Fox Among the Demons

by Trudie Collins

  “Your hour is up,” he said and Fox and Natasha both glanced at the clock on the wall. Neither had realised that so much time had passed.

  “First lesson over,” Fox said. “We will continue after lunch.”

  Komi spent the rest of the morning showing Natasha around the grounds. The entire family met up for lunch and Natasha asked Lukine about the ‘doors’ Fox had mentioned.

  They were hidden in secret locations on Earth and were kept closed unless triggered to open by a witch or wizard. At least one was always on duty at every ‘door’, day and night, in case travelling demons wished to use them.

  “They only allow those with demon blood to go through,” Lukine said. “A human tried once. He was never found again. Each door on Earth maps to a corresponding door on Yong, so you always end up in the same place. The human walked through with demons and was never seen again.”

  Natasha shuddered. “Remind me never to try using a ‘door’.”

  Trey grinned at her. “Why? You have demon blood, remember.”

  “I may only be half demon and I don’t want to take the risk.”

  After lunch, Fox took Natasha back to the schoolroom, where she learned more about life on Yong. Time passed quickly again and at the end of the lesson Natasha took the flail out of her bag and handed it to Fox.

  “You can look after this while you are teaching me. If you stop the lessons for any reason, I take it back. Agreed?”

  “Agreed,” Fox said and hung it on the wall. He was still admiring it when Komi arrived to take Natasha home.

  Dryads

  Lukine walked into the room, waving a slip of paper.

  “Dryads,” he announced and handed the paper to his wife. “Where’s Komi?”

  “Spying on Nat again,” Fox said. “It’s her line dancing night and he seems to be obsessed with watching her. I think he gets a kick out of nobody knowing he’s there.”

  “He’s going to get caught one of these days,” Trey said. “He may be able to make himself invisible, but people can still feel him. What’s he going to do if someone walks into him?”

  Bolene ignored the conversation. She had spoken to Komi numerous times over the last few weeks about leaving Natasha alone, but her words had fallen on deaf ears. Natasha was visiting the hotel once a week for lessons and he was going to her place regularly, but he seemed to have become addicted to spying on her.

  “How many?” she asked, steering the conversation to more important things. Lukine would not be able to give her an exact number, but he would have a fair indication of whether there were too many for Bolene and Trey to handle on their own.

  “A lot. I’ve never seen the map light up so brightly.” Lukine’s scrying spell would illuminate areas of an enchanted map, with different colours indicating the type of paranormal creature present. The brightness of the light gave an indication of the numbers present, though it could not be relied upon.

  Bolene looked at Trey, who shrugged. She was in charge; he would abide by whatever decision she made.

  “Contact one of the other groups,” she said. “We can’t risk it with just the two of us and there’s no point in trying to contact Komi. He always switches his communicator off when he’s spying on Nat.”

  “Have you ever considered telling her?” Lukine asked.

  “No,” Bolene said. “I’m staying out of it.”

  “I’ll try him anyway.” Fox took his communicator from his pocket. As expected, Komi did not respond.

  “Are you sure you want me to hand this over?” Lukine said. “What if there’s nobody else available? With such a concentration of dryads in one area, something big is going on.”

  Bolene opened her mouth to respond, but was interrupted by Fox. “He’s right. I’ve just realised what day it is. Midsummer. The longest day.”

  “The day the dryads perform their sacrifice ceremony,” Trey finished for him. “We have to go. Maybe Lukine can contact others to join us.”

  “I don’t like working with others,” Bolene said. “They get in the way.”

  “Let’s take Fox with us then,” Trey said.

  Bolene and Lukine both snapped their heads around to look at him. Fox held his breath. Under normal circumstances Bolene would not even consider the idea, but these weren’t normal circumstances.

  “You know that’s against the rules,” Lukine said.

  “Who will know?” Trey asked. “If by some miracle he is seen, we can always say he’s there as an observer. First-hand experience will help him become a better teacher.”

  Fox remained silent. He longed to join his friends on a ‘kill’, but never let himself believe it would ever be possible. He would let them argue this out between them; nothing he could say would help.

  “Do you know where Komi actually is?” Bolene asked. Fox and Trey both shook their heads. Komi had never mentioned to anyone where it was that Natasha went line dancing.

  Bolene looked at Fox, then at her husband, her indecision clearly written all over her face. She had never agreed with the rule about wizards not going on a ‘kill’. Those in control were worried about them using magic against the creatures with no regard to the outcome, but Fox had never even attempted to do magic and he was more than adept at using weapons.

  “It’s your decision,” Lukine said. “I won’t be happy if you take Fox with you, but I won’t report it.”

  That was all she needed to hear. “Get changed,” she said. “We are going on a ‘kill’.”

  Fox raced out of the room. He could not believe his luck. He was finally being allowed on a ‘kill’. He made a mental note to thank Komi when he next saw him.

  It didn’t take them long to reach the woodland where Lukine had instructed them to go. It was quiet when they arrived, with no sign of visitors.

  “They will be in the centre,” Fox said. He was an expert on paranormal activity, thanks to his studies, so Bolene and Trey trusted his information to be accurate.

