The Fox and The Hunter

Jon woke upon hearing the phone ring. Viktorya seemed to be trying not to wake up, with arms wrapped around him enough that he knew he couldn’t leave the bed without causing a disturbance.

“I can answer the phone if you let go of me.”

She pulled her arms off him in surrender as she snuggled deeper into the sheets.

“You didn’t need to let go that easily,” he muttered.

He grabbed the phone.

“Viktorya Renfield’s apartment,” he greeted.

“Jonathan,” Gareth said, “Turns out I’m in town. I was wondering if you wanted to grab lunch this afternoon, just the two of us.”

No mom, no Viktorya. Jon wasn’t ready to leave her alone though.

“I’ll think about it.”

“Once you get Ms. Renfield’s permission, call me back so I know where to meet you.”

Jon shook his head and hung up.

“What are you thinking about?” Viktorya asked, holding a blanket over herself as she sat up, reminding Jon he was also naked. He looked for his trunk to find something to change into.

“Gareth asked me to lunch, just the two of us.”

“And you don’t want to leave me by my lonesome?” Viktorya guessed.

“I thought I’d leave it up to you whether or not you’re to be relieved of my company.”

“Go ahead, have dinner with the boss. If you manage to come home alone, and I will know, I may have a surprise for you.”

Jon didn’t see her being able to really surprise him, but he’d gladly give her a chance.

“I’ll do my best.”

He grabbed her hand to kiss it as she went to bathroom. She pulled it away faster than he’d hoped. She’d been a bit off since confessing her past to him, and he wasn’t sure what it meant.

“What do you think he wants to talk about?” she yelled through the door.

“Nothing, probably just wants to see me.”

“If he wasn’t your godfather, I’d think that was creepy.”

“If it’s anything, he’s probably checking in before he proposes to my mother.”

“That’s a little fast isn’t it? They’ve been together about as long as we have.”

Probably close to the exact same amount of time considering the scenario. Jon was surprised by how comfortable he was with the idea.

“It wouldn’t be their first marriage,” he revealed.

“Surprised he doesn’t treat you like the product of an affair then.”

That stung. Jon didn’t like his father, but his parents’ marriage was hardly an affair. His father was the one who had an affair.

“He wasn’t planning to have kids anyways,” Jon said.

He heard hands washing before Viktorya opened the door.

“Sorry if I hit a sore subject. I’m still waking up.”

“It’s fine,” Jon said, “After last night, I don’t think you can hurt me.”

“You make it sound like a challenge.”

“I meant it as a declaration of trust.”

“Then I’ll gladly accept your trust, Jonathan Hunter.”

She took his hand, and kissed it.

“Now use the bathroom so I can get dressed in peace.”

Jon sat down, glad they agreed to a place informal enough to get away with jeans. They pushed the meeting back late enough to be dinner instead of lunch, just like Viktorya’s permission indicated. Jon shouldn’t have been impressed by such a small hint of clairvoyance, but it made him wonder just how much of the future she knew. He steeled himself to focus on the meeting instead.

“So, why did you call me?” he asked Gareth.

“I’m not marrying your mother,” Gareth said, sounding a little disappointed.

“That doesn’t really seem worth announcing, you’ve been back together for only a few months.”

“It only took a few months to make the decision long-term. Your mother thought it best to tell Val outright, so I thought it only fair to tell you.”

“Without mom?”

“It only seemed fair that you each hear the news from only one of us.”

Jon shook his head. For people apparently not getting married, they were sure acting like careful parents.

“Why aren’t you two getting married, ever again?”

“Because witches—superhumans—are known now, and known well. I do not call your mother eternity frivolously. We are both older than most of the population, and because of that, we’ve had to leave each other before. Marriage was always temporary. Now…”

“Till death do you part.”

“Though we don’t expect to part anytime soon, that doesn’t mean we want to risk the legal rigmarole of immortal divorce.”

“So you just want the freedom to leave.”

Gareth was staring elsewhere.

“Your mother doesn’t want to be a wife again, and frankly, I don’t want the level of power your father legally held over her. If he hadn’t…” he stopped.

“Then mom would be stuck with a bitter old man,” Jon finished, “And you can’t stomach the idea of her being stuck.”

Gareth nodded.

“Even with you.”

“Even with me.”

Jon found it all a bit ridiculous, but it wasn’t really his job to care. He didn’t need Gareth to be his stepfather to love him like one, and Gareth didn’t need to have him and Val as stepchildren to love them like family. They were already in his will anyways.

“Are you both happy?” Jon asked.

Gareth smiled.

“Of course.”

“Then I’m happy for you.”

All that discussion and they were still just waiting for drinks. Jon checked the menu for food.

