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

УNo.Ф
I thought of saying, So, what now, do we hold hands and jump? How long a fall can a vampire walk away from? How high do we have to climb first? A mere almost-human pretty reliably goes splat after about four stories, I think. I was beginning to feel sorry that heТd come. No. IТd rather jump out a window and get it over with fast than fall into BoТs clutches again. I was merely resisting the idea that jumping was my best choice.
УI have thought of it a good deal, these last weeks,Ф he was saying, Уfor I knew what happened at the lake would not be the end. Not with Bo. I also know that singly you and I have no chance.Ф
I do wish youТd stop saying that, I thought.
УBut together,Ф he continued, Уwe may have a chance. It is not a good chance, but it is a chance. I do not like it. You cannot like it. I do not understand what it is that you do, and have done. I am not sure we will be able to work together, even if we attempt it. Even if we are each otherТs only chance.Ф He was sitting in the darkness beyond the moonlight, and I could not see his face. I couldЧa littleЧsee movement as he spoke; vampires also speak by moving their mouths. But this conversation was a little too like talking to a figment of your own imagination. Your darkest, spookiest, most bottom-of-your-unconscious-where-the-monsters-lurk imagination. Even the shadow in the chair was half-imaginary.
No it wasnТt. ThereТs really no mistaking the presence of a vampire in the room.
УWill you help me?Ф he said. It is very peculiar being asked a life-or-death question in a tone of voice that has no tone in it. Emotionally speaking the response feels like it ought to be something like passing the salt or closing the door.
УOh,Ф I said intelligently. УAhЧer. Well. Yes. Certainly. Since you put it so persuasively.Ф
There was a pause, and then there was a brief noise that, mercifully also briefly, unhinged my spine. He had laughed.
УForgive my persuasiveness,Ф he said. УI would spare you if I could. I do not wish this any more than you do.Ф
УNo,Ф I said thoughtfully. УI donТt suppose you do.Ф If IТd been honest I suppose what IТd really wanted him to do was say, УOh donТt worry about it. This is vampire business and IТll take care of it.Ф Dream on. УSo,Ф I said. I didnТt want to know, but I guessed I should make an effort. УWhat do we do now?Ф
УWe start,Ф he said, and paused. I recognized this as the middle of an unfinished sentence, and not one of his cryptic pronouncements, and waited. Then there was a funny breathing noise that I translated provisionally as a sigh. Vampires donТt breathe right, why should they sigh right? But maybe it means vampires can feel frustration. Noted. УWe start by my trying to discover what assistance I can give you.Ф
Somehow this didnТt sound like the usual movie-adventure sort of УIТll keep you covered while you reloadФ assistance. УWhat do you mean?Ф
УWe must face Bo at night. Your abilities would not get us past the guards that protect his days.Ф
I didnТt even consider asking what those guards might be.
УHumans are at great disadvantage at night. I think I may be able to grant you certain dispensations.Ф
Dispensations. I liked that. Vampire as fairy godmother. Or godfather. Pity he couldnТt dispense me from getting killed. УYou mean like being able to see in the dark or something.Ф
УYes. I mean exactly that.Ф
УOh.Ф If I could see in the dark I would never again have to trip over the threshold of the bathroom door on the way to have a pee at midnight. If I lived long enough to need to.
УI will have to touch you,Ф he said.
Okay, I told myself. HeТs not going to forget himself and eat me because he comes a few feet closer. I thought of the second night in the ballroom: Sit a little distance from the cornerЧyes, nearer me. Remember that three feet more or less makes no difference to me: you might as well.
And heТd carried me something like forty-five miles. And only about the first forty-two of them had been in daylight.
And somehow pointing out that I now was in bed and wearing nothing but a nightgown and would like to get up and put some clothes on first, please, was worse than not mentioning my inappropriate-for-receiving-visitors state of undress. So I didnТt mention it.
УOkay,Ф I said.
That fluid, inhuman motion again, as he stood up and stepped toward me. IТd forgotten that tooЧforgotten how strange it is. How ominous. Too fluid for anything human. For anything alive.
He sat down near me on the bed. The bed dipped, as if from ordinary human weight. I pulled my feet up and turned toward him, but I did it carelessly, more conscious of him than of anything elseЧ which is to say, more carelessly than I had learned to move over the last two months, carelessly so that the gash on my breast didnТt just seep a little, but cracked open along its full length, as if it were being cut into me for the first time. I couldnТt help it: it hurt: I gave a little gasp.
