[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
your mind on a specific destination or you may become lost in between."
"And where's that?"
He shrugged, moving closer to the inner door that opened on the central
hallway. "Limbo. Between dimensions."
"Like being banished?" I was remembering Luath and the general.
"Very like. Perhaps worse."
"But the first time I did it, I ended up in your room, and I wasn't focusing
on a destination at all."
"That was my doing. I sensed your movement within the dreamplane. I
intercepted you to keep you from becoming lost in between."
"So, what happens the next time I dream? What if you're not around to reel me
back in?"
"This is not to become a problem."
"Yeah? And why not?"
"Because," he said, "very soon we shall both be dead."
"Oh, yeah," I said, "I forgot."
He eased the door open and peered into the darkness of the corridor.
"However," he said after a long moment, "if you and I were to both survive
this "
"We're speaking hypothetically here, of course. . . ."
"Of course."
"Thought so."
"If we were to survive, I would probably find the time to coach you through a
couple of controlled dreamwalks "
"I can't believe you two are bickering about this," Mooncloud's voice crackled
in my earpiece, "while
Bey and Bachman are probably waiting right around the corner."
"I was wondering when you were going to join us, Doctor. How's Lupé?"
"Still conscious, but unable to do anything beyond cursing your name. If they
don't kill you, there's a very good chance that she will, once the
tranquilizer wears off."
"Don't worry about us, Doctor: Bachman is already expecting us, and we're
making enough noise to let them know we're not trying to sneak up on them."
"Perhaps we should not keep them waiting," Bassarab said, reaching the
junction of the hallway and the stairwell.
"Okay, Doc, close your mike and listen closely: I can't afford any
distractions once the negotiations begin. If everything blows up in our faces,
I want you to get over to Mount Horeb Hospital as fast as you can. There's
someone you'll need to see in Fifth-floor-Psych, room 512. You got that?"
"Room 512, Mount Horeb Hospital, Fifth-floor-Psych. Who and why?"
"I'll explain later. Just remember and get there as fast as you can after this
is over. Bye, Doc." I
looked over at my hostage. "Ready?"
He readjusted his duster, nodded, and started down the stairs. I followed a
few steps behind.
They were waiting for us in the furnace room, Bey and Bachman, insolently at
ease and seated upon a jumble of crates like moldering royalty in an Egyptian
tomb. Only a bare dozen candles were lit, shifting the clumps of darkness
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around us like stray cattle from a shadowy herd of the damned.
Bey was a mess. His skin was black and shriveled from his torching at the
Tremont, here and there, portions of ruined flesh had flaked away to reveal
smooth, albeit grey, skin beneath. Bey the Deathless was on the mend.
Bachman, however, wasn't. And her anticipation of my promised blood had her
even edgier and jumpier than I had seen her last.
>>So, dRAcUl
Bey projected, the skin at the corners of his mouth cracking and splitting as
his mouth twitched, >>yOu HAvE cOMe tO tHrOW yOUrSeLf UpoN oUr mERcY
"Your mercy, Bey?" Bassarab spat a gob of scarlet on the floor, at his feet.
"Not bloody likely!"
I cleared my throat. "Perhaps you should explain our working arrangement."
Bassarab parted his greatcoat to reveal the vest. "This yearling has managed
to entrap me with this garment containing a large concentration of high
explosives. If he pushes a button, the plastique charges in this vest will
detonate." He smiled and his teeth seemed sharper than I had ever seen them
before. "The result for you, Bey, will be no simple decapitation: I doubt that
all the king's horses and all the king's men would ever be able to put Bey the
Jackal together again."
It was hard to tell from the charred ruin of the sorcerer's face if he was
discomfited by this revelation, but his ectomorphic form shifted on the crates
like an alert cobra's.
>>WhY iS He sO aNXiOuS To dIe?
AnD, FOr tHAt maTTEr, hOw Is iT tHAt yOu ARe sO cALM aNd cOoPErAtIVe?
The old vampire shrugged. "As for Csejthe, he is nearly mad with Christian
guilt over his own damnation. Your violation of his family has pushed him over
the edge. He is more than ready to die if it will destroy you and return his
wife and daughter to their eternal rest. As for me? What choice do I have?
