Night World : Huntress Chapter 2

The skinheads face was contorted, his eyes huge. He stared at her, breathing hard like a pique animal. I know, Jez said. You ran fast. You cant figure out how I ran faster.Youre- non-human, the skinhead panted. Except that he threw in a lot of other words, the kind humans liked to use when they were upset.You guessed, Jez said cheerfully, ignoring the obscenities. Youre not as dumb as you look.What-the hell-are you?Death. Jez smiled at him. Are you going to fight? I hope so.He fumbled the sub up again. His hands were shaking so hard he could exactly aim it.I think youre out of ammo, Jez said. But some(prenominal)waya branch would be better. You want me to break one off for you?He pulled the trigger. The gun just clicked. He looked at it.Jez smiled at him, showing her teeth. She could feel them grow as she went into feeding mode. Her canines lengthening and curving until they were as sharp and delicate and distinct as a cats. She liked the feel of them lightly indenting her lowe r lip as she half-opened her mouth.That wasnt the only change. She knew that her eyes were turning to liquid silver and her lips were getting redder and inundated as blood flowed into them in anticipation of feeding. Her whole body was taking on an indefinable charge of energy.The skinhead watched as she became much and more beautiful, more and more inhuman. And then he seemed to fold in on himself. With his back against a tree, he slid down until he was sitting on the ground in the marrow of some pale brown oyster fungus. He was look straight ahead.Jezs gaze was drawn to the double lightning bolt tattooed on his neck. Right. . . thither, she thought. The skin seemed reasonably clean, and the feel of blood was enticing. It was running at that place, rich with adrenaline, in blue veins just under the surface. She was almost intoxicated just thinking about tapping it. Fear was good it added that spare spice to the taste. Like Sweetarts. This was going to be good.Then she heard a soft broken sound.The skinhead was exacting.Not loud bawling. Not blubbering and begging. Just crying like a kid, slow tears trickling down his cheeks as he shook.I thought better of you, Jez said. She shook her hair out, tossed it in contempt. But something deep down her seemed to tighten.He didnt say anything. He just stared at her- no, through her-and cried. Jez knew what he was seeing. His own death.Oh, come on, Jez said. So you dont want to die. Who does? But youve killed people before. Your gang killed that goofball Juan last week. You can dish it out, scarce you cant take it.He still didnt say anything. He wasnt pointing the gun at her anymore he was clutching it with both hands to his chest as if it were a teddy bear or something. Or maybe as if he were going to kill himself to get away from her. The equip of the gun was under his chin.The thing inside Jez tightened more. Tightened and twisted until she couldnt breathe. What was wrong with her? He was just a human, a nd a human of the worst kind. He deserved to die, and not just because she was hungry.But the sound of that crying It seemed to pull at her. She had a feeling almost of deja vu, as if this had all happened before-but it hadnt. She knew it hadnt.The skinhead spoke at last. Do it quick, he whispered.And Jezs mind was thrown into chaos.With just those words she was suddenly not in the forest anymore. She was falling into nothingness, whirling and spinning, with nothing to grab hold of. She saw pictures in bright, disjointed flashes. Nothing made sense she was plunging in darkness with scenes unreeling before her helpless eyes.Do it quickly, somebody whispered. A flash and Jez saw who a woman with dark red hair and delicate, bony shoulders. She had a face like a medieval princess. I wont fight you, the woman said.Kill me. But let my daughter live.MotherThese were her memories.She wanted to see more of her mother-she didnt have any conscious memory of the woman whod given birth to her. But instead there was another flash. A low girl was huddled in a corner, shaking. The child had flame-bright hair and eyes that were neither silver nor blue. And she was so frightened another(prenominal) flash. A tall man running to the child. Turning around, standing in front of her. Leave her aloneIts not her fault. She doesnt have to dieDaddy.Her parents, whod been killed when she was four. Executed by vampire hunters.Another flash and she saw fighting. Blood. Dark figures struggling with her mother and father. And scream that wouldnt quite resolve into words.And then one of the dark figures picked up the little girl in the corner and held her up high and Jez saw that he had fangs. He wasnt a vampire hunter he