now
dangling lifelessly to either side of me.
The
mounting points for the microphones had pierced the werewolf in half
a dozen spots, and apparently half a ton of metal with several
hundred pounds of hybrid thrown into the mix for good measure had
been sufficient to drive those metal spikes deeply enough in that
they'd struck something vital.
"Do
you trust me again, Jasmin?"
"I…I
guess so. You really knew that was what was going to happen?"
There
was a long pause as she considered my question.
"Would
you believe me if I said yes?"
"I'm
not sure. It was hard enough to believe that Kristin could see a few
hours into the future, and what she sees is so limited that half the
time it's not much use anyways. What you just did here is godlike."
For
a second I thought she was going to actually answer my question.
"There
still isn't much time, Jasmin. You need to climb back up onto the
metal framework and use it to make a beeline back towards Ben. The
exterior skin of the building is nothing more than sheet metal. Tear
through that, let yourself down and then run back to the car as fast
as you can. The werewolves are both inside of the building now
looking for the one you just killed. If you go now you can make it
back to Ben and drive away before they can catch you."
I
was already moving, climbing up past the werewolf, but this time I
had plenty of breath left over to ask her questions.
"Why
did this have to happen, Rachel? Why didn't you just send me directly
to wherever Geoffrey is?"
"You're
headed to New York next, Jasmin. Don't shatter any speed limits, but
don't waste any time either."
"Why
did you set me up like this?"
The
pause lasted so long that I crossed over to the far end of the
building before she finally responded. I was starting to think that
she'd hung up on me, but then as I punched through the metal and
threw myself towards the ground I heard her voice again.
"I
didn't have a choice, Jasmin. I always thought that more vision would
equate to more options, but the truth is it's the opposite. That
werewolf needed to die or the whole house of cards would have come
crashing down. I had to at least try, I'm sorry."
My
legs hit the ground hard enough that I sank several inches into the
topsoil, far enough that I would have had to really work to get
myself free, but I simply cheated and shifted a split second after I
landed.
My
wolf feet were skinnier than my hybrid feet had been. I easily
slipped out of the deep holes I'd created in the ground and raced
away through the darkness.
Chapter 4
Geoffrey
Unknown location
New York, New York
There
wasn't much light in the cage holding Geoffrey, but what little bit
there was sent shooting arcs of pain through his head. It was hard to
decide whether the pain was the result of a concussion or side
effects from being drugged, but Geoffrey already knew that he had
other, more important, things to worry about.
The
cage holding him was a known quantity. Geoffrey's superhuman strength
wouldn't make any difference when pitted against the shining steel
bars. Imastious bought them from a manufacturer who specialized in
creating containment enclosures for big game, and once the door was
closed and locked Geoffrey wasn't any more able to escape than a lion
or a rhinoceros would have been.
The
room was vaguely familiar, almost as though Geoffrey had once spent a
long time here in the past, but he got the feeling that he'd been on
the other side of the bars previously. Something danced just below
the level of his consciousness, less than a memory, more like a
feeling with visual components if such a thing was actually possible.
Geoffrey
let his mind churn away in an attempt to force the impression into
something more concrete, but after a couple of minutes he abandoned
the effort and instead tried to get up.
He'd
been so motionless up until that point that for a second when he
couldn't move he almost thought that Imastious' people had left him
in restraints as
dangling lifelessly to either side of me.
The
mounting points for the microphones had pierced the werewolf in half
a dozen spots, and apparently half a ton of metal with several
hundred pounds of hybrid thrown into the mix for good measure had
been sufficient to drive those metal spikes deeply enough in that
they'd struck something vital.
"Do
you trust me again, Jasmin?"
"I…I
guess so. You really knew that was what was going to happen?"
There
was a long pause as she considered my question.
"Would
you believe me if I said yes?"
"I'm
not sure. It was hard enough to believe that Kristin could see a few
hours into the future, and what she sees is so limited that half the
time it's not much use anyways. What you just did here is godlike."
For
a second I thought she was going to actually answer my question.
"There
still isn't much time, Jasmin. You need to climb back up onto the
metal framework and use it to make a beeline back towards Ben. The
exterior skin of the building is nothing more than sheet metal. Tear
through that, let yourself down and then run back to the car as fast
as you can. The werewolves are both inside of the building now
looking for the one you just killed. If you go now you can make it
back to Ben and drive away before they can catch you."
I
was already moving, climbing up past the werewolf, but this time I
had plenty of breath left over to ask her questions.
"Why
did this have to happen, Rachel? Why didn't you just send me directly
to wherever Geoffrey is?"
"You're
headed to New York next, Jasmin. Don't shatter any speed limits, but
don't waste any time either."
"Why
did you set me up like this?"
The
pause lasted so long that I crossed over to the far end of the
building before she finally responded. I was starting to think that
she'd hung up on me, but then as I punched through the metal and
threw myself towards the ground I heard her voice again.
"I
didn't have a choice, Jasmin. I always thought that more vision would
equate to more options, but the truth is it's the opposite. That
werewolf needed to die or the whole house of cards would have come
crashing down. I had to at least try, I'm sorry."
My
legs hit the ground hard enough that I sank several inches into the
topsoil, far enough that I would have had to really work to get
myself free, but I simply cheated and shifted a split second after I
landed.
My
wolf feet were skinnier than my hybrid feet had been. I easily
slipped out of the deep holes I'd created in the ground and raced
away through the darkness.
Chapter 4
Geoffrey
Unknown location
New York, New York
There
wasn't much light in the cage holding Geoffrey, but what little bit
there was sent shooting arcs of pain through his head. It was hard to
decide whether the pain was the result of a concussion or side
effects from being drugged, but Geoffrey already knew that he had
other, more important, things to worry about.
The
cage holding him was a known quantity. Geoffrey's superhuman strength
wouldn't make any difference when pitted against the shining steel
bars. Imastious bought them from a manufacturer who specialized in
creating containment enclosures for big game, and once the door was
closed and locked Geoffrey wasn't any more able to escape than a lion
or a rhinoceros would have been.
The
room was vaguely familiar, almost as though Geoffrey had once spent a
long time here in the past, but he got the feeling that he'd been on
the other side of the bars previously. Something danced just below
the level of his consciousness, less than a memory, more like a
feeling with visual components if such a thing was actually possible.
Geoffrey
let his mind churn away in an attempt to force the impression into
something more concrete, but after a couple of minutes he abandoned
the effort and instead tried to get up.
He'd
been so motionless up until that point that for a second when he
couldn't move he almost thought that Imastious' people had left him
in restraints as
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