As it turns out the fox spirit hunted deep into the mountains. Nikola was on it’s tracks for a day now. He was in gray robes and whistled as he walked. The spirit attacked travelers at night so Nikola looked down the small animal trail he was following. The pawprints were fresh in the mud. He had made sure that it would rain for an entire day. He had asked Bjorn to supply the rain since he wanted to be at full strength when he met the fox.

He let loose his magic and watched as a bush disappeared and a fork in the trail appeared. The pawprints turned into human footprints. They looked small, so the fox spirit must have changed into a woman. That explained why none of it’s victims, men, all of them, had run away from it. For it to have set an illusion it must have an idea about what Nikola was. It was such a pity it wouldn’t be enough to get it out of harm’s way.

“I know you are in the caves.” Said Nikola loudly enough for his voice to carry. “And I’m coming for you.” Nikola kept walking down the new trail and he heard running water in the distance. He knew there was a spring nearby and that there were many caves near it. The fox must have hidden into one of them. Soon he was in front of a couple of small caves. They were littered with human bones. This must be the fox’s layer.

“Hello there. Do you mind me coming in for a visit?” He asked the caves and then he heard a melodic giggle.

“Do come in, handsome. The third cave on your right.” Said the fox and Nikola turned to look. A naked leg was showing from within the cave in an attempt at seduction. Did something so basic really work? He could smell something sickly sweet in the air. Was the fox trying to drug him? If it had something to do with love then it was a lost cause. He had eaten a mermaid’s heart, after all.

Nikola unsheathed his sword and cast a quick barrier so that the fox couldn’t get out of the cave.

“I have five hundred years’ worth of cultivation.” Said the fox when he was at the entrance of the cave. “You think that this little stick will have an effect on me?”

“Do turn into a fox.” Said Nikola as he saw a red-headed naked woman on a patch of moss. “I want to present your pelt to my husband as a gift for him being pregnant.”

That took the fox by surprise and she half knelt forward but she did nothing to hide her ample bosom. Her chest was bigger than Wei Caihong’s. But Nikola felt he liked his husband’s more. To play with them and kiss them and darn he was getting hard. The sickly-sweet smell must be an aphrodisiac of some sort.

“Are you Bjorn then? I have heard about you, Viking. I am much prettier than your husband turned wife, am I not?” The fox pushed her ass up and lowered herself as if in a submissive show but Nikola saw how she was preparing to jump up. He channeled magic into the sword and raised it up over his head, then he brought it down and the fox barely dodged the wind blade that came for her. She rolled and then stood up. She looked at a corner where Nikola could see various blades. Most of them were rusted but one reflected the light from the cave’s entrance. He looked at it more closely. There, on it’s pommel, was an emerald as big as an eye. This was his work.

“I am Nikola. Where did you get this blade from?” He asked the fox as he pointed at the shining broadsword.

“The Emerald Emperor himself gifted it to me.” Then the fox placed both of her hands on her hips and leaned forward as if she was going to share a secret. “I was his mistress.”

“I don’t sleep with beasts.” Said Nikola bored. So, it was stolen. He could feel magic pulsing from the blade. He could drain it and then throw it into the lake. Perhaps it would be enough to make a second jade deposit.

“You…how could it be?” The fox approached Nikola and he raised his blade in warning but she came face to face with him. A clawed hand petted his face gently and then the fox smiled. “Well, well, well, look who decided to raise from the dead? And here I thought when you promised you will come back to me you were lying. You left me with a sword and a whelp and you didn’t spare me a second thought. Raising Vasiliki’s Nephilim for two hundred years and then being God knows where for a hundred more. Don’t say you forgot the mother of your child?”

Nikola stared. His sword was pressed between her chest and her claws dug into his face in warning. Blood trickled down his face and he dug the sword deeper too. She hissed and stepped back.

“What child? And I told you already. I don’t sleep with beasts.”

Could he have cheated on Penemue? And he had a child somehow?

“I was your apprentice. You wanted to learn more about cultivation and your Penemue was going to leave you for your female version. That slip of a girl Vasiliki. I did perform a forgetfulness ritual at you. So, I have only myself to blame if you forgot about me.”

