Ñòóäîïåäèÿ

Ãëàâíàÿ ñòðàíèöà Ñëó÷àéíàÿ ñòðàíèöà

ÊÀÒÅÃÎÐÈÈ:

ÀâòîìîáèëèÀñòðîíîìèÿÁèîëîãèÿÃåîãðàôèÿÄîì è ñàäÄðóãèå ÿçûêèÄðóãîåÈíôîðìàòèêàÈñòîðèÿÊóëüòóðàËèòåðàòóðàËîãèêàÌàòåìàòèêàÌåäèöèíàÌåòàëëóðãèÿÌåõàíèêàÎáðàçîâàíèåÎõðàíà òðóäàÏåäàãîãèêàÏîëèòèêàÏðàâîÏñèõîëîãèÿÐåëèãèÿÐèòîðèêàÑîöèîëîãèÿÑïîðòÑòðîèòåëüñòâîÒåõíîëîãèÿÒóðèçìÔèçèêàÔèëîñîôèÿÔèíàíñûÕèìèÿ×åð÷åíèåÝêîëîãèÿÝêîíîìèêàÝëåêòðîíèêà






Prologue 4 ñòðàíèöà






someone in the present.”

So saying, I stroked the nightstand with

my right hand. Tables, doorknobs, and

other fixtures were high-traffic areas for

emotional imprints. At once, multiple

images flashed across my mind. I weeded

through them until I found the strongest

thread. Then I concentrated on it, seeking

the person at the other end of that invisible

essence trail.

The hotel room morphed into an office

decorated in shades of beige. A

fortysomething man sat behind a desk,

balancing the phone with his shoulder as

he grabbed a notepad.

“No, that’s not what we agreed on, ”

he said as he scribbled away. “I don’t

care what her lawyer wants... for

fuck’s sake, she’s already getting half my

check in alimony and child support! ”

Even though everything was slightly

hazy as images in the present were, the

word BITCH on the notepad was clear.

You shouldn’t have kept cheating on your

wife in no-tell motels, I thought, dropping

the link and willing myself back to reality.

Maximus stared at me without blinking.

“Did it work? ”

“Yes.”

A ruthless anticipation began to swell

in me. Now I could start hunting for the

person who killed Marty. I still didn’t

believe it was Vlad, but if I was

wrong...

“Maximus, thank you for pulling me out

from under the wreckage, healing me, and

bringing me here. I owe you my life.” I

paused to take in a deep breath. “But now

you need to go.”

Both golden brows rose. “What? ”

“If Vlad is behind this, I can’t trust

you, ” I said bluntly. “You might like me,

but we both know you’re not going to

betray centuries of allegiance over a

passing fancy.”

I expected a lot of responses. Laughter

that sounded like stones grinding together

wasn’t one of them.

“You don’t know me as much as you

think you do, ” he said, and then grabbed

my right hand. My power responded,

yanking me out of the present into his past.

Multiple wounds covered me, but I

was jubilant. The Holy City was once

again ours.

“Allah Akbar! ” a voice wailed above

our shouts of victory.

Fools. If their god truly was great, we

wouldn’t have retaken Jerusalem. The

survivors of the battle, mostly women

and children, stared at us with

frightened loathing.

Then my cousin Godfrey’s voice rang

out. “Men of God! Destroy the filth that

befouled Jerusalem. Let none survive! ”

I froze. Sunlight glinted off hundreds

of swords as the other soldiers raised

their weapons. Then the swords fell to

the accompaniment of high-pitched

screams.

“Obey! ” the knight closest to me

urged. He showed no hesitation as he

hacked at those in front of him.

“God wills it! ” Godfrey continued to

roar while he joined in the destruction.

“We must cleanse this city! ”

A form hurtled toward me. By reflex, I

caught it, looking down on the

tearstained face of a boy, his brown eyes

wide as he sobbed out a plea for mercy

in his native tongue.

Abruptly, he sagged, blood spurting

from his mouth. The knight next to me

yanked his dripping sword from the

boy’s back.

