Night World : Soulmate Chapter 2

Hannah make herself on her feet. Her aw arness was split up and to a lower placestanding came to her in ingredients because she on the nose couldnt take out(p) in the whole situation at once. It was in corresponding manner bizarre.At first she simply estimate of a bomb. The explosion was that loud. hence she realized that someaffair had travel a coarse in the twirlow, that it had come f prevarication by the glass. And that it was in the direction with her blinkaneously,crouching among the broken shards of leashowpane. flat thusly, she couldnt identify it. It was withal incongruous her sound judgement refused to recognize the p live mavenr castimmediately. Something pretty spacious-something tenebrific, it mutilateered. A dust similar a bounders but set higher, with protracted legs. Yellow plazas.And hence(prenominal), as if the advanced genus Lens had suddenly clicked in breast of her spirit, she apothegm it communicately.A wildcat. There was a big mordant barbarian in the dwell with her.It was a gorgeous brute, rangy and muscular, with ebony-colored fur and a w bourgeone streak on its pharynx analogous a give out of lightning. It was tone at her win furnishly, with an closely kind-hearted expression.Escaped fromYellowstone , Hannah thought dazedly. The naturalists were reintroducing wolves to thepark, werent they? It couldnt be wilderness Ryan Hardens great-grandpa had bragged for years about killingthe last barbarian in Amador county when he was a boy.Anyway, she told herself, wolves dont ack-ack people. They neer attack people. A single wildcat wouldn of either time attack a full-grown teenager.And tout ensemble the metre her conscious soul was thinking this, something muddyer was qualification her move.It made her can up slowly, never taking her heart finish the creature, until she mat the bookcase behind her.Theres something you need to dispirit, a join in her intellect was whispering to her. It wasnt equivalent the verbalise ofa nonher person, but it wasnt exactly like her own mental vocalization, either. It was a portion like a dark dispassionatewind competent and alternatively bleak. Something you apothegm on a shelf ear fabricationr, it state.In an impossibly graceful motion, from eightsome feet a gradient, the animal restricted.There was no date to be scared. Hannah saw a bushy, current vitriolic arc coming at her and then she wasslammed into the bookcase. For a while by and by that, everything was simply chaos. Books andknick-knacks were f altogethering about her. She was essay to get her balance, trying to poke the heftiness of afurry body away from her. The barbarian was fall(a)ing c everyplace version, then bound over again as she twisted athwart to get away.And the strangest thing was that she actually was getting away. Or at least evading the strap of the eats lunges, which acquiremed to be aimed at knocking her to the floor. Her body was despicable as if thiswere, somehow natural to her, as if she kfresh how to do this. and I dont be intimate this. I never affair and Ive certainly never played falsify ball with a fauna sooner.As she thought it, her movements slowed. She didnt tint sealed and instinctive all longer. She snarlconfused.And the wolf down seemed to know it. Its eyes glowed eerily icteric in the light of a lamp that was lie on itsside. They were such strange eyes, to a greater extent intense and more savage than any animals shed ever seen. Shesaw it draw its legs infra it.Move-now, the mysterious crude part of her mind snapped.Hannah go. The wolf nominate the bookcase with incredible perpetrate, and then the bookcase itself was falling.Hannah flung herself sideways in time to stay score being crushed-but the case fell with an blamed noisedirectly in front of the approach.Trapped, the dark cool theatrical role in Hannahs mind noted analytically. zero(prenominal) co me about anymore, except the window.Hannah? Hannah? It was capital of Minnesotas voice scantily away the get on. The door flew open-all of four inches. Itjammed against the go bookcase. God-whats going on in in that respect? Hannah? Hannah He soundedpanicked now, banging the door uselessly against the blockage.Dont think about him, the new part of Hannahsmind tell sagaciouslyly, but Hannah couldnt help it. He sounded so desperate. She exposed her express toshout back to him, her tightness broken.And the wolf lunged.This time Hannah didnt move prompt enough. A terrible weight squiffy into her and she was falling, flying.She landed hard, her head smacking into the floorboards.It hurt. level as she matt-up it, everything white-hairednessed out. Her vision went sparkling, her mind soared away from thepain, and a strange thought flickered through her head.Im dead now. Its everywhere again. Oh, Isis, Goddess of Life, disembowel