Nico The Demon (Halloween Special - Part 2)

 

PART 4: Awakening the Demon of Legacy

The screen cracked on impact. Nico’s iPad hit the stone wall of the AKO basement with a hard, metallic thud before sliding down into a heap of cords and crumpled blue banners. Pieces of glass glittered under the flickering overhead lights like a final insult. He didn’t care. Not anymore.

“Sixty million views,” he spat, pacing in wide circles, the broken bronze penis of Richard James still clenched in his right hand. “They made me a fucking joke. My dad says he’s calling lawyers. Says he’s going to defund the university. Great. That’ll fix everything.”

He paused at the edge of the massive pedestal where the statue had once stood in the main hall, now abandoned in the damp, unfinished belly of the frat house. Water dripped somewhere behind them. The smell of sweat and mildew clung to the air. It was after midnight. The campus was quiet — except here, where desperation and testosterone seethed like a sickness.

Nico turned to the statue, still half-wrapped in burlap, its face shadowed, its crotch missing.

“This is what we get? This?” he yelled, holding up the dismembered bronze phallus like a weapon. “Our legacy reduced to a meme? You let girls take this from us?”

His voice cracked, his breathing shallow. He wasn’t even sure who he was yelling at anymore. Himself. The statue. The empty house above.

Then Conrad stepped forward, arms wrapped around a heavy, dust-caked tome — pulled from the locked archives behind the frat library bar, where initiation oaths were stored and no one ever bothered to look twice. His glasses were askew, and his face was pale, but his eyes gleamed with something dangerous.

“Nico,” he said quietly, “I know this seems like hocus pocus shit. But I think you need to read this.”

He laid the book on the pedestal. The cover was bound in thick, crumbling leather, embossed with a seal that mirrored the AKO crest — but older, more archaic. Less like a college fraternity, more like a forgotten cult.

Nico snatched the book open. The parchment was yellowed and flaking, the ink faded to sepia, but the writing was legible: jagged calligraphy, written in uneven strokes by hand.

The heading read:

“Of The Future Revolt & The Rise of the Alpha.”

Beneath, a passage in the voice of Richard James himself:

In these present days, Man reigneth justly over the woman, as God hath ordained. Yet I, Richard James, in vision most profane and divine, beheld a time when this order is undone. When the wenches doth speak boldly, when the daughters of Eve reject their station, rising against Man, weaponized by pride and pagan rage.

Lo, in the centuries hence, woman shall mock the rod, shall spit upon the seed, and dare cast down the idols of their betters. I see it — a horde of shrieking maidens striking the groin of gods. And in that hour, the blood of Man shall weep — and the bloodline of James shall bleed most fiercely.

But the Lord of Phallus, He Who Dwelleth Below, hath whispered unto me: “Fear not, O Man. For when the cries of woman shake the earth, then shall the Alpha awaken.”

He shall be born of my seed. A young lion. Handsome and strong. Cursed by emotion, yet crowned with rage. And when he toucheth the statue defiled, the hornéd gift shall rise. The Army of Men shall awaken. Flesh shall be made steel. Lust shall be made law.

Let ten virgins — or women proud — be given under the moon. Their bodies be flame, their cries be fuel. And the Alpha’s might shall never break.

Only the strongest — Caucasian, rightful, Alpha — shall receive this boon. The rest shall perish. But the few… the few shall rise again, as men eternal. As vengeance made flesh.

Phallus shall reward the loyal. And Woman shall learn fear again.

The basement was silent. The words lingered like sulfur in the air.

Nico didn’t speak. He didn’t blink. He looked at the statue, then back at the broken bronze shaft in his hand. A long, trembling breath filled his chest.

Then, slowly, deliberately, he moved forward.

He stepped onto the crate where the statue stood and reached up. His hands, shaking with rage and awe, pressed the shattered penis into its original place. It didn’t fit perfectly — the break was jagged — but when the cold bronze touched cold bronze, a sound like a thunderclap echoed from within the walls. The ground quivered beneath their feet.

Nico turned to the others, his voice hoarse but electric. “My ancestor… give us power.”

The lights above burst. One by one, they shattered, leaving only darkness.

Then came the sound — low, guttural, like something ancient exhaling beneath the floor. The air thickened. The stone walls pulsed. And Nico began to change.

His body jerked forward, grunting as heat shot through his spine. His arms twitched, veins thickening like vines beneath skin. Muscle rippled across his chest, then swelled, then hardened. His shoulders expanded. His neck thickened. The polo shirt he wore stretched, popped at the seams, then tore down the back with a loud rip.