was a vampire.And the little girl, whose mouth was open in a wail, had none. All at once, Jez could understand the screaming.Kill her Kill the human Kill the freakThey were screaming it about her.Jez came back to herself. She was in Muir Woods, kneeling in the ferns and moss, with the skinhead cowering in front of her. Everything was the same but everything was different. She felt dazed and terrified.What did it mean?It was just some bizarre hallucination. It had to be. She knew how her parents had died. Her mother had been murdered at once by the vampire hunters. Her father had been mortally wounded, but hed managed to carry the four-year-old Jez to his brothers house before he died. Uncle Bracken had raised her, and hed told her the story over and over.But that screamingIt didnt mean anything. It couldnt. She was Jez Redfern, more of a vampire than anyone, even Morgead. Of all the lamia, the vampires who could have children, her family was the most important. Her uncle Bracken was a vampire, and so was his father, and his fathers father, all the way back to hunter Redfern.But her motherWhat did she know about her mothers family? Nothing. Uncle Bracken always just said that theyd come from the East Coast.Something inside Jez was trembling. She d idnt want to frame the next question, but the words came into her mind anyway, blunt and inescapable.What if her mother had been human?That would make JezNo. It wasnt possible. It wasnt just that Night World law forbade vampires to fall in love with humans. It was that there was no such thing as a vampire-human hybrid. It couldnt be done it had never been done in twenty thousand years. Anybody like that would be a freak.The trembling inside her was getting worse.She stood up slowly and only vaguely noticed when the skinhead made a sound of fear. She couldnt focus on him. She was staring between the redwood trees.If it were true it couldnt be true, but if it were true she would have to leave everything. Uncle Bracken. The gang.And Morgead. Shed have to leave Morgead. For some reason that made her throat loaded convulsively. And she would go where? What kind of a place was there for a half-human half-vampire freak?Nowhere in the Night World. That was certain. The Night People would have to kill any creature like that.The skinhead made another sound, a little whimper. Jez bunked and looked at him.It couldnt be true, but all of a sudden she didnt care about cleansing him anymore. In fact, she had a feeling like slow horror creeping over her, as if something in her brain was tallying up all the humans shed hurt and killed over the years. Something was taking over her legs, making her knees rubbery. Something was crushing her chest, making her feel as if she were going to be sick.Get out of here, she whispered to the skinhead.He boot out his eyes. When he spoke it was in a kind of moan. Youll just chase me.No. But she understood his fear. She was a huntress. Shed chased so many people. So many humans Jez shuddered violently and shut her eyes. It was as if she had suddenly seen herself in a mirror and the image was unbearable. It wasnt Jez the proud and fierce and beautiful. It was Jez the murderer.I have to forego the others.The telepathic call she sent out wa s almost a scream. Everybody This is Jez. Come to me, right now Drop what youre doing and comeShe knew theyd obey-they were her gang, after all. But none of them shut Morgead had enough telepathic power to answer across the distance.Whats wrong? he said.Jez stood very still. She couldnt tell him the truth. Morgead hated humans. If he even knew what she suspected the way he would look at herHe would be sickened. Not to mention that hed undoubtedly have to kill her.Ill explain later, she told him, feeling numb. I just found out-that its not safe to feed here. Then she cut the telepathic link short. She was afraid hed sense too much of what was going on inside her.She stood with her arms wrap around herself, staring between the trees. Then she glanced at the skinhead, who was still huddled in the sword fern.There was one last thing she had to do with him.Ignoring his bats flinching, she stretched out her hand. Touched him, once, on the forehead with an extended finger. A gentle, pre cise contact.Remember nothing, she said. Now go.She felt the power flow out of her, wrapping itself around the skinheads brain, changing its chemistry, rearranging his thoughts. It was something she was very good at.The skinheads eyes went blank. Jez didnt watch him as he began to crawl away.All she could think of now was getting to Uncle Bracken. He would answer her questions he would explain. He would prove to her that none of it was true.Hed make everything all right.