Читать книгу Rebirth - Dmitry Nazarov - Страница 20

With all the speed I could muster right now, I jumped to my feet, hissing something inaudible from the burning in my scraped hands and knees, and darted away, only to realize that we were in a dead end, next to the garbage cans. Obviously some backyard of the club, surrounded on three sides by a brick wall two and a half feet high and a locked dead gate on the last one, the fourth.

– Why are you so attracted to the dumps, you fucking mongrel? – She muttered, stumbling backward, kicking off her high-heeled shoes as she went, until her back was against the wall. I looked around again with a mixture of panic and longing. There was no way I could get over that barrier-I wasn’t a goddamn spider-man or a jumping grasshopper. That would be the end of me in this stinking alley, while Ri’er’s brute was amusing himself within a dozen yards of me. I wish I’d gone looking for him and fucked him over again, and it would have made me feel better knowing I’d done that creep who’d abandoned me a small but disgusting thing.

– There’s nowhere to run,» the one-eyed man grinned, hurriedly taking off his shirt. He’s afraid of getting dirty, too.

– Who said I was running? I wasn’t the one who ran last time. – I swallowed my fear, fumbled for a screwdriver in my pocket, and estimated my chances. Well, there didn’t seem to be too many. In fact, none at all. I wondered if someone would hear me and help me if I screamed as loud as I could.

– It’s no use yelling. Even if they hear you, they won’t have time to help,» answered my unasked question the aggressor, who had already stripped down to his underpants.

I could not think of any witty answer, or any answer at all, so I would have to die without my unique sarcasm.

– I thought I’d have to drag you around for a day or two, baby, until he got to you, but you didn’t go according to plan! – Ri’er’s voice came from somewhere above, scaring the hiccups out of me even more than the appearance of my would-be assassin. Once again no suitable quip came to mind, and I exhaled with a mixture of anger and relief.

The nearly naked «pirate» raised his head and growled warningly, taking a few steps toward me. I wanted more than anything to squeal girlishly and run away from him, even if it meant running around in circles, but I knew from somewhere that panic would only lead to an immediate attack. You run, the predator stalks, the law of life, however. So I just began to glide smoothly and leisurely along the wall, increasing my distance. Especially since the men didn’t seem to care much about me.

– Do you dare to sneer at me, Muratik? Have you lost your fear, or have you lost your way in life? – Rier asked with a little over emphasized amazement, and now I could see the rectangle of dark window on the third floor level and the silhouette of a man sitting on the window sill, hanging out with his legs.

– Don’t call me that! – barked contemptuously and affectionately called «Muratik» and clearly in a rage turned from me to the alpha, which couldn’t be happier. – My new name is Ipigo, and I don’t give a damn about your status or the other alphas! You’re nothing now, self-righteous lowlifes who’ll be pointed out in their place very soon!

I was in complete agreement with the epithets given to the one-eyed, overbearing asshole, but, of course, I wasn’t going to defend his rightness out loud. I should shine less of a light, and maybe they would forget about me in the heat of their hierarchical showdown. I peered closely at the gate, estimating the size of the gap between the ironwork and the ground and my own size. Could I squeeze through or not?

– Who’s so formidable? – Ri’er snorted, jumped down, landed softly, touched the pavement briefly with the fingertips of one hand, then straightened up and shook them squeamishly. And I’m standing on it, by the way. Barefoot!

The one-eyed man growled and darted toward me, reacting to his appearance in the courtyard, but Ri’er got in his way and knocked him back at lightning speed. I didn’t see the alpha move himself. Just as he was standing against the opposite wall, his broad back was right in front of my eyes, and my near-killer was flying and crashing with his shoulder blades into the brickwork with a thud, as if it were not made of flesh but of wood. Pinocchio overgrown, my ass. If I, or any normal person, had been hammered into the wall like that, it would have been impossible to get up, and, perhaps, even to survive, but the one-eyed man could not care less. He was on his feet again in a fraction of a second, swiftly circling Ri’er to the left, seemingly trying to get at me through him. And his eerie determination and unkillableness made me feel frightened.

– Raychik, finish him off somehow! – I whimpered, probably sounding no better than Mila. – I promise I’ll never sass you about it again in my life!

– Shut up, baby, you’re distracting me! – He snapped, keeping his eye on his adversary, who was now prowling back and forth in front of us as if looking for the best angle to attack. – And by the way, don’t make promises you can’t possibly keep.

– Go away, Reer! – Murat-Ipigo demanded. – I don’t want to kill you. You, in time, can understand and accept all that is coming. It is you, unlike the stupid other alphas, whose miserable fate is already sealed.

– Muratik, aren’t you on drugs, you little puppy? Talking like a frozen man, threatening to kill me. You! Me! – He said mockingly, haughtily, and folded his arms across his chest as if he didn’t consider the one-eyed man a match for his supreme attention, but I could see the tension in his back and keep his eyes fixed on him.

– Go away!» The one-eyed man’s voice broke and grew harsher, and he stooped strangely, sinking to the ground. – Last chance! You will die for nothing!

Why, yes! I don’t think of myself as «nothing»! I’m the only one!

– You couldn’t even handle a girl the size of a sparrow, loser,“ the alpha snapped at him, „You don’t have to go after me, Muratik!

– Have you any idea how much it hurts to have a knife in your eye! – he shouted insultedly and dropped to all fours.

– It’ll be a pretty sight for sore eyes, I promise you! – Ri’er snorted.

The ugly falling rain, already drizzling monotonously, came down harder than before, and the colder than before, the colder drops trickled down the back of their necks. Jesus, start wetting each other already! I’m going to die, aren’t I? If not from fear, then from hypothermia!

