Ch.1: Crimson Night
White light glared down from up above, as the stagnant, silent air of Montoya’s oldest hospital slowly constricted, bringing an uncomfortable tension to the young fox couple waiting patiently inside of their room.
Hours ago, the lovely, female fox, lying in bed, had just given birth to her first child, and now sat nervously clutching her husband’s hand as they both waited for the nurse to come back, eager to finally gaze upon the face of their newborn son.
Excitement turned into a confusion of fear as the nurse quietly entered, moments later, with a wriggling bundle of joy in her arms.
Her face was a mask of joy, attempting to hide the horrified shock she really felt, as her hands gently passed the baby fox to the loving grip of his mother’s arms.
The young fox couple was confused, but when they finally gazed upon their son’s face, gasps escaped from their mouths, as they suddenly understood why the nurse was afraid.
Feeling their fear, the baby fox silently curled in his cloth, his sapphire-blue eyes gazing up at his parents with confusion as his mother’s hand reluctantly brushed softly through of his flame red-orange fur.
His paws looked like they had been dipped in ink, while the brush of his tail curled into a small ‘s’ with a blazing, white mark emblazoned on its tip.
Truly he was a beautiful child, but, the young kit was unaware that he also bore the sign of a demonic symbol upon his forehead. A dark, black ‘m’ meaning that he was the heir to the curse.
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The curse took place five years ago, long before the young fox would be born. Back then, the city of Montoya had been at peace, marveling at its combination of both old and new. The city shared a close border to the forest, and attracted many nice people to build permanent homes and stay. Glade and her son, Thomas, were two of those people.
Glade was very proud that she had decided to move to this city along with her son. The cottage both hedgehogs shared was quiet and quaint, with a greenhouse that stood next door which was perfect for Glade to both grow and sell flowers, while also increasing her skills with healing herbs.
The lovely, white hedgehog was not a professional doctor by any means, but that hardly stopped Glade’s gentle nature as she passed on her remedies to anyone who believed that the hospital had failed. The cures she provided were wondrous, and it didn’t take long until Glade was cherished and adored by praise of everyone in town.
No one was more proud of her than her own son, Thomas.
Thomas was very pleased by his mother\'s success as a healer. The young, teenage, brown hedgehog couldn’t have asked for a better mom. Proudly, he bragged about his mother’s success while at school, and those that overheard him agreed most with what Thomas said. However, not everyone was a fan of Glade. Mayor Faust was one of those few.
The yellow-spotted, black lizard glared angrily out of his office window as the thought of Glade crossed his mind. His orange eyes narrowed down at the photograph that lay clutched in his hand. A picture of Glade, smiling…laughing…how it sickened him so. This kind-hearted hedgehog was a threat to his entire re-election campaign. Mayor Faust had been warned that many citizens believed that Glade's name should be added to the polls this year.
“That’s not going to happen,” said Mayor Faust, as he threw the picture of Glade into the burning embers of his fireplace.
Nothing was going to stand in his way of being re-elected mayor again, nothing!
Tomorrow came as the sun slowly began to set just beyond the rise. A gentle hum echoed from out of the greenhouse where Glade worked, a small smile beaming upon the hedgehog’s face. A wedding was coming up soon, and she had been asked to prepare a bouquet of flowers for a friend. Glade readily agreed to the task, and was determined to make the arrangement as beautiful as she could.
While working, Glade envisioned the ceremony up in her mind, unaware that the shadow of Mayor Faust had just appeared behind her, standing in the greenhouse door. Delicately, the white hedgehog reached out for another flower to add to the bouquet when suddenly, a loud noise, followed by a stabbing pain, started shooting through her mind.
Glade started to collapse, clutching a hand over her chest as she fell unconsciously upon the floor. The faint scent of blood tanged the air, as darkness started to enclose around the hedgehog’s eyes. Finally, the scene became all black, and Mayor Faust grinned, knowing that Glade was dead.
