"Cheers!"
"Cheers to winners!"
"Cheers to us!"
The diner booth was practically buzzing from the team's chaotic celebration. Alex had no choice but to tag along with the other members of the team, invited by the crazy joyful captain.
Dane, heavily drunk and slurring his words, had his phone mounted on a selfie stick at the booth, running a loud livestream for a few hundred active viewers.
"Look at this guy!" Dane roared into the camera, throwing a sweaty, heavy arm around Alex's neck and tilting the lens down. "Alex! The absolute wall of our team, I have always knew he was an amazing player! Hahaha! We're at the diner near the campus now, people! Drinks on me! Just kidding, you guys won't be getting shit! Hahaha"
Alex endured the camera in his face for a brief second before calmly sliding out from under Dane's arm.
In his left hand, he held a sealed plastic bag containing two heavy containers of grilled chicken and rice, a quiet takeout meal he had ordered specifically to bring back to the house for Janeth and the others.
While Dane was busy screaming at his phone screen and boasting out to the stream, Alex quietly stepped away from the booth and slid out the front glass door unnoticed.
Outside, the late afternoon sun was beginning its slow descent, turning the sky in deep shades of gold.
Alex set a relaxed pace down the walkway, keeping the warm food held carefully at his side.
'Running back home to the house already?' Liza's voice echoed inside his head, dripping with a teasing tilt. 'How sweet~ The half-incubus playing dutiful house-husband.'
'I just bought dinner.' Alex thought back flatly. 'And I'd rather eat in peace than hear Dane screams for hours."
'Fair enough.'
He continued down the path toward the residential quarter, but three steps past a convenience store, a sharp feeling triggered his senses.
Without turning around, he could feel a wave of heavy hostility coming off someone trailing behind him.
Slipping a subtle glance over his shoulder, he caught three tall broad figures trying to look casual while keeping their eyes locked on his back.
'Seems they are following you, but all three are human.' Liza confirmed his senses.
Alex did not panic or hurry his pace.
Wanting to see who was following him and deal with them away from open crowds, he made a deliberate left turn, stepping directly into a service alleyway.
The alley was narrow, shaded, and quiet.
Alex walked halfway down the path, then stopped, turning around slowly, his hands resting at his sides, the plastic bag dangling from his left hand.
The heavy crunch of boots on grit echoed as the three men entered the alley.
They spread out, blocking the exit. Alex immediately recognized one.
At the center stood William, the captain of the team they played against and won.
Two other teammates flanked him on either side, their broad shoulders and talk figures nearly touching.
William rolled his neck slowly, the joints popping loudly in the narrow space.
He unzipped his jacket and tossed it onto a nearby dumpster, revealing a tight tank top. His two teammates did the same, shrugging off their bags and cracking their knuckles.
"The match is over, William." Alex said, his voice steady, but not aggressive whatsoever.
William didn't respond immediately, taking a slow step forward, then another. He stopped a few feet from Alex, towering over him, his chest heaving with each breath.
His jaw was clenched so tight the muscles in his neck were visibly pulsing. Clearly, he was too enraged by the loss.
"You made me look like a fucking joke..." William said, his voice low and trembling. "In front of the whole campus."
"It's just a match... But you better leave. I'm giving you a chance." Alex repeated. "Take it."
William's eyes narrowed. His right hand came up, and he pointed a thick finger directly at Alex's chest, jabbing it forward without quite touching him. "You don't get to tell me when to walk away. I'm not leaving without crushing you like I promise."
Alex didn't flinch and didn't step back, just looked at William's finger, then back up at his face.
William sneered, before his lips curled into a contemptuous grin. He stepped back a step, then winded up his arm.
Then he swung.
Not at Alex, but at the bag.
His large palm struck the plastic bag in Alex's grip with the full force of his arm, causing the bag ripped and the containers inside shot sideways.
CLACK!
The containers hit the dusty concrete with a wet splash and the lids popped off.
His hot grilled chicken, seasoned rice, and rich sauce burst outward, scattering across the dirty grit and gravel.
The smell of hot food mixed with the air of the alleyway.
The silence reigned over the narrow space.
Alex didn't move, his hands remained at his sides and his fingers slightly open.
His gaze slowly dropped to the mess on the ground, staring at the ruined food.
The meal he had bought for Janeth was sitting in the dirt.
The two teammates behind William shifted uncomfortably, glancing at each other. One of them scratched the back of his neck, the other looked down at his shoes, not expecting William to be that pitiful.
William, however, was watching Alex's downward gaze with growing satisfaction, letting out a short, cruel laugh, he stepped forward, planting his boot directly in the middle of the spilled rice, grinding it into the pavement.
"What's the matter?" William mocked, leaning down slightly. "Gonna cry over spilled rice?"
Alex remained silent, his eyes stayed on the ground.
Straightening up emboldened, William took another step forward, closing the distance between them until he was less than a step from Alex's face.
"You walk around like you own this campus, but you're just a nerdyfreak. " William murmured, his voice dropping to a low casual tone.
He tilted his head, studying Alex's profile like he was examining something beneath him. "Hmm~ I also heard you have a cute little girlfriend. What was her name?... Ah! Alice, right? You're some hot shit hahaha!"
He paused. A slow disgusting smile spread across his face, letting out a quiet breathy laugh through his nose.
"She's got a tight body on her, your girl. How lucky you're~" William said, acting too casual, like he was discussing the weather.
He shrugged one shoulder. "Might pay her a visit after I'm done with you. See if she moans as pretty as she looks."
The words hung in the stale alley air.
Alex's fingers twitched, it was a tiny movement, barely visible, but it was there.