“We have orders, ” he barked. “Do not

refuse. God wills it! ”

I dropped the lifeless boy. Then, jaw

clenched, I raised my sword and started

toward the survivors.

I snapped back from that gruesome

memory with slivers of electricity

shooting from my hand. At some point,

Maximus had let go, wise since I now

wanted to aim those currents at him.

“I know what you saw, ” he said flatly.

“It’s forever burned into my nightmares.

For the sake of allegiance, I once

followed a terrible order. Afterward, the

guilt nearly destroyed me. I will not be

that man again. Vlad is ruthless when

protecting his line and casualties of war

happen, but he’s never murdered innocent

women or children. If that has changed,

then so has my loyalty to him, but not for

your sake. For mine.”

I stared at Maximus. I’d expected he

had a dark sin—most people did,

especially centuries-old vampires—but I

hadn’t anticipated what he’d shown me.

“How could you have fought in that

battle and been changed into a vampire by

Vlad? ” I finally asked. “Didn’t the

Crusades take place hundreds of years

before Vlad was born? ”

He smiled tightly. “They did, but the

Knighthood of the Temple of Solomon had

secret rituals. One of them involved

drinking blood instead of wine in a

mimicry of the Last Supper. For members

of the original eight Templars, as I was,

the blood wasn’t human, though we didn’t

know it. We thought our increased strength

and accelerated healing came from God.”

“You were tricked into drinking

vampire blood? ” Wry snort. “I’ve been

there. When did you find out what it

was? ”

“Centuries later when I met Vlad. In

truth, it was a relief. I thought I couldn’t

age because God wanted to keep

punishing me for spilling innocent blood

in His name.”

Some of the anger I’d felt melted away.

What Maximus had done was awful, but

he’d lived with the guilt for longer than I

could imagine. He didn’t need more

recriminations from me.

“Um... all right.”

Such a trivial response, but too much

had happened the past several hours. I

rubbed my head, feeling Vlad’s essence

flare underneath my fingers. He’d left

imprints all over me. I dropped my hand,

not wanting to accidentally link to him.

With his mind reading, he was one of the

few people who could tell when he was

being psychically spied upon. It was how

we met, and in the unlikely event that he

had tried to kill me, I wasn’t about to let

him know he’d failed.

My eyes burned at the thought, but I

forced the pain back. Survival first, then

heartbreak, I reminded myself bleakly.

“I need to go back to the carnival, ” I

said to Maximus, “and you can’t come

with me.”

Chapter 9

“I look ridiculous. ”

I didn’t turn, but continued to stride

through the remains of the employee

parking lot as though I belonged. We

passed a few reporters mixed in with the

throng of onlookers. The explosion

brought out the gawkers as well as the

bereaved.

“You’re the one who insisted on

coming.” Spoken low so only he would

hear me. “At least you no longer look like

a reincarnation of Eric the Red, which is

noticeable, by the way.”

A scoff. “And this isn’t? ”

Now I did glance at him, taking in the

thick black hair covering every inch of his

exposed skin and the pronounced brows

I’d applied with glue and some modeling

clay. Considering the time crunch, I’d

done a good job making him look like he

had hypertrichosis, more commonly

known as wolfman’s disease.

“Not at a carnival it isn’t.”

My disguise was less dramatic. I wore

a short blond wig that matched the color

of my new shaggy beard, plus about two

pounds of gel inserts to give me the

double-D’s that nature never intended. My

waist and butt were similarly padded,

rounding out my figure into unrecognizable

proportions. Stage makeup covered my

scar where the beard didn’t, and dark

glasses completed my incognito look.

Well, incognito for a carnival. Most of

them had at least one bearded lady.

From the glare the barrel-bellied

policeman threw Maximus and me, we

succeeded at blending in.

“I told you people to stay back, ” he

barked.

I hefted my fake boobs higher in their

corseted confines. “My trailer was barely

damaged, ” I said, pointing at an RV that

had the least amount of soot. “Why can’t I

go in to get my purse? I need money to pay

for a hotel room! ”

“You noticed the big explosion, right?