His eyes went black for a moment, then glowed red like coals. From his forehead, two sharp horns emerged — curling backward, elegant and deadly. Behind him, a tail snapped out of his spine, long and black with a blade-like point, whipping like it had a mind of its own.

His jeans strained against his legs. His crotch surged forward, bulging with demonic mass. He was still Nico — still beautiful, still chiseled — but now otherworldly, grotesquely enhanced, like something sculpted by lust and hatred combined.

He roared — not in pain, but in triumph — and slammed his fist into the wall.

The stone exploded.

Behind him, Conrad dropped the book and screamed as his own transformation began. His bones cracked, stretching under skin as he grew taller, leaner but terrifying. Horns shot from his temples. His voice deepened into something monstrous.

Tanner convulsed on the floor, laughing as his body grew heavier, broader, glowing under his flesh. Blood trickled from his nose, but he smiled, eyes rolling back as his veins darkened.

One by one, the other frat boys joined. Groaning. Moaning. Then rising. Their bodies twisting, swelling. Horns ripping through scalps. Tails thrashing. Groins bulging, cocky grins stretching wider. Their laughter echoed like war drums, shaking the floorboards above.

This wasn’t a brotherhood anymore.

This was an army.

And this time… they were ready to take everything back.

8 Women Missing, More Assaulted at Cockville University — Victims Describe 'Horned Monster,' But Police Remain Skeptical

By Sade Monroe | FemmeFury Investigates

Cockville, PA — A wave of fear has swept across Cockville University after the reported disappearance of eight female students and at least four separate assault cases, all in the span of just thirteen days. While the university administration and local police insist there is “no confirmed connection between the incidents,” survivors are telling a different — and deeply unsettling — story.

And for now, no one can agree on what, or who, is responsible.

🕯️ Eight Gone. Four Hurt. One Campus Paralyzed.

The missing include high-profile student activist Priyanka Avantika, co-founder of the Girl Power Club, who vanished after attending a late-night tutoring session near the history building. Her phone and notebook were found outside, her laptop still logged in. There were no signs of forced entry. No witnesses.

Over the past two weeks, seven other women — all students, all under twenty-five — have disappeared without a trace. They span different majors, different backgrounds, but one detail has now surfaced across all eight cases: each of the missing women was reportedly a virgin.

That revelation has sparked a firestorm of speculation on campus, but it’s the stories from four non-missing women that have turned rumor into terror.

Each of the four reported being assaulted near wooded or isolated areas of campus. All four were reluctant to speak at first — two declined interviews entirely — but one survivor, requesting anonymity, gave FemmeFury a chilling account.

“I don’t know what I saw. It wasn’t a person. Or if it was… it wasn’t normal. It was huge. Muscular. Horns. A tail. Not like a costume. Like it was real. It didn’t say anything, just… it grabbed me. I fought back, I screamed. I think that’s why I’m still here.”

Another victim described the figure as “a shadow — tall, shaped like a man, but with glowing eyes and… something moving behind it, like a tail.” Medical reports obtained anonymously confirm internal trauma consistent with sexual assault, though the extent of injuries has led some professionals to question whether a human attacker is physically capable of causing such damage.

“Some of the injuries… they don’t make sense,” one ER nurse told us. “I’ve worked cases involving blunt trauma and abuse. But this? This was something else. There was a pattern. And it was not normal.”

🏛️ Dean Speaks, But Stops Short of Blame

Dean Anna Marie, in an internal memo sent to faculty and student government, acknowledged the increase in reported incidents but urged “calm, compassion, and careful consideration.”

“At this time, there is no evidence linking these disappearances or attacks to any student group, including the AKO fraternity. We are working closely with local authorities. Let’s avoid speculation or assigning blame without facts.”

When pressed during a closed-door meeting about the possibility of fraternity involvement, the Dean reportedly dismissed it.

“These are serious, coordinated acts of violence. No disrespect, but I don’t believe our fraternity boys are capable of something like this. Not on this scale.”

🎭 Nico James Responds: “We’re Just Men”

AKO fraternity, still reeling from the viral humiliation of their members last month, has found itself back under scrutiny. But its president, Nicholas James, has denied any connection — in fact, he’s claiming innocence and offering a different theory entirely.

“We’re being blamed again? For what? We’re not even the victims here,” Nico said in a short video posted to his private Story. “These attacks aren’t coming from us. Whatever’s out there… it’s a monster. We’re just guys. Just students. Same as you.”

His statement has only added fuel to the fire, with some interpreting his words as cowardice, others as deflection.

“If there’s a monster,” one student tweeted, “why is it only targeting girls who protested AKO?”

