Night World : Soulmate Chapter 6

Hannah opened her eyeball.Oh, thank God, Paul give tongue to. He seemed to be most crying. Oh, thank God. Do you see me? Do youknow who you are?Im wet, Hannah said slowly, obtaining dazed. She touched her face. Her hair was dripping. Paul washolding a water glass. wherefore am I wet?I had to wake you up. Paul sagged to the degree beside the couch. Whats your name? What year is it?My name is Hannah Snow, Hannah said, still feeling dazed and bodiless. And its- Suddenly holdingrushed start of the fog at her. She sat bolt upright, tears starting to stream from her eyes. What was allthat?I dont know, Paul whispered. He leaned his head against the couch, indeed numbered up. You just kepttalking-you were propounding that story as if youwere there. It was really happening to you. And nonhing I could do would break the trance. I tried ever soything-I thought you were never going to fill out out of it. And then you started sobbing and I couldntmake you stop.I mat as if it were ha ppening to me, Hannah said. Her head ached her whole body mat bruised withtension. And she was reeling with memories that were perfectly real and perfectly hers andimpossible. That was like no outgoing spiritedness regression Ive ever read or so, Paul said, his voice agitated. The detailyou k new-sprung(prenominal) everything. Have you ever studied-is there any way you could allow kn declare those kinds ofthings?No. Hannah was just as agitated, Ive never studied humans in the Stone Age-and this was real. Itwasnt something I was reservation up as I was going a tenacious.They were both talking at once. That guy, Paul was saying. Hes the one youre afraid of, isnt he? But,look, you know, regression is one thing past lives is another thing but this is crazy.I dont believe in vampires, Hannah was saying at the said(prenominal) time. Because thats what that guy wassupposed to be, wasnt it? Of course it was. Caveman vampire. He was in all likelihood the first one. And Idont believe in reincarnation.Just plain crazy. This is crazy.I agree.They both took a breath, looking at each other. There was a long silence.Hannah mold a advance to her forehead. Im really tired.Yeah. Yeah, I can understand that. Paul looked almost the way of life, nodded twice, then got up. Well,wed better tick you home. We can talk somewhat all this later, type out what it really means. Some kind ofsubconscious fixation archetypical symbolism something. He ran out of air and shook his head.Now, you feel all right, dont you? And youre not going to worry astir(predicate) this? Because theres nothing toworry about.I know. I know.At least we know we dont have to worry about vampires attacking you. He laughed. The laugh wasstrained.Hannah couldnt manage so far a smile.There was a brief silence, then Paul said, You know, I think Ill drive you home. That would be good.That would be a good idea.That would be fine, Hannah whispered.He held out a hand to serve well her off the couch. By t he way, Im really sorry I had to choke you all wet.No. It was good you did. I was feeling so awful- and there were worse things about to happen.Paul blinked. Im sorry?Hannah looked at him helplessly, then away. There were worse things about to happen. Terrible things.Really, really awful things.How do you know that? I dont know. But there were.Paul walked her to her doorstep. And Hannah was glad of it.Once inside the house, she went straight bundle the hall to her mothers study. It was a clutteredcomfortable room with books piled on the floor and the toolsof a paleontologist scattered around. Her mother was at her desk, bending over a microscope.Is that you, Hannah? she asked without looking up. Ive got some marvelous sections of haversiancanals in duckbill bones. Want to see?Oh not now. maybe later, Hannah said. She valued very much to tell her mother about what hadhappened, but something was stopping her. Her mother was so sensible, so practical and intelligent.Shell think Im crazy. And shell be right. And then shell be appalled, wondering how she could havegiven giving birth to an insane daughter.That was an exaggeration, and Hannah knew it, but somehow she still couldnt bring herself to tell. Sinceher father had died five years ago, she and her mother had been almost like friends-but that didnt meanshe didnt involve her mothers approval. She did. She desperately wanted her mother to be proud of her,and to realize that she could handle things on her own.It had been the same with the notes-shed never told about finding them. For all her mom knew,Hannahs only problem was liberal dreams.So how did it go tonight? her mother asked now, eye still to the microscope. That Dr. Winfield is soyoung-I hope hes not too inexperienced.Last chance. Take it or lose it. Uh, it went fine, Hannah said weakly.Thats good. Theres chicken in the crockpot. Ill be out in a little while I just want to finish this.Okay. Great. Thanks. Hannah turned and stumbled out, completely frustrated with herself.You know Mom wont really be awful, she scoldedherself as she fished a piece of chicken out of the crockpot. So tell her. Or call Chess and tell her.Theyll make things better. Theyll tell you how impossible all this stuff about vampires and past lives is. Yes, and thats the problem. Hannah sat frozen, holding a fork with a bite of chicken on it motionless infront of her.I dont believe in vampires or reincarnation. But I know what I saw. I know things about Hana . ., thingsthat werent even in the story I told Paul. I know she wore a tunic and