Mia insisted she apply the disguise makeup to my face before we left the nurse's office. She droned on about how I was doing it wrong, spewing words like “contouring”, “shading”, and “blending” while digging through the kit and placing it on the nurse's desk. I mostly tuned out her lesson because my master plan involved convincing the humans I was one of them. To look human was the goal, that was it, but she wanted me to look attractive in my disguise. Whatever, I indulged her. Why not let a human do some of my evil bidding? I needed to put on my disguise either way so if she wanted to do me so badly—ahem. Do it so badly, I failed to see a reason to stop her. Besides, she might’ve been willing to join my cause if I played along with her girlish romantic fantasies. I just needed to bide my time with her and figure out what she'd be willing to have in exchange for her soul.

She finished coating my lips with the human skin color tube and clicked it shut .

“Smack your lips together for me.”

I did.

“Wow…” She swooned. “I'd kiss you right now but that'd ruin the look. Like, when your makeup doesn’t suck donkey dick you go from Micheal Cera on meth to a baby-faced Billy Idol banging bitches backstage.”

I stared at her. “I… do you hear what comes out of your mouth when you speak?”

She placed her hands on her hips.

“‘Kay, I know my vocabulary is pretty advanced and you're a cute dummy demon boy who lives under a burning bush—but read between the psalm lines. You look hot Damian. Here, I'll show you.”

Then she grabbed a rectangular contraption from her pocket, swiped at the glossy surface, and bright light emanated from what was previously black. It was pure white, and the gray outline of an apple with a bite out of it rose from the light. Apple? As in the forbidden fruit of knowledge? The original sin of humanity… Was this a sign? White light. Angelic? Did they know? Did heaven fucking know? Were they taunting me?!

My throat seized up as if one of those multi-eyed monsters strangled me, goading me to give up my scheme. Maybe they were testing my resolve. Saying I couldn't exploit the sins of humanity like the great demons before me. Telling me with their vague signs that I was just some—some punk ass teenager in over his head? As if I'd let this mere glass box scare me. Not a fucking chance!

Hissing, I grabbed the angel brick and smashed it. That's right, I threw it on the ground! The box cracked like lightning. The glossy side splintered like a spiderweb. But I knew that wasn't good enough. I stomped my foot on the contraption. Bashing in the faces of those smug saints looking down at me. I wouldn't rest until they were all ash under my boot. Those haloed harpies wouldn't be smiling after I had humanity’s most powerful teenage time bombs under my control. I wasn't going to give them the satisfaction of gloating!

“You thought you could tease me?” I grinned, removing my foot from the remains of their angel brick. “Well, I'm gonna fuck you all over. Take everything you love. And if you want to stop me I'll stab every single one of your eyes out. I'll rip off your wings and wear them as a cape. I'm not scared of you! So if you wanna fuck with me—come down to Earth and say it to my face tough guy.”

I spat on the broken clump of metal. After showing those angels who’s boss, I turned to Mia. “Okay, so what was it you wanted to show me?”

Mia opened her mouth. Closed it. Then she opened it again.

“So… that was my phone.”

I squinted, waiting for her to say more. Instead she was quiet. Perhaps the shock of being exposed to angelic power was too much for her. I chuckled.

“Oh no it was obviously an angelic sign. The white light. The fruit of knowledge. They probably know I'm down here and they're scared of what I'm gonna do.” I shrugged. “I mean I’m a big deal. I'm really powerful and stuff. Really scary and evil y’know? So they warned me with this thing, tried to get in my head. Psh, they’re so scared of me. I'm not supposed to be here, it's scary for them that I am right? Yeah, but I'm not gonna listen to those feathered fancy fucks in their ivory—”

“Damian.” She held up her hand. “‘Kay first off real quick, please stomp on me like that after detention. Hottest fucking foreplay ever. Second, do you know what a phone even is?”

I smiled and stuck my hands in my pockets in a cool laid back way.