– Fucking rags,» Riher bellowed, tearing his shirt with a crack, his voice lower and scarier, too, the alpha mirroring the movements of the crazy aggressor. – Poops, I’m going to keep the guy busy for a while, and you run up the wall and inside. You wait for me in the corridor, do not go into the crowd, we do not need the spoils of massacre, if anything goes wrong. Understand?

The last thing he said was barely intelligible, not so much the words as a low, resounding grunt, and then… then things began to happen that no one would have led me to believe just a few days ago. Men began to turn into beasts before my eyes. It was accompanied by a truly nauseating chomping sound, the crunching of bones, and the disgusting clicking of joints changing angles. Was that what was happening to me? That’s just plain disgusting! And in stereo effect, too, given the simultaneity of the metamorphosis in both of them. And when it was over, I realized instantly how much of a mess I was in with Ri’er. Because while the beast standing right in front of me was a big, muscular embodiment of savage strength, our enemy had turned into a real monster. Twice as wide as Ri’er’s beast, though a little shorter, it was composed of monstrous lumps of bulging, tense muscles under its ruffled dark hide. He looked more like an armored rhinoceros than a giant wolf, with an enormous head and a mouth open where I could probably fit. I don’t remember what it looked like the first time it attacked me, but now I couldn’t imagine somehow managing to stop it.

– Oh, my God! – I huffed, knowing that if I hadn’t believed before, now was the time to get religious and pray for a miracle. – That’s creepy!

And Murato the monster dropped to the ground and pushed off, covering the entire distance between us in a single leap. Ri’er’s beast sprang to its forelegs, and I, obeying a lightning intuitive insight, simply collapsed sideways, clutching my legs exactly a split second before both bodies slammed into the wall I’d just been standing against. If I’d stayed where I was, there would have been nothing left of me but a pancake smeared on the bricks. I didn’t think twice about «if,» so I obediently did Ri’er’s bidding, rolling first several times with my spindle, putting some distance between me and the savage beasts, and then leaping to my feet and heading for the door to the club. Fuck it, this fight was out of my league, and I just didn’t belong here! Already grabbing the handle, I turned around. Why, why did I do that? Well, if I do not give a damn? The main thing is that it got away! No, as it turned out – not give a damn! As much as I wanted to get away with it, I had to make sure that Ri’er was the one who was going to win this massacre. Because no matter how much of a dog and a boor and a creep, etc., etc., ad infinitum, if he lost, there would be no one to stop this werewolf on steroids.

– Shit! – I stomped my foot, staring into the mutually snarling and smashing pile of flesh, and felt cold.

Ri’er was downstairs. I mean, somehow it was really, really bad down there. The Murato monster was literally flattened beneath his own carcass and was just clamping its creepy jaws down on his throat, despite Rier’s desperate attempts to drop him and twist himself around. You’ve done enough, you fucking alpha-poser! Puppy wasn’t easy, and you couldn’t handle him, could you? Shouldn’t you have got someone to back you up? No, come on now, Rory, help me out! What can I do?

The beast shook its head, keeping its grip on the wolf’s throat, lifting it off the ground and throwing it back, seemingly trying to break its neck and finish it off, and I grabbed my laughing weapon and sprinted toward them, cursing myself, the fucking werewolves, and the whole fucking world in which this was possible. Where am I going? I want to be a goddamn princess in pink, loved, adored, cherished, cared for and pampered, but I have to do everything for myself and for someone else, and now I’m turning into some fucking Nikita! Why me and with me? But the fear growing with wild speed and the incredible anger at this creature, who had ruined my life, suddenly poured burning rocket fuel into my blood, and I jumped on Murato-monster’s back, saddling him, and, grabbing one ear with my hand and grasping the other with my teeth, blindly began to poke a screwdriver somewhere under his lower jaw. The first blow hit my fingers, but I managed to poke it twice more, turning it into a full-fledged stream, before I flew through the air like a splinter and, after flying a few meters, collapsed flat on my back, losing my ability to breathe. The monster that had thrown me off had thrown the tormented Ri’er and come at me, and all I could do was stare. I couldn’t even crawl away from it, my arms and legs were gone the moment it hit me. He was right on top of me, grinning eerily and dripping bloody saliva, and I was about to feel the tearing of skin and muscle, but Ri’er decided to come alive and partake once more in the fun. I didn’t see him get up, only the moment he grabbed Murat’s scruff and shook him, returning the unfinished courtesy and breaking his neck. But exactly a moment before he jerked, I saw the monster’s only surviving eye glaze over. The lifeless mountain of over-pumped muscles collapsed beside me, Riher crumpled on top of it, and I still could not move and only looked at him angrily, because, by the way, it is not bad to lie on the warm body of a defeated opponent, unlike me, lying on the cold, wet and also dirty pavement. But before I could say anything about the alpha’s ability to fit comfortably everywhere, my body was pierced by a flash of such pain that my spine arched and a flash of light and noise grenade exploded in my head. I probably would have screamed enough for half the city to hear me, but my lungs felt completely empty for some reason. A blinding, incredibly burning, colorless glow filled my head, then swiftly flowed into my chest, burning the hell out of everything there, and then poured in two equal streams into my arms spread out on the ground. It burned what seemed to be my muscles and bones on the way, but it reached my fingers and burst through my skin and spurted outward, turning into thin strands of tension that buzzed in every direction. And as soon as it did, it was as if my poor body had been knocked out of power, plunging into unconscious darkness.