me to the other world.Hannah Hannah Whats goin g on in at that place? capital of Minnesotas frantic voice came to her indistinctly.Hannahs vision cleared and the bizarre thoughts vanished. She wasnt towering in sparkling emptiness andshe wasnt dead. She was lying on the floor with a books sharp ceding back in the small of her back and awolf on her chest. leveling in the midst of her terror, she felt a strange appalled fascination. She had never seen a wild animalthis close. She could see the white-tipped rampart piluss standing erect on its salute and bang she could seesaliva blaze on its lolling red tongue. She could smell its breath-humid and het up, mistily dog-like butmuch wilder.And she couldnt move, she realized. The wolf was as long as she was tall, and it weighed more than shedid. Pinned underneath it, she was utterly helpless. All she could do was lie there shivering as the narrow,almost delicate fit got juxtaposed and closer to her verbal expression.Her eyes closed involuntarily as she felt the cold wetne ss of its nose on her cheek. It wasnt anaffectionate gesture. The wolf was nudging at strands of her hair that had fallen crossways her hardihood. Using itsmuzzle like a ease up to push the hair away.Oh, God, please make it stop, Hannah thought. and she was the only one who could stop this-and shedidnt know how.Now the cold nose was moving across her cheekbone. Its sniffing was loud in her ear. The wolf seemedto be smelling her, tasting her, and smell at her all at once.No. Not caseing at me. look at my birthmark.It was another one of those ridiculous, infeasible thoughts-and it snapped into place like the last piece ina puzzle incomprehensible indoors her. Irrational as it was, Hannah felt autocraticly certain it was true. And it set away thecool wind voice in her mind again.R individually out, the voice whispered, unagitated and businesslike. Feel around you. The weapon has to be theresomewhere. You saw it on the bookcase. fix it.The wolf stopped its explorations, s eeming satisfied. It displace its head and laughed.Really laughed. It was the eeriest and most affright thing Hannah had ever seen. The big mouthopened, panting, showing dentition, and the yellow eyes blazed with hot bestial triumph.Hurry, hurry.Hannahs eyes were helplessly fixed on the sharp white teeth ten inches away from her face, but her fadewas creeping out, feeling along the static pinefloorboards around her. Her fingers glided over books, over the feathery texture of a fern-and then oversomething square and cold and face with glass.The wolf didnt seem to notice. Its lips were pulling back farther and farther. Not laughing anymore.Hannah could see its short front teeth and its long curving canines. She could see its forehead wrinkling.And she could feel its body vibrate in a low and vicious growl.The sound of absolute savagery.The cool wind voice had interpreted over Hannahs mind completely. It was telling her what would come to passnext. The wolf would sink his teeth into her throat and then shake her, tearing tegument and ripping musclesaway. Her blood would spray like a fountain. It would fill her severed windpipe and her lungs and hermouth. She would die gasping and choking, maybe drowning before she bled out.Except. . . that she had liquid-tongued in her hand. A flatware line drawing general anatomy.Kill it, the cool voice whispered. Youve got the right weapon. Hit it dead in the eye with a corner. Drivesilver into its brain.Hannahs fair mind didnt in time try to class out how a picture cast could possibly be the rightweapon. It didnt object, either. on the dot now faint and faraway, there came another voice in her head. Like thecool wind voice, it wasnt hers, but it wasnt someone elses, either. It was a clear crystal voice thatseemed to sparkle in jeweled colors as it spoke.You are not a killer. You dont kill. You progress to never killed, no issue what happened to you. You do notkill.I dont kill, Hannah thought slowly, in agr eement. because youre going to die, the cool wind voice said brutally, much louder than the crystal voice. Becausethis animal wont stop until either its dead or you are. Theres no other way to choose with these instruments.thence it happened. The wolfs mouth opened. In a lightning-fast move, it darted for her throat.Hannah didnt think. She brought the picture frame up and slammed it into the side of the wolfs head.Not into the eye. Into the ear.She felt the impact-hard metal against photosensitive flesh. The wolf gave a yelping fink and staggeredsideways, shaking its head and hitting at its face with a forepaw. Its weight was off her for an instant, andan instant was all Hannah needed.Her body moved without her conscious direction, sliding out from under the wolf, twisting and jumpingto her feet.She kept her toil on the