Through Glass (16 page)

I turned around, grabbing the first thing I could find, and lifted it to block the talons that were descending on top of me. The sound of metal against metal filled the room as the creature’s talons hit against the broken piece of bed rail I now held in my hand. The monster pushed against it, lowering it closer and closer to me.

My weak arms strained against the pressure of his talons against the rail. Pain and exhaustion rippled through my arms as I groaned in fear and discomfort. I screamed in exertion as I pushed against the monster, the pain of my body shifting into my voice in an agonized yell. I couldn’t hold him off much longer. With one wide swing I brought my legs forward, my bare feet hitting against the blades on its chest as I pushed the creature off me.

The monsters arms dropped as he stepped away, its yell increasing as it came back, intent to finish the job. I uncurled myself like a cat in preparation for its attack and sprang from my desk only to land on the chest of the black monster that would kill me. The scales cut through the skin of my legs like knives and I screamed as the pain shot through my legs. I ignored the pain as I hit the head of the thing over and over with the bed rail.

The black blood of the monster covered me with each hit, spraying over my skin in droplets of foul smelling oil. I could hear Cohen’s screams of exertion as he fought, my own yells mixed in with the screams of the Ulama in a cacophony of sound that vibrated through me.

We couldn’t do this much longer. We would be heard and they would send more. We needed to end this and get out of here.

I hit it again and again in my desperation, each hit growing in strength until it fell. The collapse of its body taking me down to the floor with it.

Cohen now stood before me in my room, his face white as he continually struck the Ulama over the head with one of the broken banisters from my staircase.

Cohen screamed like an animal as he struck the thing again and again; his desperation quicker than the golden talons that continually tried to strike him. The monster’s black blood sprayed over his arms and face with each hit, the blunt, wooden banister ripping the creature apart.

I heaved myself up as I turned toward the monster, my hands raising above my head in preparation. The long bed rail hovered dangerously before I swung the shaft wide. I soared toward the monster where it collided with a dull thunk and a spray of black. The dark wetness covered my arms and face in a shower of putrid smelling drops. The drops joined the others as they ran across my skin like spots of ink. The vibration of the impact surged through me and I dropped the bed rail, the clang of it against the floor was loud through the silence.

Silence.

I looked up as the screech of the Ulama ended, as the monster fell to the ground of my room, the dark blood of the two dead creatures spilling over my once white carpet.

I stared at the monsters as I panted and my heart beat a frantic pulse against my skin. I stared as my pulse slowed until I could pull my eyes away from the thing that tainted my room to look into the eyes I had dreamed about every night for as long as I could remember.

I couldn’t move, I couldn’t make my tongue work. I just looked at him, knowing that tears were sliding down my cheeks; knowing and not caring.

I wasn’t sure why I was crying, I wasn’t sure if it was because of the panic that still surged through my body or the joy that I felt at seeing him there.

“Alexis,” he said, his voice as deep and rumbling as I remembered it. It shot through me and for the first time in years I felt alive.

It was him.

I didn’t say anything. I didn’t trust my mouth enough to form coherent words. I just moved. I moved as he moved, our hands meeting for the first time in two years as we hovered over the bodies of the monsters that had attempted to kill me.

I grasped his skin, my heart beating so fast I was sure I couldn’t take it. A shaking breath moved out of me, his own breath moving across my skin. He moved closer as his frantic breaths rolled over me—the heat of his breath, of his touch—igniting a fire across the surface of my skin. His fingers trailed their way up my arms, over my face, across my neck…

I had forgotten how good this felt. I had forgotten what touch was like; what it did to my body.

Everything felt like it was on fire. I smiled through the tears as he wrapped his arm around me and pulled me toward him. I let him, letting my own arms wrap around him in my desperate attempt to get closer to him, to feel more of him.

I felt his lips graze against my skin, the touch dry and foreign, but incredibly welcomed. I turned into it, my fingers digging into his tattered shirt and into his shaggy unkempt hair as the scruff on his chin moved against my face.

I gasped at the prickly sensation that cut into me, the gasp deepening into a groan as his lips made contact with mine. The feeling of ecstasy I was now feeling grew into something I couldn’t ignore.

I clung to him, I pressed into him. I felt every part of him as he did the same to me. No words had passed between us since he had said my name, but we didn’t need them. I could feel his happiness in the way he clung to me, sensed his relief in the way he breathed and his joy in the taste of his lips.

I felt it all and I knew he felt it all from me. He pulled away from me slowly; his hands unwilling to leave my body as he moved back to look at me. His cheeks were stained with tears as he moved my hair out of my face and stared into my eyes.

“You have no idea how long I’ve wanted to do that,” he said again, the same words from all those years ago sounding even more beautiful.

“Two years, one month, thirteen days and a few hours?” He smiled as I spoke, his fingers running over the skin of my face like he would never let me go.

“And a few minutes,” he gasped, the sounds of ecstasy heavy in his deep voice. He smiled and I couldn’t help it, I laughed. I laughed loud and deep and let the sound carry around us.

Cohen smiled as his laugh filtered through mine like a silver ribbon. The happy sounds surrounded us and, for that moment, I was happy. I was free.

