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Михаил (19.04.2017 - 06:11:11)
книге:  Петля и камень на зелёной траве

Потрясающая книга. Не понравится только нацистам.

Антихрист666 (18.04.2017 - 21:05:58)
книге:  Дом чудовищ (Подвал)

Классное чтиво!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ладно, теперь поспешили вы... (18.04.2017 - 20:50:34)
книге:  Физики шутят

"Не для сайта!" – это не имя. Я пытался завершить нашу затянувшуюся неудачную переписку, оставшуюся за окном сайта, а вы вын... >>

Роман (18.04.2017 - 18:12:26)
книге:  Если хочешь быть богатым и счастливым не ходи в школу?

Прочитал все его книги! Великий человек, кардинально изменил мою жизнь.

АНДРЕЙ (18.04.2017 - 16:42:55)
книге:  Технология власти

ПОЛЕЗНАЯ КНИГА. Жаль, что мало в России тех, кто прочитал...

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СЛУЧАЙНОЕ ПРОИЗВЕДЕНИЕ

Сначала оплеуха
Потом ладошкой в ухо
В глаз кулаком
По носу лбом
В ребро ногой
Тумак рукой
Команду поняла «атака»
Моя любимая собака.

13.05.10 - 05:18
Автор неизвестен

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The Harlequin   ::   Гамильтон Лорел

Страница: 2 из 126
 
Vampires only understand fear, and power.»

«You are the lover of at least two vampires, Ms. Blake. How can you say that?»

I shrugged. «Maybe because I am dating two vampires.»

«If that is what being Jean-Claude's human servant has taught you, Ms. Blake, then it is sad things he is teaching you.»

«He is the Master of the City of St. Louis, Malcolm, not you. You, and your church, go unmolested by his tolerance.»

«I go unmolested because the Church grew powerful under the previous Master of the City, and by the time Jean-Claude rose to power, we were hundreds. He did not have the power to bring me and my people to heel.»

I sipped coffee and thought about my next answer, because I couldn't argue with him. He was probably right. «Regardless of how we got where we are, Malcolm, you have several hundred vampires in this city. Jean-Claude let you have them because he thought you were blood-oathing them. We learned in October that you aren't. Which means that the vamps with you are cut off from an awful lot of their potential power. I'm okay with that, I guess. Their choice, if they understand that it is a choice, but no blood oath means that they are not mystically tied to anyone but the vamp that made them. You, I'm told, do the deed, most of the time. Though the church deacons do recruit sometimes.»

«How our church is organized is not your concern.»

«Yes,» I said, «it is.»

«Do you serve Jean-Claude now, when you say that, or is it as a federal marshal that you criticize me?» He narrowed those blue eyes. «I do not think the federal government knows or understands enough of vampires to care whether I blood-oath my people.»

«Blood-oathing lowers the chance of vamps doing things behind the back of the master.»

«Blood-oathing takes away their free will, Ms. Blake.»

«Maybe, but I've seen the damage they can do with their free will. A good Master of the City can guarantee that there is almost no crime among his people.»

«They are his slaves,» Malcolm said.

I shrugged and sat back in my chair. «Are you here to talk about the warrant, or to talk about the deadline Jean-Claude gave your church?»

«Both.»

«Jean-Claude has given you and your church members their choices, Malcolm. Either you blood-oath them, or Jean-Claude does. Or they can move to another city to be blood-oathed there, but it has to be done.»

«It is a choice of who they would be slaves to, Ms. Blake. It is no choice at all.»

«Jean-Claude was generous, Malcolm. By vampire law he could have just killed you and your entire congregation.»

«And how would the law, how would you, as a federal marshal, have felt about such slaughter?»

«Are you saying that my being a federal marshal limits Jean-Claude's options?»

«He values your love, Anita, and you would not love a man that could slaughter my followers.»

«You don't add yourself to that list—why?»

«You are a legal vampire executioner, Anita. If I broke human law, you would kill me yourself. You would not fault Jean-Claude for doing the same if I broke vampiric law.»

«You think I'd just let him kill you?»

«I think you would kill me for him, if you felt justified.»

A small part of me wanted to argue, but he was right. I'd been grandfathered in like most of the vamp executioners who had two or more years on the job and could pass the firearms test. The idea was, making us federal marshals was the quickest way to grant us the ability to cross state lines and to control us more. Crossing state lines and having a badge was great; I wasn't sure how controlled we were. Of course, I was the only vampire hunter who was also dating her Master of the City. Most saw it as a conflict of interest. Frankly, so did I, but there wasn't much I could do about it.

«You do not argue with me,» Malcolm said.

«I can't decide if you think I'm a civilizing influence on Jean-Claude, or a bad one.»

«I saw you once as his victim, Anita. Now I am no longer certain who is the victim, and who the victimizer.»

«Should I be offended?»

He just looked at me.

«The last time I was in your church you called me evil, and accused me of black magic. You called Jean-Claude immoral, and me his whore, or something like that.»

«You were trying to take away one of my people to be killed with no trial. You shot him to death on the church grounds.»

«He was a serial killer. I had an order of execution for everyone involved in those crimes.»

«All the vampires, you mean.»

«Are you implying that humans or shapeshifters were involved?»

«No, but if they had been, you would never have been allowed to shoot them to death with the police helping you do it.»

«I've had warrants for shapeshifters before.»

«But those are rare, Anita, and there are no orders of execution for humans.»

«The death penalty still exists, Malcolm.»

«After a trial, and years of appeals, if you are human.»

«What do you want from me, Malcolm?»

«I want justice.»

«The law isn't about justice, Malcolm. It's about the law.»

«She did not do the crime she is accused of, as our wandering brother Avery Seabrook was innocent of the crime you sought him for.» He called any of his church group who joined Jean-Claude «wanderers.» The fact that Avery, the vampire, had a last name meant he was very recently dead, and that he was an American vampire. Vampires normally only had one name, like Madonna or Cher, and only one vamp per country could have that name. Duels were fought over the right to use names. Until now, until America. We had vampires with last names, unheard of.

«I cleared Avery. Legally, I didn't have to.»

«No, you could have shot him dead, found out your mistake later, and suffered nothing under the law.»

«I did not write this law, Malcolm, I just carry it out.»

«Vampires did not write this law either, Anita.»

«That's true, but no human can mesmerize other humans so that they help in their own kidnappings. Humans can't fly off with their victims in their arms.»

«And that justifies slaughtering us?»

I shrugged again. I was going to leave this argument alone because I'd begun to not like that part of my job. I didn't think vampires were monsters anymore; it made killing them harder. It made executing them when they couldn't fight back monstrous, with me as the monster.

«What do you want me to do, Malcolm? I have a warrant with Sally Hunter's name on it. Witnesses saw her leave Bev Leveto's apartment. Ms. Leveto died by vampire attack. I know it wasn't any of Jean-Claude's vampires. That leaves yours.» Hell, I had her driver's license picture in the file with the warrant.

123>>126


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