Through the Windshield Glass (28 page)

Chapter Thirty-eight

I knew
something was wrong as soon as we stepped back into the clearing.. Kinga,
Maria's mother, Danny, and Katelyn were all standing there waiting for us to
arrive.

"How did
you get here so fast," Michael asked the instant he had processed the new
arrivals.

"We knew
you were leaving the minute Aida disappeared," Kinga said imperiously,
"Get everyone up, pack your things and let's get back home. It isn't safe
ou--" she stopped midsentence and it was easy to see why. A knife had
pierced her left leg, another flew past my ear and lodged itself in Danny's
throat. He didn't even have time to cry before he was exsanguinated. His blood
seeped immediately into the forest floor and disappeared.

Katelyn knew
Danny was a lost cause the minute she saw the knife, I watched as she dived
into the tent containing Leigh and Maria. In that moment I loved her even more
than I had before. She had obviously gone in to protect them and make sure they
didn't attempt to leave the tent.

Kinga pulled
the knife from her leg, she was still standing and now with a bloody knife and
a bleeding leg she looked more terrifying than ever.

"Show
yourself!" Kinga shouted. By this time Roman, Avery, Max, and Bridgette
were all out of their tents, each holding their weapon of choice. Bridgette
held a lithe looking knife that could have sliced through diamond; Roman held a
shotgun, Avery a pistol, whereas Max held a heavy battle axe that was almost
larger than Avery. Not really the assortment of weapons I’d been expecting.

Scarlett
emerged from her tent, unarmed, still dressed in flowing silver colored
pajamas, and looking dazed. Her brothers followed suit, but they were ready to
defend the camp on their own if they had to. Each was carrying a sword longer
than his arm. I wondered where everyone had gotten such heavy artillery and
where mine was.

A man came
walking out of the trees to my right, a mask covered everything on his face but
his poison purple eyes.

"What a
fantastic haul," he said menacingly. Then he turned to leave through the
trees again. Kinga moved so quickly I barely saw what she did. The knife that
had been in her hand spun through the air towards the leaving man's back. It
missed his head by inches and knicked the black cloak he was wearing just next
to his neck. I thought he would turn around and fight Kinga, but I blinked my
eyes and he was gone.

"Whe--"
I looked to Kinga and jumped as I realized the man was standing right in front
of her. I could see his eyes had gone completely black, whites and all. He had
one hand on the side of Kinga's head, his thumb gently traced her mouth, while
the other hand reached up and pulled Kinga's hair, causing her head to arch
back painfully. Still, she did not cry out in pain.

"You
shouldn't have left him Rose," the man hissed into Kinga's ear. He was
taller than her and the way he had to stoop to get close to her ear made him
look even more sinister, "Alecsander wants a bride, but you are too
untrustworthy."

It was then I
realized why Kinga had not ended the man, none of us could move. I looked
around  noted the frustration on everyone's faces as they tried to fight the
force that was holding them back from destroying the insidious man where he
stood.

In horror, we
watched as the demon breathed into Kinga's mouth. I knew she would be feeling
the burning of the poison as it worked its way down her esophagus and into her
entire body.

The demon
released Kinga but she stayed in the position he had held her in. Her eyes
watered with pain and her leg continued to bleed, but the creature didn't seem
to care. The demon gently took Kinga's right arm in his hand and carved a rose
through her glove into the palm of her hand with his claws. Blood poured down
Kinga's wrist and infiltrated the light blue tunic she was wearing.

The demon
pricked his own palm,  removed Kinga's glove and traced his own black blood
into the wound he had inflicted. It sizzled and I smelled burning flesh.
　
The demon smiled evilly one last
time and bowed.

"My
queen," he said to her. Then he turned and looked directly at me,
"For now."

In an instant
he was gone, the force holding our party in place dissipated and we all rushed
toward Kinga as she collapsed to the earth.

"Catch
him," she croaked.

"We can't
Kinga," Michael said desperately, "He's gone, we need to take care of
you! Katelyn, we need your help!"

Katelyn came
rushing form the tent with Leigh in hot pursuit.

