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Nothing about the story was any different fro fu s right He couldn’t bring back the villagers that had been killed or take away the survivors’ pain But he could restore the balance of power That was the probleers had none And it shouldn’t be that way Power not held in balance would always lead to tragedy, to exploitation and abuse Juliet rong in thinking that tapping into Difethwr’s poould be a rush The Hellion’s poas excessive It wasn’t in balance It could never create or build up, only destroy
With the Destroyer in Boston, it was up to me to restore the balance of power Not because I was the best or even all that good But because I illing And because, win or lose, I was the only one who could
Thesword techniques I wanted to try I turned off the TV and moved a couple of chairs to , then picked up ood, too--stronger, not sore Concentrating, I played back the sword-fighting scene in my mind, then slowly started to follow the hero’s ?" Lucado’s voice calance at hi to require absolute focus "Don’t worry, Frank I’ll put the furniture back when I’ot some priceless antiques and shit in there" He watchedon the periphery, but I keptto bed"
"Nighty-night, Frank"
He grunted
After I’d had a good workout, I put the sword away Then, having second thoughts, I took it out again Better to keep it close by I ar, so I opened the door and stepped out onto the balcony to cool off in the night air I leaned the sword against the wall and looked out into the night It was eleven o’clock on a Friday--the night before Halloween--and Bostonians were out and about for the weekend An al the water Sounds of laughter, music, and cars drifted up froht, I could see the North End’s waterfront, down to Christopher Columbus Park Couples strolled, hand in hand, on their way hohed With Kane mad at me and Daniel out of the picture, I didn’t see any romantic dinners in my future any time soon
Watching the nor oose bu the back ofin, I realized that I was staring into so on thin air, nine stories above the ground
I leaped backward, groping forh of relief It was only a vaain the ability to float or fly until they’d been dead a few centuries Another , Councilor Hadrian"
"You know me" His dark eyes showed vanity, but not a jot of surprise
I’d never met Hadrian, but I did know him Everyone in Deadtown did; he was leader of the Council of Three and top dog ae of News of the Dead
"What are you doing here?" I asked
"Awaiting your invitation" As everyone knows, vampires can’t cross your threshold unless you invite theends about vampires that’s actually true
"Gee, I don’t know, Hadrian This isn’t my condo Tell you what I’ll invite you onto the balcony, but not inside"
"Hardly hospitable But for now, it will do" The varacefully, alighted in front oftoward the patio chairs arranged at the other end of the balcony
Hadrian believed he was the epitoraceful way he sat, s invisible creases from his four-thousand-dollar suit You could hear in his accent--proper Bostonian tinged with so European--and in the soft modulations of his voice You could al at Hadrian e Bordeaux and foods like truffles and escargot, foods you’d always heard about but never tried Everything about hi rong with this picture Hadrian ate people
Well, not anyally allowed pint and say thank you and goodnight But as a three-hundred-year-old vampire, he’d sucked his share of hu that whatever Hadrian wanted, Hadrian took
He steepled his fingers and smiled that closed-lipped shtly They made you want to lean in, look closer, and as you did, so in those eyes reached inside you, all the way down to your toes, and started to tease you out of yourself, slowly drawing you into those liquid depths
I coughed and sat back,him blink with surprise "I’m a demi-human," I said "Vaain, this tiiveattractive feed
I’d bet his track record was pretty daood Hadrian was a little old for one vamp when he was about fifty, fifty-five--but he definitely had that sexy older ray colored his teh his neatly triance, and he had the kind of long, slioose bumps on naked flesh--
Whoa Maybe those vaain "So what’s up?"