Proofreading by Steelz.

 

Fortunately, there were no more major conflicts between Aura and Alice after he attempted to go to Elizabeth, only some small frictions and bickering.

When the alarm rang at exactly 7:20 am, Aura had no choice but to go back to her classroom with a disgruntled face. But that did not stop her from stealing Alpha's lips in front of everyone's eyes using a little bit of trickery before leaving, making Alice enraged in the process.

"I can't believe you were so easily fooled, and what's more, rumors are going to spread about the student council's head having a boyfriend faster than a wildfire on dry grass."- Alpha knew that the words spouted by Arthur held a certain amount of truth to them, but he wasn't so concerned since he had a wide variety of spells that could come in handy for all kinds of situations.

"You should charge her for sexual harassment."- Alice voiced in a still upset manner. Having nowhere to vent her anger, she could only swallow it and make complaints to him.

"Then I should charge you as well, no?"- he smiled crookedly with his head tilted at her.

"I-I don't know what you're talking about."- his words were like an ice bucket poured on her causing Alice to look away guiltily just as the teacher arrived.

~ ~ ~

The noisy alarm rang yet again, and Alpha pondered whether he should go now or wait for a while.

It's better to go before Aura is here.

He got up and was about to leave the class when he noticed Alice walking behind his back.

"Alice, I'm going to the toilet so you can't follow me. Just wait here, I'll be back soon."- he quickly tried to dissuade her with an excuse that didn't have any effect at all. He could even see a bright light forming in her eyes, as if the prospect of catching a glimpse of his lower member was something she had been waiting for a long time.

"Here, eat this first."- he handed her a lunch box which she glanced down to see what was inside and by the time she raised her head again, Alpha was already gone.

Rushing out of the door, not even his silhouette could be seen.

At this moment, Alpha was already heading towards the rooftop while using a spell to bend light around himself, and thus, becoming invisible. 

Good thing my clothes are enchanted with concealment, else she would probably be able to sense my presence even with my invisibility.

Pushing the rooftop door open, he was greeted with a cloudy sky and the pink haired girl who until now he didn't know the name waiting there with her eyes closed.

A school uniform outlined her enchanting figure, and her twin tailed hair fluttered with the wind.

Looking at her standing motionless, he had the impression of looking at a marble sculpture because of how pale her skin was, and it took a while for him to realize that he was still invisible. 

After he finally revealed himself, she slowly opened her heterochromatic eyes to peek at him. 

Facing his curious and apprehensive face, she couldn't help becoming a little nervous. 

"Err. . . Hello Alpha, my name is Ruby Athanasia. First of all, you might be wondering how I know your name and that's because I ran a background check on you in secret, and even though there was not much data on you, I'd like to apologize for that."- her words came out in a hurry as she nervously awaited for his reaction.

Ruby had been expecting to be called a stalker or him simply being disgusted at her and leave, but fortunately he did not show shock or surprise in the slightest after hearing what she said and continued listening.

Well, you're not the first one to do that. Alpha thought as an image of Aura popped up in his mind.

"The reason I called you here, you might have already guessed, so I'll just get straight to the point."- slowly but steadily, she walked up to him and said with a voice full of bravery and determination.

Here it comes.

"This may be a very selfish request from my part but please cancel your engagement with Aura and go out with me instead!"- it took all her courage to shout those few final words and by the end of it, Ruby wore a flustered look as her chest heaved up and down, giving off a very alluring charm while her eyes would sometimes discretely stare at his neck or his crotch.

"The . . . what?!"- while Alpha had been expecting the "go out with me" part, what startled him were the words "engagement with Aura" obviously because he had no recordation at all of such an important decision being made.

What the hell did Aura tell her?! Even if it was to keep Ruby away from me, she could have said something else, no?

"I know it's very presumptuous of me to ask for such an absurd thing when we have just met. But from the first time I breathed in your scent, I had already become attracted to you. Later, when I finally had the chance to take a clear look at your face, I fell in love at first sight. Your smooth cute face combined with your white hair is nothing short of a masterpiece, but the most beautiful part of you is definitely your eyes. This pair of vibrant jade like little gems that mesmerized my very being."- with each word that came out of her mouth, the shorter the distance between them grew.

While Ruby advanced, Alpha retreated. This didn't last long as he soon found a wall behind himself, making it impossible to retreat further.