Once we finish our job, everyone can

come get their stuff. Until then, stay with a

friend. Doesn’t wolfie have a pack he can

call? ”

The officer turned to go after his caustic

rebuttal, but Maximus’s growl stopped

him. Guess he was taking his new disguise

seriously.

“You want me to—” the officer began,

only to fall silent as Maximus’s gaze

flared, mesmerizing him at once.

“Let us through, ” he said in a low,

resonant voice.

The officer bobbed a nod.

“Absolutely.”

There were days when I envied

vampires. This was one of them. “Good

thing you came. I’d hate to wait and risk

them erasing all traces of the killer’s

essence, ” I murmured as Maximus and I

ducked under bright crime scene tape.

Even with the fake hair, I caught his

grim expression. “So would I.” Then to

the newly compliant officer, he said,

“Walk with us. If anyone asks, we’re

witnesses you’re interviewing.”

Considering all the policemen, firemen,

gas company employees, and other

personnel hurrying about, we had a few

minutes before we were stopped. With our

new escort, we headed to Marty’s trailer.

Even several hours after the explosion,

the air was still thick with a mixture of

gas, burnt rubber, and other, unspeakable

things. I forced myself not to gag, but the

urge was strong. So was the urge to burst

into tears when I saw the blackened,

hollowed shell that had served as my and

Marty’s home for years. Half of it was

gone, either disintegrated from the

ferocious heat or blasted into innumerable

parts.

Staring at the ruined husk made the full

reality of Marty’s death hit me. A small,

foolish part had secretly hoped he’d

survived and hadn’t heard me when I was

yelling for him last night. That hope

extinguished as thoroughly as his life

would have when the explosion went off.

The destruction was so complete, I

doubted they would find enough remains

for me to bury. Despite my resolve, a

warm, wet trail slid down my cheek.

“Don’t, ” Maximus said softly. “This

isn’t the time.”

I swiped at the errant tear and squared

my shoulders. He was right. Grieving

would come later. Now, I had to find out

who snuffed out Marty’s life. Yet looking

around, I wasn’t sure where to start. The

large crater in front of what used to be

Marty’s trailer? Farther up the gas line?

“What have you found so far? ”

Maximus asked. I turned, but the question

wasn’t directed at me.

“Last of the fires were only put out a

couple hours ago, so not much, ” the

officer replied in a monotone. His light

brown eyes were fixed on Maximus as if

glued. “Five dead, three more missing.

Gas company’s got the power off so we’re

checking the pipes. Found something in the

pit near a twisted hunk of pipe—”

“Show me, ” Maximus interrupted.

The officer began to walk toward a

tented area swarming with people wearing

ATF jackets. I tugged at Maximus’s

sleeve.

“There’s too many of them, ” I

whispered.

“Come back, ” Maximus told the officer,

who obeyed at once. “Get the object and

meet us outside the east section of the

barricade. Don’t let anyone know what

you’re doing.”

The officer left. I followed Maximus to

the section of the barricade where there

was the least amount of spectators. After

ten minutes, the portly officer was back.

“Here, ” he said, pulling a bag out from

under his shirt.

I took it, my bulky rubber gloves

dispelling any fingerprint concerns. Those

had been the next priority after Maximus

purchased all the necessities for our

disguises. Then I held up the bag,

frowning. The clear cellophane revealed a

few crumpled bits of wire and what

looked to be a shard of plastic.

“That’s it? ”

The officer nodded. Maximus drew me

to a lone hut about thirty yards away.

Before last night, it had been a concession

stand. Now it was empty, the harsh scent

of chemical smoke replacing the popcorn,

cotton candy, and funnel cake aromas. I

took my right glove off with a sigh. I’d

leave fingerprints this time, but I had no

choice. Then I stroked the piece of plastic.

The first thing I relived was an

investigator finding this shard. From his

thoughts, I knew it wasn’t plastic, but

titanium, a material sometimes used in

bomb making. Underneath that, I had the

faintest impression of another person

digging in the dark, but the essence trail

was too weak. The fire must’ve burned

most of the traces away.

