Momentarily, everything was a bit blurry as the images slashed through my brain again—that dark, abiding feeling wrapping around and grasping the light. It was strange. When my vision cleared, I found myself face-to-face with Kurai, who stared at me in shock.

I blinked and tilted my head slightly. “Yeah, I’m okay. What happened? That was weird,” I said casually. It’s not the craziest thing I’ve seen since coming to the underworld.

“Whatever it was…” He shook his head and frowned at me, which was probably the most emotion I’ve seen from him since meeting him. “Are you sure you’re okay?” he asked.

“I, uh, yeah. I’m good,” I reassured him with an awkward smile, rubbing my head.

“Well,” He murmured, pulling away from my face as I gripped the pillow with my now-sweaty hands. “That’s nothing I've ever had happen before,” He murmured gently.

“Heh, I guess your healing magic isn’t as powerful as Enoxon claims it was,” I said, lighting the mood slightly.

He glared at me with restless, amber eyes and shook his head, “No. It just means something else is happening,” The nogitsune sighed.

“What even was that?” I asked him. “It was weird - I saw… Well, I saw you -” I stated, glancing at him as he spun his chair away in defeat. “It was like you were chained up. But I’m not sure how to describe it. Did you not see it?” I questioned him.

Kurai’s eyes were still concerned, but he nodded, seemingly satisfied with my response. The orange glow from his hands had dimmed, and the room was returning to its normal state. I could feel the warmth of his power still lingering on my skin, and the sharp pain from the poison had subsided, though it wasn’t entirely gone.

“I… I don’t know what more I can do,” Kurai said, his voice steady but softer now. The dark matter is still there.”

“Dark matter? Is it not poison?” I questioned, feeling a bit more concerned.

“Err,” He groaned and shook his head. “I don’t really know,” He replied, motioning me to lie down. “Let me see your wound on your side,” He demanded.

My face twisted into disgust and embarrassment as he said that. But, I felt as though I had to oblige. With a deep breath, I forced myself to lay down on the end of his bed, the front of my body facing him as I exposed my left side to him. I halfway hid my face in the pillow he provided me. It smelled clean, at least with a slight hint of odor from him. It wasn’t a foul odor, don’t get me wrong. Is that weird? I feel as though that’s weird. What am I doing? Ugh.

“Thanks for this, by the way,” I murmured quietly into the pillow.

“What? You’re mumbling into the pillow.” He said.

Slightly, I moved my head to expose my lips as I spoke to him, “Thank you, sir, for helping me.”

The corner of his lips curled up as I said that. He resumed his work, his hands hovering over the bruises and cuts that marred my skin. The orange light returned, and I could feel the soothing energy flowing into me, pushing back against the remnants of the dark energy. The vision I’d experienced still lingered in my mind, but I needed to focus on the wound care - if it could be cared for.

“What else did you see?” Kurai asked quietly, his eyes flickering up to meet mine briefly before returning to his task.

I hesitated, unsure how to describe the chaotic mix of images and emotions. “It was like a flash of memories or a future vision. There were shadows, ancient symbols, and… you. You were surrounded by darkness, but you were fighting it. A giant fox had chains wrapped around it, and we locked eyes for a brief moment before your room came back into my vision.”

Kurai’s hands paused momentarily, and I could see a flicker of something—recognition, perhaps—cross his face. “The shadows… they’ve been a part of my past and might be a part of my future, too. It’s new to know that my fox spirit was locked up… If that’s really what you saw.”

“It was a giant fox with amber eyes, just like yours. It’s fur, black and white, like your tail. It’s hard to mistake a fox for any other creature.”

“Whatever, it’s never going to happen. Let’s just focus on the task at hand.”

“Right,” I agreed, feeling a strange relief and unease. “I’ll try not to let it distract me.”

He continued the healing process, the warmth of his power seeping into my bruises and wounds, easing the pain and pushing away the last traces of the dark energy. I closed my eyes, letting the sensation wash over me, and tried to push the unsettling vision to the back of my mind. The most important thing for now was to recover and be ready for whatever came next. Nothing crazy happened like it did when he was going over my arm - it was much smoother and gentler. I’m not sure what changed between this and that.

But he was the one who couldn’t focus. He kept losing concentration as if he were agitated. When his hands faded to regular, he groaned loudly, pushed himself off his chair, and began to pace back and forth, visiting his trees and plants in the room.

He’d grab a couple of the leaves and inspect them but just throw them on the ground. Watching him stress out made me wonder if he saw something else or if he saw what I did. Perhaps he was also tired, but I shouldn’t push the vision? Maybe he needed time to process it. I felt terrible, though. I ended up sitting up straight, my legs hanging over the edge of the bed, hands pulled into my lap as I watched him.

“Um, so. Could you tell me a little bit about what happened the other day? Perhaps it will help clear things up.”

“What do you mean the other day?!” He growled as he ripped another leaf off the Shadowflame Sakura.

