"Goulart, Ron - Vampirella 01 - Bloodstalk" - читать интересную книгу автора (Goulart Ron)

After a few puffs, the professor asked, "What connection is there between the girl and the cult?"
"We figure she must be one of them," said Adam.
"She was at the sanitarium," Van Helsing added. "We're certain of that."
"Yet from what you told me earlier, the residents of Dr. Westron's unfortunate establishment were all killed. Killed under highly peculiar circumstances." Crowder leaned back in his chair and blew smoke upward at the beamed ceiling. "How did this girl survive?"
Adam said, "That we don't know."
"Perhaps the situation may not be what you think it is, at all, Van Helsing."
"Meaning what exactly, Crowder?"
"Perhaps your lady vampire had something to do with the destruction of the Cult of Chaos," suggested the pink professor. "Perhaps she is not one of them at all."
"The possibility seems highly unlikely to me," said the blind man.
"It is worth thinking about, though," said Adam. "I've been feeling all along that this girl is more than -
"Don't be foolish," said his father. "She's evil, she must be destroyed, andЕ" The old man stopped speaking. A look of pain spread over his gaunt face. His hands gripped the arms of his chair.
"Dad?"
After a few seconds Van Helsing said, "Nothing serious, Adam. When you reach my age you're subject to an unexpected cramp or twinge now and then." He pushed himself slowly up out of the chair. "I'd hoped you'd be able to tell us something that might help us locate the cult, Crowder, provide us with some clue. But let me thank you at any rate for your time."
"I'd like nothing better than to unearth a full-blown cult right here in my own backyard," Professor Crowder assured him, rising. "But really, Van Helsing, there's nothing of that sort going on around Feldenville and environs. A pity, since this area could do with a little livening up."
"We'll keep you informed of our progress." Unaided, the blind man made his way to the door.
"Thanks, Dr. Crowder." Adam shook hands with the professor, then followed his father outside. When they were crossing the campus, he asked, "What happened back there, Dad?"
"I suddenly got an extrasensory insight," said Van Helsing.
"Figured as much. What was it?"
"There is a branch of the Cult of Chaos here," he said. "And Professor Crowder is one of them."
CHAPTER TEN
By afternoon the rain was heavier. It came slamming down, splashing high on the flagstone path which led to the front doors of the Jethryn Memorial Library. Vampirella walked briskly up the twisting path, hands deep in the pockets of her borrowed raincoat. She wasn't exactly sure why she had to come here, but something inside her made her feel her search for the Companions of Chaos should begin here.
The library was housed in a large brownstone building, its walls thick with ivy. The heavy wooden door had a circular stained glass window. As Vampirella reached out for the brass door handle she became aware of eyes on the other side of the stained glass.
The door opened inward before she could touch it. "Come in, miss," said a dry, rusty voice.
Vampirella stepped into the dim brown hallway. "Thank you."
A thin, pale man in a dark suit too large for him stood there. His face and neck were splotched with red. He scratched at the crimson patches with knobby fingers. "I'm Mr. Howard, assistant librarian," he said in his rasping voice, which sounded as though it got little use. "May I help you?" Before the girl could reply, he turned and walked into a room off the hall.
Vampirella followed him.
Howard had taken his place at a rolltop desk in the library office. On his blotter a large slice of strawberry ice cream was melting on a china saucer. He picked up a spoon, and ate some before speaking to her again. "I was having my afternoon snack when I became aware of your approach," he explained, licking the spoon. "May I offer you -"
"No ice cream, only information."
"Of course, miss. Though a privately endowed institution, the Jethryn Memorial Library is here to serve the public." He scratched at his skin rash and ate more of his strawberry ice cream. "What area of research are you interested in?"
"I'm anxious to consult a copy of a book called The Crimson Chronicles. Do you have a copy?"
Howard blinked and swallowed. "Why, yes, miss, as a matter of fact, the Jethryn has one of the few known copies." He dropped his spoon to the saucer. "The late Mr. Jethryn was very much interested in the outre sciences, very much. In our occult wing we also have such hard-to-find items as the Cultes des Goules, the Book of Eibon, the extremely rare Necronomicon, the De Vermis Myster№s, a reading copy of "The Chronicles will do for now," Vampirella said. "May I see it?"
Howard left his chair. It squeaked. "Why, yes, I see no reason why not," he said. "You understand, of course, that none of our books circulate."
"Yes, I wasn't expecting to check it out."
"Fine, then. Come along this way, won't you?" He led her out into the hall and up a wide, brown-carpeted staircase. "I must say, miss, that we don't often find an attractive young person such as yourself interested in such out-of-the-way topics."
"Oh, really?"
"Most young people these days seem interested in more frivolous things." He unlocked an oaken door and pushed it open. Beyond was a long, narrow room with bookcases climbing high up all its walls. There were no windows; the only light came from three wall bracket lamps. "If you'll seat yourself at that table I'll fetch the book in question."
Vampirella removed her raincoat and took the chair at the long dark table.
The black cat raked its claws up and down along the old woman's leathery arm, drawing blood. Mrs. Jethryn noticed it finally and swatted the animal off her lap and off the ancient wheelchair. "Naughty, naughty," she said.
Her son Lemuel was pacing slowly in front of the fireplace, gloved hands held out toward the flames. "I don't want to do it no more."
"You have nothing to say in the matter. You'll do exactly what you are ordered to do."
"I wish I was dead again." Lemuel kicked at the stones of the fireplace. "All I am is a toady, running errands and killing people. If I was in my grave I wouldn't -"
"Enough, enough. I don't want to hear any more of this morbid talk, Lemuel," his mother told him. "You are to locate the girl the Leader warned us about. Locate her and get rid of her."
"Okay, all right. You don't have to pick on -"
"Hum, ahum." Gaunt Mr. Howard, the corners of his thin mouth smeared with strawberry ice cream, had stepped into the old woman's parlor.
"Yes, what is it?"
The librarian said, "I believe she's actually here, Mrs. Jethryn."
"She? Who?"
The girl we were lately warned of," explained Howard. "She is at this moment in the occult wing consulting a copy of The Crimson Chronicles."
Mrs. Jethryn straightened in her wheelchair. "Indeed? That's very fortunate."
Lemuel kicked at the fireplace once more, muttering to himself.