Ужасы: Последний пир Арлекина (сборник)

Брайт Поппи

Еще одна фигура выступила из тени дерева, Сэм. Он протянул руки, чтобы принять девочку у Касса. Я видела, как Касс повернулся от Сэма к стоявшей рядом женщине, в чьих золотых, пшеничных глазах таилась ужасающая печаль. И вдруг поняла — узнала вечную муку матери, уступающей дитя ему, этому бледному супругу, Принимающему Всех; поняла, почему она собрала яркий урожай товарищей по играм для лишенных солнца садов, для девочки, которая уже не была девочкой; для нежной девы, обреченной на мрак до конца уходящего года. Они задержались еще на миг. Дитя протянуло ко мне

руки и раскрыло ладонь, прощаясь. Земля вздрогнула. Шум стремительного потока разорвал воздух. Ива в темноте треснула, как трескается гранит. Повсюду разнесся запах пепла и каменной пыли… Они ушли, все ушли.

Ночь была тихой. Передо мной тянулось пустое поле, стояла заброшенная хижина. Потом из леса раздался унылый крик козодоя и горестный ответ другого. Я, спотыкаясь, бросилась к рухнувшему дереву и, стоя на коленях среди его корней и анемонов, плакала над ушедшими в землю детьми.

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THE FIRST TIME Copyright © 1990 by K. W. Jeter. Originally published in Alien Sex.Reprinted by permission of the author and the author’s agent.

A SHORT GUIDE TO THE CITY Copyright © 1990 by The Seafront Corporation. Originally published in Houses Without Doors.Reprinted by permission of the author.

STEPHEN Copyright © 1990 by Elizabeth Massie. Originally published in Borderlands.Reprinted by permission of the author.

THE DEAD LOVE YOU Copyright © 1990 by Jonathan Carroll. Originally published in OmniVol. 13, No. 3, December 1990. Reprinted by permission of the author and the author’s agent.

JANE DOE #112 Copyright © 1990 by The Kilimanjaro Corporation. Originally published in Ellery Queen’s Mystery MagazineNo. 576, December 1990. Reprinted by permission of the author.

SHOCK RADIO Copyright © 1990 by Ray Garton. Originally published in Methods of Madness.Reprinted by permission of the author.

THE MAN WHO DREW CATS Copyright © 1990 by Michael Marshall Smith. Originally published in Dark Voices 2: The Pan Book of Horror.Reprinted by permission of the author.

THE CO-OP Copyright © 1990 by Melanie Tem. Originally published in Women of Darkness II.Reprinted by permission of the author.

THE LAST FEAST OF HARLEQUIN Copyright © 1990 by Thomas Ligotti. Originally published in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science FictionNo. 467, April 1990. Reprinted by permission of the author.

NEGATIVES Copyright © 1990 by Nicholas Royle. Originally published in InterzoneNo. 35, May 1990. Reprinted by permission of the author.

1/72ND SCALE Copyright

© 1990 by Terminus Publishing Co., Inc. Originally published in Weird TalesNo. 298, Fall 1990. Reprinted by permission of the author.

CEDAR LANE Copyright © 1990 by Karl Edward Wagner. Originally published in Walls of Fear.Reprinted by permission of the author.

AT A WINDOW FACING WEST Copyright © 1990 by Kim Antieau. Originally published in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine,Mid-December 1990. Reprinted by permission of the author.

INSIDE THE WALLED CITY Copyright © 1990 by Garry Kilworth. Originally published in Walls of Fear.Reprinted by permission of the author.

ON THE WING (Originally published as «A la Volette» in BrevesNo. 33/34). English version copyright © 1990 by Jean-Daniel Breque and Nicholas Royle. First published in Fantasy TalesNo. 5, Autumn 1990. Reprinted by permission of the author.

FIREBIRD Copyright © 1990 by J. L. Comeau. Originally published in The Women Who Walk Through Fire.Reprinted by permission of the author.

INCIDENT ON A RAINY NIGHT IN BEVERLY HILLS Copyright © 1990 by David J. Schow. Originally published in Seeing Red.Reprinted by permission of the author.

HIS MOUTH WILL TASTE OF WORMWOOD Copyright © 1990 by Poppy Z. Brite. Originally published in Borderlands.Reprinted by permission of the author.

THE ORIGINAL DR SHADE Copyright © 1990 by Kim Newman. Originally published in InterzoneNo. 36, June 1990. Reprinted by permission of the author.

MADGE Copyright © 1990 by D. F. Lewis. Originally published in Back Brain RecluseNo. 15, Spring 1990. Reprinted by permission of the author.

ALIVE IN VENICE Copyright © 1990 by Cherry Wilder. Originally published in Dark Voices 2: The Pan Book of Horror.Reprinted by permission of the author.

DIVERTIMENTO Copyright © 1989 by Gregory Frost. Originally published in Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine,December 1989. Reprinted by permission of the author.

PELTS Copyright © 1990 by F. Paul Wilson. Originally published in Pelts.Reprinted by permission of the author.

THOSE OF RHENEA Copyright © 1990 by David Sutton. Originally published in Skeleton Crew,November 1990. Reprinted by permission of the author.