Souljacker (4 page)

But I haven’t had a surge in three years. I’m
more careful now, who I take from and when I take it. Experience
has made me cautious. I love Sync like a sister, but let’s face
it—she’s just a robot.

I take a shaky breath, coming back to the
present just in time to hear Caddie say, “—if you don’t want to.
It’s okay, really, I just figured—”

“I’d like to. Hang out. If the offer’s still
open.”

She beams, her entire face lighting up.
“Awesome! Um, where at? What time?”

“Well I have plans after school to go to
Cosmo, but I’m open tomorrow? For lunch?” I felt a pang of
something, like I should be inviting her to Cosmo along with me,
but if the hottie was there…well maybe I didn’t want to have to
compete with her.

“You like Cosmo?”

I blink at her. “Why?”

“You just don’t seem like a very social
person. What, with your rep and all.” I frown and she shakes her
head, looking apologetic. “I don’t mean that in a bad way, Lucy.
Really!”

“I like the music,” I mumble. “The beat
just…I don’t know. I like music.”

“Oh my God, have you seen Elysium play? When
MaXXX sings ‘Life and Love’ I just melt a little inside.” She lets
out a giggle.

We head down the hall. I leave her at her
first period class. “Okay, I’ll see you tomorrow then? Matchlight
Diner, noonish?”

“It’s a date!” she agrees, then pauses. “But
not like, a lesbian thing, right? I mean, it’s totally okay if you
like girls, I just don’t swing that way and I don’t want to give
you the wrong idea about tonight and—”

“Caddie. Breathe.” I can’t help but catch her
grin. It’s contagious. She beams again. “Just friends. I like
boys.”

“Oh good. Okay. See ya.” She ducks into the
classroom and I watch the door swing shut, my heart feeling
surprisingly light. I can do this. I’ll just have to be
careful.

I wonder if Jale’ll be sleeping through
English again…

Chapter 5:

Iofiel

These past few days have been both Heaven and
Hell. To accompany Lucy home on the days I have no duty, it’s like
a gift from God, if such a being exists. But it’s also torture,
knowing she’s right there, and I can touch her, but not with my
fingers. I can’t cup her face in my hands, look deep into those
sapphire blue eyes, and kiss her tenderly on the lips. I want to. I
just can’t.

She’s been at Cosmo every night since that
night. Maybe I’m just a coward, afraid Lylan is going to catch me
with my hand in the cookie jar. But if we die tomorrow, I’ll die
never having talked to her.

Not anymore.

Tonight, I’m going to Cosmo. If she’s there,
and I hope she is, I’m going to say something. My heart is
thundering in my chest like a summer storm, zipping along like
lightning through the clouds. What if she turns me down? What if
she’s not interested?

I take a deep breath in through my nose,
letting it out through my mouth. It will be fine. Back at Cosmo,
when I gave her that latte, she definitely blushed whenever I’d
meet her gaze. She’s into me, even if she doesn’t want to admit it.
The problem with a girl like her is that she’s shy. Just with a
tough outer shell. If anything else, it makes her even sexier.

I wait at the edge of the alley for Lucy and
sure enough, four o’clock on the dot, her boots are scuffling down
the sidewalk. Feeling my heart swell, I bound from the alley and
her face lights up, her smile lifting up one corner of her
lips.

I wag my tail and she pats her leg, urging me
to follow. I trot along beside her, head held high, my internal
scanner keeping track of where my Packmates are. Nowhere close,
thankfully. Her hand falls down to fondle my ear and her fingers
send prickles of pleasure through me. I pick up speed as we head
down the familiar path to Harvar Street, to the original Cosmo.

Just like always, I hesitate at the corner.
She turns to look at me, tucking a curl behind her ear. “See ya,
Freak,” she says in that husky voice of hers, hitching her bag up
on her shoulder and stepping to the back of the line. I wait until
she’s long gone, the flash of the Portal announcing she’s arrived
at the coffee shop in the sky. Then I slip down the alley until
darkness shrouds me in a veil.

With a deep breath, I focus on me—the human
me, with my scruffy dark hair and pale skin. The shift overtakes my
body swiftly, shimmering across my skin, fur sinking down through
the surface, replaced by human flesh. The pinch of Faerie magic
that it took to create me aids me in my change until I’m standing
in the shadows in a pair of blue jeans, a white T-shirt, and my
black leather jacket. An eye patch covers the entire left side of
my face and I wear a Realskin glove on my right arm, keeping the
cyborg parts from showing through.