  Before going into the trees, all three of them collected their weapons from the boot of the car. Dryads were wood nymphs. While harmless to humans most of the time, during their mating season they became deadly. They needed humans to breed. While both the males and females of the species were fertile, they couldn’t breed with each other. Nobody had managed to figure out why. As a result, they kidnapped and raped humans. The males would be kept alive for a few days, their bodies used to impregnate as many dryads as possible before they were killed and eaten. The females would be kept prisoner until they had given birth. They, too, were then murdered before being roasted.

  Midsummer fell in the middle of their mating season. They celebrated with an orgy. Humans would be enchanted to willingly take part. Only when the enchantment had worn off would they realise what they had done. Had they been allowed to leave, most of the victims would probably have been happy to enjoy the memory, or be so embarrassed by their actions they would never mention it to anyone. Dryads were beautiful creatures and it was almost impossible to detect that they were not human, unless you knew what to look for. They were expert lovers and the majority of humans enjoyed the experience.

  Until it was over and they found out that they were captives. No matter how good the sex was, it was no longer enjoyable when the victim realised that they had no choice. Screams of pleasure turned to screams of terror and pain when the dryads stopped renewing their enchantment.

  “Have you ever thought about spending the night with a dryad?” Trey asked Fox as he filled his pockets with vials of a blue liquid.

  Fox was shocked by the question. “Of course not. How could you even think such a thing?”

  Trey shrugged. “They say it’s the best sex you will ever have. Are you telling me you have never wanted to experience it? Not even once?”

  Fox turned to face Trey, his face serious. “While I may not have been with as many women as your brother, unlike either of you, I have experienced love. Trust me, that is the best sex you will ever have.”

  “E
nough talk,” Bolene said. “Let’s get moving.”

  Fox and Trey grinned at each other. Talking about sex always made Bolene uncomfortable, though nobody knew why, not even Bolene herself.

  They entered the woodland and it wasn’t long before they picked up the sounds of multiple people having sex not far away.

  They came to a clearing and stopped at the edge of the wood to watch. There were dozens of ‘people’ engaged in sexual activity and all appeared to be enjoying themselves.

  But the demons were not there to enjoy the view. Doing their best to ignore the fact that everyone was naked, they concentrated on looking at their faces. The moon was full, illuminating the clearing enough for the dryad features to be discernible. The slightly elongated lobes on their ears, their eyes a little too rounded to be human and their skin just the wrong shade of brown for it to be sun-tan. All demons were taught what to look for and could easily tell which of the participants in the orgy were human and which were not, though an untrained eye would not notice any of the distinguishing features.

  When they had seen enough, the three demons withdrew further into the wood so they could talk without being overheard.

  “I make it seventeen females and fifteen males,” Trey said. “The rest are human.”

  “Sixteen males,” Fox said. “One is not yet taking part, but is watching from the other side of the clearing.”

  “I knew bringing him along was a good idea,” Bolene said. “I didn’t spot that one.”

  They discussed tactics. The vials of liquid they carried contained an enchanted potion which would set fire to the dryads without burning the humans. They would each approach from a different direction, with Fox disposing of the voyeur. As soon as the liquid was poured on the dryads, it would burn hot and fast, but there was no danger of setting fire to their surroundings; the magical flames had no effect on anything other than dryads.

  They needed to move fast, killing all of their targets before the humans had time to react. The women would have to be rounded up and forced to drink some of the liquid in order to prevent them becoming pregnant.

  It started off well. Fox made himself invisible and managed to get behind the watching dryad without being heard. He placed one hand over his mouth and another around his neck, pulled him back into the trees, out of sight, then poured the contents of one vial over him. Had Fox’s hand not been over the dryad’s mouth, his screams would have alerted everyone in the clearing to his presence.

  The dryad struggled frantically as the flames engulfed him, but Fox held him tight. He felt the fire touching his skin and his clothes. It was a strange sensation, but it didn’t burn him.

  It didn’t take long for the fire to burn through the dryad’s legs and Fox released him, letting what was left of his body fall to the ground. Soon there was nothing but ash.

  He deactivated his bracelets, took another vial out of his pocket, took the stopper out with his teeth, then made his way back to the clearing. As soon as Trey and Bolene saw him, they made their moves, running up to the nearest dryad and sprinkling it with the blue liquid before moving on to the next.

  Then things started to get out of control. Unsurprisingly, the humans began to scream. The ‘men’ and ‘women’ on top of them were suddenly covered in flames and the humans had no way of knowing that they were not in any danger. There were too many dryads for the three demons to drag them away from their human victims first and none of them allowed themselves to think about the nightmares that would plague these humans for the rest of their lives.

  The burning dryads were also screaming, but in pain not horror. Those yet to be doused in the liquid fire were alerted to what was happening and one manged to get out of the clearing before Bolene, Fox or Trey could get to him.

