Souljacker (16 page)

Maybe I have outgrown her.

The thought, though fleeting, makes my heart
ache, but I refuse to look at her. Caddie continues to somehow have
our conversation all by herself, with me nodding my head and making
soft sounds to encourage her as we walk to the Holt Theatre. I lose
myself in thought once again.

With every boy that passes, my heart leaps
into my throat. Hope courses through my veins long enough for me to
realize that—
no, you idiot, it’s not Iofiel
—and then it
sinks back down. Lying in wait to pounce again.

But still, maybe he’ll see us walking and
stop, just to say hi. Maybe he’ll lace his fingers through mine and
place a gentle kiss on my cheek. I stuff both hands in my pockets
so I don’t look like a fool with my fingers crossed. Then I cross
them anyway.

Idyllic
is sold out, so we go for a
romantic comedy. We don’t even make it half an hour. Turns out,
whoever directed this piece of crap needs shot and buried in a
shallow grave. So much face-action that half the crowd is groaning
and the other half is probably making out along with the on-screen
couple. It’s Sync who makes the first gagging sound—leading the
path up the exit ramp with her blue glow.

“What a waste of eight bucks. And the popcorn
was practically tasteless.” Caddie throws her hands up in the air,
dramatic all the way.

“We didn’t buy popcorn, Cads,” I say around a
smirk.

“Well, even if we had, the movie still
would’ve sucked.”

I whole-heartedly agree. But at least then I
wouldn’t be hungry. I rub my stomach as Caddie launches into a
spiel about how much makeup the lead actress had caked on. Sync’s
quiet, hovering between Caddie and me, unreadable in her robot way.
Part of me wants to break down, tell her I’m sorry, and beg her to
forgive me. I want to end the rift spreading acres of distance
between us, but I can’t. Maybe it’s my stubborn pride, but I’m not
ready. Maybe she hasn’t learned her lesson yet. Maybe I haven’t
learned mine.

I roll a kink out of my shoulder as we turn
the corner, feeling a mix of anger and sadness, both at Sync and at
myself.

And then I feel it. Just the barest trickle
of cold on the breeze, bringing with it the crisp smell of winter.
Winter is months away. I sneak a glance to Caddie, who’s rapping
one of Elysium’s softer songs, throwing in a couple curse words to
make sure she’s ‘hip’ enough. Nope, she doesn’t feel it.

But it’s enough to coil fingers around my
heart, a tendril of fear, squeezing until I ache. I reach for
Caddie’s arm and she pauses and looks to me with a furrowed brow
because I’ve interrupted her train of thought, but anything I could
possibly say to her evaporates off my lips as the first Wraith
appears at our backs. Its empty eyes stare holes through us and it
hisses.

“Oh, shit,” says Caddie.

That about sums it up.

We bolt, the Wraith at our backs. I can feel
its ghostly fingertips, like ice touching the back of my neck. I
suppress a scream—I won’t give it the pleasure—and swallow down
gulps of air. Our feet pound the pavement and I lurch to the left,
hauling Caddie down the alley after me. I slip in something slimy
and nearly land on my ass and Sync plinks into my back hard enough
to hurt.

The Wraith throws back its head in a
static-sounding howl as we burst from the other end of the alley. I
slam on the brakes as three more Wraiths pace in front of us,
gaping grins eating away at my nerves.

“Fuck!” I spit and spin on my heel, only to
be grabbed by the one who chased us. I jerk away. “Back off, you
Faerie bastard!” I kick out at it, but my boot goes right through
its spectral leg. Then its hand clamps around my wrist, wrenching
me closer, and I can smell its foul reek climbing up my nose. I
hold my breath, but I know I won’t last forever. God…

“Bull
shit
!” Caddie’s voice is a shriek
behind me and I turn, just as a huge, flaming fireball slams into
the Wraith trying to suck out my soul. It screams, writhes, and
puffs into a cloud of murky black dust, scattering in the wind.
“You okay?” she asks as I gape at her, trying to pick my jaw up off
the floor.

“How did you—“

“Expel the energy. Focus on it. Visualize the
soul coming from your hands. Like this!” She scrambles back a step,
lobbing another ball of flame. She misses and it slams into the
side of the brick building.

“Look out!” I yelp as she ducks a grab from
one Wraith, sending it into oblivion, but the other two expect it.
They latch on to Caddie and she screams. They squeal and rattle and
suck her in. Her eyes are wide, afraid, and her hands grasp at
empty air, the fire at her fingertips mere smoke.

