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The Harlequin :: Гамильтон Лорел
Страница: 321 из 330Then a woman had stepped into the light ofhis fire. A woman with a spill of dark hair and eyes that glittered in the firelight. He had smelled death on her and tried to fight. I felt his body run hot and spill bone and muscle and flesh from human to wolf. But a wolf like none that still walked today. She had turned into a huge striped cat, the color of a lion, but striped like a tiger, bigger than both. She'd nearly killed him, but when pain and injury had turned him back to human, she'd fed on him. She fed on him for three days until the storm stopped, and when the fourth night rose, they went out together, to hunt.
I came back to the here and now and found that Wicked and Truth had pierced his heart and neck with their swords. He cursed them, and writhed, but he wasn't dead. I knew, I just knew that swords would not kill him. He was old blood. Blood when vampire and shapeshifter could be one, back before the blood weakened. We could take his head and heart and burn the pieces separately, but didn't I want answers? Yes, I did.
I sat back up with Micah and Nathaniel's help. «Your actions could get the entire Harlequin disbanded; don't you care?»
«Kill me, if you can, but I will not answer questions from you.»
The darkness inside me thought otherwise. «Fredo,» I called.
The slender knife-wielding man was just beside me. «Can you get enough help and enough knives to pin him to the floor?»
«We can pin him, but unless we're leaning on the knives, they won't hold him.»
«Then pin him with your bodies, I don't care how. I need to touch him.»
«Why?»
«Does it matter?»
«Tonight, yes,» he said.
I looked up into his dark eyes. I saw pain there. I answered that pain. «The darkness can make him talk, and then I'm going to kill him.»
Fredo nodded. «Good plan.» He went around getting volunteers to hold the vampire down. There were a lot of volunteers.
Jean-Claude came to me while they were wrestling him into place. «I feel her all around you, ma petite .»
«Yeah,» I said, but I wasn't looking at him. I was watching them pin the big vampire.
«Look at me.» He touched my chin and turned me so that I would look at him. I didn't fight him, but I didn't seem to care whether I looked at him or not. «There is a light in your eyes that I do not know.»
I half-saw, out of the corner of my eye, a dark figure form. She formed of the dark, and she looked vaguely like she had in my dream, all-black cloak, a small female figure. But this was no dream.
Screams again from the vampires.
I came back to the here and now and found that Wicked and Truth had pierced his heart and neck with their swords. He cursed them, and writhed, but he wasn't dead. I knew, I just knew that swords would not kill him. He was old blood. Blood when vampire and shapeshifter could be one, back before the blood weakened. We could take his head and heart and burn the pieces separately, but didn't I want answers? Yes, I did.
I sat back up with Micah and Nathaniel's help. «Your actions could get the entire Harlequin disbanded; don't you care?»
«Kill me, if you can, but I will not answer questions from you.»
The darkness inside me thought otherwise. «Fredo,» I called.
The slender knife-wielding man was just beside me. «Can you get enough help and enough knives to pin him to the floor?»
«We can pin him, but unless we're leaning on the knives, they won't hold him.»
«Then pin him with your bodies, I don't care how. I need to touch him.»
«Why?»
«Does it matter?»
«Tonight, yes,» he said.
I looked up into his dark eyes. I saw pain there. I answered that pain. «The darkness can make him talk, and then I'm going to kill him.»
Fredo nodded. «Good plan.» He went around getting volunteers to hold the vampire down. There were a lot of volunteers.
Jean-Claude came to me while they were wrestling him into place. «I feel her all around you, ma petite .»
«Yeah,» I said, but I wasn't looking at him. I was watching them pin the big vampire.
«Look at me.» He touched my chin and turned me so that I would look at him. I didn't fight him, but I didn't seem to care whether I looked at him or not. «There is a light in your eyes that I do not know.»
I half-saw, out of the corner of my eye, a dark figure form. She formed of the dark, and she looked vaguely like she had in my dream, all-black cloak, a small female figure. But this was no dream.
Screams again from the vampires.