"FANGS!?"

(Gabe pov)

“Feeling better?” Fayda walked into the room just as I finished up my tasks around the shop.

It’s been a few days since I was sick, and I was feeling a whole lot better. I was no longer blacking out suddenly, and my emotions are now in my control.

“Yeah! I feel great!”

She let out a sigh of relief, “Good….” The doctor then looked me seriously in the eyes, “So Azz told me you don’t know a thing about the corruption process and sent me to explain everything.”

I hung my head low, “Yeah… the process to become a demon….”

Fayda then asked me to follow her as we went into a separate room to talk. We sat down at a round table as she gave me a stern look.

There was an awkward silence before she began, “You see…. There are many different phases of the ‘fallen angel.’ They vary depending on the being. But there are some common side-effects that all fallen angels have seemed to have so far.”

“You mean like what happened before?”

“Yes. One of them is the loss of control over emotion. Another one is a spike in untrained power.”

I inquired, “When I broke the shelf with the broom? Isn’t that dangerous?”

“Yes. It is why many demons fear fallen angels. It’s because of how unruly they can be at times. Some would even go out of their way to kill a fallen angel to protect themselves.” she explained.

I gasped in realization, “can that be why Ace was trying to kill me?”

She nodded before continuing, “However, that is just the start of these phases or side-effects. There are also changes In your body. Common changes are fangs, claws, and possible horns. You could also gain demonic wings, but since you no longer have any regular angel wings, you most likely will not.”

I nodded.

“Then there is the memory and personality-!”

“My personality is gonna change too!?”

She cleared her throat to get my attention, “As I was saying…. Your personality and the way that you act MAY change. As for the memories, you will lose your memories of your life as an angel in the last phase. Not only that, but you will forget your life as a fallen angel too. How it happens could be that you slowly lose your memory one by one, or you could lose it altogether. But one thing is for sure; one day, you go to sleep as a fallen angel, the next you wake up as a demon.”

I remained quiet; I didn’t want to hear anymore…. But one thing for sure: I need to find a way out of this place!

She sighed before walking away, “I’ll leave you be now.”

I looked down at my hands, ‘I NEED to find a way back soon! Or I will not be able to return as an angel! A demon, no matter the story, can’t stay in the world of light for long!’

‘I’m not getting anywhere here. I don’t care what Azz says. I’m going to search through the capital to find my own answers!’

Looking around the shop, I noticed it was just me now. No one else around, so I put on a hoodie, boots, and some warmer clothes. If I got caught by Azz, then they’ll send me back here, and I’ll get nothing done. So I put the hood up around my head and hope for the best as I headed out.

I knew that if I acted any different from the demons around me, then I’d be in trouble. So, for the first time in my life, I decided to blend in. Looking around me, I started to walk casually throughout the streets as if I had a destination in mind.

While I was walking, I listen to passersby’s conversations. However, nothing came up that piqued my interest.

I sighed before noticing a man off to the side with a smoking white stick in his mouth.

He noticed me too and offered, “Hey, wanna smoke?”

Knowing I had to play it safe, I answered with a gruff, “HECK NO!” before walking away from the dirty and strange man.

With no luck so far, I came to a dark alleyway and decided to investigate it. When I came to a dead-end, there was a group with guys my age or younger gathered. They all wore the same symbol somewhere on their clothes or body.

One turned to me rudely, “What do you want?”

This got the others' attention.

“….”

He then came towards me and started to shove me, “I said what do you want!?”

Another came up to me saying, “You have a lot of nerve showing up on our territory! Who are you?! Ya piece of crap!”

Soon I felt really irritated by these guys, so much so that I clenched my fists.

“What? Getting angry? Go and cry to your mommy!” he mocked.

With a strong push, I shoved them both back and started to yell, “Leave me ALONE!”

The one who shoved me challenged, “Oh really? Then what about a one-on-one match? Me and you, right here, right now.”

I smirked, “only in your dreams!”

The others gathered around us as they chanted, “FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!”

He introduced himself, “The name’s Max. Try and remember, 'cause I’m going to be the one to beat you up so bad that you wished you'd never met me!

“Like I said before, only in your dreams!”

Max swung the first punch, but I dodged it quickly and threw one of my own. He dodged it. But what he didn’t expect was for me to use my legs to sweep him off the ground. The boy fell on his side. However, he got back up. I growled in frustration before wildly swinging my arms. I managed to land a few strikes, but he was persistent as he struck back just as fast. Soon we were both exhausted as the fight seemed like it’d end in a draw.

My hood fell back from the wind as Max breathed out, “y-your good….”

That’s when someone started to shout, “HEY! I THOUGHT I TOLD YOUR GANG THAT THIS ISN’T A PLAYGROUND! THIS IS PRIVATE PROPERTY!”

I turned my head towards the voice. There stood an older man with glasses. My eyes widened as Max and his crew took off in the opposite direction.

Meanwhile, I just stood there in shock before the man grabbed me by the hoodie and started yelling, “I thought I told you to get out!”

“I’m not with them!!”

His eyes widened in realization as he looked me over, “Then why are you here?!”

I flashed my… FANGS!?

Suddenly, I started to panic. Finally, he asked, “What’s wrong?”

“FANGS!? I HAVE FANGS!?”

He looked at me like I was crazy. I realized this and tried to calm down.

Then he looked at me as if trying to figure me out before gasping, “Oh! Your Azz’s kid!”

“You know Azz?”

“Yeah! He’s my favorite customer! He talks about you all the time! You must be here to check out some books! My name is Mr. Bowman! Come with me!”

He soon led me around the alley to the front of a huge library.

‘A library!? That means I might be able to do some research on how to get out of here!! I hit the jackpot!’ I thought.

When we walked in, he asked, “So what are you looking for? Fiction? Non-fiction?”

I pondered about it for a moment before answering, “Is there anything about fallen angels and possibly sending them back with the angels before they turn into a demon?”

Mr. Bowman asked slowly, “You're trying to get back home… aren’t you?”

I nodded.

“You know that getting a fallen angel home before becoming a demon is nearly impossible, right?”

“I know… but I’m willing to try,” I answered in a sad tone. “I made a promise to someone back home that I’ll return no matter the cost….”

He gave me a sad smile, “You remind me so much of Azz before he became a demon… I’ll help you.”

“Azz? You knew him before?”

“Yes. Now we don’t want to waste much time. Follow me.”