hate it here, all your customs and shit…and my parents always telling me what to do…you can’t come with me!”
    “Well fine,” Aella stamped her foot and strode away, ducking behind a pillar and watching him get on the train and move up the carriage.
    “Girls are so stupid,” Azzy muttered and with a heavy sigh turned his attention away from the platform. As such he didn’t notice Aella dart out from her hiding place and jump onto the train just as the doors slid closed behind her.
    Azzy pulled another cigarette from his bag and put it to his lips, giving the non-smoking sign a mocking salute he lit it and made to take a drag only to find it had gone out. He pulled it out and looked at it oddly before returning it to his mouth and lighting it again only to have the same result. “What the hell?” Azzy snapped at it getting frustrated now.
    “Excuse me young man,” said the conductor politely as she pointed to the no-smoking sign, “This is a no-smoking area.”
    Azzy, who had been leaning against the wall of the train stood up to his full height of 5’10 and was good two or three inches higher than the lady conductor. Puffing out his chest and smirking down at her, “What? You wanna do something about it? I’ll smoke if I want to.” To prove his point he lifted his lighter to his lips only to have it go out again.
    Azzy’s face contorted in anger, “WHAT THE HELL!! DO YOU HAVE SOME KIND OF LIKE...SUPER...AIR CONDITION HER OR SOEMTHING?! FUCK!” He threw his cigarette at the startled conductor just as the train pulled to a stop. Not really knowing where he was but eager to get away from the train he jumped off.
    He watched the train roll out of the station and mockingly put another cigarette to his lips fully expecting it to work perfectly but instead it went out again.
    “You know you can’t get away with that around me,” a voice said from being him with a giggle.
    Azzy spun around to face Aella. “Wha- what the hell? That was you?!” he demanded looking furious.
    Aella just grinned at him, “Well it wasn’t the air conditioning.”
Azzy ran a hand through his hair in frustration, “Look... ah shit... you know how much trouble you're gonna get me in? If your dad finds you with me I'm gonna get my ass beat...” Azzy trailed off.
    “What for?” she asked cocking her head to the side, “I can look after myself.”
    “Ugh,” Azzy let out a sound of annoyance, “you need to stop following me.”
    “I’m not following you,” she shrugged, “I just happen to be going in the same direction.”
    “You’re really starting to piss me off Aella,” he sneered at her. Throughout this conversation they had moved away form the train station and were now wondering down a deserted street of shops. Turning on her Azzy grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her hard causing her to let out a cry of surprise. “Yeah see you can't handle life away from your precious world of manners and traditions! Go HOME!”
    “No I won’t,” she replied defiantly glaring at him with those bright blue eyes of hers that were only a few shades lighter than his own.
    “Alright fine,” Azzy said drawing back with a smirk and rummaging through his bag, “you wanna come with me, you’ve got to prove you can handle it.” With those last ominous words he pulled out a sleek black pistol and twirled it in his fingers for a moment.
    “How?” Aella asked dubiously, watching the gun in his hand.
He pushed the gun at her and spun her around so she was facing a chemists, “Go knock off that drugstore,” he gave her a slight push.
    Aella stumbled forward a bit turning the gun over in her hands glaring down at it as if it would melt under her gaze. Turning around slowly she turned her glare on Azzy and slowly released the catch that let the magazine slide out. Turning it upside down she emptied the rounds into her other hand before replacing the magazine and shoving the gun back at him.
    “You’re a bitch,” Azzy sneered at her and tried to snatch the rounds back but she held them away letting them drop into a drain.
    “And you’re an idiot,” Aella replied stamping on his foot.
    Azzy winced, “Why? Because I don’t want to live like the rest of you?”
    “You insist on making things difficult,” Aella snapped back.
    “Because I want everyday to be an adventure and I hate normality?” Azzy spat towering over her/
    “Life can be an adventure,” she protested glowering up at him, “just not one that ends up with you in prison or worse!” She swallowed hard, slightly intimidated by him, “You can gun a man down, I can send them flying hundreds of feet, but you don’t see me waving it around!”
    “Okay how about this...” Azzy gave a reluctant sigh, “I go back with you and you show me these 'adventures' of yours... because I'm tired of my everyday life... I'M LOOKING for trouble. And I know that must sound stupid... but I'm tired of a simple life.”
    “Really?” Aella’s mood immediately brightened which left Azzy reeling from her sudden change in attitude, “You are not, as Auntie Cherry says, ‘pulling a fast one?”
    “Ha,” Azzy gave a bark of laughter, “No I’m not.” He paused for a moment before continuing, “I'll go with you but if I don't see something happen soon I'm gone... and no bull-crap star, wind talk will convince me to stay!”
    “Alright,” Aella grinned and released the glider again, “hop on.”
