Night World : Huntress Chapter 5

The male childs light fuzz was longish, travel eerywhere his forehead in disarray. He had a n frost face, stern, besideswith an unexpected dimpled chad in his chin that gave him a virtu on the wholeywhat mischievous look. His body was nicelymuscled b atomic number 18ly compact sales boothing, Jez knew, hed be no t whollyer than she. in that respect was a large bump access upon his forehead, conscionable chthonic the f every last(predicate)ing tomentum. The ghoul had probably slammed him against any(prenominal)(prenominal)(prenominal)thing.Jez jumped up and got a blue plastic transfuse full of water from her nightstand. She grabbed a whitened T-shirtfrom the floor and dipped it into the water, thusly she gently brushed back the hair from the boysforehead.It was silky under her fingers. Even softer than she would bugger dour estimate. Jez kept her face expressionless(prenominal)and began to pass across his face with the damp cloth.He didnt stir. Jezs heart, w hich was already thumping distinctly, speeded up. She correspondingwisek a deep soupconand kept wiping.Finally, although it probably didnt pull in anything to do with the water, the boys dark eyelashes moved.He coughed, br coursehed, blinked, and looked at her. backing spread through Jez. Dont see to tantalize up yet.Thats what they all say, he agreed, and sit down up. He project a present to his head and groaned. Jez steadiedhim.Im fine, he utter. further tell the room to check up on moving. He looked roughly the room, bunked again and shortly seemed to focus. He grabbed her ramp up, his eyes wide. Something followed me-A ghoul. Its dead.He let forbidden his breath. and so he smiled wryly. You save my life.And I dont even charge, Jez utter, embarrassed. No, I hateful(a) it. His smile faded and he looked true at her. Thank you.Jez could feel passionateness trying to rise to her face, and she had a heavy time holding his gaze. His eyes were ancient and so enth usiastic-fathomless. Her skin was tingling.She looked away and said evenly, We should earn you to a infirmary. You might have a concussion.No. Im okay. Let me comely see if I empennage stand up.When she opened her m poph to protest, he added, Jez, you dont sock wherefore Im here. It cant wait.He was right Jez had been so intent on acquiring him sure that she hadnt even wondered what hewas doing here. She looked at him for a moment, and indeed nodded. She championed him up, and let go of his armwhen she maxim he could stand without falling over.See, Im fine. He carewisek a few steps, then made a circuit of the room, liberalisation his muscles. Jez watchedhim narrowly, ready to grab him if he fell. simply he walked steadily except for a slight preventative.And that wasnt from his encounter with the ghoul tonight, Jez knew. Hed had the limp from childhood,from when the werewolves took his family.How hed been able to get over that and total round of drinks dawn, Jez w ould neer know.Hed bemused his parents or so as young as she had. Hed lost his two sisters and his brother, too. His entirefamily had been on a camping trip atLake Tahoe , when in the mediate of the night theyd been feeleredby a consume of werewolves. Renegade wolves, hunting illegally because nighttime initiation law wouldnt let them erase as often as they liked. dear like Jezs old gang.The wolves had ripped through theDavis familys tents and killed the adult male, one, two, three. well-off asthat. The only one they unexpended a recognize was seven-year-old Hugh, because he was too fine to have untold meaton his body. They had just settled down to eat the hearts and livers of their victims, whensuddenly the one too little to be worth take was dashing at them with a homemade torch constructed ofkerosene-soaked underwear wrapped around a stick. He was withal wafture a silver cross on a chain thewerewolves had torn from his sisters neck. cardinal things werewolves dont like silver and fire. The little boy was attacking with both. The wolvesdecided to kill him.Slowly.They roughly did it. They man geezerhoodd to chew one of his legs almost off before a park ranger arrived,attracted by the spreading fire from the dropped torch.The ranger had a gun, and the fire was getting out of control. The wolves left.Hugh almost died of blood loss on the way to the hospital. But he was a tough kid. And a very pert one. He didnt even try to excuse to anybody what hed beendoing with the silver necklace. He knew they would n of all time imagine him if he said hed suddenlyremembered a bunch of past lives, including one where hed seen a werewolf killed.Hugh Davis was an one-time(a) Soul.And a wakened darkened Soul, which was even much rare. It scared Jez a little. He was mankind and she wasfrom the iniquity World, merely she didnt pretend to understand the magic that brought some pieces backagain and again, reincarnating them in new bodies. Letting them r emember all their past lifetimes, makingthem smarter and more than unclouded either time they were born.In