[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]The flickering images vanished from the sheet, being replaced by a stark-white rectangle of dazzling light
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Deathlands 29 - Bloodlines
that spilled over and showed the disemboweled corpses of the animals, swinging from their hooks.
Doc actually considered for a moment the possibility of fighting his way to the front of the panicked
throng and making shadow shapes of camels and crocodiles and bunny rabbits with his fingers.
But he sat again as a bizarre figure appeared in the core of the light, as sudden as a pantomime demon,
holding up both hands for silence.
"Everyone sit down," said the cultured, gentle voice from the young man.
"Who the fuck's that?" Ryan hissed.
"I think we've just met a member of the Family," Krysty replied.
Chapter Sixteen
"Six feet three. Weighs Be surprised if he tipped the scales above one-ten. Slim build. Long white hair
and pale face. Looks quite a bit like Jak. Black suit, beautifully cut. And a I guess it's a cloak across his
shoulders. Black satin, lined with scarlet silk. From the quality of his clothes, the Family must be
seriously wealthy."
"Age?"
"Difficult, lover. Around the late twenties, into the thirties."
"Weapons?"
"Nothing I can see. No obvious bulges under the arm or at the hip. His clothes are cut too well and too
tight to let him hide a blaster."
The panic in the audience had subsided instantly at the appearance of the young man. Everyone turned
and looked for their seats, and those who had fallen were helped to their feet by their neighbors.
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Deathlands 29 - Bloodlines
Forde was fumbling with the controls of the projector, eventually finding the control that switched off the
powerful halogen bulbs, plunging the blood-scented abattoir back into total blackness.
"Dean, would you switch on the lights on the wall by the door where we came in?"
Ryan felt his son move away and was aware of a stab of something that he guessed was fear.
He felt for Krysty's hand and held her tightly. "Things all right?" he whispered.
The voice that answered came from a dozen feet away and slightly to his right, where he knew the movie
screen had been. "Everything is perfectly all right, Mr. Cawdor. The alarm is over."
"So I hear. You have me at a disadvantage, Mr? You can see me, but I don't see you."
"Seeing and not seeing are merely the opposing sides of the same coin."
"Can't say I believe that. And I still don't hear your name."
"I'm Elric Cornelius. I am one of the members of what is known locally as 'the Family,' I believe. And
you and your friends are welcome to Bramton."
"Thanks."
"Oh, the taint of blood in this room is quite overwhelming. Can I suggest we all move outside into the
afternoon sunshine before I am overcome by the smell."
His voice was languid and gentle. Ryan had a strange and sudden vision of an elegant snake, coiled on a
warm stone, when the man talked.
But his words had an immediate effect on the villagers of Bramton.
Chairs tumbled over again as they almost fought to get out of the butcher's back room, pushing and
jostling. Ryan sat where he was, still holding Krysty's hand. He heard J.B.'s voice rise over the bedlam
and the sound of a single round from the Uzi, fired into the ceiling.
"Cut out the panic! Door's plenty wide enough for everyone to get out safe and unhurt. Now, calm down
and shut the noise, all right?"
"Well said, Mr. Dix." Cornelius hadn't moved during the brief hubbub. "My family sometimes puzzles at
the way good, honest, decent, sensible folks are moved to behave like headless chickens. It is a puzzle
wrapped in a mystery."
"Shrouded in an enigma," Doc added. "You left that part out."
"Indeed, I did, Dr. Tanner. And you were right to reproach me for it."
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Deathlands 29 - Bloodlines
"Wasn't a reproach, young man. Much more of a small jog to your memory for quotations."
"I stand corrected, Doctor." There followed a meaningful pause that Ryan could almost see. "It is a rare
experience for any member of the Family to be corrected."
Ryan wasn't sure if Doc recognized the cold anger that lay behind the gentle words. But to his heightened
senses, it sounded like the crack of a lash across the face.
There was the noise of everyone leaving the room, muted and subdued.
"Who's left?" he whispered to Krysty.
"All of us. Winthrop and Cornelius."
Once again he heard the bored voice, revealing that Cornelius had preternaturally sharp hearing to have
picked up the breathed words from Krysty.
"And Mr. Winthrop will be leaving to join the rest of his flock, Miss Wroth."
"Yeah, I'm on my way. Stayed behind in case you wanted Thought you might need me to Nobody to be
picked for today, though? Not time."
The words from the mayor of the ville tumbled nervously, one over another.
"For pity's sake, Mr. Winthrop," Cornelius said, betraying the first hint of emotion. "You must allow your
brain to function before you operate your mouth. Think before you speak, man."
"Sorry, Mr. Cornelius. Sorry about that." Feet moved quickly over the sticky floor, the door opened and
then closed, so quietly that Ryan could barely hear it.
"Seems to me" Krysty began, hesitating, then remaining silent. Ryan guessed that this was because of the
uncannily sharp hearing of the Family member.
"I assume that you are staying at that wretched flophouse, the Banbury. That pit of fleas. That
inhospitable abscess on the face of the ville. That sodden excuse for a hotel. That absurd and miserable"
Ryan interrupted him. "Yeah. We're staying there. And most of what you say about it is right enough. But
it's the only game in town."
The young man laughed quietly, a sound like a pair of black velvet gloves brushing together in a dusty
room. "Then you shall be the guests of the Cornelius Family. Outlanders are rare as hen's teeth in this
place."
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