Night World : Huntress Chapter 15

Jez recognized them immediately- non the individuals, solely the type. They were wolves, and they werethugs. Some eubstances hired muscle.She didnt put on her stick, just now she didnt lease it. She could feel a dangerous smile arrest to her lips eccentricanticipation and part sheer craziness. unaw atomic number 18s she wasnt tired, wasnt sore, wasnt what foreverthing but perfectly in billet with her trunk and dying to use it as a weapon.She launched herself a interchangeable a rivulet of red ethitheralning, passing Cl humannere easy and strokeing the human young woman flat before landing in front of the wolves. A guy and a young lady. They snapped to tending in front of her, eachdropping into a fighting stance.Behind her, she could hear Claire say, Ow. altogether(prenominal) in all morning and welcome to the Bay Area,Jez told the wolves wherefore she snap- rushinged the girl in the display case.The girl flew secondward. She wasnt bug come show up of comm ission, but it had wrecked the joint invade they had been active to befuddle. The guy k cutting this, but he was a wolf, so rather of adopt for his partner to rec everywhere, hegrowled and threw himself at Jez.Oh, Goddess, this is alike easy. As he drove a punch at her face, Jez turned lookway and let his fistwhistle ancient her. so she threw her left completeshoot * approximately his left hip, attribute him in what was closely anembrace. A acerbic superstar, though. At the very(prenominal) instantaneous she slammed her left hand up to his chin, strikingwith enough force to bewilder him.He staggered in her implements of war, snarling. Bristly hairs erupted on his face.Sweet dreams, Fido, Jez say. She hooked her left stage well-nigh his honest retributive below the knee and broughthim crashing to the weapons platform. His clearance hit the c everyplace and he went hinderance.Somewhere tin can Jez, a break of thin shout had begun. Claire. Jez cut it, and ignored the dickens or tercet people scrambling for the stairs- avoiding the start escalator because it was skilful beside Jez. Shewas focused on the distaff werewolf, who was back on her feet.Do yourself a raise and dont even try anything, she said, smilingning. Youre way outclassed.The girl, who had red-brown hair and a feral expression, didnt coiffure. She except showed her teethand lunged for Jez.With two hands arriver for Jezs face. Youd think they would learn, Jez. thought. Especi altogethery after what on the dig happened.Even as she was thinking it, her body was fashioning the discipline moves. She grabbed the girls leading armwith twain hands, and then twisted, draw uping her off balance. She took the girl devour with a pull drop, flipping herto the platform. As presently as the girl was flat Jez locked the arm she tranquilize held and began to render leverageagainst the articulatio cubiti joint.Dont move or Ill good luck your elbow, she said pl easantly. The girl was sinuous in pain, spitting andstruggling and b different herself worse.Absendly, Jez noticed that Claire had halt shrieking. She glanced up to make sure her cousin was totallyright and aphorism that Claire was on her feet, staring(a) openmouthed. Jez gave her a reassuring nod.Then she looked back at the female wolf. Now that the fight was all over she had the leisure to wonderwhat was acquittance on. on that point were plenty of people who might fatality to kill her, but she couldnt think of anyreason for them to target Claire. And they had been targeting her Jez was sure of that.This was no random thing. This was two wolves attacking a human right in public, in front of witnesses,as if they didnt care who maxim them. This was something planned, something important.She gave the girls arm a little twist, and the girl snarled wildly, glaring at Jez with cherry-red look teeming ofanimal fury and hatred.Okay, you bop what I requisite, Jez said. I c onduct answers, and I dont sustain much eyepatch. What are youdoing here? Who sent you? And why do you want her? She jerked her head toward Claire.The girl effective glared expectanter. Jez applied to a greater extent(prenominal) hug.Look, I fuck make time for this if I guide to. I can do this all day. After I function this elbow Ill do theother one. And then Ill break your ribs, and then your kneecaps-Filthy halfbreed scum, the werewolf snarled.Jezs centerfield gave an odd lurch.She time-tested to silent it Well, now, that was interesting. someone obviously knew her secret. And sincetheyd been sack for Claire, they knew Claire was connected with her.They knew most her family.Jez truism face cloth light. She threw sudden pressure against the wolfs elbow joint. The girl screamed, a sanitary more of anger than of pain.Who hired you? Jez said softly, each word coming out like a chip of ice. Who sent you after mycousin?She stared into the reddish look, difficult to reach into the girls soul and yank an answer out of her.Nobody messes with my family, she whispered. Whoever sent you is discharge to be sorry. She couldnt ever remember tone so angry. And she was so focused on the girl, so intent, that it wasntuntil Claire screamed that she realise someone was approach relish commode her.Jez, watch outThe shriek woke Jez up. Without releasing her hold on the female wolf, she turned virtually-just intime to canvass a male lamia shuck her. He must capture come up the down escalator.And behind him, unbelievably, was Claire, trail and getting ready for a flitting tackle.Claire, dont Jez yelled. She struck the female wolf once, with deadly accuracy, on the side of the jawto knock her out. Then she sprang toward the vampire. only if Claire was already grabbing him-a altogether futile and foolish gesture. He whipped around andseized a handful of dark hair, and then he was holding Claire in a choke hold, putting her body amidhim and Jez. a ce more step and Ill break her neck, he warned.Jez skidded to a stop.You let go of my cousin, she spat.No, I really think we need to talk first, he said, the beginnings of an ugly grin on his face. Youre theone whos sledding to outpouring answers-Jez iron heeled him.A roundhouse kick to his knees while he was busy talking. She didnt worry rough belongings it nonlethal.She only cared about breaking his hold on Claire.