"Shaun Hutson - Shadows" - читать интересную книгу автора (Hutson Shaun)

the edges. He closed his eyes tightly, body still shaking, the growths held
aloft like grisly trophies. A vile stench surrounded him, almost palpable in
its intensity, yet he seemed not to notice it. As he snapped his eyes open
once more he looked down to see that the three rents had closed. The skin
looked as smooth and unblemished as before he had begun.
For a moment he stood sentinel over her motionless form.
Another man, younger than Mathias, came forward carrying a shallow stainless
steel bowl. He held it before Mathias who slowly lowered his arms, opening his
hands to allow the growths to tumble into the bowl with a liquid plop. The man
handed Mathias a towel, then retreated back into the shadows.
'Sit up,' Mathias said to the woman, his voice a low whisper.
Lucy West struggled upright, aided by Mathias' outstretched hand,, and once
more she found herself gazing into those hypnotic twin orbs of blazing blue.
'It is done,' he told her.
Lucy coloured slightly, aware that her dress was still open. With shaking
fingers she began to button it once more. Mathias noticed her slight
hesitation as she reached her stomach, the flicker of anxiety behind hei eyes
as she reached her navel.
He beckoned to his assistant and the younger man returned, carrying the bowl.
Mathias took it from him and held it before Lucy.
She looked in at the growths. They reminded her of rotten plums but for their
pale colour. The dark tinge which they'd had earlier seemed to have drained
from them, creating the small amount of blood which was puddled in the bottom
of the bowl.
She touched her stomach tentatively, both relieved and surprised to find that
there was no pain. She pressed harder.
No pain.
It was at that point she broke down.
Tears flooded down her cheeks and she gripped Mathias' hand, as if threatening
to wrench it off. He smiled thinly at her, those brilliant blue eyes twinkling
with an almost blinding iridescence.
Another man, also dressed in a dark suit, approached from the other side and
placed his hands on Lucy's shoulders, guiding her away from Mathias who walked
forward towards the swelling cacophony of shouts and applause which filled the
hall. As the lights inside the building were flicked on once more he gazed out
at the dozens of people who stood watching him. Dozens? Hundreds? He wasn't
sure how many. Some could not stand because they were in wheel-chairs. Some
could not clap because they had withered limbs. Some could not see him because
they were blind.
He raised his arms once more, a gesture designed to encompass them all.
The applause and shouting did not diminish for some time, not in fact, until
Mathias turned and walked off the stage, the cries still ringing in his ears.
And some of them were cries of pain.
Mathias entered his dressing room and slammed the door behind him, as if eager
to be away from any more prying eyes. He leant against the door, wiping the
sweat from his face with one blood-smeared hand.
He crossed to the washbasin on the far side of the small room and turned the
cold tap, splashing his face with water. As he straightened up he gazed at his
own reflection in the mirror above.
Jonathan Mathias was a powerfully built man, his jaw square and heavy. Clean