He tells me that, if I cooperate in the bargaining here, I may live past
another sunset."
>>BaRgAInINg?
reveal a smooth, grey lobe. >>I wAs TOlD yOU WErE sURrEnDErINg yoURsElF tO
rETuRn wITh Us TO nEW
YoRk.
Bassarab's smile became a smirk. "Uncoerced compliance? The centuries have
petrified your brain if
you believe that I would give myself up without a fight. No, the bargain I
refer to is between my captor and your keeper," he said, nodding to Bachman.
Bey looked at Bachman. >>WhaT iS He bABbLiNG aBOuT?
But Elizabeth was staring at me. More specifically, she was staring at the
detonator in my hand.
"Your promise," she whispered. "What about your blood?"
"I expect it will be literally vaporized along with the rest of us. Let me
spell it out for all of you," I
announced, switching on the Sabrelight and pointing it at the ceiling. "I am
not a happy guy. And, unless I
get a whole lot happier in the next few minutes, I am going to turn this
little basement tête-á-tête into a real open house."
>>YoUng oNeaRe yOu rEAlLy sO wILlINg tO dIe?
"The way I figure it, asshole," I growled, "is with you finally gone, my
family can rest in peace. I'll be very happy to send Dracula to Hell as he's
the one who made me what I am. If it wasn't for him, my wife and my little
girl would still be alive."
"And what of me?" Bachman's voice was hushed and harsh with fear and need.
"What of our bargain the promise of your blood freely given?"
I flashed the light in her face, blinding her for the moment. "You traitorous
Page 179
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bitch! You betray your friends and lure them to their deaths and you have the
nerve to speak to me of promises and bargains?
You just sit there for now and don't say shit unless I ask you a question!
"Now," I continued, trying to control the trembling in my voice and my hands,
"I am even more unhappy than I was when I walked through the door a few
moments ago." I still held the remote and flashlight in my left hand. I slid
my right hand into my coat pocket and pulled out the Dartmaster. I [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pl doc.pisz.pl pdf.pisz.pl szamanka888.keep.pl
your mind on a specific destination or you may become lost in between."
"And where's that?"
He shrugged, moving closer to the inner door that opened on the central
hallway. "Limbo. Between dimensions."
"Like being banished?" I was remembering Luath and the general.
"Very like. Perhaps worse."
"But the first time I did it, I ended up in your room, and I wasn't focusing
on a destination at all."
"That was my doing. I sensed your movement within the dreamplane. I
intercepted you to keep you from becoming lost in between."
"So, what happens the next time I dream? What if you're not around to reel me
back in?"
"This is not to become a problem."
"Yeah? And why not?"
"Because," he said, "very soon we shall both be dead."
"Oh, yeah," I said, "I forgot."
He eased the door open and peered into the darkness of the corridor.
"However," he said after a long moment, "if you and I were to both survive
this "
"We're speaking hypothetically here, of course. . . ."
"Of course."
"Thought so."
"If we were to survive, I would probably find the time to coach you through a
couple of controlled dreamwalks "
"I can't believe you two are bickering about this," Mooncloud's voice crackled
in my earpiece, "while
Bey and Bachman are probably waiting right around the corner."
"I was wondering when you were going to join us, Doctor. How's Lupé?"
"Still conscious, but unable to do anything beyond cursing your name. If they
don't kill you, there's a very good chance that she will, once the
tranquilizer wears off."
"Don't worry about us, Doctor: Bachman is already expecting us, and we're
making enough noise to let them know we're not trying to sneak up on them."
"Perhaps we should not keep them waiting," Bassarab said, reaching the
junction of the hallway and the stairwell.
"Okay, Doc, close your mike and listen closely: I can't afford any
distractions once the negotiations begin. If everything blows up in our faces,
I want you to get over to Mount Horeb Hospital as fast as you can. There's
someone you'll need to see in Fifth-floor-Psych, room 512. You got that?"
"Room 512, Mount Horeb Hospital, Fifth-floor-Psych. Who and why?"
"I'll explain later. Just remember and get there as fast as you can after this
is over. Bye, Doc." I
looked over at my hostage. "Ready?"