Come to think of it Nikola didn’t remember where he had learned the forgetfulness ritual from. He had woken up one day with the way it was done carved into his abdomen. And a saddened Penemue reading it for him and promising to be better. Why was that? The fox spirit went into a corner of the cave and she picked up a male robe, a fine purple silk one, and draped it around herself.

“My name is Rin. You used to joke about how I wasn’t owning up to the name at all, being oh so very passionate. Do you want to see your son? Perhaps you could tell me how to get him to finally grow up. For all that his kitsune form is as big as a mountain he is stuck in the body of a toddler. I will not be raising him forever, you know?”

Nikola followed the kitsune as if in a daze. He had taken an apprentice. He had gotten his apprentice with a child. He had produced a beast. But maybe the fox was lying? He’d see the boy and then he’ll know for sure.

“Ryota! Your father has come to take you away! Now get out, dear.” Her voice softened by the end but Nikola had no doubts that she didn’t especially liked her son. She wanted to foist him off to Nikola. Then from the depths of the cave he heard a growl. He stepped on something soft. It was a black tail. Two bright green eyes shone in the darkness. Nikola illuminated the whole cave. The giant fox before him had not one, but nine tails. He blinked at the shear power that radiated from this monstrosity. Had he produced this in truth? And if this was his son then surely, he was immortal, just like his children by Wei Caihong would be.

He touched the soft fur of the black fox and tried to smile reassuringly.

“Ryota? Can I speak with you? Do you mind changing into your human form? I’ve brought something for you.” He hadn’t really. He just had some hard candy in his pocket. And what child, even one stuck as one for three hundred years, wouldn’t like some? He took out a couple of pieces and presented them to the fox. It brought it’s massive maul to sniff at them and then he begun to shrink. Soon there was a black-haired child with eyes the same shade as Nikola’s staring at him. It couldn’t have been more than three years old. Was his son stuck to age a year for a century?

The child ran to him and snatched a candy from his hand. Then it popped it in it’s mouth and it smiled in delight.

“Now that you found me others will as well. I have to move.” Said Rin as she begun to pack. Jewelry and silken robes ended up all into a sack with a snap of her fingers. She truly was his apprentice. And he…had a son. He gave Ryota another piece of candy and pushed him towards the entrance of the cave.

“Ryota, you wait outside. And no matter what you hear don’t run in.” He said and the boy stared at him and then at his mother who was smirking. She misunderstood Nikola’s intend. She had killed many during her stay here and he had come here for a reason.

Ryota extended his hand and Nikola put the rest of the candy in it. The boy smiled at him and then rushed off towards the entrance of the cave.

“Turn into a fox.” Said Nikola as he sealed the entrance behind his son. He didn’t want to try his luck battling such a massive fox. And he didn’t want to harm his own child.

“Why? You never wanted to do it with me in my true form before. Although you enjoyed it when I would let my tails show in my human form.” Nikola didn’t know the depths of his own perversions, it seems. He raised his eyebrows as the kitsune dropped the robe she was wearing and five tails appeared around her ass. He could see the alure, truly, but he needed to get his mind out of the gutter.

Rin approached him, swaying her hips. Her tails brushed against his legs and up until he groaned and pressed the sword to her pale neck. He gripped her arm with his free hand and was ready to make her a head shorter when she finally realized his intent. Like whips the tails were brought on his body, hitting every inch of him. Nikola let her go from the pain and she backed into the shadows.

“Ryota, help! Your father is going to kill me! Ryota!” She screamed and Ryota threw himself at the barrier but it didn’t give. Soon he was a fox and digging bellow the barrier, but Nikola had made it’s foundations too deep. He’ll make a chasm that Nikola would need to jump over, nothing more.

Seeing that no help was going to come for her Rin turned into a fox finally. She was three meters tall and her fur was standing on an end. She was ready to pounce and Nikola readied his sword. She made the first step after some circling. Pouncing at Nikola but Nikola cut the air in front of him while she was mid-jump and a wide gash appeared over her stomach. He could see an intestine spilling out. And blood. So much blood. Rin whined deep in her throat and charged at him again only for Nikola to sidestep and for her to hit herself into the barrier. Lightning was the barrier’s response to this and Rin was soon on the ground, her entire body in spasms on the floor.