I don’t have the chance to think—one wrong
move and Caddie’s dead—so I just move. My feet slam against the
concrete as I rush them, holding my hands out, willing energy to
boil up and bitchslap the fuckers who have my friend.

“Hey, asshole!” I bark and the Wraith holding
her looks almost comical as I grab its face with both hands. Energy
buzzes deep within me, my core lighting up and sizzling, and I
close my eyes and breathe out.

Release
.

Chapter 18:

Iofiel

The surge blasts through the city a little
after nine, the energy raw and wild around the edges. It slams into
me with the force of a freight train and I snap my head towards the
source. My thoughts are on Lucy, my beautiful Lucy.
No. Not her.
Please don’t let it be her.

Because I know what happens when we get
surges. And like clockwork, a transmission comes through, loud and
clear, a niggling voice in my head. I open the link and Lylan’s
tone is strong, excited. “Power surge on Harper Street. Two of them
this time. Get there, pronto.” And the line goes dead.

My heart sinks, drops, plummets to its
suicide. It lands in a bloody heap at the bottom, nerves twitching
as my mind screams at me to do something, anything. What are the
chances that it’s not Lucy? Slim to none. Goddamnit! What am I
supposed to do?

Save them
, my heart pleads and I bolt
across the street, nearly getting hit by a hover car in my frenzy.
All four feet pound the ground, my footsteps a wild, staccato beat.
I’m a black blur etched with steel as I curve down the street and
into the open. My heart throbs with an ache at the scene painted
before me: Lucy yelling, her blonde friend lobbing an overhand
fireball at one of the Wraiths that have them boxed in. It’s
obliterated into a puff of black dust and Lucy goes to the other
girl’s aid as they face off with the last beast.

Lylan will be here in a matter of minutes.
He’ll take them away, take them to our queen, and who knows what
will happen to them then. I can’t let him take her, but… I begin to
pace, a whine rippling through the air. What can I even do? Panic
makes me blind and deaf, but I can see my Pack closing in on my
GPS, little blue dots circling the lonely red ones. The targets. My
targets.

Shit. Shit. Shit.

I have to save Lucy—the ten ton weight on my
heart lifts at this realization. I’m not happy here anyway. I’m not
allowed to love her. What if we ran away together? What if we could
have a real life, away from the Pack, away from everything?

I’m already running. Lucy shouts something
and I feel the burn as a ball of white energy scours past me,
singing my fur. I latch onto the Wraith and shake, my fangs ripping
into putrid flesh. Lucy forms a fist with one hand, a soft glow
emanating off of it, and she punches the Wraith square in the gut.
It shrills and implodes and I drop to the ground to avoid getting
Wraith particles up my nose.

I glance up at Lucy, then over to her friend,
whose eyes are wide in awe and maybe a little shock. But there’s no
time. The Pack is closing in. With my eyes closed, I will my human
form to ripple to the surface—baggy blue jeans, tight leather
jacket, scruffy dark hair—and the girl gasps.

“What the heck—”

“There’s no time,” I say, reaching for Lucy.
I grab her hands in mine, holding them tight enough that my
knuckles bleed white. “We have to get out of here. The Pack’s on
their way. They’ll rip you away from any semblance of a life that
you have; they’ll drag you to our queen, and I…I couldn’t live with
myself if I let that happen. Please, we have to go!”

“Where are we going?”

“I don’t know,” I tell her, squeezing her
fingers in mine. I place a kiss on her knuckles. I’m gonna get
fried for this. Then I turn and take off at a run, calling over my
shoulder, “This way!” Their mouths are set in little grim lines as
they chase after me. We run like racehorses down the track of
asphalt and city smog. My legs burn as I push myself harder than
I’ve ever pushed before. I have to save them. I have to save us. I
still want there to
be
an ‘us’, so badly it hurts.

“I’m so confused!” the blonde girl blurts
out, her arms pumping at her sides. She’s fast and fiery-hot.
“Luce, what the
heck
is going on?”

I catch Lucy smiling out of the corner of my
eye. “Remember that boy I told you about? This is Iofiel. Io, this
is my best friend, Caddie.” A pause, then wryly, “My soul
donor.”

“Damn, girl. You didn’t tell me he was this
hot.” Caddie’s tone is approving.

