Fox Among the Demons

by Trudie Collins

  “She isn’t there,” Lucy said. “She’s staying with my aunt for a while and before you ask, no, I won’t give you the address. She doesn’t want to see any of you and you have to give her the time and space she needs.”

  Komi looked at Fox. He had shown no reaction to Lucy’s words, which had him worried. He watched in concern as he stood up and left the room.

  Fox went to the schoolroom, but hesitated before opening the door. He hoped he was wrong. He took a deep breath then entered the room. He scanned the walls for what he wanted to see. Something died inside him when his eyes fell on the gap where Natasha’s flail should have been. Then he started to scream.

  Suicide

  The days turned into weeks and none of the demons heard from Natasha. They knew that she had returned home and was going to work and her dance classes, as they were spying on her, but they never let her see them. They could not be certain if she was still wearing her enchanted necklace, so they kept their distance, just in case.

  Life at the hotel went on as normal. Fox continued to teach, but he had lost all enthusiasm for it. Even making weapons no longer gave him any enjoyment. He was functioning, but not living. Bolene and Komi began to grow concerned. A melancholy had taken hold of him and there was nothing they could do to shake it. The only time there seemed to be any real sign of life in him was when he was in communication with whoever was following Natasha. He couldn’t bear to do it himself, but he insisted that whoever was watching her kept up a running commentary for him. He had the demon equivalent of earpieces and microphones shipped over from Yong so he could stay in constant contact with whoever was spying on Natasha.

  One day Natasha came home from work early. She had a splitting headache and wanted to go to bed to sleep it off. There was a familiar car in the driveway and the sight of it brought a smile to her face. She used her remote to open the garage door, but didn’t drive in. Instead she left her car on the drive and walked to the front door.

  She didn’t have to wait long before it was opened by a young man, still half undressed. He kissed Lucy quickly on the cheek, turned around and almost walked into Natasha.

  “Oh,” Trey said as he took a step back.

  “We should talk,” Natasha said, pointing into the house. Trey obeyed and went into the lounge, closely followed by Lucy. Both seemed nervous.

  “Look−” Trey started to say but Natasha held up her hand to stop him.

  “It’s good to see you Trey,” Natasha said and saw him and Lucy visibly relax. “When I said I never wanted to see another demon, I didn’t take you two into account, and for that I apologise. I’m glad that you found a way to still see each other.”

  “Does this mean we can stop sneaking around behind your back?” Lucy asked. The hope in her voice almost made Natasha cry.

  “It does,” Natasha said, “but on one condition. Trey is welcome here any time, as long as he doesn’t mention me to any of the others. I don’t want them to use him to get information about me. I assume they don’t know you are still seeing Lucy.”

  Trey shook his head. “To be honest, they haven’t asked. Everyone is so concerned about Fox that they haven’t realised that I might still have access to you.”

  Natasha tensed. “How is he?” She didn’t really want to hear the answer, but could not stop herself asking.

  “Sorry Nat, but this has to work both ways. If you don’t want me to mention you to them, I can’t talk to you about Fox.” Natasha wasn’t happy, but she understood where Trey was coming from. “You know they are spying on you,” he added.

  It was a statement rather than a question, but Natasha answered it anyway. “I suspected they would. That’s one of the reasons I took my necklace off. I didn’t want to risk accidentally seeing one of them.” The other reason was that Fox had given it to her and she was no longer able to look at it without crying.

  “I’m going to bed,” she said. “Try not to make too much noise.”

  “Bless the Creator,” Trey said quietly once he was sure Natasha was no longer within hearing distance. “I know you said she wasn’t handling things well, but I never expected her to look that bad. She looks seriously ill.”

  “Now you know why I’m so worried,” Lucy said. “I don’t know what to do. She’s not eating properly. She’s not sleeping properly. She can’t go on like this for much longer before she starts to do herself some serious damage.”

