[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
Really. Whacked. Tell me what you meant before, I said a little desperately.
He shrugged. It is hard to explain when you have never lived in the world of Vampere, or
even in a time when it was all right for people to belong to each other.
Try me.
An avhar is an extension of her sverhamin. Not a possession, but a beloved . . . He
paused, pressed his lips together as if he d like to take that last word back. He shook his
head. If you cannot understand how dear you are to me by now. How high I hold you in
my esteem. How deeply I depend on your insight, your wit, your temper, your humanity
his eyes glittered in the moonlight we might as well call this whole relationship
off.
We d stopped in a residential area. The houses peeked at us over their walls like curious
little brothers. I wished I could tap them on the shoulder, ask them if they d just heard
Vayl pour on the praise. It was so out of character, I really felt I needed third-party
confirmation.
So, I m kind of leading a double life, I said. The CIA pays me to be your assistant. But
as your avhar
You are my partner. My companion. My . . . He exhaled, letting the last word die on
the breeze of his breath. And I wanted too badly for it to sound like love to trust my
ears when they told me I was right.
Cool, I whispered, allowing myself a moment s relief. The break I feared hadn t yet
begun. He still cared.
We began walking again. For a few minutes neither one of us spoke. We became just
another couple out for an evening s stroll. In one way we could ve been ambling down
any city street in America. The road to our right was wide and well-paved, lined with
lovely green oak trees. The buildings to our left looked to have been built in the seventies
of light brown brick. But the streetlights betrayed our location. Most of the cars looked
like they d become classics a decade ago, and while the men who crowded past us wore
typical Western clothes, the women well, they reminded me of really depressed ghosts.
Even that wouldn t have bothered me. I figured, if they wanted to slip tents over their
heads every time they went outdoors, that was their right. But I wished they d have
chosen more vivid colors for the chadors that hid the clothing that would ve betrayed their
Create PDF files without this message by purchasing novaPDF printer (http://www.novapdf.com)
real personalities. I wanted to see cloaks in hues like those reflected on the signs above the
businesses we passed. Vivid blues, greens, and yellows that grabbed you by the cheeks and
shook, like a fat old aunt who hasn t seen you in years.
What did shake me was the furtive sense of mistrust I felt coming off the people we
passed. Not just for us, though we obviously didn t belong. But for the police, present in
surprising numbers on street corners and patrolling on motorcycles. And for one another,
as if at any moment someone meant to yank an Uzi out of his backpack and mow down
everyone else. It felt as if all the pedestrians had been apprised of the plan and all that
remained was for them to get a glimpse of the gun and duck.
I turned to Vayl, trying to form my impressions into words. They shattered when he
murmured, I wonder if my sons are students here.
Geez, Vayl, why don t you just slam me on the back of the head with a garbage can? That
way I can have the worst mood swing ever. I mean, we can move me from feeling terrific
about my job performance and my relationship with you, not to mention being
überthankful that I was born an American, to wanting to gouge my eyes out with a couple
of grapefruit spoons in, like, two seconds!
I didn t say a word. I figured he d already broken glass over my comments earlier this
evening. The next step was probably my neck. But apparently he didn t mind an
unresponsive audience, because he charged on. That would be ironic, would it not? Our
cover being their actual purpose for traveling to Tehran? I wonder, as well, if I will
recognize them. You know, if something in their eyes will remind me . . . He trailed off,
his voice husky with emotion.
I wasn t sure how Zarsa could bring herself to commit such an atrocious act on someone,
but I did know I d never been so pissed in all my life. She d taken a magnificent creature
like Vayl, a vampire who inspired fear and loathing in every corner of criminal society,
narrowed in on his single vulnerability, and stabbed.
Well, she hasn t gotten away with it yet, I told myself. And if she thinks she s going to
take advantage of my sverhamin, she can just see how much she likes eating supper out of
a straw for the next six weeks.
I was half inclined to march right back to Anvari s and beat the hell out of her right then
and there. The mahghul wouldn t mind, as long as I left her alive. Then I saw them. Just
blurs at first, out of the corner of my eye.
Vayl. I pointed to the nearest rooftop. Do you see those?
Yes, I do, he said. What are they?
Time for another lie, because I sure couldn t tell him I d met somebody who d filled me in
on the backstory while I was spying on him. I don t know. Let s follow them and see
where they re going.
He might not have agreed, except they were moving in our general direction anyway. The
farther we walked, the more we saw, as if an army was gathered somewhere near the heart
of the city. At last we came to an enormous plaza. When it was empty, I supposed it
stretched the equivalent of three or four blocks, an expanse of gleaming white concrete set
in a complicated cylindrical pattern, echoing the rugs the country was famous for. Benches
and streetlights marked the edges of the plaza, which abutted high-rise office buildings on
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]