[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
.André hadmoved out first—And once he was five feet from the car, I couldn't spot him.No wonder the legend is that vampiresturn into bats or mist.I have no idea where he went.She could hear the boys' footsteps up ahead of her, echoing through the clear, cold air.Shecentered, and paused to assess the situation ahead.And I can't tell where André is now.I can't Feel him at all.Nothing up there but the boys.He wasright; his shielding is at least as.good as mine, if not better.Which reminds me; better start thinking like a brick wall.Behind André were Keith and Lenny, playing bait to the gaki.Sooner, rather than later, Hidorowould leave the apartment.He'd be hungry; she had Felt his hunger as they trailed the van.She hoped thathe would be looking for something right on his block, if he could get it; the alliance had no stake inkeeping things quiet in this neighborhood, not when they intended to leave it in a few days.Seeing Lenny and Keith strolling toward him—that would be like a kid hearing the bell of the icecream truck.That's what Di and André were counting on, anyway.Di followed behind the boys, since she figured she was a lot more likely to be detected by the gakithan André was.That bracketed the boys with protection.When the gaki spotted them and moved in onthem, she and André were going to get the boys out of the way and trap the gaki between them.Short offlying, it wasn't going to get away from them.And maybe, just maybe, it had gotten so used to hunting with a partner on watch it would forgetabout being careful.Maybe it was so used to being invulnerable it would forget that it had a couple ofweaknesses.Di peered cautiously out of her doorway; to her left, silhouetted in the streetlight, the boys, justsauntering along as if they were out for a little midnight stroll.To her right, empty street.Nothing in sightbut piles of dirty, granulated snow hiding the curbs.She peered left again, sizing up the territory.Onestreetlight on the corner; the alley that the boys were just now reaching.A couple of parked cars, and morehummocks of dirty snow.Not much in the way of concealment until she reached that alley,Now— do I scoot for cover like a commando, or act like somebody who belongs around here?Act like I belong, I guess.She stepped out of the doorway; paused, as if she had just gotten into her coat, and tugged herjacket sleeves down, then headed in the boys' wake.Her next hiding place was halfway up the block—thatalley mouth, a black slash across the middle of the block of industrial brick.But before she got there, something stepped out of its shadows.Hell— don't tell me there's a civilian insomniac strolling right out into the middle of—She reached for it—touched alien.Hidoro.Oh, shit! Now where do I—there.She threw herself to one side and managed to squeeze herselfbehind the bulk of a parked car before he glanced her way.She peered out from beneath the rear bumper,keeping her head at street level.The gaki stared up her side of the street for a long, uneasy moment, beforeturning to look after the boys.But once he'd spotted them, he headed purposefully in their direction.She gave him a few minutes to get past that alley, then scrambled from behind the car, sneakersgetting soaked and slipping in the snow.She launched herself at a dead run after him.And her heart spasmed when she saw the tableau beneath the white glare of the streetlight.Lord! Too late— no!The boys clung together; Hidoro faced them.The gaki had them pinned somehow; he wasn't morethan five feet from them, and they weren't moving, weren't even trying to escape.Their faces were whiteand blank with fear.The thing was already turning into its other form—Gods!She reached and readied a levin bolt, not sure it would do any good, but it would get there beforeshe would—Someone else beat her to it.Between one blink of an eye and the next, André was there.She didn't see him anywhere, but he was there, shouldering the boys aside so hard that they fell totheir knees, placing himself between the gaki and them, so that they were sheltered behind him.Relief—It made her stumble, but she caught herself, and she didn't slow; she still had to bracket the thingherself, still had to take her place on the line.André was counting on her."Come, m'sieur," André said clearly; his eyes glittered, and his mouth was a tight, thin line ofanger.He was in a half-crouch, balanced on the balls of his feet, like a street fighter.He made a littlebeckoning motion with his right hand, and smiled, a hard, furious smile."Come, you want them, you takethem through me."Lenny scrambled farther out of the way, grabbing Keith's sleeve and taking his lover with him.Keith shook his head dazedly; then managed to get to his feet and hauled Lenny up by the back of hiscoat.They began backing away, step by slow step, eyes still on the gaki.Come on, you guys— you're supposed to get out of the way and watch for the others while we dealwith the soul-sucker!They were arguing about that, it seemed—Lenny shaking his head vehemently, and continuing toback away, Keith stalling, pulling at his sleeve, their breath puffing about them in white clouds—But she had no time to worry about them, because the gaki was reaching for something,something under his jacket, stuck in the waistband of his pants——pulling out a set of nunchaku.A weapon of wood—Which, as André had told her, was the only thing besides sunlight that could hurt or kill him." No! "She launched herself desperately at them, not hoping for anything more than to knock André awayfrom the deadly weapon.She did better than that; she knocked him to the pavement and managed tointercept the chuk heading for his temple with her shoulder.They tumbled together in a heap; she rolled, cursing as she hit her bruised shoulder, and came upon her feet, and at the ready.Her shoulder throbbed, which did nothing to improve her temper." My turn, you bastard," she snarled, and put her shields up to full.Predictably enough, she startedto glow.Not enough to put André off, but enough to notice.The gaki held the chuks in both hands and smiled—she Felt something battering at the outside ofher shields.Behind her, she heard André climbing to his feet
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