And he hissed. It was a terrifying noise, and I had slammed myself back into the pillows and headboard before I had a chance to think anything at all, to think that I couldnТt get away from him even if I wanted to, to think that he had declared us allies. To think that there might be any other reason for a sound like that one but that he was a vampire and I was alive and streaming with fresh blood.
УStop,Ф he said in what passed for his normal voice. УI offer you no harm. Tell me about the blood on your breast.Ф
He didnТt linger on the word Уblood.Ф I muttered, УIt wonТt heal. ItТs been like this for two months.Ф
He wasnТt as good at waiting as I was. УGo on,Ф he said immediately.
IТd stopped shrugging in the last two months too: you canТt shrug without pulling at the skin below your collarbones. УI donТt know. It doesnТt heal. It seems to close over and then splits again. The doctor put stitches in it a couple of times, gave me stuff to put on it. Nothing works. It just splits open again. ItТs a nuisance but I have been kind of learning to live with it. Like I had a choice. This isЧerЧworse than usual. Sorry. ItТs only a shallow gash. You mayЧerЧremember.Ф
УI remember,Ф he said. УShow me.Ф
I managed not to say, What? It took me a minute to gather my dignity as well as my courage, and my hands were shaking a little when I raised them to unbutton the top two buttons of my nightgown, and peel the edges back so he could see the bony space below my collarbones and above the swell of my bosom, where the blood now ran down in a thin ragged curtain from the wicked curved mouth of the long ugly slash. I barely flinched when he reached out a hand and touched the blood with his finger andЕtasted it. Then I closed my eyes.
УI offer you no harm,Ф he said again, gently. УSunshine. Open your eyes.Ф
I opened them.
УThe wound is poisoned,Ф he said. УIt weakens you. It is very dangerous.Ф
УIt was for you,Ф I said, dreamily. I felt like one of those oracle priestesses out of some old myth: seized by some spirit not her own, a spirit that then speaks from her mouth. УThey wanted to poison you.Ф
УYes,Ф he said.
I thought, I have been so tired, these last two months. I have got used to that too. I have told myself it is just part ofЧhaving had what happened, happen. You do not get over something like that quickly. I had told myself that was all it was. I had almost believed it. I had believed it. The cut didnТt heal because it didnТt heal.
Poisoned. Weakening me. Killing me is what he meant. Note that vampires can also be tactful.
All those hours in the sunlight, baking the thing, the hostile presence on my body. IТd known it was hostile, although I hadnТt admitted it. I hadnТt taken the next step of thinking Уpoisoned.Ф Sunlight was my element; and so I turned to sunlight. And sunlight was the only thing that did any good, and it didnТt do enough. Because the wound was poisoned. That was out of some story where there would be an oracle priestess somewhere: the poisoned wound that did not heal. IТd already been wondering how I was going to get through the winter, when I couldnТt lie outdoors and bake some hours every week. Been learning not to think about wondering how I was going to get through the winter.
He was silent, waiting for me to finish thinking. I looked at him: glint of green eyes in the moonlight. DonТt look in their eyes, I thought. Tiredly.
This would have been a nasty shock to him too, of course. Finding out his ally is a goner.
I was too tired to look at him. I was too tired for almost anything. Sometimes it is better not to know. Sometimes when you do know you just fold up.
УSunshine. I know a little about poisons. This is not something your human doctors can distill an antidote for.Ф
This was even better than his repeating that neither of us had any chance against Bo. By dying I was going to ruin his chances too. ItТs funny: I was actually sorry about this. Maybe I was a little delirious. Maybe too much had been happening lately. Maybe I was just very, very short of sleep.
УThere is something that can be done. Can be tried.Ф Pause. УIt is not easy.Ф
Oh, big surprise. Something wasnТt going to be easy. I tried to rouse myself, to react. I failed.
УBut can you trust me?Ф
More happy news. Not just something to be done, but a vampire something. Which doubtless meant it would have more blood in it. I donТt like blood. I mean, I like it fine, inside, circulating, carrying oxygen and calories to all your stay-at-home cells, but slimy seeping pink hamburger gives me the whim-whams.