The strength of Love
Story by Draug on SoFurry
my entry for Hallowed Hearts 2.0
A tragic Love Story
(2309 words)
As Carlos left the florist shop carrying the twin roses for the special dinner he had tonight the human's lanky frame stumbled against the unusual autumn wind. Tonight was Halloween, but more importantly tonight he was going to propose to his girlfriend of two years that he had met at a Halloween party. Carlos knew the night was going to be perfect, as long as he didn't forget anything.
Pulling out the ring to make sure he still had it, he looked at the custom design and how well the jeweler was able to capture his vision. The ring was made to resemble a feral fox with its legs as the prongs that held the diamond and then two tails splitting off each going a separate way to act as the band itself. Two tails just like his Aishi.
Aishi wasn't human, she was a kitsune, a race of magical Anthropomorphic foxes that lived for thousands of years and gained a new tail every century. Ever since the portal between Earth and the magic realms opened human and non-human pairings have occurred, but it had only been recently that such pairings were socially acceptable to most people, in both worlds. Carlos knew his family approved of his plan and already thought of Aishi as the Daughter they had never had. Which was amusing to her since she was older then both of their ages combined. As for Aishi's family, she didn't say how they felt about Carlos and rarely spoke about them.
Carlos had the feeling that Aishi's family either did not know about her relationship with him, or did not approve of it. In either case it was the only thing holding him back from asking her to marry him last year, and since he doubted the family issue would be resolved if he just waited another year. It was going to be now or never.
Carlos spent the next several hours getting his apartment ready for Aishi to come over, preparing everything he needed to make sushi, and in general keeping busy to try to calm his nerves.
About a quarter to seven the doorbell, and expecting Aishi, flug open the door saying “I love --" but stopping himself when he realized the Vixing standing before him was not Aishi.
The vixen just stood there looking at him, appraising him, judging him. The look she was giving him made his spine tingle.
“Yes ma'am, can I help you?" Carlos finally managed to blurt out.
“Well you can certainly invite your girlfriends sister inside, I wish to speak with you about the most urgent matter."
“Then would you please come in Miss…" Carlos fished for a name realizing that Aishi had never mentioned the name of anybody in her family.
“Nika, no miss, simply Nika is fine."
“Well Nika, will you please come into my humble abode."
“It certainly is humble, but it looks like you are planning something special."
“I most certainly am, would you please come and sit down on the couch, I have many questions Aishi does not talk about her family at all to me."
“That is unsurprising that she would not tell you about us."
“Do kitsune like to keep secrets? Aishi has been very open with me."
“Most kitsune keep many secrets, and I suspect she is keeping many from you. However lets move on. I am here to discuss you, not little Aishi."
“But…"
“Suush human, perhaps we will speak of it later, but for now I wish to speak of you."
“Okay what do you want to know."
“What exactly are your plans for my sister?"
“I intend to ask her to marry me tonight."
“Oh my, how wonderful, can I see the ring?"
“Uhh sure, careful though it is custom made."
Looking at the ring for a few minutes the gold began to glint in Nika's eyes, However Carlos soon realized it wasn't the ring reflecting in her eyes, it was the kitsune calling forth power and getting ready to use magic.
“The fact that you had such a lovely gift made for my sister means I won't comply shred your your mind, you will survive this stupid human."
“Wait wha…" Carlos began before he was cut off by Nika's voice which had suddenly gotten louder and seemed to fill the whole room suddenly like it came from every direction at once.
The ring expanded in size until it was big enough to fit over Carlos's head, at which point Nika placed it around his like a collar and tightened it until it began to choke him.
“Foolish human, as if a noble Kitsune family would ever let one of their daughters marry a lesser race. The blood lines shall remain pure, the fact that Aishi has not broken up with you after we ordered her to means you have her under some spell. A spell I intend to break by force."
Stunned by the change in attitude and actions of his guest Carlos could only choke out “Spell… what spell? She loves me…"
“Then I shall rip this magic of love from your mind and body until it is no more." Nika mocked, as if love had any actual power at all.
Screaming in pain Carlos grabbed his head as he began to relive ever traumatic event that ever occured in his life. Every needle of cactus he fell in as a child felt real, the bullying in school by jocks and every punch and mental anguish over every word came flooding back at once. Every time he would pass out Nika would pick him up by the ring-collar and make it burning hot or freezing cold till he woke up screaming in pain. Then he would experience more terror at the hands of his own imagination.
Finally he fell into a nightmare filled sleep that she could not wake from, at which point Nika destroyed the ring because it was worthless to her now. It also amused her to think if she could break something of love so easily, then the relationship should be just as easy to break..
Meanwhile downtown Aishi was stuck in a traffic jam and was hours away, She knew her sister was in town, as she had already been visited by the bitch. She had to get over to Carlos's apartment to warn him about her. Why did she not tell him about her disapproving family before? Was it because his own family was so open and welcoming and unlike her own that she was afraid she would lose the love of her life if he knew her family was bigoted against humans and other non-kitsune races. She refused her sister's request earlier today to stop seeing the “disgusting human," hopefully she could get to her love before her sister did.