The feeling of victory didn’t last for long as the lizard jumped to hear the sound of someone running, and then fled before he could be seen. Thomas appeared a few moments later, a worried look shining in his eyes.
The brown hedgehog had just been making his way home with a group of friends, when suddenly a loud sound banged and stopped them all in their tracks. Fearing the worst, they immediately rushed towards what they had heard.
Thomas’s heart was frozen in fear. His mother was alive! She had to be! There was no way that shot echoed out from the greenhouse door!
However, after Thomas entered the building, he soon realized that the horror was real. The three friends, who had followed in behind him, all let out silent gasps.
There, lying still upon the floor, was the body of his only parent, lying dead, in a pool of blood.
Thomas couldn't stop the tears from flowing out of his eyes, as he leaned over his mother’s prone form. The three other kids who were with Thomas, stood silently as the hedgehog grieved. For a long moment, nobody moved. Then, a call was made, and the police quickly arrived to investigate the scene.
After covering up Glade’s body with a blanket, the officers split up to search for any evidence that could lead them to who committed the crime. Minutes later, after scouring the area with their flashlights, one officer finally cried out that he had found something, and dragged a gun out of the grass.
The Chief immediately took hold of the gun, and called headquarters to search through the registry to find out who the gun belonged to. Few guns were owned in the city of Montoya, and minutes later, they had their results. The answer was a shock to everyone present on the scene. The murder weapon was registered to none other than Mayor Faust himself.
Gently, the police related this news to a still grieving Thomas, who couldn’t believe that the mayor would be the one who would want to make sure his mom was killed. The Chief related that he didn’t expect this either, and promised Thomas that they would do everything they could in order to take the mayor down. With that said, the police left, leaving Thomas alone.
Thomas was not satisfied with the Chief’s words. He wanted more than to see Mayor Faust burn in a cell, he wanted the lizard to be completely destroyed.
Pure hate and rage boiling through his veins, Thomas slammed his hands down on the ground, sinking his claws deep into the floor. A growl of unholy anger rose from his throat, as suddenly, his whole body began to transform.
Pure, brown spines turned an inky black, as Thomas’s yellow eyes changed to glow an evil that shone red as rubies, reflecting the hatred in his mind. His fangs and claws grew longer and sharper, making grooves in the concrete floor.
A demonic howl screeched up towards the sky as Demon Thomas’s transformation finally became complete, and then turned his dark gaze in the direction of the mayor’s home. With a loud roar filled with unholy hate, Demon Thomas tore out and dashed off to get his revenge. Mayor Faust wouldn’t survive through the night.
Meanwhile, at the house itself, the police had already broken down the door to the mayor’s bedroom, startling the lizard who was very surprised to see a gang of police invading his home.
“What’s this all about?” he immediately demanded.
When the Chief explained he was to be brought in for murder, Mayor Faust’s cold eyes narrowed, angry about how quickly he had been caught.
With guns trained upon him, and the lizard having nothing to fight with but his pajamas, surrender was the only logical choice. That’s when everyone in the room suddenly heard a demonic roar, and Demon Thomas crashed in through the window, sending shards of glass careening across the floor.
Mayor Faust had nowhere to run as his body was suddenly pinned to his bed by a crushing claw. An aura of shock and fear gripped the entire room, and the Chief stood unsure of what action to take, given this menacing beast in front of him.
One of the Chief’s officers, a young rookie on the force, looked at the unknown monster shaking in fear, his eyes wide with fright as a gun trembled in his hands. In the young, dog’s mind, he feared that this beast pinning the mayor down would turn around and destroy them all. Tightening his finger around the trigger, he wasn’t willing to take that chance, and pointed his gun shakenly, as the monster raised one of its claws.
Before the monster could slice the mayor in two, the rookie cop pulled the trigger and fired his gun, hitting the beast right in the heart. Shocked by the impact, the monster screeched out a howl of pain as it collapsed upon the mayor’s bed, bleeding as the lizard ran towards the safety of police arms. Slowly, the creature started transforming back into its original form.
