"SS - Mussolini and the Axeman's Jazz by Poppy Z Brite (Proofed)" - читать интересную книгу автора (Brite Poppy Z)
Francis Ferdinand realized he would have to speak his piece at once, before the man slipped into maudlin incoherence. "Mr D'Antonio, I do not come to you entirely by choice. You might say I have been despatched. .I died in the service of my country. I saw my beloved wife die, and pass into the Beyond. Yet I remain trapped in a sort of half-life. To follow her, I must do one more thing, and I must request your help.Ф
Francis Ferdinand paused, but D'Antonio remained silent. His eyes were alert, his aspect somewhat more sober than before.
"I must kill a man," the Archduke said at last.
D'Antonio's face twitched. Then he burst into sudden laughter. "That's a good one! You gotta kill somebody, but you can't, 'cause you're a goddamn ghost!Ф
"Please, sir, I am a wraith! There are class structures involved here!Ф
"Sure. Whatever. Well, sorry, Duke. I handed over my gun when I left the force. Can't help you.Ф
"You addressed me as `Duke' just now, Mr D'Antonio.Ф
"Yeah, so? You're the Archduke, ain'tcha? The one who got shot at the beginning of the war?Ф
Francis Ferdinand was stunned. He had expected to have to explain everything to the man: his own useless assassination; the ensuing bedlam into which Europe had tumbled, country after country; the dubious relevance of these events to others in New Orleans. He was glad to discover that, at least in one respect, he had underestimated D'Antonio.
"Yeah, I know who you are. I might look like an ignorant wop, but I read the papers. Besides, there's a big old bullet hole in your neck.Ф
Startled, the Archduke quickly patched the wound.
"Then, sir, that is one less thing I must, explain to you. You have undoubtedly heard that I was murdered by Serbs. This is the first lie. I was murdered by Sicilians.Ф
"But the men they caught -Ф
"Were Serbs, yes. They were also dupes. The plot was set in motion by your countrymen; specifically, by a man called Cagliostro. Perhaps you've heard of him.Ф
"Some kind of magician?Ф
"A mage, yes. Also a doctor, a swindler, a forger, and a murderer. He is more than a century old, yet retains the appearance of a man of thirty. A wicked, dangerous man.
"He was born Giuseppe Balsamo in Palermo, I743. By the time he began his scourge of Europe, he had dubbed himself Cagliostro, an old family name. He travelled the continent selling charms, potions, elixirs of youth. Some of these may have been genuine, as he himself ceased to age at this time.
"He also became a Freemason. Are you familiar with them as well?Ф
"Not particularly.Ф
"They are a group of powerful mages hell-bent on controlling the world. They erect heathen temples in which they worship themselves and their accomplishments. Cagliostro formed his own `Egyptian Order' and claimed to be thousands of years old already, reminiscing about his dalliances with Christ and various Pharaohs. It was power he sought, of course, though he claimed to work only for the `Brotherhood of Man'.
"At the peak of his European success, he became entangled in the famous scandal of Marie Antoinette's diamond necklace. It nearly brought him down. He was locked in the Bastille, then forced to leave Paris in disgrace. He wandered back through the European cities that had once welcomed him, finding scant comfort. It has been rumoured that he died in a dungeon in Rome, imprisoned for practices offensive to the Christian church.
"This is not so. His Masonic `brothers' failed him for a time, but ultimately they removed him from the dungeon, whisked him out from under the noses of the French revolutionary armies who wished to make him a hero, and smuggled him off to Egypt.
"The practices he perfected there are unspeakable.
"Fifty years later, still appearing a young and vital man, he returned to Italy. He spent the next half century assembling a new `Egyptian Order' of the most brilliant men he could find. With a select few, he shared his elixirs.
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