Gourmet Deviled Egg

Chapter 6 - The Wall

My face felt a bit sore from the kick. I rubbed my cheek, hissing, as I stood up. I paid closer attention to my assailant's face. The grin of a slur-throwing asshole. The recognition hit me. He was notorious in my building. “Jesus f*****g Christ... Victor Show from A-701?”

He sneered. “I figured no one could recognise me. Then again, I aged like fine wine, as handsome at ninety as I was at twenty. You, though, you’re painfully recognisable. You poor delusional i***t, you really think you pass? It’s so obvious you’re a fag in a skirt with fake t**s. Plus, I saw you on the security cameras I run. Rushing between your place and 101. Can’t you be fags behind closed doors at least?” He cackled. It sounded like nail scraping on a chalkboard. Definitely caused by his teeth. His slur-throwing schtick was getting old. Up until that moment, I had only read about them in history class. “Question for you, my dearest tranny. Do you still have your d**k, or did you grab the nearest pair of scissors to mutilate yourself with? I want to know how much it’ll hurt when I hit you there.” He lunged at me, faster than I figured he could be, so fast it took a lot for me to dodge him, to avoid his hit. But I didn’t dodge him quite enough. Instead of being rammed full on and grabbed, I got shoulder checked in the stomach by him. This threw me back, and I left a skid mark in the gravel as I slid on it.   

“f**k. Ugh. That’s gonna bruise, you asshole! And I only got the one outfit, jackass!” I groaned and looked at him. He looked self satisfied, delighted at my pain, relishing in it. f*****g harpy of a man. 

“Oh, that is surprising for a sissy as yourself. Aren’t you supposed to have a full wardrobe of frilly stuff that’s sized-up baby clothes? Disgusting degenerate.” He jumped and swung at me; I barely managed to kick up, knocking him back enough to give myself space to finish the roll into a standing position. “p*****t, flashing me your underwear like that, trying to make me see a d**k without consent. Although it looks like you definitely went for the scissors. Good to know. Scars hurt more.” He swiped again, with his legs this time, trying to trip me up. I jumped up, grabbing onto his shoulder as leverage, before I swung my fist right into his annoying face. I just wanted him to shut up. To stop saying hurtful things. I was not some weird fetishist. I wasn’t any of the slurs he was using for me. I wasn’t tricking him into f*****g me, I had no interest in s*x with men. I was just a random demon girl who got hit with a ritual. Wait, f**k, no, I couldn’t be. ‘Hide that thought, erase it,’ was what ran through my head at that moment. I couldn’t be a girl. I had to be a guy. I was supposed to be a guy. Despite how I might have looked in that moment, I had to be a guy.

That train of thought was all he needed to move his head back and bite my arm as it swung through the air. It hurt. I screamed. Blue blood flowed out of the wound and right into his wicked maw. With the shock of pain, I hadn’t noticed his fist coming up to punch me in the cheek. I only registered it as he eased his bite, to make me fall to the ground with his swing, before he kicked me in the crotch. 

“Good try, faggot. That swing might have hurt. But you had to slow down. What, did you look at my crotch and see the equipment of a real man? Did you get distracted and start drooling over it?” He crouched down, as he held my head. “I’d love to give you a taste, but I worry you’d bite it off with those pointy teeth of yours. Let’s get rid of them first, shall we?” He swung down on my face, but his hit didn’t land. For I had caught it before he reached my face, and I was holding his fist in a vice-like grip. He looked surprised.

Something inside me had roared to life the second he threatened to r**e me. I blew air out of my nose, and small sparks flew out. I was holding his fist with my wounded arm. The blood splatter on it was boiling away, the wound closing, leaving behind no reminder of Victor’s hit. I stood up. His fist still in my grip, I punched him right in the chest with my free hand. The hit sent him flying back, over the edge of the roof, and I hoped that would be the end of him. I looked down at my hands. They burned blue. The smell of sulphur was strong in the air. 

It was just my luck, then, that Victor Show had caught himself in the air and made his way back up, as he now looked down on me. He laughed. 

“Oh, ohohoho, now that, THAT gives a new meaning to the phrase Flaming Faggot for sure!” He flew up, definitely in preparation for a dive bomb. “Now do us all a f*****g favor, you tranny s**t, and set the rest of yourself on fire!” Victor screamed at me as he launched himself down. I could see exactly where he was going to hit. And I had more than enough time to dodge him. He, however? He’d have no chance to fix his trajectory. I moved aside right before he touched me, and hit him in the side, sending him once again flying over the edge. I wouldn’t let him fly back up this time. 

