[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
me into those woods. I had to know if I could depend on him. If he stayed this scared, I couldn't.
"What happened?" I asked. Maybe talking about it right now was the wrong thing to do, but ignoring it
wasn't working very well.
He shook his head. "Headquarters says you're in charge, Ms. Blake. Fine, I'll do what I'm told. But I
don't have to answer personal questions."
It was too much trouble to shrug out of the overall, and I really didn't want my arms trapped. I undid one
button on my blouse and spread the cloth.
"What are you doing?"
"How good's your night vision?"
"Why?"
Page 87
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
"Can you see the scar?"
"What are you talking about?" He sounded suspicious. Suspicious that I was crazy, maybe.
My night vision would have picked it up, but most people don't have my eyes. "Give me your hand."
"Why?"
"I am about to give you a once-in-a-lifetime offer. Just give me your damn hand."
He did, sort of hesitatingly, glancing back at the waiting men.
His hand was cold to the touch. He was one scared puppy. I traced his large, blunt fingers along my
collarbone. The moment he touched the scar tissue, his hand jerked like he'd had an electric shock. I
pulled my hand away, and he traced the scar again on his own.
He took his hand back, slowly, rubbing his fingers together like he was remembering the feel of my skin.
"What did that?"
"Same thing that did your neck. A vampire that wasn't neat with its food."
"Jesus," he said.
"Yeah," I said. I rebuttoned my blouse. "Tell me what happened, Wallace. Please."
He looked at me for a moment longer, then nodded. "Harry, my partner, and me, we got a call that
someone had found a body with its throat torn out." He made the words very bland, ordinary, but I knew
he was seeing it in his head. Watching it all happen again behind his eyeballs.
"It was a construction site. Just us in the middle of the place with our flashlights. There was a sound like
wind whistling, and something hit Harry. He went down with a man on top of him. He screamed, and I
had my gun out. I fired into the man's back. I hit him solid three, four times. He turned on me and his face
was bloody. I didn't have time to wonder why, 'cause he jumped me. I emptied my gun into him before I
hit the ground."
He took a deep breath, big hands twisting back and forth on the flashlight. He was looking off into the
trees, too, but not for vampires, or at least not for this one.
"He ripped my jacket and shirt like they were paper. I tried to fight him, but . . ." He shook his head.
"He caught me with his eyes. He caught me with his eyes, and when he tore into my neck, I wanted him
to do it, wanted it worse than I've ever wanted anything in my life."
He turned a little away from me, as if not meeting my eyes wasn't enough. "When I woke up, he was just
gone. Harry was dead. The girl was dead. I was alive."
He turned to me finally, looked me straight in the eyes and said, "Why didn't he kill me, Ms. Blake?"
I looked into his earnest eyes and didn't have a good answer. "I don't know, Wallace. He wanted to
make you one of them, maybe. I don't know why you and not Harry. You ever catch him?"
"The local master sent his head in a box to the station. The note apologized for his uncivilized behavior.
Page 88
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
That's what the note said, 'uncivilized behavior.' "
"It's hard to look at it as murder when you feed off humans yourself."
"Do they all do that? Feed off people?"
"I've never met one that didn't."
"Can't they eat animals?"
"Theoretically, yes. In practice it seems to lack certain nutrients." Truth was, feeding was too close to
sex for most vamps. They weren't into bestiality, so they didn't feed off animals. I didn't think the sex
analogy would go over well with Officer Wallace.
"Can you do this, Wallace?"
"What do you mean?"
"Can you go out into the dark and hunt vampires?"
"It's my job."
"I didn't ask if it was your job. I asked if you can go out into that darkness and hunt vampires."
"You think there's more than one?"
"Always best to assume so," I said.
He nodded. "Yeah, I guess so."
"Scared?" I asked.
"Are you?"
I looked off into the windswept night. The trees tossed and moaned in the wind. There was movement
everywhere. Soon there would be rain, and what light the stars gave would be gone.
"Yeah, I'm scared."
"But you're a vampire hunter," he said. "How can you do this night after night if it scares you?"
"Doesn't it scare you to know that every time you pull over some yahoo for a traffic violation that he
could be armed? You walk up on that car and never know."
"It's my job."
"And this is my job."
"But you're scared?"
"Down to my toes."
Page 89
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
Larry called, "The sheriff's back. He's got the warrant."
Wallace and I looked at each other. "You got silver bullets?" I asked.
"Yes."
I smiled. "Then let's go. You'll be fine," I said. I believed it. Wallace would do his job. I would do my
job. We would all do our jobs. And come morning, some of us would be alive and some of us wouldn't.
Of course, maybe there was just the one newly dead vampire to deal with. If so, we might all see the
sunrise.
But I hadn't lived this long assuming the best. Assuming the worst was always safer. And usually truer.
15
I'd gotten used to the sawed-off shotgun that I had at home. Yeah, it is illegal, but it's easy to carry and
makes mincemeat out of vampires. What more could a modern vampire hunter want? The Ithaca pump
action 12 gauge was close.
"Why don't I get a shotgun?" Larry asked.
I just looked at him. He looked serious. I shook my head. "When you can handle the nine, we'll talk
about shotguns."
"Great."
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]