Night World : Soulmate Chapter 10

The first sight of her broke through and through his animal fix and gave him enough mind to stand up wish a man.She reminded him of Hellewise. She had that corresponding account of tender courage, that same ageless wisdom inher eyes. whatsoever woman could be pretty by virtue of regular features. save Hana was exquisite because hersoul showed in her face.Seeing her made him ashamed. Seeing her carry him, intercede on his be wizard-half as she was so obviouslydoing, made him angry.He resisted when she sneaked him protrude of the cave and tried to send him back into the world. Didnt sheunderstand? It was trump out for him to die. As long as he was loose, no child, no woman, no man was safe.Even as he stood there in the do work with her, he was trembling with need. The alliancelust was chastening tounbalance his mind, and it was each he could do not to grab her and bite into her soft throat.When she offe expiration him her throat, he almost cried. It wasnt a sacrifice to turn her low and walking external.It was the still right matter to do, the only thing he could do.And wherefore the hunters came.His mind was unbalanced by the torture. It was that simple. Not that it was an excuse, there was noexcuse for what followed. and during the endless clipping while Hanas clan burned and stabbed and beathim, he lose any contact with the somebody he thought of as himself. He became an animal, as mindless as themob that was accenting to kill him.As an animal, he privationed dickens things to survive and to strike out at the population who were hurting him.And there was a demeanor to do both.Throats. White throats, squirting dark blood. The image came to him slowly in his haze of pain. He didnt redeem to lie here and take this. He was wound, alone there was tranquilize a granite core of strength inside him.He could fight back, and his enemies would spring him life.The next date a spear jabbed at him, he grabbed it and pulled.It belonged to the broad-shouldered hunter, the one whod led the others to him. Thierry grabbed theman as he stumbled forward, wrestling him to the ground. And then, onwardshand anyone in the crowd had timeto react, he darted for the hunters throat, for the big vein that pulsed notwithstanding under the unclothe.It was all over in a minute. He was boozing deep, deep, and gaining strength with e precise swallow. Thedam of the Three Rivers was staring at him in paralyzed shock.It entangle in effect(p).He tossed the cold man aside and reached for another.When some(prenominal) hunters came at him at once, he knocked them apart and killed them, one, cardinal, three. Hewas a very efficient killer. The blood made him supernaturally strong and fast, and the bloodlust gave himmotivation. He was equivalent a wolf set loose in a drove of antelope-except that for a long time nobody in theclan had the smell to run. They unbroken coming at him, trying to stop him, and he kept cleansing.It was a s laughter. He killed them all. He was drunk with blood and he gloried in it, in the animal simplicity of it, the power it gave him. Killingwas glory. Killing to eat, killing for revenge. Destroying the people who hurt him. He didnt ever want tostop.He was crapulence the last drops from the veins of a young girl when he looked down and aphorism it wasHana.Her clear gray eyes were wide open, but the light in them was beginning to go dark.Hed killed her.In one blinding instant he wasnt an animal anymore. He was a person. And he was spirit down at theone person who had tried to answer him, who had offered him her blood to go along him alive.He raised his eyes and saw the devastation hed left in the cave. It wasnt dear this girl. Hed murderedmost of her tribe.That was when he knew the truth. He was damned. Worse than Maya. Hed committed a crime somonstrous that he could neer be for acquaintn, neer be redeemed. He had joined evil in the end, simply asMaya had guaranteed he would. No punishment could be too great for him-but then, no punishment would make the slightest differenceanyway, not to these people or to the last girl in his arms.For exactly an instant some part of him pushed away(predicate) at the feelings of guilt and horror. All right, youre evil,it say. You capability as well go ahead and be evil. Enjoy it. Have no regrets. Its your nature, without delay. Give in. thusly the girl in his arms stirred.She was still conscious, although bargonly. Her eyes were still open. She was looking up at him.In that turn, Thierry felt a shock that