Queen of the Living

Chapter 5

    The flock of sparrows, which was Nawal, landed in Baltimore just past tthree a.m.  The streets of the Carrollton Ridge were mostly empty when Nawal formed from the birds next to Carroll Park.  Nawal took a moment to glance around at her surroundings to try and connect what she was seeing to the vision she had seen.  The park was empty, save the trash on the ground and a single dog smelling a spot in the ground.

    She felt her contracts approaching and looked up to see the bats which had followed her.  As they formed into their human counterparts, she summoned her pig to join her as well.  Find him, make him talk, and if you can, kill him, Nawal thought.  No need for more blood to summon Vermilion into actual existence.

    “Well, I'm here anyway,” Vermilion said as he popped into the air beside her.  “Not exactly here, but you get my meaning.”

    “Read my thoughts too?”

    “I am your familiar.  Wouldn't be good at my job if I couldn't read what you were thinking, now would I?”

    “I guess not.”

    “You summon the pig and then let your dog and cat walk around dressed like that?  Who are you trying to attract?”

    Nawal looked at Carmela and the man with the black hair.  Both were dressed like they had just stepped out of the 1500's.  The pig was even better dressed wearing a simple black turtle-neck.  “What's your name,” she asked the man.

    His voice, again, came seconds later than when he mouthed the words.  They were whispers that took time for the wind to send to her ears.  “Call me Drago,” he said.  Nawal thought she heard an Eastern European accent on his words, but it was hard to tell with the way he talked.

    “Drago, Carmela, Ramses, and Vermilion.  My name is Nawal, and I'm a bleeding alcoholic.  Nice to meet you,” Nawal said with a smile.  Only Carmela found it funny.  While Vermilion found everything annoying, Drago's face was like stone.  “Right.  So he was coming here to meet someone, to exchange something.  I'm not sure what exactly, but I got the sense that he was leaving after it was over.  Maybe going back home.”

    “Use the eye one last time and dispel it,” Vermilion said.  “We find and kill him.  And ask him questions too.  Questions first, of course.”

    Nawal held her hand up to look at the eye in her palm.  As usual, it was staring right at her.  That is, until it began to jitter and look behind her.

    Nawal could feel his presence before she saw him.  It was like a large weight in her chest and on her back.  He came with superhuman speed, leaping through the air directly at her.  Before she could react to get out of the way, Carmela was between them holding the side of her dress across her body where it was holding off the attacker.  Where her dress met the knife, it had become solid.  Even the sharp knife couldn't penetrate it.  Carmela grabbed the knife and threw it aside as the man leapt back, regaining his footing.

    “I thought you were dead,” the man said.  “Brought friends for me to play with, this time.  You make trouble for me?”  His accent was clearly French.  He was dressed nicer this time, wearing dark slacks, a black shirt and brown leather shoes with a matching leather jacket.  “My name is Didier, it is a pleasure to meet you all tonight.”  He combed his blonde hair out of his face and held his hand in the air as to make a display of showing his nails growing long and sharp.  “One at a time, or all together?”  He looked around for a moment and smiled.  “Either way is fine.”

    Before he had finished talking he was right in front of Nawal, one hand palming the top of her head.  Nawal looked around for help, but only saw Drago holding Carmela back, whispering something in her ear.  Didier struck Nawal in the chest, his nails digging deep into her flesh.  She screamed, but was helpless against him.  He twisted his hand, cutting into her when the pig lunged and tackled him, leaving Nawal laying in a pool of her own blood.

    “Help me,” she whispered, looking to Carmela, but she remained sill.  She looked to Drago, but he would not meet her eyes.  She didn't understand.  They were hers, their only job was to do what she asked, and yet, they didn't move.  “Help.”

    “You need to fight, Nawal.”  It was Vermilion, speaking in her head.

    Nawal tried to get up, but her arms were too weak.  She tried to speak, but only coughed up blood.  I can't.  I can't.

    “You're bleeding.  Use it.  Get up.”

    The pig was quick enough to avoid most of Didier's attacks, but being a pig, couldn't hold him down, or away from Nawal.  Seeing him approach, Nawal searched feverishly for the knife Carmela had tossed aside.  Her sight was beginning to fade with the loss of blood.

    “You won't get to it in time on your own,” Vermilion said.

    I'm dying, Nawal thought, hoping Vermilion could hear her.  He's going to kill me.  Why?  Why was she here?  Why did this man hate her?  Why didn't anyone help?  She was in pain.  She had been stabbed, betrayed, and soon she would be dead.

    “You're already dead, love.  The more you bleed, the closer you return, but the stronger you can be.”

    Didier was almost on top of her again.  Nawal placed her palm in the puddle of blood.  She closed her eyes and wished for the knife.  Why?  Drops of blood began rising from the puddle and floating in the air.  She could see it in her mind.  It was there, twenty yards away.  She looked, saw it with her own eyes, and moved.  She was there in an instant.

    Didier looked around to find Nawal and saw her just as she was picking the knife up off the ground.  She had no idea what to do with it, she could barely see, much less stand.  She held the knife in front of her with one hand, placing the other over her wound.  He's going to kill me if I don't do anything, she thought.  The blood, the pain, own it.

    Didier leapt again and Nawal moved.  When he landed, she appeared behind him, stabbing the knife into his side.  Didier let out a cry.  He turned and grabbed Nawal by the shoulders, throwing her to the ground.  She tried to defend herself, but he was too fast.  With one swipe, her stomach was torn.  She cried out in pain and desperation.  He reached back to attack again.  Ramses appeared behind him placing a cloven hoof on Didier's back.  The pigs appearance surprised him, giving him no time to retaliate as Ramses bit the back of Didier's neck, crushing his spine.  Didier's head dropped to the side and the weight of his presence lifted from her as his body fell.

    Nawal was laying still on the ground save for the rapid breaths she took to stay alive.  Her body was broken and covered in blood.  The pain was unbearable.

    The pig sat beside her as Carmela approached.  Smiling, she said, “you did it, Nou-nou.  He's dead.”

    “Fuck you,” Nawal tried to say, though she only managed a whisper.  She turned her head to see Drago standing alone, his arms crossed, but finally looking at her.  “Fuck you,” she whispered again and again, louder and louder, until she gave a final shout.  “FUCK YOU!”  She closed her eyes and was finally welcomed by the serenity of sleep.