'Night World : Soulmate Chapter 14\r'

' beat here,” Rashel said sharply, merely Hannah ran with the rest of them toward the lie of the business firm. She\r\ncould turn around a ferocious snarling and barking let on(a)side-a truly familiar manner of dear.\r\nNilsson and the other CIA guys were running around. They looked grim and efficient, moving fast(a) exactly\r\nnot frantic tot ein truth(prenominal)yy. Hannah accomplished that they knew how to do this variety show of thing.\r\nShe didnt curb Lupe.\r\nThe snarling outside got louder, building to a burst of short barks. there was a yelp-and because a\r\nscrambling noise. After a moment of silence in that respect came a sound that lifted the hair on Hannahs\r\nfore gird-a wild and eerie and beautiful sound. A barbarian howling. Two other wolf vocalisations joined the first,\r\nchording, acclivitous and fall(a)ing, interweaving with each other. Hannah raise herself gasping, her entire fur\r\nshivering. hence there was whizz long sustained demarcation and it was everyplace.\r\nâ€Å"Wow,” the tiny blond cal take Gillian whispered.\r\nHannah rubbed her bare arms sonorous.\r\nThe front door opened. Hannah matte up herself looking toward the ground, but nonentity four-legged came in.\r\nInstead it was Lupe and two guys, all disheveled, flushed, and grinning.\r\nâ€Å"It was right-hand(a)ful(prenominal) most scouts,” Lupe said. â€Å"We ran them sour.”\r\nâ€Å"Scouts from Maya?” Hannah said, spiriting a tightness in her stomach. It in truth was true, and thus. Maya was\r\n testing to storm the house to initiate to her.\r\nLupe nodded. â€Å"Itll be okay,” she said almost gently. â€Å"But I think back all of you better stay internal today. You\r\n erect watch movies or play spiriteds in the game mode.”\r\nHannah spent the day talking with the Circle sunup members. The much she found out s stir uply them,\r\nthe more she correspondingd them. Only one thing w in her uncomfortable. They all seemed to defer to her-as if,\r\nsomehow, they expected her to be wiser or better because of her former lifetimes. It was embarrassing,\r\nbecause she knew she wasnt.\r\nShe tried to keep her uplift off Thierry… and Maya.\r\nBut it wasnt easy. That night she found herself paseo restlessly by means of the house. She wound up in a\r\nlittle anteroom on the support alkali that looked down on the enormous subsisting room.\r\nâ€Å"Cant relax?”\r\nThe lazy murmur came from backside her. Hannah sour to see Ash, his lanky elegant personate propped\r\nagainst a wall. His eye looked silver in the dimly lit room.\r\nâ€Å"Not really,” Hannah admitted. â€Å"I erect wish theyd expose Thierry. Ive got a bad finding about it.”\r\nThey stood for a moment in silence. because Ash said, â€Å"Yeah, its hard to be without your soulmate. Once\r\nyouve found them, I mean.”\r\nHannah looked at him, intrigued. The way he said that…\r\nShe spoke hesitantly. â€Å"This forenoon Thea said you were all here because you had humankind soulmates.”\r\nHe looked crosswise the room at French doors that led to a balcony. â€Å"Yes?”\r\nâ€Å"And-well…” by chance shes dead, Hannah mentation suddenly. Maybe I shouldnt ask. â€Å"And you\r\n necessitate to inhabit where mine is,” Ash said. â€Å"I didnt mean to pry.”\r\nâ€Å"No. Its okay.” Ash looked out at the darkness beyond the French doors again. â€Å"Shes waiting-I anticipate.\r\nIve got some things to erect right before I see her.”\r\nHe didnt seem scary eachmore, no matter how his look changed. He seemed-vulnerable.\r\nâ€Å"Im sure she is waiting,” Hannah said. â€Å"And Ill bet shell be happy to see you when youve designate things\r\nright.” She added quietly, â€Å"I know Ill be glad to see Thierry.”\r\nHe glanced at her, startled, and then smiled. He had a very n ice smile. â€Å"Thats true, youve been in her shoes,\r\n suck upnt you? And Thierrys certainly tried to make up for his past. I mean, hes been doing good works\r\nfor centuries. So perhaps theres hope for me by and by all.”\r\nHe said it almost mockingly, but Hannah caught an odd glistening in his eye. â€Å"Youre wish her, you\r\nknow,” he added abruptly.\r\nâ€Å"Like my-like Mary-Lynnette. Youre both… wise.”\r\nBefore Hannah could think of something to declare to that, he nodded to her, straightened up, and went\r\nback into the hallway, whistling softly by means of his teeth.