Ryota roared and threw himself at the barrier too and he was soon just like his mother. Nikola approached Rin. He had found the hard way that lost memories could be recovered. He only needed to eat her heart. But did he want to remember the lost details of that time? He had been so miserable back then. No, he didn’t need to know. He will use her heart for a far better purpose, but he didn’t have herbs. This was going to be painful and chaotic and if Nikola was not careful, he may end up erasing all of Ryota’s memories, not just his mother’s image. But maybe it was for the best. The child was a beast but Nikola could take even that from him. If he made him forget and drained him of magic then the boy would become a normal toddler.

Or the change would kill him. Nikola looked at the massive fox he was sure could barely understand human speech. Nikola needed to make Ryota human, no matter the cost. He raised his blade and brought it down on Rin’s neck, then he twisted it and watched as she shrunk back into human form.

She rasped something at him and then she looked at her son. She held up her hand and Ryota changed into a little boy again. He reached out as far as the barrier allowed him. A tear ran down his cheek and he fell on the ground. Nikola felt slight pity for these two beasts then but he squashed it mercilessly.

With one swift motion Rin was decapitated and Ryota screamed as his mother’s head rolled to the side. Nikola then begun to carve out her still warm heart. Then with the same sword he had used on Rin he used it to dug into his own chest. He dug out his heart and fell on the ground next to his former mistress, like a puppet with it’s string’s cut. As darkness took him and he felt the pain of a new heart beginning to form he could hear Ryota screaming.

When Nikola woke up Rin’s corpse had begun to stink. He looked at his old heart, the organ was still beating around the sword. He looked at Ryota who was still in his childish form and he stood up. The barrier had fallen. Nikola looked around to see legs and arms scattered around the cave. His robes were torn. Ryota must have bitten all his limbs off and then scattered them in the cave when they kept growing back up. The boy’s ears twitched and he looked up to see Nikola cutting up the two hearts. He had taken a bowl out to place them in.

“I have something for you, Ryota.” He said in the gentlest voice he could manage as he finished cutting up the hearts. “Something tasty. A treat, just for you.” Nikola groaned when he tried to stand up. His right foot had a particularly nasty bite on it that refused to heal. Ryota showed him his teeth. This boy must have eaten from his flesh. Nikola pushed the bowl with the bloody organs towards him and Ryota dug his hand in and brough a piece to his nose and sniffed it. Then the boy ate the heart and begun to stuff himself with the rest of the bowl’s content, blood running pass his chin, as Nikola chanted the forgetfulness spell.

When Ryota finished eating he doubled over and he gripped his head as if he was in pain. He fell on the ground and Nikola crawled to him. He patted his back and Ryota turned around to cuddle up to Nikola. Nikola pumped magic into both of them, alleviating Ryota’s pain and healing his foot. The boy then hiccupped and turned into a giant fox, nearly crushing Nikola with his bulk.

“Ryota, turn back into a boy.” Demanded Nikola as he stood up, fully healed. He went to Rin’s sack and begun to rummage inside for robes that could fit him. He soon found gray cotton inner robes and a nice green silk outer robe to go with them. He put them on and went to Ryota who was now a boy again and was looking at him in confusion. Then the kitsune looked at Rin’s corpse and poked it. Ryota licked the blood from his finger. Nikola nodded to himself, it must have worked.

He rummaged into the sack again and took out nice blue robes for the boy. They would be far too big on him but Ryota had to make do.

“Would you like these, Ryota?” He asked as he showed the boy the robes. Then Ryota opened his mouth and made a whizzing sound. Nikola dropped the robes and went to his son’s side. He opened his mouth and gaped at the inside of it. It had scorched marks and his tongue was missing. Some of Ryota’s teeth looked blackened. Was this the effect his flesh had on those who ate from him? Wei Caihong never suffered from his blood. But then again, he was Nikola’s soulmate. Nikola sighed and begun to heal his son.

He become stiff from kneeling and the sun set. The cave was bathed in darkness and if Nikola wasn’t holding Ryota then he wouldn’t have known he was there. Ryota had snuggled into him and Nikola was sure the boy didn’t know what had happened.

“Ryota, I am your father.” He said when he was sure the boy’s tongue was healed.

