"Christopher Pike - The Last Vampire 03 - Red Dice" - читать интересную книгу автора (Pike Christopher)

The Last Vampire 03



Christopher Pike




1



I am a vampire. Blood does not bother me. I like blood. Even seeing my own blood does not frighten
me. But what my blood can do to others--to the whole world for that matter--terrifies me. Once God
made me take a vow to create no more vampires. Once I believed in God. But my belief, like my vow,
has been shattered too many times in my long life. I am Alisa Perne, the now-forgotten Sita, child of a
demon. I am the oldest living creature on earth.

I awake in a living room smelling of death. I watch as my blood trickles through a thin plastic tube into
the arm of Special Agent Joel Drake, FBI. He now lives as a vampire instead of the human being he was
when he closed his eyes. I have broken my promise to Lord Krishna--Joel did not ask me to make him
a vampire. Indeed, he told me not to, to let him die in peace. But I did not listen. Therefore, Krishna's
protection, his grace, no longer applies to me. Perhaps it is good. Perhaps I will die soon. Perhaps not.

I do not die easily.

I remove the tubing from my arm and stand. At my feet lies the body of Mrs. Fender, mother of Eddie
Fender, who also lies dead, in a freezer at the end of the hall. Eddie had been a vampire, a very powerful
one, before I cut off his head. I step over his mother's body to search for a clock. Somehow, fighting the
forces of darkness, I have misplaced my watch. A clock ticks in the kitchen above the stove. Ten
minutes to twelve. It is dark outside.

I have been unconscious for almost twenty-four hours.

Joel will awaken soon, I know, and then we must go. But I do not wish to leave the evidence of my
struggle with Eddie for the FBI to examine. Having seen how Eddie stole and used the blood of my
creator, Yaksha, I know I must vaporize this sick house. My sense of smell is acute, as is my hearing.
The pump that cools the large freezer in the back is not electric but powered by gasoline. I smell large
amounts of fuel on the back porch. After I toss the gasoline all over the house, and wake Joel, I will
strike a match. Fire pleases me, although it has the power to destroy me. Had I not been a vampire, I
might have become a pyromaniac.

The gasoline is stored in two twenty-gallon steel tanks. Because I have the strength of many men, I have
no trouble lifting them both at once. Yet even I am surprised by how light they feel. Before I passed out, I
was like Joel, on the verge of death. Now I am stronger than I can ever remember being. There is a
reason. Yaksha gave me what blood he had left in his veins before I buried him in the sea. He gave me
his power, and I never realized how great it was until this moment. It is a wonder I was able to defeat
Eddie, who also drank from Yaksha. Perhaps Krishna came to my aid, one last time.