JК
Danse Macabre :: Гамильтон Лорел
Страница: 377 из 427Raphael felt one of the mastersin the ballet. One of them can call rats, Anita. Do you understand what that means to our people?»
«Yes,» I said, «if they take Raphael, then they own you all.»
«Exactly.»
«And we invited them here,» I whispered.
Requiem's bare shoulder appeared around Lillian. «Merlin, their dance master, rolled the human audience to make his dancers appear and vanish, but he did not try to roll the other masters. Until tonight.»
I wasn't so sure of that. I'd felt Merlin's mind. If he'd rolled them, then let them go, they might never have figured it out. I tried to explain it. «His mind, powerful enough. He could let them go. They might never know.»
«You mean that he rolled them, and was so powerful that they don't remember it?»
«Yes.»
I watched fear march over his face, swallowed by that perfect blankness that the old ones have. «Perhaps, but I do not believe that Marmee Noir appeared in the other cities.»
«Who is Marmee Noir?» Lillian asked.
«Our dark mother, the first of us. It was her power added to Merlin's that did what was done tonight. It was her power that made Richard's cross melt into Anita's hand.»
«Is she here, with the troupe?»
«No,» I said, «she lies in the room with windows.» That probably made no sense to any of them, but they let it go. They took my drugged assurance that the nightmare of all vampires wasn't physically in St. Louis. Drugged out of my ability to concentrate and they took my word about it. They shouldn't have done that. But more than Mommie Dearest, there was Auggie and Samuel, and hell, Samuel's wife, Thea. If these were the masters Jean-Claude trusted, then what would the other masters do to us? Jean-Claude didn't need to be alone tonight. Something bad would happen.
«Get out, doc.»
«What?»
«Don't want you here when the wicked bitch comes.»
«I'll get out, and the only ones in the car will be people you've fed on before, Anita.» She glanced behind her. «With one exception.»
«Exception?»
«Go, Lillian,» Jason said. «Jean-Claude's nervous. Something else has happened. Not as bad, but something.»
Lillian moved out of sight, and Jason knelt beside me. He was as nude as Nathaniel. He was wearing the cuff bracelet that Jean-Claude had had commissioned for him. Wolves running over a gold and platinum landscape. The wolves looked so real you expected them to move. I stared at the bracelet. «Pretty,» I said.
He grinned. «And the bracelet's nice, too.
«Yes,» I said, «if they take Raphael, then they own you all.»
«Exactly.»
«And we invited them here,» I whispered.
Requiem's bare shoulder appeared around Lillian. «Merlin, their dance master, rolled the human audience to make his dancers appear and vanish, but he did not try to roll the other masters. Until tonight.»
I wasn't so sure of that. I'd felt Merlin's mind. If he'd rolled them, then let them go, they might never have figured it out. I tried to explain it. «His mind, powerful enough. He could let them go. They might never know.»
«You mean that he rolled them, and was so powerful that they don't remember it?»
«Yes.»
I watched fear march over his face, swallowed by that perfect blankness that the old ones have. «Perhaps, but I do not believe that Marmee Noir appeared in the other cities.»
«Who is Marmee Noir?» Lillian asked.
«Our dark mother, the first of us. It was her power added to Merlin's that did what was done tonight. It was her power that made Richard's cross melt into Anita's hand.»
«Is she here, with the troupe?»
«No,» I said, «she lies in the room with windows.» That probably made no sense to any of them, but they let it go. They took my drugged assurance that the nightmare of all vampires wasn't physically in St. Louis. Drugged out of my ability to concentrate and they took my word about it. They shouldn't have done that. But more than Mommie Dearest, there was Auggie and Samuel, and hell, Samuel's wife, Thea. If these were the masters Jean-Claude trusted, then what would the other masters do to us? Jean-Claude didn't need to be alone tonight. Something bad would happen.
«Get out, doc.»
«What?»
«Don't want you here when the wicked bitch comes.»
«I'll get out, and the only ones in the car will be people you've fed on before, Anita.» She glanced behind her. «With one exception.»
«Exception?»
«Go, Lillian,» Jason said. «Jean-Claude's nervous. Something else has happened. Not as bad, but something.»
Lillian moved out of sight, and Jason knelt beside me. He was as nude as Nathaniel. He was wearing the cuff bracelet that Jean-Claude had had commissioned for him. Wolves running over a gold and platinum landscape. The wolves looked so real you expected them to move. I stared at the bracelet. «Pretty,» I said.
He grinned. «And the bracelet's nice, too.