“Pa.” Said the boy simply. “Where’s Ma?” Nikola stiffened. He had made sure that Ryota wouldn’t remember Rin. Did he mess up?

“Ryota, what is your mother’s name?” The boy looked thoughtful and then he shook his head.

“I don’t know, Pa.” Nikola breathed a sigh of relief. This was good. He summoned a candle and lit it up.

“This.” He said as he pointed the candle at Rin. “Is a very bad woman. She kept you prisoner.” Ryota nodded at that and snuggled closer to Nikola.

“We are going home now, Pa?”

“Nikola.” He spoke. “I am Nikola of Troy and you are my son by the lady Pen. Do you remember now?”

Ryota nodded again. The boy looked a little like Penemue and it was weird. Even his facial features were similar to the angel. If it wasn’t for his green eyes and the feel of his magic Nikola would have thought that Rin had lied and slept with Penemue instead.

“No, but if you say it’s true then it must be true. Pa, I’m hungry.” Ryota’s real form was a giant fox, so he must have eaten a lot to sustain himself. Nikola touched his stomach and used his magic to check the size of the child’s gut. It was the size of an adults! How was this boy even moving around? He focused on making it smaller and Ryota whimpered.

“Ryota, your insides are growing faster than you are. That needs to change so you can be healthy.” The boy let out a sharp breath when Nikola was done and he fell on the ground. Nikola proceeded to check all of Ryota’s organs and to readjust their size. At the heart the boy had nearly turn back into his fox form and ran but Nikola had calmed him with a song and the boy had suffered through the pain.

“I’ll hunt you something delicious, son.” Said Nikola. Ryota would need to be drained of magic. It would replenish but in a slower pace. Nikola knew just what to do with it. He had lied to Wei Caihong when he had said that he would forget all about the ritual to summon Penemue. He had a literal demon made of magic and his own flesh and blood and he had a corpse of someone who was at least five hundred years old. He could summon Penemue now, but he wasn’t going to be satisfied with crumbs again. He was going to summon Penemue back as a woman and he was going to marry the angel this time, together with Wei Caihong. And they will be a family.

“Ryota, I will prickle your finger and then you will bleed over the bad woman. And then your mother will appear. You’ll be a good boy, won’t you?”

Ryota pulled his hand back to himself. The fox must have lied about Ryota being her son, even his hurt expression screamed Penemue. But how was the boy a fox demon? Well, Penemue would know. Rin had mentioned him, had she not?

He took out a silver needle and pricked Ryota’s finger and squeezed it so a few drops could fall over Rin’s corpse. Then Nikola stood up and retrieved some of his severed limbs and placed them near Rin. Then he begun to chant. He felt the magic drain from him and Ryota collapsed unconscious on the ground next to him. Nikola checked his vitals and then resumed the chant. The ceiling of the cave begun to crack and Nikola worried that it was going to collapse on them but then lightning flashed outside and a small ball of light came to the mess of body and limbs on the ground. It touched Rin’s unmoving chest and then the body and limbs exploded. The gore begun to move and gather in front of Nikola who was grinning in an almost crazed manner. He had added the chant to turn someone into a female although he had added a final touch. Penemue wouldn’t be able to become a man ever again. This was Nikola’s revenge for the angel abandoning him when Pallas rebelled.

A tall, dark haired woman with the loveliest blue eyes Nikola remembered from his dream appeared among the blood. She hid her private parts with her hands and glared at Nikola.

“How dare you lock me into such a vessel?” Hissed Penemue but Nikola was already moving towards her. He wanted to see all of her. He was gently guiding her hands away from her body so he could see her. He leaned down so he could kiss her breast but then she got one of her hands free and slapped him.

“You want me vulnerable, is that it? I’ll leave you if you don’t reverse this!” Nikola was hurt to hear this. He stared Penemue into her eyes and leaned in to whisper against her lips.

“You will be a woman for as long as I live. And have you ever heard of a dead phoenix?” Penemue distanced herself from Nikola and that hurt more than her words. Her words were empty, even when Vasiliki was pregnant Penemue was by Nikola’s side. Her actions, however, cut right to his heart.

“I will find a way to revert back on my own. You will not touch me in this form.”

Then she stood up, covering herself as best as she could with her hands, and moved to the boy.

“So, you found him. Our son.”