The jacket squeaks softly as I roll my
shoulders, striding out of the alley. The line stretches back
almost to the street. Typical Friday night, especially when it
comes down to the more popular bands playing. Like that pretty-boy
from Elysium. Girls just swoon over him.

As I step through the Portal, I feel the
flicker of magic spread across me. I’ve found if you keep your eyes
shut, you don’t get so disoriented; the feeling of travel is almost
pleasurable if you’re relaxed. In a matter of seconds, the scent of
coffee laced with sugar granules invades my senses, and I’m
deposited into the corner of Cosmo. My good eye scans the crowd and
I pluck out Lucy standing in line for a coffee. Her little robot
hovers at her side.

I can’t help but grin as the robot glances my
way, then nudges Lucy’s shoulder. She must say something because
Lucy stiffens, then slowly turns. Our eyes meet and her mouth makes
a little ‘o’ of surprise. I give a wave, my own lips twitching into
a smile. I want to go up and talk to her, but maybe that’s too
forward. Maybe I should let Lucy come to me.

She orders and, with a coffee cup clasped in
her hand, she and her robot make their way to an empty booth. I buy
a small coffee with cream and sugar and get out of the way. I watch
them for a moment, steeling myself, and then with a deep
breath—
you can do this
—I make my way to their table. My
heart flips acrobatically, but I smooth it over.

“This seat taken?” I motion to the empty
booth opposite them.

Lucy’s looking into my eyes and hers are wild
and wary. She glances to the coffee in my hand, then to the seat
I’m pointing to. She shrugs an elegant shoulder. “Guess it is
now.”

“You sure you don’t mind?”

“No. Go ahead,” she says and I swallow down a
chuckle as she twists in her seat to look at the mostly-empty
stage. She’s blushing, she just doesn’t want me to see it. So she
does
like me. Score one for Iofiel. I clear my throat and
plop down in the seat, the leather hissing under my weight.

The little robot buzzes close to my face.
“I’m Sync. Pleased to meet you,” she says in a robotic British
accent. Lucy glances at me, then back at the stage, nibbling on her
lip. Sync tilts to the side, then turns back to me. “And this.” She
butts against Lucy’s shoulder, making the girl swat at her. “Is
Lucy Swift.”

“Lucifer,” Lucy says under her breath, as
prickly as a cactus.

“Iofiel.” I quirk a grin at her, then sip at
my coffee. Steam rises up, warming my face. “Nice name.”

“Well, you’re named after an angel.”

“Lucifer was once an angel.” Two can play
that game.

She huffs. “There’s a difference—I picked my
name out. Your mom was just a hippie.”

I think of my Nursemaid and her beaming
smile. She was as close to a mom as I’d get. “I guess she was kind
of a hippie. My brothers are named after angels as well.” In fact,
the only cyberhound not named after an angel is Lylan, and he was
named after one of the first Unseelie kings.

I hook my legs under the booth. Lucy looks
everywhere but at me, staring a hole into her coffee. I half expect
it to bubble and froth up out of the cup. Silence stretches between
us. Then Lucy glances up at me.

“Why are you even here?”

“I like good coffee and interesting music.
You?” I flash a smile and she huffs again, elbows propped up on the
table on either side of her coffee cup.

“I meant here. At this table. With me.”

“Oh. That.”

“Luce.” Sync gives her a look and quickly
glances between us. It’s almost like the robot has emotions.
Strange, but I definitely feel an annoyed vibe coming off of
her.

“What?” Lucy asks, pulling her knees up to
her chest so she’s pinned against the table and the booth seat.
Then she looks back to me with laser-eyes. “I never got an
answer.”

“You want the truth?” My heart picks up
speed, a freight train tipping dangerously off the rails. “The
whole truth, nothing but the truth?”

“Duh.”

“I think we’re soul mates.”

Her jaw drops open as she stares at me. Sync
makes a bleeping sound. Score two for Iofiel. I can’t help but
smile at her. “Okay, so maybe that was a little forward. Sorry,
love. Really? I saw you the other day and I knew I had to meet you.
Did you know that you’re really pretty?”

Her walls rise up around her as she shields
herself from me. They’re invisible, but I can feel them, and I
imagine myself standing on the outside, pounding and screaming for
her to let me in. “You sure you’re looking at me? I’m not
pretty.”

