'Night World : Huntress Chapter 6\r'

'Me?\r\nHugh n unmatcheded.\r\nâ€Å"Im supposed to split up the end of the world? How?”\r\nâ€Å"First, I ought to tell you that its non up obligation me that swears every in all this ab break through the millennium. Its not steady deal\r\nDaybreak that believes it. Its the shadow humankind Council, Jez.”\r\nâ€Å"The articulation Council? Witches and vampires?”\r\nHugh nodded again. â€Å"They had a king-size equateing to the gameest degree it this summer. And they cut into up or so old\r\nprophecies some whats issue to happen this time.”\r\nâ€Å"Like?”\r\nHugh looked roughly self-conscious. â€Å"Heres whizz. It used to hoar in the original, I return, barely this is the\r\ntranslation.” He took a breath and quoted slowly:\r\n‘In grisly fire, the lowest fantasm is banished. In family, the final price is paid.”\r\nGreat, Jez intellection. Whose store? only when Hugh was departure on.\r\nâ€Å"F our to stand mingled with the light and the\r\nshadow,\r\nFour of blue fire, power in their blood. Born in the course of the blind Maidens trance; Four less mavin and\r\ndarkness triumphs.”\r\nJez blinked slowly. â€Å"Whats blue fire?”\r\nâ€Å"Nobody screws.”\r\nâ€Å"‘Four to stand between the light and the shadow… Meaning to hold finish the end of the world?”\r\nâ€Å"Thats what the Council holds. They think it entails that 4 people fuck off been born, tetrad indefensible major powers\r\nwhore discharge to be instrumental in w abominatevers coming, whatever ap level offment or disaster thats termination to destroy\r\nus. Those four bear stop the end of the world-but only if all of them bid together.”\r\nâ€Å"‘Four less one and darkness triumphs,” Jez tell.\r\nâ€Å"Right. And thats whither you come in.”\r\nâ€Å"Sorry, I dont think Im one of them.”\r\n Hugh smiled. â€Å"Thats not what I meant. The fact is, nearlybody around here has already reported\r\nfinding a wacky Power. Circle Daybreak intercepted a message from him to the Council precept that hell\r\nhand the Wild Power all over to them if they make it worth his spot. Otherwise hell salutary sit tight until theyre\r\ndesperate lavish to determine to his terms.”\r\nJez had a sinking feeling. She said one word. â€Å"Who?”\r\nHughs font was admiting and woful. Its one of your old clustering, Jez. Morgead Blackthorn.”\r\nJez shut her eyes.\r\nYeah, that sounded consume c are Morgead, trying to shake d let the night field Council. Only he was cracked\r\nand nervy enough to do that. He was stubborn, too-perfectly capable of letting disaster come if he didnt\r\nget his way. only of all the people in the world, why did it have to be him? And how had he found a Wild\r\nPower, besides?\r\nHugh was speaking again softly. â€Å"You potentiometer see why we need you. Somebody ha s to get to him and find\r\nout who the Wild Power is-and youre the only one who stands a chance of doing that.”\r\nJez pushed hair off her face and dissipate a breath slowly, trying to think.\r\nâ€Å"I dont need to tell you how self-destructive it is,” Hugh said, feel into the distance again. â€Å"And I dont\r\nwant to fill you to do it. In fact, if youre smart, youll tell me to get mixed-up righteousness at once.”\r\nJez couldnt tell him to get lost â€Å"What I dont understand is why we houset just let the Council take concern of\r\nit. Theyll want the Wild Powers bad, and they have a lot more resources.”\r\nHugh glanced back at her, startled. His colour eyes\r\nwere wide with an expression that Jez had never seen before. therefore he smiled, and it was an incredibly\r\nsad smile.\r\nâ€Å"Thats just what we apprizet do. Youre right, the Council wants the Wild Powers. further not so they canister fight\r\nthe end of the world. Jez†¦ they only want them so they can kill them.”\r\nThat was when Jez complete what his expression was. It was gentle regret for innocence-her innocence.\r\nShe couldnt believe how stupid she had been.\r\nâ€Å"Oh, Goddess,” she said slowly.\r\nHugh nodded. â€Å"They want it to happen. At least the vampires do. If the human world ends-well, thats\r\ntheir chance, isnt it? For thousands of years the Night People have had to hide, to live in the shadows\r\nwhile the human being spread all over the world. But the Council wants that to diverge.”\r\nThe reason Jez had been so slow was that it was knotty for her to guess some(prenominal)body actually wanting to\r\nbring on the Apocalypse. But of course it made sense. â€Å"Theyre willing to risk creation destroyed\r\nthemselves,” she whispered.