"What's
wrong?" Leigh cried.

"Aida,"
Kinga said weakly, "Get-- tent--"

Kinga was
slowly losing consciousness and
　
I
knew that Leigh would attempt to stay unless I made it clear she was unwelcome.

"Leigh!"
I shouted angrily. I was kneeling next to Kinga's injured leg and I yelled as I
attempted to tie a tourniquet with a piece of ripped shirt Roman had provided,
"Get back inside the tent, now! Keep Maria in there, don't leave for any
reason! You can't be out here!"

Leigh was
obviously taken aback by my forcefulness, I glanced up from my work and saw
tears shine in her eyes before she flipped around and raced back inside the
protection of the tent.

"Kinga,
stay awake!" Katelyn commanded, "You need to get that poison out of
you! Sit up!"

Katelyn forced
Kinga into a sitting position and pressed on her stomach. Within seconds the
demon poison was pouring from Kinga's mouth onto the dirt. Just as Danny's
blood had,
　
the tar absorbed
instantly.

Tourniquet tied
I looked back to see Scarlett sitting on the dirt, staring in paralytic fear at
the scene in front of her.

"Scarlett,"
I said. I startled her from her terror, "Get up, do something, anything.
Get dressed, start making breakfast and let's get moving. That creature knows
where we are now, we need to leave. Go!"

Scarlett
scuttled to her feet and turned around in a few circles before finally deciding
to go back to her tent and dress first.

I returned to
the group surrounding Kinga. She had managed to expel all of the poison and was
already trying to give orders again.

"Cut off
my hand," Kinga said to Roan.

"You're
just in shock, Kinga," Roan said, "Cutting off your hand isn't going
to help the pain."

"I am not
in shock!" Kinga screamed. It was the first time I had ever seen her lose
control, "I will not become one of them! Michael, I will not become one of
them! Now do as I say! Heat the sword and cut off my hand!"

Kinga punctuated
the last four words dramatically.

"It's not
going to help," Michael said, "The bloods have already mixed and the
pois--"

"The
poison is out of me and I want my hand off!" Kinga repeated, "If you
don't do it quickly you're going to have to take the whole arm!"

Roan hurried
over to the fire that had been going all night and thrust his sword into the
coals. I watched Michael tie another tourniquet around Kinga's elbow. He was
much more adept than I was and I knew the knot was much more effective.

Finally, Roan
came over with his sword blazing red.

"Are you
cer--" Roan began, but Kinga cut him off.

"Just do
it!"

Kinga laid her
arm out in position, "Right below the elbow, Roan," Kinga said
calmly. The group cleared away and Roan raised his sword. I looked away at the
last second, but the sound of metal meeting bone was unmistakable. The sound
was sickening and the smell of burning flesh filled the air again.

Still, Kinga
did not utter a single noise of pain. She simply breathed heavily through her
nose, blinked her eyes and asked to be left alone.

I turned to go
find my tent and saw Scarlett standing agape at what she had just seen.
Obviously, she had poked her head out of her tent just in time to see her
brother mutilate Kinga's arm. I realized I didn't have any more energy to try
to pull her from her shock, so I left her there for someone else to deal with.

Roman and Avery
went off into the trees to bury Kinga's hand. While Katelyn and Michael moved
Kinga into
　
a tent of her
own. I could hear them talking in low voices as they worked on her injuries. It
was apparent that she lost consciousness as I walked past because Katelyn
sighed in relief and said, "At least now she won't be telling me I'm
healing her wrong."

I walked into
my tent and saw Leigh and Maria curled up together in a corner, "I'm sorry
I yelled at you," I said to Leigh, "You were lucky you didn't have to
see that."

"Is Kinga
going to be okay?" Leigh asked tearfully.

"Okay?"
Maria repeated.

"Yes,"
I said, although I wasn't sure. I suddenly remembered a similar conversation
with my mother, "I think she will be."

I slumped onto
my bedroll and fell asleep again within seconds.

Chapter Thirty-nine

When Leigh
shook me awake I knew everything that I had seen must have been a dream. Leigh
was just waking me up now to tell me it was time to go and that I had
overslept.

