"Katherine Kurtz & Scott MacMillan - Knights of the Blood 2" - читать интересную книгу автора (Kurtz Katherine)

viselike grip on her throat prevented any sound escaping into the night.
Using his free hand, he drove his sword deep into the soft loam of the
clearing.
Then, bending down as if to caress his victim, he pressed his mouth
over the wound he had opened in the girl's neck.
He drank deeply, the hot, foaming blood gushing into his mouth as he
relaxed his grip slightly on her throat. When he felt the reserves of his
powers replenished, he lifted his head and drew a triumphant breath. Then,
still holding her by the throat, he pulled his sword from the red-soaked
earth and held it high above his head, its sharpened tip pointed toward the
North Star.
From the edge of the clearing a hunting horn sounded, followed by
others deeper in the woods. As the horns winded their eerie cour de
chasse, other shadowy figures stepped into the clearing, nearly a dozen of
them naked in the moonlight, their swords held before them, blades
pointed skyward. As they solemnly made their way to where Kluge stood,
he earthed his sword again.
The vampires drew near in a semi-circle before their Master, also
plunging their swords into the mossy ground. At his gesture, they
approached him one by one, the first of them distinguished by a black
eye-patch. As the one-eyed man dropped to his knees at his Master's feet,
Kluge took the quaich from around his neck and filled it with the girl's
blood, then passed the silver vessel into upraised hands. When the man
had drained its contents and returned the quaich, he rose and backed off to
be replaced by another suppliant. All drank deeply of the cup, blood
running from the corners of their mouths and down their chins, matting in
the hair on their bare chests.
Finally, when all had been served and the last notes of the horns died
away in the chill air of the forest, Kluge threw the girl's body back into
the tent. Pulling his sword from the ground he pointed it once again at the
Northern Star and cried, "Sieg Heil!"
Together the vampires echoed their Master's salute, raising their blades
to the darkened heavens.
"Sieg Heil!"
The forest muffled the cry of the vampires, but deep within, the
primordial gods listened, and accepted the sacrifice.

CHAPTER 1
The gash on the side of Drummond's head was healing nicely, due as
much to the twelve tiny sutures Father Freise had provided as to de Beq's
thick poultice. It had been nearly a week since Drummond was wounded,
and until today, he had been kept flat on his back. Father Freise and one
of the serving brothers kept regular tabs on his condition and, despite his
protests, refused to let him get up.
So he had spent his days resting and, in large measure, deciding what
to do. There was much to digest; much that, until a few weeks ago, he
would have dismissed as utter nonsense. LAPD homicide captains did not
go charging off to Austria, simply on the word of a batty old priest, to
chase down vampires.
But Drummond had done just that. And however unlikely his own