was several(predicate) from anything hed ever felt before.In those large gray eyes, in the pupils which were staggeringly dilated as if to catch each last ray of lightbefore death, he saw himself.Himself and the girl, walking to peeher, hand in hand through the ages. Joined. Shifting scenes behindthem, different places, different times. besides ever the two of them, tied with an invisible bond.He recognized her. It was almost as if all those different ages had already happened, as if he were onlyremembering them. But he knew they were in the future. He was looking down the corridor of time, awaiting what should take for been.She was his soulmate.She was the one who was supposed to give walked with him through different lives, being natural andloving and dying and being natural(p) again. Theyd been born for each other, to help each other grow andblossom and discover and evolve. They should ware had umteen lives together.And none of it was going to happen. He was an immortal creature-how could he die and be born again?And she was dying because of him. Hed destroyed it all, everything. Hed killed his destiny. In the enormity of it, he sat silent and stunned. He couldnt say, Im sorry. He couldnt say, What nurtureI through with(p)? There was nothing that he could say that wasnt so trivial as to be demeaning to her. He simplysat and shook, looking down into her eyes. He had an endle ss feeling of falling.And then Hana spoke.I forgive you.It was skilful a whisper, but he heard it in his mind, not with his ears. And he understood it, even thoughher language was different from his. Thierry reeled with the discovery that he could talk to her. Oh,Goddess, the chance at least to tell her how he would try to atone for this by spilling out his own blood.. .You cant forgive me. He could see that she understood his own hushed answer. He knew he didntdeserve forgiveness. But part of him wanted her to realize that he had never meant this to happen. Iwasnt always like this. I used to be a person-We dont have time for that, she told him. Her spirit seemed to be reaching toward him, drawing him intoher, facing him in a still and separate place where only the two of them existed. He knew then that shehad seen the same thing he had, the same corridor of time.She was gentle, but so sad. I dont want you to die. But I want you to promise me one thing.Anything.I want you to promis e me you II never kill again.It was easy to promise. He didnt plan to live no, she didnt want him to die. But he couldnt livewithout her and he certainly couldnt live after what hed done.Hed worry about it later, about how to tidy sum with the long gray stretch of future waiting for him. Fornow, he said, Ill never kill again.She gave him provided the faintest of smiles.And then she died.The gray eyes went fixed and dark. Unseeing. Her skin was ghostly white and her body was absolutelystill. She seemed smaller all at once as her spirit left her.Thierry cradled her, moaning like a wounded animal. He was crying. Shaking so hard he almost couldntkeep hold of her. Helpless, pierced by heat that felt like a spear, he reached out to gently push her hairoff her face. His hobble stroked her cheek- and left a trail of blood.He stared at it in horror. The crossbreeding was like a blaze of red against her pale skin.Even his love was deadly. His caress had branded her.The few survivors of Ha nas clan were on the move, surrounding Thierry, gasp and gasping with theirspears ready. They sensed that he was vulnerable now. And he wouldnt have lifted a hand to stop them except that he had made a promise to Hana. Shewanted him alive to keep it.So he left her there. He picked up her still, cooling body and carried it toward the nearest hunter. Theman stared at him in fear and disbelief, but he finally dropped his spear to take the dead girl. And thenThierry walked out of the cave and into the merciless sunlight.He headed for his al-Qaeda.Maya caught up with him someplace on the steppes, appearing out of the tall, ripping grass. I told youhow youd end up. direct forget that washed-out blonde and start enjoying life with me.Thierry didnt even look at her. The only thing he could imagine doing with Maya was killing her andhe couldnt do that.Dont walk away from me Maya wasnt laughing now. She was furious. Her voice followed him as hekept going. I chose you, Theorn Youre mine. Y ou cant walk away from meThierry kept going, neither laggard nor faster, letting her voice blend into the humming of the insects onthe grassland. But