Night World : Soulmate Chapter 2

Hannah ready herself on her feet. Her awareness was fragmented and understanding came to her inpieces because she simply couldnt take in the whole situation at once. It was too bizarre.At first she simply cerebration of a bomb. The explosion was that loud. Then she realized that something hadcome in the pencil leadow, that it had come flying through the glass. And that it was in the room with her now,crouching among the broken shards of windowpane. even up hence, she couldnt identify it. It was too incongruous her psyche refused to recognize the shapeimmediately. Something pretty big-something loathsomeness, it offered. A personate comparable a dogs unless set higher, with doggeder legs. Yellow eyeball.And then, as if the right lens had suddenly clicked in front of her look, she saw it clearly.A wildcat. There was a big bare wolf down in the room with her.It was a gorgeous animal, rangy and muscular, with ebony-colored fur and a white streak on its throatlike a abscond of lightning. It was looking at her fixedly, with an almost human expression.Escaped fromYellowst unmatchable , Hannah thought dazedly. The naturalists were reintroducing wolves to thepark, werent they? It couldnt be wild Ryan Hardens great-grandpa had bragged for years ab erupt killingthe last wolf in Amador county when he was a boy.Anyway, she told herself, wolves dont attack people. They n incessantly attack people. A single wolf wouldnever attack a full-grown teenager.And all the time her conscious mind was thinking this, something deeper was making her move.It made her back up slowly, never taking her eyes off the wolf, until she felt the bookcase behind her.Theres something you need to get, a voice in her mind was whispering to her. It wasnt like the voice of other person, scarcely it wasnt exactly like her own mental voice, either. It was a voice like a dark modifywind competent and rather bleak. Something you saw on a shelf earlier, it tell.In an impossibly graceful moti on, from eight feet away, the wolf leaped.There was no time to be scared. Hannah saw a bushy, flowing menacing arc coming at her and then she wasslammed into the bookcase. For a while after that, everything was simply chaos. Books andknick-knacks were fall around her. She was trying to get her balance, trying to push the heaviness of afurry corpse away from her. The wolf was falling back, then jumping again as she twisted sideways to get away.And the eeriest thing was that she actually was getting away. Or at least evading the worst of thewolfs lunges, which seemed to be aimed at knocking her to the knock down. Her body was moving as if thiswere, somehow instinctive to her, as if she knew how to do this.But I dont have it away this. I never fight and Ive authoritatively never play dodge ball with a wolf before.As she thought it, her movements slowed. She didnt feel sure and instinctive any longer. She feltconfused.And the wolf seemed to know it. Its eyes glowed eerily yellow in the light of a lamp that was lying on itsside. They were such strange eyes, more intense and more savage than any animals shed ever seen. Shesaw it draw its legs beneath it.Move-now, the mysterious new part of her mind snapped.Hannah moved. The wolf hit the bookcase with incredible force, and then the bookcase itself was falling.Hannah flung herself sideways in time to countermand being crushed-but the case fell with an unholy noisedirectly in front of the door.Trapped, the dark cool voice in Hannahs mind noted analytically. No exit anymore, except the window.Hannah? Hannah? It was Pauls voice sightly outside the room. The door flew open-all of four inches. Itjammed against the fallen bookcase. God-whats pass on in thither? Hannah? Hannah He sounded panic now, banging the door uselessly against the blockage.Dont think about him, the new part of Hannahsmind said sharply, but Hannah couldnt help it. He sounded so desperate. She opened her blab toshout back to him, her concentr ation broken.And the wolf lunged.This time Hannah didnt move fast enough. A terrible weight smashed into her and she was falling, flying.She landed hard, her head smacking into the floorboards.It hurt.Even as she felt it, everything colouriseed out. Her vision went sparkling, her mind soared away from thepain, and a strange thought flickered through her head.Im dead now. Its over again. Oh, Isis, Goddess of Life, guide me to the other world.Hannah Hannah Whats going on in there? Pauls frantic voice came to her dimly.Hannahs vision cleared and the bizarre thoughts vanished. She wasnt soaring in sparkling emptiness andshe wasnt dead. She was lying on the floor with a books sharp corner in the small of her back and awolf on her chest.Even 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 guard hairsbreadths standing erect on its face and neck she could seesaliva twinkling on its lolling red tongue. She could smell its breath-humid and hot, vaguely dog-like but a lot 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 muzzle got closer and closer to her face.Her eyes closed involuntarily as she felt the frosty wetness of its nose on her cheek. It wasnt anaffectionate gesture. The wolf was nudging at strands of her hair that had fallen across her face. Using itsmuzzle like a hand to push the hair away.Oh, God, please make it stop, Hannah thought. But 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 looking at her all at once.No. Not looking at me. Looking at my birthmark.It was another one of those ridiculous, impossible thoughts-and it snapp ed into place like the last piece ina puzzle deep inside her. Irrational as it was, Hannah felt absolutely certain it was true. And it set off thecool wind voice in her mind again.Reach out, the voice whispered, quiet and businesslike. Feel around you. The weapon has to be theresomewhere. You saw it on the bookcase. Find it.The wolf stopped its explorations, seeming satisfied. It lifted its head and laughed.Really laughed. It was the eeriest and most frightening thing Hannah had ever seen. The big emitopened, panting, showing teeth, 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 handwas creeping out, feeling along the smooth pinefloorboards around her. Her fingers glided over books, over the feathery texture of a fern-and then oversomething square and cold and faced with glass.The wolf didnt seem to notice. Its lips were pulling back farther and farther. Not laughin g 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 taken over Hannahs mind completely. It was telling her what would happennext. The wolf would sink his teeth into her throat and then shake her, tearing skin and ripping musclesaway. Her blood would disperse 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 silver in her hand. A silver demonstrate variety.