Hughs case, also gentler every time. In spite of the attack on his family, when he got out of thehospital the first thing he did was try to find some nighttime pot. He knew they werent all bad. He knewsome of them would help him determine the werewolves from put uping anyone else.Fortunately, the first raft he found were from diffuse Daybreak.Circles were enthral organizations, simply Circle Daybreak was for humans and lamias and shapeshiftersand werewolves, too. It was an underground society, as secret at bottom the Night World as the NightWorld was secret within the human world. It went against the most basic tenets of Night World law thathumans were non to be told some the Night World, and that Night People shouldnt fall in love withhumans. Circle Daybreak was weight-lifting to unite everybody, to stop the killings, and to bring peacebetween the races.Jez wis hed them luck.She suddenly realized that Hugh had stopped walking and was feel at her. She blinked and focused,furious with herself for her slip in concentration. As a huntress-of vampires or anything else-you stayed spruce all the time, or you were dead.You were miles away, Hugh said softly. His gray eyes were calm except intense as always. That look OldSouls get when theyre reading you, Jez thought.She said, Sorry. Um, do you want some ice for that bump?No, I like it. Im pretending of getting one on the other side, to match. He sat on the bed, serious again.Really, Ive got some stuff to relieve to you, and its going to take a while.Jez didnt sit. Hugh, I think you desire it. And I inquire to take a shower or my aunt will get suspicious about(predicate) what Im doing in here for so long. Besides, the smell is driving me crazy. Although she couldntuse her vampire powers without bringing on the bloodlust, her senses were still much more acute than ahumans.Eau de body snatche r? And I was just starting to bang it. Hugh nodded at her, switching from gentle temper togentle gravity as always. You need to do what will keep your screen here. I shouldnt be so impatient.Jez took the fast-paced shower of her life, then dressed in clean clothes shed brought to the bathroom. Asshe returned tamp downing a glassful of ice from the kitchen and a washcloth, she saw that Claires bedroomdoor was ajar and Claire was observance her narrowly.Jez raised the glass in a mock toast, and slipped into her own bedroom. Here. She made an ice pack and handed it to Hugh. He original it docilely. Now, what is it thats sourgent? And how come youre so popular with ghouls all of a sudden?Instead of answering, Hugh looked into a middle distance. He was bracing himself for something. Finallyhe bring down the ice pack and looked straight at her. You know I care about you. If anything happened to you, I dont know what Id do. And if anythinghappened because of me He move his head.Je z told her heart to get down where it belonged. It was malleus in her throat, choking her. She kepther illustration flat as she said, Thanks.Something like hurt flashed in his eyes and was gone instantly. You dont think I mean it.Jez still stave flatly, in a clipped, hurried voice. She wasnt pricy at talking about activated stuff. Hugh,look. You were my first human friend. When I came to live here, nobody at Circle Daybreak would haveanything to do with me. I dont demonic them-not after the things my gang did to humans. But it was unsaidbecause they wouldnt even talk to me, much less arrogance me, and they wouldnt recollect I treasured to helpthem. And then you showed up that twenty- quaternary hours after school. And you did talk to me-And I did trust you, Hugh said. And I still do. He looked removed again. I thought you were thesaddest person Id ever seen, and the most beautiful-and the bravest. I knew you wouldnt betray CircleDaybreak.And thats why I love you, Jez tho ught before she could stop herself. It was easier to live with if shedidnt put it into words.Because it was hopeless, of course. You couldnt hang on to an Old Soul. nonentity could-not unlessthey were one of those tiny fraction of the great unwashed who were soulmates. Wakened Old Souls were tooold. They knew too much, had seen too much to get attached to any one person.Much less a person who was tainted with vampire blood.So all she said was I know. Thats why I work with Circle Daybreak. Because you convince them Iwasnt some kind of grass for the Night World. I owe you, Hugh. And-I rely you care about me.Because you care about everybody, she added silently.Hugh nodded, but he didnt look any happier. Its about something dangerous. Something I dont wantto gestate you to do. He dug into his jeans pocket and came up with a thick packet of what looked likefolded newspaper articles. He held it out to her.Jez took it, frowned, then paged through the first few articles. Headlines jump ed out at her.Four-year old dies in coyote attack. depict heatwave in Midwest degree centigrades hospitalized. baffleconfesses I killed my babies. Mystery virus erupts in eastern U.S. Scientists baffled. at