leggings of roe deer hide. I knowshe ate unreasonable cattle and wild boar and salmon and hazel nuts. I know she made tools out of elk antler anddeer bone and flint. God, I could pick up a flint cobble and knock off a set of blades and scrapersright now. I know I could. I can feel how to in my hands.She put the fork down and looked at her hands. They were shaking slightly. And I know she had a beautiful singing voice, a voice like watch crystal.Like the crystal voice in my mind.So what do I do when they tell me its impossible? Argue with them? Then Ill really be crazy, like thosepeople in institutions who think theyre Napoleon or Cleopatra.God, I hope I havent been Cleopatra.Half laughing and half crying, she put her face in her hands.And what about him?The blond queer with the bottomless eyes. The guy Hana didnt have a name for, but Hannah knew asThierry.If the rest of it is real, what about him?Hes the one Im afraid of, Hannah thought. But he didnt seem so bad. Dangerous, but not evil. So whydo I think of him as evil?And why do I want him anyway?Because she did want him. She remembered the feelings of Hana standing next to the stranger in the woolgatherlight. Confusion fear and attraction. That magnetism between them. The extraordinary thingsthat happened when he touched her hand.He came to the Three Rivers and turned her life upside down. The Three Rivers. Oh, God-whydidnt I think of that befo re? The note. One of the notes said Remember the Three Rivers.Okay. So Ive remembered it. So what now?She had no idea. Maybe she was supposed to understand everything now, and know what to do butshe didnt. She was more confused than ever.Of course, a tiny voice like a cool minatory writhe in her brain said, you didnt remember all of it yet. Did you?Paul woke you up before you got to the end.Shut up, Hannah told the voice.But she couldnt stop thinking. All night she was restless, moving from one room to another, avoiding hermothers questions. And even after her mother went to bed, Hannah found herself wandering aimlesslythrough the house, straightening things, picking up books and putting them down again.Ive got to sleep. Thats the only thing that will help me feel better, she thought. But she couldnt makeherself sit, much less lie down.Maybe I need some air.It was a strange thought. Shed never actually felt the need to go outside for the sole purpose ofbreathing fresh air-in Mont ana you did that all day long. But there was something pulling at her, tipple her to go outside. It was like a compulsion and shecouldnt resist.Ill just go on the back porch. Of course theres nothing to be scared of out there. And if I go outside,then Ill prove there isnt, and then I can go to sleep.Without stopping to consider the logic of this, she opened the back door.It was a beautiful night. The moon threw a silver glow over everything and the horizon seemed very faraway. Hannahs backyard blended into the wild bluestem and pine grass of the prairie. The wind carriedthe clean crisp smell of sage.Well have spring flowers soon, Hannah thought. Asters and bluebells and little golden buttercups.Everything will be green for a while. Springs a time for life, not death.And I was right to come out. I feel more relaxed now. I can go back inside and lie down.It was at that moment that she realized she was being watched.It was the same feeling shed been having for weeks, the feeling that there were eyes in the darkness andthey were fixed on her. Chills of adrenaline ran through Hannahs body.Dont panic, she told herself. Its just a feeling. Theres probably nothing out here.She took a slow step backward toward the door. She didnt want to move too quickly. She had theirrational certainty that if she turned and ran, whatever was watching her would spring out and get herbefore she got the door open.At the same time she edged backward, her eyes and ears were straining so unexpressed that she saw grayspots and she heard a thin ringing. She was trying, desperately, to catch some sign of movement, somesound. But everything was still and the only noises were the normal distant noises of the outdoors.Then she saw the shadow.Black against the lighter black of the night, it was moving among the bluestem grass. And it was big.Tall. Not a cat or other small animal. Big as a person.It was coming toward her.Hannah thought she might faint.Dont be ridiculous, a sharp voice in her h ead told her. Get inside. Youre standing here in the light fromthe windows youre a perfect target. Get inside steadfast and lock the door.Hannah whirled, and knew even as she did it that she wouldnt be fast enough. It was going to jump ather exposed back. It was going to Wait, came a voice out of the darkness. Please. Wait. A manful voice. Unfamiliar. But it seemed to grab Hannah and hold her still.I wont hurt you. I promise.Runrunrunrun Hannahs mind told her.Very slowly, one hand on the door knob, she turned around.She watched the dark figure coming out of the shadows to her. She didnt try to get away again. SheHad a dizzying feeling that fate had caught up with her.The ground sloped, so the light from the house windows showed her his boots first, then the legs of hisjeans. popular walking boots like any Montanan might wear. Ordinary jeans-long legs. He was tall.Then the light showed his shirt, which was an ordinary T-shirt, a little cold to be walking around at nightin, but not hing startling. And then his shoulders, which were nice ones.Then, as he stepped to the base of the porch, she saw his face.He looked better than when she had