\r\nHannah stood alone(predicate) in the dim room. For some reason, she mat up better suddenly. More optimistic about\r\nthe future.\r\nI think Ill be able to sleep tonight. And tomorrow, maybe Thierry result be here.\r\nShe clamped down hard on the rush of hope that filled her at the idea. expect… and concern. After\r\nall shed said to him, she couldnt be suddenl y sure how Thierry would receive her. What if he doesnt\r\nwant me after all? Dont be silly. Dont think about it. Go outside and get a breath of air, and then go to\r\nbed.\r\nLater, of gradation, she recognize just how stupid she had been. She should induce known that getting a breath\r\nof good air only led to one thing in her life. But at the moment it seemed like a good creative thinker. Lupe had\r\nwarned her not to open any outside doors-but the French doors only led to a second-floor balcony\r\noverlooking the backyard. Hannah opened them and stepped out.\r\nNice, she thought. The air was just settle down enough to be pleasant.\r\nFrom here she could look across dark broadenes of grass to flood-lit palm trees and softly dust\r\nfountains. Although she couldnt see Thierrys people, she knew they were out there, stationed around the\r\ngrounds, watching and waiting. Guarding her. It do her feel guard.\r\nNothing tail get to the house with them around it, she thought. I can sleep just fine.\r\nShe was about to turn and go back inside when she hear the scratching.\r\nIt came from higher up her. From the roof. She glanced up and got the shock of this token lifetime.\r\nThere was a bat hanging from the roof.\r\nA bat. A bat.\r\nA huge bat. Upside down. Its leathered black wings were wrapped around it and its nonaged red eyes shone\r\nat her with reflected light.\r\nWild thoughts tumbled finished Hannahs mind, all in a fraction of an instant. Maybe its a decoration…\r\nno, idiot, its alive. Maybe its somebody to maintain me. God, maybe its Thierry….\r\nBut all the while, she knew. And when the instant of palsy passed and she could command her body\r\nagain, she sucked in a cloudy breath to scream an alarm.\r\nShe never got the chance to make a sound. With a noise like an umbrella opening, the bat unfolded its\r\nwings suddenly, displaying an amazingly large sweep up of black membrane.\r\nAt the same moment something like sheet ligh tning seemed to hit Hannah, a blinding zoom of pure mental\r\nenergy. She sawing machine stars, and then everything weak to darkness.\r\nSomething hurt.\r\nMy head, Hannah thought slowly. And my back. In fact, she hurt all over. And she was blind-or she had\r\nher eyes close up. She tried to open them and\r\nnothing changed. She could feel herself blinking, but she could only see one thing. Blackness. Utter,\r\ncomplete blackness. She realized then that shed never seen real darkness before. In her bedroom at\r\nnight there was forever and a day some diffused light showing at the top of her curtains. Even outdoors there was\r\n forever and a day moonlight or starlight, or if it were cloudy, the reflection of human lights, however faint.\r\nThis was different. This was solid darkness. Hannah imagined she could feel it pressing against her await,\r\n calculation down on her body. And no matter how replete(p) she opened her eyes or how fixedly she stared,\r\nshe couldnt see stil l the slightest glimmer breaking it.\r\nI impart not panic attack, she told herself.\r\nBut it was hard. She was fighting an instinctive fear, hardwired into the reason since before the Stone Age.\r\nAll humans panic in complete blackness.\r\nJust repose, she told herself firmly. Breathe. Okay. Now. Youve got to get out of here. First things first.\r\nAre you hurt?\r\nShe couldnt tell. She had to shut her eyes in order to sense her own body. As she did, she realized that\r\nshe was sitting up, instinctively huddling into herself to keep safe from the darkness.\r\nOkay. I dont think youre hurt. Lets try standing up. precise slowly.\r\nThat was when the real shock came.\r\nShe couldnt stand up.\r\nShe couldnt.\r\nShe could move her arms and even her legs. But when she tried to lift her body, even to shift position\r\nslightly, something bit into her cannon, keeping her immobile.\r\nWith a crawling picture of horror, Hannah put her hands to her waist and snarl the rough textur e of rope.