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

A rocket blazing away from Drakulon.
Alone.
The blood raining down.
No, not here. Here you must kill for blood.
Kill humans, people so much like yourself.
No other way. No other way, except to die.
I don't want to die!
Falling. Falling down through space and time.
Falling to Earth.
I don't want to die!
Falling toward the giant mountains.
The plane is going to crash!
No, that's notЕ
Everything is swirling, mixing, coming together and falling apart. Memories fall like snowflakes. Hundred of remembrances flickering.
Landing on Earth. That wasЕ months ago.
Blood.
If I don't get it, I'll die!
The plane is going to crash! Crash into the jagged mountains.
I won't die!
A man in the snow. Saying something. Don't listen. Don't listen!
He's rising up.
He has no face! Not a manЕ some kind of beast. Huge, with great pawlike hands reaching out.
Don't touch me!
Falling. Falling down through darkness. Home is lost forever.
There is no home. Except here on Earth.
I didn't want to kill him!
No other way. It's that or -
"How are you feeling this afternoon?"
Someone out there. Is that a voice you can trust? Yes, but -
"I think you're looking much better. These past few days I've been very concerned, but I feel confident now."
Days? Vampirella opened her eyes. A lean-faced blond man with rimless plastic glasses was watching her from the side of the bed. "I'm afraid," she said, "that I don't Ц"
"We found you wandering in the snow, last week," said the man. "I'm Tyler Westron, a doctor."
She sat up in the four-poster bed, looking around the room. "Am IЕ is this the old house I saw?"
"Yes, you're a guest at the Westron Sanitarium," explained the doctor. "This house was built in the 1880s by a very wealthy, and very antisocial, copper millionaire. He had his reasons for wanting isolation; so do I."
"A sanitarium? For what sort of patients?"
"Wealthy ones, mostly." Westron smiled down at her. "My specialty is orthomolecular psychiatry. Which is why your case is so interesting to me."
Vampirella placed a hand to her breasts and noticed she'd been undressed and a lacy nightdress had been put on her. "My case? You mean the effects of the exposure and the crash I -"
"I mean the vampirism." Westron's smile grew a little strange around the edges. Seating himself on the edge of the bed, he began, "It's been quite fascinating. So much of what we do here has become routine. A case like -"
She stiffened. "How do you know about me?"
"You talked considerably in your delirium, Vampirella," Dr. Westron answered with a smile, "aided at times by certain drugs. At first I thought it was nothing more than babbling, fever dreams. Then, after a few tests, I became convinced that what you were saying was absolutely true." He reached out to the carved bedside table to pick up a small beaker. "Here, drink this."
"What is it?"
"Medicine. Take it."
Somewhat reluctantly, the dark-haired girl swallowed the thick, scarlet liquid.
"Very good," said Westron. "You are now freed of your greatest worry, Vampirella."
"What do you mean?"
"Freed, I hasten to add, so long as you remain on friendly terms with me." He smiled again, watching her. "What you've just drunk is a blood-substitute serumЕ a little invention of my own. You must drinkЕ let's not be too technicalЕ let's say a shot glass full every twenty-four hours. Do that, and you will have absolutely no craving for human blood." He leaned closer. That will save you a good deal of embarrassment, won't it?"
She was not certain he was telling the truth. "Why have you -"
"Why have I cooked up the serum? The challenge of the problem, of finding the right molecule, as it were. For another, I find you a very attractive young woman. I want to help you."
"I see."
"Yes, I imagine you do," said Westron. "The situation, to make everything perfectly clear, is this,