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Danse Macabre :: Гамильтон Лорел
Страница: 406 из 427It was enough to distract me, make me look away.
«There must be more to the two of you than I have been told,» Merlin said, and his voice was back to emptiness again.
«He is her vampire servant,» Adonis said, «it isn't rumor.» His voice wasn't empty, more hollow with an edge of anger.
«But that is not what saved her,» Merlin said. He looked to Asher, and I saw what I had rarely seen, one vampire look away from the gaze of another. Most vamps' power, like my own necromancy, protected them against vampire gaze. They couldn't roll each other — but Merlin could, or Asher feared he could. Scary bastard.
«You were the weakest of Belle Morte's master vampires. That vampire would not have helped save anyone from my gaze.»
«I have never met you before,» Asher said, his hand still on my arm, and his gaze averted from the other vampire.
«I have been closer to you than you know, Asher.»
I did not like the direction this talk was taking. «Look, we brought you back here to get answers, not the other way around.»
«And what answers do you think that I want from you?»
«You wanted to know how powerful we were. I don't know why, but you did. You wanted to test us. Why?»
«Perhaps I have sought long and hard for another master I could call my own. Someone who was powerful enough to make me feel that he was worthy to follow.»
«You're Merlin, not Lancelot,» I said.
«Lancelot was fiction, as is most of what you know today about me, and the ones I served.»
I blinked in his direction. «Are you saying you're the Merlin, as in King Arthur and the Round Table?»
«Are you saying I am not?»
I started to argue with him, but decided not to. It was no skin off my back if he wanted to pretend to be the real Merlin. I wouldn't even point out that Merlin, himself, was a late addition to the legend of Arthur. It was his delusion. Obsidian Butterfly thought she was an Aztec goddess. She'd been powerful enough that I hadn't burst her bubble either.
«Another night, maybe, but tonight I want to get some straight answers out of you. You're talking rings around me, and I'm tired of it.»
His power breathed through my mind. I was suddenly pointing a gun at his chest. «Don't try it.»
«You would slay me simply for using my power.»
«I would shoot you in the chest for trying to roll my mind. One-on-one mind control is illegal, especially for nefarious purposes.»
«I do not plan to take your blood, or feed upon you in any other way.
«There must be more to the two of you than I have been told,» Merlin said, and his voice was back to emptiness again.
«He is her vampire servant,» Adonis said, «it isn't rumor.» His voice wasn't empty, more hollow with an edge of anger.
«But that is not what saved her,» Merlin said. He looked to Asher, and I saw what I had rarely seen, one vampire look away from the gaze of another. Most vamps' power, like my own necromancy, protected them against vampire gaze. They couldn't roll each other — but Merlin could, or Asher feared he could. Scary bastard.
«You were the weakest of Belle Morte's master vampires. That vampire would not have helped save anyone from my gaze.»
«I have never met you before,» Asher said, his hand still on my arm, and his gaze averted from the other vampire.
«I have been closer to you than you know, Asher.»
I did not like the direction this talk was taking. «Look, we brought you back here to get answers, not the other way around.»
«And what answers do you think that I want from you?»
«You wanted to know how powerful we were. I don't know why, but you did. You wanted to test us. Why?»
«Perhaps I have sought long and hard for another master I could call my own. Someone who was powerful enough to make me feel that he was worthy to follow.»
«You're Merlin, not Lancelot,» I said.
«Lancelot was fiction, as is most of what you know today about me, and the ones I served.»
I blinked in his direction. «Are you saying you're the Merlin, as in King Arthur and the Round Table?»
«Are you saying I am not?»
I started to argue with him, but decided not to. It was no skin off my back if he wanted to pretend to be the real Merlin. I wouldn't even point out that Merlin, himself, was a late addition to the legend of Arthur. It was his delusion. Obsidian Butterfly thought she was an Aztec goddess. She'd been powerful enough that I hadn't burst her bubble either.
«Another night, maybe, but tonight I want to get some straight answers out of you. You're talking rings around me, and I'm tired of it.»
His power breathed through my mind. I was suddenly pointing a gun at his chest. «Don't try it.»
«You would slay me simply for using my power.»
«I would shoot you in the chest for trying to roll my mind. One-on-one mind control is illegal, especially for nefarious purposes.»
«I do not plan to take your blood, or feed upon you in any other way.