He readjusted his duster, nodded, and started down the stairs. I followed a
few steps behind.
They were waiting for us in the furnace room, Bey and Bachman, insolently at
ease and seated upon a jumble of crates like moldering royalty in an Egyptian
tomb. Only a bare dozen candles were lit, shifting the clumps of darkness
Page 178
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
around us like stray cattle from a shadowy herd of the damned.
Bey was a mess. His skin was black and shriveled from his torching at the
Tremont, here and there, portions of ruined flesh had flaked away to reveal
smooth, albeit grey, skin beneath. Bey the Deathless was on the mend.
Bachman, however, wasn't. And her anticipation of my promised blood had her
even edgier and jumpier than I had seen her last.
>>So, dRAcUl
Bey projected, the skin at the corners of his mouth cracking and splitting as
his mouth twitched, >>yOu HAvE cOMe tO tHrOW yOUrSeLf UpoN oUr mERcY
"Your mercy, Bey?" Bassarab spat a gob of scarlet on the floor, at his feet.
"Not bloody likely!"
I cleared my throat. "Perhaps you should explain our working arrangement."
Bassarab parted his greatcoat to reveal the vest. "This yearling has managed
to entrap me with this garment containing a large concentration of high
explosives. If he pushes a button, the plastique charges in this vest will
detonate." He smiled and his teeth seemed sharper than I had ever seen them
before. "The result for you, Bey, will be no simple decapitation: I doubt that
all the king's horses and all the king's men would ever be able to put Bey the
Jackal together again."
It was hard to tell from the charred ruin of the sorcerer's face if he was
discomfited by this revelation, but his ectomorphic form shifted on the crates
like an alert cobra's.
>>WhY iS He sO aNXiOuS To dIe?
AnD, FOr tHAt maTTEr, hOw Is iT tHAt yOu ARe sO cALM aNd cOoPErAtIVe?
The old vampire shrugged. "As for Csejthe, he is nearly mad with Christian
guilt over his own damnation. Your violation of his family has pushed him over
the edge. He is more than ready to die if it will destroy you and return his
wife and daughter to their eternal rest. As for me? What choice do I have?
He tells me that, if I cooperate in the bargaining here, I may live past
another sunset."
>>BaRgAInINg?
reveal a smooth, grey lobe. >>I wAs TOlD yOU WErE sURrEnDErINg yoURsElF tO
rETuRn wITh Us TO nEW
YoRk.
Bassarab's smile became a smirk. "Uncoerced compliance? The centuries have
petrified your brain if
you believe that I would give myself up without a fight. No, the bargain I
refer to is between my captor and your keeper," he said, nodding to Bachman.
Bey looked at Bachman. >>WhaT iS He bABbLiNG aBOuT?
But Elizabeth was staring at me. More specifically, she was staring at the
detonator in my hand.
"Your promise," she whispered. "What about your blood?"
"I expect it will be literally vaporized along with the rest of us. Let me
spell it out for all of you," I
announced, switching on the Sabrelight and pointing it at the ceiling. "I am
not a happy guy. And, unless I
get a whole lot happier in the next few minutes, I am going to turn this
little basement tête-á-tête into a real open house."
>>YoUng oNeaRe yOu rEAlLy sO wILlINg tO dIe?
"The way I figure it, asshole," I growled, "is with you finally gone, my
family can rest in peace. I'll be very happy to send Dracula to Hell as he's
the one who made me what I am. If it wasn't for him, my wife and my little
girl would still be alive."
"And what of me?" Bachman's voice was hushed and harsh with fear and need.
"What of our bargain the promise of your blood freely given?"
I flashed the light in her face, blinding her for the moment. "You traitorous
Page 179
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
bitch! You betray your friends and lure them to their deaths and you have the
nerve to speak to me of promises and bargains?
You just sit there for now and don't say shit unless I ask you a question!
"Now," I continued, trying to control the trembling in my voice and my hands,
"I am even more unhappy than I was when I walked through the door a few
moments ago." I still held the remote and flashlight in my left hand. I slid
my right hand into my coat pocket and pulled out the Dartmaster. I [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]