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Burnt Offerings :: Гамильтон Лорел
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I had several candidates for who might be interfering with the vamps, but we weren't here to get my answers. We were here to get Caroline's answers. "He have any ideas about who?"
"You know about our illustrious visitors?" she asked, voice even lower, as if she were afraid to say the last.
"If you mean the Vampire Council, I've met them."
She jerked back from me then, shocked. "Met them," she said. "But Malcolm has not met them yet."
I shrugged. "They paid their. . respects to the Master of the City first."
"Malcolm said they would contact us when they were ready. He saw their coming as a sign that the rest of vampirekind was ready to embrace the true faith."
I wasn't about to sit there and tell her why the council had really come to town. If the Church didn't know, they didn't need to know. "I don't think the council thinks much about religion, Caroline."
"Why else would they come?"
I shrugged. "The council has its reasons." See, not a lie, cryptic as hell, but not a lie.
She seemed to accept the statement. Maybe she was used to cryptic bullshit. "Why would the council want to hurt us?"
"Maybe they don't see it as hurting."
"If the firemen go down in there to save the young ones and they wake without a guardian. ." She drew her knees to her chest, hugging her legs. "They'll rise like revenants, mindless beasts, until they've fed. People could be dead before they come to themselves."
I touched her shoulder. "You're scared of them, aren't you?" I'd never met a human church member who was scared of vampires, especially not one that was donating blood as a human liaison.
She lowered the neckline of her tank top until I could see the tops of her small breasts. There was a bite mark on the pale flesh of one breast that looked more like a dog bite than one made by a vampire. The flesh had bruised badly, as if the vamp had been pulled off her almost as soon as he'd started sucking.
"Giles had to pull him off of me. He had to restrain him. Looking into his face, I knew that if Giles hadn't been there, he'd have killed me. Not to bring me over or embrace me, but just because I was food." She let her top slide back over the wound, hugging herself tight, shivering in the hot July sunshine.
"How long have you been with the Church, Caroline?"
"Two years."
"And this is the first time you've been scared?"
She nodded.
"They've been very careful around you, then."
"What do you mean?" she asked.
I unbent my left arm, showing the scars.
I had several candidates for who might be interfering with the vamps, but we weren't here to get my answers. We were here to get Caroline's answers. "He have any ideas about who?"
"You know about our illustrious visitors?" she asked, voice even lower, as if she were afraid to say the last.
"If you mean the Vampire Council, I've met them."
She jerked back from me then, shocked. "Met them," she said. "But Malcolm has not met them yet."
I shrugged. "They paid their. . respects to the Master of the City first."
"Malcolm said they would contact us when they were ready. He saw their coming as a sign that the rest of vampirekind was ready to embrace the true faith."
I wasn't about to sit there and tell her why the council had really come to town. If the Church didn't know, they didn't need to know. "I don't think the council thinks much about religion, Caroline."
"Why else would they come?"
I shrugged. "The council has its reasons." See, not a lie, cryptic as hell, but not a lie.
She seemed to accept the statement. Maybe she was used to cryptic bullshit. "Why would the council want to hurt us?"
"Maybe they don't see it as hurting."
"If the firemen go down in there to save the young ones and they wake without a guardian. ." She drew her knees to her chest, hugging her legs. "They'll rise like revenants, mindless beasts, until they've fed. People could be dead before they come to themselves."
I touched her shoulder. "You're scared of them, aren't you?" I'd never met a human church member who was scared of vampires, especially not one that was donating blood as a human liaison.
She lowered the neckline of her tank top until I could see the tops of her small breasts. There was a bite mark on the pale flesh of one breast that looked more like a dog bite than one made by a vampire. The flesh had bruised badly, as if the vamp had been pulled off her almost as soon as he'd started sucking.
"Giles had to pull him off of me. He had to restrain him. Looking into his face, I knew that if Giles hadn't been there, he'd have killed me. Not to bring me over or embrace me, but just because I was food." She let her top slide back over the wound, hugging herself tight, shivering in the hot July sunshine.
"How long have you been with the Church, Caroline?"
"Two years."
"And this is the first time you've been scared?"
She nodded.
"They've been very careful around you, then."
"What do you mean?" she asked.
I unbent my left arm, showing the scars.