  Trey pulled her close and kissed the top of her head. “All we can do is keep an eye on her. If things get much worse, I’ll inform my family, whether she wants me to or not.”

  “She won’t be happy.”

  “I don’t care if she’s happy or not, as long as she’s alive.”

  ————————————-∞————————————-

  Trey was agitated his entire journey home. He had no idea what he was going to do. On one hand he should speak to the other residents of the hotel, let them know just how bad a state Natasha was in, just in case they could help. They were spying on her, but were not getting close enough to see how bad she looked. On the other hand, she had asked him not to and he would be betraying her if he did.

  One look at Fox made up his mind for him. He was having a hard enough time coping with the separation as it was; letting him know what condition Natasha was in might send him over the edge.

  He did, however, speak to Komi when he got him alone. “I won’t tell you how I know this, so please don’t ask, but Natasha is no longer wearing her necklace so you don’t need to worry about her seeing you when you spy on her.”

  Komi wanted to ask more, but instead just thanked Trey for the information. He let Bolene and Lukine know, but not Fox. He was not so stupid as to let Fox know that Trey might still be in contact with Lucy and, therefore, Natasha.

  ————————————-∞————————————-

  Time passed and life became harder and harder for Natasha and Fox. Komi, Bolene and Lukine continued to follow her, just to make sure she was alright. As he knew she could not see him, Komi began to attend her dance classes once more and was devastated to see how different she was. She now went through the motions rather than actually dancing and seemed to get no pleasure from it.

  One evening, Natasha was going for a run, with Komi following her, when she started to act strangely. She kept looking around and, though he knew she couldn’t, at one point he was sure she spotted him.

  “We may have a problem,” he said quietly, knowing that his microphone would pick up what he was saying.

  “What?” Fox asked.

  “I think she knows I’m here.”

  “How?”

  “I don’t know.”

  Komi watched her take something out of her pocket and place it over her head. He dived behind a tree as she turned to look at where he had just been standing. “I think she just put her necklace on.”

  Komi watched as Natasha scanned the area. She then shrugged, turned around and continued running. She turned a corner so Komi didn’t see her put her hand in her pocket and take out her communicator. He didn’t think twice about answering his when it rang.

  “I know you are there so you might as well come and join me,” Natasha’s voice said.

  “Oh shit.” He disconnected the call then asked Fox what he wanted him to do.

  “Go and see her,” Fox said.

  Komi felt a little nervous as he rounded the corner and found Natasha waiting for him. When he got close enough to see her properly, he started swearing. “What have you done to yourself?” he asked when he ran out of swear words, both in English and his own language.

  “What’s wrong?” he heard Fox asking in his ear, but he ignored him and concentrated his attention on Natasha.

  “I’m fine,” she said.

  “Well we both know that’s a lie.” He looked her up and down. She had lost weight, a lot of weight. She looked half starved. Her cheek bones stood out, her eyes looked black and hollow and there wer
e bags under them. Dressed in a tight fitting top, he could see the outline of her ribs. “You are skin and bone,” he said loudly enough for Fox to hear him as well as Natasha. “I’m worried that if I touch you, you will break.”

  “So I’ve lost a little weight.”

  “A little?” Komi said incredulously. “I’ve seen people in famine stricken countries with more weight on them than you.” He was exaggerating, but needed to get his point across.

  “Don’t Komi,” Natasha said. It was almost a plea. “These last few weeks haven’t exactly been easy.”

  “And starving yourself has helped?”

  “Calm down Komi,” Fox said in his earpiece. “Shouting at her won’t help.” Again Komi ignored him.

  Natasha became defensive. “I’m not starving myself. I’m eating. Sometimes. It’s just that food makes me nauseous right now.”

  “You’re not pregnant are you?”

  “Komi!” two shocked voices said simultaneously, one in his ear, the other from in front of him.

  “Sorry, I had to ask.”

  “No, you didn’t,” Natasha said and turned away from him. As she started to move away, Komi grabbed her arm and winced at how fragile it felt.