“Enoxon shared with me that you and he had rescued me from the demon… that, I guess, was in the human world?”

Kurai stopped pacing and froze a few feet from the bed, sighing as he shrugged and collected himself. “Look, I’m not sure what happened the other day either, but one moment, I was going through the underworld with Enoxon, and the next, woosh. There we were in the human world. I was sure the portals had been closed, dead, and unusable for so long! But it was like I was forced into the world. Something grabbed me.”

“Grabbed you?” I echoed.

“I heard someone screaming for help, and I smelled blood.”

I winced as I felt something cold rush through me out of nowhere—it was as cold as ice—almost like the ice that I saw the fireballs be transformed into—that cold seep of air hitting me.

“Are you ok?” He asked me suddenly when he noticed the slight wince.

“Uh, yeah, I’m okay,” I replied, holding the wound on my arm with my other hand. It stung slightly, but I was more concerned about its icy coldness. So tell me, what happened next?”

Kurai’s amber gaze flickered to my arm and then back at me. “Well, when that happened, I was forced into my fox spirit and appeared before some random girl, a demon. Surprisingly, a soul - that was all about to be devoured.”

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Listening to his story, I frowned. He wasn’t even trying to save me - he was forced into that position. That made me feel like absolute crap. But when I remember that he shared Nogitsune’s feed on anguish and fear with me, perhaps that’s why he was teleported to me? I suggested that, but he shook his head.

“No - it was much more than that. Something called me to you, I’m trying to figure it out, but I just need more time,” He growled, obviously annoyed that he couldn’t. The moisture’s tail had appeared and was swishing back and forth, and his fox ears were flat against his head, his fists closed in a bit of anger. “I’m trying to figure it out. Don’t worry about it - none of this. The only thing you need to focus on is not dying,” He grunted.

Gazing up at the fox-demon standing a few feet away, I wondered why it could’ve possibly been. However, what I felt next was strange because my feelings completely changed out of the blue. I could feel this gruntled feeling in him, and it swirled inside my stomach, making me uneasy and confused. Sure, I could read his emotion and how he was standing, but I could sense it. I stared at him, trying to understand.

He glanced over at me and then stared at me, “Your eyes are doing the same thing that happened when Astaroth was talking with you the other day.” He seemed bothered when he said Astaroth, as though he had disgust against him.

“The same thing?”

A sigh escaped him as he sat back down on the chair before me. “Astaroth is a demon that can manipulate others - especially humans.”

“What?” I asked, my voice squeaking as I remembered spilling everything to him the other day when he and Mundus first came to the house. “Enoxon told me he had a way with humans, celestials, and demons. What does that mean?”

“That Astaroth is a prick and manipulated you the other day.”

I remembered Kurai's anger when he entered the room with Astaroth and myself. The way he said, ‘If I catch you doing something like that again, I’ll end you.’ I frowned, lowering my gaze just thinking about how he reacted. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to get manipulated,” I murmured suddenly.

“Did you just apologize? For being manipulated by a demon? As a human?” He sounded bewildered, but he eventually shook his head and let out a soft chuckle. “Maybe you are a problem,” he murmured.

I huffed, embarrassed, and, as he stated, hugged the pillow tightly to my face, burying my face in it.

“You’ve nothing to apologize for - you’re weak. You’re vulnerable. But just do me a favor: don’t go tell Enoxon everything. He doesn’t need to know I actually talked with you,” Kurai’s voice trickled out gently. Still, he altogether avoided eye contact with me.

“I’m not that vulnerable,” I mumbled into the pillow.

“Sure,” He said, shrugging. “Now, let me see if I can work on your side again,” He stated. “I didn’t really get to examine the wound. You may feel sleepy with the amount of calming Armona, by the way.”

“Sleepy? Did you drug me?!” I gaped, tensing up and feeling a sharp pain whisk through me as I did so.

“Just…. Try not to jerk around too much; this wound is much worse than the one on your arm and so close to your internal organs. Ok? Unless you enjoy the pain.”

I fell silent as I rolled back over to my side, the one that he would see - with the sizeable ugly bruise that was so cut up. I hated everything about the one because it just didn’t look normal. I mean, of course, it wasn’t normal, right? It was a demon. “Marked for Death,”

“What did you say?” Those were the last words I heard before falling extremely heavy and weak, just as he said.

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

After what seemed like hours, the young fox-demon finally pulled away from the wound on the young human girl's side. He had finished attending to it and noticed that Snow had fallen asleep during the past hour. She had been through hell these last few days—quite literally. Kurai watched her ribs rise and fall as he studied the wound. A frown crossed his face; it looked no different than when he first found her and tried to heal it. He felt almost defeated for being unable to recover it immediately, as he had done with other wounds. Uncertainty crept into his mind about whether it would ever fully heal, even with his help. He could still sense some of the demon’s dark matter in her system, though he couldn't remove it all. It wouldn't harm her ultimately, just make her weaker than she already was.