her rational voice followed him.Ill never let you get away. Youll always be mine, now and forever.Thierry traveled fast, and in only a few days, he reached home and the person hed come to see.Hellewise looked up from her drying herbs and gasped.Im not going to hurt you, he said. I need your help.What he wanted from her was a spell to sleep. He wanted to sleep until Hana was born again. It could be a long time, Hellewise said when he told her the whole story. It sounds as if her soul hasbeen damaged. It could be hundreds of years- even thousands.Thierry didnt care.And you might die, Hellewise said, looking at him steadily with her deep, soft brown eyes. And withwhat youve become-I dont theorise creatures like you are reborn. You would just die.Thierry simply nodded. He was only afraid of two things that Maya would find him while he w as asleep,and that he wouldnt know when to wake up.I can arrange the second, Hellewise said quietly. Youre linked anyway your souls are one. Whenshes born again, voices from the Other Side will whisper to you.Thierry himself figured out how to work on the first problem. He dug himself a grave. It was the only placewhere he could count on being safe and undisturbed.Hellewise gave him an infusion of roots and pare and Thierry went to sleep.He slept a long time. He slept straight through the desperate battle when Hellewise drove Maya and her son Red Fern out of thetribe and away from the witches. He slept through the origins of the Night World and thousands of yearsof human change. When he finally woke up, the world was a different place, with civilizations and cities.And he knew that somewhere Hana had been born in one of them.He began to look.He was a wanderer, a lost soul with no home and no people. But not a killer. He learned to take bloodwithout killing, to find willing donors or else of hunting terrified prey.He looked in every village he passed, learning about the new world surrounding him, surviving on verylittle, searching every face he saw. Lots of communities would have been glad to adopt him, this tallyoung man with dusty enclothe and far-seeing eyes. But he only stayed long enough to make legitimate thatHana wasnt there.When he did find her it was in Egypt, the Kingdom of the Two Lands. She was sixteen. Her name wasHa-nahkt.And Thierry would have recognized her anywhere, because she was still tall, still fair-haired andgray-eyed and beautiful.Except for one thing.crosswise her left cheek, where his fingers had smeared her own blood the night that he had killed her, wasa red mark like a bruise. Like a stain on her perfect skin.It was a sort of psychic brand, a physical monitor lizard of what had happened in her last life. A permanentwound. And it was his fault.Thierry was overcome with grief and shame. He saw that the other girl, Ket, the frie nd who had beenwith Hana in the last life, was with her again now. She had friends. mayhap it was best to leave her alonein this life, not even try to speak to her.But he had forgotten about Maya.Vampires dont die.Life is fantastic sometimes. It was just as Thierry was thinking this that a figure walked into the lobby. Stillhalf in his daydream of the past, he was expecting it to be Circe, so for a moment he was simplyconfused. Then his heart rate picked up and every muscle in his body tensed violently. It was Maya.He hadnt seen her for over a hundred years. The last time had been in Quebec, when Hannah had beennamed Annette.And Maya had just killed her.Thierry stood up.She was as beautiful as ever. But to Thierry it was like the rainbow on oil scum. He despised her more thanhe had ever imagined he could hate anyone. So you strand me, he said quietly. I knew youd show up eventually.Maya smiled brilliantly. I imbed her first.Thierry went still.That amulet was a very good one. I had to wait close to to catch her alone so she could invite meinside.Thierrys heart lurched. He felt a physical wrench, as if something in him were actually trying to get out,trying desperately to get to Hannah-now.How could he have been so lumpen? She was too innocent of course she would invite someone into herhouse. And she thought of Maya as a friend.The ring should have offered at least a total of protection from mind control-but only if Hannah hadkept it on. Thierry realized now that she probably hadnt.His voice a bare whisper, he said, What did you do to her?Oh, not much. mostly it was just conversation. I mentioned that you were likely to get rough with her ifthings didnt go your way. Maya canted