Souljacker (17 page)

I leap.

And as I careen through the air, my body is
picked up by an electric current. It seizes me in a death grip. I
open my mouth to scream, and maybe I do, but I can’t hear it. I
collide with the rooftop. My body twitches and jerks as fifty
thousand volts are poured through my system, numbing me to the pain
of my fall.

I barely register Lucy’s pale face hovering
above me. I want to tell them to run. I want to tell them to save
themselves. But I can’t say anything.
Please, God, not Lucy…
My eyes squeeze shut as my body twists in on itself and I can only
focus on the mind-shattering pain.

Chapter 19:

Lucy

Iofiel’s scream of agony rises up, a siren
breaking the silence around us, but I can only gape down at his
body as it convulses. Caddie’s shrieking at me to do something, but
what can I do? Electricity crackles in the air around us as another
cry erupts from his throat, this time more wounded animal than
human.

Holy slag, he’s going to die. What am I
supposed to even do? Panic rises in my throat, sour as bile.
“Lucy!” I turn on Caddie and she’s pointing to Iofiel, tears in her
eyes. “Touch him! Take the energy!” Then she folds her hands over
her face, unable to watch and I don’t think. I just react.

I place my palms on Iofiel’s chest and feel
the energy zinging around, livewire hot beneath my hands. I close
my eyes and breathe in, slowly. The Need rears its head, gulping
down the electric current like it laps down soul until I can feel
my hair stand on end with the static. My hands burn and Iofiel’s
spasms slow.

God, I don’t know how much I can take. The
energy’s building inside of me like a storm, black clouds and
arcing lightning, and I feel a wave of nausea roll over me.

His cry peters out and he bucks up once, then
collapses. The smell of burnt hair fills my nose and I peel my
hands away from his chest, balling them into fists, as if that will
keep this feral energy inside of me. I’m shaking so badly now, but
my eyes are on Iofiel.

Motionless.

Caddie peeks out and leans close. “L-Luce,
he’s not breathing,” she says, touching the pulse at his throat.
She glances up at me, her dark eyes so wide. “Do something,
please.”

“Like what?” I pull on the ends of my hair,
fingers clamping around the plastic extensions. I tug until pain
sparks along my scalp. Anxiety twists in my stomach, making it coil
and ache, and I can only stare down at Iofiel, his face so
still.

I can’t lose him. I can’t! “No…”

“Shock him!”

“What?” Is she crazy?

“Like, one of those…what do you call them?
Defibrillators? Use your hands as paddles and redirect the energy
through them!”

I suck my bottom lip between my teeth,
gnawing on it. Will that even work? But he’s not breathing—I have
to try. Clapping my hands together, I lift his shirt up, revealing
a scarred torso. Where his cyborg arm meets his body is seamless,
somehow, but the metal gleams dangerously. “But what about the
metal?”

“He’s dead, Lucy!” Her voice borders on
hysterical and I blink back a rush of hot tears.

“Not if I can help it.” I place my hands on
his chest, one above his heart and the other just below it, and
focus on the energy.
Please, Io. Come back to us.
The
electricity jolts down my arms and out my hands, right into him.
His body jerks up off the rooftop, only to flop down again.

“Io, please.” I do it again. No reaction.

“Come on, you asshole. You can’t just leave
me,” I snarl and this time, he sputters, gasping in breath. I can
feel his heart flutter beneath my hands and this time, tears burst
free. He looks up at me, dazed, and I cup his face. “You scared me
to death.”

Caddie pulls away, staying low but peeking
over the lip of the building. She looks to me and shakes her head;
the cyberhounds must still be milling around. I can’t hear anything
besides the rush in my head and I huddle over Iofiel, crying
noiselessly. He shakes as he holds me, both arms wrapped around me
in a way that reminds me of Mom, once upon a time.

Caddie comes back over with her hands balled
into fists. “I’ll kick their furry asses,” she growls and I can
feel the heat washing off of her.

“Just… Just wait,” Iofiel says, placing a
hand on her wrist. He closes his eyelids, but his eyeballs jump
around behind them, as if he’s searching for something. Then he
frowns. “I can’t see them.”

“Of course you can’t. You’re on top of a
roof.” I glance up at Sync, who looks puzzled.