Carlos's throat was dry. He had given up screaming what seemed like hours ago, or was it minutes. In this magic induced nightmare time was irrelevant. Everywhere he looked he saw vicious beasts reaching out to bite or claw him. At first he thought it was a simple illusion like most kitsune do, but then the images touched him, tearing his shit and skin alike. Just as quickly though it seemed
“That's it little human, learn to fear the animals, feel them tear you apart and be stitched back together. We are only beginning your torment." Nika smirked as she began to cast a new spell to torment the human even more. She would continue to torment the human till he gave up his love for her sister. Can you believe it Aishi dating a pathetic human, “You are standing in the way of Aishi finding true love in another Kitsune, I can not let you continue to be a be a part of her life.
The Animal's stopped attacking Carlos and instead instantly burst into flames, his biggest fear. Ever since fire had taken his home when he was a little kid Carlos had feared fire, now his whole apartment was ablaze but the smoke alarms weren't going off and the sprinkler system wasn't working. The door wouldn't open and he couldn't get to the window, he was trapped and going to burn to death… wait he had an extinguisher.
Nika grinned watching the human run around the totally normal, apartment, screaming about smoke and fire. It was so amusing watching a human experience their greatest fear. Messing with lesser beings minds was great fun, she should really do it more often.
Pulling the fire extinguisher out from under the sink, Carlos pulled the ring and ran to the window and squeezed the trigger, only to experience a giant flame shooting out instead of the fire suppressant, making the fire even worse. At that point Carlos simply leaned on the back of the couch and started to weep.
Figuring he might be ready to give up on his relationship, Nika made herself visible to him in his delusion and said “I can save you Carlos, all I ask is you end your relationship with Aishi."
Maybe it was the adrenalin from all the fear making Carlos not think clearly, but he told Nika “I would rather die." Before he lifted up the flame spewing fire extinguisher and emptied its fuel on the kitsune that was terrorizing him, hoping Kitsune fur was just as flammable as other types of fur.
Just as quickly as the terror began, it stopped. The fire disappeared instantly and before him stood his Aishi covered in white fire suppressant powder. She ran forward and jumped into carlos's arms.
“It's over honey you won." Aishi's voice said
“Where is your sister?" Carlos was confused, his Aishi was here now, but her sister was gone. Did she flee because her sister got home, or...
“I'm right here you stupid human." Said Nika's voice right into his ear. “I was going to let you live, but now that you have ruined my fur, I think I am going to kill you, slowly."
With that her four claws raked across his face leaving four deep gashes across his left eye down his cheek, and she bit off his right ear before she pulled away.
“I am going to enjoy this stupid human, tearing you apart bit by bit till all Aishi finds is a bloodstain. Of course you can stop me any time by simply forsaking your love for her."
After screaming in pain for several minutes Carlos finally managed to pant out “Break my mind, rend my flesh, I don't care I will never lie about my feelings for Aishi." With that Carlos fell into a exhausted slumber that was plagued by nightmares of his Aishi attacking him.
Arriving at Carlos's apartment Aishi could smell the blood from down the hall and ran to his apartment where he found the door open. Rushing inside he found Carlos on the couch, asleep with several wounds that were still bleeding, and a pool of blood under his head. Using her magic Aishi closed the wounds but wouldn't be able to do anything about the blood loss, that is something his body would have to do on its own.
“Hello little sister, I see you found my present" Nika said with an air of smug superiority. “It is time for you to return home and find a real man who can protect you, not a lesser race."
“YOU BITCH!" Aishi screamed as she focused magic energy to surround her fists and she began to attack Nika.
Though Nika was several hundred years older then Aishi, and her magic shouldn't have been able to touch her through her own defenses, Nika quickly found herself overwhelmed by the strength of Aishi's magic.
“What is this magic you are using."
“It isn't magic, it is something you will never understand, it is the power of love."
Slowly but surely Aishi got kicks and punches through both Nika's physical and magical barrier trying to make her submit or flee. Aishi didn't want to really hurt her sister, though if she knew what Nika had put Carlos through the fight would have been over in seconds instead of minutes that it took before Nika fled realizing she could never get through to those two and her mission was a failure.
Aishi chased Nika to the end of the block to make sure she was really fleeing, before she turned to return to her love
Carlos began to wake up, not seeing Nika anywhere, he decided to arm himself with the gun he kept for self defense. Grabbing the gun he went to go sit on the couch but saw the huge bloodstains of where he had been lying, and so went to the kitchen table instead. He vowed he wasn't going to be tricked by Nika again, and so pulled out his cell phone and called his GF's phone number to tell her to stay away.
Aishi was running back in the apartment at that very moment, and when she saw carlos the smile on her face grew so wide it showed every tooth. Carlos took the happy smile from Aishi as a menacing growl from Nika, and lifted up the gun and fired off five bullets before Aishi had time to react or block him, not expecting her lover to shoot her. Kitsune may be magical, but they aren't immune to being killed, and so with her heart looking like swiss cheese Aishi dropped dead instantly. Carlos realized his mistake that this was the real Aishi and not Nika in disguise when the phone in her bag began to ring a second later after the call he placed went through.
People on the street who had heard the gunshots heard a sixth and final gunshot from the revolver before the night returned to a normal Halloween Night.