    “Whatever,” Azzy rolled his eyes but climbed on anyway, “your dad is gunna be pissed when he finds out we’ve been gone.”
    Aella laughed as she kicked off, “We don’t have to tell him.”
    Azzy stayed quiet for a while, just letting the feel of the wind rushing through his hair distract him but soon getting bored. Azazel had taken him flying when they were younger and sure it had seemed amazing then but now it was dull. Growing slightly irritated by the silence he decided to say something, “Your parents,” he started and paused for a second, “do they ever talk to you about their adventures?”
    “Oh sure, “ Aella replied with a grin, “they’ve told me all the stories.”
Relaxing a little he continued, “You ever wish you could’ve been there... even at the bad parts? Just to have,” he paused, “said you lived? You know? Don't you ever get bored?”
    “It is nice to wonder,” Aella replied, “but if you spend your life daydreaming about things you can't see...you might miss your own adventure.”
Azzy made a scoffing noise, “Well I was on my way to mine but someone…” he trailed off accusingly.
    “Well sorry,” Aella huffed, she couldn’t see the grin on his face.
    “Don’t apologise, that’s one of the most annoying things about you, you know that? You’re always apologising.”
    “Oh sorry,” Aella replied a little sadly then she realised her mistake, “I mean…oh…”
    Azzy laughed, well aware of her embarrassment and revelling in it. Aella, who was slightly red from his teasing decided she’d get a little payback. “Hey, hold on tight okay?”
    “Uh okay,” Azzy replied and gripped a little tighter, not entirely sure what her intentions were.
    Aella smile craftily and angled the glider downwards so it was vertical, releasing the wind around it she let it drop in free fall which left the pair of them plummeting towards the ground.
    “Woah, what the hell are you doing?” Azzy demanded, his eyes wide and his breath caught in the back of his throat as the ground rose up to meet them very fast. “Aella!” he yelled.
    Twenty metres, ten metre, five metres, one metre! Then she pulled up and they were gliding above the railway tracks.
    “That,” Azzy panted, “that’s insane.” Then he grinned and laughed, “Do it again!”
    “Wait, it gets better,” Aella replied focusing on the train that was speeding down the tracks towards them. If she kept going they’d fly straight into it.
    “Aella, train!” Azzy gasped through laughter, “Aella!”
    She ignored him and kept flying; the driver leaned out of the side and yelled at them, waving frantically. Azzy sucked in a breath, convinced it would be his last and then they weren’t in front of the train anymore. Riding the slipstream down the sides and barrel rolling away before soaring higher and higher as the sounds of the train sailed away into the distance.
    Realising that he wasn’t in any danger Azzy began laughing again, stronger and freer this time, “This is awesome!”
    “I love flying,” Aella replied as she performed a loop-de-loop that had Azzy clinging on for dear life.
    “Why don’t you do it more often? I’ve never seen you do this,” he asked genuinely curious. As far he was concerned Aella was a goody-two-shoes-daddy’s-girl who would never put a toe out of line.
    “That’s so dumb,” Azzy scoffed, “we should do this every night while I’m here.
Aella laughed, “Alright.”
    The rest of the flight back was relatively quiet, punctuated every once in a while by an encouraging whoop from Azzy. Sneaking back into the house wasn’t hard either, neither Azazel nor Emel appeared to be awake or even aware of the pair’s late night jaunt. Soon they were on the landing and outside Azzy’s room standing facing each other not entirely sure what to say.
    “Well I’ll see you in the morning,” Azzy paused, “I guess.”
    “Yeh, I guess so,” Aella replied rubbing the back of her neck nervously.
    “Yeh…well…” Azzy trailed off as he turned to face his door, putting a hand on the doorknob, “…night.”
    “Oh…yes….night,” Aella replied before dashing off to her own room.
    Azzy shook his head as he entered his room, it wasn’t until he looked up that he saw Azazel sitting cross-legged on his bed and grinning at him with one eyebrow raised. Now Azzy was accustomed to going out late at night without telling anyone and he was also used to coming home to find one or both of his parents taping their foot at him…not grinning. “Arg God damn it, look it doesn't matter where I was, I came back okay,” he babbled glaring at Azazel as if daring him to challenge him on the matter.
    Azazel only raised an eyebrow, “Call if flying practice and I won’t tell your mother.”
    Azzy glared at him for a moment longer, not sure how to react, “Fine,” he snapped, “can you get out now?”
    Azazel gave a shrug and pushed himself of the bed, as he walked passed Azzy to get to the door he patted him on the shoulder, “Be nice to her.”
“Be nice to who?” Azzy demanded as Azazel reached the door, then his eyes widened but his sneer remained, “I’m not interesting in her! You hear me?!” but Azazel was already out the door, “She’s not….arg you’re not even listening.” Throwing his hands up in the air Azzy collapsed on his bed silently cursing Azazel and Aella and Emel while he was at it.