Come by Night

Chapter Fourteen - The Nine-Tailed Horror

I have never felt anything like this. My husband was dutiful, but there was no love in our embraces. I gave myself to him because it was required. I only understood later that for Shouta it was the same.

Isamu is very different. My pleasure is his. We enjoy one another. I never knew I could feel such things! My body is sore as a maiden newly broken, yet I have never been so satisfied. Blood and seed dry upon my inner thighs, my insides ache and my shoulder feels bruised. It doesn't hurt. Somehow the pain he inflicted upon me feels good.

Isamu holds me spooned in his arms and tails. His body is lean and hard behind me, but his fur is soft and warm. I listen to the rain and drift contentedly in his embrace, my fingers idly petting the tail I hold against my breasts. I can hear the deep rumbling sound in his chest of a very contented animal. I snuggle into him and his lips kiss my shoulder, his tongue lapping at the fang wounds. It is soothing.

This monster is mine. I've won his treacherous heart. I feel it in the way he clutches me in his arms and tails. His bite is a brand in my flesh announcing to all that I belong to him alone. I sigh blissfully. I am in love with the fox who loves me.

"Will you take me to your castle? Is it real?" I ask.

"It is. I intend to spirit you away tonight."

I smile and cuddle into him as far as I can press myself. I wriggle against him and he chuckles. "Already, lover? I do not think your frail mortal body can handle it." He inhales. "I've made you bleed." There is a hint of apology in his tone. His claws gently comb my hair.

"It's all right." I smile. "It is like my wedding night, only much better."

"Do you want to marry me, Hotaru? Be my lady and live in my darkness on the other side of dreams?"

"Yes!" I say without hesitation.

The sound of mud and water sloshing approaches from outside. Footsteps! I bolt upright and so, too, does my love! I clutch my discarded kimono to my nakedness, my disheveled hair clinging to my shoulders. Three men burst in, and one of them is the priest to the local shrine! Another is my brother. My eyes grow huge in fright.

"Get away from that woman, demon!" The priest demands. Perhaps it is because I have been with my kitsune so long, but I feel this man's holiness in comparison to my demon lover.

Isamu growls like a vicious animal, resplendent in his nudity. He pulls on his kimono and picks up his sword. I never knew he had one. He pulls it from its lacquered sheath, his tails writhing and lashing angrily. His ears are low and back, and I see his hair and fur bristling. I feel his rage like an assault!  His fell miasma floods the ruined shrine and I am terribly afraid for us all.

"No!" I cry out, but my voice doesn't work. As in a dream, I cannot speak or move.

My lover bares his fangs. "Get out! This is not your place!"

"It is my place to save this poor child from you!"

'I am a grown woman,' I want to scream. 'I choose Isamu.'

"For the last time, leave us! Hotaru is mine!"

My lover conjures several blue flames around himself. The priest chants and holds out an ofuda, a sacred word talisman writ on paper. It glows and then there is a pure, golden-white light. I hear the priest call out the name of the kami Inari.

When I can see again, my lover is no longer anything resembling human. Bound by the priest's spell, Isamu is a frightening mix of man and fox! His long hair remains, flowing around him, but his face is a vulpine muzzle. He's thin limbed, long and strange like a puppet, proportioned to walk on all fours, though he stands. His talons are so long I cannot believe he can hold a sword. Eyes glowing, my lover is a nine-tailed horror, a pure demon, and he is terrifying to behold.

I see his fear and shame when he looks at me. He never wanted me to see him like this. I weep, tears rolling down my cheeks. My heart breaks for us both.

"Yoshiro! Get your sister out! Ichi, help him!"

Men's hands grab my arms, and at last I scream. I struggle, but it's no use. I hear Isamu's demonic fox shriek and the priest chanting. Then I am dragged out into the light rain.