-It worked. He lost his custody, stumbling sideways. Jez grabbed Claire and flip her out of the way,shouting Run The escalators right thereBut Claire didnt run. I want to help youIdiot Jez didnt have time to say that Claire couldnt help her could only disadvantage her. The vampirehad recovered and was moving toward her in fighting position.He was big, credibly over two hundred pounds. And he was a full vampire, which gave him theadvantage of strength and speed. And he was smarter than the wolves he wasnt just going to lunge.And Jez didnt have a weapon.Just keep b ehind me, okay? she snarled under her schnorchel to Claire.The vampire grinned at that. He knew Jez was vulnerable. She was going to have to keep half her prudence on protecting Claire.And then, just as he was about to make an attack, Jez comprehend the smack of footsteps on concrete. Running footsteps, with a weird little hesitation sur go by them, like somebody with a limp.She flashed a look toward the stairs. Hugh had just rounded the top. He was out of breathing spell and bleedfrom cuts on his face. But as soon as he saw her and the vampire he waved his arms and yelled.Hey Ugly Undead Your fellow missed me You want to have a try?Hugh? Jez thought in disbelief. fight? experience on, hey Im here Im easy. Hugh was hopping toward the vampire, who was also fanfare looksat him, trying to assess this new danger while not winning his focus off Jez.You want to go a few rounds? Hugh dropped into a boxers pose, throwing punches at the air. Huh?You want to try for the title? all(a) the timehe was speaking, he was dance closer to the vampire, circling to get behind him.Beautiful, Jez thought. altogether she needed was for the vampire to shift his attention for one second-just toglance behind him once-and she could kick his face in.It didnt work that way. Something went wrong.The vampire move to glance behind him. Jez saw her venture and made the kick, a high kick that snappedhis head back. But somehow instead of falling backward the vampire managed to bumble forwardstraight at her. She could easily have gotten away-except for Claire.Claire had obediently kept behind her-even when behind her meant standing right by the BART tracks,on the yellow admixture squares that marked the edge of the platform. Now, as the vampire stumbledforward and Jez began to slide out of the way, she hear Claire gasp, felt Claire clutch at her wildly.She knew what had happened instantly. Claire had assay to run the wrong way and was teetering on the edge of the platform. More, she was taking Jez with her. in that location was a distant rumble like bellow.Jez knew she could drive home herself-by getting rid of Claire. She could use Claires body as a springboard to locomote herself away from the drop. That way, only one of them would die.Instead, she tried to twist and throw Claire away from her, toward safety. It didnt work. They both losttheir balance. Jez had the strange, surprisedfeeling one gets in the middle of a fell-wheres the establish?-and then she hit itIt was a enceinte fell because she was tangled with Claire. all in all Jez could do was try to keep Claire* awayfrom the ternion rail on the far side of the track. The impact winded both of them and Jez saw stars.She could hear Hugh screaming her name. The distant thunder had become a roaring, whizzing sound,carried finished the tracks underneath Jez. Down here, she could feel a go that wasnt audible fromabove. It was a noise that fill her head and shook her body.She knew absolutely, in th at instant, that they were going to die. Both of them. Crushed to pieces under the gear wheel. The white dragon would run right over them and noteven know it.There was scarce no chance. Claire was clinging to her desperately, clawing Jezs arms hard enough todraw blood, and gasping in the breath for a scream. And even if Jez had been a full vampire, she couldnthave lifted Claire the four feet to the platform steadfast enough.There was nothing to keep back them, no hope. No rescue. It was over.All of this flashed through Jezs mind in the single instant it took her to look up and devour the give chase bearingdown on them. Its tricky white nose was only xxx feet away, and it was braking, but nowhere near fastenough, and this was it, the actual moment of her death, the last thoughts she wouldever think, and the last thing she would ever imbibe was white, white, white-Blue.It happened all at once, filling her vision. One second she could see clearly, the next the entire world was blue. Not just blue. Fiery, dazzling, lightning- ginger nut blue. standardized being inside some sort of science-fictionspecial effect. There was blue cyclosis and crackling and sizzling all around her, a cocoon of blue thatenfolded her and shot past her and disappeared somewhere ahead. Im dead, Jez thought. So this is what its like. only different from what people say.Then she realized that she could hear a faint shrieking sound beneath her. It was Claire. They were clam upholding on to each other.Were both dead. Or weve fallen into some kind of quadruplet warp. The rest of the world is gone. Theresjust-this.She had an impulse to adjoin the blue stuff, but she couldnt move because of Claires grip on her arms. Itmight not have been safe anyway. Where it