"Mckinley,.Robin.-.Sunshine" - читать интересную книгу автора (McKinley Robin)

УHave some more scotch,Ф said Jesse.
And now, of course, they only thought I was dreading telling them about what had happened two months ago.
Okay. Let this dread be for the telling of the story. Nothing else. The story of how I rescued a vampire. Which I wasnТt going to tell them.
I put my mug down because my hands were beginning to shake. I crossed my arms over my breast and began rocking back and forth in my chair. Pat dragged his chair over next to mine, gently pulled my hands down, held them in his. They were a pale blue now, and not so knobbly. I couldnТt see if he still had the sixth fingers.
I said, speaking to PatТs pale blue hands, УI didnТt hear them coming.Ф I spoke in a high, peculiar voice I didnТt recognize as my own. УBut you donТt, do you, when theyТre vampires.Ф
There was a growl from TheoЧnot what you could call a human growl.
It was a creepy, chilling, menacing sound, even knowing that it was made on my behalf. Briefly, hysterically, I wanted to laugh. It occurred to me that maybe I hadnТt been the one human in the room, a few minutes ago, when IТd felt like a rabbit in headlights.
Jesse let the silence stretch out a little, and then he said softly, УHow did you get away?Ф
ЕThere was another muddle leaning up against the wall in front of usЕsomeone sitting cross-legged, head bowed, forearms on knees. I didnТt realize till it raised its head with a liquid, inhuman motion that it was another vampireЕ
I took a deep breath. УThey had me shackled to the wall inЧin what I guess was the ballroom inЧin one of the really big old summer houses. At the lake. IЧI wasЧsome kind of prize, I think. TheyЧ they came in to look at me a couple of times. Left me food and water. The second day IЧtransmuted my jackknife into a shackle key.Ф
УYou transmuted worked metal?Ф
I took another deep breath. УYes. No, I shouldnТt have been able to. IТd never done anything close. I hadnТt done anything at all in fifteen yearsЧsince the last time I saw my gran. It almostЕit almost didnТt occur to me to try.Ф I shivered and closed my eyes. No: donТt close your eyes. I opened my eyes. Pat squeezed my hands. УHey. ItТs okay,Ф he said. УYouТre here.Ф I looked at him. He was almost human again.
I wondered what I was. Was I almost human?
УYeah,Ф he said. УWhat youТre thinking.Ф
I tried to look like I might be thinking what he thought I was thinking. Whatever that was.
УSOF is full of Others and partbloods because itТs vampires that are our problem. Sure there are lousy stinking demonsЧФ
And bad-magic crosses.
УЧbut there are lousy stinking humans too. We take care of the Others and the straight cops take care of the humans. If we got the suckers sorted the humans would calm downЧsooner or laterЧlet the rest of us live, you know? And then weТd be able to organize and really get rid of the Сubis and the goblins and the ghouls and so on and weТd end up with a relatively safe world.Ф
There was a storyЧI hoped it was no more than a mythЧthat the reason there still wasnТt a reliable prenatal test for a bad-magic cross was the prejudice against partbloods.
Jesse said patiently, УYou transmuted worked metal.Ф
I nodded.
УDo you still have the knife?Ф
I dragged my mind back to the present. IТd decided earlier that the light in the office was good enough, so I nodded again.
УCan we see it?Ф
Pat let go of my hands, and I pulled the knife out of my fuzzy pocket and leaned forward to lay it on a pile of paper on JesseТs desk. It lay there, looking perfectly ordinary. Jesse picked it up and looked at it. He passed it to Theo, who looked at it too, and offered it to Pat. Pat shook his head. УNot when IТm coming down. It might crank me right back up again, and we canТt keep the door locked all night.Ф
УWhat would happen if someone knocked?Ф I said. УYouТre still a little blue around the edges.Ф
УCloset,Ф said Pat. УNice big one. Why we chose JesseТs office.Ф
УAnd we would be so surprised that the door was locked,Ф said Jesse. УMust be something wrong with the bolt. WeТll get it checked tomorrow. Miss Seddon is all right, isnТt she?Ф
УMiss Seddon is fine,Ф I lied. What was wrong with her was not their fault.