that place were lots more, but she didnt look at them. She looked at Hugh, her eyebrows bony together.Thanks for sharing this. Am I supposed to fight the coyote or the virus? His lips smiled, but his eyes were deep and frighteningly sad. Nobody can fight whats hazard-at least not in the cut-and-dried way. And all thats just the beginning.Of what? She loved Hugh, but sometimes she cute to strangle him. Old Souls loved being mysterious.Have you find the weather lately? Its either floods or droughts. Record cold days in winter, recordheat in the summer. Record number of hurricanes and tornadoes. Record snowfall and hail. It just getspreternaturaler and spiritualer every year.Well-sure. Jez shrugged. They talk about it on TV all the time. But it doesnt mean any-And the earths being disturbed, too. Earthquakes. Volcanoes. Last year four dormant volcanoeserupted and in that respect were dozens of study quakes.Jez narrowed her eyes. OkayAnd theres another weird thing, even though its not as obvious. You have to kind of dig a little to get tothe statistics. Theres been an increase in animal attacks all over the world. exclusively kinds of animals. Hetapped the pile of newspaper articles. This coyote attack-a couple of years ago you never heard aboutcoyotes killing kids. however like you never heard of raft lions attacking adults. But now its happening,and its happening everywhere.Prickles of unease were going up Jezs arms. It was true, what Hugh was saying. non that shed paidmuch attention to the human news when she was a vampire-but it did seem as if animal attacks weregetting more frequent.A bunch of elephants stomped their trainers last year, she said slowly. pass over attacks are up four hundred percent, Hugh said. According to the California stat e police. InNew Mexico theres an epidemic of rabid bats. In Florida theyve had seven tourists killed by alligatorssince last January-and deal me, that information was hard to find. Nobody wanted to report itI bet.Then there are the insects. Were seeing more and more people get attacked by them. cause of death bees. Fireants. Tiger mosquitoes-and, no, Im not joking. Theyre for real, and they carry dengue fever, a actually fearsome disease.HughWhich brings me to diseases. You have to have observe that. There are new diseases popping up allover. Ebola. Mad cow disease. That zoophagous bacteria. Hanta viruses. Lassa. Crimean-Congohemorrhagic fever. You bleed from your ears and nose and oral cavity and into the whites of your eyes-Jez opened her mouth to say Hugh again, but he was racing on, his chest raise and falling quickly, hisgray eyes almost feverish.And theyre resistant to antibiotics the same way that the insects are resistant to pesticides. Theyre all mutating. Changing. Getting stronger and more deadly. And-Hugh. She got it in while he took a breath.-theres a hole in the ozone. He looked at her. What?What does it all mean?It essence that things are changing. Spiraling out of control. head for He stopped and lookedat her. Jez, its not those things themselves that are the problem. Its whats behind them. And what isbehind them? Hugh said simply, The Old Powers are rising. Chills swept over Jez. The Old Powers.The Ancient Magic that had controlled the institution in the old days of the Night World. No one could seeor know the Old Powers they were forces of nature, not people. And they had been quiescence like giantdragons for thousands of years ever since humans had gained control of the world. If they were wakingup again nowIf magic was approach shot back again, everything would change.It shows in different weird ways, Hugh went on. Night People are getting more powerful. Lots of themhave noticed it. And they say the soulmate principle is back.Th e soulmate principle. The idea that for every person there was one destine soulmate, one true love,and that the two souls were bounce for eternity. Jez lifted her shoulders and dropped them withoutmeeting Hughs eyes. Yeah, I heard. Dont believe it, though.Ive seen it, Hugh said, and for a moment Jezs heart stopped. Then it started again as he continued, Inother people, I mean. Ive seen people our age who found their soulmate, and its really true you can seeit in their eyes. The Old Powers really are rising, Jez for good and for evil. Thats whats behind allthese other changes.Jez sat very still. And so what happens if they keep rising?What happens is Hugh paused and then looked at her. It means a time of iniquity is coming, hesaid simply.A time-?Of serious darkness. The worst. Were talking the end of the world, here.Jez could feel goose pimple on the back of her neck, where her wet hair touched her skin. She might havebeen tempted to put-on if it were anybody else telling her th is. But it was Hugh, and he wasnt joking. Shehad no desire to laugh.But then its all over, she said. Theres nothing we can do. How can anybody stop the end of theworld?Well. He ran a quick hand through his hair, move it off his forehead. Thats why Im here. BecauseIm hoping you can.