Once the monster had transformed back into its normal state, everyone in the room practically gasped when they saw that the beast had been none other than Thomas.
Thomas's now glowing, yellow eyes focused upon the stunned crowd, glaring at the mayor and finally at the young rookie cop who had robbed him of his revenge. Growling out his displeasure, Thomas let the stunned silence hang for a moment before breathing out his final words.
" I have been robbed of my revenge, by the very people who swore to avenge my mother's death. Before I go to join her, a curse be cast upon this town and all who reside in it."
“Five years from now, a demon shall be born, marked with an ‘m’ shaped symbol on his forehead. Through hate he shall pass my curse, causing chaos and destruction among you. Until a noble soul wishes to cease this cycle, my revenge shall live on.”
“Beware. Beware.”
As promised, five years later a child is born, a young fox, with a black 'm' inscribed upon his forehead. Now everyone in the city of Montoya knew to fear the name Kierin.
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Times were very hard after Kierin was born, as mumbles spread throughout the town, whispering of Thomas’s curse. Both children and parents tried desperately to stay away from the demon fox among them.
The fear only grew worse when Kierin turned 5, and his parents decided to start him at public school. Hopefully, they thought, Kierin would be able to make some friends. However, that wish was never meant to be.
Kids either stayed far away, or bullied Kierin, tempting him to slash at them with his claws. Names like ‘monster’ and ‘cursed’ were common among the social crowd. Some kids even whispered remarks about Kierin’s unusual sapphire-blue eyes, saying that no normal kid would have eyes like that, they must be demon eyes.
One bully in particular stood out from the rest, a grey-feathered owl named Rex, who descended from a heroic family line. Although in Kierin’s books he wasn’t very heroic.
Rex was a very important character running around the school. His father held a high position on the city council, and Rex was treated like a king among his teachers and peers.
Kierin hated Rex and his egotistical ways of pushing people around. Just because his family helped save Montoya when it nearly burned to disaster twenty years ago, didn’t give him any rights to act like a jerk. However, voicing his own opinions against the owl quickly drew a target upon Kierin’s back.
One day, Rex’s bullying went too far as he harshly pushed Kierin down, and mocked him, laughing with the rest of his friends. Kierin felt the anger over-flowing in his blood. He had been able to take all of the comments and insults to some degree, but Rex was the first one to physically attack and treat him like a monster that deserved to die.
Only, if the fox had anything to say about it, Rex would be the one getting killed today.
Blinded by pure hate, Kierin pushed himself off of the floor, and wrapped his sharp claws around the owl’s neck, choke-slamming Rex into a nearby wall of lockers with a stunning bang.
All of the kids staring in the hallway eyes widened with horror, and Rex himself seemed frightened by the look inside Kierin’s gaze. The grey-feathered owl choked on air, as Kierin’s claws continued to strangle deeper and deeper into this throat.
Fortunately for the owl, that was when the principal came and broke up the conflict, separating Kierin away from Rex, and sending the fox to wait in his office while he gave his parents a call.
Kierin’s parents soon came to take their son back home, and the young fox was suspended for delivering the brutal assault.
Things didn’t get any better once Kierin was out of school. As the young fox grew to the age of 6, more than just himself was beginning to be despised. His parents suffered now as well, to a point where even a simple trip to the supermarket had become a treacherous task.
Kierin's parents cut off their ties with the community, and had started to homeschool their son, in order to get away from the locals prejudice. Unfortunately, that did little to stop the citizens growing insanity.
Finally, one night, in secret, a town meeting was called in order to plan how to put an end to Kierin’s family for good. A vote was cast, and with every citizen armed to the teeth, the angry mob marched directly towards Kierin's home.
The light of a blood moon was just shining outside as Kierin was being tucked into bed, when suddenly a loud bang sounded up from the downstairs door.
For a moment, everyone stood still, waiting for the noise to sound again. Hearing nothing, Kierin’s father signaled for his wife and child to be quiet while he went downstairs to check on the noise.
