bargman: переводы

→Great, I thought, very put out. Finally, Victor replaces his lieutenant and his best fighter. Just at this moment. “I guess this Akiro is a pretty good fighter, huh?” I whispered to Heidi.

→Akiro had to acknowledge the greeting of a sheriff, who was higher on the food chain, but you could tell he didn’t want to. His bow was a millimeter too shallow.

→Eric said, “I welcome such a well-known vampire as Akiro to Louisiana. I’m sure you’ll be a great addition to the regent’s staff.” Eric could give impassive as well as the next vampire.

→Though Fangtasia sits in a busy shopping and dining area of Shreveport, at this hour—even on a weekend—there was not much city sound outside. None of us felt like talking. I didn’t know what thoughts occupied other heads, but I was considering the fact that I might die that very night. I was sorry about the baby shower, but I’d gotten things as ready as I could get them. I was sorry I hadn’t gotten to have a conference with Mr. Cataliades to get everything straight in my head, all this new information I’d hardly had time to assimilate. I was glad I’d given the money to Sam, and sorry I couldn’t have been frank with him about why it needed to be done this very day. I hoped if I died, Jason would move back into the old house, that he would marry Michele, that they would raise kids there. My mother, Michelle-with-two- ls, had been completely different from Jason’s Michele-withone- l, at least judging by my childhood memory of her, but they were alike in loving Jason. I was sorry I hadn’t told him I loved him the last time we’d spoken.

→After forty-five minutes, the place looked pretty good again, and the last of the human employees went out the back door. The only breathers remaining were Colton, Audrina, Immanuel, Mustapha Khan, and me. (I definitely had that conspicuous feeling.) The Shreveport vamps I’d known since I’d started dating Bill had assembled: Pam, Maxwell Lee, Thalia, Indira. I knew all of them to some extent. Victor would be instantly alert if all Eric’s vampires were there, or if they were all Eric’s heavy hitters. So Eric had called in the little Minden nest: Palomino, Rubio Hermosa, and Parker Coburn, the Katrina exiles. They trailed in looking unhappy but resigned. They stood against the wall, holding hands. It was kind of sweet, but sad, too.

→Very soon after that, I heard cars pull in front of the club.

→Maxwell apparently heard a knock at the back door, inaudible to my human ears. He jetted away and returned to tell Eric that Bill and Bubba had arrived. They were staying in the office until the moment came.

→Pam came to sit by Immanuel. Thalia scowled, which was her fallback expression, and turned her back on all of us. Indira sat with her eyes shut, the graceful folds of her sari making her look like a statue at Pier 1. Heidi looked from one to the other of us very seriously, and her mouth became set in a grim line. If she was worrying about Victor, I figured she’d go to stand by Jock, but I never saw her speak to him.

→Eric drifted over and turned me on the stool so he could put his arms around me. “I wish you didn’t have to be here,” he said. That was all the conversation we could have with Jock in earshot. I leaned against Eric’s cool body, my head resting on his silent chest. I might not ever get to do this again.

→She shook her head, her face averted.

→“We refined your idea a bit,” Eric said. “Anyone gets out the door, Warren will take care of them.” He’d been slumped back in his chair with his feet on the desk. Pam hadn’t looked at me since I’d come in. Suddenly, I wondered why.