"Mercedes Lackey - Urban Fantasies" - читать интересную книгу автора (Lackey Mercedes)

“Why do you want this girl so much?” Ramon wanted to know.

Carlos thought about it for a moment, then decided to tell them. They were his brothers, -after all, and
there was no one in the world he could trust more than them. “She may be abruja , a witch,” he said at
last. “At least, that is what a crazy man in jail told me. If we find her, I will be able to know for certain.”
He smiled. “If she is a witch, she could be useful to me. To the homeboys. We've had trouble with those
bastardos from the city, trying to take over the drug selling near ourbarrio . With abruja , maybe they
would be more afraid of us.”

“I think Carlos just wants another woman, a girl who is abruja in bed,” Manuel said. “I can't wait to tell
Roberta that she isn't enough for him anymore!”

“Carlos, what if this girl doesn't want you?” Ramon asked.
“What do you mean?”Carlos said, surprised by the question. “She'll come with us, whether she wants to
or not. She's just a girl.”

“But that's—”

“That's what? Survival, that's what it is! Ramie, it's us against them, our family against the -T-Men, the
bastardos that would ruin our business. You know that!”

Ramon glanced at him. “Carlos, I don't like this. You know I've never liked what we're -doing, but this
is even worse. It's changing you, changing all of us, making us into . . . into something I don't like.”

“So, what else are you going to do?” Carlos asked. “The money's good, I know you like that. Are you
going to work at McDonald's for a handful of dollars a day?”

Ramon shook his head, his eyes on the traffic ahead of them. “I . . . I talked to Luisa this morning. She
says they might have work for me at the store. I could do that during the day, go back to school at night.
. . .”

“Heh, you couldn't even finish high school!” Carlos laughed.

“I couldn't, because you made me quit! You made me quit and help you sell drugs!” Ramon said angrily.

Carlos glanced at Manuel, who was being very quiet in the seat next to him. He leaned forward,
speaking quietly to Ramon. “Ramie, Ramie, I need you. We've built a business, but I can't hold it all
alone. Not with thosebastardos from downtown trying to cut into our territory. Do you forget, Rey's in
the hospital because of them? They want our territory, and who knows what they might try next? No,
you can't go back to school now, I need you too much. Our family needs you too much.”

“But you know, I want more than this. . . . I want to finish high school, become a lawyer. . . .”

“A laywer, that's good!” Manuel laughed. “Then you can keep Carlos out of jail when they arrest him for
selling rock!”

Carlos gave him a dirty look, then turned back to Ramon. “We'll go find thisbruja , Ramie. If she's real,
if she can do what that crazy man said, then she'll make the difference for us. Then you can do whatever
you want, Ramie. You can go back to school, become a lawyer, do anything.”