  Trey took off in pursuit. The dryad was fast, but Trey was faster. The dryad, however, was on his home ground and could manoeuvre around the trees with amazing skill and dexterity. He was pulling ahead of Trey, so the demon removed the stopper from the top of the vial he was holding and threw it after the fleeing dryad. Only a little sprinkled on him, but it was enough for the flames to take hold. Trey did not bother to go any closer as he watched his prey burn.

  By the time he made his way back to the clearing, it was covered in ash. All except one human had disappeared and there was no sign of Fox. Trey walked over to his sister, who was administering the liquid to a blonde woman. A quick look at her naked body told Trey that she was not a natural blonde.

  Bolene told the young lady that everything was going to be alright. She should go home, shower and go to bed. In the morning it would all seem like a bad dream. The woman was in too much shock to argue and after picking up her clothes, she headed in the direction that Bolene said the road was. Bolene hoped that she had the sense to put her clothes on before trying to hitch a ride.

  “Where’s Fox?” Trey asked once she was out of sight.

  “One of the human women ran away. Fox went after her. He said he would meet us back at the car.”

  Trey nodded. He then looked around. Other than abandoned clothing, there was no sign of what had taken place in the clearing.

  “Let’s go then,” he said and led the way through the trees to where they had parked.

  ————————————-∞————————————-

  Fox was having trouble catching up with the young woman he was pursuing. While he was fit and a good runner, she was terrified and pumped full of adrenaline. Following her was getting him nowhere so he decided to change tactic. She was heading straight, not once deviating from the path she was following, so when they came to a fork, he took a different route.

  It did not take the young woman long to notice that she was no longer being followed and she came to a stop, looking around her for assailants coming from any direction.

  From where he was hidden in the trees, Fox studied her. She was young, eighteen at most, and she was shaking with fear. He wished he could talk to her, to let her know that there was nothing to be afraid of, but something told him that he would not get anywhere if he tried; she was too scared to listen to anything he had to say.

  When she turned her back on him he made his move, jumping out from his hiding place and pushing her to the ground. He roughly rolled her over then used his body to pin her in place.

  She screamed and he took the opportunity to tip the contents of his already open vial down her throat. She could either swallow or choke. She opted for the first one. As soon as her airway was clear, Fox moved off her, allowing her to regain her feet once more and run away. This time he did not follow her.

  He didn’t hurry back to the car. This was the first time he had experienced killing dryads and it was very different to the theory. As he walked, he tried to get the young woman’s screams out of his head. Yes, he had saved her life and prevented her becoming pregnant by a dryad, but he could not help feeling he had violated her.

  Trey and Bolene were in the car, patiently waiting for him, when he eventually made it back to the parking area.

  “Are you alright?” Bolene asked, seeing the look on his face.

  “Is it always like this?” Fox felt guilty about the way he had treated the young woman, despite the fact that he had no choice.

  “Most of the time, yes,” Bolene replied.

  “Sometimes it’s worse,” Trey said.

  “How do you cope?” Fox asked.

  “We remind ourselves that we are saving the humans, even though they don’t know it. It gets easier, over time.”

  The rest of the journey was made in silence.

  Caught

  A few days later it was time for Natasha’s next lesson and Fox decided to tell her about going on his first ‘kill’. He knew that Komi had told her about a number of successful ‘kills’ he had been on and, while he would not lie, he would probably make it out to be exciting and Fox wanted her to know the truth.

  “Today we are going to talk about dryads,” he said when she was seated i
n the schoolroom.

  “Dryads? As in wood nymphs?” Fox nodded. “They’re real?” Again Fox nodded. “So why do humans know about them? And vampires, come to think of it.”

  “That’s easy. Most, if not all of the authors who wrote about them are demons.”

  Natasha’s jaw dropped. “Bram Stoker was a demon?”

  Fox grinned at her. “We can blend in well when we want to. Now, back to the subject in hand.”

  He told her everything about dryads and how to kill them.

  “I thought dryads were vegetarian.” Natasha was finding it hard to believe that they ate humans.

  “Usually they are. The only meat they eat is human, or demon, and then it’s only those they have mated with. We haven’t been able to figure out why.”

  “Have you ever thought of asking them? Or are you too busy enjoying the kill to think of anything else?”

  Fox winced. There was anger in Natasha’s voice and he could understand why. He had read a lot of Earth’s history and what demons did probably felt a little too much like ethnic cleansing.

  “If there was a way to capture and rehabilitate them, we would. If they had remained in our realm, then something along those lines might have been accomplished by now, but they are on Earth and have to be destroyed in order to protect humans.”

  Natasha said nothing, though the look she was giving him suggested she didn’t believe him.

  “Besides,” he added, “we don’t enjoy the killing, it’s just a necessary evil.”

  “Komi does.”

  Fox wanted to disagree with her, but he couldn’t. Komi did enjoy the killing. Trey and Bolene also did, to a lesser extent, but for some reason he could not understand, Komi got a thrill out of it. Not just the physical kill, but every part of it. Instead, he told her about how he felt about going on his first ‘kill’.

  It did not have the effect he had been hoping for. Instead of understanding how uncomfortable parts of it had made him feel, she focussed on Komi. “Why wasn’t Komi there?” she asked.