“You were right. Doesn’t look like an

accident, ” I said.

“I knew it, ” Maximus muttered. “Did

you see who did it? ”

“No.”

I stroked one of the wires next,

disappointed when the only impressions

were from another crime scene

investigator. Then I touched the final wire

and the concession stand vanished.

I whistled as I pressed the wires into

the plastique, then used thin surgical

forceps to twine the ends around the

trigger. After examining them, I closed

the shell over the device and leaned

back, taking off my mask. Finished. I

gazed proudly at the bomb. By far my

best work. Pity no one would appreciate

its intricate design, but most of it would

disintegrate on detonation. Just as the

client wanted.

That image dissolved and I was back in

the concession stand with a huge vampire

disguised as the wolfman. I smiled at

Maximus with a coldness I hadn’t thought

myself capable of.

“I’ve got the bomb maker.”

Chapter 10

H is name was Adrian, and it took two

days of linking to him to discover where

he lived. One of the drawbacks to finding

people in the present was not being inside

their heads. People didn’t have their

addresses tattooed onto their forearms, so

determining their location wasn’t always

easy. Adrian didn’t help me out that first

day, either. He mostly slept.

The next morning, he walked to his

local Starbucks, ordered a double shot of

espresso, and then read the news on his

iPhone. Twenty minutes later, Maximus

and I were on our way to Chicago.

He drove. Chivalry or control freak, I

didn’t know, and after several hours, I

didn’t care. I’d stayed up most of the

previous night trying to determine

Adrian’s location. On top of lost sleep,

linking to someone for long periods of

time drained me. I’d been determined to

stay awake in case Maximus changed his

mind about splitting up the drive, but at

some point between Atlanta and Chicago,

I nodded off.

I floated above a white hallway. Doors

were at either end, one wide with a

computer keypad that a curly-haired

woman sat beside, the others so

nondescript as to be drab.

That second set of doors opened and

Vlad strode through. His trench coat was

open, the sides fluttering like dark wings.

I gasped, trying to disappear into the

ceiling, but he didn’t seem to notice me.

He continued down the hallway at a pace

that had the doctor behind him running

to keep up.

The curly-haired guard rose. “Who

are you? ”

“Shut up and open that door, ” Vlad

snarled.

He’d passed by me, so I couldn’t see if

his eyes were lit up. Even if they weren’t,

the barely restrained violence in his tone

must’ve been enough for the female

guard. She punched in a few numbers on

the keypad and the wide door swung

open.

As soon as the doctor caught up, Vlad

grasped him by the collar, lifting him off

his feet. “Now, show me her body.”

Another snarl that throbbed with the

promise of the grave. The doctor nodded

as much as Vlad’s fist around his neck

allowed. Vlad dropped him, and once he

righted himself, the doctor hurried inside

the room, Vlad right behind him.

I knew I should leave, but I couldn’t

stop myself from floating toward the

open doorway. Before I reached it, I

heard a metallic creak and then Vlad’s

harsh “Now get out.”

The doctor ran from the room, his

head passing through my legs as his

body briefly converged with mine. My

formless state should have worried me,

yet I was oddly unconcerned. If I was

dead, there was nothing I could do to

change that. Plus, as long as I didn’t

have a real body, then Vlad wouldn’t

know I was here. I floated past the

guard, who was huddled behind her

chair, mumbling something that sounded

like a prayer.

Even though no one had been able to

see me thus far, I only peeked into the

room beyond. It had several metal tables,

a long sink with multiple basins, and a

wall made up entirely of what appeared

to be square steel cabinets.

Vlad stood next to an open cabinet in

the wall. A slab holding a black plastic

bag jutted out in front of him. His head

was bowed, dark hair hiding his

expression as he unzipped the bag. Fire

engulfed him from hands to shoulders as

he stared at its contents. Then, very

slowly, those flames extinguished as he

reached inside.