\r\nâ€Å"They figure that whatever happens, itll be worsened on the humans, since the humans dont enjoy its\r\n coming. Hell, some of the Night People think theyre whats coming. Hunter Redfern is saying that\r\nvampires are going to wipe out and enslave the humans and that after that the Night World is going to\r\nreign.”\r\nJez tangle a new chill. Hunter Redfern. Her ancestor, who was over quintuplet hundred years old but looked\r\nabout thirty. He was bad, and he practically ran the Council.\r\nâ€Å"Great,” she muttered. â€Å"So my familys going to destroy the world.”\r\nHugh gave her a bleak smile. â€Å"Hunter says the overaged Powers are rising to make vampires unanimouser so they\r\ncan take over. And the scary thing is, hes right. Like I said before, the Night People are getting stronger,\r\ndeveloping more powers. Nobody knows why. But just about of the vampires on the Council seem to believe\r\nHunter.”\r\nâ€Å"So we dont have much time,” Jez said. â€Å"We have to get the Wild Power before Morgead makes a deal\r\nwith the Night World.”\r\nâ€Å"Right. Circle Daybreak is fixing up a in force(p) place to pro coarse the Wild Powers until we get all four. And the\r\nCouncil knows were doing it-thats plausibly why that ghoul was following me. Theyre observation us. Im\r\njust sorry I led it here,” he added absently, with a worried look around the room.\r\nâ€Å"Doesnt matter. Hes not obese anybody anything.”\r\nâ€Å"No. Thanks to you. But well tint someplace different near time. I cant ambuscade your family.” He\r\nlooked back at her. â€Å"Jez, if the Night World manages to kill fifty-fifty one of the Wild Powers-well, if you\r\nbelieve the prophecy, its all over.”\r\nJez understood now. She still had questions, but they could wait. iodine thing was clear in her mind.\r\nâ€Å"Ill do it. I have to.”\r\nHugh said real quietly, â€Å"Are you original?”\r\nâ€Å"Well, somebody has to. And you were right; Im the only one who can extend Morgead.”\r\nThe truth was that she thought nobody could handle Morgead-b ut she certainly had a divulge chance than\r\nany Circle Daybreaker. Of course, she wouldnt survive the assignment Even if she managed to distract the\r\nWild Power out from under Morgeads nose, hed draw her down and kill her for it\r\nThat was irrelevant\r\nâ€Å"He hates me, and I hate him, but at least I know him,” she said out loud.\r\n on that point was a silence and she realized that Hugh was looking at her oddly. â€Å"You think he hates you?”\r\nâ€Å"Of course. All we ever did was fight”\r\nHugh smiled very faintly-an Old Soul look. I see.”\r\nâ€Å"Whats that supposed to mean?”\r\n ‘It means-I dont think he hates you, Jez. by chance he has strong emotions for you, but from what Ive\r\nheard I dont think hate is one of them.”\r\nJez shook her head. â€Å"You dont understand. He was always gunning for me. And if he found out Im half\r\nhuman-well, that would be the end. He hates humans worse than anything. But I think I can fool him for\r\nas unyielding as it takes to get the Wild Power.”\r\nHugh nodded, but he didnt look happy. His eyes were bruised and tired. If you can pull it off, youll\r\n observe a lot of lives.”\r\nHe knows, too, Jez thought. That Ill die doing this.\r\nIt was some comfort that he cared-and more\r\ncomfort that he didnt understand why she was doing it. Sure, she wanted to save lives. But there was\r\nsomething else.\r\nThe Council had tried to mess with Hugh. Theyd sent a stinking ghoul after him. They would believably\r\n get out something different tomorrow-certainly, theyd keep trying to kill him.\r\nAnd for that, Jez was going to wipe the floor with them. Hugh wasnt any kind of fighter. He couldnt\r\ndefend himself. He shouldnt be a target.\r\nShe realized that Hugh was still looking at her, with pain in his eyes. She smiled to luff him that she\r\nwasnt afraid of dying.\r\nâ€Å"Its a family affair,” she told him-and that was true, too. â€Å"Hunters my\r\ngreat-great-great-great-great-grandfather. Its only right that I stop him. And if anything happens to\r\nme-well, one Redfern less is probably a blessing to the world.”\r\nAnd that was the cultivation part of the truth. She came from a tainted family. No matter what she did, who she\r\n saved, or how hard she tried, there would always be vampire blood running in her veins. She was a\r\npotential risk of infection to humanity by her very existence.\r\nBut Hugh was looking horrified. â€Å"Dont you ever say that” He stared at her for other second and thusly(prenominal)\r\ntook her by the shoulders, squeezing. â€Å"Jez, youre one of the outperform people I know. What you did before\r\nlast year is-â€Å"\r\nâ€Å"Is part of me,” Jez said. She was trying not to feel his warm up bobby pin through her T-shirt, trying not to show\r\nthat his pocketable squeeze sent a pique through\r\nher entire body. â€Å"And nothing can wobble that. I know what I am.”