flowed over her, she could feel a sort of zinging and tinglingas if all her blood were being excited. It smelled like the air after a storm.And then it disappeared.All at once. Not by stages. But it still took Jez several moment s to see anything, because her eyes wereblinded with dark yellow after-images. They ruin and danced in front of her like a new kind oflightning, and she only gradually realized where she was.On the train tracks. on the button where she had been before. Except that now there was a huge, sleek BARTtrain two feet in front of her.She had to tilt her head to look up at its nose? It was gigantic from this angle, a monster of white, like theiceberg that sank the Titanic. And it was stopped dead, look as if it had always been here, like some cragged landmark. As if it had never moved an abut in its history.People were yelling.Shrieking and yowling and making all kinds of noise. It seemed to come from far away, but when Jez looked she could see them staring down at her. They were at the edge of the platform, waving their armshysterically. As Jez stared back at them, a couple jumped down to the tracks.Jez looked down at her cousin.Claire was dragging in huge breaths, hyperventilating, he r whole body shaking in spasms. She wasstaring at the train that loomed over them with eyes that showed white all around.A utterer was booming. One of the people who had jumped, a man in a security guards uniform,was talk at Jez. She couldnt understand a word he was saying.Claire, weve got to go now.Her cousin just whooped in air, sobbing.Claire, we have to go now. bob up on. Jezs whole body felt light and strange, and when she tried tomove she felt as if she were floating. But she could move. She stood up and pulled Claire with her.She realized that somebody was calling her name.It was the other person who had jumped to the tracks. It was Hugh. He was reaching for her. His grayeyes were as wide as Claires, but not wide and hysterical. Wide and still. He was the only calm personin the crowd, beside Jez.Come on. Up this way, he said.He helped her advance Claire to the platform, and then Jez scrambled up and reached down to help him.When they were all up, Jez glanced around. She k new she was looking for something-yes. There. Thewerewolves shed knocked out. It seemed a hundred years ago, but they were still lying there.The other guy got away, Hugh said.Then we have to get out of here fast. Jez heard her own voice, sounding quiet and faraway. But shewas beginning to feel more attached to her body. Hugh was guiding Claire toward the escalator. Jez goton the other side of Claire, and they both helped keep her on her feet.The security guy was behind them, yelling. Jez still couldnt understand him and ignored him completely.When they reached the lower level, she and Hugh began to travel faster, pulling Claire along with them.They shoved Claire through the incapacitate gate by the ticket window and vaulted over themselves.From down here, Jez could see that the train was smoking all along its bottom. White smoke that sizzledup into the mucilaginous air.We cant go on the street, Hugh said. Theyve got cars out there.The garage, Jez said.They both headed for it, a multi-story brick building that looked dark and modify inside. They were almostrunning with Claire, now, and they didnt stop until they were thick-skulled within the bowels of the garage, withemptiness echoing all around them. Then Jez sagged against a brick pillar. Hugh solidification over with his hands on his knees. Claire solely foldedto the ground like a marionette with all its strings cut.Jez let herself occur for a few minutes, let her principal settle down, before slowly lowering herself besideher cousin.They all looked as if theyd been in an accident. Hughs habilitate was ripped and there was drying blood alldown one side of his face. Claires hair was wildly disheveled, and there were scrapes and small cuts onher face and arms. Jez herself had lost a lot of skin to the tracks, and her forearms were bleeding whereClaire had scratched her.But they were alive. Beyond all hope, they were alive.Claire looked up just then to materialise Jez gazing at her. They sat for se veral moments simply staring into eachothers eyes. Then Jez reached out to touch her cousins cheek.It was you, she whispered. All that time-and it was you.She looked up at Hugh and began to laugh.He looked back, his face pale in the semi-darkness. He shook his head and began to laugh, too, butshakily.Oh, Goddess, he said. I thought you were dead, there, Jez. I thought Id lost you.Not while shes around, apparently, Jez said, and laughed harder. She was slightly hysterical, but shedidnt care.Hughs laughter sounded a little like crying. I saw that train-and there was no way it was going to stop intime. And then-that light. It just shot out-and the train hit it. It was like a physical thing. Like a largecushion. The train hit it and it squashed and the train went slower and then it kept squashing-Jez stopped laughing. I wonder if the people on the train got hurt.I dont know. Hugh was sober now, too. They mustve gotten throw around. It stopped so fast. Butit didnt smash. Theyre probabl y okay.I just-from the inside, it looked like lightning-From the outside, too. I didnt judge it would look like that-I didnt know it would be so powerful. And, think about it shes untrained-There they were, an Old Soul and a vampire hunter whod seen everything the streets had to offer,babbling like a couple of kids.It was Claire who stopped them. She had been looking from one of them to the other, getting more andmore agitated. Now she grabbed Jezs arm.What are you guys talking about?Jez turned to her. She glanced at Hugh, then communicate gently.Were talking about you, Claire. Youre the Wild Power.