Every time Ficky tried to force Aya to speak, the conflict between his "Master's Order" and Yuda's hypnotic thrall caused her agonizing pain. The ancient vampire magic was proving to be a far more complex knot than Ficky had anticipated.
"Hey! I'm talking to you. Say something, when did—!"
SLAP!
Aya suddenly struck Ficky across the face. She remained curled in a corner, silent, staring at him with a sharp, piercing intensity that wasn't her own.
"Tch. Nothing but a burden," Ficky grumbled, rubbing his cheek. "I wish I'd never met her."
"Don't be like that," a voice echoed in his mind.
A small, shadowy figure materialized from Ficky's body. It had a humanoid shape but was unmistakably inhuman, possessing two horns, a tail, and wings. This was Keno, the demon residing within him.
"Why take that form now?" Ficky snapped, his expression as grim as ever.
"Relax. As long as my main essence is inside you, you won't die," Keno said, his two glowing eyes fixed on the girl. "She's a fox, right? Shouldn't she be better at resisting mind control?"
"How should I know? She's completely under. That vampire did something twisted to her," Ficky replied, exhaling a sharp breath.
Ficky approached Aya again, pinning her shoulders against the corner of the hut. "One more time. What is my name?"
"Ficky," she answered, her voice flat.
"And what is your goal?"
"I don't know."
Ficky realized the extent of the damage. She remembered him, but Yuda had wiped her memory of their ultimate goal: going home. Yuda was effectively keeping her prisoner by erasing her desire to leave.
"How devious," Ficky muttered. He bit his thumb, drawing a drop of blood to perform a counter-spell.
"Stop," Keno intervened. "Don't stack more magic on her. It will only make her suffer more. Try what you did before."
"You mean that useless kiss? I tried it, and while the essence came out, the influence remained."
"It remained because something is physically attached to her flesh," Keno explained. They both knew a dark, parasitic energy was now part of her. "Like I said, Ficky... do more than just a kiss. Sleep with her."
"I know you don't just mean 'sleep,' Keno. But I'm finding another way," Ficky stated, rejecting the demon's carnal suggestion.
"Ficky... who are you talking to?" Aya asked. Her voice sounded like her own for a moment, lacking the sharp edge from before.
Ficky and Keno exchanged a look. "She can't see you?" Ficky whispered.
"I don't think so," Keno replied.
Ficky sighed for the hundredth time. Aya sat there in a daze, waiting for an answer. The "new" Aya was irritating, but Ficky refused to cross the line of her privacy. He decided on a different course of action: find the vampire and force him to break the spell.
"I won't do it. I'll go find that freak," Ficky declared.
"But he said he'd return her to normal only if he got what he wanted," Keno reminded him. "He's likely lying."
"That's the problem," Ficky muttered, heading for the door.
Aya suddenly threw herself against Ficky's back, hugging him with a strength that far surpassed her natural ability. Ficky looked back, his eyes narrowing.
"What do you think you're doing?"
"I just wanted to hug you," Aya said, smiling with a hollow, terrifying happiness. Her eyes had bled into a deep, predatory red.
"The bastard is still alive. Great. Now she's starting to sound like you, Keno," Ficky remarked dryly.
"Hey, ugly girl! Don't do this if it's not your own will!" Ficky barked, grabbing her wrists and prying her off. He gripped her so hard it left red marks, making her wince.
"Ow!" She recoiled, and Ficky turned toward the door.
"Wait, Ficky! Where are you going?"
Aya's inner consciousness screamed from behind the veil of the curse.
Wait! I don't know why I'm doing this! Don't go outside... But she couldn't speak the words. Her soul was being pushed into a deep sleep, replaced by the "other" awareness.
Ficky grabbed the handle of the small hut's door. He opened it slowly, wary of the heavy blizzard outside. The snow had already piled high against the threshold.
As Ficky stepped out into the white void, a sharp blade suddenly erupted through his chest, piercing him from front to back. Blood sprayed onto the fresh snow.
Keno hissed and retreated back into Ficky's body.
"Did you forget what I said?" a voice echoed through the wind. Yuda Troy stepped out of the blizzard, his eyes glowing. "I told you... I won't let you leave."