[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
and uncomfortable. They seemed to think that I could take care of them, love
them in that totally protective way in which Adrian had led, and I was so
frightened of failure that sometimes I couldn't breathe when we were in the
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room. To stumble in on them (and Chester and Bryn and Ellis and& dear Goddess
how many other vampires were coming in?) babbling of apology could have been
one of the most mortifying moments of my life.
If they had let it be.
"Is Grace okay?" Marcus asked immediately. "Bracken told us what happened is
she going to be all right?
I swallowed and blinked. Of course. These were Adrian's vampires. Grace had
led them while I'd been gone. They too had left families and loved ones to be
night hunters, to be the dead. Of any one, the vampires streaming one after
another in various states of dress (and sogginess it was still raining out
there!) would understand how traumatic this would be for Grace. They
would they were all forgiving me for my panic call, because it would have been
their panic call as well.
"I don't know," I murmured honestly. "I'm so lost with this. I think we need
to let Grace decide how to proceed." The other vampires looking around now
crowded little store I saw at least twenty of them all nodded in
understanding, and I took a deep breath of relief Grace would deal with it, I
could deal with it, human problems could be dealt with.
At that exact moment the doors to the outside crashed open so quickly one of
the glass panes in the bottom cracked and the hinges squealed in pain as they
ripped sideways. Arturo, Grace's sidhe lover, hurtled into the room with so
much force from prolonged hyperspeed that I was blown backwards into the
cashier's stand. My head cracked against the wood, pain exploded behind my
eyes and I saw stars. Bracken was there in half-a-heartbeat, but I had put my
hand back behind my head and it came away with blood on it, so I was not going
to get any cuddling from him immediately. I dragged my battered, sore, skinny
ass up just as Bracken got in the face of the biggest, baddest, most
physically imposing elf at our hill.
"What the fuck, Arturo! You could have killed someone!
Arturo's eyes were whirling, his chest heaving with the effort he must have
run fifteen miles in five minutes, no mean feat, even if you were working on
the will of the Goddess alone. "Grace," he snarled. "Where the hell is Grace?
Of course. Every vampire in the kiss at the hill goes flying out screaming
"Grace", Arturo's going to be listening to the psychic all-call, right?
Dearest, are you all right? Green said in my head, and I gave the equivalent
of a mental grunt.
Panicked Arturo. I murmured. Pissed off Bracken. Bonk to the noggin. All
systems fucked up as usual.
I heard the equivalent of a mental chuckle, but he must not have been that
amused because he kept lurking in my head, probing my wound. You re bleeding!
Hence, the reason Bracken is across the room about ready to deck Arturo& I
think I need to move now.
"Grace is fine," I articulated, trying hard to see the two combatants past the
darkness in my vision. "Grace is fine. Where are the boys?
"They're in the playroom, with half our inventory," Brack said smartly.
Good there was a reason we'd established a little play room for munchkins.
Little kids and craft stores sooo did not mix well. I put my hands underneath
me and pushed up, then grabbed the top of the stand and hauled myself up by
main force. I could stand, with wobbly knees, and blurred vision, but I could
stand.
"Her daughter came into the store she panicked, I panicked I'm sorry, Arturo,
I said, still wobbling. "I truly didn't mean to send us all into a tailsp& "
Oh, this was bad. I swayed on my feet and tried not to barf and it wasn't the
head wound that was making me queasy.
Suddenly, every vampire in the room went down. Five of them the five I didn't
know that well and hadn't taken blood from simply went over backwards, like
felled trees or puppets with cut strings. Everybody else, including Marcus and
Phillip, my pillars of support, fell to their knees and groaned. That smell
was back again. That knee leveling psychic stench of minatory corruption
slammed into the sanctuary of the store and it was all I could do not to roll
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my eyes back in my head and join the vampires on the ground.
While Arturo was saying "What in hell?" Bracken took one look at me and said,
"Oh fuck, its back." The two boys, hearing the nasty thuds and moaning voices
popped their heads out of the playroom in the back corner, and suddenly my
course of action became absolutely clear.
"Bracken, go take care of them," I barked. "Arturo go make sure Grace is
okay this thing's bad and it's got to go.
Green was inside my head, panicked, and, from what I could tell, also
otherwise engaged. This thing is bloody awful you know what this is?
It was at the school today I have no idea what it's doing here, but it's after
us can't you feel that?
No kidding, Corinne Carol-Anne! Green barked, and his voice was strained with
worry for me, and with something else that was familiar and somehow
inappropriate for the circumstances that he was trying to keep from me.
Green& what are you doing right now?
A mental grimace. Bad question beloved. What is our plan?
A plan& did I have a plan? It's not afraid of sunshine, I said, a little bit
afraid.
It's never tasted yours, he answered back. And you have people to protect.
A shield. "We'll need a shield, I said out loud. "A strong one. On the
outside of the building& " Oh shit. "Phillip!" Phillip groaned, trying, I was
sure, not to retch up his last meal I knew that feeling well. "Phillip,
dammit who's out there?
"What?
"When you guys answered my panic-call how many people that I haven't taken
blood from are out there?
Phillip shook his head, trying to pull it together, but the force that was
making us all nauseous and weak gave a little surge, and not only did it send
Phillip to his knees and me to the trash can to hover, just in case, but it
also told us that we were RUNNING OUT OF TIME.
"Dammit, Phillip& who's out there?
"Why does it matter? he asked, his sharply handsome face nearly green with
illness. "Just blast it& kill it& whatever it is&
"FUCK IT ALL," I roared, "I will NOT be the source of any more innocent
vampire deaths, do you hear me? You tell our people to clear out and you tell
them to clear out now!
"That pretty girl said the f-word," said a small voice into the ensuing
silence, and I wanted to weep. Now Grace's grandchildren were going to think I
was some sort of miscreant. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]