Fox Among the Demons

by Trudie Collins

  Natasha seemed surprised by his answer. He was expecting a million different questions from her, but not the one she did ask. “Why Fox?”

  “Because he is our teacher.”

  Komi then went on to explain a little about his friend. Fox’s father was a wizard. His mother died giving birth to him and his father had never forgiven him for it. As a result, he did not have a good childhood. He spent most of the time at Komi’s house, avoiding his father.

  As the son of a wizard, Fox was also a wizard. The magic was passed on to all male offspring and there was no way of stopping it. Ever since the leaders of the demons found out about the experiments those with magic had been doing, which resulted in the creatures that now roamed the Earth and were hunted down by Komi and others like him, wizards and witches had become almost like second class citizens. They were not permitted to hold any position of power or influence. They were forced to earn a living using their magic for the benefit of others and it was tightly monitored. Their only other option was teaching.

  Due to his father, Fox hated what he was, rejecting all offers for him to train as a wizard. Not once did he ever try to use the magic inside him so nobody had any idea how powerful he was. As he refused to attend wizard training school, becoming a teacher was his only option and he was pleased to find that, not only was he good at it, but he also enjoyed it. He got immense pleasure out of teaching others the history of the demon race as well as everything anyone knew about vampires, werewolves, sirens and so on.

  The only downside was that he also loved weapons but, as a possessor of magic, he was never allowed to use them. Secretly, Komi and his siblings had taught him, so he was proficient in every weapon they used, but he never went with them on a ‘kill’ and had never used any weapon outside the place he lived.

  He was, however, permitted to create them and he took on the role of weapons manufacturer, as well as teacher, when he moved to Earth. He soon built up a reputation and demons who lived in all different countries on Earth sought out his skills when new weapons were needed.

  A lot of different demon families lived within a few hours of where Fox now lived and they all sent their children to him for lessons. As a result, he was constantly busy, splitting his time between teaching and manufacturing.

  “So that is why Fox has to teach you,” Komi said.

  “If I agree, where will these lessons take place?” Komi could hear the uncertainty in her voice, though whether it was in regard to learning what he wanted her to or being taught by Fox, he could not be certain.

  “At home. My home, that is. My family and I live in what used to be a small hotel. One of the conference rooms has been converted into a schoolroom, while another is now our training room. It’s over an hour away, if you stick to the speed limits, so you can be given your own bedroom, if you like.”

  Komi was not sure that the others would agree to this, but did not let that stop him making the offer.

  “So who is in charge of your little team of killers?” She was smiling as she spoke once more, so he knew she was teasing him. Despite what he had told her about how he and his siblings tracked and slaughtered supernatural creatures, he believed she did not see him as a murderer. Would that change if she started going with them? There was only one way to find out, but she would have to be trained first.

  “Technically Fox is. As our teacher, he has the right to say when, where and how we go about disposing of the vermin, as we like to put it, but he has no desire to lead and always defers to Bolene.”

  “And did you get her permission to suggest I be taught more about your people and the creatures they kill?” The look on her face told him she already knew the answer.

  “Not exactly.” He had casually mentioned in conversation with the entire family that he thought it was time that Natasha learned more, but had neglected to make it clear that he meant for Fox to provide formal lessons. None of them had disagreed with him.

  It took Komi a while, but eventually he managed to persuade Natasha to at least meet with Fox. She invited them all over the following weekend, for an afternoon in the pool followed by a meal.

  For once, Komi left Natasha’s place before the sun set. He was eager to see his family’s reactions to his plans.

  Werewolves

  When Komi left, he went straight home to give his family and Fox the news. He wasn’t sure how they were going to take it.

  Bolene and Trey were dressed ready to go out on a ‘kill’ when Komi walked through the door.

  “Get changed,” Bolene said as soon as she saw him. “Lukine has managed to track a family of werewolves to a house not far from here.”

  Komi’s news would have to wait. Disposing of werewolves was more important.

  He raced to his room, stripped off his leather trousers and jacket, which he always wore when riding his motorcycle, removed his jeans and shirt, which he dumped on the floor instead of placing them in the wash basket, and slipped into dark cargo pants and a plain black t-shirt. Demons always dressed like this when going on a ‘kill’. They were non-descript enough not to cause attention, were comfortable, didn’t restrict their movements and did not show blood as much as lighter colours would.

  Next Komi made his way to the armoury, a small room at the back of the building which contained all of their weapons, those that the family used and those Fox had created for others which had yet to be collected.

  The room had a number of safes, each filled with weapons designed to kill a different type of creature. Komi went straight to the one containing guns filled with silver bullets and knives made from silver. He took two knives and inserted them inside his boots, into specially designed sheaths. He took his jacket from the nearby coat rack and placed guns in each pocket, as well as a lot of spare bullets, before slipping a third into an inside pocket.

  Before putting it on, he tied a leather sheath containing blades to each arm. By flexing his wrists, he could activate the release mechanism, making the blades protrude far enough for them to be effective in close combat. These, too, were made from silver.