Still, no physical evidence links AKO to the crimes — and many in law enforcement are just as confused as the students.

👁️ Whispers in the Dark: Fear Grows on Campus

Despite the administration’s calls for calm, the campus feels very far from safe.

Posters of the missing women now cover the library steps and dining hall. Feminist groups are advising students not to walk alone. Student groups are organizing flashlight patrols and distributing pepper spray. The Girl Power Club has gone quiet publicly — but sources confirm they are mobilizing privately.

And behind closed doors, even university staff are whispering the same question:

If it’s not frat boys… then what the hell is it?

Cockville police chief Mara Wells issued a brief statement:

“There is no concrete evidence of any non-human suspect. These reports are being taken seriously, but we are focusing our investigation on real-world suspects — not folklore. Anyone with real information should come forward.”

For now, students are told to remain vigilant. Walk in groups. Don’t wander after dark.

But the full moon is approaching.

And eight women are still gone.

PART 5: Into the Forest of Shadows

The night was suffocating, thick with fog and unease. Jessica couldn’t stop the tears. Priyanka was gone, and with her, part of Jessica's soul seemed to have vanished too. Each moment since her disappearance had been a nightmare — the aching emptiness in her chest, the gnawing fear that it was only a matter of time before she too would be lost.

She wiped her eyes, trying to focus on the road ahead, trying to ignore the swirling thoughts in her mind. She was on her bike, pedaling furiously through the quiet streets of Cockville, toward Solana’s apartment. She knew it was dangerous to be out alone at night, especially with everything that had been happening on campus. But she couldn’t be alone. Not now. Not without her best friend.

She gripped the handlebars, pushing forward with all her might, but the wind in her face felt like a reminder that there was more out there than just the fear in her heart. Something darker. Something hunting them.

As she turned a corner onto the tree-lined road leading into the forest, a sudden whoosh broke through the air.

Before she could react, something yanked her off the bike with inhuman force. Her body slammed against the ground, the world spinning wildly around her. Panic surged through her as she gasped for breath, but she couldn’t break free. She was dragged — pulled — toward the thick, black trees, her body scraping against the dirt and leaves.

Her heart raced. The cold night air filled her lungs as she tried to scream. But no sound escaped.

She was in the forest.

Jessica tried to twist in the grip, but her mind was already spiraling with terror. What the hell was happening? Who was this?

Then, as if summoned by her thoughts, they appeared.

Nico. Conrad. Tanner.

And something was… wrong.

Their eyes glowed like red embers, their bodies contorted in unnatural ways. There was something monstrous about them now. Their shapes were still vaguely human, but their skin had darkened to a shade that seemed unnatural, their muscles bulging grotesquely beneath their clothes. Nico’s once-chiseled frame had expanded beyond recognition.

And then Jessica saw it.

A tail. Long, jagged, with a blade-like tip — slithering, twitching, ready to strike.

She gasped in shock, trying to push herself backward, but her body was too weak, too tired. The realization hit her all at once. These weren't just frat boys. They were something else. Something twisted. Something monstrous.

"You three?" Jessica gasped, her voice trembling. “What the hell are you—?”

Nico stepped forward, his grin twisted in an expression of triumph. He reached out a clawed hand, his eyes glowing with a feral gleam.

"This is our true form, Jessica," Nico laughed, the sound cold and cruel. "Stronger than ever. Bigger than ever."

Jessica’s eyes moved lower, and her breath caught in her throat. His jeans bulged obscenely — the size of his crotch defying everything human.

He laughed again, deep and throaty, like a hunter savoring its prey. "Yeah," he sneered, his voice now a growl, "my manhood is bigger than it's ever been. That's right, Jessica. This is what I was always meant to be. Powerful. Unstoppable."

Pain surged through Jessica’s body, but she fought it. She clenched her jaw, pushed herself to stand tall, though every fiber of her being screamed to run. No — she wouldn’t back down.

With every ounce of strength left in her, she kicked. Hard.

The sound of impact was sickening. A sharp, sharp crack. Her foot connected with his groin, and Nico’s face twisted in agony.

The monster — the thing that had once been Nico James — screamed.

A guttural, animalistic sound that echoed through the trees.

Conrad, standing beside him, looked at Nico in disbelief. "Nico, our testicles—" he started, his voice raspy with panic, "They're three times more sensitive now, remember?"

But it was too late.

Nico’s scream intensified, reverberating through the trees like a dying animal in its last moments. His hands shot to his crotch, clawing at himself, his body buckling with pain as if his very soul was being ripped from him. His breathing grew erratic.

It was too much.

