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

"I go unmolested because the Church grew powerful under the previous Master of the City, and by the
time Jean-Claude rose to power, we were hundreds. He did not have the power to bring me and my
people to heel."

I sipped coffee and thought about my next answer, because I couldn't argue with him. He was probably
right. "Regardless of how we got where we are, Malcolm, you have several hundred vampires in this city.
Jean-Claude let you have them because he thought you were blood-oathing them. We learned in
October that you aren't. Which means that the vamps with you are cut off from an awful lot of their
potential power. I'm okay with that, I guess. Their choice, if they understand that it is a choice, but no
blood oath means that they are not mystically tied to anyone but the vamp that made them. You, I'm told,
do the deed, most of the time. Though the church deacons do recruit sometimes."

"How our church is organized is not your concern."

"Yes," I said, "it is."

"Do you serve Jean-Claude now, when you say that, or is it as a federal marshal that you criticize me?"
He narrowed those blue eyes. "I do not think the federal government knows or understands enough of
vampires to care whether I blood-oath my people."

"Blood-oathing lowers the chance of vamps doing things behind the back of the master."

"Blood-oathing takes away their free will, Ms. Blake."

"Maybe, but I've seen the damage they can do with their free will. A good Master of the City can
guarantee that there is almost no crime among his people."

"They are his slaves," Malcolm said.

I shrugged and sat back in my chair. "Are you here to talk about the warrant, or to talk about the
deadline Jean-Claude gave your church?"

"Both."

"Jean-Claude has given you and your church members their choices, Malcolm. Either you blood-oath
them, or Jean-Claude does. Or they can move to another city to be blood-oathed there, but it has to be
done."

"It is a choice of who they would be slaves to, Ms. Blake. It is no choice at all."

"Jean-Claude was generous, Malcolm. By vampire law he could have just killed you and your entire
congregation."

"And how would the law, how would you, as a federal marshal, have felt about such slaughter?"

"Are you saying that my being a federal marshal limits Jean-Claude's options?"

"He values your love, Anita, and you would not love a man that could slaughter my followers."

"You don't add yourself to that listтАФwhy?"