Nikola was confused as to how it had happened. He followed Penemue and removed his outer robe so she can have something to cover herself with. He draped it around her and she inhaled it’s scent deeply and smiled. Then as if she caught herself doing so, she frowned. But Nikola had already seen the action and he was smiling again. Penemue always liked how he smelled. He’ll have her yet.

“Is there something you have to tell me, Penemue?” He asked and Penemue looked guiltily down at the boy. She lowered herself and touched his cheek.

“I placed a curse on him when I conceived him in you. It was all the fox demon’s fault, for turning you into a woman. You carried your child in secret for six months but then I cut him out of your stomach and planted it inside her womb. And that made him into a fox demon.”

“I was a…?” Nikola couldn’t remember and thanks to the phoenix he had eaten there were no scars to confirm the truth. Six months. When he had woken up with the forgetfulness spell carved into his stomach Vasiliki had been six months pregnant. What had Penemue done?

“You begged me to let you keep him. And I broke your heart when I took him away from you. So, you threatened to leave me. To sail into the sunset and renounce all your titles. I panicked. I couldn’t let you do this, my Emerald.”

“So, you flipped a switch and made me forget everything?” Nikola moved to Ryota and he pulled the boy into his arms. He was not losing his son again. “You will let me remember everything!” Yelled Nikola and Ryota stirred in his arms but didn’t wake.

“You want to eat my heart?” Asked Penemue, backing away. Nikola scoffed at her drama.

“Who created the forgetfulness chant? I command you to tell me the truth.”

“I did. Wait, why did I just…”

“You are made of my own flesh and blood. I can command you to do anything. I can finally have you marry me, although you will be a second spouse.”

Penemue bared her teeth at him but Nikola wasn’t moved. The angel had commanded him to do many things before. It was her turn to be commanded.

“I command you to let me remember.” Penemue dragged her feet towards him and placed two fingers on his forehead. She didn’t say anything, but Nikola was suddenly accosted with memories. Of having to wear chest wrappings and puffy tunics to hide his new form. Of being so hopeful that Penemue would set Vasiliki aside after he gives him a son. Of not believing the future he had seen for his son. Of singing in a hidden room in the palace. He knew that room. It was Pallas’ nursery. That bastard had put his spawn in their son’s nursery after giving him to a demon!

Nikola wanted to punch Penemue. He wanted to make his stomach hurt like Nikola’s had when Penemue had used the sword Nikola had forged him to cut out their babe. Penemue had wanted to kill the child. Going so far as running him through right in front of Nikola’s eyes. But Ryota was immortal. And this was probably why he grew so slowly too. No one had healed the damage and then he had simply grown wrong.

Nikola was going to be sick when he saw in how many hacked pieces Ryota had ended up in Rin’s stomach. He hugged his son closer to himself and begun to walk out. Penemue would have an access to all of Rin’s possessions. The angel called out to him, full of sorrow and regret. Nikola stopped to listen in.

“…and I never wanted children!” Finished the angel and Nikola gritted his teeth. He turned around and held their son up.

“You try to do anything to him while I cure him of the demonic energy around him and I will end you. I don’t care if you simply end up back into the Abyss. I can’t stand to look at you!” He then ran out with the child in his arms. Wei Caihong will welcome this new addition to their family, especially after Nikola told him he was ready to forget all about Penemue. Suddenly the future where Penemue would carry Wei Caihong’s child send shivers down his spine. What if Penemue stole Wei Caihong from him? A shadow flew over him and he was stopped by Penemue carrying the sword he had seen in Rin’s cave.

“You will not leave me. It’s bad enough that you put horns on me!” She screamed at him and then Ryota woke up. He reached out a hand towards Penemue and looked at Nikola.

“Pa, she looks like me. Is she Ma?”

Nikola nodded but then spoke.

“But she is a bad woman, Ryota. She wants to hurt you…” Ryota bit his hand then, then hissed as if burned and ran to Penemue who hugged him. Nikola was flooded with the love he had felt for Ryota back when he was still growing inside of him. But Penemue already had a hand wrapped around him and healing his damaged tongue.

“Your father is a phoenix, little fox. Don’t bite him. And don’t bite me either. I will get you something to eat, just you wait.” Then she turned to Nikola and glared. “You drained him of magic! He won’t be able to replenish it or turn into a fox for years.”