  “Nat, wait. Don’t go. We need to talk. It’s pretty obvious you’re not coping on your own.” He could see she wanted to argue, but she didn’t. “Talk to me Nat. What’s going on?”

  Tears formed in her eyes. “I miss him, Komi,” she said. “I miss him so much.”

  He pulled her into his arms and let her cry on his shoulder. Fox could hear everything that was happening, but there was no way Komi was going to break the connection. He had no idea if hearing how much Natasha was suffering was good or bad for Fox, but it was not up to him to decide how much he found out.

  “I know, Nat, I know.” He held her as she cried and did his best not to picture how Fox was reacting.

  Eventually she pulled away and wiped her eyes with her hands. “I can’t stop thinking about him. I can’t eat. I can’t sleep. Every time I close my eyes I see his face. I dream about him every single night. It’s supposed to get easier over time, but it isn’t. It’s getting harder and harder.”

  “Maybe you should come to the hotel. Seeing him might help.”

  Natasha shook her head. “I’m not coping as it is. How do you think I will manage if I see him, knowing I can’t be with him?”

  “Come on,” Komi said gently, taking her hand. “Let’s get you home. You look like you need a drink.”

  “There’s no alcohol in the house,” she said. “I’m too worried that if I start to drink, I won’t be able to stop.”

  Most of the way back, they walked in silence. “How is he?” Natasha finally asked. Komi wasn’t sure what she wanted him to say.

  “Tell her I’m doing alright,” Fox said. “Tell her I’m coping and there is nothing for her to worry about. Whatever you do, don’t tell her the truth.”

  “He’s completely going to pieces,” Komi said, opting for honesty. In his ear he could hear Fox swearing at him. “He’s not coping any better than you are. The only difference is that he has enough family around him who can bully him into eating properly. He’s getting enough sleep, but only because Lukine is putting a spell on him each night.”

  “He’s doing what?” Fox screamed into his microphone.

  Komi winced. “Though apparently he didn’t know that.”

  Natasha stopped. “He can hear everything we are saying, can’t he?”

  Komi nodded, not trusting himself to speak. Natasha looked angry. Angry was good. It was better than the drained out zombie look she had been sporting until now. She slapped his face, hard. She wasn’t as weak as she appeared.

  “You bastard. You could have told me.”

  “What difference does it make? Do you honestly think he would believe me if I said you were doing just fine?”

  “That’s not the point.”

  “Then what is?”

  Natasha opened her mouth to yell at Komi, but stopped herself. She wasn’t angry at him, not really. She was angry at the situation they had found themselves in, she was angry at the unfairness of it all. Deep down, she knew Komi was only trying to help.

  “You look like you need a coffee,” she said and began to walk away.

  Since Natasha and Fox had made their relationship public, Komi had been to her house many times, so he knew where everything was in her kitchen. She instructed him to put the kettle on while she went for a shower.

  The kettle boiled and Komi made the coffee, all the while chatting to Fox. He had almost finished his drink when Fox said, “Something’s wrong. She never takes this long in the shower. Go and check on her.”

  “I can’t do that,” Komi protested.

  “Please. Just knock on the bedroom door and call out to her.”

  Komi did as instructed, but there was no reply. He entered the room and could hear the shower running in the ensuite. He knocked on the bathroom door, but again there was no response.

  “Go in,” Fox said.

  “Fox−”

  “Now,” Fox shouted before Komi could protest any further. Reluctantly he opened the door and froze. Natasha was lying on the floor of the shower, surrounded by red.

  “May the Creator be merciful,” he cried out and opened the screen door. Blood was gushing from her wrists and flowing down the drain. “She’s slashed her wrists,” he told Fox as he fumbled in his pocket for a vial containing healing potion. He was getting wet, but he didn’t care.

  “Is she alive?” Fox asked.