I couldn’t feel the pulse of fear that still beat through me. I didn’t see the monsters that lay lifeless in my room. It was Cohen and me, and everything was perfect.

Until the sound that would ring in our death rent through the air.

The screech of the Ulama broke through the sound of our laughter and destroyed the perfect peace we had created. The sound left as quickly as it had come, the warning received. We didn’t have much time.

“We have to go,” Cohen said, his fingers clutching to my elbow protectively.

I didn’t say anything; I simply turned and picked up the rail I had just discarded. My fingers wound around the awkward piece of metal.

“Let’s go,” I said, my voice harder than I remember it ever being.

Cohen smiled at me, his lips pressing to mine in a hard, desperate way that made my toes curl before he released me, rushing to my desk to grab the empty, dusty backpack that I hadn’t touched in two years.

The contents fell over the floor as he dumped everything out; text books and papers that were no longer needed fell into a heap.

“Where’s the water?” he asked, his quick change surprising.

“In the bathroom.” I pointed toward it, like he needed help finding it.

“Pack one change of clothes, Lex,” he said and pushed the backpack into my arms before he took off toward the bathroom. I quickly opened the mostly empty drawers of my dresser, wishing I hadn’t washed all of my clothes yesterday. I wasn’t even wearing pants right now.

Cohen returned just as I pulled on a pair of shorts. The backpack was already full of the few dry things I had.

“We’ll go to my house, get food and the batteries, get the light working and then we need to run before they find us,” he said as he threw the water bottles into the bag, placing the now cracked emergency light on top of it before zipping it up and throwing it over his shoulder.

I held my bed rail tightly in my hand as I looked at him, his face still speckled with the black blood of the Ulama while his hand clutched the wooden banister between his charcoal stained fingers.

“You ready?” he asked. My head nodded once in agreement before he grabbed my hand and pulled me from the room.

I followed him quickly, not caring where we ended up; not thinking about food or water as any logical person would. I merely relished the feel of his skin against mine, the subtle scent of air that flowed through the house from the front door that stood open before us.

I ran after him as best I could, my bare feet slipping a bit on the dust as we walked hand and hand into the darkness outside.

I stepped out for the first time in two years, but I didn’t take the time to savor it. I couldn’t, for the warning call of the Ulama had become a battle cry.

The sound of the screech filled the air around us as every hair on my body stood on end, my heart thudding heavily in my chest. I clung to Cohen’s hand as the sound moved through me, as my fear and anger became a wild animal in my chest that couldn’t be ignored. I clenched the rail, ready to fight our way to freedom if that’s what it took.

I looked at Cohen’s dark hair in front of me as I followed him. Then he stopped, his arm wrapping around me as he threw me away from him. I stumbled across his grandparents’ once pristine lawn. My body tripped on the dirt only to land in a patch of dead grass.

I looked up at Cohen, confused, only to see him standing before me protectively as he faced the black feathers of the Ulama. He held the banister in front of him as he prepared to attack the largest Ulama I had ever seen.

Dread filled me at seeing the towering monster standing over us. The creature stood more than a foot over Cohen’s head with its massive arms held in front of him as its two foot long talons dangled through the air, warning Cohen of what was to come. I froze as I saw him, the long weapon in my hand feeling like a dead weight. I couldn’t move. The creature spread his wings behind him as his screech increased; they fanned out before us, blocking any chance we had of escape.

We had been foolish to think that we would make it out unscathed. They had sent two of the monsters into my house while leaving one out to ensure our death.

“Stay there, Lex,” Cohen said, his voice shaking as he squared his shoulders before the thing and lifted his bannister, ready to attack, to protect me.

I clenched my hand around my bed rail. If he thought I was merely going to let him run at a giant monster on his own, he obviously didn’t know me very well. I followed his lead and ran after him, the rail held high as my mouth opened in a desperate call of war. Cohen met him first. He swung wide, aiming for the creature’s side, but the rail never made contact. The monsters hand stretched forward, pushing Cohen to the ground in a plume of dirt. I screamed as I ran at the Ulama, the bed rail held high as I slashed through the air. It made contact with the wing of the monster that towered above me.

The sound of grinding metal sounded through the empty street, the bed rail rubbing against the large, feathery scales of the monsters wing, stopping any progress I could have made. I didn’t care. I hacked at the thing over and over, screaming as the loud clang of metal echoed in my ears.

My attack did not go unnoticed, the monster turned toward me as he threw Cohen to the side, his body flying through the air like a rag doll. The backpack ripped apart as it soared through the air right behind him, the contents scattering over the patches of dead grass.

I looked up toward the monster, to his lifeless ebony eyes that looked into me. I was looking into death. I felt everything go cold and, for one minute, I forgot what I was doing, why I was fighting.

I wanted to die and I wanted the beautiful thing in front of me to do it.

I stepped forward, ready to accept my fate when strong arms pushed into me, pushing me out of the way. I screamed as I fell and Cohen moved back to attack the thing that I had been so willing to let end me a moment before. Everything inside of me froze at the thought, over the control that the Ulama had over us. I needed to get us out of here.