I sat up,
rubbed my eyes and pulled my hair out of its ponytail. I yawned widely,
stretched my back and scratched the hair headache out of my head. My hair fell
over my face and I was sure Leigh would giggle at the sight, when she didn’t I
was alarmed.

I swept the
hair out of my face and stared up at her. She was just short enough to be able
to stand up comfortably in the tent. She was mimicking Kinga's favorite stance
with a slight moderation. Instead of her hands being clasped behind her back,
they were resting on her hips. It would have been comical had Leigh's face not
been so grave.

"What's
wrong?" I asked, "I'm sorry if I overslept, I'll get ready
fast."

"You
didn't oversleep, we're not leaving, Kinga wants to see you," Leigh said.

"I'm still
dreaming," I muttered, "Kinga's not here, Leigh, stop it."

"She is
here and she's hurt really badly, she wants to see you," Leigh's voice
quavered and I realized that not even in my wildest dreams would I have
imagined her voice to sound like that. It left only one explanation, everything
I had seen was reality.

"Okay,
just a minute. Let me get looking halfway decent. Why don't you help Maria get
dressed?"

"She's
already dressed," Leigh said, "She's outside with Katelyn."

I nodded and
started putting my hair back again, "Why does she want to see me
anyway?"

"She's
asking to see everyone who came with Michael," Leigh said. I could tell
there was more Leigh wanted to say but she kept herself from doing so.

"All
right, let's go," I said, but Leigh looked at me skeptically.

"You have
blood all over you, you should probably change," Leigh said.

I looked down
and realized she was right. There was dried blood all over my jeans and
t-shirt, not to mention caked on my hands.

"Urg,"
I said. I held back a dry heave and asked Leigh to get me something wet to wipe
down my hands with.

While Leigh was
gone I changed into fresh clothes and tried not to look at my hands as I did
so. Leigh finally returned with a wetted down tee shirt and started helping me
get the blood off my hands, face, and even neck. I don't know how it all got
there. I must have been in shock after I helped with Kinga's injuries, and then
I went to sleep with blood on my hands. I looked on my bedroll and was glad to
see that I had managed to keep it clean.

Finally, Leigh
deemed me presentable and I left the tent. It was easy to tell which tent Kinga
was in, she had been moved but Michael was standing outside with Roman's
shotgun.

I couldn't help
but think how futile it was to stand guard. One demon had managed to freeze
more than ten people where they stood; it wouldn't take much to get past
Michael and his shotgun.

Michael stood
aside and let me enter the tent. Kinga was propped up against the tent wall.
Katelyn was kneeling next to her trying to talk her into eating something.

"Not until
I know," Kinga whispered fiercely, and then she looked at me. Yikes.

"Sit down,
Ira," Kinga said.

"It's
Alice," I protested defiantly. Kinga didn't seem to care, that was my
first turn on that something more than injuries was wrong with her.

"Let me
see your palm," Kinga continued. I held out my hand without the mark on it
and Kinga looked at it disdainfully, "The other palm."

I held that one
out sheepishly, "It looks just like yours did," I said. I wished I
hadn't drawn attention to the fact that Kinga was now one arm short, but it was
already out and Kinga didn't seem to mind.

"I
understand that, but I wanted to make sure it was still black," Kinga
said, "Just before that demon turned up my hand burned and the circle
glowed red. Did that happen to you?"

I shook my
head, "No, I was just--" I stopped before revealing that I had been
with Michael.

"I know
you were with Beau, he has already told me the two of you were walking the
perimeter of the clearing to check for potential threats. Do not feel guilty
that you did not see that demon; he wasn't there until I entered the clearing.
I would've known. Alecsander will soon know we are here, I have already advised
Michael that we should turn around and--"

"We can't
turn around!" I shouted, "Daman knows where the compound is, he knows
how to get there and he will hurt everyone there to get to me and you! He
already hurt Maria once, I won't let it happen again, and I won't let him get
to Leigh. Our best option is to continue with the plan we were trying. We have
to strike first or Daman will have the advantage and we will never have another
chance!"