“How are things with you and Ms. Renfield?” Gareth asked.

Jon looked back up.

“What do you mean?”

“Well my first curiosity—”

The waiter gave them their drinks, and asked for their orders. Jon chose at random, and he guessed Gareth did much the same.

“Your first question?” Jon asked, taking a sip of his tea.

“Have you two had relations?”

Jon put a hand under his mouth as he tried to swallow.

“Your startled expression isn’t much of an answer.”

He finally succeeded in swallowing his drink, and immediately changed his expression to a scowl.

“What kind of question is that?”

“One about your relationship, obviously.”

Gareth wasn’t going to let him out of this.

“Fine, yes, we’ve had relations. Why do you ask?”

“It seemed the fastest way to determine how committed you were.”

As if this conversation wasn’t awkward enough.

“Okay, what does that mean?”

“You don’t go through life casually, Jonathan, even though you can certainly afford to. You wouldn’t have slept with a woman you didn’t want to marry.”

“Marry?”

Jon liked Viktorya, a lot, but he wasn’t going to marry her anytime soon. Not to mention the entire mess he’d just learned about. He couldn’t think about progress in their relationship when he wasn’t even sure where she stood.

“Perhaps I should have chosen a less legal term,” Gareth corrected, “You wouldn’t have slept with her if you weren’t in some part already committed to her.”

That wasn’t wrong. He’d already decided to keep her safe as best he could. A piece of him wanted to go home now, but Gareth probably had something more to say.

“Why does my commitment matter?”

“Don’t assume I disapprove of this relationship. From our limited interactions, I like Ms. Renfield, especially what I’ve seen of the two of you together.”

“But…”

“But you’ve lost yourself before Jonathan, and as much as I want to see you happy, I don’t want to see you hurt, so just know that you will always have a place to work and a home to live with me.”

Gareth had made a comment about Eleanor before, and Jon hadn’t thought too hard about it. Now he could.

“Viktorya isn’t Eleanor, and I’m not going to lose her like that.”

Gareth put his hands up in surrender, which meant he still thought he was right. Lucky for him, Jon didn’t even know what he was arguing against.

“I’m not making any predictions, just making you aware of all the support you have from your family.”

It was nice to hear Gareth consider himself family at the very least.

“Why don’t you see yourself marrying her?” Gareth asked.

“I haven’t even known her a year, Gareth. Don’t act like you didn’t fall in love with mom during your second marriage.”

“I fell in love with her on the boat to America, but I just considered it improper to actually pursue a woman I considered to be so young.”

“But you married her.”

“I wanted to keep her safe. It seemed the best way. Don’t bother telling me the irony of our proximity leading to accusations of witchcraft.”

“Wasn’t planning to. Are you serious about falling in love back then?”

“Of course I’m serious. Your mother, I’m proud to have been told, felt similarly toward me.”

Jon could spend all day learning about the dramatic story of the Shepherd and the Goddess, but he’d heard plenty of it before.

“I should get back.”

“Our food hasn’t arrived.”

“I know, you can take it home with you.”

He waited for Gareth to dismiss him.

“I wish I could offer you something more than my blessing.”

“I want nothing from you, Gareth, you’ve given me enough.”

Jon was too excited to check before opening the door, only offering a brief knock for warning.

The room was dark when he closed the door behind him. Before he could intentionally reach out his sense, he was blocking an attack. He felt something sharp just tap the top of his head, drawing blood.

He grabbed the attackers other wrist before they could attack again.

“You just made the worst choice of your life.”

There was the person attacking him that he could sense, and there was movement near the wall.

He pushed away the attacker so he could handle it, but they stabbed him through the back of the leg, making him buckle for a minute.

He’d have to apologize to Viktorya about the bloody floor once he handled this.

He turned back to the original attacker. He’d need to incapacitate them before handling whatever was near the wall.

This time he couldn’t just hold them back.

He twisted their arms so they had to release the weapons, kneed them in the stomach, and tossed them on the ground.

Now he could focus on the wall.

“I don’t give up that easy.”

Jon froze, finally focusing, finally recognizing the armor from their first meeting, the swords, but not the expression.

“What’s happening, Viktorya?”

She didn’t respond, so before she could attack him again, Jon grabbed one of swords on the ground.

He blocked her next attack.

“Answer me,” he said, trying to make eye-contact in pitch-darkness.

Why would she attack him? Why in the dark where he would have the advantage? What was the movement at the wall?

“If it makes you feel any better, you’re the farthest I’ve ever gone with a mark.”

Her sword switched hands, and she stabbed him in the abdomen. Unlike last time, this one was lethal.

She kicked him in the same spot, knocking him against the bed.

He felt the point of the sword against his chin.

