"Jensen, Jane - Gabriel Knight 02 - The Beast Within" - читать интересную книгу автора (Jensen Jane)

1950s Hammer films.
He smiled satirically. "Shouldn't those be torches?"
Werner Huber stepped forward. The tall old man
was Gerde's uncle and the owner of the local gasthof,
a man so traditional he made The Sound of Music
look like counterculture. He was clearly spokesman of
this group, as one of the few English speakers in the
village. And he was not amused.
"Herr Knight, we have come for the Schattenjager."
He used the formal title—Schattenjager, Shadow
Hunter. It was as dramatic a gesture as the midnight
visit, but for some reason, perhaps it was the old man's
expression, Gabriel suddenly found the situation not
at all funny. "Really? What seems to be the trouble?"
Werner put his hand on the shoulder of a small,
plain-looking man. "This is my cousin, the Huber
Sepp. He has a farm up north, just outside of
Munich."
Huber gazed up at Gabriel with red, swollen eyes.
"Two nights ago his daughter Toni was outside
playing in the grass. There is a forest along his prop-
erty, yes? And the child liked to play close to the
trees."
Gabriel's stomach began to tighten. No, this was
definitely not amusing.
"It was getting dark, and the mother goes to the
door to call in the child. She sees Toni at the edge of
the woods. Then she sees something else—a wolf, she
thinks. It is huge, and it is moving toward the child!"
Sepp Huber was looking at the ground.
"She screams to Toni a warning and begins to run
toward her. Sepp is in the barn. He hears his wife
screaming and knows that something is terribly wrong.
He grabs his gun and conies out, but by now it is
already too late."
Werner glanced at Sepp, past Sepp, and Gabriel re-
alized that the woman was here, the mother. She was
a tiny, round thing. She stepped out from her hus-
band's side so that Gabriel could see her better or,
perhaps, so that she could see him. Her eyes were gray
and long-lashed. There was something dire in them.
"They say she died quickly," Werner concluded.
"She did," the mother said in a thick but firm voice.
Gabriel felt a terrible weight press on him. It
seemed to come through her eyes.
"It was dragging her away," she said. "I didn't know
if she was dead, but I was not about to let that . . .
that thing ... I grabbed for her foot, but her boot..."
The night fell silent except for the sound of crickets.
Her mouth remained open for a moment, as though