\r\nHugh shook her slightly. â€Å"Jez-â€Å"\r\nâ€Å"And right now, I have to get rid of that ghoul. And youd better be getting home.”\r\nFor a moment she thought he was going to shake her again; then he slowly let go of her. ‘Youre formally\r\naccepting the assignment?” The way he said it sounded as if he were giving her one last chance not to.\r\nâ€Å"Yes.”\r\n He nodded. He didnt bespeak how she planned on getting back into a gang that shed abandoned, or getting\r\ninformation from Morgead, who despised her. Jez knew why. He simply trusted that she could do it\r\nâ€Å"When you know something, call this number.” He dug in a different pocket and handed her a even up of\r\npaper wish a business card. â€Å"Ill give you a location where I can meet you-someplace away from here. We\r\nshouldnt talk about anything on the phone.”\r\nJez took the card. â€Å"Thanks.”\r\nâ€Å" amuse be careful, Jez.”\r\nâ€Å"Yes. Can I keep the articles?”\r\nHe snorted. â€Å"Sure.” thus he gave her one of those sad Old-Soul smiles. â€Å"You probably dont need\r\nthem, though. Just look around. Watch the news. You can see it all happening out there.”\r\nâ€Å"Were going to stop it,” Jez said. She reconsidered. â€Å"Were going to try.”\r\nJez had a problem the next morning. The problem was Claire.\r\nThey were supposed to drive to school together, to meet that Jez didnt cut school. But Jez had to cut\r\nschool to go find Morgead. She didnt want to imagine the kind of tizzy that was going to get her in\r\nwith Uncle Jim and Aunt Nanami-but it was pivotal to get to Morgead as soon as possible. She couldnt\r\n ease up to waste time.\r\nAt the first major stoplight-and there werent a lot of them in Clayton-she smacked her forehead with her\r\npalm.\r\nâ€Å"I forgot my chemistry book!” She unfastened her seat bash and slid out of the Audi just as the light\r\n move green. â€Å"You go ahead!” she shouted to Claire, slamming the door and argument in the open window.\r\nâ€Å"Ill catch up to you.”\r\nClaires expression showed her temperature was reaching the boiling point. â€Å"Are you crazy? Get in; Ill\r\ndrive back”\r\nâ€Å"Youll be late. Go on without me.” She made a petty fluttery encouraging motion with her fingers.\r\n whiz of the three cars piece of ass Claire honked.\r\nClaire opened her mouth and shut it again. Her eyes were blastoff sparks. â€Å"You did this on purpose! I\r\nknow youre up to something, Jez, and Im going to find out-â€Å"\r\nHonk. Honk.\r\nJez stepped back and waved penny-pinchingbye.\r\nAnd Claire drove off, as Jez had known she would. Claire couldnt stand the peer pressure of cars telling\r\nher to get moving.\r\nJez turned and began to jog for home, in a smooth, steady, ground-eating lope.\r\n When she got there, she wasnt even breathing hard. She opened the garage and picked up a long, slim\r\n constellate that had been concealed in a corner. because she turned to her bike.\r\nBesides Hugh, it was the be intimate of her life. A Harley. An 883 Sportster hugger. Just twenty-seven inches\r\ntall and lxxxvii inches long, a lean, light, mean machine. She loved its classic simplicity, its icy\r\nclean lines, its spare body. She thought of it as her brand name and chrome thoroughbred.\r\nNow she strapped the long bundle diagonally on her back, where it balanced nicely despite its odd size.\r\nShe put on a dark full-face helmet and swung a leg over the motorcycle. A moment later she was roaring\r\naway, posture out of Clayton toward San Francisco.\r\nShe enjoyed the ride, even though she knew it efficiency be her last one. Maybe because of that. It was a\r\ndazzling end-of-summer day, with a sky of folk blue and a pure-white sun. The air that parted for\r\nJez was warm.\r\nHow can people ride in cages? she thought, device the strangle to shoot past a station wagon. What\r\n soundly are cars? Youre completely isolated from your surroundings. You cant hear or smell anything\r\noutside; you cant feel wind or Power or a slight change in the temperature. You cant bulge out to fight at\r\nan instants notice. You certainly cant stake somebody at high speed while leaning out of a car window.\r\nYou could do it from a bike, though. If you were fast enough, you could pin somebody as you\r\nroared by, like a dub with a lance. She and Morgead had fought that way once.\r\nAnd maybe will again, she thought, and flashed a grim smile into the wind.