Night World : Soulmate Chapter 10

The archetypal sight of her broke through his animal state and gave him enough mind to stand up akin a man.She reminded him of Hellewise. She had that same look of tender courage, that same ageless wisdom inher eyes. Any woman could be pretty by truth of regular features. But Hana was pleasing because hersoul showed in her face.Seeing her make him ashamed. Seeing her defend him, intercede on his behalf as she was so obviouslydoing, do him angry.He resisted when she sneaked him out of the cave and tried to send him back into the world. Didnt she chthonicstand? It was best for him to die. As long as he was loose, no child, no woman, no man was safe.Even as he stood thither in the moonlight with her, he was trembling with need. The racelust was attempt tounbalance his mind, and it was all he could do non to grab her and bite into her soft throat.When she offered him her throat, he almost cried. It wasnt a sacrifice to turn her d own and walk away.It was the except right social occasion to do, the only thing he could do.And then 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. But during the endless succession while Hanas class burned-over and stabbed and beathim, he lost all contact with the person he thought of as himself. He became an animal, as mindless as themob that was trying to kill him.As an animal, he wanted two things to survive and to strike out at the people who were hurting him.And there was a way to do both.Throats. White throats, spurting dark line of credit. The image came to him slowly in his haze of pain. He didnt see to lie here and take this. He was wounded, but there was excuse a granite core of strength inside him.He could fight back, and his enemies would give him life.The next time a spear jabbed at him, he grabbed it and pulled.It belonged to the broad-shouldered hunter, the unity whod led the others to him. Thierry grabbed theman as he stumbled forward, wrestling him to the ground. And then, before anyone in the crowd had timeto react, he darted for the hunters throat, for the big vein that pulsed however under the skin.It was all over in a minute. He was drinking deep, deep, and gaining strength with every s debateow. Thedam of the Three Rivers was stark(a) at him in paralyzed shock.It mat up good.He tossed the dead man aside and reached for another.When several hunters came at him at erstwhile, he knocked them apart and killed them, one, two, three. Hewas a very efficient killer. The blood make him supernaturally strong and fast, and the bloodlust gave himmotivation. He was like a wolf set loose in a herd of antelope-except that for a long time cypher in theclan had the sense to run. They kept coming at him, trying to stop him, and he kept killing.It was a slaughter. 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 glo ry. Killing to eat, killing for revenge. Destroying the people who hurt him. He didnt ever want tostop.He was drinking the last drops from the veins of a young girl when he looked down and saw 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 looking down at theone person who had tried to help him, who had offered him her blood to keep him a lie.He raised his eyes and saw the devastation hed left in the cave. It wasnt save 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 forgiven, never be redeemed. He had linked evil in the end, just asMaya had compactd 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 dying girl in his arms.For just a n instant some part of him pushed away at the feelings of guilt and horror. All right, youre evil,it said. You might as well go ahead and be evil. Enjoy it. Have no regrets. Its your nature, now. Give in.Then the girl in his arms stirred.She was still conscious, although barely. Her eyes were still open. She was looking up at him.In that moment, Thierry felt a shock that was different from anything hed ever felt before.In those large gray eyes, in the pupils which were tremendously dilated as if to catch every last ray of lightbefore death, he saw himself.Himself and the girl, walking to realizeher, hand in hand through the ages. Joined. transformation scenes behindthem, different places, different times. But always the two of them, tied with an invisible bond.He acknowledge 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,seeing what should hav e been.She was his soulmate.She was the one who was supposed to have walked with him through different lives, being born andloving and dying and being born again. Theyd been born for each other, to help each other grow and peak and discover and evolve. They should have had many 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 haveI done? There was nothing that he could say that wasnt so delusive as to be demeaning to her. He simplysat and shook, looking down into her eyes. He had an endless feeling of falling.And then Hana spoke.I forgive you.It was just 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 ver balize 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 utilise 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 presage me one thing.Anything.I want you to promise 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 deal with the lo ng gray stretch of future waiting for him. Fornow, he said, Ill never kill again.She gave him just 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 wakeless he almost couldntkeep hold of her. Helpless, pierced by love that felt like a spear, he reached out to gently push her hairoff her face. His thumb stroked her cheek- and left a jumper cable of blood.He stared at it in horror. The mark was like a blaze of red against her pale skin.Even his love was deadly. His caress had branded her.The few survivors of Hanas clan were on the move, surrounding Thierry, panting 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 i t.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 home.Maya caught up with him somewhere on the steppes, appearing out of the tall, ripping grass. I told youhow youd end up. Now 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. You cant walk away from meThierry kept going, neither slower nor faster, permitting her voice blend into the humming of the insects onthe grassland. But her mental voice followed him.Ill never let you get away. Youll always be mine, now and forever.Thierry tr aveled 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 reckon creatures like you are reborn. You would just die.Thierry simply nodded. He was only afraid of two things that Maya would escort him while he was 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 coursed out how to solve the firs t 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 bark and Thierry went to sleep.He slept a long time. He slept straight through the epic 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 dark 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 instead of hunting terrified prey.He looked in every village he passed, learning about the new world surrounding him, hold out on verylittle, searching every face he saw. Lots of communities would have been glad to adopt him, this tallyoung man with dusty change st ate and far-seeing eyes. But he only stayed long enough to make sure 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.Across 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 reminder 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 friend who had beenwith Hana in the last life, was with her again now. She had friends. Maybe it was best to leave her altogetherin this life, not even try to speak to her.But he had forgotten about Maya.Vampires dont die.Life is strange 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 hated her more thanhe had ever imagined he could hate anyone. So you found me, he said quietly. I knew youd show up eventually.Maya smiled brilliantly. I found her first.Thierry went still.That amulet was a very good one. I had to wait around 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 stupid? 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 measure 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 tilted 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 pit 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 t ime 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 astonishment that flared in her eyes was worth it. Atleast, yes to the first part, he finished. Im giving 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 because shes so dose to heroriginal 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 make believe 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 laughter.Oh, why didnt you tell me before? You could have saved me some trouble 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 powerfu l. In every vampire whocame after her, her blood had been diluted, half as strong, a shite 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 unremarkably only belonged to werewolves and shapeshifters. And of course she was a witch.She really has extraordinary spirit, Maya went on. But shes all right-you didnt exchange as much bloodas you d planned. The pencil, you see.People were concourse 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 m ocking golden eyes. Listen, because Im never going to saythis again. If you touch Hannah again-ever-in any life-I will kill you.Ill kill you, he whispered out loud, to emphasize it. recall 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 weak 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 saint of Circle Daybreak. Yourenot capable of it. You cant kill.Thierry stop on the threshold and turned around. He stared directly into Mayas eyes.Try me.Then he was outside, moving quickly through the night. Even so, Maya got the last word.And, of course, theres your promise.