Now I knew where I was. A morgue,

and though I had a good idea of what

was in the bag, I had to be sure. I floated

over, keeping close to the ceiling, and

peered down.

My first surprise was how little it

contained. A skull, two femurs, and a

spine comprised the pieces big enough

for me to identify. After that, it was

anyone’s guess as to what the other

charred, smaller bits were. My next

surprise was seeing Vlad stroke the

bones. He traced the curve of the spine,

the length of the femurs, and then the

skull, all with a touch so gentle it barely

disturbed them. I still couldn’t see his

face, but the light piercing through his

hair was so intense that I half expected it

to burn the bones like twin emerald

lasers.

My biggest shock was hearing him

sigh, “Leila, ” as he stroked the bones.

He thought these were mine? But Vlad

was in Romania and I’d supposedly been

blown to bits in Georgia—

Wait. Vlad had spoken to the guard

and the doctor in English. I looked

around. The signs were in English, too.

Had Vlad gone to Georgia upon hearing

of my purported demise?

If so, I wished I knew what he was

feeling at this moment! Satisfaction, if he

really was behind the gas line bomb? Or

grief, if someone else had planted it and

he thought this bag’s contents was all

that was left of me?

His head remained bowed, hiding his

expression. Look up, Vlad! I silently

roared. If he smiled as he stroked the

remains, it would confirm my worst

suspicions, but what if grief was etched

on his face instead?

Suddenly, he did look up—and seemed

to be staring right at me. It still didn’t

answer my question. His gaze was so

bright that his expression blurred by

comparison.

“Leila.”

I jerked, but it wasn’t Vlad who said

my name. It was another man’s voice,

accompanied by a hard jostle. I snapped

into alertness, the morgue transforming

into the front seat of a car. Maximus let go

of my shoulder, frowning before he

returned his attention back to the road.

“Must’ve been some dream. You

started trembling.”

I didn’t doubt it. My hands still shook

and I kept looking around the car as if

expecting Vlad to magically appear. I’d

had vivid dreams before, but none had

ever felt this real.

I glanced at my hands, relieved that I

still had my gloves on. They not only kept

my currents in, they also kept my ability to

accidentally connect to someone out. Not

that I’d ever linked to anyone in my sleep

before. Linking took concentration, and

sleep was the antithesis of concentration.

“You’re still trembling. Are you all

right? ”

“Yeah, ” I replied. “It’s nothing. I don’t

even remember what the dream was

about.”

His raised brow said, Bullshit, more

eloquently than words, but he didn’t push

and I pretended that I hadn’t lied.

“Now that you’re up, link to the

bomber. We’re only an hour from

Chicago. If he’s not home, I want to know

where he went.”

Good idea. I pulled out the pouch I’d

stuck in the drink holder and then took off

my right glove. We’d returned the plastic

evidence bag to the officer minus one

piece of wire.

I rubbed that wire, bypassing the first

images to focus on the replay of Adrian

whistling as he made the bomb. His

imprint was as strong as before, but when

I attempted to follow it back to its source,

I came up against a brick wall of...

nothingness.

I tried again, concentrating until the

traffic sounds faded into soft white noise.

Though I focused with all of my might, I

couldn’t find anything at the end of that

essence trail.

“Is he still home? ” Maximus pressed.

Frustration mingled with a sense of

foreboding. “I don’t know. I can’t see him.

Either I’m temporarily out of juice, or

...”

I didn’t need to finish the sentence.

Maximus’s lips thinned into a hard line.

Then he stomped on the gas pedal.

T he flashing lights, crime scene tape, and

stench of smoke were becoming all too

familiar. We’d had to park over a block

away since the street Adrian lived on was

cordoned off. Though I couldn’t see any

house numbers at this distance, I’d bet

Adrian’s was the one that the firemen

were still hosing down.

“Son of a bitch, ” Maximus spat.

“Whoever’s behind this must not like

loose ends, ” I replied, while inside, I

cursed. I doubted this was a case of a

bomb accidentally detonating while

Adrian tinkered with it, though I was sure

it had been staged to look that way.