Jessica stood there, watching as Nico staggered backward, struggling to stay on his feet, his knees buckling beneath him. His eyes were wide with disbelief, his mouth open, gasping for breath as his body trembled with the intensity of the agony.

Then it happened.

With a howl that sounded almost like a cry for mercy, Nico collapsed onto the ground, his massive form crumpling in on itself like a puppet with its strings cut. His body shook violently, and for a moment, Jessica thought he might pass out, or worse — die.

But the transformation didn’t stop there.

Nico’s body contorted again. His muscles shrank, his horns pulled back into his skin, and his tail withdrew with a soft snapping sound. The monstrous form seemed to recede, but not without leaving a trail of broken dignity in its wake.

Nico lay on the ground, sobbing uncontrollably. He cried like a child — helpless, small. He peed himself, the warm wetness soaking through his jeans, marking him even more. His hands were still shaking as he tried to pull himself together, but the damage had been done.

"You're still weak," Jessica muttered through gritted teeth, watching the former alpha in his broken state. She barely even felt the sting of the pain in her shoulder anymore.

But then, just as she thought it was over, something sharper than any pain she'd known before pierced through her again.

Conrad’s horn — long, wicked, and razor-sharp — sliced through the air and lodged into her shoulder with brutal precision. The pain was excruciating. It felt as though the world itself had split open, as if her very soul had been torn in half.

Jessica cried out, but the sound was faint, swallowed by the darkness as she crumpled to the ground, losing consciousness.

When she woke again, everything was spinning. Her vision blurred, and she could barely keep her eyes open. Her body was still heavy, throbbing in pain from where Conrad’s horn had pierced her flesh.

She was being carried, her body limp in someone’s arms. The air smelled like dust, like old wood. The familiar stench of the AKO basement.

Conrad’s face hovered above hers as he carried her to the center of the room. "You’ll regret this," he whispered darkly, his eyes glinting with something sinister.

Behind him, Tanner had returned to his human form, and Nico was on his knees, slowly, shakily, regaining what little of his humanity was left. They had hidden in the shadows, waiting for the pain to subside, waiting for Nico to recover.

The sight of him — weak, shivering, humiliated — made Jessica want to laugh. But she couldn’t.

She had no strength left.

 

PART 6: The Only Way Out Is Through

The night blanketed Cockville in an eerie, low-humming stillness. Fog curled between lampposts and dripped from the brittle branches of the maple trees lining the quad. The campus, once loud with protest and pride, now felt silenced—gutted. The walkways were empty, the dorm lights dimmed. It was the kind of quiet that wasn’t peaceful, but mournful. A hush that followed after screams.

Helena sat alone on her dorm bed, knees pulled to her chest, her hands trembling in her sleeves. She hadn’t slept. Not really. Jessica was missing now. Priyanka too. Girls were whispering in hallways. Some were packing bags. Some had already left. And despite everything she had seen, everything she knew, there were still no answers. No action. No arrests. Just fear, thick as mildew, soaking through the air and into the bones of every woman left behind.

Solana was on her way, or at least she had said she was. Helena stared at her phone, refreshing the same text again and again. Every minute felt like an hour. The silence in the dorm was broken only by the low thrum of the heating vent and the distant groan of the old pipes. She looked over at the door, half-hoping Solana would barge in, say something sharp and grounding, tell her it would be okay.

But it wasn’t Solana who opened the door.

The knob turned slowly. The door creaked open.

And then he walked in.

Nicholas James. Shirt tight against his chest, jeans snug and perfect, hair tousled like a shampoo commercial from hell. There was a smile on his face—serene, amused, hungry.

“Miss me?” he said softly, stepping inside and closing the door behind him with the click of a lock.

Helena didn’t move. Her skin prickled, her heartbeat thudded. For a moment, she thought she might vomit. But she kept her face still.

Nico crossed the room in three steps and leaned down, pressing his lips to hers before she could react. The kiss was wrong—dead and cold. Not like before. Not like when she used to pretend to love him.

She didn’t kiss back.

He pulled away slowly, eyes searching hers, reading the silence as if it were consent.

“You knew I’d come back,” he said.

Helena swallowed. “Where’s Jessica?” she asked, her voice a whisper.

Nico tilted his head, his smirk deepening. “Why does everyone think I’m the villain in this story?” he said with a mock sigh. “I’m just a man, Helena. A man who’s trying to protect what’s his.”

He reached out to brush a strand of hair from her face, and she flinched.

“You need to be safe,” he continued, voice darker now. “Women aren’t safe anymore, not with what’s out there. Not with what’s hunting virgins.” He chuckled. “Good thing you’re not one of those, huh?”