  Putting his jacket on as he left the room, he headed to the front door, where Trey and Bolene were waiting for him, the latter impatiently tapping her foot.

  “What took you so long?” she asked.

  Komi didn’t bother to reply. “Let’s go.”

  Bolene drove them to the address her husband had provided and they parked a little way down the street, where they could observe the house without attracting too much attention. It was a typical middle sized house in a normal suburban street. Nothing about it would have called it to their attention had Lukine’s scrying spell not identified it as containing lycanthropes.

  Lights were on inside, suggesting the occupants were home. Bolene studied the building for a few more minutes, looking for movement, before instructing everyone to leave the car.

  They approached the house cautiously. They had no idea how many werewolves they would be facing or if there would also be humans present. Lukine’s spell picked up the types of creatures they were looking for and could indicate whether there were a few or a lot, but that was all. It could pinpoint their location, but nothing more that would be of use.

  Trying to look as casual as possible, the three walked up to the front door and Bolene rang the bell. They could hear it chiming inside the house, followed by the sound of footsteps from within.

  The girl who answered was young, not yet a teenager. She was short and thin, looking undernourished, but there was nothing about her to suggest she wasn’t human. Then again, there rarely was.

  “Is Mark in?” Bolene asked, saying the first name that came into her head.

  The girl shook her head. “You must have the wrong house.” Her voice was soft and timid. She started to close the door, but Bolene put her foot in the way. She reached out and grabbed the girl’s bare arm, making sure her silver ring made contact with her skin.

  The girl cried out as her arm began to burn and tried to pull away. Trey p
ulled out a gun and shot her between the eyes. The gun made no sound. All of their guns had been enchanted to suppress all noise, so as not to draw any unwanted attention.

  Bolene stepped over the body and entered the house, drawing one of her own guns as she did so. The killing of such a young girl did not bother her. She had learnt a long time ago that these were creatures that had to be destroyed, no matter what the age. Werewolves were deadly to humans, and demons, even the children.

  She had no way of knowing if the girl had been human once and had been turned or if she had been the product of two werewolves mating, and she didn’t care. It made no difference. Unlike vampires, werewolves were fertile. They could have children with humans, the resulting infant being a half-breed, or two werewolves could produce a pure blood werewolf. The half-breeds were just as dangerous as the true lycanthropes.

  Trey and Komi followed Bolene into the house, leaving the door open in case they needed to make a fast getaway. It was hard to predict how this ‘kill’ would go. It depended a lot on how many there were and whether they were in human form. Fiction said that werewolves automatically became wolves on a full moon. While this was true, the books and films neglected to mention that they could also change form at will and a werewolf in wolf form was much more deadly than in human form.

  Komi took the lead, heading directly to the front room. The door was closed, but light was streaming from under it and movement could be heard inside. Trey and Bolene took up positions on either side of Komi as he slowly eased the door open.

  None of the occupants turned around, giving the three demons time to assess the situation. They could see eight adults inside the room, but there may have been more out of view. There was no way to tell if any were human.

  All three were expert shots and could easily have killed them all before any of them had time to react, but they never harmed humans. They had to ascertain which ones were human, if any, before the killing could begin. This was one of the reasons that they had not made themselves invisible.

  With a nod from Bolene, Komi entered the room. She and Trey followed, closing the door behind them. They did not want to be surprised from the rear should anyone else be in the house.

  The television was on with the volume up high enough to drown out the sounds the siblings made. Komi glanced to his right and saw two more adults who had been hidden by the door. There was a football match showing on the screen, to which all eyes were glued, and everyone had bottles of beer in their hands.

  Komi was about to call out to get their attention when one of the women looked up and saw him.

  “Who the hell are you and what are you doing in my house?” Her words caught the attention of the man sitting next to her. He looked over to see who she was speaking to and started swearing loudly.

  “Demons,” he called out and the room erupted with moving bodies. Unfortunately they were not moving in any direction; they were moving internally, transforming from human to wolf. Komi, Bolene and Trey suddenly found themselves trapped in a room full of werewolves, all ready to fight. It was times like this that Komi wished Fox was allowed to come on a ‘kill’ with them. He was as good with the weapons as any of them and three against ten were not good odds.

  As he no longer needed to ascertain who was human, Komi started shooting. He could see his brother and sister doing the same thing, each picking their closest targets. Half of the werewolves were dead before the others had time to attack, their bodies reverting back to their human form the moment their hearts stopped beating.

  Komi moved out of the way just in time as a female wolf launched herself at him, narrowly missing his throat with her teeth. He shot her in the back of the head, the silver bullet killing her instantly.

  He looked around to see Bolene’s attacker knock her gun out of her hand. She swiftly drew her knife and plunged it into the wolf’s back, making it scream in pain as its fur began to smoke. Komi shot it then looked for Trey. He was on the ground, wrestling with a werewolf, who had his jaws clamped around the young man’s arm.