Iofiel smiles at her. “No. I have a GPS in my
head piece. That’s how they know we’re here. But I can’t open it
now. It’s like…it’s just gone.” He looks down at his mechanical
arm, then picks it up by the wrist with his other hand. “I can’t
move it.” His voice rises in excitement. “The Shockchip must have
shorted out my system. Lucy, do you know what this means?”

“You’re screwed?” I ask, my lips hitching at
the corner in a half-smile.

“They can’t track us.” He takes both my hands
in one of his and presses my knuckles against his face. “We’re
safe. If we can just get out of here…” His smile’s replaced by a
frown, but Caddie motions with her hand for us to stay put as she
creeps across the rooftop to stare down below.

We stay like that for a long time: Caddie
crouched, watching; me sitting on my legs until they’re numb;
Iofiel just gripping my hand like it’s his lifeline. Then Caddie
lets out a low breath, her bangs fluttering in her face. She crawls
over to us, a grin on her face.

“They left.”

“What?” Iofiel’s voice is sharp. “They
wouldn’t just abandon the search. Our queen will punish them.”

“They did, they left. I heard something about
you managing to kill your GPS. That they’ll have to track you the
old fashioned way.”

“We should go.” I point to the ladder, only
feet away.

“No, that’s what they’ll expect.” Iofiel
searches my face. “Let’s stay up here. We can take turns standing
guard, but let’s face it—we need sleep.” Then, a pause. “Are you
okay, Lucy?”

“I’m okay. But you’re not.” I frown at him,
touching the side of his face. The glow of his cyborg eye has
burned out, leaving only the dull gleam of metal. “Why would you
risk everything? We’re not worth it. Now you’re a wanted man
and—”

He stops me mid-sentence with a kiss, just
enough to steal my words and thoughts, then pulls away. “I’d do it
a thousand times over. I love you, Lucifer Swift. If this is the
only way I’ll ever be able to be with you, then so be it.” His next
kiss says he means it and I feel a prickle of heat wash across my
face as Caddie taps me on the shoulder. Io merely grins.

“That’s all fine and dandy, but what are we
going to do now? We can’t go home.”

“I haven’t figured it out yet, but I’m
working on it.” Iofiel runs his hand through his hair, which looks
silvered by the moonlight. “Let’s stay here for the night. In the
morning, we’ll figure out where to go. Okay?”

Caddie nods. “That’s fine. It’s like a
sleepover, without the sleeping bags.”

“And on top of a roof,” I say, a trickle of
fear quivering in my stomach. I reach out a hand to Iofiel and he
takes it, placing a kiss on my palm and my heartbeat doubles.
This is just fate,
I tell myself.
We’ll be fine, we’ll be
okay.

But I don’t believe me, not one bit.

“We’ll be okay, Luce,” he murmurs, looking
straight into my soul with those eyes of his. “I promise, I’ll
protect you, no matter what.”

“If you say so.” But I feel the tiniest bit
better. Caddie groans at our display of affection, but she’s
grinning like a madwoman. She knows what this means to me, what he
means to me, even without me saying it.

We curl up in the corner of the roof, my head
on his chest and our hands clasped together between us. I don’t
know what will happen tomorrow, but just being here, being with
him. It somehow makes it worth it, in a twisted way.

At least until Caddie starts snoring.

Chapter 20:

Iofiel

My eyes flutter open to the glare of sun, a
beam of light draped across my face like a warm silken sheet. I
blink at the haze of dust floating across my vision, then crane my
head so that my hair shades my eyes. And the sight of Lucy takes my
breath away.

Damn.

She’s curled up, using my cyborg arm for a
pillow, her lashes so dark against her pale, pale skin. She
breathes slowly and I just watch her sleep. My smile’s so wide that
it almost hurts. I use my free hand to brush hair out of her face,
letting the black strands frame her jaw and trickle down past her
chin.

This is mine. All mine. If I was uncertain
before, I’m certain now: I made the right decision to save her. To
save us.

I stroke my fingertips down her cheek and her
eyelids flutter open. Our eyes meet and I smile. “Hi.”

“Hi.” Her voice is softened by sleep.

“You’re gorgeous, you know?” I can’t help
myself.

“Thanks.” Then she blushes and pushes herself
up, patting her hair down, as if she’s afraid she has bed head. I
grin at her wild attempts to look cute, but she doesn’t have to do
anything. She’s beautiful, just the way she is. “I’m gonna go find
Caddie.”

