Infected

 Dakota woke the next morning to the sound of her alarm ringing in her ears and a pain throbbing down her arm. She peeked under her green comforter and looked at her bandaged arm. There was a dark spot soaked into the fabric of the bandage and when Dakota tried to move her arm to take a closer look it would not obey her brain. In a panic Dakota fumbled out of her bed and ran down to the kitchen to find Claude. He was right where she thought he would be, hunched over a frying pan making breakfast. 

"I can't move my arm." Dakota choked out as tears started streaming down her face. Claude then tuned the stove off and turned to look at his niece.

Dakota's arm was just hanging lifelessly at her side. The dark blotches very apparent on the bandaged arm. In two great strides Claude crossed the kitchen and started to examine her. 

"It looks like not all of the darkling poison was cleaned out of the wound last night." Claude furrowed his brow in concern. He then grabbed his keys from the hook by the front door and ushered Dakota out the door to the car.

"But I'm still in my pyjamas." Dakota pointed out. The most Claude let her do was run quickly to her room to grab a pair of sweat pants and a tee shirt before they were in the car and off to get help.

They drove to the centre of downtown where there were quite a few shops and cafes attached to each other in large stone buildings that had apartments above them.

Claude parked in front of a Chinese takeout restaurant and walked down a few shops to a building that had a heavy wooden door with herbs hung to dry in the window. There were strange symbols carved into the door and when Claude opened it the smell of incense wafted out.

Dakota followed her guardian through the door and looked around the shop. There were more bundles of herbs hanging from the ceiling. Rows of bookshelves lining the walls. And behind a wooden desk there was a shelf full of all kinds of bottles.

The shop smelled bitter, like burning herbs, and the smoke from the incense burned Dakota's eyes and made them water.

"Claude where are we?" Dakota asked as she wiped at her watering eyes.

"This is a friend. They will help heal your arm." Claude explained as he lead her through the cramped shop and stopped in front of a tattered red curtain.

Claude called out in that strange language and shortly after heard a reply. Once he did Claude pulled the curtain back and lead Dakota to a small room with shelves full of books, and bottles. In the middle of the room there was a round table with three chairs around it. Sitting in one of the chairs was a slender form with long black hair and slightly pointed ears.

When the figure looked up at Dakota she gasped in awe. They had an ageless face with a kind, and welcoming smile. Dakota had never seen anyone so beautiful in her life. She then glanced the delicately pointed ears as the person reached up and tucked a stray stand of hair behind them.

"Hello Dakota. I am Rin. Do not be afraid. I am a friend." Rin introduced themselves to the girl and motioned for her to sit in the empty chair closest to them.

Dakota complied and climbed into the chair as her guardian Claude sat next to her. With a worried look on his face.

"Do not fret so my friend. I am sure I will be able to save the child's arm." Rin had a melodic lilt to their voice as they spoke. Rin then gently unwrapped Dakota's injured arm to reveal the black oozing wound underneath.

"You should have brought the girl to me sooner." Rin looked concerned as they inspected the bite. Rin then got up and walked around the room picking up different bottles, vials, and powders before they returned to the table. Rin then got to work making a green paste that smelled of the forest.

"Will it hurt?" Dakota stammered as she watched the odd concoction being made.

"I will not lie to you child, a wound such as this is not easily cleansed. It will be painful but I will be here with you." Rin replied as they gently wiped the black ooze from the wound and started to place the medicine on her arm.

The moment the green paste touched Dakota's arm she screamed in pain. It felt like acid was burning her right down to her bones.

"Is it supposed to hurt this much?" Claude asked panicked, though Dakota barely heard him over her screams. Rin looked down at the girl as she started to sob. "Please make it stop." She begged.

"Whatever happened the other night was not a mere darkling bite. This treatment is painful but it should not be hurting her this much."

"Is there anything else we can do? I swore to keep my niece safe when her parents passed."

"Do not blame yourself Claude. You did everything you could, but I'm afraid her human body cannot withstand the treatment needed. Even amputating her arm would not solve this. The poison has spread too far." Rin replied to him.

Dakota was having a hard time trying to keep up with the conversation. Beads of sweat were trickling down her face as she was trying to hold on to consciousness. 'Though maybe at this point I should give in.' Dakota thought to herself. Sweet darkness would have been better than this pain but she was afraid that if she gave in she would never wake up again and Dakota was not ready to die just yet.

"There is one other thing we can do. The salve will only buy us time but her awakening could yet save her life." Rin stated as she looked over at Claude.

"NO!" Claude boomed. "I swore an oath to raise her as a normal human girl. She is not ready for such things. There has to be another way."

Dakota didn't really understand what they were talking about but figured anything would be better than dying in agony. "Please! I will do anything." She gasped as more pain ran through her trembling body. "I don't want to die!" She sobbed as tears ran down her face and mixed with the sweat.

"Very well." Claude sighed in defeat. "We will do the awakening. I presume you have everything we need?"

Rin nodded. "I have everything ready for you."

Dakota glanced over and watched as Rin took a box off one of the shelves. They brought it over to the table and carefully set it down. When she opened the box Dakota gagged at the smell that emanated from it. It smelled of death and decay.

From the box Claude lifted an old ornate bottle with a strange black liquid in it, and a small vial with red liquid in it.

'Oh I hope I don't have to drink that.' Dakota thought. The black liquid looked gross and had a thick consistency as it sloshed around in the bottle.

Dakota watched with clenched teeth as Claude opened the bottle and the vial. He added the red liquid to the black and swirled it around.

"Once I drink this there is no going back." Claude stated as he looked at Rin. "You will need to take the other bottle, add some of my blood and give it to Dakota. Unfortunately after that you will need to take care of both of us and not let us leave this room until sundown."

"I understand." Rin replied as she looked over at Dakota and dabbed at her face with a clean cloth. "We will get through this. Together."