I can’t help the laugh that bursts free.
“Hah, thanks for that.” She cares more about the fact that I’m hot,
versus the fact that I’m a cyberhound? Crazy girl, but I like her
already. My GPS bleeps and I turn my mind to see the little dots
have gathered together…to find their prey missing. And officially
on the run.

Oh yeah, Lylan’s pissed.

“We’ve got company! This way!” I hurtle over
a “Do Not Enter” sign, leading the way through a construction site.
Yellow machines with claws sit like idle monsters, waiting for
their prey to walk into their trap. I barely duck a beam jutting
out at shoulder height and I hear Lucy give a bark of laughter
behind me.

Sync whizzes past me, her glow a welcome
beacon in the night. We slow down but nerves course through me like
the blood through my veins. A vision of Lylan ripping Lucy apart,
her blood spraying across metal piping, floats through my mind and
I shudder.

“I’m sorry,” I say, turning to them. I don’t
know what I’m expecting—wide-eyed fear as they run for their very
lives—but Lucy’s excited, her blue eyes gleaming. And Caddie looks
ready for a fight, fists at her sides as she dances in place like a
wound-up racehorse. Eager.

“For what?” Lucy asks. “You saved our lives,
Io.”

“We’re not out of the red yet,” I say. I see
the metal rungs of a ladder leading up the side of a building. I
motion towards them with my chin. The girls scamper up the
staircase with me pulling up the rear.

Caddie peers over the lip, teetering
dangerously close to the edge. “Not tall enough. Can we get any
higher?”

“Over here!” Lucy climbs the next set of
steps with agile grace and I can’t help it—I watch her ass sway
with each step she takes.
Off, boy,
I mentally chide and
shake my head. Now is not the time for thoughts like those.

The top of this building is covered in
useless crap and a set of birdcages crusted with dried poop and
feathers. “Stay low.” I creep towards the edge. From up here, I can
see everything—including the rage on Lylan’s face as he storms into
the construction park with the hounds on his tail.

Shit.

I look around, but the only way down is to
hop over to the next building. Caddie and Lucy stare at me and I
back away from the edge. Maybe they won’t know we’re up here. Hah,
right, and pigs fly. I snort.

My GPS beeps softly and I see the Pack get
closer and closer on the screen and I just stand there for a
moment, shock flooding over me. Of course. Goddamnit! My fucking
GPS is going to lead them right to us!

I can’t stay here. I can’t be with them.

I spin towards Lucy, determination setting my
heart afire. “You guys have to get out of here.”

“What?” Her eyes snap to mine. “What about
you?”

“They know where you are because of me.” I
run fingers through my hair, then pull her into my arms. “Just
go.”

She stiffens, her body suddenly all angles as
she fights against me. “I’m not leaving you behind, Iofiel.”

“You really don’t have a choice. If I come
with you, they’ll just follow us. They’re relentless bastards who
won’t stop until they get what they want. I have to get them off
your trail.” I look at her, feeling so torn. “Please, Luce… I don’t
want them to catch you. Let me do this.”

“Here they come,” Caddie sing-songs,
spreading her hands wide. I can see the gleam of flame sparkling
across her fingertips. “Maybe we could win.”

“No. You can’t win against the entire Pack,
and even if you did, they’ll call in reinforcement. Are you
listening to me?”

“I’m not leaving you behind.” Lucy’s voice is
a whisper.

“Here goes nothing!”

“Caddie!” I yell, but the flaming ball is
flying through the air. I hear a muffled yelp from below, then a
series of snarls and the clatter of shoes against metal flooring.
Shit. Shit. Shit. “Hop across to the farthest building. We’ll find
our way down.”

Lucy’s eyes widen, but she nods and darts
ahead. Caddie hesitates, as if she’s trying to decide to conjure up
another fireball or not. I grab her roughly by the shoulders and
shove her ahead. “Move!”

“Sir, yes sir!” she barks, leaping across the
gap between the buildings. She lands on the other side and Lucy
helps her to her feet. I follow them and we take off, jumping
buildings like we’re pros at this. My heart’s speeding, wild,
untamed.

One more building.

I can see the gleam of ladder rungs hanging
off the side, welcoming us down to the ground. Lucy and Caddie
vault across with a laugh, like this is just some big adventure for
them, and I cast a look over my shoulder before taking a
breath.