'Night World : Soulmate Chapter 16\r'

'It was a very(prenominal) want cartridge holder earlier Hannah arrestd foot move again.\r\nShe distracted herself during the long wait by whistling songs under her breath and beting astir(predicate) the\r\npeople she love.\r\nHer m a noher(prenominal). Her mother didnt veritable(a) miss her yet, didnt bop she was gone. provided by tomorrow she\r\nwould. Tomorrow was whitethorn first, Hannahs birthday, and tare would give her mother the letter.\r\nChess, of course. Hannah wished now that shed exhausted more time saying unplayfulbye to Chess, that shed\r\nexplained things better. Chess would have been fascinated. And she had a reclaim to know she was an hoar\r\nSoul, too.\r\nPaul Winfield. That was strange-shed only known him a week. scarcely hed tried to help her. And at this\r\nmoment, he knew more almost Hannah Snow than whateverone else in Montana.\r\nI unavoidableness he doesnt start smoking again if he rinds erupt Im dead.\r\nBecause that was probably ho w she would end up. Hannah had no illusions nearly that. She had a\r\nweapon- entirely so did Maya, and Maya was much faster and stronger. She was no match for Maya under\r\nthe best of circumstances, much little when she was weak and feverish. The best she could hope for was\r\nto buy off Maya to eliminate her while she was still human.\r\nShe design ab divulge the slew Daybreak members. They were good people. She was sorry she wouldnt\r\nhave the commodedidate to know them better, to help them. They were doing something important, something she\r\ninstinctively sensed was necessary righteousness now.\r\nAnd she fancy about Thierry.\r\nHell have to go wandering again, I guess. Its too bad. He hasnt had a very happy life. I was starting to\r\nthink I could take that blueness out of his intuitive line uping….\r\nWhen she comprehend a noise at last, she musical theme it dexterity be her imagination. She held her breath.\r\nNo. Its footsteps. Getting closer.\r\n Shes coming.\r\nHannah shifted position. She had stationed herself nigh the mouth of the cavern; now she took a inscrutable\r\nbreath and eased herself into a crouch. She wiped her sweaty right decoration on her jeans and got a better\r\n hairgrip on her stake.\r\n She figured that Maya would shine the flash faint-hearted toward the rod cell where Hannah had been tied, thus\r\nmaybe take a few steps furthermostther in grimace the cavern, trying to live what was release on.\r\nAnd consequently Ill do it. Ill fuck out of the apparition\r\n can her. Jump and skewer her through the back. but Ive got to time it right.\r\nShe held her breath as she saw devolve outside the mouth of the cavern. Her greatest fear was that Maya\r\nwould hear her.\r\nQuiet… quiet…\r\nThe light came closer. Hannah watched it, non moving. effective her brain was clicking along in surprise. It\r\nwasnt the slanted, focused station of a flashlight. It was the more diffuse pool of light from a lantern.\r\nShes brought another one. however that means…\r\nMaya was go in.\r\nWalking quickly-and not pausing. She couldnt shine the light onto the pole yet. And she didnt seem\r\nanxious to-apparently it didnt occur to her that she motivatinged to slow on Hannah. She was that confident.\r\nHannah cursed men long-leggedy. Shes going too far-shes out of range. Get up!\r\nHer plan in ruins, she flexed her knees and stood. She hear a crack in her knee adjunction that sounded as\r\nloud as a gunshot.\r\n exactly Maya didnt cut short. She kept going. She was almost at the pole.\r\nAs wordlessly as she could, Hannah souled across the cavern. both(prenominal)(a) Maya had to do was sophisticate around to see\r\nher.\r\nMaya was at the pole. She was stopping. She was looking from side to side.\r\nHannah was behind her.\r\nNow.\r\nNow was the time. Hannahs muscles could feel how she had to stab, to play a joke on her weight behind the\r\nthrust so that the stake went in under Mayas left shoulder blade. She knew how to do it. …\r\n just now she couldnt.\r\nShe couldnt stab somebody in the back. Somebody who wasnt grim her at the moment, who\r\ndidnt unconstipated know they were in danger.\r\nOh, my matinee idol! Dont be stupid! Do it!\r\nOh, my Goddess! a translator echoed back in her pass. Youre not a poper. This isnt even self-defense!\r\n Frustrated almost to the point of hysteria, Hannah hear herself let out a breath. It was wet. She was\r\ncrying.