her head, eyes on his face, looking for a reaction.Thierry didnt give it to her. He just stood, watching her silently.She hadnt changed in thousands of years. She never changed, never grew, never got tired. And shenever gave up. He didnt think she was capable of it.Sometimes he thought he should just tie himself to her at the waist and find a bottomless hell on earth to jump into.Rid the world of its two oldest vampires and all the problems Maya caused.But there was his promise to Hannah.It doesnt matter what you say to her, he said stonily. You dont understand, Maya. This time isdifferent. She remembers and-And she hates you. I know. Poor baby. Maya made a mock-sympathetic face. Her eyes sparkledpeacock blue.Thierry gritted his teeth. And Ive come to a decision, he went on evenly. The cycle has to be broken.And there is a way to do it.I know, Maya said before he could finish. You can give her up. Give in to meYes. This time he cut her off. And the look of confusion that flared in her eyes was worth it. Atleast, yes to the first part, he finished. Im big(a) her up.Youre not. You cant.Shes happy in this life. And she-doesnt want me. There. It had been hard to say, but hed gotten it out. She remembers everything-I dont know why, but she does. Maybe becau se shes so dose to her reliable form. Maybe somehow the memories are closer to the surface. Or maybe its the hypnosis. But inany case, she doesnt want me anymore.Maya was watching him, fascinated, her eyes the violet of deep twilight, her lips parted. Suddenly, shelooked beyond him and smiled secretly. She remembers everything? You really think so?Thierry nodded. All Ive ever brought her is misery and pain. I guess she realizes that. He took abreath, then caught Mayas eyes again. So Im end-tag the cycle now.Youre going to walk away.And so are you. Shes no threat to you anymore. If you want something from me, the only person todeal with is me. You can try any time you like in Vegas. He gazed at her levelly.Maya threw back her head and let out ripples of musical theater laughter.Oh, why didnt you tell me before? You could have saved me some stretch forth but on the other hand,her blood was very sweet. I wouldnt have missed-She broke off, then, because Thierry slammed her against the oak-paneled wall of the lobby.In one instant, his control had disappeared. He was so angry that he couldnt speak out loud.What did you do to her? What did you do? He shouted the words telepathically as his hands closedaround Mayas throat.Maya just smiled at him. She was the oldest vampire, and the most powerful. In every vampire whocame after her, her blood had been diluted, half as strong, a quarter as strong, an eighth. But she was theoriginal and the purest. She wasnt afraid of anyone.Mel I didnt do anything, she said, answering him the same way. Im afraid you were the one whoattacked her. She seemed very unhappy about it she even stabbed you with a pencil. Maya lifted a handand Thierry saw a neat dark hole puncturing it, faintly ringed with blood.The power of illusion, he thought. Maya could appear as anyone and anything she wanted. She hadtalents that usually only belonged to werewolves and shapeshifters. And of course she was a witch.She really has extraordinary spirit, Maya w ent on. But shes all right-you didnt substitute as much bloodas you d planned. The pencil, you see.People were conclave behind Thierry, murmuring anxiously. They were about to interfere and ask him toplease let go of the girl he was strangling.He ignored them.Listen to me, he told Maya, staring into her mocking golden eyes. Listen, because Im never going to saythis again. If you place Hannah again-ever-in any life-I will kill you.Ill kill you, he whispered out loud, to emphasize it. Believe me, Maya, Ill do it. Then he let her go. He had to get to Hannah. Even a small exchange of blood with a vampire could bedangerous, and Mayas blood was the most potent on earth. Worse, hed already taken some ofHannahs blood last night. She could be critically wishy-washy now or starting to change.He wouldnt think about that.You wont, you know. Mayas telepathic voice followed him as he made for the door. You wont kill me.Not Thierry the compassionate, Thierry the good vampire, Thierry the sain t of Circle Daybreak. Yourenot capable of it. You cant kill.Thierry stopped on the threshold and turned around. He stared directly into Mayas eyes.Try me.Then he was outside, wretched quickly through the night. Even so, Maya got the last word.And, of course, theres your promise.