\r\nThe sky remained blue as she continued west, instead of clouding up as she approached the ocean. It\r\nwas so clear that from Oakland she could see the entire call for and the skyline of San Francisco. The tall\r\nbuildings looked startlingly close.\r\nShe was leaving her own world and entering Morgeads.\r\nIt was something she didnt do often. San Francisco was an hour and cardinal minutes aw ay from\r\nClayton-assuming there was no traffic. It might as well have been in other state. Clayton was a tiny\r\nrural town, mostly cows, with a few decent houses and one pumpkin farm. As far as Jez knew, the Night\r\nWorld didnt know it existed. It wasnt the kind of place Night People cared about.\r\nWhich was why shed managed to hide there for so long.\r\nBut now she was heading straight for the burden of the fire. As she cut across the Bay Bridge and reached\r\nthe city, she was acutely aware of how assailable she was. A year ago Jez had broken the laws of the\r\ngang by disappearing. If any gang member saw her, they had the right to kill her.\r\nIdiot. Nobody can disclose you. Thats why you wear the full-face helmet. Thats why you keep your\r\nhair up. Thats why you dont custom-paint the bike.\r\nShe was still hyper-alert as she cruised the streets heading for one of the citys most unsavory districts.\r\nThere. She felt a jolt at the sight of a old(prenominal) building. Tan, blocky, and unlovely, it rose to three stories\r\nplus an irregular roof. Jez squinted up at the roof without taking off her helmet.\r\n thence she went and stood casually against the rough concrete wall, near the canescent metal intercom. She\r\nwaited until a couple of girls dressed like artists came up and got buzzed in by one of the tenants. Then\r\nshe detached herself from the wall and calmly followed them.\r\nShe couldnt let Morgead know she was coming.\r\nHed kill her without waiting to ask questions if he got the jump on her. Her only chance was to jump him\r\nfirst, and then make him listen.\r\nThe building was even uglier inside than it was outside, with untenanted echoing stairwells and faceless\r\nindustrial-sized hallways. But Jez found her heart beating faster and something like longing twisting in her\r\nchest. This place might be hideous, but it was also freedom. Each one of the giant retinue behind the metal\r\ndoors was rented by somebody who didnt care a bout carpets and windows, but wanted a big empty\r\nspace where they could be alone and do exactly what they wanted.\r\nIt was mostly starving artists here, people who involve large studios. Some of the doors were painted in\r\ngemlike colour and rough textures. Most had industrial-sized locks on them.\r\nI dont flatten it, Jez told herself. But every corner brought a electrical shock of memory. Morgead had lived here\r\nfor years, ever since his mother ran off with some vampire from Europe. And Jez had practically lived\r\nhere, too, because it had been gang headquarters.\r\nWe had some good times….\r\nNo. She shook her head slightly to break off the thought and continued on her way, slipping silently\r\nthrough the corridors, going deeper and deeper into the building. At last she got to a place where there\r\nwas no sound except the humming of the naked light lights on the ceiling. The walls were closer\r\ntogether here. There was a sense of isolation, of being far from the rest of the world.\r\nAnd one narrow staircase going up.\r\nJez paused, listened a moment, then, safekeeping her eyes on the staircase, removed the long bundle from\r\nher back. She unwrapped it carefully, revealing a stick that was a work of art. It was just over four feet\r\nlong and an inch in diameter. The wood was deep calendered red with irregular black markings that looked a\r\nlittle like tiger stripes or hieroglyphics.\r\nSnakewood. One of the hardest woods in the world, dense and strong, but with just the right amount of\r\nresilience for a trash stick. It made a striking and individual weapon.\r\nThere was one other unusual thing about it. Fighting sticks were usually blunt at either end, to allow the\r\nperson holding it to get a grip. This one had one blunt end and one that tapered to an\r\nangled, narrow tip. Like a spear. The point was hard as iron and extremely sharp.\r\nIt could slug right through clothing to penetrate a vampire heart.\r\nJez held the stick in both work force for a moment, looking down at it. Then she straightened, and, holding it\r\nin a light grip ready for action, she began up the stairs.\r\nâ€Å"Ready or not, Morgead, here I come.”\r\n'