We still had a chance to see what really

happened, but we needed to hurry. Even if

the killer was still in the area, he wouldn’t

be for long.

“Maximus, go down there and get me a

bone off the body.”

Confusion flashed across his face. Then

he smiled. That was the last thing I saw

before he sped away, reminding me of a

large, charging lion. Less than a minute

later, I heard a gunshot and the whoop of a

police siren. Then he was back with a

charred hunk of something in his hand.

“Let’s go, ” he said at once.

I grimaced at the burnt meat smell. If I

survived all this, I might become a

vegetarian. The reek didn’t seem to bother

Maximus. He tucked the chunk into his

coat and walked me back to our car as

more sirens went off. The cops probably

hadn’t seen every detail of what just

happened, but from the sounds, they knew

enough to be alarmed.

I got into the car, forcing back a gag as

the closed interior made the stench worse.

Maximus quickly sped us away. After a

few minutes, he took the blackened chunk

out of his coat and plunked it onto my lap

with a muttered “Here.”

I couldn’t help it—I shrieked. He

slammed on the brakes, causing the thing

to hit the windshield with a splat. I

shrieked again when it smacked back onto

my lap, smearing my pants with soot and

thicker, grosser things.

He looked around, one hand on the

wheel, another holding a large silver

knife.

“What’s wrong? ”

“What’s wrong? ” I repeated, days of

pent-up grief and stress making my voice

shrill. “You slapped a smoldering body

part onto me without even a warning,

that’s what’s wrong! ”

His brows drew together. “But you

asked me to get that.”

“I know I did! ”

Frustrated, I swiped my hair off my face

only to feel something slimy. A glance at

my gloved hand was the final straw. I’d

just smeared blackened bomber goo onto

my cheek.

I flung the body part in Maximus’s

direction and got out of the car. My slimy

gloves came off next as I ran to the nearest

sidewalk. Then off came my jacket, but

before I threw it away, I wadded it up and

scrubbed furiously at my cheek. My shirt

also had revolting smears on it, so it went

flying, too, leaving me in nothing but a

bra, jeans, and sneakers. I dashed down

the sidewalk without any real idea what I

was doing or where I was going. All I

knew was that I couldn’t stand to be

covered in my attempted murderer’s

stinking goo for another second.

“Leila! ”

I ignored the shout, not that it mattered.

Maximus caught me in the next heartbeat,

spinning me around to face him.

“Don’t touch me, ” I snapped, rational

thought replaced by a wounded animal

mentality. “You’ve got him all over you! ”

His coat and shirt were on the ground

before I could blink. At this hour, the

stores around us were closed, but

streetlights threw every inch of his upper

body into stark relief. Like Vlad, Maximus

had many faded marks from old scars, but

unlike Vlad, his chest was smooth. No

crisp dark hair, just pale, taut skin

stretched over muscles that rippled when

he folded me into his arms. He didn’t

flinch as currents slid into him from

touching my bare flesh. He drew me

closer instead.

“It’s all right, ” he said softly. “You’re

safe now.”

I hadn’t realized how much I needed to

hear that until he said it. All the pain,

loneliness, and grief from the past two

weeks reared up, seeking solace anywhere

it could be found. I don’t know if he bent

his head or if I lifted mine. All I knew was

he was kissing me, and for the first time

since this whole terrible ordeal began, I


Ïîäåëèòüñÿ ñ äðóçüÿìè:

mylektsii.su - Ìîè Ëåêöèè - 2015-2024 ãîä. (0.109 ñåê.)Âñå ìàòåðèàëû ïðåäñòàâëåííûå íà ñàéòå èñêëþ÷èòåëüíî ñ öåëüþ îçíàêîìëåíèÿ ÷èòàòåëÿìè è íå ïðåñëåäóþò êîììåð÷åñêèõ öåëåé èëè íàðóøåíèå àâòîðñêèõ ïðàâ Ïîæàëîâàòüñÿ íà ìàòåðèàë