"Charlaine Harris - Dancers in the Dark" - читать интересную книгу автора (Harris Charlaine)

The second vampire stepped forward, and Rue realized he hadn't moved the whole time she'd
been dancing with Thompson. Now he gave Sylvia a frigid nod and examined Rue as closely as
she was examining him.


Dust could have settled on Sean, he stood so still. He was shorter than Thompson, but still
perhaps two inches taller than Rue, and his long straight hair, tied back at the nape of his neck,
was bright red. Of course, Sean was white, white as paper, Thompson's racial heritage, his
naturally golden skin, had made him look a little more alive.
The Irish vampire's mouth was like a capital M. The graven downturns made him look a little
spoiled, a little petulant, but it was just the way his mouth was made. She wondered what he
would look like if he ever smiled. Sean's eyes were blue and clear, and he had a dusting of
freckles across his sharp nose. A vampire with freck-les that made Rue want to laugh. She
ducked her head to hide her smile as he took his stance in front of her.


"I am amusing?" he asked, so softly she was sure the other three couldn't hear.


"Not at all," she said, but she couldn't suppress her smile.


"Have you ever talked to a vampire?"


"No. Oh, wait, yes, I have. A beauty contest I was in, I think maybe Miss Rockland Valley? He
was one of the judges."


Of all the ways Sean the vampire could have responded, he said, "Did you win?"


She raised her eyes and looked directly into his. He could not have looked more bored and
indifferent. It was strangely reassuring. "I did," she said.


She remembered the vampire judge's sardonic smile when she'd told him her "platform" was
governmental tolerance toward supernatural creatures. And yet she'd never met a supernatural
creature until that moment! What a naive twit she'd been. But her mother had thought such a
topic very current and sure to attract the judges' attention. National and state governments had
been struggling to regulate human-vampire relationships since vampires had announced their
existence among humans five years before.


The Japanese development of a synthetic blood that could satisfy the nutritional needs of the
undead had made such a revelation possible, and in the past five years, vampires had worked
their way into the mainstream of society in a few countries. But Rue, despite her platform, had
steered clear of contact with the undead. Her life was troublesome enough without adding an
element as volatile as the undead to the mix.