\r\nIm tied. Im tied….\r\n There was something hard against her back. A tree? Her hands flew to feel it. No, not a tree-too\r\nregular. Tall, but squarish. A hazard of some kind.\r\nThe rope seemed to be wound many another(prenominal) times around her waist, tightly enough that it press her\r\n active a little. It bound her securely to the post. And then it fastened above or distant behind her\r\n someplace-she couldnt find any knots with her fingers.\r\nIt felt like very strong, very sturdy rope. Hannah knew without question that she wasnt red to be able\r\nto wiggle out of it or loosen it.\r\nThe post seemed very sturdy, too. The ground under Hannah was discoloration and gem.\r\nIm alone, she thought slowly. She could hear her own gasping breath. Im all alone… and Im tied here\r\nin the dark. I cant move. I cant get away.\r\nMaya put me here. She left me to die all alone in the dark.\r\nFor a while, then, Hannah simply broken control. She screamed fo r second and heard her voice echo oddly.\r\nShe pulled and depraved at the rope with her fingers until her fingertips were raw. She threw her whole\r\nbody from one side to the other, trying to loosen the rope or the post, until the pain in her waist made her\r\nstop. And finally she gave in to the galloping fear inside her and sobbed out loud.\r\nShe had never, ever, felt so desolate and alone.\r\nIn the end, though, she cried herself out. And when shed gasped to a stop, she found that she could\r\nthink a little.\r\nListen, girl. Youve got to get a grip. Youve got to help yourself, because theres nobody else to do it.\r\nIt wasnt the cool wind voice or even the crystal voice-because they were both just part of her now. It\r\nwas Hannahs own mental voice. She had accepted all her past selves and their experiences, and in return\r\nshe felt she could abuse on at least some of their wisdom.\r\nOkay, she thought grimly. No more crying. Think. What can you tell about your situation ?\r\nIm not out in the open. I know because theres no light at all and because of the way my voice echoed.\r\nIm in a voluminous… room or something. Its got a high ceiling. And the floor is rock.\r\nGood. Okay, do you hear anything else?\r\nHannah listened. It was hard to concentrate on the silence around her-it made her own breathing and\r\n shopping mallbeat seem terrifyingly loud. She could feel her nerves stretch and fray… but she held on, ignoring\r\nher own noises and trying to get out into the darkness with her ears.\r\nThen she heard it. very(prenominal) far away, a sound like a faucet dripping slowly.\r\nWhat the hell? Im in a big black room with a rock floor and a leaky faucet.\r\nShut up. write concentrating. What do you smell?\r\nHannah sniffed. That didnt work, so she took long breaths done her nose, ignoring the pain as her\r\nmidsection pressed against the rope.\r\nIts frowsty in here. Dank. It smells damp and cold.\r\nIn fact, it was very cold. Her panic had kept her warm before, but now she realized that her fingers were\r\nicy and her arms and legs were stiff.\r\nOkay, so what seduce we got? Im in a big black refrigerated room with a high ceiling and a treasure floor.\r\nAnd its musty and damp.\r\nA wine cellar? A cellar without windows?\r\nBut she was just fooling herself. She knew. The skin of her face seemed to sense the pressure of tons of\r\nrock above her. Her ears told her that that musical dripping was water on rock, very far away. Her nose\r\ntold her that she wasnt in any building. And her fingers could feel the natural irregularity of the ground\r\nunderneath her.\r\nShe didnt want to believe it. But the knowledge crowded in on her, inescapable.\r\nIm in a hollow.\r\nA cave or a cavern. Anyway, Im inside the earth. God knows how dense inside. Deep enough and far\r\nenough that I cant see any light from an entrance or vent hole.\r\nVery deep inside, her emotional state told her.\r\nShe was in the loneliest pl ace in the world. And she was going to die here.\r\nHannah had never had claustrophobia before. But now she couldnt help feeling that the smokestack of rock\r\naround and above her was trying to chock up her. It could fall in at any minute, she thought. She felt a\r\nphysical pressure, as if she were at the rear end of the ocean. She began to have trouble breathing.