"Saje Williams - Sword And Shadow" - читать интересную книгу автора (Williams Saje)

foundation as hard as a granite slab.
Too bad she was being so damned irritating, standing there with her
hands on her hips, giving him the evil eye. Figuratively speaking, of
course. Even he was not immune to a real evil eye, though his status as
one of the undead gave him some level of protection. It was a fey ability,
and usually only showed up in those elves with particularly strong
bloodlines, but heтАЩd met a few vampires who could knock someone for a
loop with nothing more than a gaze.
He, unfortunately, was not one of them. He had to do this the old-
fashioned way. By scaring the crap out of their captive.
A good sniff told him that his initial fear that she, too, was a тАЩthrope
had turned out to be false. She was a human mage, which was bad
enough, but at least she wasnтАЩt going to go fuzzy and try to chew their
faces off. He slid the second pistol home and turned back to the blonde.
тАЬItтАЩs not as though anyone else is going to get their hands on my
weapons,тАЭ he told her. тАЬAnd I know thatтАЩs the primary reason you folks
donтАЩt like advanced weapons on these primitive worlds.тАЭ
тАЬThe other being that we donтАЩt like how easily they could be abused,тАЭ
she shot back with a telling glance toward the body currently leaking
blood and less savory liquids through the hole in the base of its skull.
тАЬAre you suggesting I shouldnтАЩt have shot himтАФthat it was somehow
an abuse of the weapon to kill him like that?тАЭ It sounded ludicrous to
him, but it was hard to say exactly what someone like her would find
reasonable.
тАЬNow youтАЩre just being obtuse. ItтАЩs a moot point anyway, if you get
right down to it. YouтАЩre already so much more powerful than the average
native that the firearms donтАЩt throw the balance off much. ItтАЩs still in
violation of the contract between your agency and mine, but IтАЩm willing to
overlook it in this particular case.тАЭ
тАЬThatтАЩs convenient,тАЭ he muttered. Especially since he didnтАЩt have any
intention of giving up his pistols no matter what she had to say about it.
Her agencyтАЩs reason for existing didnтАЩt have a damn thing to do with him,
as far as he was concerned, and he liked it that way. Contract or no



www.samhainpublishing.com 19
Saje Williams



contract. No one asked him if he was willing to set aside his pistols while
in the field.
Not that he would. They were just too damned useful, particularly if
he ended up facing a lycanthrope or another vampire. He had other ways
to kill them, but none as simple as a bullet to the brain. Magic tended to
be unreliable with regards to both paranormal types, and it wasnтАЩt
something he wanted to overuse here anyway. The last thing he needed
was to attract the ChurchтАЩs interest. A running battle with a bunch of
mage-priests wouldnтАЩt do anyone any good, and would screw up his