"Kristine Kathryn Rusch - Beautiful Damned" - читать интересную книгу автора (Rusch Kristine Kathryn)

"Ah, Nick," he said, his fingers brushing her brow. "Your arrival surprised
me.
I never thought -- I never realized-- how the characters live on, even when
the
story's over. I could believe in my own transformation but not your existence.
And I never understood the past, so here I am repeating it."

He smiled then, a self-deprecating smile that made all his words seem like the
foolish ravings of a man who had had little sleep. And yet he continued,
telling
me some of the things of which I have already written, and others, which I
shall
never commit to the page.

"Go home, old sport," he finally said. "Everything will look different in the
light of day."

I must have glanced at Arielle with concern, for he cupped her cheek
possessively. "Don't worry," he said. "I'll take good care of her."

Something in the throb of his voice made me trust him, made me turn on my heel
even though I knew it was wrong, and leave him there with her. Some warble,
some
imperative moved me, as if he were the creator and I the created. I wandered
down the hill in the dark, and didn't return until the light of day.

CHAPTER VI

I had slept maybe twenty minutes when I woke to the sound of tires peeling on
the road outside my house. An engine raced, powering a fast-moving car up the
hill. As I sat up, brakes squealed and a voice rose in a shout that echoed
down
the valley. The shouts continued until they ended
abruptly--mid-sentence--followed by a moment of silence and a woman's high
pitched scream.

It was still dark, although the darkness had that gray edge that meant dawn
wasn't far away. I picked up the phone and called the police which, in my
compulsion fogged mind, felt like an act of defiance. Then I rose from my bed
a
second time, dressed, and ran out of the house.

I didn't think to take the car until I was half way up the path. By then to
run
back and get it would have taken twice as long as continuing. The sun rose,
casting orange and gold tendrils across the sky. The silence in Fitz's house
unnerved me and I was shaking by the time I reached the driveway.

I had never seen the car before--a light gray sedan that lacked pretension