The trip down the stairs was as frightening as the silence that now grasped the father’s throat. A warning was flashing through his head, telling him to turn around to safety, but he ignored it.
Slowly, he put his foot down on the first step of the staircase, letting out a long and eerie creak that made his heart jump up with fear. Nonetheless, he continued downward, every creaking step like a thorn deeply burrowing in his heart.
When Kierin's father finally reached the door everything seemed to grow silent; the dripping faucet from the kitchen sink, the squeaky floorboards beneath his feet, the rapid beating of his heart. Everything was totally silent!
Taking a deep breath, Kierin’s father calmly counted to ten and started to twist open the door, and when he did…BAM! He was shot!
From upstairs, both Kierin and his mother had heard the sound and knew instantly the fate that came upon Kierin’s father. They could picture the old, male fox’s wide, surprised eyes as he slowly realized that his time had come.
They could see his dead body fall to floor, with blood flowing out of the wound like a crimson river. Angry shouts poured in from downstairs as the merciless murderers began to flood through the house, set on destroying the rest of the family line.
Quickly, Kierin’s mother shut the door to Kierin’s room and barricaded it with a nearby dresser. Soon the murderers who had killed Kierin\'s father pounded on the door from the other side, trying to get to Kierin and his mother. There was no way the dresser could hold them back for long.
Opening up the back window, the mother fox grabbed the bed sheets from Kierin’s bed and made a quick, strong rope. Throwing it out the window to make sure it reached the ground, the female fox ordered her son to climb down it, saying that she would follow. But it was not meant to be.
As soon as Kierin had climbed down the rope and safely reached the ground, the dresser and door gave way, allowing the entry of the murderous animals that had come for the sole purpose of destroying them.
“Run Kierin!” Mother yelled. “Run!”
That was the last thing Kierin heard his mother say before a knife dug into the vixen’s heart and she fell to the floor dead. Outside, taking his mother’s advice, Kierin ran as fast as he could away from the place that he used to call home.
Making it to the safety of the woods on the edge of town, Kierin breathed and dared himself to look back towards the house, and saw the horrible scene he had left behind. His home was now completely engulfed in flames, and looked nothing more than a burning skeleton in the darkness.
From where he stood on the hill, Kierin could see all the animals who had killed his parents stand outside the house, cheering hoots of victory, not caring for the bodies within. Their eyes shone with murderous glee that the threat of Kierin’s family was finally gone.
Kierin’s own eyes glared at the townsfolk in hate for what they had done, grinding his claws into a fist. His fur bristled with every dark emotion known to man and beast alike. One way or another, a promise was made that crimson night: A promise of death for one and all.
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Years passed and soon the town of Montoya was as busy and peaceful as ever, no longer fearing a curse that hung over their heads. But, one dark night, when a couple of cheetahs were striding through the park, a terrible event occurred that sent everyone into a stale bolt of panic.
It was a beautiful night to be out for a stroll. The full moon was shining down in its radiant beauty, and the stars twinkled like tiny, white sapphires in the evening sky. Little did the cheetahs know, that they were being stalked by a pair of bright blue eyes, glaring at them through the shadows of the trees.
The female heard the first sound, the sound of something moving swiftly from one place to another that made her, and the guy she was with, both stop in their tracks.
Carefully, they listened for another sound, their hearts slowly pumping with fear, nervous energy flowing through their veins. A chill wind blew past them, making the cheetahs shiver in fright. Then, from out of the shadows, a growl was heard, and the young couple screamed.
In the morning, when the couple was found, the police gasped at the sight of their bodies, torn to shreds.
“My revenge lives on” stated a voice from the shadows. “Those two shall only be the first of many whom I’ll kill.”
Want to read more? As of April 24, 2026, The Threat of Kierin is now avaible for purchase online in both digital and pyshical forms, on multiple platforms, like Amazon and Barnes & Nobles, courtesy of Austin McCauley Publishers. Purchase your copy today.