seen him last. His white-blond hair wasnt crazily messed up it fellneatly over his forehead. He wasnt splattered with mud and his eyes werent wild. They were dark andso endlessly sad that it was like a knife in the heart just to see him.But it was unmistakably the boy from her hypnosis session.Oh, God, Hannah said. Oh, God. Her knees were giving out.Its real. Its real. Hes real and that means its all true.Oh, God. She was trembling violently and she had to put pressure on her knees to keep standing. Theworld was changing around her, and it was the most disorienting thing shed ever experienced. It was as ifthe fabric of her universe was actually moving-pulsing and shifting to accommodate the new truths.Nothing was ever going to be the same again.argon you all right? The stranger moved toward her and Hannah recoiled instinctivel y.Dont touch me she gasped, and at the same moment her legs gave out. She slid to the floor of theporch and stared at the boy whose face was now approximately level with hers.Im sorry, he almost whispered. I know whatyoure going through. Youre just realizing now, arent you?Hannah said, whispering to herself, Its all true.Yes. The dark eyes were so sad.Its Ive had past lives.Yes. He squatted on the ground, looking down as if he couldnt keep staring at her face anymore. He picked up a pebble, examined it. Hannah noticed that his fingers were long and sensitive-looking.Youre an Old Soul, he said quietly. Youve had lots of lives.I was Hana of the Three Rivers.His fingers stopped rolling the pebble. Yes.And youre Thierry. And youre a He didnt look up. Go on. Say it.Hannah couldnt. Her voice wouldnt form the word.The stranger-Thierry-said it for her. Vampires are real. A glance from those unfathomable eyes. Imsorry.Hannah breathed and looked down at him. But the world had finished its res haping. Her mind was graduation exercise to work again.At least I know Im not crazy, she thought. Thats some consolation. Its the universe thats insane, notme.And now I have to deal with it-somehow.She said quietly, Are you going to kill me now?God-no He stood up fast, uncoiling. Shock was naked on his face. You dont understand. I wouldnever hurt you. I He broke off. Its hard to know where to begin.Hannah sat silently, while he looked around the porch for inspiration. She could feel her heart beating inher throat. Shed told Paul that this boy had killed her, kept killing her. But his look of shock had been sogenuine-as if shed hurt him terribly by even suggesting it.I suppose I should start by explaining exactly what I am, he said. And what Ive done. I made youcome outside tonight. I influenced you. I didnt want to do it, but I had to talk to you.Influenced me?Its a mental thing. I can similarly just communicate this way. It was his voice, but his lips werent moving.And it was the same voice shed heard at the end of her hypnotic session, the voice that wasnt Pauls.The one that had spoken in her head, saying, Hannah, come back. You dont have to relive this.You were the one who woke me up, Hannah whispered. I wouldnt have come back except for you.I couldnt stand to see you hurting like that.Can somebody with his eyes be evil?He was obviously a different sort of creature than she was, and every move he made showed the grace of a predator. It reminded her of how the wolves had moved-they had rippled. He did, too, his musclesmoving so lightly under his skin. He was unnatural- but beautiful.Something struck her. The wolves. I picked up a silver picture frame to bash them with. Silver. Shelooked at him. Werewolves are real. At the last moment her voice made it a statement instead of aquestion.So much is real that you dont know about. Or that you havent remembered yet. You were startingto remember with that shrink. You said I was a Lord of the Night World.The Night World. Just the mention of it sent prickles through Hannah. She could almost remember, butnot quite.And she knew it was crazy to be kneeling here having this conversation. She was talking to a vampire. Aguy who drank blood for a living. A guy whose every gesture showed he was a hunter. And not only avampire, but the person her subconscious had been warning her about for weeks. Telling her to be afraid,be very afraid.So why wasnt she running? For one thing, she didnt think her legs would physically support her. Andfor another-well, somehow she couldnt stop looking at him.One of the werewolves was mine, he was saying quietly. She was here to find you-and cheer you.But the other one Hannah, you have to understand. Im not the only one looking for you.To protect me. So I was right, Hannah thought. The gray female was on my side. She said, Who else islooking?Another Night Person. He looked away. Another vampire.Am I a Night Person?No. Youre a human. He said it the way he said everything, as if reminding her of terrible facts hewished he didnt have to bring up. Old Souls are just humans who keep coming back.How many quantify have I come back?I Id have to think about it. Quite a few.And have you been with me in all of them?Any of them I could manage.What do the rest of the notes mean? Hannah had been gathering speed, and now she was shootingquestions at him in machine-gun fashion. She thought she was in control, and she hardly noticed thehysterical edge to her own voice. Why am I telling myself Ill be dead before Im seventeen?Hannah He reached out a hand to calm her.Hannahs own hand moved by reflex, coming up to ward his off. And then their fingers touched, bareskin to bare skin, and the world disappeared.