\r\nHer arm drooped. Her muscles collapsed. She wasnt doing it. She couldnt do it.\r\nMaya slowly turned around.\r\nShe looked both beautiful and eerie in the lantern light. She surveyed Hannah up and come out, looking in\r\n crabbed at the drooping stake.\r\n consequently she looked at Hannahs face.\r\nâ€Å"Youre the strangest girl,” she utter, in what seemed to be genuine bewilderment. â€Å"Why didnt you do it?\r\nYou were languish enough to get yourself out and stic k yourself a weapon. Why didnt you have the guts to\r\nfinish it?”\r\nHannah was inquire herself the same thing. Only with more expletives.\r\nI am going to die now, she thought. And maybe die for good-because I dont have guts. Because I\r\ncouldnt protrude somebody I know is completely evil and completely impelled to kill me. Thats not ethics.\r\nThats stupid. â€Å"I suppose its that Egyptian temple training,” Maya was saying. â€Å"Or maybe the life when\r\nyou were a Buddhist-do you remember that? Or maybe youre just weak.” And a victim. Ive spent a\r\ncouple thousand eld being a victim-yours. I guess Ive got my fall apart down perfect by now.\r\nâ€Å"Oh, advantageously. It doesnt really theme why,” Maya verbalise. â€Å"It all comes down to the same thing in the end.\r\nNow. Lets get this over with.”\r\nHannah stared at her, breathing hard, timbre comparable a rabbit looking at a headlight.\r\n nothing should live as a victim. Every creature has a right to beseech for its life.\r\n just she couldnt seem to get her muscles to move anymore. She was just too tired. Every part of her\r\nhurt, from her throbbing head to her raw fingertips to her bruised and aching feet.\r\nMaya was smiling, fixing her with eyes that shifted from lapis-lazuli downcast to glacier green.\r\nâ€Å"Be a good girl, now,” she crooned.\r\nI dont want to be a good girl….\r\nMaya reached for her with long arms.\r\nâ€Å"Dont touch her!” Thierry state from the cavern mouth.\r\nHannahs head jerked sideways. She stared at the new pool of light on the other side of the cave. For\r\nthe first few seconds she thought she was hallucinating.\r\nBut, no. He was there. Thierry was standing there with a lantern of his own, tall and almost shimmering\r\nwith coiled tension, like a piranha ready to\r\nspring.\r\n The problem was that he was too far external. And Maya was too fast. In the same instant that it took\r\nHannah to incu r her brain believe her eyes, Maya was moving. In one brisk step, she was behind\r\nHannah, with her pass around Hannahs throat.\r\nâ€Å"Stay where you are,” she said. â€Å"Or Ill break her little neck.”\r\nHannah knew she could do it. She could feel the conjure strength in Mayas hands. Maya didnt need a\r\nweapon.\r\nThierry designate the lantern down and raised his empty hands. â€Å"Im staying,” he said quietly.\r\nâ€Å"And tell whoever else youve got in that tunnel to go back. All the way back. If I see another person, Ill\r\nkill her.”\r\nWithout turning, Thierry shouted. â€Å"Go back to the entrance. All of you.” and then he looked at Hannah.\r\nâ€Å"Are you all right?”\r\nHannah couldnt nod. Mayas grip was so tight that she could barely say, â€Å"Yes.” But she could look at\r\nhim, and she could see his eyes.\r\nShe knew, in that moment, that all her fears about him not wanting her anymore were groundless. He\r\nlove her. She had never seen such open love and touch on in anyones face before.\r\nMore, they understood each other. They didnt need any words. It was the end of misunderstandings\r\nand mistrust. For perhaps the first time since she had been Hana of the Three Rivers, Hannah trusted him\r\nwithout reservation. They were in accord.\r\nAnd neither of them treasured this to end with a death.\r\nWhen Thierry took his eyes from Hannahs, it was to look at Maya and say, â€Å"Its over, now. You have\r\nto realize that. Ive got twenty people down here, and another twenty on the surface waiting.” His juncture\r\nbecame softer and more deliberate. â€Å"But I give you my word, you can walk out of here right now,\r\nMaya. Nobody will touch you. All you have to do is let Hannah go first.”\r\nâ€Å"Together,” Hannah said, coughing as Mayas hands tightened, cutting off her breath. She gasped and\r\nfinished, â€Å"We go out together, Thierry.”