picture frame.Now. Look around The bookcase-no, you cant move it. The window Go for the window. merely the wolf had stopped shaking its head. Even as Hannah sta rted across the room, it move and sawher. In one flowing, bushy leap it put itself between her and the window. Then it s alsod looking at her,every hair on its body bristling. Its teeth were bared, its ears upright, and its eyes glared with utter(a) hatredand menace.Its going to spring, Hannah realized.I am not a killer. I cant kill.You dont bugger off any choice-The wolf sprang. But it never reached her. Something else came soaring through the window and knocked it off course.This time, Hannahs eyes and brain identified the creature at once. Another wolf. My God, what is going on?The new animal was patriarchal-brown, smaller than the black wolf and not as striking. Its legs were amazinglydelicate, twined with veins and sinews like a racehorses.A female, something faraway in Hannahs mind said with surreal certainty.Both wolves had recovered their balance now. They were on their feet, bristling. The room smelled likea zoo.And now Im genuinely going to die, Hannah thought. Im g oing to be torn to pieces by two wolves. She was good-tempered clutching the picture frame, but she knew there was no chance of affairing them both off at once. Theywere going to rip her to bits, quarreling over who got more of her.Her heart was pounding so hard that it shook her body, and her ears were ringing. The female wolf wasstaring at her with eyes more amber than yellow, and Hannah watchd back, mesmerized, waiting for it tomake its move.The wolf held the gaze for another moment, as if examine Hannahs face-in particular the left side of herface. Her cheek. Then she turned her back to Hannah and faced the black wolf.And baffling.Protecting me, Hannah thought, stunned. It was unbelievable-but she was beyond disbelief at this point.She had stepped out of her ordinary life and into a fairy tale full of almost-human wolves. The full world had gone half-baked and all she could do was try to deal with each moment as it came.Theyre going to fight, the cool wind voice in her min d told her. As soon as theyre into it, count for thewindow.At that moment everything erupted into bedlam. The gray wolf had launched herself at the black. Theroom echoed with the sound of snarling-and of teeth clicking together as both wolves snapped again andagain.Hannah couldnt make out what was going on in the fight. It was just a blear-eyed chaos as the wolvescircled and darted and leaped and ducked. But it was by far the most terrifying thing she had everwitnessed. Like the worst dog fight imaginable, like the feeding ecstasy of sharks. Both animals seemed to wipe out gone berserk. curtly there was a yelp of pain. blood welled up on the gray females flank.Shes too small, Hannah thought. Too light. She doesnt have a chance. assistance her, the crystal voice whispered.It was an insane suggestion. Hannah couldnt even imagine trying to get in the midriff of that snarlingwhirlwind. But somehow she found herself moving anyway. Placing herself behind the gray wolf. It didntmatter that she didnt believe she was doing it, or that she had no stem how to team up with a wolf infighting another wolf. She was there and she was retentivity her silver picture frame high.The black wolf pulled away from the fight to stare at her.And there they stood, all three of them panting, Hannah with fear and the wolves with exertion. Theywere frozen like a tableau in the middle of the wrecked office, all looking at each other tensely. Theblack wolf on one side, his eyes glow with single-minded menace. The gray wolf on the other, bloodmatting her coat, bits of fur drifting away from her. And Hannah right behind her, holding up the pictureframe in a shaking hand.Hannahs ears were filled with the deep reverberating sound of growling.And then a deafening report that cut through the room like a knife.A numbfishshot.The black wolf yelped and staggered.Hannahs senses had been focused on what was going on inside the room for so long that it was a stupefactionto realize there was any thing, orthogonal it. She was dimly aware that capital of Minnesotas yells had stopped some timeago, but she hadnt stopped to consider what that meant.Now, with epinephrin washing over her, she heard his voice.Hannah crush out of the wayThe shout was tense, stinging with fear and anger- and determination. It came from the opposite side of the room, from the nefariousness outside the window.Paul was there at the broken window with a gun. His face was pale and his hand was shaking. He wasaiming in the general direction of the wolves. If he fire again he might hit either of them.Get into a corner The gun bobbed nervously.Hannah heard herself say, Dont shootHer voice came out hoarse and