Fox Among the Demons

by Trudie Collins

  It was Saturday morning and everyone was in the dining room eating breakfast when Komi asked Fox if he was going to spend the night at his girlfriend’s place again. He was becoming more than curious about her and the fact that Fox was telling him nothing, not even her name, was frustrating him.

  Fox glanced at Natasha and saw her nod her head slightly. “No,” he said. “Not tonight. She’ll be staying with me instead.”

  “You’re bringing her here?” Komi asked in surprise. “How much does she know about us? Have you even told her what you are?”

  “No,” Fox said casually. “You’re the one who did that.”

  Bolene was the first person to work out what he meant and turned her head sharply toward Natasha, who was blushing bright red.

  It took Komi a little longer, but eventually he realised what Fox was saying. “No. No way. You have to be winding me up.”

  “He’s not,” Natasha said and leaned across the table to take Fox’s hand. They had been prepared for Komi to be angry, but neither of them had been expecting the fury that he unleashed.

  “You bastard. This is revenge for Soolin isn’t it? You’re just using Nat to get back at me.”

  Fox remained calm. “Believe it or not, not everything is about you.”

  “I’m going to kill you for this.” He stormed out of the room.

  “Komi−” Fox called after him, but Natasha interrupted him.

  “Leave this to me,” she said and went after him. He was moving fast and had reached the armoury before Natasha caught up to him. “Komi, wait,” she said, taking hold of his arm.

  He rounded on her. “You are going to get hurt, you know that.”

  “Komi, I made the first move, not Fox. This is about us, not you.” Komi grunted. He obviously didn’t believe what Natasha was saying.

  “You don’t know him as well as I do.”

  “If you know him as well as you claim, then you know he isn’t capable of what you are accusing him of.”

  Komi opened his mouth and closed it again. Natasha was right; Fox wasn’t that sort of person. If he wanted to get his revenge, he would do it himself; he wouldn’t involve anyone else. But that didn’t calm him down. Instead he turned his anger on Natasha. “How could you do this to me? You know how I feel about you.”

  Natasha was prepared for this. “Actually, no I don’t. I know what you claim, but I don’t believe you.”

  “What?” Komi was stunned by her words. “How can you say that?”

  Natasha looked straight at him. “Look me in the eye and tell me you want me.”

  Komi obeyed. “I want you.” He sounded sincere.

  “Now tell me you want me for who I am, not just because I keep turning you down. Tell me I would be more than just a conquest. Tell me you want to settle down with me.”

  This time Komi hesitated. Natasha didn’t give him time to think. “Tell me that you won’t move on to someone else as soon as you get me into bed.”

  Komi looked into her eyes. “I care about you.” It wasn’t what she had asked him to say and they both knew it.

  “I care about you too, as a friend. But I am in love with Fox.”

  Komi took hold of her hands. “Why? What does he have that I don’t?”

  Natasha didn’t withdraw her hands. Though she didn’t feel comfortable, she didn’t want to put a distance between them that she would never be able to close. “I don’t know if I can answer that. I have never compared you. He is kind, honest, open, understanding. He was there for me when I needed him and I trust him completely. He looked after me when I was ill and he comforted me when I was upset on the anniversary of my brother’s death. I tried, but I couldn’t stop myself falling for him. Not once did he make a move on me or give any indication that he felt the same way. It came as a complete surprise.”

  Komi released Natasha’s hands and turned away from her. “It’s been going on that long? While I was in your bed, waiting for you to join me, you were sleeping with Fox?”

  “No,” Natasha said softly. “We didn’t get together until the day I walked out. The night you are talking about, he looked after me. He held me while I cried, nothing more. He was the rock that I needed.”

  Komi slowly turned around. “I could have been.” All of the anger had left him now.

  “No, you couldn’t. You wanted more than I could give and would not have been satisfied with just holding me.”

  “What else? There has to be more.”

  Komi wasn’t going to like what she had to say, but she needed to say it anyway. “He’s not a killer. He doesn’t get a thrill out of killing.”

  “Only because he doesn’t get the chance.” Komi knew he wasn’t telling the truth even as the words came out. Fox had spoken to him about how he felt going on his first ‘kill’. Personally Komi couldn’t understand why Fox felt the way he did, but he knew, deep down, he would never feel any different.

  Natasha remained quiet. She could have argued with what Komi had just said, but she knew she didn’t need to. “Alright,” he eventually said. “I will accept that this is real and not just a way to hurt me. Are you sure this is what you really want?”

  Natasha nodded. Komi walked up to her and placed his arms around her. “In that case, I am pleased for you and I hope he makes you happy.” He hugged her tight then released her so he could kiss her cheek.

  He stepped back and grinned. “I don’t suppose you’re open to having an affair are you?”

  “No,” Natasha said, smiling. “I don’t suppose I am.”

  ————————————-∞————————————-

  Fox was still in the dining room, being given the third degree by Bolene and Lukine. They wanted to know all of the details about how he and Natasha got together and Fox held nothing back. Well almost nothing.

  “I didn’t know you were such a good liar,” Bolene said when he had finished.