\r\n Thierry nodded and lo oked at Maya. He was holding his hand out now, like someone trying to coax a\r\n terrified child. â€Å"Just let her go,” he said softly.\r\nMaya jocularityed.\r\nIt was an affected sound, and it make Hannahs disrobe crawl. nothing sane made a noise like that.\r\nâ€Å"But that way, I wont arrive at,” Maya said, almost pleasantly.\r\nâ€Å"You cant get along anyway,” Thierry said quietly. â€Å"Even if you kill her, shell still be alive-â€Å"\r\nâ€Å"Not if I make her a vampire first,” Maya interrupted.\r\n But Thierry was shaking his head. â€Å"It doesnt matter.” His voice was still quiet, but it was filled with the\r\nauthority of unattackable conviction, a kind of bedrock certainty that held even Hannah mesmerized.\r\nâ€Å"Even if you kill her, shell still be alive-here.” He tapped his chest. â€Å"In me. I keep her here. Shes part of\r\nme. So until you kill me, you cant really kill her. And you cant win. Its that simple.â⠂¬Â\r\nThere was a lock in. Hannahs own heart was twisted with the force of her love for him. Her eyes ” were\r\nfull.\r\nShe could hear Maya breathing, and the sound was ragged. She thought that the pressing of Mayas\r\nhands was infinitesimally less.\r\nâ€Å"I could kill you both,” Maya said at last in a grating voice.\r\nThierry displace his shoulders and dropped them in a\r\ngesture too sad to be a shrug. â€Å"But how can you win when the people you hate arent there to see it?”\r\nIt sounded insane-but it was true. Hannah could feel it hit Maya like a well- launchn javelin. If Maya\r\ncouldnt have Thierry as her prize, if she couldnt even make him suffer, what was the point? Where was\r\nthe victory?\r\nâ€Å"Lets stop the cycle right here,” Thierry said softly. â€Å"Let her go.”\r\nHe was so gentle, and so reasonable, and so tired-sounding. Hannah didnt see how anyone could baulk\r\nhim. But she was still surprised at what happened next .\r\nSlowly, very slowly, the hands around her neck loosened their grip. Maya stepped away.\r\nHannah sucked in a deep breath. She wanted to run to Thierry, but she was afraid to do anything to\r\nunbalance the delicate move in the cavern. Besides, her knees were wobbly.\r\nMaya was moving around her, taking a step or two in summit of her, facing Thierry directly.\r\nâ€Å"I loved you,” she said. There was a sound in her voice Hannah had never heard before, a quaver. â€Å"Why\r\ndidnt you ever understand that?”\r\nThierry shake his head. â€Å"Because its not true. You never loved me. You wanted me. in general because\r\nyou couldnt have me.”\r\nThere was a silence then(prenominal) as they stood looking at each other. Not because they understood each other\r\ntoo well for words, Hannah thought. Because they would never understand each other. They had nothing\r\nto say.\r\nThe silence stretched on and on-and then Maya collapsed.\r\nShe didnt fall down. But s he might as well have. Hannah saw the life go out of her-the hope. The energy\r\nthat had kept Maya vibrant and scintillating after thousands of years. It had all come from her need to win .\r\n. . and now she knew shed lost.\r\n She was defeated.\r\nâ€Å"Come on, Hannah,” Thierry said quietly. â€Å"Lets go.” Then he turned to shout back into the tunnel behind\r\nhim. â€Å"Clear the way. Were all coming out.”\r\nThat was when it happened.\r\nMaya had been standing slumped, her head down, her eyes on the ground.\r\nOr on her backpack.\r\nAnd now, as Thierry turned away, she flashed one glance at him and then moved as fast as a striking\r\nsnake. She grabbed the black stake and held it horizontally, her arm displace back.\r\nHannah recognized the posture instantly. As Hana of the Three Rivers shed seen hunters throw spears\r\nall the time.\r\nâ€Å"Game over,” Maya whispered.\r\nHannah had a fraction of a second to act-and no time to consider. All she thought was, No.\r\nWith her whole weight behind the thrust, she lunged at Maya. Stake first.\r\nThe sharp wooden point went in just under Mayas shoulder blade. She staggered, off balance, her\r\nthrow ” ruined. The black stake went skittering across the rough rock and roll floor.\r\nHannah was off balance, too. She was falling. Maya was falling. But it all seemed to be adventure in\r\nslow motion. Ive killed her.\r\nThere was no felicity in the thought. Only a illuminate of low-key certainty.\r\nWhen the slow-motion opinion ended, she found herself the way anybody finds themself after a fall. On\r\nthe ground and surprised. Except that Maya was underneath her, with a stake protruding from her back.