  “I don’t know. Hold on.” Before checking for vital signs, Komi opened her mouth and poured the contents of the vial inside. When he was sure it had gone down her throat, he put his fingers on her neck, looking for a pulse.

  “Yes,” he said. “I can feel a pulse, faint, but it is definitely there.”

  He heard Fox breathing heavily. He was as stressed as Komi was. “How much blood has she lost?”

  “How in the Creator’s name should I know? The shower is still running. Blood is everywhere, but it’s being washed away.”

  “Get a healing potion into her, quickly.”

  “Already done.”

  Fox took a deep breath to calm himself. Now was not a good time to panic. “Switch the water off and get her out of the shower. There should be towels hanging up on the rail. If you need more they are in the cupboard in the laundry. Once she’s dry, get her dressed. Her dressing gown will be hanging on the back of the bedroom door.”

  Komi followed Fox’s instructions. He never even realised that he was finally getting to see her naked. Before she and Fox became an item, he had often dreamed about being able to touch her, but not like this. If Fox hadn’t been giving him orders, he wasn’t sure he would have been able to function properly.

  “Okay, she’s dressed. What now?”

  Fox informed him where Natasha usually kept her car keys and told him to place her in the passenger seat then drive to the hotel as quickly as he could. As soon as Komi said they were on their way, Fox left the office and called out for Lukine.

  “What’s happened,” Bolene asked as she and her husband ran down the corridor toward him.

  “Nat just tried to kill herself. Komi said it looks like she smashed her razor to get the blade out then slit her wrists.”

  “What’s Komi doing with Nat?” Lukine asked.

  “It’s a long story. I’ll tell you later, but right now I need your help. Komi is bringing her here. She’s still alive, but we don’t know how long for.”

  “I’ll do all I can,” Lukine said, “but I’m not making any promises.”

  “I’ll make sure her room is ready,” Bolene said, but Fox grabbed her before she could move away.

  “Not her room. It will hold too many memoires for her. Make up one of the spare rooms.”

  Bolene nodded and ran to the stairs.

  ————————————-∞————————————-


  Komi skidded to a halt in front of the door and jumped out of the driver’s seat. He had driven way too fast and almost crashed a couple of times, but that hadn’t made him slow down.

  Fox was standing in the front doorway and had been for a while. He ran to the car and opened the passenger side door. Komi had already undone her seatbelt so getting her out of the car was easy. Fox couldn’t believe how light she was. In his arms, she looked like a lifeless corpse.

  Komi knew what he was thinking. “She’s still breathing,” he said. He didn’t add, ‘Just’, but he thought it.

  Fox carried her to the room Bolene had prepared, then was thrown out. Bolene dragged him down to the kitchen, where she made tea for him and Komi.

  “What happened?” Bolene asked. The young men needed to be doing something other than think about what Lukine was doing to Natasha. They told her everything.

  “This is all my fault,” Fox said. “If we had left her alone, this wouldn’t have happened.”

  “This would have happened eventually anyway,” Bolene said. “From what Komi has said, it was inevitable. You should be thankful that Komi was there to save her.”

  Fox said nothing. Bolene might have been right, but there was no way of knowing; at least not until Natasha woke up. If she woke up.

  The minutes ticked by and Fox became more and more anxious. When Lukine finally walked into the room, Fox jumped up. “How is she?”

  “Only time will tell,” he said. He sounded tired. “She lost a lot of blood. I have done all I can.”

  “Will she live?” Fox asked.

  “Yes. Physically, she will recover. Mentally?” He shrugged. “Who knows?”

  Necromancy

  Natasha’s eyes fluttered open and she looked around her. It looked like she was in the hotel, but she didn’t recognise the décor in the room. She felt exhausted, as though all of her strength had been drained from her. Looking around, she saw Fox sitting in a chair beside the bed. He was asleep, with his head on his arms, resting on the edge of the bed. He looked so peaceful she didn’t want to wake him. She longed to reach out and run her fingers through his hair, but knew that she shouldn’t.