Kalinssa: переводы

→We spent every night in our room, together.

→“If I contact her, ever, she’ll tell Black Cross. Those are the rules. She won’t break them.”

→My shortsightedness had cost Lucas dearly and had cost some of the Black Cross hunters their lives. Although many of them were antivampire zealots, that didn’t mean they all deserved to be murdered in cold blood. Because of me, they had been. “Lucas, I’m so sorry. I’m so incredibly sorry.”

→“No.” Lucas sighed.

→“But I didn’t.”

→At dusk, someone finally sat beside me at the pool’s edge—Lucas. I couldn’t quite bring myself to meet his eyes. He sat by my side, unlaced his shoes, and dunked his feet, too. I should have found that more encouraging than I did.

→Blindly, I pushed into the stairwell, listening to my sobs echo as I hurried upward. I wasn’t running anywhere in particular, just running—as though I could outrace the knowledge of what I’d done. When I reached the rooftop and could go no farther, I walked out to the pool. A few kids splashed in the kiddie area, but for the moment I had the deep end to myself. I kicked off my sandals, dunked my feet, hung my head, and wept quietly for a long time until all the tears had run out.

→I ran from the hotel room, tears stinging my eyes. I couldn’t face Lucas’s anger at that moment, even though I deserved it. My own guilt had come crashing down, punishing me more horribly than he or anyone else could. I had to be alone, to cry it out for myself, but where could I go?

→“Oh, I’m sorry. I wouldn’t want to overreact to something as insignificant as people getting killed.”

→“You’re shouting at me!”

→“I told you months ago that we had to watch out for e-mail being traced! Did you think I didn’t e-mail you last year just because I didn’t feel like it? Why wasn’t that alone enough to tell you that was a good reason?”

→“You didn’t say why.” He glared at me then, and I realized how weak I had to sound. “That’s not an excuse. I realize that—”

→“What do you want me to say? I told you not to use e-mail? We both know that, and we both know you ignored me.”

→As he dried off with a towel, the suspense got to me. “Say something,” I said. “Anything. Scream at me if you have to. Just—don’t stay quiet like that.”

→When we entered our room, I expected Lucas to begin shouting at me right away, but he didn’t. Instead he went into the bathroom and washed his face and hands, scrubbing hard, as though he felt dirty.

→We rode up the hotel elevator in silence, the tension around us weighing heavier by the moment. In my mind, I kept seeing Eduardo’s death at Mrs. Bethany’s hands over and over again, and hearing that sickening crack.

→Vic drove us back to our hotel. Before he and Ranulf left, Vic made a discreet trip to the ATM and gave me the six hundred dollars he’d promised, a wad of bills I stuffed inside my purse. We had the keys and code to turn off the security system in the wine cellar, and once we had jobs, Lucas and I would be able to save money. Before they left, I hugged Vic tighter than I had hugged almost anybody else in my life.