"Laurell K. Hamilton - Anita Blake 15 - The Harlequin" - читать интересную книгу автора (Hamilton Laurell K)

into my hand. It lay there silver and inert. I'd half expected it to glow, to show me that some vamp was
messing with me. But it lay there, innocent and untouched.

"What is wrong, Anita?" Nathaniel looked worried now.

"I think someone's messing with me."

"The cross isn't showing it."

"You're scrumptious, Nathaniel, but it's not like me to lose focus this badly in public."

"You think Mommie Dearest is trying again?" he asked.

Mommie Dearest was my nickname for the head of the vampire council, the creator of vampire culture.
The last time she'd messed with me, a cross had burned into my hand and had to be pried out by a
doctor. I had a permanent scar in my left palm from it. Up to now the cross, in a bag or under my bed,
had kept her at bay.

"I don't know, maybe."

"There aren't that many vamps that can get through your psychic shields," he said.

I slipped the chain over my neck, the silver glittering against the thin silk sweater.

"You sure that's enough cloth between your skin and the cross?"

"No, but I don't think it's Mommie."

He sighed and tried to keep the frown off his face. "Do you need to skip the movie?"
"No, Jean-Claude said we'd be safe tonight."

"Okay," Nathaniel said, "but I don't like the way you said that. What's gone wrong now?"

"Let's find seats and I'll tell you what little I know," I said. We managed to find two seats in the back row
so my back was to a wall and I could see the rest of the theatre. I wasn't being paranoid, or at least not
more paranoid than usual. I always sat in the back row, if I could manage it.

By the time the previews had finished, I'd told him everything I knew, which wasn't much.

"And that's all Jean-Claude would tell you?"

"Yep."

"Way too mysterious."

"Understatement," I said.

The music came up, the lights went down, and for the life of me I couldn't remember what movie we'd
decided to see. I didn't ask Nathaniel, because it might have hurt his feelings, and besides, in moments,
the question would answer itself.