His smile widened, grotesque in its charm.

“We’ve done it—what—countless times?” he said, laughing. “I mean, you should know. Your virginity's gone. You gave it to me. A gift, really. Makes you… uninteresting to the thing that’s coming.”

Helena blinked slowly, trying to stay still, to not show fear. But it coiled in her stomach like poison.

“What do you think your fate will be?” Nico asked, lowering his voice. “You’ve seen what’s happening. I can keep you safe. I want to keep you safe. You just have to say yes. Be mine. Be with your Nicholas. The only man who’ll protect you when the world burns.”

He stepped closer, not with urgency, but with a dreadful sort of confidence — the slow, deliberate stride of a man who believed the space in front of him already belonged to him. Helena turned slightly, the corner of her eye catching the angle of his body as it moved in rhythm with hers. She didn’t run — not yet — but her breath shifted, quickening as her fingers slid along the doorframe. She was already reaching, calculating. A turn of the knob, one quick motion, and she could be out.

But Nico moved faster than her doubt.

He cut the distance in a heartbeat, his body angling between her and the door like a gate swinging shut behind her. Not violent. Not dramatic. Just firm. Final. His arm brushed the door above her hand, his chest hovering too close. She was boxed in now — not by brute force, but by the impenetrable wall of male entitlement that had followed her since the first time he’d ever called her “mine.”

“Don’t walk away,” he said, and his voice had changed — no longer smooth and smug, but clipped, tight with warning. The air in the room felt thicker now, like something unseen had filled the space between their bodies. The faint hum of the radiator seemed to stop. Even the night outside held its breath.

Helena’s chest ached. Her fingers tightened around the doorknob even though she knew she wasn’t strong enough to twist it with him looming this close. She could feel the heat of his breath, the smug tension in his jaw, the way his muscles tensed just enough to tell her that no would not be accepted as an answer.

“No,” she said. It cracked in her throat, but she stood behind it like a wall of her own making. Her eyes met his, and she didn’t blink. “No, Nico.”

He laughed, softly, bitterly, like she’d just reminded him of some private joke she didn’t understand. His smile spread wide, too wide, something cruel dancing just beneath his skin.

“I’m not taking no,” he whispered, almost tenderly, like a threat in a love song.

That was the moment she felt it — the pressure, the inevitability, the weight of centuries pressing down through his smirk. This wasn’t just Nico. This was every man who’d ever blocked a woman’s way and called it flirting. Every refusal that had been laughed off. Every inch of space taken without permission. The ancient arrogance that said: your body is mine, if I say so.

She didn’t hesitate.

She moved with the precision of a nerve snapping.

Her knee shot upward with the full force of her fear, her rage, her revulsion — and it landed hard between Nico’s legs.

It wasn’t just contact. It was impact. A raw, perfect connection that sent shock through muscle and bone like a lightning bolt aimed at the source of his power.

Nico’s eyes blew open, pupils dilating, irises flaring bright, burning red like a furnace lit behind his skull. His whole face contorted — not in anger, but in shock, as if pain on that scale had never been allowed to exist in his universe. His mouth stretched open and for a heartbeat, nothing came out. Then, it did.

A scream — no, a howl — tore from his throat. Not human. Not animal. Something older. Something profane. The sound of a soul being torn apart from the inside.

He dropped like stone, knees slamming into the floor, hands flying to his groin with desperate, clawing movements as if he could rewind the last five seconds with enough pressure. His body pitched sideways, his limbs jerking out of rhythm. His mouth opened again, drooling now, spitting syllables that didn’t form words.

“Why always—balls—!” he managed to choke out, the last word breaking apart as it left his lips.

Helena staggered back, heart hammering, unable to look away.

She’d seen him fall before. At the protest, in front of everyone. That had been humiliating, yes. Public. Symbolic. But this? This was real. This was raw pain.

He rolled to his side, convulsing violently. His legs kicked out like a dying insect. He coughed once, then again, and suddenly bile erupted from his throat, splattering across the floor in thick, sour gushes. His face flushed red, then purple. Snot poured from his nose, tears spilling uncontrollably from both eyes. He was choking on himself — sobbing, retching, trying to curl into a fetal position but unable to because the pain was everywhere.

It wasn’t just pain. It was shame. Drenched in it. Drowning in it.

His body heaved again, his spine shuddering like an electrical current had surged through it. He couldn’t stop crying. Couldn’t speak. Could barely breathe. His moans were soft now, high-pitched and unrecognizable, like a child in the deepest pit of fear. All that monstrous power, all that transformation, all that smirking alpha bravado — turned to piss-soaked misery on the floor of a dorm room.

