"P. N. Elrod - Vampire Files 01 - Bloodlist" - читать интересную книгу автора (Elrod P N)

Benny Galligar. I might have known him from New York.

It was getting brighter, the added light hurt.

The moon was long gone, the stars were fading, and things were brilliant

enough right now that if I were still out when the sun came up, my

eyeballs would fry in their sockets. I spotted a hand-painted hotel sign

at the end of the block and hurried for it.

At the cost of fifty cents, and that was a severe overcharge, I got a

monk's cell with a single dirty window overlooking a narrow alley. I

locked the door, the lock a piece of bent wire that slipped through a

metal eyelet screwed into the frame. The door still sagged open, so I

shoved a rickety chair under the knob, but it was even money it'd all

give way the first time someone breathed on it wrong.

Despite the limited view, the sunlight might still find a chink in the

dirt and come in. I thought of sleeping under the bed, but one look at

the floor changed my mind. I had joined the ranks of the Undead, but

still retained firm ideas about basic sanitation. A thin blanket hung

over the window dimmed things, but not by much.

I dragged my clothes off, poured water into the washbowl, and splashed

my face and neck. Shaving would have to wait till tomorrow, there was no

time tonight. It was creepy, anyway, not being able to see my face

peering out from the mirror. I examined myself without one. Purple and

black bruises were all over my stomach and flanks, with many short rows

of small crescent marks that had cut the skin. I could guess they had

come from brass knuckles. My wrists were encircled with raw-looking

weals, indications I'd been tied down. Large crescents overlay the