Then she said something Fox and Komi couldn’t understand, clicked her fingers and vanished.
“Nice party trick,” Trey said as he approached the front door. Overhearing the conversation, he was on his way to see if Fox and Komi needed any help.
“Where’s Nat?” Fox asked.
“In the office with Bo.”
The door was closed, so he knocked before entering. “What’s going on?” Natasha asked when he walked into the room.
“Your mother was at the door,” Fox said. “I assumed you didn’t want to see her.”
Natasha went pale. “What did she want? How did she know I was here?”
“I don’t know. She said she wanted to take you away and look after you. When I refused to let her in, she became angry and said that she would see you in Yong on the evening before Alignment day.”
Natasha started to shake. “I don’t want to go there.”
“You don’t have to,” Fox said. He took her in his arms and held her until she calmed down. He glanced over at Bolene and she had to look away. The pain in his eyes caused by being able to do no more than hold Natasha was more than she could cope with.
A few hours later, Natasha was staring at her food rather than eating it when her phone rang. She looked at the caller display and hit the answer button. “Hi Lucy.”
The voice on the other end of the phone made her blood go cold. “Natasha dear, it’s your mother here. As I wasn’t allowed to speak to you earlier, I have had to resort to doing this.”
Fox was watching Natasha closely, as he always did since her suicide attempt; he couldn’t help himself. It was one of the reasons he always made sure he was seated opposite her. “Komi,” he said, indicting toward Natasha with his head when Komi looked up.
Seeing that something was wrong, he took the phone out of Natasha’s unresisting hand, placed it on the table and hit the speaker button so everyone could hear the conversation.
Joonie was still talking. “I decided to give your niece a visit. Pretty, isn’t she.”
Trey grabbed the phone. “If you so much as hurt one hair on her head, I am going to kill you,” he shouted.
Joonie’s laugh echoed around the room. “She will be fine, provided my daughter does as she is told. If she hands herself over to me, pretty little Lucy will not be harmed.”
Komi placed his hand over Natasha’s mouth before she could speak. He shook his head at her. He was not going to let her give in to this woman’s demands.
“Nat’s not going anywhere with you,” Fox said. “Even if she wants to. We will keep her prisoner here if we have to.”
Natasha was shocked by his words. Her eyes were so full of anger that Fox had to look away.
“When you see what I have done, you’ll change your mind,” Joonie said. “I’m keeping Lucy’s phone so Natasha can contact me when she’s ready to hand herself over. She has until the day before Alignment day. If she is where I need her to be at that time then Lucy will be fine. If not.....”
She left the sentence unfinished. Then she laughed and disconnected the call.
Nobody moved. Nobody spoke. They didn’t know what to say. Fox was the first to break the silence. “Nat, I wasn’t serious. I just wanted to see how Joonie would react. Of course we won’t keep you prisoner here.”
“I know.”
“But, having said that, you can’t hand yourself over to her. Whatever she has done, we will find a way to undo it.”
“I don’t know about anyone else,” Trey said, “but I am going to go and find Lucy.”
They all went, taking two cars. Fox drove his with Natasha and Komi in the back. He kept glancing in the rear view mirror to watch them. Komi had his arm around her, doing his best to comfort and protect her. Fox tried to keep his jealously under control. It should have been him in the back with Natasha while Komi drove, but due to his and Natasha’s parentage, that could never happen.
The entire journey, Natasha stared out of the window, not speaking, not moving, hardly even breathing.
Trey, Bolene and Lukine arrived at Natasha’s house first. Trey had driven like a maniac and Bolene was thankful they had arrived in one piece. As he spent so much time there, Natasha had given him his own key. He opened the door and called out Lucy’s name. There was no answer. He ran from room to room, but there was no sign of her.
Until he opened her bedroom door. She lay on top of her bed, fully dressed, with her arms crossed over her chest as though she had been posed. The position didn’t look natural.
Trey felt for a pulse and visibly relaxed when he detected a strong heartbeat. He gently shook her, but she was unresponsive. He tapped her cheek, but she showed no sign of waking. Her head rolled to the side and brown liquid seeped out of her mouth.
“Don’t touch that,” Lukine cried out when Trey went to wipe it away with his hand.
Lukine pushed him aside so he could get closer to Lucy’s body. He inhaled deeply and shuddered; he recognised the scent that the liquid was giving off. “Zantrane,” he said out loud.
“What’s happened?” Natasha asked as she ran into the room, closely followed by Komi and Fox.
“The bitch has made her drink zantrane. It’s a non-lethal poison. Lucy will remain in a coma-like state until she is given the antidote.”
“Then give her the antidote,” Natasha said.
“I can’t. I don’t know what it is. To the best of my knowledge, Joonie is the only person who does know.”
As the repercussions of his words slowly sank in, Natasha took out her phone. “Everyone get out,” she said before she dialled.
Fox grabbed her hand and disconnected the call. “I know you are upset,” he said, “but you’re not going to do anything stupid are you?”
Natasha felt like yelling at him, but he just was concerned about her. “No, I’m not. I’m calling for an ambulance and it would be better if none of you were around when it arrived.”