“This’ll be easier if you lay down.”

“You don’t want to hurt me, Viktorya.”

Maybe he hadn’t known her as long as Gareth knew his mother, maybe she’d hidden things from him, but from the start she hated a fight.

“I have to hurt you,” she answered, “I’m under contract, Mr. Destiny.”

She was supposed to be free. She’d told him that Camellia bought out her contract. She couldn’t have joined the court if her contract wasn’t done.

“What contract?”

She sighed, then slashed his cheek. The blood poured, but he could already tell it was healing.

“Next time you ask a question, I hurt you more.”

He grabbed her sword again. If he could incapacitate her, he could deal with whatever was against the wall.

Except she got up too quickly last time he tried that, and whatever was going on made her ignore her injuries. He couldn’t incapacitate her without drastic measures.

There was no way to incapacitate her without causing permanent harm. If he wanted both of them safe, he had to comply.

He dropped the sword and laid down on the bed.

“Sorry about the blood.”

Viktorya straddled him on the bed, felt the weight of her sword, and stabbed into his ribcage.

“Wait.”

The motion stopped, just barely cutting into his skin.

The figure on the wall became more obvious, as if the voice hadn’t given him away. Turning on the light meant very little at this point.

“I thought your confusion would be gratifying, but I want you to know why this happened.”

Everything was suspect now that Dick was involved.

“To answer your question earlier, I bought a small part of Fox’s contract before your Aunt got to it. Kind of gratifying to screw her over by the way, since she always hated me, not that it makes her special with your whole family.”

“I don’t—”

“You said it yourself, and don’t act like making you angrier at the time makes it any less true.”

He shouldn’t have said anything.

“Val at least doesn’t hide it. She’s looked at me like I’m the destruction of all her happiness since we first met, but you can’t hide your emotions from me either.”

He wasn’t going to say anything else. Whatever this was, he wanted it over with.

“Stab him a little more.”

Viktorya obliged, Jon winced.

“Do you like her that much? You and I both know you could knock her off at any time.”

She would just get back up, ignoring her injuries, and whatever influence Dick had wouldn’t go away if he was unconscious.

“You know none of it’s real, right? Take away the tattoo and she’s… Well, I guess you don’t mind that sort of thing anyways, considering your first girlfriend.”

Now he was trying to make Jon angry.

“This is the most impressive thing I’ve ever done, by the way” Dick slid his fingers against Viktorya’s cheek, “True apathy. It won’t last too long, but she doesn’t care about anything except what I want her to. I need some willingness to be controlled first though, which is why the contract was useful.”

Jon was getting tired of this.

“Stab him a little more.”

He winced.

“The point is, I hate you, and I had a grudge to settle with the false vixen here, which is why when I saw her little shrine, and did some digging to figure out what it meant, I got this little plan together.

“I was worried about the plan after failing to get the little girl—which wasn’t originally part of the plan, but who can ignore such opportunity. Luckily though, her heroic response really just brought you two closer together. I thought this was going to take at least a year, but apparently immortality doesn’t always come with patience. Guess I’ll understand that soon enough.

“What do you mean, you’ll understand?”

How would Dick become immortal?

“Did you know that you’re the best medical match for me?”

If both Dick’s parents were dead, it would make sense. They’d always looked alike, so their genetics probably lined up in a lot of categories. Except for the part where Dick’s mutation as an empowered probably left them radically different.

“My heart’s not doing as well as it used to, Jon, and someone assured me that you are the missing ingredient to ensure I never need to worry about that again.”

Jon felt Viktorya’s sword in his chest without her needing to stab him further.

“My heart won’t make you immortal.”

“It’s not the only ingredient, no, and it wouldn’t work for anyone else, but you don’t need to know the details.”

He was insane, but Jon wasn’t in a position to say anything about it.

“Stab him further.”

He made a louder sound, it was getting into muscle now.

“I should consider matchmaking more often, by the way, I kept an eye on you two, made sure she didn’t give the game away too fast—and believe me, she tried—but otherwise, I had no involvement in your little affair. You must be soulmates or something. Only reason I’m not rooting for you is it would undercut the vengeance of it all. She’s not really screwed over if you two kiss and make up after all this, especially since I’m not allowed to fuck with her dad anymore once the contract’s over.

There was no reason to believe anything Dick said was true.

“I think I explained everything,” Dick said, stepping back toward the door, “And you certainly aren’t too confused, aside from the mistrust, so it’s finally time to do the honors.”

He turned the light off.

The sword fully plunged, then sliced down Jon’s ribcage. He was too focused on the pain to notice anything else.

The last thing he felt was his veins and arteries snapping as his heart was removed.

The last thing he heard was a gunshot.