  Fox winced. “I learnt from a very young age that it was better to lie to my father than tell him the truth. I’m sorry I had to lie to you. I hope you understand why.”

  Bolene did understand why he had to keep his relationship a secret; it would not have been easy for Fox and Natasha to work out how they felt about each other with everyone at the hotel interfering. However, he had lied to her about his feelings. That she did not understand.

  “You told me you weren’t interested in her.”

  “That’s because I wasn’t ‘interested’ in her; I was in love with her. I could hardly tell you that, could I?”

  “You hid it so well.”

  “I’ve had years of practice. Hiding how I felt was the only way I survived living with my father.”

  Komi chose that moment to walk back into the room. He seemed a completely different person to the one who had walked out. “Hurt her and I will kill you,” he said to Fox.

  “You won’t get any arguments from me,” Fox said.

  Komi took a seat opposite Fox. “If you two are serious about each other, then you need to know who she really is. It’s about time we found out.”

  “I know,” Fox said. “Any idea how?”

  “I might be able to help,” Lukine said. “There is a spell I know that will regress someone so that they can recall memories they have forgotten.”

  “Like hypnotherapy,” Natasha said. She had heard what Lukine had said as she entered the room.

  “Exactly.”

  “But how will that help?” Fox asked.

  “I can keep making her go back until she reaches a time when she wasn’t with her supposedly real family. If she truly is a demon, which we all believe, her parents can’t actually be her parents, therefore, though she was probably only a baby, she must have seen her demon ones, or her mother at least. Hopefully she knows, deep down in her subconscious, what really happened and how she ended up with humans.”

  “Is it dangerous?” Fox asked. He wanted to know who Natasha was, but he didn’t want to put her at risk.

  “No,�
�� Lukine assured him. “Not at all.”

  Fox looked at Natasha. “Want to give it a go?”

  Natasha wasn’t sure she did, but she said, “Why not.”

  ————————————-∞————————————-

  Less than an hour later, Natasha found herself lying on her bed, surrounded by demons. Even Trey was there, having returned from Natasha’s house just after the decision had been made. He was not happy that they had announced their relationship while he had been away, but he had enjoyed hearing about Komi’s reaction.

  Fox was sitting by the bed, holding her hand. “Close your eyes,” Lukine said, “and listen to my voice.”

  Natasha did as instructed. She had no idea what he was saying as he orated the necessary spell, but she found herself caught up in it. Soon she was drifting. She wasn’t asleep, but she wasn’t awake either. She felt like she was floating. She squeezed Fox’s hand to reassure herself that he was still there.

  “Remember back to your first birthday,” she heard Lukine say and a picture formed in her mind. She was sitting in front of a cake with a single candle on it. She could see her mother and father, and her brother. She had no memories of him being that young. Her sister was also there, sulking because Natasha was getting all the attention.

  Lukine asked her to describe what she saw. When she did, he shook his head. “We need to go back further. You are now six months old. What do you see?” Again Natasha was with her parents, so Lukine took her back further. He continued to regress her, a month at a time, until she was only a few weeks old.

  “She has been with her human parents for a long time,” he said. “I’m not sure this is going to work.”

  “Can you take her back further?” Komi asked.

  “I can, but I don’t know what good it will do. I have no idea if children can even focus properly that young.”

  “Try,” Komi said.

  The experiment continued, going back a day at a time until Natasha was only three days old. She was in the arms of a man she did not recognise. It was a rainy night and the streetlights were on, lighting his way to the front door of a small cottage. He rang the bell and her father answered. The man had a pipe in his mouth and blew smoke into her father’s face, making him choke. He then asked if he could go in.

  “Can you hear everything they are saying?” Lukine asked. Natasha nodded. “Please tell us.”

  “The man is talking. He is saying that he knows about my father’s daughter, that she only has a few weeks to live, that the only reason the hospital released her was because there was nothing they could do. My parents wanted to bring their child home, even for just a few days, and they consented.”

  “Could he be talking about your sister?” Bolene asked.

  “I don’t think so.”

  “What is happening now?” Lukine asked, throwing a warning look at his wife that she should leave the talking to him.

  “The man is being shown into the lounge. My mother is there, sitting in a chair. There’s a crib next to it with a baby in it. The man is walking up to them. Now he’s looking in the basket. Oh my God!”

  “What’s wrong?” Fox asked.

  “He has just asked my parents if they will take me in exchange for their own child and they are agreeing. My father is picking up his daughter. I’m being placed in the crib and the baby has now been handed to the man. This is horrible. My parents are just letting the man leave with their daughter.”

  “That’s enough,” Fox said. “Wake her up.”

  “Not yet,” Lukine said. “We need to know who the man is, how he got Nat and why he gave her away.”

  “Not now,” Fox said. “Can’t you see this is upsetting her?”

  Lukine ignored him. “Go back another day,” he said and the image in Natasha’s head changed. She was now in a different house, with the man who had given her away. He was packing a bag and kept looking around as though he was afraid he would be caught doing something he shouldn’t.

  “Now he has picked me up and is leaving the house.”

  “Go back further,” Lukine said. “Think about your birth. You have just come into the world. What do you see?”

