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.TWENTY-THREEI sat with my back pressed against the stone wall of the mausoleum I hid in during thedaylight hours.Exhaustion had settled deep within my bones, making it hard to evenmove, let alone crawl into the crypt so I could hide from the approaching dawn.Too muchhad happened in the past few hours, which left me struggling to find some good to cling toin the end.When I moved Hugo to the car, I discovered that he had also been stabbed in the back,puncturing his heart, which explained why he was so weak.Stopping at the edge ofHeraklion, I summoned a dozen inhabitants from their warm, comfortable beds.Hugo fedbriefly from each of them before I sent them blindly back to bed again.The drain on mypowers was enormous, forcing me to feed as well before I could deposit a sleeping Hugoin a dark crypt in a cemetery between Heraklion and Knossos.When I dropped him off,only the worst of his wounds was slowly seeping blood.I hoped he would last the day.After leaving him, I returned to the palace ruins, where I burned the bodies of the naturiand Penelope.Guilt gnawed at me for burning her with the naturi, but I no longer had thestrength to maintain several fires, and I didn t want to take any chances being so close toCreate PDF files without this message by purchasing novaPDF printer (http://www.novapdf.com)the swell of energy rising up from the earth.I d been burned once; I couldn t afford for itto happen again.What bones I couldn t destroy were buried in a shallow grave.It was thebest I could do.Daylight was approaching.With all evidence of our existence eliminated from Knossos, I cleaned the blood andfingerprints off the car and left it in the heart of Heraklion.I checked on Hugo one finaltime before finding my own crypt, not far from his.Now as I sat in the dark, my mind numb, I felt someone approaching me.I pulled theBrowning from the holster at the base of my spine and laid it on the ground beside me,partially hidden in the shadows cast by my body.A quick scan revealed that my visitor wasDanaus, but I was surprised when I found that I didn t want to put the gun away.I didn ttrust him any longer.If push came to shove, I knew I wouldn t try to kill him with a gun.I d just try to slow him down enough so I could rip his heart out with my bare hands. You shouldn t be here, I murmured wearily when the hunter finally came into view.Hewas still several yards off, but his hearing was nearly as good as mine.He heard me. I came to talk, he said in a low voice, as if he was afraid of waking some othergraveyard occupant.I snorted, but still loosened my grip on the gun at my side.My fingers didn t completelyuncurl from around the butt, but stayed close just in case. I can t image we have much totalk about.Everything has been cleanly laid out.Danaus walked around the last tree separating us in the cross-dotted garden, coming intofull view.From what I could see, he was completely unarmed.Both his guns weremissing, along with the sword on his back and the two knives usually attached to his legand waist.Even his leather wrist guards were missing.He stood before me as vulnerableas it was possible for him to be.Could he still kill me in a heartbeat? Without a doubt.Hecould boil my blood as quickly as I could set him on fire, but he was trying to come beforeme without weapons. I I came to apologize, he admitted.I sat in stunned silence for a moment before finally shaking my head to clear it. I m notthe one you should be apologizing to.You should be apologizing to Penelope for takingher head off.You should be apologizing to Hugo for stealing away his one chance atsurvival, I bitterly snapped. I m apologizing to you because I should have trusted you, he corrected, standing beforeme with his legs spread wide, his hands shoved in his pockets.I gazed up, my frownmatching his. I know you.You wouldn t have let Hugo kill those two people.ButPenelope would have.Hugo would have.They wouldn t have thought twice about it, andI can t forgive them for that. You can t forgive them for wanting to survive? I demanded, my hand reflexivelytightening around the gun as my other hand balled into a fist in the dirt. I can t forgive them for killing innocent people, he said.What sympathy and compassionhe may have felt drained from his voice, leaving it cold and hard like Siberian permafrost. But you have no problem with him dying for these people that you protect, I said,gritting my teeth as I sat up. We re allowed to fight for them and die for them, but we renot allowed to do anything that might save our own lives. It s not like that, he said, hesitant.He took an unsteady step backward with one footthen shifted it forward again.Create PDF files without this message by purchasing novaPDF printer (http://www.novapdf.com) Yes, it is. I rose to my feet in a boneless manner, using my powers instead of mymuscles for the sole purpose of unnerving him and underscoring my otherness.I didnothing to hide the act of putting the gun back in the holster at my lower back. You and Iwork great together so long as you forget what I am [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]