Winter Prey

Chapter 23

Chapter 23

Caleb rose to his feet, Jimmy's head cradled on his shoulder, as though his embrace would protect the little boy from more devastating news.

"No. Oh, no," Kymbria hastened to say. "Tom's out of surgery, but still critical. I was just checking on how things were going."

Caleb shrugged his shoulders as Jimmy shifted and asked, "Can I be with Sasha now? Please."

"Sure, son," Caleb answered.

Kymbria followed as Caleb carried Jimmy down the hallway. When he glanced at her, his eyes and tense shoulders echoed the pain she sensed lay behind his carefully placid face. It had to be torturing him to hold this tiny child - so close to his own dead son's age - in his arms. A child traumatized by the same type of monster that destroyed his family.

After a few steps, she gave up the fight to restrain herself and moved close to slip a hand up his back, stroke his shoulders. He breathed out a sigh of thanks under his breath as they walked into the kitchen, where Amber sat at the table, Sasha cradled in her arms. The little girl's head was tucked beneath Amber's chin, a thumb in her mouth, her eyes so puffy from crying that she only opened them a slit when the others entered. A plate of cookies and two untouched glasses of milk were on the table.

Caleb set Jimmy in the chair beside his baby sister and smoothed a thumb over the birthmark under Jimmy's right eye. Amber had a similar mark on her face, one Kymbria barely noticed after so many years. She had been born with it, and various others in the Marten Clan had inherited the same identically-shaped mark. She and Amber had spent hours as teens blending different shades of makeup to conceal the spot, as well as experimenting with various potions hyped as being able lighten it. Her friend eventually decided to treat it as a sign of her clan and quit worrying. Amber's daughter, Angie, had the same birthmark.

As Amber urged a cookie on Jimmy, Nodinens cleared her throat in the living room. When Kymbria and Caleb glanced over at her, she motioned for them to join her.

"What is it, Grandmother?" Kymbria asked as they approached.

"We need to go to the home where this happened."

Kymbria gasped and backed away. "No, Grandmother! I...I can't. Besides, someone needs to be with Amber."

Outside, another vehicle arrived, and Nodinens turned her head toward the window. The three of them waited silently as car doors slammed and footsteps approached the house. The young couple came in without knocking, halted when they caught sight of the others in the room, then greeted Nodinens with ingrained respect.

Nodinens made the introductions. "This is George and Anna," and followed it with Kymbria and Caleb's names.

"We're here to be with Amber and help her with the children," Anna said.

"Go." Nodinens indicated the door to the kitchen with a tilt of her head.

Nodinens crossed to the front entranceway, where several snowsuits hung on hooks, boots on a thick rug that soaked up melting snow. She donned a bright red snowsuit that fit her small figure snugly, then removed her moccasins and slipped her feet into a pair of black mukluks. Without another word, she went out the door.

"I guess we better obey her," Caleb said.

Kymbria sighed. "I'll tell Amber that we're leaving. She can let Mother know where we are when she and Scarlet get here."

By the time Kymbria walked out to the truck, Nidonens sat on a snowmobile beside it, the machine's engine rumbling at an idle. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a pack of cigarettes, stuck one in her mouth and lit it.