"Wanton Fire" - читать интересную книгу автора (King Sherri L. - Horde Wars 2 - Wanton Firevoto6[htm)

He stood there forЕhe couldnТt have guessed how long. Minutes? Hours? He didnТtЧcouldnТt care. He watched the ethereal goddess orchestrate her music, dance to her music, count out the beats of her music as she changed seamlessly from one song to the next. A singular eternity could have passed and he wouldnТt have worried about it, so long as he could watch her.

A green-haired man stepped up from the crowd, moved to her and whispered in her ear. Cinder felt an inconsolable sense of jealousy and loss. The man was too familiar with her. He knew her intimately; he had to for taking such liberties as kissing her on one of her alluringly bared shoulders. He had no right to feel such things for the woman, was foolish to even come close to such a passion for a human. But there it wasЧhe was weak where she was concerned, in a way heТd never been weak before. He wanted to turn away, wanted to leave this crazy place that was filled with temptation and want and need.

But just as he turned, just as he found the strength to walk away from the siren behind the turntable, the music changed. The woman stepped back from her post and flexed her shoulders as if they ached. Pink and black waves of hair danced about her as she jauntily descended down from the stage and disappeared into the throng of people, leaving Cinder to take in the seemingly endless length of her legs as she walked. His heart thundered.

He especially favored women with long limbsЕand she had the longest legs heТd ever seen.

A voice sounded over the loudspeaker as the music boomed loud enough to wake the entire Horde. УLetТs hear it for our own, incomparable DJ SteffyStealth!Ф The announcement was voiced in thick German words.

Cinder waited a moment, fighting his impulses, which had become irrationally fixated on the womanЕand then followed her through the crowd.





Chapter Two



The flashing lights from the strobes overhead hypnotized Steffy. The primitive, rhythmic beats of the music pounded through her veins like sweet honey, lulling her. She became the music. Was one with it as she spun the records on her turntable, counting out the beats in her head with effortless ease and skill. She felt elemental, powerful and alive. In control of herself and the world around her. Behind the turntable, surrounded by her sound equipment, was the only time she ever felt truly free of worry or stress.

It was the only time she felt relaxed.

She undulated with the music, counted off the beats that resounded in the headset she wore on one ear and switched the records, never missing tempo so that the tunes were artfully mixed into one ongoing, endless song. The crowd thundered its approval with the stomping of feet as they danced and moved, one with the music that pounded through the clubТs massive sound system. Steffy looked out over her deck and felt a heady thrill upon seeing the massive crowd sway like one giant serpentine body under the lights. In perfect accord with her musical rhythm.

Steffy saw the clubТs entertainment coordinator saunter up next to her on the stage and sent him a brilliant smile. The man was truly delicious, dressed in his shining, black bondage wear, with his short green hair spiked up artfully on top of his head. It was a good thing for her libido that Dika was a firm homosexual or sheТd be drooling as he drew closer to her.

УYouТve been going at it for three hours, Steffy, love. Why not take a break?Ф he asked in thickly accented German, yelling his words into her ear in order to be heard over the din.

УJust let me spin this next track out and IТll take fifteen,Ф she yelled back.

УYouТve blown us away tonight, love. I havenТt seen this large a crowd here sinceЕwell, never.Ф He laughed. УYouТre making a huge name for yourself, my dear. And to think a year ago you simply waltzed in off the street and demanded a job, with no prior experience. IТm so glad I threw caution to the wind and gave you a chance. Best decision I ever made!Ф

УDonТt you forget it.Ф She counted the beats in her mind, keeping part of her attention on DikaТs words and another partЧthe most important partЧon the music. A thick, disheveled lock of neon pink hair fell into her left eye but she was too intent on other things to blow it out of her line of sight. УNow leave me alone so I can finish this session,Ф she quipped.

Dika leaned over and, as was his way, pressed a flirtatious but totally meaningless kiss to her bare shoulder before winking and trotting off, swaying his rear with the grace of a runway model as he went. A few minutes later her set came to an end and she smoothly switched the play from the spinning record to the CD player below the table. As RammsteinТs Bestrafe Mich played from the sound system, she left her position behind the turntable deck and made her way through the crowd, towards the bar.

УLetТs hear it for our own, incomparable DJ SteffyStealth!Ф DikaТs voice announced her stage name over the speaker system and thunderous applause was the result, as well as congratulations and compliments from many of the people around her.

God, she was tired.

This weariness had been growing in her for the past yearЧshe couldnТt escape it. Only the music had the power to distance her from the desolation that threatened to take her under. The fire of life that had always burned so brightly within her was diminished. It had been dwindling ever since sheТd returned from her stint as a foreign exchange student in the United States. She needed quickeningЧsome inspiration and excitementЧand she needed it soon or else she would lose herself to this despair.

Boredom had always been her greatest enemy.

She thought about boredom. How it had gotten her into all of the trouble sheТd ever been in over the yearsЧand that had been plenty enough. It was what had made her drunkard father beat her into submission during the first fifteen years of her life, the bastard. Boredom was what had made her finish her schooling earlyЧthe year of her fifteenth birthdayЧonly to take to the streets during the lonely, uneventful days that had followed her graduation and flight from home. It was what had made her such a good car thief for the next couple of yearsЧcausing her to seek out the thrill and danger of the life of a delinquent. It was what had made her leave that life behind, after sheТd become the best at her craftЧsuch as it wasЧto enroll in college and subsequently to participate in an exchange program.

Where she had met Raine.