Fox was torn. She was probably right that they should leave, but he didn’t want to risk leaving her alone. Trey prevented him asking if he could stay with her by declaring that there was nothing Natasha could do to make him leave Lucy’s side.
Reluctantly, Komi, Fox, Bolene and Lukine went back to the hotel, where they each set about researching zantrane, hoping that somewhere a cure was mentioned.
Natasha called for an ambulance. How she stayed calm enough to provide coherent details, she had no idea. Inside she had gone numb. First she had lost Fox, now she might lose Lucy. Her mother had a lot to answer for. She made a silent vow that, somehow, she would find a way to save Lucy and never, under any circumstances, would she give her mother what she wanted.
Trey was sitting by the bed, holding Lucy’s hand when the paramedics arrived. They accused Lucy of taking an overdose and no matter what Natasha said, they would not believe that it was not something Lucy would ever do.
“The family is often the last to know if a teenager has a drug problem,” one of them said.
Natasha lost her temper. “Fine. Run some tests. Test for every drug known to man. You won’t find anything.” Trey noticed that she said ‘known to man’. The drug that had been given to Lucy was known to demons, not humans.
Trey and Natasha could have ridden in the back of the ambulance, but Trey opted to drive. He didn’t think he would be able to cope being stuck in the enclosed space with nothing to do but stare at Lucy’s corpse-like form. He was barely holding it together as it was. He couldn’t understand how Natasha could be so calm.
As soon as they were alone, Natasha broke down. She had been holding in her emotions in order to give the paramedics all the information they needed and as soon as the ambulance left, she fell into Trey’s arms and sobbed.
It took a while, but finally she managed to compose herself enough to go to the hospital. They were directed to a room in intensive care, where they found Lucy attached to numerous machines, all monitoring different vital signs. Another tear filled Natasha’s eye and threatened to
escape down her cheek. Lucy looked so frail and vulnerable, lying there as though she was dead.
A doctor came to see them and explained what was happening. They had taken blood samples, but so far no trace of drugs had been found. Some tests would take a little longer, but they were no longer under the assumption that this was an overdose. Natasha and Trey were both asked if they could shed any light on what had happened. They lied and said they couldn’t; telling the truth would not have achieved anything.
Lucy was breathing on her own and showed normal brain activity; they just couldn’t wake her up. An IV was inserted into her arm to give her fluids and nutrients. For now, there was nothing else that could be done. Neither Trey nor Natasha wanted to leave her side, so they were permitted to stay.
Komi called to see if there was any update. They had managed to find nothing in the library or using the monitor that was connected to Yong, but they would keep trying.
A few hours later, the doctor returned. All of the tests that had been run had come back negative.
“What do we do now?” Natasha asked.
“Wait for her to wake up,” was the unhelpful reply.
Departure
Bolene came running out of the office and into the library. “I may have something,” she said. “I have been reading about Joonie’s murder trial. Apparently they took away her spell book as evidence and never returned it.”
“And?” Komi asked.
“And it might contain the cure.”
This grabbed Fox’s attention. “Where is it?”
“No idea, but it will be somewhere, probably in Dinas, seeing as that’s where the trial was held.”
“That’s convenient,” Fox said.
“Why?”
“Don’t we have to all go there in a few weeks? The build up to Alignment day will be starting any day now.”
Komi couldn’t help himself; he grinned. “Is there any harm in us going back at the start of the campaigning for the new Director? We might happen to do a little investigating while we are there.”
They discussed who should go. Lukine was a given as he was the only one who might be able to recognise the antidote if they managed to get hold of the book, which meant that Bolene would also go. Trey surprised them by volunteering. He pointed out that there was nothing he could do on Earth and he needed to get away; seeing Lucy’s still and lifeless body every day was driving him to despair. It had been two weeks and she showed no signs of improvement. The only good news was that she didn’t appear to be deteriorating.
Neither Fox nor Komi wanted to leave Natasha. Though she had been coping with the situation remarkably well, and there had been no sign of her mother since that fateful night, they didn’t want her to be alone.
“We could always take her with us,” Bolene suggested.
“No way,” Fox said. “If Joonie wants her on Yong then that is the last place she should go. I’ll go. I know Komi will take care of her. I shouldn’t spend time alone with her anyway. It’s getting harder and harder to keep my hands off her.”
Komi squeezed his shoulder. “I won’t let anything happen to her, I promise.” Despite the fact that they could no longer be together, everyone still classed Natasha as Fox’s, even Fox.
Natasha was at the hospital with Lucy and Fox and Komi drove over to see her. Natasha spent a couple of hours each day holding her hand, talking to her, reading to her, as did Trey. The doctors said she might be able to hear them and that it might help, though they still had no idea what was wrong with her.
Fox allowed Komi to give her the good news. She didn’t get excited as she didn’t want to build up her hopes, but she did hug Komi tight. Fox couldn’t help the feelings of jealousy that ran through him. The two would never be more than friends, but he hated seeing someone else hold her when he couldn’t.
“I want you to go to Yong,” she said to Komi when they broke apart. “The more of you looking, the quicker you will find what you are searching for.”
