"Tanya Huff - Darkest Night 03 - Smoke and Ashes" - читать интересную книгу автора (Huff Tanya)

PRINTED IN THE U. S. A.
For Violette and Paul,

who rebuild our house, look after our cats,

and are even attempting to teach me how to

dress. Definitely above and beyond!
Chapter One




ALTHOUGH BOTH MOON AND stars were hidden behind cloud, the night was not as dark as it
could have been. The light from streetlamps bounced off pale concrete, providing illumination enough to
make the two men walking along the empty sidewalk clearly visible.

The dark-haired man shoved his hands deeper into the pockets of his brown suede jacket. “I know we
didn’t have much of a choice, but I don’t like how that ended.”

“It ended the way it had to end,” the blond replied with a weary smile. And if his teeth were just a little
too white and preternaturally long, there was no one there to note it. They might have been the only two
men alive in the entire city. Their footsteps should have echoed… that’s how alone they seemed.

“I don’t like circumstances making my choices for me.”

“Who does?”

“You don’t seem to be having any trouble.”

“I’ve just had a lot more practice at hiding…” His voice trailed off and, frowning, he looked up.

“That’s it. Good. Lee, follow his gaze. A woman screams and…”

A plaid flannel body pillow, clearly weighted, dropped down onto the sidewalk about three feet in front
of the actors.

“… and the unfortunate lady lands. Cut!” Peter Hudson moved out from behind the monitors, pulling off
his headset and tossing it back in the general direction of his black canvas chair. Tina, his script
supervisor, reached out and snagged the set just before it hit the pavement, her left hand marking the
place she’d stopped lining her copy of the script, her eyes never leaving the page. “Mason, I liked the
same old/same old thing you had going during the dialogue,” he continued as he reached the pillow. “It
was a nice counterpoint to Lee’s whole mortal indignation thing.”

“Nice?” Mason Reed—aka Raymond Dark, syndicated television’s most popular vampire detective and
star of Darkest Night—folded his arms, and curled a lip to expose one fake fang. “That’s the best you
can do?”

“It’s after midnight,” Peter sighed. “Be thankful I can still come up with nice. Once Angela adds the