“Psh, yeah of course I do. I've seen a phone. I see phones all the time. They're, ah, really popular this time of year. See ‘em everywhere, being phone-like.” I nodded as if I knew what I was talking about. In reality I didn't have a fucking clue but I couldn't let her know that. Whatever she was talking about didn't matter to my plans anyway. I was here to corrupt humans, not learn about their dumb little lives and collect knick-knacks.

Mia pressed her palms together. “Oh. My. God… we have a fuckton of work to do.” She bit her lip. “And like—I want to be mad at you but you look macdaddy guyliner fuckboy right now all I want is you stepping on my face.”

I grimaced. “Again, do you hear yourself when you talk?”

“You should hear me when I cum.”

“Nope. Fuck that noise, I’m going to detention.”

“My voice gets a little higher.” She said breathily. “And it gets harder to breathe. And then my voice just shatters when you pound into my sweet little—”

The door slammed shut. I didn’t hear the rest of what she said.

Fuckin’ sinners.

Iggy’s head popped out of my blazer. “She really did excellent work on your face sir. You look more intimidating now. Very impressive, considering it’s you.”

“Hey, I can be intimidating. Didn’t you see how I schooled those angels back there?”

“That wasn’t…” he sighed. “Never mind. Do you remember where the detention room is, sir?”

“Nope, not a fuckin’ clue.” But I kept marching through the halls like I knew where I was going. I held my head high, strutted with confidence, panache, because I knew I was powerful. As I passed people, it seemed they started to get that idea too. There were plenty who stared at me, and whispers floated about here and there, saying things like“Was that the guy?” “Is that him?” “Can’t be, can it?”.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

A little chuckle escaped me. “Feels like I’m royalty all over again.”

Somehow the entire school was leering at me. I passed more faces, gawked and bewildered at my shocking recovery. Although I was going in circles because I still didn’t have a clue where the detention room was. I didn’t bother remembering Marvella’s whole tour yesterday. How could I? I didn’t expect to make it this far—yet now I had the school eating out of the palm of my claws.

During my walk, there were these metal slabs with blank black glossy rectangles on them. Bigger versions of the angel box.

Pausing, I whispered to Iggy “Are those angelic too? Should I break them?”

“I think you want to break them, sir. It’s not so much whether it’s a good idea, because it isn’t, but you seemed to be enjoying yourself by smashing the shit out of—and you’re not listening to me.”

I headed for one of the slabs, reached up to grab the edges, but it was fastened tight to the wall. Pulling at it was like trying to rip off a hanged man’s leg as he dangled above.

“Damn, these humans really are industrious.”

“Without your disguise you could use your tail to sever it.”

“Ugh, yeah why don’t humans have tails? That makes no sense. They have a tailbone.”

“Yes, and many other bones I’ve seen you break sir. Yet, you can’t rip off a television screen from the wall to save your infernal existence.”

“Shut up, I’m working on—wait. Television?”

“Yes, it transmits visuals and sounds to humans.”

I stared at it, no visuals or sounds were coming from it. I looked back at Iggy.

“You’re fucking with me aren’t you.”

At that moment, the blank glossy side burst with light! I jumped back, shielding my eyes from the sudden attack. Was this the work of those angels again? Yet, there was no white light and forbidden fruit displayed. Instead there was a human at a desk. A young student with his hands steepled and looking intensely from the box. Sound burst from all around the hallways with a sharp melody. I covered my ears right after covering my eyes. What the hell was going on?

“Good morning Marvell Academy!” The student in the box said. “And what a morning it has been. Drama right out the gate, plenty of news stories to get to, but first I’d like to introduce myself.”

Words flew at the bottom of the slab with the words: Jonah J. Jenkinson

“I’m Jonah Jack Jenkinson, but you can call me ‘the one true source for all your Marvell news’ or Jonah, like Madonna. Today we had a shocking incident which you’ve no doubt seen flooding out school’s socials: Gideon Marvell annihilating a total nobody in a fight on the first day of school. Excuse my Phyronian but WTF Mr. Marvell?”