  “I’m in that man’s arms again and he’s smiling at me. He’s standing beside a bed and talking to the woman lying in it. He just said ‘we have a beautiful daughter’. Jesus Christ. My real father gave me away.”

  Everyone in the room could hear how agitated Natasha was. “Stop this now,” Fox shouted.

  This time Lukine obeyed. He spoke the counter-spell and Natasha opened her eyes. “I think I’m going to be sick,” she said and rushed to the bathroom.

  “That wasn’t much use,” Trey said. “We still have no idea who she is.”

  “No,” Fox said, “but we do know how she is a demon raised by humans with no idea of her true heritage.”

  “So how do we find out who her real parents are?” Bolene asked.

  “I have no idea,” Fox said. “But I promise you one thing. When I find out, and I will, I am going to hunt them down and make them pay for what they did to her.”

  Confrontation

  Natasha was curled up in a ball on the bed. Fox had moulded his body around her and was giving her as much comfort as he could. She wasn’t sure what had upset her the most, knowing that her real parents had callously given her away or that her human parents had lied to her her entire life, even when she asked if she was adopted. Then again, technically, she had been swapped, not adopted, but she wasn’t in the mood for considering technicalities.

  “I need to go and see them,” she said.

  Fox didn’t need to ask who. “Do you want me to come with you?”

  “Would you mind?”

  He squeezed her hand tight. “Of course not. I’ll do anything you need me to, you know that.”

  No further discussion was needed. A short while later, Fox drove Natasha to her parent’s house. Meeting the future in-laws was always supposed to make the boyfriend a little nervous, but under the circumstances, Fox was angry rather than nervous and he hoped he could keep his anger under control. This wasn’t how he wanted to first meet Natasha’s family, but it had to be done. Natasha needed to confront them and make them admit what they had done.

  A tall man with grey hair opened the door when Natasha rang the bell. “Natasha,” he said. “This is a nice surprise.” It was a surprise, but Natasha didn’t believe it was going to be a nice one. He reached out to hug her, but she pulled away.

  “We need to talk.” Her father seemed taken aback by her abruptness, but she didn’t care. She took Fox’s hand and led him into the house. A woman Fox took to be her mother was sitting in the lounge. She was much shorter than her husband and overweight. Her light brown hair had streaks of grey in it and she didn’t seem pleased to see her daughter.

  A younger woman was sitting in a chair nearby. She looked so much like a younger version of Natasha’s mother that she had to be Natasha’s sister.

  “Mum, dad,” Natasha said, “this is Fox, the man I am in love with. Fox, meet my parents.” She then turned her attention to the woman in the chair. “Sandra, I’m glad you are here to witness this.”

  “Witness what?” Natasha’s father asked. “Are you announcing your engagement or something?”

  “Not yet,” Fox said before Natasha could speak, momentarily distracting her. It took her a moment to regain her composure.

  “I asked you once if I was adopted and you denied everything. Now I have a different question. Am I really your daughter? Did mum really give birth to me?”

  “What are you talking about Nat?” Sandra asked. Natasha ignored her; she was focused on her father, who, just for a moment, seemed unsure of how to answer.

  “Of course you are my child,” he said, just a fraction of a second too late for Natasha to believe him. “Wherever do you get such strange ideas?”

  Natasha turned to her mother. “Well mum. Are you going to lie to me as well?”

  “Y
ou know we never lie to you dear.”

  “Really. So you didn’t go behind my back to plan me moving to England with Paul.”

  “That was different. That wasn’t lying. That was just not telling you everything.”

  “You’re lying now though.” Fox was impressed that Natasha was managing to not raise her voice.

  “We have no idea what you are talking about. Of course you are our child. We have the birth certificate to prove it.”

  “That proves nothing,” Natasha said. “I will give you one last chance to tell me the truth or I am walking out of here and you will never see me again.”

  Fox managed to keep his emotions inside but Natasha’s statement had shocked him. He knew she was angry at her parents, but hadn’t expected her to make an announcement like that. She was not calling their bluff; she meant every word.

  “You always were a problem child,” her mother said. “Who has been putting these strange ideas into your head? This person here?” She was pointing at Fox.

  He was expecting Natasha to explode, but instead her next words were spoken very quietly. “It was a rainy night. You had just brought your new baby home from hospital. She was dying and you wanted her to die at home, surrounded by her family, instead of in that cold, clinical building.”

  She glanced at her mother, then her father. Both had gone pale. “The bell rang and there was a man there, holding a child. He was smoking a pipe. You let him in. He told you he knew that your daughter only had a couple of weeks to live and offered to swap his child for yours. You accepted the offer.”

  “How do you know that?” her mother asked.

  “How I know is irrelevant. All that matters is that I do. I gave you the chance to tell me the truth, now it’s too late. Goodbye. I won’t be coming back.”

  “Nat wait,” Sandra said, jumping up from her chair and rushing over to her sister. “You can’t leave now. I, at least, deserve an explanation as to what is going on.”

  “You’re right, you do.” Natasha turned to her parents once more. Her father had moved so he was sitting next to her mother, holding her hand. “Tell her.”