“Marked for Death,” Kurai muttered gently, echoing what he had heard her say before she fell silent for the night. He needed to speak with Enoxon to determine what they needed to do. The mark from this demon wasn’t a typical symbol; it was a higher-up symbol - one he’d never seen before.

But how did such a demon even reach the human realm? Since Michael and the Celestial Council put hell in chains, demons could not travel to and from the human realm. If powerful demons were causing attacks, it could quickly devastate the human population. Hopefully, the demon-to-human ratio was meager. Their only hope was that there weren't many loose demons when the underworld was put on lockdown. However, with what the underworld was missing, no one knew what was happening to the lost souls. As far as Kurai knew, the Order of the Sinless was trying to do the Reaper’s job—guiding souls, which they weren't very good at.

Kurai reached out to the girl's hair, gently twirling the ends. Her hair was as white as her name, Snow. Gentle and serene—that’s what she was, but capable of causing harm when angered, like a blizzard. For some reason, he felt at ease with her. Perhaps it was because he was called to her in her hour of need. There was something different about her; he knew this because of the blood flowing through her veins. It was neither human nor demon nor angel. He decided not to disturb her, leaving her on his bed but ensuring she didn’t roll off by shifting her slightly. Gently, he placed a blanket over her and went downstairs.

Downstairs, he was greeted by Enoxon sitting on the couch and reading a book.

“How is she?” Enoxon asked.

Kurai shrugged and replied, “She’s doing better. I am working my best to get the remaining dark matter out of her blood. But..” He trailed off, sitting on the other end of the couch. “I’m not sure things will go that way,” He murmured.

“What do you mean?” The sorcerer questioned, sitting up straight.

“She said something about being marked for death. That was the last thing I heard before she just passed out,” Kurai explained, tapping his fingers awkwardly on his knee. “I’m not sure what it meant, but… The only thing I can think is she’s being hunted.”

“Ah, so she did fall asleep - good, good… As for being hunted… I’m not sure why they’d pick a random woman,” Enoxon commented. “We could talk to Mundus.”

“Absolutely not. That piece of shit doesn’t need to know anything,” Kurai spat, glaring at him for even suggesting it.

“Ok, ok. Sheesh. “I can only imagine what she’s going through. Attacked by two different demons in less than 24 hours - nevertheless marked by both of them. I wasn’t sure a demon could mark once they’ve been marked.”

“It wasn’t two different demons, Enoxon, that’s the thing.”

“Really? One demon, then? I’m unsure why you were pulled into the human realm to save her, but this is mysterious. I’ve seen a lot of humans and other demons marked in my life, but not one as random as her,” Enoxon sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. His concern wasn’t deep, but his voice definitely hid a bit of confusion behind it. The sorcerer was curious as to why this woman was being targeted to the point she was marked twice rather than once - and then devoured. Besides the obvious, with Kurai and Enoxon saving Snow - but still. He was concerned for her.

"You’re right about Mundus, though. He’s got enough on his plate—between the Reaper, the Spirit Walkers, and Michael trying to decide their next move regarding lifting the magic on the underworld."

"Ugh, I don’t even want to think about any of that," Kurai groaned, putting a pillow over his face. "Eno, we need to figure out who this woman is and why I was drawn to her."

Enoxon sighed. "Yes, I know. We need to get that mark off her before she’s attacked again. Whoever attacked her wasn’t an ordinary demon, Kurai. And you didn’t kill it, nor did you escort it anywhere because, well, you can’t do that."

Feeling a mix of agitation and defeat, Kurai knew Enoxon was right. They needed to find this demon and figure out how it had reached the human world—and why its poison and attack didn’t kill Snow when it first struck her. A demon powerful enough to leave a mark on her side, almost like a tattoo, must be found and dealt with. His amber eyes scanned the room nervously as he tried to devise a plan to locate this demon and determine how they could handle it. The fact that he couldn’t completely eliminate the demon with the power of his five Nogitsune tails only added to his frustration. He should have been able to; he should have been able to save a mere human from the mark of this demon—whatever kind of mark it was.

“Kurai,” Enoxon’s soft voice flowed through the air like an incantation as he stood a few feet from the couch. He touched his friend’s shoulder, “I can see you’re worried about her. We’ll figure this out. But after the day you had, you could probably use some rest.”

“Ugh, don’t touch me like that,” Kurai growled, his fox ears flattening against his head.

Enoxon laughed, ruffling his shaggy black hair instead. “You know something, Kurai?” He asked as he turned to leave.

“Hm?” Kurai grunted.

“You're not that bad for a Nogitsune. Sleep tight - don’t forget to put the fire out before falling asleep. Unless you’re returning to your bed with her,” Enoxon chuckled and looked over his shoulder. Within a second and a quick poof, Enoxon left the room and disappeared, leaving Kurai there in the shadowy surroundings of the dark room.