The glossy box changed to Gideon, with me dangling from his foot, and my head about to get smashed against a pillar. During this, there was the sound of a guitar strum, which built up into a simple melody. The box didn’t display the part when my skull made impact with the stone. Instead it froze, the colors turned to a yellowish brown monochrome, and the little guitar melody was joined by other instruments with a blast of song. At the bottom corner of the screen, there was a small arrow with the words “To be continued.”

Jonah came back, “I know it’s a dead meme but I couldn’t resist.”

I squinted, “What is… a meme?”

“Apologies sir, even I’m at a loss.”

The human continued, “As we know, Gideon is by far the most powerful student here. So why pick on the little guy? Well! Rumor has it that this little guy might actually be more powerful. Impossible you say? I would’ve too, but our candid cameras have caught footage of this student walking around campus without a single scratch after taking a brutal beating. Not only that, but it seems he got an after death glow up?”

Then the box showed me! Although, I didn’t look like how I did before. When Gideon and I were clashing, my face looked pasty as Mia said. But in this footage of me stalking through the halls, my face was changed. It had sharper cheekbones, darkness swirling around my eyes, and more flesh-looking. All this to say, music came from the halls again playing a different tune. It was more guttural, bassy, and had a scratchy sort of sound. The beat pounded in my chest like the cry of a wardrum.

“I’m bringing sexy back. Yeah. Them other boys don’t know how to act. Yeah.”

The music continued as the images of me shared space on the box with Jonah.

“Look out Gideon! Whoever this new mysterious student is might be coming for your cape and your admirers, ooh. Also, we at Marvell Morning News like to be on top of things so we have an exclusive interview with this mystery student—right now!”

I tilted my head. “Right now?”

“Yes! Right now!” He replied. The box’s display blurred and turned snowy and crackled. Lightning burst out of the box, and Jonah was right in front of me.

“Hi, yes my power is traveling through electronic devices, manipulating them, and yada yada. No, I don't use it to look through people’s nudes on their phones. There’s too much to keep up with anyways. Trust me, you would not buh-lieve the rule 34 I’ve seen on the internet.” He chatted on.

I lifted my finger to make him stop talking. “Did you see me? Through the box? Are you an angel?”

Jonah gave me a look halfway through confused and bemused.

“Well, you sure are poetic. I could be, but I’d rather fight cyber-criminals than standby in the cloud. Enough about me. What’s your name, mystery student? And tell us about your powers. Do you think you’re better than Gideon or was it all just a misunderstanding?” He held a furry stick in front of my face.

His irises had a different pattern to them, with little box-like tendrils spinning and glowing in his eyes. I glanced at the glossy slab on the wall, and I was displayed but from Jonah’s perspective. What kind of superhero would need these powers? These boxes weren’t everywhere, was he so limited with what he could do with them that he’d need to plant more boxes around the world to be effective with his gifts? Maybe I could persuade him to trade his powers for some real super strength, or super speed, or anything but this. Such a pathetic power.

“Here is what I’ll tell you, Jonah is it?”

“Yes, but my friends call me Jay.”

“I don’t make friends.” I said instantly. My shoulders squared as I glared at him. “My name is Barry Badass. If you desire anything in this world, I can make it happen. This goes for anyone listening. All you have to do is submit to my will and relinquish yourself to the darkness. Do this, and I can give you anything.” I was about to walk away as my main message was out there, but stopped.

“One more thing… Gideon and I are just getting started. You’ll have many more of these memes to craft in my time of being here. Enjoy your stock of bread and circuses, Jonah.”

I gave a casual wave and sauntered off. As I did, the music from before with the wardrum beat and sensual lyrics wafted through the halls again. The glossy boxes displayed me strutting with my head held high.

“You heard it here first, folks. Our mystery student is Barry Badass and he is out for blood! Watch out Gideon.”

I agreed with Jonah’s song choice.

I was bringing sexy back, and I knew exactly how to act.