"Christopher Pike - The Last Vampire 02 - Black Blood" - читать интересную книгу автора (Pike Christopher)

revolver, not his hand, and see what the other three don't-the weapon landing on the roof of a three-story
apartment complex off to one side. Paul's bud-dies back up, but he continues looking for his gun. His
mouth works, but words are slow to form.

"Huh?" he finally says.

I reach out and grab him by the hair, pulling him close, my left hand closing on his hand that holds my
knife. Now he feels my gaze as beamed through a magnifying glass set in the hot sun. He trembles in my
grip, and for the first time he must realize how many different kinds of animals are in the jungle. I lean
close to his ear and speak softly.

"I see that you have killed before, Paul. That's OK-I have killed, too, many times. I am much older than
I look, and as you now know, I am also much stronger. I am going to kill you, but before I do I want to
know if you have any final requests. Tell me quick, I'm in a hurry."

He turns his head away, but his eyes cannot escape mine. He tries to pull away and finds we are
momentarily welded together. Sweat drips from his face like the river of tears the families of his victims
have shed. His partners back farther away. Paul's lower lip trembles.

"Who are you?" he gasps.

I smile. "I'm a party girl, like you said." I lose my smile. "No final requests? Too bad. Say goodbye to
mortality. Say hello to the devil for me. Tell him I'll be there soon, to join you."

My words, a poor joke to torment a victim I care nothing for. Yet there is a grain of truth in them. I feel
a wave of pain in my chest as I pull Paul closer. It is from the wound when a stake impaled me the night
Yaksha perished, a wound that never really healed. Since that night, six weeks earlier, I have never been
totally free of pain. And I have begun to suspect I never will be. The full extent of the anguish comes
upon me at unexpected moments, fiery waves that roll up like lava. I gag and have to bend over and
close my eyes. I have suffered a hundred serious injuries in my fifty centuries, I tell myself. Why does this
one not leave me in peace? Truly, a life in constant pain is the life of the damned.

Yet I did not disobey Krishna when I made Ray- not really, I try to convince myself.

Even Yaksha believed I still had the Lord's grace.

"Oh, God," I whisper and clench Paul's blood-filled body to me as if it were a bandage that could seal
my invisible scar. I feel myself begin to faint, but just when I feel I can take no more of the surging pain, I
hear footsteps in the distance. Quick-sounding foot-steps, moving with the speed and power of an
immor-tal. The shock of this realization is like cold water on my burning agony. There is another vampire
nearby! I jerk upright, open my eyes. Paul's buddies are fifty feet away and still backing up. Paul looks at
me as if he is staring into his own coffin.

"I didn't mean to hurt you, Alisa," he mumbles.
 I suck in a deep breath, my heartbeat roaring in my ears. "Yes, you did," I reply and slam the knife down
into his right thigh, just above the knee. The blade goes in cleanly, and the tip comes out red and dripping
on the other side. An expression of pure horror grips his face, but I have no more time for his excuses. I
have bigger game to bag. As I let go of him, he falls to the ground like a trash can that has been kicked
over. Turning, I run in the direction of the immortal's footsteps. I leave my knife behind for Paul to enjoy.