Free Souljacker by Kodilynn Calhoun Page A

is
unreadable. Raziel’s hackles are raised and he’s quivering, as is
most of the Pack.
    Lylan steps forwards with a low growl and the
girl shrieks. Her scream is louder than anything I’ve ever heard,
piercing my ears with a sharp whistle. I buckle, trying to cover my
ears with my paws as the sonic sound drills into my brain, leaving
an echo.
    A glance shows the rest of the Pack is
rolling in agony, but Lylan’s pushing through it. He lunges at her,
fangs exposed. She raises a hand and as if by magic, Lylan is torn
off his paws and thrown across the street. He slides, skidding on
pavement, and doesn’t move.
    I feel a trickle in my ear. Blood? I can’t
hear anything now; her mouth is open in a silent howl and static
hisses in my head, painful. Raziel lurches forwards, her wrist
snagged in his mouth. He spins her, then jerks as if the girl has a
mental hold of his scruff. His leg snaps, bone punching out through
skin and he’s rolling on the ground.
    I back away, ears flat, shaking my head. This
isn’t good. Is she even human? Is that even possible? I think to
Lucy, afraid of hurting me. Is Lucy a mutant? Is that what this
girl is? Some sort of freak mutation?
    Three more hounds circle her, snapping.
Blood’s drawn, speckling the ground, but if it’s hers or theirs, I
can’t tell. One of the hounds, Gabriel, is writhing on the ground
in a pool of blood, his eye filled with agony as he twists and
contorts.
    The girl flings a hound over my head and I
barely duck to avoid it. Then our eyes are locked. Hers are so
pale, so cold…so afraid. She’s fighting out of fear, not fury. I
drop my head, taking a step back. No way in hell I’m fighting her,
even if that marks me a traitor. Cyberhounds are dropping like
flies on a summer day. I’m not about to be one of them. I shift and
back away just as something whizzes past my head.
    The girl throws her head back, a dart
sticking out of her neck. She twists, her legs buckling as she goes
down. Lylan steps forwards, human now, a tranq gun in one hand. I
still can’t hear anything, but he doesn’t even look at me as he
passes. The Pack members still on their paws creep forwards. I
glance around, half-expecting the girl to have backup.
    The girl is slumped against the ground, face
down, her hair spilling around her in waves. Lylan hauls her up and
throws her over his shoulder. “Let’s get out of here before she
wakes up,” he says through transmission. One by one, the hounds
follow him out of the warzone, limping along.
    Gabriel is motionless, blood a steady flow
from a tear in his abdomen. I bend down and feel for a pulse, but
he’s gone. The homeless man is slumped against the brick wall,
blood trailing from his ears. What the hell was she?
    Raziel lies panting, the bone still sticking
jagged out of his skin, slicked with crimson. I bend down next to
him, my ears still throbbing, but sound is now trickling through
“You okay?”
    He moans and tries to get to his feet. He
staggers, screams, and falls again. I cup his head in my hands.
“Can you change? Raziel, look at me.” His eye darkens and presses
shut. It takes him a moment, but a lean boy of seventeen lies on
the bloody pavement where the hound was a moment before. I hoist
him up into my arms and he whimpers, clutching at his arm.
    “It’s okay. We’ll get you fixed up, Raz. It’s
okay.”
    I take off on foot after Lylan and the
Pack.
    My gut was right. This was a disaster, and
all for what? So we could bag a little mutant girl with a
supersonic scream? But she flung the hounds through the air with
just her mind. Maybe she is dangerous, but still…
    Somehow, I can’t help feeling like we’re the
bad guys.

Chapter 10:
    Lucy

     
    English class can’t get here fast enough.
    I’m exhausted from everything: My failure of
a date, my mental anguish over never being able to touch the guy I
have a crush on, the fact that Iofiel isn’t human. Yeah, I still
can’t wrap my head around that one. Up until now,