Chapter 67

The real vampires¹ had arrived and they believed they were invincible².
William and Michael knew that the exotic city of New
Orleans belonged to them from the instant they crossed the bridge.  They were a couple of young princes with their long blond ponytails, black shirts and trousers, shining leather boots. Their mission ended here if all went well - and it would.
William drove the Red Cross van through the French Quarter they were on the lookout³ for prey⁴. The van rode slowly back and forth⁵ on Burgundy, Dauphine, Bourbon, Royal, Chartres, all of the more famous streets. The sounds of Readysexgo blared from the tape deck.’Radio Tokyo7, then’Supernatural Blonde’.  The brothers finally got out and strolled along Riverwalk. They turned into the Riverwalk Marketplace, and it made William feel physically⁶ ill: Banana Republic, Eddie Bauer, the Limited, Sharper Image, the Gap - mediocrity, tripe⁷, utter stupidity everywhere he looked.’What do you want to do?’William turned to Michael.’Look at all this commercial crap in the middle of this beautiful city.’ ‘Let’s take somebody out here in their putrid⁸ shopping mall.  Maybe we should feed in a changing room at Banana Republic. I love that idea.’
‘No!’William said. He grabbed hold of Michael’s arm.’We’ve been working too hard for this. I think we need a distraction⁹.’
They couldn’t take any more prey. Not now. Not so close to Daniel and Charles’s domain¹⁰. So William drove out of New Orleans on the Bonnet¹¹ Carre Spillway. He continued on Interstate 10 into the real Louisiana. A distraction was definitely needed.
William found what he wanted about an hour outside New
Orleans. The rock climb wasn’t much, but at least the face was steep.
You had to concentrate; if you didn’t, you fell, and you were dead.  The brothers chose to free solo, the most extreme example of the sport. Also the most dangerous by far. In free solo, the climbers used no ropes, or any kind of backup protection.
‘We are a couple of hardmen!’Michael laughed and shouted once they were halfway¹² up the two-hundred-foot climb. Hardmen were the toughest climbers of all. They were the best, and it fit the brothers’ self-image.
‘Yes we are!’ William shouted back to his brother. ‘There are old climbers, and there are bold climbers.’
‘But there are no old, bold climbers’.’ Michael roared with laughter.  The climb turned out to be more challenging than it had looked. It required lots of different kinds of skill. They had to do vertical¹³ crack climbing, then suddenly they were face climbing, pressing tight against the rock, using very small hand holds.  ‘We’re in the climbing groove¹⁴ now!’Michael screamed at the top of his lungs. He had forgotten about hunting for prey, forgotten his hunger. There was nothing but the climb. Nothing but staying alive, survival of the fittest.
Suddenly, they had to commit - they were at a point in the climb
where, once they made the next couple of moves, they couldn’t go
back the way they had come. There was nowhere to go but straight up. Or to quit right now.‘What do you think, little brother? You make a plan for us. You decide. What does your instinct tell you?’
Michael laughed so hard he had to grip the rock face with both hands. He looked down - and what he saw was certain death if he fell.’Don’t even think about quitting. We won’t fall, brother. Not ever.  We’re never going to die!’
They climbed to the top and from there they could see New Orleans. It was their city now.
‘We’re immortal¹⁵! We’ll never die!’ the brothers shouted into the wind.

1 vampires   

n.吸血鬼( vampire的名词复数 )；吸血蝠；高利贷者；（舞台上的）活板门

参考例句：

• The most effective weapon against the vampires is avampire itself. 对付吸血鬼最有效的武器就是吸血鬼自己。 来自电影对白
• If vampires existed, don`t you think we would`ve found them by now? 如果真有吸血鬼，那我们怎么还没有找到他们呢？ 来自电影对白

2 invincible   

adj.不可征服的，难以制服的

参考例句：

• This football team was once reputed to be invincible.这支足球队曾被誉为无敌的劲旅。
• The workers are invincible as long as they hold together.只要工人团结一致，他们就是不可战胜的。

3 lookout   

n.注意，前途，瞭望台

参考例句：

• You can see everything around from the lookout.从了望台上你可以看清周围的一切。
• It's a bad lookout for the company if interest rates don't come down.如果利率降不下来，公司的前景可就不妙了。

4 prey   

n.被掠食者，牺牲者，掠食；v.捕食，掠夺，折磨

参考例句：

• Stronger animals prey on weaker ones.弱肉强食。
• The lion was hunting for its prey.狮子在寻找猎物。

5 forth   

adv.向前；向外，往外

参考例句：

• The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
• He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。

6 physically   

adj.物质上，体格上，身体上，按自然规律

参考例句：

• He was out of sorts physically,as well as disordered mentally.他浑身不舒服，心绪也很乱。
• Every time I think about it I feel physically sick.一想起那件事我就感到极恶心。

7 tripe   

n.废话，肚子, 内脏

参考例句：

• I can't eat either tripe or liver.我不吃肚也不吃肝。
• I don't read that tripe.我才不看那种无聊的东西呢。

8 putrid   

adj.腐臭的；有毒的；已腐烂的；卑劣的

参考例句：

• To eat putrid food is liable to get sick.吃了腐败的食物容易生病。
• A putrid smell drove us from the room.一股腐臭的气味迫使我们离开这房间。

9 distraction   

n.精神涣散，精神不集中，消遣，娱乐

参考例句：

• Total concentration is required with no distractions.要全神贯注，不能有丝毫分神。
• Their national distraction is going to the disco.他们的全民消遣就是去蹦迪。

10 domain   

n.(活动等)领域，范围；领地，势力范围

参考例句：

• This information should be in the public domain.这一消息应该为公众所知。
• This question comes into the domain of philosophy.这一问题属于哲学范畴。

11 bonnet   

n.无边女帽；童帽

参考例句：

• The baby's bonnet keeps the sun out of her eyes.婴孩的帽子遮住阳光，使之不刺眼。
• She wore a faded black bonnet garnished with faded artificial flowers.她戴着一顶褪了色的黑色无边帽，帽上缀着褪了色的假花。

12 halfway   

adj.中途的，不彻底的，部分的；adv.半路地，在中途，在半途

参考例句：

• We had got only halfway when it began to get dark.走到半路，天就黑了。
• In study the worst danger is give up halfway.在学习上，最忌讳的是有始无终。

13 vertical   

adj.垂直的，顶点的，纵向的；n.垂直物，垂直的位置

参考例句：

• The northern side of the mountain is almost vertical.这座山的北坡几乎是垂直的。
• Vertical air motions are not measured by this system.垂直气流的运动不用这种系统来测量。

14 groove   

n.沟，槽；凹线，（刻出的）线条，习惯

参考例句：

• They're happy to stay in the same old groove.他们乐于墨守成规。
• The cupboard door slides open along the groove.食橱门沿槽移开。

15 immortal   

adj.不朽的；永生的，不死的；神的

参考例句：

• The wild cocoa tree is effectively immortal.野生可可树实际上是不会死的。
• The heroes of the people are immortal!人民英雄永垂不朽！