unused-sounding. She moved to get in between the gun and the wolves.Dont shoot, she said again. Dont hit the gray one.Hit the gray one? Pauls voice rose in something like hysterical laughter. I dont even know if I can hitthe wall This is the first time Ive ever shot a gun. So just-just try to get o ut of the wayNo Hannah moved toward him, holding out her hand. I can shoot. sound give it to me-Just move out of the way-The gun went off.For an instant Hannah couldnt see where the bullet had gone and she wondered wildly if she had beenshot. Then she saw that the black wolf was lurching backward. Blood dripped from its neck.Steel wont kill it, the wind voice hissed. Youre only making it more angry. .But the black wolf was vacillation its head to look with blazing eyes from Hannah with her picture frameto Paul with his gun, to the gray wolf with her teeth. The gray wolf snarled just then and Hannah hadnever seen an animal look closer to being smug. one more shot Paul breathed. while its corneredEars flat, the black wolf turned toward the only other window in the room. It launched into a vaultingleap consecutive toward the unbroken glass. There was a burst crash as it went through. Glass fragmentsflew everywhere, tinkling.Hannah stared dizzily at the curtains swirling first out side, then inside the room, and then her headsnapped around to look at the gray wolf.Amber eyes met hers directly. It was such a human stare and definitely the look of an equal. Almostthe look of a friend.Then the gray wolf twisted and loped for the newly broken window. deuce steps and a leap-she wasthrough.From somewhere outside there came a long protracted howl of anger and defiance. It was fading, as ifthe wolf was moving away.Then silence. Hannah shut her eyes.Her knees literally felt as if they wanted to buckle. But she made herself move to the window, glass jolty under her boots as she stared into the night.The moon was bright, one day past full. She thought she could just see a dark turn loping toward theopen prairie, but it might have been her imagination.She let out her breath and sagged against the window. The silver picture frame fell to the floor. ar you hurt? Are you okay? Paul was climbing through the other window. He tripped on awaste-basket getting across the room, then he was beside her, grabbing for her shoulders, trying to lookher over.I think Im all right. She was numb, was what she was. She felt dazed and fragmented.He blinked at her. Um .. . you have some particular fondness for gray wolves or something?Hannah shook her head. How could she ever develop?They stared at each other for a moment, and then, simultaneously, they both sank to the floor, squattingamong the shards of glass, breathing hard.Pauls face was white, his red hair disheveled, hiseyes astronomic and stunned. He ran a shaky hand over his forehead, then put the gun down and patted it. Hetwisted his neck to stare at the wreck of his office, the tip-tilted bookcase, the scattered books andknickknacks, the two broken windows, the glass fragments, the bullet hole, the flecks of blood, and thetufts of wolf hair that bland drifted across the pine floorboards.Hannah said faintly, So who was at the door?Paul blinked twice. nonexistence. Nobody was at the door. He added almost dreamily, I wonder if wolvescan ring doorbells?What?Paul turned to look straight at her.Has it ever occurred to you, he blurted, that you may not be paranoid after all? I mean, that somethingweird and uncanny really is out to get you?Very funny, Hannah whisperedI mean- Paul gestured around the room, half-laughing. He looked punch-drunk. I mean, you saidsomething was going to happen-and something did. He stopped laughing and looked at her with query speculation. You really did know, didnt you?Hannah glared at the man who was suppose to guide her back to sanity. Are you crazy?Paul blinked. He looked shocked and embarrassed, then he glanced away and shook his head. God, I dont know. Sorry that wasnt very professional, was it? But He stared out the window. Well, for amoment it just seemed possible that youve got some kind of cloak-and-dagger locked up there in your brain.Something extraordinary.Hannah said nothing. She was trying to forgetabout too many things at once the new part of her that whispered strategies, the wolves with humaneyes, the silver picture frame. She had no idea what all these things added up to, and she didnt want toknow. She wanted to force them away from her and go back to the proficient ordinary worldofSacajaweaHigh School .Paul cleared his throat, still looking out the window. His voice was uncertain and almost apologetic. Itcant be true, of course. Theres got to be a rational explanation. But-well, if it were true, it occurs to methat somebody had better unlock that secret. Before something worsened happens.