"Karen Koehler - Slayer--Black Miracles" - читать интересную книгу автора (Koehler Karen)

Alek looked away.

Katherine Keith was arriving to the illustrious symphony of babbling excitement and flashing cameras. It
happened suddenly, shock followed by shock so he felt like the world had conspired to fall in on him all
at once. He stood stock-still beside the Serpent Boy painting as they led her in and the fawning of the
press and patrons began. It might have seemed a false fawning--except the heat and adrenaline in the
room had jumped up a good ten notches with her arrival. You couldnтАЩt fake those smiles, those glittering
eyes. They loved Kat. And for good reason. Kat shone. There was a force about her that seemed to
push ahead of her as she entered the room in her ocean-blue satin gown. Her hair was a swirl of crimson
light, her skin white and painted like a porcelain doll given just a kiss of life. Her eyes were warm and
brown and wry. She was well into her fifties and yet she carried herself like a starlet. She put the younger
women to shame. For a moment he could not believe the stories had had read in the paper, the rumors
he had heard. They seemed like cruel falsehoods fabricated by jealous wannabes.

He had practically convinced himself of the fact when he spotted the out-ofuniform nurse walking a few
steps behind Kat. She was young, yet she gave off an unmistakable aura of authority. Alek had escaped
KatтАЩs initial perusal of the room, but now the nurse touched KatтАЩs elbow compulsively and Kat turned to
shoosh the girl away and the contact was made then. Alek dropped his eyes as Kandy KatтАЩs gaze flicked
over her admirers and then came to rest on him. He felt the demand of her attention, how her eyes
slowed the room and deafened him to the crowd. He looked up again. Her eyes had gone big like those
of a startled animal. For a moment she hesitated in her step. The nurse read it wrongly and gripped her
upper arm. Kat pulled away, yet her eyes never strayed from him, not for a moment. In the endless
bubbling talk of the room, he saw her mouth form his name.

AlekтАЩs mind swirled. And then he was alone with Kandy Kat, here in this crowded room. She had long
red hair, swept high and cascading down and adorned with ribbons of white roses. Her eyes glimmered
cheekily with her smile, like a young girl with secrets. The corsage on her wrist was white. White roses,
because she loved them. Her dress was blue satin. Blue satin, white roses. She would be married in blue
satin, she said. She swore it. One day...

She shone like a dazzling summer day, all light and life.

And then Alek turned away, KatтАЩs brilliance burning against his darker eyes.




2


Can we go now?Debra asked.

Alek patted his face down with cold water from the tap of the menтАЩs washroom, and then reached for a
paper towel from the dispenser on the wall. His face still felt hot and his eyes still burned from the
florescent lighting, but otherwise he felt all right. He hadnтАЩt fallen apart, at least. тАЬWeтАЩll go when IтАЩm
finished.тАЭ
Well youтАЩre certainly finished.

тАЬDebra...тАЭ He looked up into the mirror over the vanity. It was a nice washroom, very posh and new,
and the mirror was framed by milk-glass morning glories. Yet Debra was dressed as she usually was: a