The Demonata 1-5. Darren Shan

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СКАЧАТЬ me about it — some other time. We’ve more pressing matters to deal with first.” He picks Bill-E up and nods me forward.

      Down the steps. Steep. Dark. Have to tread carefully, feeling for each stair.

      “Do you need any help with Bill-E?” I ask over my shoulder.

      “No,” Dervish replies, coming down, blocking out the light of the moon. “I’ll be fine. Dart ahead and light some extra candles.”

      I proceed to the bottom of the stairs, where I find a door. Pushing it open, I enter the cellar. Studying the entrance I’ve just come through, I note that the material on this side of the door is disguised to look like part of the wall, which is why I didn’t spot it during my previous visit.

      As I’m lighting candles on the main table — keeping as far clear of the Lord Loss folder as I can – Dervish stumbles in, goes to the cage, opens it with his left foot and sets Bill-E down beside the deer. He makes sure Bill-E’s comfortable, then locks the door and removes the key.

      “Don’t go anywhere near the cage when he wakes,” Dervish says. “He’ll howl like the devil, throw himself wildly at the bars — possibly injuring himself in the process — but steer clear, regardless. All he needs is a sliver of a chance to rip you open.”

      “I’ll bear that in mind,” I comment drily.

      Dervish goes back up the steps and returns a minute later with Meera. He lays her down, smooths her hair back, stares at her bruised, motionless features.

      “How is she?” I ask, dreading the answer.

      “OK, I think,” Dervish says, and my fear lessens. “But she’ll be out for a while. He cracked her head hard on the pavement. We should get her to a doctor, have her checked over — but there isn’t time. I’ll take her to the house, out of harm’s way, before… before we see to Billy. We’ll just have to hope for the best after that.”

      Dervish stands, walks around behind the desk and collapses into his chair, sighing deeply. He tells me to pull up one of the other chairs, but I prefer to stand — too nervy to sit.

      “I want to know about werewolves,” I tell him bluntly. “I want to know what Lord Loss has to do with them, how you know Gret had it, and how we reverse it in Bill-E.”

      Dervish nods. “Reasonable questions. But I’m surprised you haven’t asked the most obvious one — since this is a family disease, passed on from one generation to the next, how come Billy has it?”

      “I know all about Bill-E’s connection to our family,” I huff.

      Dervish stares at me, slack-jawed. “Care to tell me how?”

      “Bill-E figured it out years ago. Like he said, it didn’t take a genius to guess that you were his father. Now tell me about–”

      “What?” Dervish yelps, jerking forward. “He thinks I’m his dad?”

      “Of course.” I frown. “Aren’t you?”

      Dervish sits back. Groans and shuts his eyes. “I’m a horse’s ass,” he snarls. “I should have seen that coming. How can I have gone all these years…”

      He clears his throat and levels his gaze on me. “Pull up a chair,” he commands. “It sounds like a bad movie cliché, but you’re going to want to sit down for this.”

      I start to come back with a sarcastic reply. Spot the steel in his eyes. Drag over a chair and sit opposite Dervish, like a student before a teacher.

      “There’s probably some diplomatic, sensitive, compassionate way to put this,” Dervish says, “but one doesn’t spring readily to mind, and I don’t have time to go searching. So I’ll put it plainly, no matter how upsetting it might be. I’m not Billy’s father — I’m his uncle.”

      I stare at Dervish uncertainly. “I don’t understand.”

      “People aren’t perfect, Grubbs,” he mutters. “Even the best of us make mistakes. Life’s complicated. We all…” He clears his throat. “Your mother never liked me, and made no secret of the fact.”

      “What’s that got to do with–” I start, but he silences me with a gesture.

      “I visited Cal a few times over the years. She accepted that. But except for a single trip here years ago, she refused to step foot in Carcery Vale. So Cal used to come by himself. It was a serious bone of contention between them. I tried many times to talk to Sharon about it, but she wouldn’t…”

      Dervish trails off into a brooding silence, then begins again. “Your father loved your mother — and you and Gret — but he wasn’t a saint. He travelled a lot, on business, alone — but he didn’t always sleep alone.”

      I leap to my feet, furious at what Dervish is suggesting. But before I can lay into him, he continues quickly.

      “They were one-night stands or short affairs. Meaningless. Sharon never found out — or so Cal told me. My brother had many admirable qualities, but fidelity wasn’t one of them. He never wished to hurt your mother, but he couldn’t remain true to her. It wasn’t in his nature.”

      “Why are you telling me this?” I hiss, fingers clenched into fists, tears in my eyes.

      Dervish looks at me sideways, as though I’m a fool for asking. “Because one year he had an affair with a Valer while he was staying with me. And the woman wound up pregnant. She didn’t tell him about it until after the baby was born, and then refused all offers of his to get involved. Emily Spleen was headstrong, determined to live life her own way. She told Cal she wasn’t–”

      “Stop!” I gasp, stumbling back into my chair. “Don’t,” I beg.

      “I took a vow early in life never to have children,” Dervish says, ignoring my plea. “I was afraid the disease would take hold in them. I was determined not to put them — and myself — through that torment. Cal didn’t share that view — he thought life was worth the risk.

      “I looked after Billy when Emily died because he was my nephew — not because he was my son. Cal was Billy’s father, Grubbs.

      “Billy isn’t your cousin — he’s your brother.”

      THE CURSE

      → A long silence. Wanting to roar at Dervish, call him a liar, make him take the words back. But there’s no reason for him to lie about something like this. Nothing but sad honesty in his eyes.

      Feeling sick. Instantly mad at Dad for what he did. But just as instantly glad — I’m not alone! I thought I lost everything when the demons attacked. Now I discover I have a brother.

      “This is crazy,” I moan, torn between rage and delight. “I don’t know what to make of it. I can’t handle it.”

      “Of course you can,” Dervish snaps. “You handled the deaths of your parents and Gret — this is small fry in comparison.”

      “But… I always thought…” I shake my head, not sure what I’m thinking or what I feel. “Why didn’t you tell СКАЧАТЬ