"Banks, L A - Vampire Huntress 4 - 2005 - Bitten" - читать интересную книгу автора (Banks L. A)

"Yo, man, what's up?" Yonnie said, thoroughly amused by his new strength.
"We just got back from Philly," the guard said, shaking his head and raking his
fingers through his ragged Afro.
Yonnie allowed his gaze to roam over the thickly built vamp. His boy's army
fatigue vest was in shreds, his jeans were dusty, his Timberlands were crusted
with mud and old blood. None of which was a good sign. Old human blood, yes.
Black blood from the empire, no. Stack's normally deep brown color was dull,
which meant he'd been in battle and hadn't stopped to refuel. Stack had been in
a hurry. What had gone down in Philly? His euphoria quickly faded. If Rivera
came back and found out that he and his boys couldn't hold it downЕ He didn't
want to think about it.
"What the fuck happened, Stack?" Yonnie said, walking up to his friend. He
smoothed the front of his electric-blue suede jacket and hitched up his black
leather pants. "Man, we just got this promotion. You know the boss's rep,"
Yonnie warned, speaking low and firm. "You fuck this up and there's no tellin'Ч"
Stack stepped away from Yonnie. "It ain't like that. You shoulda been there. We
was checkin' on the Philly clubs, like you said. We was up in North PhillyЧwhere
they have all them damned row houses stuck together so you can run a whole block
roof to roof, if you get in trouble. But you have to be careful, because the
humans got storefront churches in them houses, so some of the roofs are hot,
andЧ"
"Aw'ight, aw'ight, I get the picture. So, you was up in the badlands. The humans
got outposts, so who hit us?"
Stack stared at Yonnie for a moment and then looked away. "Humans."
"What?" Yonnie was incredulous. "The Guardian team is in LA, man. How you gonna
tell me thatЧ"
"No, man," Stack said, grabbing Yonnie by both arms. "Can't you feel it in the
air? We were in one of our clubs, everything was going smooth, the girls were
dancing the poles. We were about to do a little dinner theaterЧchick about
fifteen or sixteen. You know, blood sacrifice for the crowds, when the fucking
door blew in and these big, burly, black motherfuckers came in and lit the joint
up. Rowdy black giants, and shit, are what they call themselves."
Yonnie opened his mouth and closed it. Stack dropped his arms and walked away.
"Lost three of our boys. They have one about the size of Damali's big man, Mike.
And a smaller version of Shabazz. Like ten or eleven of 'em, and they roll fast,
combat-style, then be gone. We got our asses kicked, man. They drew us to the
rooftops. We thought we could escape, but that's their backyard. Lost one of our
boys on a disguised roofЧwas hallowed ground and he torched on impact. Then that
big Hannibal-looking guy threw a hammer at our other boy, and the way it hit
him, it dazed him, and he fell wrong off the roofЧtwo of them got him on the
ground before he could get up. Third one got wrapped up in motorcycle
chainsЧpure silver dipped in holy waterЧstrangled to death. We was out."
"You sure they were human?"
"Man, they bled red blood, okay?"
Stack let his breath out hard and leaned against the metal door and shut his
eyes.
For a moment, Yonnie didn't move. He became so still that he didn't even
breathe, sensing the atmosphere.
"You feel like you're getting stronger?" Yonnie whispered to his friend.
"That's the crazy thing about it," Stack said quietly, peering around nervously.