"P. N. Elrod - Vampire Files 08 - The Dark Sleep" - читать интересную книгу автора (Elrod P N)

wasting my time. I left plenty with forwarding addresses in case Maureen returned, and she knew my
parents' address in Cincinnati. If she wanted to contact me, she could.

She never did, but other things happened to keep me busy. My first day in Chicago I got caught up in
some mob business and shortly thereafter was murdered because of it. But Maureen's unique gift to me
during our many exchanges of blood allowed me to come back from death. I suppose some might think it
a ghastly life to return as a vampire, but for my money it beat the hell out of a cold unmarked grave at the
bottom of Lake Michigan.

While I was attempting to wreak havoc on my killers, I met Escott and not long after started rooming
with him, eventually becoming his mostly silent and, when required, invisible partner. To earn my living I
provided occasional supernatural muscle, and he gave me protection while I was helpless during the day;
it was an arrangement that suited us both.

As for what happened to Maureen, that's a dark story I've told elsewhere. Look it up sometime.

I climbed into my Buick and headed home to change clothes. Though I had the pull to get into the
Nightcrawler Club as is, it would hardly be, as Escott might have said, "the done thing." Tonight was the
opening of a brand-new show,The Shanghai Review , starring Bobbi Smythe. My girlfriend. My lover.
The light of my otherwise murky life. I wanted to dress up sharp and do her proud.

The review was an important step up in her career. When we'd met she was the top singer at the
Nightcrawler ClubтАФand also the mistress of its mob manager. He was dead now, replaced by another
mobster named Gordy, who was more of a protective big brother toward her than anything else. He
didn't have a problem with me courting her, which was fortunate for us all. I considered Gordy to be a
friend by now, and I don't hypnotize friends into being cooperative to my wishes.

Not unless it's absolutely necessary, of course.

Bobbi's singing earned her a steady living at various Chicago clubs, but she wanted to move up in her
corner of the world. Last fall she'd been featured on a nationwide radio broadcast, but she and her agent
waited in vain for fresh offers to come in afterward. She went back to nightclub singing, but during the
day invested in dance lessons and an acting coach. Her dream, like others before her, was to take on
Hollywood and win, but she knew she'd have to work for it.

"One step at a time," she said. "First the clubs, then some shows, mixed with more radio to get noticed.
One step at a time, but walk fast."

She wanted to be in films, but going out to California and knocking on studio doors like five thousand
other girls wasn't her style. Bobbi was a bombshell with lots of talent, but she knew she'd get lost in the
crowd unless she could get herself established, recognized by the right people, and specifically invited.
She was now walking very fast indeed, because at twenty-five, she worried that she might be getting too
old to be considered for movie work.

I parked the car as usual on the street in front of Escott's house. The garage in the alley running along the
back of the house was for his Nash. I didn't mind, it only meant I could come and go that much faster.
One of our neighbors walked past and threw a half wave at me. I responded in kind and decided not to
go transparent and slip through the cracks between the door and its frame as I sometimes did. Key in the
lock like everyone else this time.