\r\nShe had to get her mind off it. She refused to turn into that screaming, gibbering thing in the darkness\r\nagain. worse than the thought of dying was the thought of going manic-depressive down here.\r\nThink about Thierry. When he finds out youre missing hell start looking for you. You know that. And he\r\nwont give up until he finds you. But Ill be dead by then, she thought involuntarily. This time, instead of\r\nfear, the idea of her death brought a strange poignant loneliness.\r\n other life where I missed him, she thought. She blinked against tears suddenly. Oh, God. Great.\r\nIts so hard. So hard to keep ho ping that someday its going to work out. But Ill meet him again in my\r\n adjoining life. And maybe I wont be so stupid then; I wont fall for Mayas tricks.\r\nItll be harder for him, I guess. Hell have to wait and get through the years day by day. Ill just go to\r\nsleep and eventually wake up somewhere else. And then someday hell come for me and Ill remember . .\r\n. and then well start all over.\r\nI really did try this time, Thierry. I did my best. I didnt mean to mess things up. reassure me youll look\r\nfor me again. Promise youll find me. I announce Ill wait for you. No matter how long it takes. Hannah shut\r\nher eyes, leaning back against the post and almost unconsciously touching the ring hed given her. Maybe\r\nnext time shed remember it.\r\nSuddenly she didnt feel gloomy or afraid anymore. Just very tired.\r\n look still shut, she grinned weakly. I feel old. Like Moms continuously complaining she feels. Ready to turn\r\nthis old body in and get a new…\r\nThe tho ught broke off and disappeared.\r\nWas that a noise?\r\nHannah found herself sitting up, leaning forward as far as the rope would allow, straining her ears.\r\nShe thought shed heard… yes. There it was again. A solid echoing sound out in the darkness.\r\nIt sounded like footsteps. And it was coming closer.\r\nYes, yes. Im rescued, Im saved. Hannahs heart was pounding so hard that she could hardly breathe to\r\nyell. But at last, just as she saw a bobbing point of light in the blackness, she managed to get out a hoarse\r\nsquawk.\r\nâ€Å"Thierry? Hello? Im over here!”\r\nThe light kept coming toward her. She could hear the footsteps coming closer.\r\nAnd there was no answer.\r\nâ€Å"Thierry… ?” Her voice trailed off.\r\nFootsteps. The light was big now. It was a beam, a flashlight. Hannah blinked at it.\r\nHer heart was slowly sinking, until it seemed to reach stone.\r\nAnd then the flashlight was right in front of her. It shone in her face, dazzling her e yes. another(prenominal) light\r\nsnapped on, a small camping lantern. view rushed back to Hannah, sending information billow to her\r\nbrain.\r\nBut there was no happiness in it. Hannahs entire body was ice cold now, shivering.\r\nBecause of course it wasnt Thierry. It was Maya.\r\nI hope I didnt disturb you,” Maya said.\r\nShe put down the lantern and what looked like a black backpack. Then she stood with her hands on her\r\nhips and looked at Hannah.\r\nI will not cry. I wont give her the satisfaction, Hannah thought.\r\nâ€Å"I didnt know vampires could really change into bats,” she said.\r\nMaya laughed. She looked beautiful in the share of lantern light. Her long black hair fell in waves around\r\nher, hanging down her back to her hips. Her skin was milky-pale and her eyes looked dark and\r\nmysterious. Her laughing mouth was red.\r\nShe was wearable designer jeans and high-heeled snakeskin boots. Funny, Hannah had never noticed any\r\nof Mayas habiliments bef ore. Usually the woman herself was so striking that it was impracticable to focus on\r\nhow she was dressed.\r\nâ€Å"Not all vampires can shapeshift,” Maya said. â€Å"But, then, Im not like other vampires. Im the first, my\r\ndarling. Im the original. And I have to say Im getting really sick of you.”\r\nThe feeling is mutual, Hannah thought. She said, â€Å"Then why dont you leave me alone? why dont you\r\nleave me and Thierry alone?”\r\nâ€Å"Because, then, my sweetpea, I wouldnt win. And I have to win.” She looked at Hannah directly, her\r\nface oddly serious. â€Å"Dont you understand that insofar?” she said softly. â€Å"I have to win-because Ive given up\r\ntoo much to lose. It cant all be for nothing. So winning is all there is.”\r\n'