"I also know it's very wrong to steal from Aura and by doing so, there's a high chance that we will become enemies for life, but it's worth it. So, please, won't you become my boyfriend?"- she held his hands in a tight grasp and under her scorching passionate gaze, he felt a bit overwhelmed and couldn't help shrinking his neck a little.

Is it only my impression or is... Ruby exuding some sort of charming aura?

Apart from her taking a deep whiff of his hands and her expression getting strangely intoxicated as a result, there was a faint glow on Ruby's crimson red pupil that, together with a sweet fragrance invading his nostrils, it seemed to exert some sort of influence on his mind. 

"Uh. First of all, let me formally introduce myself. As you already know, I'm Alpha, a freshman here in Arcadia. I'm a very easygoing person who likes music and games."- he made a brief pause to withdraw his hands because Ruby was staring at them like she was about to bite down. - "About Aura. . . how do I say this? Err. . . she basically fooled you."

"Fooled me?"- Ruby looked puzzled by his statement.

"Yes. What she said about the engagement is a lie, Aura and me are no more than friends after all."- Ruby stared deeply into his eyes as he stared back.

For a moment, neither of them emitted any sound and only the blowing wind could be heard.

"Fu ha ha ha ha. . ."- although her laughter was sweet to hear, it didn't sound sweet at all to Alpha. - "I'm not even mad at Aura. The fact that you're not in a relationship relieves me a lot. Now I won't have to feel guilty about taking you for myself."

Before she could start speaking again, Alpha hurriedly opened his mouth to give her an answer.

"Sorry, but I can only accept you as a friend. I already have someone I like."- he felt a little bad for outright turning down such a beautiful girl but he also knew that none of the girls so far had given up because of a reason as simple as this and she certainly would be the same.

". . ."- Ruby stared at him blankly for a moment.

"Are you sure that you don't want to be my boyfriend?"- she repeated the question, albeit this time in a more forceful manner.

I have a bad feeling about this.

"My answer remains the same."- Alpha said with resolution. No matter what she was about to do, he had to prepare himself for what was about to come.

"I see."- the faint glow in her pupil intensified immediately and a sad smile formed on her lips. - "I didn't want to force you against your will, but I guess this is the only alternative."

"Look into my eyes."- voicing it extremely seductively, her words sounded almost hypnotic to his ears, in fact, she was indeed using her charming skills to affect him.

Alpha involuntarily obeyed it for only a fraction of a second, but it still managed to force his head to turn.

The moment their eyes met, his mind shook, and a sudden dizziness hit him.

"Yes yes yes!! Now the only thing left to do i-"

BANG!

Ruby's overly excited display was interrupted as the door to the rooftop opened with a violent kick from Aura who blasted towards her with cold fury as soon as she came.

"Oh my. Being so violent is unlike you, Aura."- Ruby's fine lips parted into a small mocking smirk at the sight of Aura's gauntlet punching straight towards her face.

Opening her palm, a stream of blood came out floating in the air. With a simple gesture, the blood condensed into an enormous sphere just in time as Aura's punch arrived.

A sound like a rock hitting the surface of a lake echoed. The original blood sphere had visibly shrunk under the tremendous force behind Aura's fist, but with a simple wave of Ruby's hand, the splashed blood reunited again. 

Leaping backwards, Aura readjusted herself before preparing another attack.

"Ugh. That was weird. Oh, hey Aura. Why are you here?"- after shaking his head a few times, Alpha felt better right away but was surprised to find Aura fighting with Ruby.

"Eh?!"

"Eh?!"

Both girls turned to him at the same time with astonishment stamped on their pretty faces.

Abandoning any thoughts of what she was doing before, Aura ran over to his side and clasped his face.

"Hmm. . . you don't seem hypnotized by her. That's a relief!"- after confirming whether he had been ensnared by Ruby, she let out a deep exhale and her whole body relaxed visibly.

Aura knew something was wrong the moment she sensed him going out of his class since he never set foot outside before during lunch break. But the feeling only aggravated when he went to the rooftop, where he stopped 

She had wanted to rush there directly at the time, but who knew Ruby had already charmed people to delay her as much as possible on the way. Even forcing her to turn into a shadow to go faster.