Komi argued against her. It was not safe to leave her alone. She pointed out that Joonie was sure that she was going to comply to her demands, to save Lucy, so it made no sense that she would make any sort of attempt to harm her or kidnap her.
Komi had no answer so he tried a different approach. With all of the demons from the hotel in Yong and Lucy in the hospital, Natasha would be alone. Her sister was out of the country for work once more and she no longer had anything to do with her human parents. Natasha countered by pointing out that she had lots of friends she could turn to if she needed to.
In the end Komi went below the belt and asked Fox for his opinion. He thought she would back down once she knew Fox was on his side, but she didn’t. It was rare that she went against Fox’s wishes, but this time she was going to be stubborn. She was not some child that needed looking after. She had survived perfectly well before meeting anyone from the hotel and she did not need them with her now.
Much to Komi’s annoyance, Fox caved in and said it was up to Komi; he would not argue against whatever his friend decided to do.
The following day, they all left. Natasha was there to see them off. The ‘door’ they were to use was in the basement of a nearby house. A number of demons lived there and it was their job to police who used the door.
As Alignment day approached, more and more demons would be leaving Earth. Over the following few weeks, most of the ‘doors’ on Earth would be shut down as the keepers returned to Yong, leaving only one open, in case of an emergency. This meant that soon it would be difficult, but not impossible for Natasha to go to Yong, if she decided she needed to. Fox gave her the address of the last ‘door’ before he left, just in case.
He took her to one side, wishing to speak to her alone. It was going to be hard not seeing her for so long. He hoped it would only be for a few days, but if the spell book proved to be elusive, it could be closer to two months. “I can’t make any promises,” he said, “but I will do everything I can to find this spell book.”
“I know,” she said. She was close to tears.
He stroked her cheek. It was a sign of affection he should not make. “I’m going to miss you so much.” He could resist no longer. He took her in his arms and kissed her. She returned his kiss just as tenderly.
When he released her, he turned his back on her and walked over to where the others were waiting for him. “Are you alright?” Bolene asked.
“No,” he said. “I am far from alright.”
He couldn’t bring himself to look back as the ‘door’ was opened and he stepped through, so he didn’t see Natasha silently weeping as she watched him leave.
The ‘door’ was just a wooden frame with nothing between the two sides except darkness. There was no view of what was on the other side, no shimmering like in movies and TV shows. Fox was always a little unnerved when using a ‘door’. It was like stepping into a void or the nothingness of space. The keeper activated the ‘door’ and one moment Fox was on Earth, the next he was back in his homeland, not that it felt like home anymore.
Lukine had made arrangements to rent a house in Dinas, fully furnished, so their stay on Yong would be comfortable. While the rest set about unpacking, Fox headed straight to the law house and requested to see whoever was in charge of the records. It wasn’t the only avenue of information, but it was the best place to start. In the morning, they would all go to different places to search for the information they needed. Unfortunately, the records keeper was a busy man so Fox had to make an appointment for the next day.
It was a disappointed Fox who returned to the house and his mood soured even more when he found he had a visitor. A young woman, about his own age, was sitting in the lounge, drinking the demon equivalent of tea. She was short and had put on a little too much weight since he had last seen her. Her blonde hair was now cut into a neat bob. It didn’t suit her.
“What are you doing here, Soolin?” he asked, making no attempt to hide the fact that he was not pleased to see her.
&nbs
p; She had not heard him enter the house and the sound of his voice took her by surprise, making her almost spill her tea. She appeared to be shaking slightly as she placed her cup on the coffee table then went over to where Fox was standing.
“I have missed you so much,” she said and threw her arms around him.
Fox pushed her away. “You haven’t answered my question.”
She pouted at him. It had annoyed him when they were together; it annoyed him even more now. “I heard you were back and I couldn’t resist seeing you. How are you?”
“Why do you care?”
Soolin looked around her and found four pairs of eyes watching them. “Is there somewhere more private we can talk?”
“No.” Fox’s voice was hard and cold. He didn’t want anything to do with this woman, not anymore, and the sooner she left the happier he would be. “These people are my family. If you have anything to say, you can say it in front of them. You know them all well. One of them you know intimately.” It was a low blow, but he didn’t care.
“That was mean,” she said and pouted again. “I don’t remember you being so cruel.”
“I’ve changed since you spread your legs for Komi.” Out of the corner of his eye he saw Komi wince at the comment.
Soolin’s eyes filled with tears, but Fox felt no sympathy for her. She had always been able to make herself cry at will and it was only after they had broken up that he realised that she had been using her tears to manipulate him.
“I guess seeing me is a bit of a shock, so I will forgive your rudeness. I will be back tomorrow, once you have had time to calm down.”
She walked out of the room and nobody spoke until they heard the front door slam.
“Well?” Fox asked. Somebody knew why she was there and he wanted an explanation.
“We should talk,” Komi said. They went into the kitchen and Komi put the kettle on. “I invited her here,” he said. He had his back to Fox so didn’t see his reaction. “You need a distraction. You need to start dating again.”
Fox Among the Demons Page 23