I lean back in my seat, gripping the side of
the table. I push my arms out and lock them at the elbows. I stare
at her. Her skin glows slightly in the dim corner of the room, so
pale that you can almost see the tracing marks of her blue and
violet veins crisscrossing like a map under her flesh. Her hair is
untamed, jet black and blue, with extensions that look like tubes
braided through her locks. And her eyes, her angel eyes…

“You’re beautiful,” I say around a
breath.

Then I drop my gaze. “I’ll leave if you want.
That was really blunt of me.” I manage a laugh but I don’t meet her
eyes; I just sip my coffee, risking glances at her over the top of
the cup.

She’s watching me, looking torn between being
furious and afraid. The band plays a riff on stage, starting into a
slow song. She doesn’t say anything, so I slide out of the booth.
Please, tell me to stop. Tell me to stay. Tell me you want
me,
my mind is screaming.

I’m on my feet, turning away. “Nice to meet
you, anyway,” I say, my own heart clenching as she says nothing,
just watches me with those soulful eyes. Sync nudges her, but she
seems to be stuck, but that look on her face makes me want to kiss
her fears away. I shrug and head for the door.

“Iofiel?” Her voice slams into me like a
drumstick smashing a cymbal, loud and crashing even though her
voice is barely audible above the band. Hope leaps up my throat and
I turn to face her.

“Yeah?”

“If you wanted to buy me a coffee…” She
trails off, but I can see the impish gleam in her eye. “I wouldn’t
mind if you stuck around a little while. Enjoyed the band with me?”
She tips her head slightly to one side, a mirror image of my hound
self.

I beam at her. “Your wish is my command,
love. But if I can be blunt? This band sucks eggs.”

She laughs. “Agreed.”

We stay until nearly 9:00 pm anyway.

Chapter 6:

Lucy

I stretch up on my tip-toes, pulling the
clean dishes from the dishwasher and putting them in the cupboard.
Plates from large to small, then bowls, then glasses. I’m meeting
Caddie at the Matchlight Diner for lunch and I need to ask Mr.
Rockwell for a couple of bucks, so I’m doing what I can to clean
up. Maybe if I give him a good impression…

“You’re chipper today,” he says as he
shuffles into the room, wearing an oversized blue robe. His hair is
slicked back with a wet sheen and he smells faintly of aftershave.
It’s about time he got up.

“I’m going out with a friend,” I start,
turning towards him. I lean up against the counter, shutting the
dishwasher door with my knee. He blinks at me, but if he’s
surprised that I’m going out with someone for once in the year that
I’ve lived here, he doesn’t show it.

“So, um. I was wondering if I could borrow a
couple bucks. We’re going to lunch at the Matchlight.”

He pours himself a cup of coffee from the
Automaker, saying nothing, just hmm’ing to himself. He pushes a
kitchen chair out with his foot and sits down, the news tablet on
the table in front of him. He sets down the coffee mug and sits,
tapping the screen to flip through the paper.

I wait five minutes. By the time I decide to
say something, my lip is raw on the inside from my gnawing.
“So…?”

“I suppose I can lend you a five.”

Five won’t get me lunch and a drink, but I
force a smile anyways. Tightwad. “Thanks, Mr. Rockwell,” I say as
he fishes out a stained bill from his billfold and hands it to me.
I stuff it in my pocket and take a step back. He seems to think
about it for a moment, then digs in his wallet and hands me a
fifty.

I blink at it, surprised, until he says, “Be
back by three. You need to go out and get groceries.”

Why can’t you do it?
But I say
nothing. I just nod. “Okay. Bye.” My nails press little crescent
moons into my palms I’m clenching them so hard. I shut the door
softly despite needing to slam it. He thinks he can own me. I know
my face is set in a scowling snarl, but I don’t care. I know what I
need, though.

Even though it’ll take me directly away from
Matchlight, I head toward the school. I just need to run my hands
through his fur, butt my head against his, and scratch behind his
ears. I just… It’s stupid. He’s not some pet I can fondle, but I’ve
come to rely on him. I know he’ll be able to calm me down, with his
ever-wagging tail and doggy grin.

I get to the edge of the alley. “Freak?” I
really should give him a name, something that fits him, but I feel
stupid. I’ll never own him—he’s an Unseelie creature, not of this
realm. The Fae would probably have a hissy fit if they knew he was
play-acting as a happy Labrador or something.