William didn't notice, he was too busy enjoying the sound of his own voice, leaning in closer, his lips almost touching Alex's ear.
"Bet she's gonna squirt hard when I rape her~" he whispered.
Alex slowly raised his head.
When his eyes came into the light, his dark human pupils were gone, in their place burned a pair of cold crimson eyes, glowing with a light that stripped away every trace of humanity.
William flinched, his body jerked backward involuntarily, his instincts screaming at him to run.
His smile died and his lips parted, but no sound came out. The color drained from his face in an instant. He didn't feel looking at a human anymore.
But his pride wouldn't let him back down, not in front of his teammates. He tightened his jaw and clenched his fists. He swallowed the lump of fear in his throat and forced a snarl onto his face.
"What the fuck are you looking at—"
He raised his right hand high in the air, swinging a hard, full-force slap aimed straight at Alex's face.
Before the palm could even come close, Alex's hand shot up, his fingers caught William's wrist mid-air with a scary precise motion.
CRACK!
The sound echoed off the brick walls as Alex's fingers clamped down like iron.
The bones in William's wrist creaked and ground together under unnatural pressure and his entire arm locked in place.
William's eyes went wide, his mouth opened, but the scream took a second to catch up to the pain. When it did, it came out high-pitched and broken.
"AHHHHHHHHHHH! F-Fuck!!!!" William shrieked, his face contorting, trying to yank his arm back, his body pulling away, but his crushed wrist was locked in place. "L-Let go!!! LET GO OF ME!! AGHHHHH!"
Not giving away by his pleas, and not even looking away, just staring directly into William's eyes, his crimson gaze boring into him with anger.
His left hand shot forward, his fingers clamped around William's neck, sinking into the flesh. The grip was instant and absolute, sealing off his windpipe.
"A-Aghhuhnn..." William's screaming stopped. His mouth hung open, but only a thin, desperate wheeze escaped.
His large hands flew up to Alex's arm, his fingers scratching and pulling at the grip.
Without bending his knees, without straining a single muscle, Alex lifted him up.
The captain's feet left the ground, his boots dangled in the air, his toes pointing downward. Alex pressed him back against the rough brick wall, pinning him with inhumane force.
William's back scraped against the brick. His legs kicked frantically, his heels slamming against the wall in a desperate. It made no difference, the arm didn't move.
A dark red smoke began to bleed out from Alex's skin, seeping through him like steam and drifting into the alley air.
The smoke caused a crushing pressure, a heaviness that pressed against the skin and filled the lungs.
William's face turned purple and his eyes bulged. His kicking grew weaker, more uncoordinated. Spit gathered at the corners of his mouth, dripping down his chin.
"H-Hey!! Let go of him!"
"We gonna beat your ass if you don't stop!"
The two teammates behind him tried to move forward. The shorter one took one step before the horrifying pressure hit him, his knees buckled, dropping hard onto the concrete.
The taller one grabbed his own chest, gasping, his eyes wide, staggering backward until his back hit the dumpster, sliding down until he was sitting on the ground.
RIIIIIIIIIP!
A sound was sharp and violent.
The back of Alex's shirt split completely, as two massive black wings burst outward, their sharp bone claws scraping against the brick walls on either side of the alley.
The walls were narrow, and the wingspan barely fit their size.
The demon wings spread vast, their dark membrane absorbing the light. The weight of them shifted Alex's posture, his shoulders rolling back, his frame growing larger and more imposing.
His fingers tightened around William's throat.
Soon William's kicking slowed, his hands dropped from Alex's arm, hanging limp at his sides. His eyes rolled back, the whites showing. His body was going slack, swaying like a ragdoll against the wall.
'Alex! Alex!! Alex!' Liza's voice slammed into his head, finally reaching his fogged up mind . 'Alex, stop! You're going to kill him! Snap out of it!'
The succubus's yells hit him like a splash of cold water. Alex blinked hard, the crimson glow in his vision thinned, then his chest heaved, pulling in a sharp breath of air.
He saw William's purple face, the bulging eyes, and his limp weak body.
Releasing his grip instantly, the fainted captain dropped to the ground.
Laying face-down in the dirt unconscious, his chest rising and falling in shallow ragged breaths.
"...!"
Alex staggered back a step, a throbbing headache spiked behind his temples.
Pressing his palm against his forehead as he winced. The wings folded slightly behind him, the muscles twitching with each chain of pain.
Standing there breathing heavily, looking down at William's unconscious body in the dirt, then at the two guys still shaking on the ground, unable to meet his eyes.
"I lost control over myself." Alex slowly turned his head to look over his shoulder.
'Yeah, You almost killed a human! Come on! You have control your anger better!' Liza scolded, but he was too occupied by the new parts coming out of his body.
Two enoumrous dark bat wings stretched out from his back, the heavy muscles and bone claws alive.
A quiet pause fell over him as he gazed at them, flexing them slightly, feeling the joints shift and move.
The weight pulled at his back, real and undeniable. He truly was no longer completely human.
'Sorry, Liza...' Alex thought quietly, trying to regain his composure. 'How do I put these back or hide them?'
CRASH!
Suddenly the sound of a phone hitting the pavement echoed.
Alex froze, slowly turning his head toward the entrance of the service path.
Standing in the fading sunlight at the entrance of the alley were two familiar figures and faces.
Anna and Ash.
Ash's hand was still hovering in the air where her phone had just slipped from her fingers.
Both girls stood frozen, their faces completely drained of color, their wide shocked eyes were locked onto the towering man standing in the shade, surrounded by a pair majestic demon wings...