Chris Westwood [Ministry of P Graveyard Shift (retail) (epub)

[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
.In her place was a feral gray and black cat, teeth bared and back arched.It took one poisonous look at Mr.October before shooting off down the hill.Mr.October took a step forward, flipped his stick neatly from right hand to left, then flashed out his free arm as if hurling a stone.A ball of orange-yellow flame leapt from his fingertips and trundled down the street, gathering speed after the cat.At the end of the block, the cat scaled a high trellis fence and dropped wailing to the other side.The fireball burst against the stone wall below it, scattering smaller balls of flame every which way.A smell of burning cinders crept up the street.Mr.October leaned on his walking stick, watching the smoke clear.“What the heck did I just see?” Bob Fletcher demanded.“I mean, what was that and who are you people?”“Friends,” Mr.October said, helping Fletcher’s ghost to his feet.The effort of doing that took something out of him, and he took a moment to catch his breath.“Yes, friends.Unlike the rapscallion you were just talking to.”“You’re lucky we got here,” I said.“Lucky? You must be joking.How lucky is it to get run over by an ambulance? What did you do to that girl?”Mr.October wiped his brow.“That was no girl.That was a shape-shifting agent of darkness.”“Nonsense.” Fletcher paced the sidewalk, fuming, seemingly unaware of his oddly jutting dislocated shoulder.“Stuff and nonsense.She tried to help, couldn’t you see? An agent of what? Get away.You’re insane.”“This will be tricky,” Mr.October told me.“He’s angry and confused and convinced a great injustice has been done, the very qualities — or rather, weaknesses — the enemy look for in a target.They’ll be back with reinforcements if we tarry too long.”“What can we do?”“Let me think.”He stroked his white-whiskered chin, his face inscrutable.I shivered, sensing a change in the air.It was cooler now.The shadows of privet hedges and garden shrubs were stretching across the street.Were these the reinforcements he meant? If the Lords of Sundown could take any shape, suppose they were inside these shadows, hiding and ready to spring?“Look there.” I gave Mr.October a nudge.“Shush, I’m still thinking.”“Think faster, then.It looks like they’re here.”The black shapes crossing the ground suddenly looked more like spindly fingers than tree branches.One reached for my feet and I jumped across the curb with a yelp.Another twitched toward Mr.October, though he didn’t acknowledge it.At the intersection where the fireball had detonated, a host of new shapes squirmed out from the shade beneath the stone wall.“What will I do?” Bob Fletcher said.“What’s the wife gonna do when she finds out she’ll never see me again? And the kids.oh God, what a mess.What’ll I do?”A light came on in Mr.October’s eyes.“Listen,” he said.“Bob, will you trust me?”“Why should I? I trusted that girl and you blew her to bits.”“Only because I had to.She would’ve chewed you up and spat you out if you’d gone with her.You’d be a darn sight worse off than you are now.”“You’re mad.I’m not listening to you.”“I’m all you’ve got,” Mr.October said.“What happened to you was tragic, but also inevitable.If it hadn’t been an ambulance, it would’ve been something else, a truck or a taxi or falling masonry.Your time is up, and the sooner you let go, the easier it will be.”The shadows were snapping at our heels.I hopped around the pavement, dodging them.All along the street they were tearing themselves from walls and fences, creeping out from under parked cars.“Mr.October,” I said, close to panicking.But he ignored me, resting a hand on Fletcher’s busted shoulder and speaking to him in low, soothing tones.“Trust me and I’ll take the pain away, and the anger too.I’ll make sure you see your wife one more time, give you a chance to say what you need to.”Fletcher’s anguished face softened.“You can really do that?”“I really can.”The shadows stopped in their tracks.Very slowly they began to withdraw, snaking back from the pavement where we stood.I watched them shrinking across the street until they were only shadows again, stirring gently over the asphalt in the breeze.Bob Fletcher never even saw them.He had no idea what he’d done.Now I knew what Mr.October had meant when he’d said they fed on people’s grief and rage.The smell of it had lured them out of the dark, but Fletcher’s change of mood had sent them straight back.“I’d give anything for that chance,” he said, “even if it’s only a few minutes.Sorry for carrying on before.I must be in shock.”“No apology necessary,” Mr.October replied.“But we’d best be off.As you say, she’s expecting you [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

Linki