He shook so violently that Helena thought for a moment he might pass out or seize, and maybe he did. But she didn’t wait to find out.

She turned sharply, shoved past his crumpled form, and yanked the door open. She moved fast down the hall, not running — not yet — but walking with purpose, her whole body humming with adrenaline and horror and disbelief. Her phone was in her hand before she realized it, her thumbs already typing.

To Solana:

meet me in the library. important.

She hit send without stopping, without turning back, the door to her dorm already behind her.

And from inside, she could still hear him — Nico — moaning in a voice stripped of all command, all power. The sound of someone who thought they were invincible learning they were just meat after all.

PART 7: The Library of the Damned

The library had always felt safe to Solana. A sanctuary of quiet rebellion where knowledge lived, where history wasn’t just written by the victors but waited, patient and silent, for someone like her to read between the lines. But tonight, as she pushed open the heavy oak doors and stepped into the cool, dim interior, the space felt unfamiliar. The lights were on — dimly — but the silence was loaded, dense. Like the air itself was holding its breath.

It was just before 8 p.m., and the world outside had gone black. The tall windows reflected nothing but shadows. The distant ticking of the antique clock echoed like a heartbeat. Her boots clicked softly against the marble floor as she walked past the main atrium, past the new acquisitions, deeper into the library’s spine. Toward the past.

Helena was in the history section. Solana found her crouched near the back stacks, surrounded by three open books, a scattering of printed scans, and an expression that looked far older than her twenty-one years.

“Helena,” Solana said softly, crouching beside her. “What’s going on?”

Helena didn’t look up at first. Her eyes were locked on the parchment in front of her, a photocopy of something yellowed and water-stained, written in tight script. Her fingers were trembling slightly as she turned the page, her voice quiet but urgent.

“When Nico and I were still dating… I heard rumors,” she said. “About Richard James. Some kind of power. I thought it was frat-boy bullshit, like hazing stories or ghost campfire tales, but—” She stopped herself. “I heard Conrad. Last fall. Reading something in the frat library. It sounded like a ritual. Latin. Old English. I only caught pieces, but it stuck with me.”

She pointed to the book beside her. “And then I found this. Buried in the back of the archive microfilm scans. Letters from the women he enslaved. First-person testimonies. They never made it into the curated university collection, of course. Too inconvenient for the donors. But they’re here.”

Solana leaned closer, her eyes scanning the paper, but Helena kept speaking, her voice gaining urgency.

“Nico came to my dorm tonight,” she said. “He smiled. Like nothing’s happened. Like Jessica isn’t gone, like Priyanka doesn’t matter. He kissed me, and told me women aren’t safe, but I was—because of him. He laughed about us having sex, said I was off-limits now. And when I kneed him…” Her eyes finally lifted to meet Solana’s. “It wasn’t normal. I’ve hit guys before. But this… this was different. Like his whole soul was in his balls, and I’d just torn it out.”

Solana didn’t laugh. She didn’t even smirk. She leaned in, nodded once, and picked up the page.

“Read it,” Helena said. “Read her words.”

Solana unfolded the page, the script dense and scratchy, written in what looked like burnt ink. The writing wasn’t just documentation — it was a warning. A final record from a woman who had seen hell and dared to speak it aloud.

I write this from the basement of the estate of Richard James. I do not know if this will be found, but if it is, let it be known: he is no mere man.

He keeps us like cattle. Women of all skin, all ages. Our names stripped. Our bodies taken. He is raising an army — not of soldiers, but of monsters. Men he calls Chosen. Men born not of blood but of will, who will walk the earth looking like men but will not be men.

They will be handsome. Tall and strong and shaped like temptation. But they are not what they seem. I have seen their shadows. They carry horns beneath their scalps. Their tails are knives. Their manhood grows unnatural. I have seen it. I have felt its evil. One of the girls did not survive.

We fought him. We stopped him once. But he made us a promise: “My sons will walk free. And one day, my heir will rise.”

If the Alpha — his heir — completes the ritual under a full moon with ten virgins, the Army of Men will rise again. And no woman will be safe.

But they have a weakness. Their manhood — it is cursed. Three times more sensitive. The pain, when delivered, sears their soul. You must strike it. Repeatedly. Without mercy.

And the Alpha? He will be marked. He has icy blue eyes. He will wear blue. He will lead them. And you must cut his manhood off before the full moon rises. For if you do, his soul will be cast into the Pit, and every man who served Richard James will follow — into permanent fire.

The words hung in the air between them like a specter.

Solana closed the page slowly, her fingers stiff.