“Don’t use slurs, Fuckface!” I hissed towards him as I ran, leaping off the building and right towards him. He wasn’t expecting me to clamp down on him with my thighs as we fell six stories. I was really hoping the landing would have shut him up. All it did was make a crater and kick up a cloud of dust.

“Oh? Fuckface? That’s the best you got, femoid? Bet your mom f****d ten dudes at once and doesn’t know which one’s your dad. Come on, man up on your insults at least, you perverted degenerate!” Man up. Constantly. He kept constantly throwing slurs. He kept constantly degrading me. He kept shitting on me because of my transformation. The fire in my chest roared once more. I had enough. I needed to get those feelings out. And at the time, the best way to do so, was to whale on him like a punching bag.

“I.” Left hook. “DON’T.” Right hook. “WANT.” Right hook. “TO.” Left. “BE.” Left. “A.” Left. “MAN.” Right. “LIKE.” Left. “YOU.” Right. “DAD!!!!!” I brought both my fists down onto his face with the end of my sentence. There was an explosion as I did so. The fires on my fists went out, and I screamed. A guttural, raw scream of anguish, accompanied by tears streaming down my face. I’d said it. I’d said it out loud. I’d opened Pandora’s Box, and now I had to go collect all it contained. An unenviable task I wished to put off for as long as possible. I collected my breathing.

I turned to see Leonard looking at me, a shocked, horrified expression on his face. He held it for but a second, before it changed to an expression of warmth and concern. Behind him stood the Oni lady he had mentioned in his text messages. She stood eight feet tall, her ripped clothes doing an admirable job of covering her more private parts. What they left exposed, though, was awe inspiring. A belly so soft you could lie in it, and arms so beefy they could princess carry you in your bed without breaking a sweat. Also, obviously, she was blue, and had a single horn in the middle of her forehead. Diego stood by her. That confirmed that she was definitely Amy.

“Good news; you’ll never be one, f--” I had assumed Victor would be knocked out cold after my brutal beatdown. But he had enough in him to try and keep taunting me. He didn’t get to finish his sentence, as the alley was soon showered in shards of anglerfish-like teeth.

“Uhm, was that your--?” Diego started asking. He didn’t get to finish his sentence either, my interruption being swift and loud.

“NO! God no. I haven’t seen my dad since I started college.” I stood up, and gave Victor a swift kick just to be extra sure he’d keep quiet. “Hey, Amy. I’m guessing you’re Amy, your boyfriend is right there. Hi, Diego.” Diego gave me a quick wave and a hey. “I’m Lily. His bullshit also hit me.” I pointed to Leonard, who waved awkwardly. “Thankfully for everyone involved, I’ve already forced him to research how to sort this all out. He’ll do that back home.” I gave Leonard a glare. “Please sort out this douchebag first though.” I nodded my head in Victor’s direction. Leonard gave me a quick nod, pulled out his phone and started frantically scrolling. I felt exhausted and sore, my face ached. I sat down right next to Amy. 

“Hi…” She sounded so unsure, confused, sad. Even sitting down on upturned milk crates, she was as tall as me standing. Well, as tall as human-me anyway… Diego was currently leaning on her, comforting and consoling her. I could see that she had tears running down her face, but had stopped crying a moment before I made my grand entrance. I shot a glance at Leonard, seeing him take out a sharpie to scribble something on Victor’s chest.

“Hey, Leo, the hell kind of Jigglypuff bullshit are you up to there?” He was too focused on his work, judging by his expression. Or at least he was, as he finished chanting, and we could see Victor starting to convulse violently on the ground.  

“f**k! f**k, no, dammit! I didn’t mean to -- s**t! I didn’t think essence separation could kill someone!” Kill? I jumped up and ran over, to witness Victor revert. His wing flaps sucking in was like witnessing something being shrink wrapped. His fingers shortened to regular length, his nose grew back, and he aged. Fast. In the span of ten seconds, he had aged seventy years. And the moment he did so, he seemingly breathed his last. “s**t, s**t, s**t! He’s dead! I killed a dude!” Leonard jumped to his feet and stumbled against a wall, freaking out, shaking, his head in his hands. The panic on him was obvious. And it was clear I wouldn’t ask him to perform that spell on me. Or on anyone else. I had to take control of the situation. 