"How!? How is this possible!? I had you right in my grasp only for you to slip through my fingers!"- Ruby's face contorted in anger but somehow, still maintained its beauty.

"Is Ruby a vampire?"- Alpha asked Aura a question that was bothering him for a while. It was certainly weird her behavior earlier and on top of that, her ability to manipulate blood and charming skills both pointed at one conclusion.

"Yes, but only partly. She's the heir of both a vampire and a succubus."- at this revelation, he couldn't help but look at Ruby in amazement.

It was rare to see an authentic vampire or succubus in the city because one didn't like the sunlight while the other generally stayed within their own territory or working in brothels.

But what is even rarer is the fact that one member from each of the respective races produced a child together since vampires had all that talk about maintaining their bloodline pure, so they avoided at all costs intermingling with others that were not their own.

Now it all made sense. Her sniffling him was probably due to his blood, while the random stares at other places were part of her instincts. 

Succubi tend to have a more developed body to attract men, so she probably inherited that from her mother.

With Aura by his side, Ruby knew she wouldn't be able to touch him anymore. Soon, dispiritedness began to replace her anger.

Feeling Alpha's gaze on herself, she wasn't able to bring herself to look him in the eyes. She felt that what she had just done was shameful at the very least, and no one would want to associate with a person so despicable and selfish.

For a moment, all she felt was despair. Despair from things not going the way she wanted and despair from ruining the beautiful relationship she could have had with Alpha. That was until a finger poked her white cheek.

She didn't even notice Alpha arriving beside her with Aura flanking his side, staring at her with some resentment. 

"Don't worry, Ruby. If I were to make a list of my worst offenders, you'd be rock bottom."- Ruby shot him an incredulous look at his words. - "Aura did some things that awarded her the first place while the second is occupied by another person. But both still managed to befriend me, so you also have a chance. Just don't repeat what you did here."

He gave her a thumbs up and a friendly smile, to which she replied with a dazed nod. 

He didn't take that hypnosis matter seriously since it had no effect whatsoever on him, so he decided to ignore it.

"Why am I the number one? I took your first, but that was also my first."- Aura sounded indignant but he knew she was saying that only to irritate him and make Ruby misunderstand.

Sure enough, Ruby didn't look good at all. She was reminding him of Alice a little, with all that gloominess and heavy air.

"She is talking about kisses."- as soon as he cleared the misunderstanding, Ruby's mood improved somewhat.

"Ugh. I'm still jealous."- she glared at Aura, who was playing with Alpha's fingers to the side before turning back to him and embarrassedly asking. - "Can I suck your blood?"

"Don't you dare, Ruby. Just because darling forgave you doesn't mean I'll too."- it was one thing to try to hypnotize him but now Ruby crossed the line. To think that she wanted to leave two bloody holes in Alpha's neck was completely unacceptable.

"It doesn't need to be the neck, only one finger is enough."- as if reading Aura's mind, she quickly added up some words to calm her down.

"Sorry. It is precious."- Alpha didn't want to show them his blood because, for some reason, it wasn't red, but green. An emerald green with strange properties, such as being filled with mana and rich vitality. 

He only knew these facts since he accidentally cut himself some years ago when he played with a butterfly knife. It wasn't the smartest decision he had ever made but who wouldn't be curious to try and spin it a few times.

"I'm going since there's nothing left to do here."- his hand was just about to open the heavy door when something came to mind. - "By the way. How did you know I was here, Aura?"

"I have my methods. You don't have to worry about it."- the grin plastered on her lips made him decide to double check all his belongings carefully after he went back home.

Alpha had only accepted Elizabeth tracking him because he knew where the device was. Now Aura also had the same means, but he didn't know the damn thing's location, which made him uncomfortable and worried.

"If you really want to know, I can tell you. The price is a visit to my house."- he squinted his eyes at her offer. As the proverb went, curiosity killed the cat. He wanted to know, but he wasn't crazy enough to walk into a cage prepared for him with love and care.

"I'm afraid that I'll never be able to see the sunlight again."- checking the time with his phone, he had already spent half of the lunch break there. - "Are you coming, Ruby?"

"Yes."- although Ruby didn't get what she wanted. Looking from the bright side, he showed no aversion to her, so that was good news. 

So good that her mouth curled upwards, revealing a pair of pearl white fangs.