“We have to get into the frat house,” she said. Her voice was calm, but the fire behind her eyes burned sharp. “We need to find Jessica. And if Nico is the Alpha…”

“We end it,” Helena whispered. “No second chance. No hesitation.”

But before they could speak again, the lights flickered.

A low creak echoed through the library shelves, followed by the unmistakable sound of movement — footsteps, claws, something heavier than a student, softer than a professor. Solana stood quickly, Helena scrambling to gather the letters, but it was already too late.

From between the aisles of history and folklore, they appeared.

Ten of them.

Bodies larger than life. Horns curling from their temples. Eyes like molten gold and mouths twisted into snarls of delight. Tails snaked behind them, some spiked, some smooth, all deadly. Their clothes were torn but familiar — the remains of polo shirts, tight jeans, varsity jackets stretched over unnatural muscle.

Conrad stood at the front, smiling coldly. Tanner behind him, face blank, lips bloodied.

And then, Nico.

He emerged from behind them slowly, his gait uneven. He was still recovering — his body stiff, eyes glassy — but his smirk hadn’t faded. He didn’t stand like a warrior. He sat, slumped into a wooden chair dragged from the reading corner, legs wide, groin carefully guarded, but still gleaming with smugness.

“You’re gonna regret that little stunt,” he said, pointing a finger lazily at Helena.

His voice was hoarse. Ragged with leftover pain. He looked at Solana, then back to Helena, wincing slightly as he shifted his weight. “You have no idea what you’re messing with.”

Solana didn’t flinch.

Nico nodded toward the other boys. His smirk widened, though his hands trembled just slightly.

“Get them,” he said.

And with that, the monsters lunged.

PART 8: The Blood of the Full Moon

The library exploded into chaos.

Books flew from shelves. Wood splintered. Shadows twisted beneath the overhead lights as ten monstrous frat boys surged through the stacks with inhuman speed and purpose. It wasn’t a fight anymore — it was a hunt.

Solana didn’t run. She moved, sharp and fast, dodging between aisles with precision. Two of them — Josh and Blake — had broken off from the main pack and were tracking her movements through the literary maze. She crouched behind the historical biographies, heartbeat pounding in her ears, the weight of the slave letters still tucked into her jacket. She had no weapon. Just instinct. Rage. And one hell of a throwing arm.

Josh’s shadow passed by the far end of the aisle, his tail dragging behind him like a scorpion’s. He moved too confidently. Too close.

She grabbed the heaviest hardcover she could find — Founding Fathers: Rewritten — and hurled it without warning.

The book struck him square in the crotch. A brutal, direct hit.

Josh let out a shriek so raw and sharp it silenced the entire wing of the library for a half-second. His knees buckled. His eyes rolled back. He dropped to the floor with both hands between his legs, gasping, groaning, muttering fragmented curses through gritted teeth.

“Fucking hell!” he squealed, curled into himself.

But Solana didn’t have time to celebrate.

Blake came from the left — bigger, broader, less brain, more brute. He grabbed her by the shoulders and slammed her against a stack of books so hard the shelves rattled and a rain of dusty tomes fell around them. She hit the floor, air knocked from her lungs, elbows scraping the cold tile.

Blake grinned.

“Still think you’re strong, bitch?” he hissed, reaching down.

She answered with her fist.

Solana surged upward, her right arm swinging with the precision of someone who’d had enough. Her knuckles connected with his chin in a perfect uppercut, snapping his head back so violently he stumbled into the side of a bookcase and brought it crashing down with him. Shelves collapsed, books burying him in a storm of knowledge he’d never read.

She didn’t stop to check if he was breathing.

Across the room, Helena fought to reach her — but Nico was already moving.

Despite the trauma, despite the pain, he still had strength in his monstrous form. His skin was darkened now, his muscles taut and too wide for human skin. His horns gleamed under the fluorescent lights. His tail flicked behind him like a whip hungry for flesh.

He leapt.

One moment Helena was running toward Solana. The next, Nico's claws were around her waist, and he dragged her into the next room like a lion claiming its prey.

“NO!” Solana screamed, voice breaking with panic. She bolted after them, but her path was blocked.

Two tails whipped through the air — sharp, fast — and drove into her from both sides. One pierced her left shoulder, the other tore through the muscle near her rib. She dropped to her knees, breath stolen by pain, the metallic taste of blood already pooling in her mouth.

Tanner and Conrad emerged, their bodies grotesque but still holding hints of their old frat-boy arrogance. Conrad’s eyes glowed with something smug. Tanner didn’t speak — he just smiled, dead and blank.

Solana was down.

