"Christopher Pike - The Last Vampire 01 - The Last Vampire" - читать интересную книгу автора (Pike Christopher)

effect on him is pronounced; he shakes visibly, as if he is suddenly aware that he is sitting next to a
monster. But I am not just any monster. I am a vampire, and in many ways, for his sake, that may be the
worst monster of all.

"Someone has hired you to research me," I say. "I know that for a fact. Please don't deny it again, or
you will make me angry. 1 really am uncontrollable when I'm angry. I do things I later regret, and I would
regret killing you, Mr. Riley--butnot for long."I pause.

"Now, for the last time, tell me who sent you after me,andI will give you a million dollars and let you
walk out of here alive." He stares at me incredulously. His eyes see one thing, and his ears hear another, I
know. He sees a pretty blond girl with startlingly blue eyes, and he hears the velvety voice of a succubus
from hell. It is too much for him. He begins to stammer

"Miss Perne," he begins. "You misunderstand me. I mean you no harm. I just want to complete a simple
business deal with you. No one has to ... get hurt."

I take in a long, slow breath. I need air, but I can hold my breath for over an hour if I must. Yet now I let
out the breath before speaking again, and the room cools even more. And Mr. Riley shivers.

"Answer my question," I say simply.

He coughs. "There is no one else,"

"You'd better reach for your gun."

"Pardon?"

"You are going to die now. I assume you prefer to die fighting.,"

"Miss Perne--"

"I am five thousand years old."

He blinks. "What?"

I give him my full, uncloaked gaze,, which I have used in the past--alone--to kill. "I am a vampire," I
say softly. "And you have pissed me off."

He believes me. Suddenly he believes every horror story he has been told since he was a little boy. That
they were all true: the dead things hungering for the warm living flesh; the bony hand coming out of the
closet in the black of night; the monsters from another page of reality, the unturned page--who could
look so human, so cute.

Hereaches for his gun. Too slowly, much too.

I shove myself out of my chair with such force that I am momentarily airborne. My senses switch into a
hyper-accelerated mode. Over the last few thousand years, whenever I am threatened, I have developed
the ability to view events in extreme slow motion. But this doesnot mean that I slow down; quite the
opposite. Mr.Riley sees nothing but a blur flying toward him. Hedoes not see that as I'm moving. I have
cocked my legto deliver a devastating blow.