Shadows coalesced in the corner, creeping along the walls to swirl together in seething mass of darkness.  Spikes protruded from the demon forming there, dripping dark liquids better left unidentified onto the hardwood floor beneath it.  Puffs of smoke arose each time a drop struck, eating into the wood.  The demon stepped forward with a cruel smirk, advancing towards a cowering fox pressed back against the opposite wall.
Rends in his red silk tunic dripped with blood drawn by the creature.  The fragments of a rapier nearby marked souvenirs of his first try at defending himself.  His tail hung at an impossible angle, snapped in the center.  His green eyes, wide and wild, darted back and forth, looking desperately for something, anything that could help.

Fool.  You should never have returned here.  But now you shall never leave.

The demon’s voice echoed in his mind, a wave of fear and hopelessness coming over him.  With just the glitter of firelight against an oversized fang as warning, the demon blurred into motion, charging the fox with outstretched tendrils of darkness.  He gave a wordless, defiant shout and tried to dart to the side, but found himself slammed against the wall with the tendrils wrapped around his throat.  Acid dripped onto his fur, filling the air with acrid smoke.  The demon laughed, dragging one fang against the struggling fox’s muzzle, leaving a line of blood in its wake.

Too slow, too slow, always too slow… too slow for your friends, too slow for your family… and MUCH too slow for yourself…

The fox cast about, hands scrabbling for anything hard as his air slowly escaped and the fangs dug deeper into him, the demon leaving gashes and symbols carved deep into his face and chest.  Finally, something slim and hard was in his hand – part of the shattered blade of the rapier!
Gripping it hard enough to gash his hand and snarling silently at the dark creature, he drove the metal spike through the side of the shadow beast’s neck.  Instantly, the pressure withdrew and the demon began dissipating.  It cackled mischievously as it faded, one final sentence echoing through the fox’s mind as he gasped for breath, slumped back against the wall.

Always too slow…

The rapier’s broken blade clattered to the floor, the red sheen of living blood coating its surface.

He heard a broken, panicked scream ending in a gurgle, and the world melted around him.  Quickly replacing the twisted Victorian mansion was his bedroom.  Familiar furniture, familiar walls, and the familiar face of a grey wolf looking down at him with glazed eyes, the hilt of a dagger jammed up against the side of his neck, the point just barely sticking out of the skin on the other side.  Time slowed to a crawl for the fox as stared up at the wolf, blood dripping slowly from the wound.  A quiet whimper escaped him as he let go of the handle of the dagger.