“Centuries, actually.” Said a voice from the trees. In came Master Wang, sabre at the ready. “And he will finally be able to grow at a normal pace. Although I doubt, he will grow up for more than another twenty years.”

“Rudra!” Said Penemue, not knowing why her brother was here now.

“Master Wang, you have to help me! She hurt my son already and she will do so again. He is just an innocent little boy…”

“He is a man-eating half-breed.” Snapped Master Wang at Nikola. “But if he is your son then the only thing, we can do is to keep him weak. You will drain him of magic periodically.” He said turning towards Nikola who nodded. It was for Ryota’s own safety that he was not allowed to turn into a kitsune ever again. “And you.” He then turned to Penemue who growled at him. “Will take care of your spawn. You did it with Vasiliki’s giant, you can do it with Nikola’s demon.”

“I’m hungry. He smells nice. Ma, can you kill him for me?” Ryota pointed at Master Wang who unsheathed his sabre. Nikola ran to place himself between the angel and his son. He chanced a look towards the boy and saw that Penemue had moved before him.

“He is your uncle; we don’t eat family.” Reprimed Penemue. She looked ready to run, but then again, she was a schooler. Nikola just hoped she took the kit with her.

“Someone used to feed me men before, but I don’t remember who.” Said Ryota sadly and Penemue pressed the tip of her sword to Nikola’s back, who had been backing towards them in an attempt to grab Ryota and make a run for it.

“You made him forget his surrogate mother.” She said and Nikola turned back to glare at her.

“It was what she deserved. She knew you’d react like this and you will mutilate both myself and the child. I’m glad the bitch is dead.”

“I’ll make him remember everything, my Emerald. I saw the limbs in the cave. He loved her.”

“Who did I love?” Asked Ryota confused and Penemue smirked.

“Your mother.” She replied in a sickening sweet tone. Nikola fell on his knees and bowed his head. He clasped his hands together in a prayer. Wei Caihong had been right about Penemue. And Nikola had found out the truth behind the angel’s beautiful façade once. Now he was seeing it again.

“But Ma, aren’t you my mother? And what is Pa doing?”

“Don’t. Penemue, if you love me at least a little then don’t take my son away from me again. I beg you.”

“That wasn’t the first time you tried to leave me. If Rin’s claws hadn’t made it impossible for you to heal right away I would have put a veil over your eyes just like all the other times. But I won’t do it ever again. You have been like this ever since that blasted mermaid’s heart but I couldn’t make you forget right in front of court so I had to wait for you to forgive me. But from now on there will be no lies between us. You knew about your soulmate when we started teaching you how to read your future.”

Nikola had never known that Penemue was this cruel. Had the angel ever even loved him?

“Remember the time you took a dive into a volcano? I couldn’t make you forget that but everything leading up to it? I enjoyed it. Do you still want to marry me, my Emerald?”

He looked up at her. He had always thought it was the guilt over his sister that had forced him to do that. He had known about Wei Caihong. And he had ended up hurting him.

“What do you want me to answer?” He said defeated. This was Penemue’s favorite response during tough times. Although Nikola had always said it jokingly before. He now felt as if his soul was tearing at the seams from asking this question. He knew Penemue was furious about Nikola being able to command her. Among the watchers Penemue had been the weakest physically. And Nikola had changed that, ritual after a ritual.

“I want you to say yes.” Said Penemue calmly. “I want you to accept a piece of my soul into yourself again so I can control you like you can control me. And when you present me to Wei Caihong, I want you to make it very clear to your husband or wife or whatever the vampire is that I’m here to stay. Now, come and kiss me and don’t you dare rebel against me again.”

Penemue thought of him as if he was a thing. He thought numbly as he rouses from his feet and moved towards her. He embraced her and felt small arms wrap around his leg. Ryota had misunderstood the whole argument and was searching for comfort after his parents had fought. Nikola closed his eyes and leaned in, he felt something slip pass his lips. Something cool and sweet. Nikola didn’t want Penemue’s soul to bring any good feelings in him. It was a chain and he suddenly longed for it to come with another forgetfulness spell. But Penemue didn’t give him back his ignorance and Nikola mourned it’s absence.