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.It was the last place she could think to look. But it s wrong, Angel! she said, feeling as though she was crumbling inside. She s not here, and if Idon t find her soon, I just know they re going to. Shush, he said tenderly, and pulled her into a firm embrace.She felt the cool flesh of his hand on theback of her neck, the familiar weight of his head where he rested it on top of hers.Buffy let it all go forjust a moment, let herself be comforted.In all the world, Angel was the only one who could hold her likethat, who could give her a safe harbor, a world in his arms.A world she could never have. Let s go, she said, pushing away from him. This is a waste of time.She was glad Angel didn t ask her to clarify that last statement.As they turned to leave, a figure filled the door through which they had entered the cannery.It was talland lithe, its arms down to its knees.Far from human. Well, hello, young lovers, said the thing, in a voice like silk tearing on thorns.It stepped farther into the building, shafts of light from shattered windows all over the place making akind of checkerboard pattern of illumination.It slipped in and out of the shadows. What is it? Angel asked. Who knows? Buffy sighed. Let s just kill it and get out of here.Suddenly it leaped from the darkness behind her how d it get back there? and grabbed Buffy, in achoke hold.She threw her head back and felt her skull strike its face with a satisfying crack.The thing released her,and Buffy turned, spun into a high kick, and shattered one of those long arms.The thing shrieked andGenerated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.htmlstumbled into a shaft of light.It was hideous.Scales and ridges and a huge, toothless maw with tiny waving tendrils inside.It didn tseem to have eyes at all. Okay, I d have to consult, oh, I don t know, the dentist! But my guess would be demon, Buffy toldAngel, who came to stand next to her. I must have you, it said, with that voice pushed out by the little wormlike things in its gaping throat. Isubsist off the pain of love, and there is such pain here.Buffy paused.Angel laid a hand on her shoulder. It s all right, he whispered. Let s just destroy it and go.We havemore important things to worry about right now.He was right.She hated it.But he was right. How do you do that? she asked the demon. Why, I eat the lovers, of course, it replied, and lurched at her again. But we re not lovers, Buffy retorted, and kicked it again.In the midsection this time.She didn t wanther foot anywhere near that disgusting mouth. And, oh, the succulent pain of it.It rose again.Angel came from behind Buffy, the oil drum over his head, and brought the huge metal barrel down onthe thing s head.It went down under his onslaught, but he struck it again, and again.And again.Buffy watched him, feeling each blow.Understanding.There were many things they could no longershare.What they shared now was a great deal of pain.Pain that this thing had reminded them of, at theworst possible time.Eventually, she stopped him. Angel.It s dead.He glanced at her, then dropped the barrel with a massive clang. Yeah.I wonder where it came from?A voice from the doorway made them both look up. The barriers are dropping.Slowly, but it is happening, said the voice.It belonged to Ethan Rayne.There was someone else with him, just outside the door.Buffy saw the reflection of the moon on hisglasses, and knew it was Giles. And it won t be the last, the Watcher said. Not unless we put a stop to all this.Buffy was about to speak, but paused as Giles came toward her.Something about the look on his face.There was something there.something.Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.htmlThere was hope.Buffy understood, then, and her voice was a whisper. You ve found her.Chapter7SEATED IN THE DEPRESSING LITTLE STORAGE ROOM THAThad once housed the mother ofthe Slayer, Fulcanelli studied the sword that rotated slowly in the air.It was a very old weapon, oldereven than he.Hadrius had traded his soul for it, or so he claimed.Fulcanelli was inclined to believe it;Hadrius had been the cruelest and most heartless being he had ever known, himself included.He thought back now to those days, of how his father or rather, the man who was his father in title ifnot in deed had left him bound and gagged on Hadrius drawbridge in the dead of night.The foolishbastard crossing himself and making the ward against the evil eye. God keep you, the superstitious peasant had whispered, his breath like the smoke of the hellishbonfirethat still raged in the distance,  that is to say, keep youfar from me and mine, youhellspawn.Giacomo strained to spit at the man, but the tattered, filthy rag stuffed into his mouth preventedthatsatisfaction.He was so furious he was certain that hisspittle would wither a flower, or burn ahole in stone.And as for this toothless half-wit who had actuallydreamed that he was the father ofsuch a boy asGiacomo, who had had the temerity to call him  son, while all the village chuckledat the mere thought.Giacomo s spit would have sent him straight to hell.The peasant turned and ran, his shadow trailingafter like a cowardly twin beneath the smokymoon.With all his heart, Giacomo wished him ill: bad crops,a barren woman, death by hanging.Then time passed, and while his anger smoldered,his discomfort began to rise.He shivered in thecold asthe mists from the moat lapped at his body and chilledhis bones to a dull, numbing ache.The tight bondsaround his wrists cut off all sensation in his hands.Theright one was curledaround the left as if to pluck thewithered fingers off his deformed hand, the miserableculminationof his useless left arm [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]