Saber de lineas de sangre 344257123-V20-Lore-of-the-Bloodlines-11056187-pdf | Page 94
“We have to distrust each other. It is our only defense against betrayal.”
– Tennessee Williams
Recognition
She stood out in the hustle and bus
tle of the city for her stillness. There
wasn’t a single crease in her
plain tailored suit, the long skirt of whi
ch gave her an oddly Edwardian look
. Her waist-length hair hung
casually down her back as she star
ed intently at a tablet she was wor
king
on. When she looked up,
straight at Lewis, somehow he thou
ght he’d seen her before. He involunt
aril
y took a step back, and a
jogger ran straight into him.
“Watch what you’re doing, you stup
id prick,” the jogger snarled as he
tried to get past Lewis.
Lewis felt the rage growing. He turn
ed and put a hand on the man, stop
ping him dead in his tracks.
The jogger, being twice Lewis’ size
, frowned in surprise when he couldn’
t budge his hand. Lewis couldn’t
help smiling — he did love this par
t. He could feel the voice inside telli
ng him how good it would feel to
tear the man apart. It was very tem
pting, demanding even, and behind
it lay the hunger.
But the street was too crowded. He
had to think of the Masquerade, and
the amount of strikes he
already had with the Prince. Gather
ing his will, he began to push the rag
e
dow
n.
He felt it scream at him
as he forced it away. It was getting
harder every time, but he managed
to
release his grip and growl a
command to run. The jogger didn’t
need telling twice.
The woman across the street was tap
ping swiftly on her tablet. Was she rec
ording this? He’d not fought
down the frenzy just for some bystan
der to blow the Masquerade and get
him
the blame. Willing vitae into
his limbs, he began to move towards
her like lightning, his hands ready to
tear her throat apart if need be.
But before he was halfway across
the street, he noticed the world was
not moving past in a blur as it
should. In fact, he was the one mov
ing slowly. Then everything just stop
ped
. Everything, that is, except
the woman. She unhurriedly finished
making her notes and then walked
over to Lewis’ frozen form.
Around her the rest of the street stoo
d still as well. Two children were thro
wing a ball to each other and
the ball was hanging in midair. Wh
at was happening, and who was this
woman?
“You are caught in time,” she said a
little primly, barely looking up. “An
d I am Annabelle.”
Could she read his mind?
“Of course I can’t read your mind. I
just know what you are going to say.
We’ve done this often enough.”
Perhaps she would explain…
LORE OF THE BLOODLINES
93