"Karen Koehler - Slayer 02 - Dragon Blood" - читать интересную книгу автора (Koehler Karen)

тАЬI am.тАЭ There was no point in denying it, playing games.

тАЬYou made an enemy of me when you killed the Master.тАЭ

The Master. Amadeus the First Father. Covenmaster. Yes, well, he had made an enemy of about 3,000
other slayers when he did that. And a tragic number of them seemed to be standing in line to claim his
head for it. So far, none had succeeded. Fewer still lived to tell the tale of how they had lost.

тАЬAnd you are...?тАЭ Alek asked it of all the slayers who challenged him. He tried to keep a running list of
the names because you never knew when someone else would show up trying to avenge a fallen friend or
relation. It seemed an endless loop somehow.

тАЬThe nameтАЩs Samson,тАЭ said the great black slayer, sliding his hands out of his pockets and folding them a
bit too casually across his massive chest.

A belt of knives across his chest, said Debra.A tachi on his left side. A tanto for backup on his right.
Magnum in the small of his back, full of hollow-point iron bullets. I think our boy doesnтАЩt trust his
sword arm too well.

Alek nodded. Samson looked just the type--all bluff and no stuff, as his best friend and chosen brother
Booker used to say. But as always, he was grateful nonetheless for DebraтАЩs observations. He checked
the sky overhead. She seemed nearer to him somehow, but whether that was because of the situation or
because of the HunterтАЩs Moon just beginning to rise, he didnтАЩt know. Nearer and somehow sweeter and
much more human. He smelled her silken skin, felt her presence wrap itself protectively about him.I donтАЩt
want you hurt , she said.Be careful.

He nodded while keeping an ever-watchful eye on Samson. тАЬNow that weтАЩve had formal introductions,
letтАЩs get down to it, shall we?тАЭ

Samson let his hands dropped. There were throwing knives in each hand. Alek knew. He could smell
the steel. As Samson let fly the twin daggers, Alek was already in the air, tumbling like an acrobat over
Samson and landing with catlike agility behind him. It took Samson a whole second to realize his knives
had found tree trunks and not his target. A whole second more to realize where his target had gone. Alek
waited patiently as the slayer figured it all out and turned around. He could have taken the slayerтАЩs head
at any point during that two-second interval, but that didnтАЩt seem too sporting. The fear was distant now
as the war lust began to overtake him and make him playful and more dangerous. Alek hesitated. If there
was any way they could just settle this like human beings instead of like animals...?

Samson narrowed his seething black eyes.

No, I guess not.

тАЬLast chance to walk away,тАЭ Alek said.
 Samson drew his tachi and tanto. The tachi was a good piece of work, forty-six inches of priceless jade
and polished stainless steel. The tanto was the companion piece to the tachi, at a quarter of the length.
Nice, both of them. Alek only wondered if Samson had the kata training necessary to brandish them as
more than pretty ornaments.

Alek made an underarm slash at the tanto with his sword, knocking it from SamsonтАЩs grip.