УRaeЧФ said Jesse, and hesitated.
I was holding myself here in the present, in this office, so I was pretty sure I knew what he wanted to ask.
УI donТt know,Ф I said. УI havenТt been back to the lake since. ThereТs a really big bad spot behind the house, maybe thatТs part of why they chose it, and whenЧwhen I got out of there I justЧfollowed the edge of the lake south.Ф
УIf we take you out thereЧletТs say tomorrowЧwill you try to find it?Ф
It had little to do with what I hadnТt told them that made the silence last a long time before I answered. What I had told them was plenty for why I didnТt want to go there again. УYes,Ф I said at last, heavily. УIТll try. There wonТtЕ be anything.Ф
УI know,Ф said Jesse. УBut we still have to look. IТm sorry.Ф
I nodded. I picked up my jackknife and put it back in my pocket. I looked at Jesse. Then I looked at the blood-smeared table knife lying on his desk, and he watched me looking. УThatТs the next thing, isnТt it?Ф he said. УOkayЧyou have some kind of line on worked metal. Some pretty astonishing line, it must be. But that doesnТt explainЕФ
The phone rang. He picked it up. УAh. Well, better send him up then.Ф We all looked hard at Pat. He wasnТt blue at all. Theo unlocked the door.
Mel came through it about ten seconds later, looking fit to murder battalions of SOFs with nothing more than a table knife. УWhat the dharmic hell do you red-eyed boys think you are up to, keeping a law-abiding member of the human public incommunicado for over an hour?Ф
I managed to keep a straight face. УRed-eyed boyФ (or girl) is an accusation of Other blood: just the sort of thing a pissed-off civilian would say to a SOF. They all looked perfectly blank. УSorry,Ф said Jesse. УWe didnТt mean to keep her incommunicado. We were getting her out of a bad situation as fast as possibleЧbrought her in the back way, of course. The media jokers canТt get to her here. But we forgot to send word to the front desk that we werenТtЧerЧholding her.Ф Sure you forgot, I thought. Mel, still quivering with fury, and equally aware Jesse was lying, turned to me. УIТm okay,Ф I said. УI was a bitЧhysterical. They let me have a shower,Ф I added inconsequentially. IТd had a rough night, and it was getting harder and harder to remember what IТd told whom and why.
УA shower?Ф said Mel, taking in my fuzzy-bunny clothingЧ probably the first time heТd ever seen me in anything that didnТt involve red or pink or orange or yellow or at least peacock blue or fluorescent purpleЧand I realized he didnТt know what had happened. He wouldnТt, would he? You donТt destroy vampires by rushing up to them and sticking them with table knives. The only sure thing about the nightТs events was that thereТd been some kind of fracasЧ some messy kind of fracasЧand IТd disappeared with some SOFs. There were probably half a dozen incompatible versions of what had happened out there by now.
No wonder Mel was feeling a little wild.
УItТs sort of a long story,Ф I said. УMay I leave now, please?Ф Before you start asking me about tonight, I thought.
УThatТs what IТm here for,Ф said Mel, throwing another good glare around.
УSee you tomorrow,Ф said Jesse.
УWhat?Ф said Mel.
УIТll tell you on the way out,Ф I said.
УSleep well,Ф said Pat.
УYou too,Ф I said.
They gave me my soggy clothes in a plastic Mega Food bag and I managed to jam my feet into the clammy, curled-up sneakers so I could walk. Jesse offered to call a taxi, but I wanted some outdoor air. Even midtown civic center outdoor air.
We had to go back to the coffeehouse: the Wreck was there. Mel had walked over. Well, I donТt know about walked. He had come over without vehicular assistance anyway. He was still putting out major anger vibes, even after a successful rescue of the damsel from the dragon-encircled tower. The dragon had been blue, and essentially friendly. The real problem was about the damselЕI had never wanted someone to talk to so badly, never been so unable to say what I wanted to talk about.