  Ignoring the pain, Trey moved his free hand into position, placed his gun against the animal’s head, then pulled the trigger. The creature slumped onto him. The dead body was heavy as Trey pushed it aside.

  Bolene and Komi disposed of the remaining two werewolves then the three of them searched the rest of the house. A half-eaten meal in the kitchen suggested someone else had been present at some point and the temperature of the cup of tea told them it had not been made long ago. The back door was standing open. Komi looked outside, but could see nothing. Whoever, or whatever, had been there was long gone.

  There was no sign of any other creature, human or lycanthrope, being present in the house, so Komi put his gun away and inspected Trey’s arm. There were holes in his jacket, but the wolf’s teeth had not penetrated his flesh.

  Then Komi noticed that Bolene’s hand was bleeding.

  “That had better not be a bite Bo.”

  She looked at her hand and was surprised to see the blood. She wiped it on her trousers then inspected it closely. “No, just a scratch,” she announced, much to everyone’s relief. If she had been bitten, there was nothing anyone could do to stop her turning. She took a vial out of her pocket, removed the stopper and took a mouthful of the liquid inside. She then watched as the cut on her hand healed. She spat on it then rubbed it down her trousers once more to remove the remaining blood.

  Now that all of the werewolves in the house were dead, there was no need to leave the front door open, so Trey moved the young girl’s body out of the way then closed it.

  “Anyone for coffee?” Bolene asked and made her way to the kitchen. They could leave the house; there was no need to worry about the police being called if the bodies were discovered as they would soon dissolve until nothing remained.

  Silver bullets, however, were still embedded in most of the corpses, so the demons would wait until they could be retrieved. Fox would be angry with them if they didn’t.

  There were also those who had fled from the kitchen to think about. If they returned any time in the next hour or so, the three demons would be waiting for them.

  “Were you out with Natasha again?” Trey asked Komi as he sipped his coffee. He grimaced as he did so. It was not what he would call proper coffee, but Bolene had only been able to find instant granules so he would have to put up with it.

  Komi grinned when he thought about how they were going to react to the arrangement he had made with Natasha.

  “Yes,” he said, “and you are all going to meet her next weekend.”

  Komi sat back, placed his feet up on the table and waited for the swearing to stop before telling them all about his evening.

  Introductions

  “How did the ‘kill’ go?” Fox asked when Trey, Bolene and Komi returned.

  Bolene grunted in reply and Trey said, “Forget the ‘kill’. We have more important things to talk about. My stupid brother has told his girlfriend that you are going to give her lessons.”

  “He told her what?” Fox could not believe what he was hearing.

  “Look,” Komi said, “it makes sense. We want to know why she can understand our language and teaching her all about what we do, how we do it and why might help us figure it out. At the moment, she has no more idea than we do.”

  It was Fox’s turn to grunt. “I don’t see how.”

  “He may have a point,” Lukine said. Lukine was the last person Komi expected to be on his side. Officially teaching a non-demon was against more rules than Komi dared to think about and Lukine was rigid when it came to following the rules.

  Even Bolene stared at her husband in surprise.

  “Do I get a say in this?” Fox asked.

  “Of course you do. I haven’t made any promises. Well not exactly. All I have done is arrange for you all to meet her.”

  Fox rolled his eyes. “When and where?” he said in resignation. Experience had taught him that it would be pointless to argue with Komi about thi
s.

  Komi grinned. If Fox agreed, then the rest soon would. “Her place, next weekend. And bring your swimmers.”

  “I don’t have swimmers,” Fox mumbled as he left the room.

  ————————————-∞————————————-

  Natasha was out the back of her house, typing on her laptop, when she heard the gate open. She knew who it was without looking up.

  “You’re early.”

  “I didn’t think you would mind,” Komi said, closing the gate once everyone was in the garden.

  “I bet you say the first part of that sentence a lot.”

  Trey burst out laughing. “I think you and I are going to get on very well.”

  Komi frowned at him. “Natasha, let me introduce my baby brother, Trey, and my sister Bolene. You have already met them both, though only briefly.”

  “I remember. They were killing a vampire at the time.” She smiled up at them. “Welcome to my home.”

  Komi then pointed to the tallest of the guests. “This is Lukine, Bo’s husband. I have already told you everything you need to know about him.”

  “The wizard,” Natasha said. “Tell me, can you really do magic or is Komi winding me up?”

  Lukine didn’t smile when he said, “I created the invisibility bracelets and put the counter-spell on the necklace.”

  “I guess that answers that question.”

  Natasha then turned her attention to the one man she had yet to be introduced to. She knew who he must be, but he was nothing like she had pictured him. He appeared to be in his mid-twenties, but she had been imagining him much older. His short dark hair matched his deep brown eyes. His skin was slightly darker than that of the other demons and the shape of his eyes made him appear Asian, or at least of Asian descent. Japanese rather than Chinese, Natasha thought.

  He was of average height, for a human male, and had a trim, fit body. The tight black t-shirt he was wearing did nothing to hide the muscles in his arms.