I nod and stretch, easing the kinks and aches
out of my tired limbs. Electricity surging through your system kind
of fucks with a man. My body feels worn out, used, but I stand
anyway and make my way over to the girls. Caddie and Lucy are
sitting Indian-style in the middle of the roof, Sync resting
between them.

“What’s for breakfast?” Caddie chirps as I
ease down next to them.

“Um.” I hadn’t really thought that far. I try
and reach for my wallet with my right arm before remembering it
doesn’t work. I fish it out with my free hand and open it to reveal
a couple of twenties and the Pack debit card. “Guess we’ll be
eating and running.”

“That’s always fun. Let’s do it already. It’s
starting to get hot up here and I have to pee!”

Sync blazes the trail first, scouting out for
possible cyberhounds before deeming it safe to follow her. We climb
down the ladder one by one and drop to the ground. Safe. For
now.

I have the urge to change forms, to sniff out
the dangers that lie ahead of us, invisible to these eyes. I feel
the familiar prickle of magic across my skin before I remember that
my cyborg-half doesn’t work. I won’t get very far.

I let the shift recede, paranoia crawling
like a beetle across my neck. If they see us, all we’ll be able to
do is run…or turn and fight them.

But that’s life, I guess. Can’t live life
without the risks.

We trek to the next town over and grab a meal
of pancakes and maple sausage links, drenched in pure syrup. We
down a glass of milk each and I pay and leave our tip on the
table.

“Why don’t you guys use the restroom while I
pull some money? We’ve gotta do this fast. As soon as I access my
account, Lylan will know where we are, so we’re drawing the money
and running like a bat out of hell, okay?” They nod, Caddie
grinning like the Cheshire cat. Then the girls zip off to the back
of the diner and I head for the dusty-looking ATM machine out
front.

I take a deep breath in and hold it. I swipe
my card, enter my passcode, and wait. For half a second, I fear
that Lylan’s one step ahead of me, that he’ll have locked out my
account, leaving us stranded with no transportation, no funds for
this wild trip. Then the screen blinks and shoots out bills, as
many as I can withdraw at one time.

I pinch my card between my finger and thumb.
He’ll know now. They’ll be on their way.

I lay the card down on the ATM and turn away.
Lucy, Caddie, and Sync are waiting for me, hopeful looks on their
faces. I hold up the wad of money and they grin. It feels like
we’ve gotten away with something big. And we have, really. Our
lives.

I stuff the bills into my wallet, stick the
wallet in my pocket, and look at them. “Ready for this?”

“As I’ll ever be,” Lucy says with a sort of
sad smile.

We take off.

My metal arm flops uselessly and I have to
grab it with my free hand to keep it from flapping against my side.
Caddie streaks ahead of us, a reckless grin lighting up her face.
“This is kind of fun!” she calls over her shoulder.

“You’ve gotta be kidding me.” Lucy
groans.

“We’re like…superheroes, yanno? Running from
the Big Bad Villain.”

“Usually superheroes don’t run away from
their problems,” I point out. “Superheroes face the Big Bad and
save the day.”

“We’re kid superheroes, then. We need
training, man. Can’t kill the baddies without the proper training!”
But she doesn’t say anything else.

We lapse into silence, the only sounds being
our breaths and our shoes clapping against the asphalt. I glance
over to see Lucy’s brow furrowed, lost in thought. I want to reach
out to her, but I think she just needs alone time. I lead the group
out of the city and into a stand of trees. Cover, hopefully.

I slow down as we reach a small field and we
decide to take a break. My legs and lungs burn with the effort of
running and I sink down to the ground, thankful for the green grass
beneath me. I stroke my fingers through the plush blades. The girls
are up ahead, sitting in a semi-circle. With a sigh, I stretch out
on my side, my good arm supporting my head. My eyelids are heavy,
like little lead weights are attached to my eyelashes.

I fight against it, the urge to sleep a
deadly siren’s song, but blackness edges around my vision. I close
my eyes and I’m lost to a void of memories and dreams, spinning
around in a web through my mind.

The next thing I know, the girls are shouting
at each other. I jerk awake, bolt upright and on my feet in seconds
and I make a beeline towards them. Lucy snaps something that I
don’t catch, but it ends with “bitch”, and then she turns on her
heel and flees. Sync’s antennae is glowing a deep red and Caddie
stands there helplessly waving her arms.