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 everyday mind didnt even try to figure out how a conniption frame could possibly be the rightweapon. It didnt object, either. But faint and faraway, there came another voice in her head. Li ke 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 dupe never killed, no matter what happened to you. You do notkill.I dont kill, Hannah thought slowly, in agreement.Then 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 deal with these creatures.Then 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 sensitive flesh. The wolf gave a yelping squeal 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 m oved without her conscious direction, sliding out from under the wolf, twisting and jumpingto her feet.She unbroken her grasp on the picture frame.Now. Look around The bookcase-no, you cant move it. The window Go for the window.But the wolf had stopped shaking its head. Even as Hannah started across the room, it cancelled and sawher. In one flowing, bushy leap it put itself surrounded by her and the window. Then it stood looking at her,every hair on its body bristling. Its teeth were bared, its ears upright, and its eyes glared with pure hatredand menace.Its going to spring, Hannah realized.I am not a killer. I cant kill.You dont have 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 gray-brown, little than the black wolf and not as striking. Its legs were amazinglydelicate, twine d with veins and sinews like a racehorses.A female, something faraway in Hannahs mind said with dreamlike certainty.Both wolves had acquire their balance now. They were on their feet, bristling. The room smelled likea zoo.And now Im really going to die, Hannah thought. Im going to be torn to pieces by two wolves. She was button up clutching the picture frame, but she knew there was no chance of fighting 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 stared back, mesmerized, waiting for it tomake its move.The wolf held the gaze for another implication, as if studying Hannahs face-in particular the left side of herface. Her cheek. Then she turned her back to Hannah and faced the black wolf.And snarled.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 entire world had departed crazy 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 mind told her. As soon as theyre into it, run 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 blurred 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 frenzy of sharks. Both animals seemed tohave gone berserk.Suddenly there was a yelp of pain. Blood welled up on the gray females flank.Shes too small, Hannah thought. withal light. She doesnt have a c hance.Help her, the crystal voice whispered.It was an insane suggestion. Hannah couldnt even imagine trying to get in the middle 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 melodic theme how to team up with a wolf infighting another wolf. She was there and she was safekeeping 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 caution 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 shining with single-minded menace. The gray wolf on the other, bloodmatting her coat, bits of fur floating 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 land through the room like a knife.A gunshot.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 shockto realize there was anything, outside it. She was dimly aware that Pauls yells had stopped some timeago, but she hadnt stopped to consider what that meant.Now, with adrenaline washables over her, she heard his voice.Hannah Get out of the wayThe shout was tense, edged with fear and anger- and determination. It came from the opposite side of the room, from the darkness 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 fired again he top executive 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 wol ves.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 out of the wayNo Hannah moved toward him, holding out her hand. I can shoot. Just 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 swinging 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 i n the room. It launched into a vaultingleap straight toward the unbroken glass. There was a shattering crash as it went through. water ice fragmentsflew everywhere, tinkling.Hannah stared dizzily at the curtains swirling first outside, 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. Two steps and a leap-she wasthrough.From somewhere outside there came a long drawn-out 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, glassgrating 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 shape loping toward theopen prairie, but it might have been her imag ination.She let out her breath and sagged against the window. The silver picture frame fell to the floor.Are 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 explain?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 large 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 overturned 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 still drifted across the pine floorboards.Hannah said faintly, So who was at the door?Paul blinked twice. Nobody. 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? genuinely 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 withwondering speculation. You really did know, didnt you?Hannah glared at the man who was supposed 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. high-risk 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 secret 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 safe 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 worse happens.