She clawed for the floor, for anything to use as leverage, but Conrad was already on her. He pulled a coil of rope from his waistband — worn, thick, and prepared — and wound it around her arms with brutal efficiency. Her hands were pinned behind her back, her legs bent underneath her.

Solana’s body thrashed with whatever strength she had left, but it wasn’t enough. The twin tails embedded in her flesh had torn deep—one in her shoulder, the other near her ribs—and the pain rippled like poison through her entire frame. Her boots scraped across the floor as she kicked, refusing to go still. She twisted her torso with enough force to tear open the wounds further, and when Conrad leaned in to tie her wrists with that thick, grimy rope, she lunged forward and spat blood directly into his face.

His expression didn’t flinch. If anything, he looked impressed.

“You don’t stop, do you?” he said, wiping the red smear from his cheek with the back of his hand. His tone was cold, collected, the voice of a man who thought he was managing livestock.

Solana kept fighting—biting, snapping, dragging her heels—but she was losing too much blood. Her breath came ragged. Her limbs felt distant. Her head swam with nausea and heat. When Conrad finally yanked the rope tight, jerking her arms behind her back and locking them at the elbows, she screamed, not from pain, but from fury. He slung her over his shoulder like she weighed nothing. She was no longer a person in their eyes—just a thing to be transported.

As he carried her deeper into the library, past the shattered shelves and flickering lights, she heard a sound that stopped the breath in her throat.

A scream. But not a normal one.

It came from the other room—the small back storage chamber the staff never used, where old files and boxed books collected dust. The sound was high and guttural at once, like it had been torn out of a human being in pieces. It twisted with something primal and wrong, echoing off the stone walls in a way that didn’t feel real. Solana froze. Her stomach turned, bile rising at the back of her throat.

That was Helena’s voice.

It didn’t even sound human anymore. Not because it had changed—but because something had been done to it. The scream had a texture, a weight. Like it was pulled from the bottom of something sacred being split apart.

Solana’s head dropped forward. Her vision blurred. Every instinct screamed to move, to rip out of Conrad’s grip and run to her. But she couldn’t move. She was bleeding into the rope. She could feel it soaking through her jacket.

And then Nico stepped out of the room.

He was limping slightly, his shoulders still carrying the aftershock of pain, but the expression on his face was unmistakable. Power. Victory. Cruel satisfaction. His body, still in its monstrous form, shimmered with sweat. His skin had the sheen of something freshly emerged from fire. Horns curled back from his head like a twisted crown, and his muscles—overgrown and unnatural—shifted as he moved.

But what stopped everything, what silenced the breath in Solana’s throat, was the fact that he was completely naked now. Not partially. Not incidentally. Completely.

His massive manhood hung between his thighs, heavy and swollen, almost mocking in the way it swayed with each step. It wasn’t just obscene—it was a weapon. A symbol of everything wrong in the world given flesh. He stood proudly, knowing the sight alone would humiliate, terrify, and unnerve. And he enjoyed it. Every second.

Solana looked up from where she dangled on Conrad’s shoulder, her face pale and glistening with sweat, her lip split open. She locked eyes with Nico and found no shame there. No hesitation. Just sick joy.

“You fucking demon,” she hissed, voice sharp even through the exhaustion.

Nico chuckled low in his throat. It was the kind of laugh that belonged to a man who’d never once been told no until someone shattered his illusion—and he hadn’t learned the lesson.

“She wouldn’t survive that,” he said, gesturing casually back to the room with his thumb. His voice was nonchalant, like he was talking about a broken appliance. “But she was so brave. So sweet. Thought she could scream me into guilt.” He shrugged. “Didn’t work.”

He looked around the room then, eyes sweeping across the remaining boys who stood tall and monstrous among the ruined shelves. Tanner’s tail flicked lazily behind him. Josh had finally stood up, cradling his groin and snarling through clenched teeth. Blake limped toward the group, his jaw swollen from where Solana had punched him.

Nico exhaled and flexed his fingers. The sweat rolled down his body, past the sharp ridges of muscle and over the abomination hanging between his legs. His hands still trembled, just barely, from the earlier hit to his groin. His voice cracked at the edges. But the mask of power was back on his face, stitched in place like a second skin.

He raised a hand with ceremony, like a priest about to deliver a sermon.

“Let’s start the ritual,” he said.

A murmur rolled through the group—low, inhuman. They didn’t speak. They growled. Tails swished. Horns gleamed. Teeth flashed in the flickering light.

Behind them, the bookshelves loomed in silence. But the library had already changed. It wasn’t a place of learning anymore.

It had become an altar.

And tonight, it would be baptized in blood