\r\nHannahs first frantic thought was to get a doctor. Shed never seen someone this badly hurt before- not\r\nin this life. There was caudex seeping out of Mayas back around the impermanent stake. It had gone in very\r\ndeep, the wood astute vampire flesh like razor-sharp firebrand through a human.\r\nThierry was beside her. Kneeling, pulling Hannah slightly away from Mayas prone leap, as if she might\r\nstill be dangerous.\r\nHannah reached for him at the same time, and their hands met, intertwined. She held on tight, feeling a\r\nrush of warmth and comfort from his presence.\r\nThen Thierry gently turned Maya onto her side.\r\nHair was falling across Mayas face like a black waterfall. Her skin was chalky white and her eyes were\r\nwide open. But she was laughing.\r\nLaughing.\r\n She looked at Hannah and laughed. In a thick strangling voice, she gasped. â€Å"You had guts-after all.”\r\nHannah whispered, â€Å"Can we do anything for her?”\r\nThierry shook his head.\r\nThen it was terrible. Mayas laugh turned into a gurgle. A trickle of demarcation ran out of the side of her\r\nmouth. Her body jerked. Her eyes stared. And then, finally, she was still.\r\nHannah tangle her own breath sigh out.\r\nShes dead. I killed her. I killed s omeone.\r\nEvery creature has the right to fight for its life-or its loved ones.\r\nThierry said softly, â€Å"The cycle is broken.”\r\nThen he let Mayas shoulder go and her body slumped down again. She seemed small now, shrunken.\r\nAfter a moment Hannah realized it wasnt an illusion. Maya was doing what all vampires do in the movies.\r\nShe was falling in on herself, her tissues collapsing, muscle and flesh shriveling. The one hand Hannah\r\ncould see seemed to be wasting away and hardening at the same time. The skin became yellow and\r\nleathery, showing the form of the tendons underneath.\r\nIn the end, Maya was just a leather burn full of bones.\r\nHannah swallowed and shut her eyes.\r\nâ€Å"Are you all right? Let me look at you.” Thierry was holding her, examining her. Then when Hannah met\r\nhis eyes, he looked at her long and searchingly and said with a different meaning, â€Å"Are you all right?”\r\nHannah understood. She looked at Maya and then back at him.\r\nâ€Å"Im not exalted of it,” she said slowly. â€Å"But Im not sorry, either. It just-had to be done.” She thought\r\nanother moment, then said, getting out each word\r\nseparately, â€Å"I refuse to be … a victim… anymore.”\r\nThierry tightened his arm around her. â€Å"Im proud of you,” he said. Then he added, â€Å"Lets go. We need to\r\nget you to a healer.”\r\nThey walked back through the narrow passageway, which was no longer dark because Thierrys people\r\nhad placed lanterns every few feet. At the end of the\r\npassage, in the mode with the vertical carp, they had set up some sort of rope and pulley.\r\nLupe was there, and Nilsson, and the rest of the CIA group. So were Rashel and Quinn. The fighters,\r\nHannah thought. Everyone called and laughed and patted her when she came in with Thierry.\r\nâ€Å"Its over,” Thierry said briefly. â€Å"Shes dead.”\r\nEveryone looked at him and then at Hannah. And somehow they knew. They all cheered and patted her\r\nagain. Hannah didnt feel like Cinderella anymore; she felt like Dorothy after killing the Wicked Witch.\r\n And she didnt like it.\r\nLupe took her by the shoulders and said excitedly, â€Å"Do you know what youve done?”\r\nHannah said, â€Å"Yes. But I dont want to think about it any more right now.”\r\nIt wasnt until theyd hauled her up the vertical shaft that it occurred to her to ask Thierry how hed found\r\nher. She was standing on an unseeable hillside with no buildings or landmarks around. Maya had\r\npicked a very good hiding place.\r\nâ€Å"One of her own people exchange her out,” Thierry said. â€Å"He got to the house about the same time I did this\r\nevening, and he said he had reading to sell. He was a werewolf who wasnt happy with how shed\r\n case-hardened him.”\r\nA werewolf with black hair? Hannah wondered. But she was too sleepy suddenly to ask more\r\nquestions.\r\nâ€Å"Home, s ir?” Nilsson said, a little breathlessly because hed just come up the shaft.\r\nThierry looked at him, laughed, and started to help Hannah down the hill. â€Å"Thats right. Home, Nilsson.”\r\n'