“Hey, Diego, do you know CPR?” I turned to him; he nodded.

“Uhm yeah, yeah I do, I already told you I’m an EMT.” He leapt into action, skidding to a halt as he knelt down next to Victor. He pulled his phone out and handed it to me. “Dial an ambulance, just call them and put it on speaker.” 

I did as he asked and he began chest compressions. I stepped over to Leonard, grabbing hold of his shoulders and looking him right in the eyes. “Hey, Leo, hey, you haven’t killed him, okay? You haven’t killed him; if anything, I’m the one who killed him by beating him senseless.” I rubbed his shoulders, hoping to bring him down to Earth, to make him pay attention again. “Leo, I need you to focus.” He finally looked me in the eyes properly, and he nodded. “Diego, are you going to be okay dealing with Victor on your own?” Diego was currently doing mouth to mouth, but he gave me a thumbs up. I did not envy him having to taste old dude demon blood. The last person to address here was Leonard’s victim. “Hey, Amy, so we need to get back to the apartments to fix this. How did you get over here in the first place?” 

She wiped her tears away, sniffling a bit. “I jumped. I can leap over buildings and such.” 

“Okay, okay, good, excellent, would you be able to carry me and Leo back with you?” Amy looked up and between us, and nodded. “Alright, sweet. Let’s go then.” Amy stood up and grabbed Leonard and I, and with the ease of thinking, she leapt. I wasn’t worried leaving Diego alone. Being a brown guy over a white dude’s presumed corpse didn’t get you shot anymore. Plus, all I’d called was the ambulance.

You know, no matter how fun it was to sprint across the rooftops myself, having Amy do it was much more exciting. Probably because her leaps were way stronger and higher than mine. And I had in-flight entertainment in the form of Leonard’s yells and screams and facial expressions. “Hey, I’m the one in a skirt, Leo, I should be the one screaming about flashing the whole town!” I laughed, but he probably didn’t hear me over the wind. Amy did, though, as I saw her giggle a bit. Finally some joy on her face, after what seemed like hours of crying. Might have been crying since this started… Can’t say I blame her for the tears, considering how shocking it had been to wake up like this for me. With a loud thud, we landed on the roof of the complex. Luckily, it didn’t give out from under us. Thank you, modern construction focusing on stability, safety, and longevity over a quick buck for landlords... I had a very distinct feeling Victor used to be one. I’d never met a landlord, but he had had the energy of one. Especially with his admission of spying on everyone. That couldn’t have been legal. Once Amy put us down, Leonard fell on the roof, and shook like a puppy, afraid of thunder. 

“Solid ground. No flying. I’m learning teleportation for the sake of my sanity.” Seeing him try to stand up was like watching a newborn horse try and stand up. 

“So. Uhm. What was that about turning me back?” Amy looked at Leonard, nervous and concerned. It was obvious from her expression she doubted he could do it. No surprise there, he had just ripped a dude’s magic out and it’d killed him on the spot. Nobody would want to go through THAT.

“I just need to look up your specific ancestor and summon them.” Leonard wobbled over to the elevator, and called it, leaving me and Amy off in our own little corner of the roof. I cleared my throat. 

“So. Uhh. Not sure how your powers work, but I can shift back and forth between my changed and original form by thinking about turning into a human.” I rubbed the back of my head and giggled awkwardly. 

“Oh. Huh. Why haven’t you done so yet?” Amy raised one of her eyebrows questioningly, and I grabbed my wrist nervously. 

“Uhm, well, there is a… sizable difference between my human form and devil form.” I kept shifting my gaze, trying to avoid her eyes, which I could see narrowing. 

“Which apartment are you in again?”

“...201.” I closed my eyes, hoping she had never seen human me. 

“Oh. OH. OHHHHHHHHH! The college kid! Kinda lifeless-looking, but way differently from 101, and… oh. Huh.” 

“Yeah. Every time I turn human, there’s this weird sense of discomfort. I can barely stand it. Still no clue why. Anyways, you should have a shifting power like that too.” I rubbed my shoulder and opened my eyes, as Amy nodded and finally followed after Leonard. 

“Even if I do have it, these clothes are so stretched I’d end up n***d. And I’m not risking that in front of Presto Greaso. Let’s go meet my ancestor, I guess.” With a shrug, she went towards the elevator, and I followed after her.