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Cerulean Sins :: Гамильтон Лорел
Страница: 9 из 352"
I shrugged. "You'll turn a girl's head with talk like that."
"Are you saying it's true?"
"Does it really matter? Let me repeat: I can raise your ancestor, Mr. Harlan. I'm one of the few, if not the only, animator in this country that can do it without resorting to a human sacrifice." I smiled at him, my professional smile, the one that was all bright and shiny and as empty of meaning as a lightbulb. "Will next Wednesday or Thursday be alright?"
He nodded. "I'll leave my cell phone number, you can reach me twenty-four hours a day."
"Are you in a hurry for this?"
"Let's just say that I never know when an offer may come my way that I would find hard to resist."
"Not just money," I said.
He gave that smile again. "No, not just money, Ms. Blake. I have enough money, but a job that holds new interests… new challenges. I'm always searching for that."
"Be careful what you wish for, Mr. Harlan. There's always someone out there bigger and badder than you are."
"I have not found it so."
I smiled then. "Either you're even scarier than you seem, or you haven't been meeting the right people."
He looked at me for a long moment, until I felt the smile slide from my eyes. I met his dead eyes with my own. In that moment that well of quietness filled me. It was a peaceful place, the place I went when I killed. A great white static empty place, where nothing hurt, where nothing felt. Looking into Harlan's empty eyes, I wondered if his head was white and empty and staticky. I almost asked, but I didn't, because for just a second I thought he'd lied, lied about it all, and he was going to try and draw his gun from his jacket. It would explain why he wanted to know if I was a shape-shifter. For a heartbeat or two, I thought I'd have to kill Mr. Leo Harlan. I wasn't scared now or nervous, I just readied myself. It was his choice, live or die. There was nothing but that slow eternal second where choices are made and lives are lost.
Then he shook himself, almost like a bird settling its feathers back in place. "I was about to remind you that I am a very scary person all by myself, but I won't now. It would be stupid to keep playing with you like this, like poking a rattlesnake with a stick."
I just looked at him with empty eyes, still held in that quiet place. My voice came out slow, careful, like my body felt. "I hope you haven't lied to me today, Mr. Harlan."
He gave that unsettling smile. "So do I, Ms. Blake, so do I." With that odd comment, he opened the door carefully, never taking his eyes from me.
I shrugged. "You'll turn a girl's head with talk like that."
"Are you saying it's true?"
"Does it really matter? Let me repeat: I can raise your ancestor, Mr. Harlan. I'm one of the few, if not the only, animator in this country that can do it without resorting to a human sacrifice." I smiled at him, my professional smile, the one that was all bright and shiny and as empty of meaning as a lightbulb. "Will next Wednesday or Thursday be alright?"
He nodded. "I'll leave my cell phone number, you can reach me twenty-four hours a day."
"Are you in a hurry for this?"
"Let's just say that I never know when an offer may come my way that I would find hard to resist."
"Not just money," I said.
He gave that smile again. "No, not just money, Ms. Blake. I have enough money, but a job that holds new interests… new challenges. I'm always searching for that."
"Be careful what you wish for, Mr. Harlan. There's always someone out there bigger and badder than you are."
"I have not found it so."
I smiled then. "Either you're even scarier than you seem, or you haven't been meeting the right people."
He looked at me for a long moment, until I felt the smile slide from my eyes. I met his dead eyes with my own. In that moment that well of quietness filled me. It was a peaceful place, the place I went when I killed. A great white static empty place, where nothing hurt, where nothing felt. Looking into Harlan's empty eyes, I wondered if his head was white and empty and staticky. I almost asked, but I didn't, because for just a second I thought he'd lied, lied about it all, and he was going to try and draw his gun from his jacket. It would explain why he wanted to know if I was a shape-shifter. For a heartbeat or two, I thought I'd have to kill Mr. Leo Harlan. I wasn't scared now or nervous, I just readied myself. It was his choice, live or die. There was nothing but that slow eternal second where choices are made and lives are lost.
Then he shook himself, almost like a bird settling its feathers back in place. "I was about to remind you that I am a very scary person all by myself, but I won't now. It would be stupid to keep playing with you like this, like poking a rattlesnake with a stick."
I just looked at him with empty eyes, still held in that quiet place. My voice came out slow, careful, like my body felt. "I hope you haven't lied to me today, Mr. Harlan."
He gave that unsettling smile. "So do I, Ms. Blake, so do I." With that odd comment, he opened the door carefully, never taking his eyes from me.