Текст книги "Carpe Corpus"

Автор книги: Rachel Caine

Соавторы: Rachel Caine
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Текущая страница: 11 (всего у книги 15 страниц)

9

Shane’s dad turned on an electric light overhead, and the sudden glare made Claire wince and blink. She looked down quickly at Dr. Mills to confirm that he was still breathing, and not moving. Good. She needed all her concentration right now.

Frank Collins looked the same as he had the last time she’d seen him alive, there in Bishop’s office—thin, lean, with his long graying hair down around his face, only now he was paler. He looked like a man who’d lived hard and died the same way—and there was definitely a shadow in him that hadn’t been there before. A crazy, scary shine in his eyes, like a silver film. He had a few things in common with Oliver, but where Oliver came across as tough, frightening, and ultimately rational, Collins missed that last one entirely.

He was waytoo close. Claire stayed very still, trying not to let her pulse pound too hard.

“I see what my son likes about you,” Frank Collins said. “You’re tougher than you look.”

“Thanks,” she said. “Now back off.”

He laughed again. It echoed off of the stone, as if he’d brought three or four copies of himself to enjoy the show. “No,” he said. “I don’t think so. Never done it before. Never will.” He paused “I’d like to talk to my son.”

“Never going to happen,” Claire said. “He doesn’t want to talk to you.”

Mr. Collins’s smile showed more than teeth. His fangs slowly unfolded, and the edges caught the dim light. “You think he’d want you sucking plasma, too, sweet-heart? It would kill him if something like that happened. So you might try to be a little more polite.”

She wanted to vomit at the thought of Frank Collins biting her. “He’ll kill you,” she said. “You know he would.”

“Maybe he’d try.” Frank shrugged. “He wouldn’t hurt you, though. I know my boy well enough to know how head over heels he is for you. He’d never touch a hair on your pretty little head. You’re his weakness, Claire.”

That was sickeningly true. Shane would do anything to save Claire. He’d even let his father turn him into a vampire—which might be what Freaky Frank was thinking about.

She couldn’t let that happen. No way.

Claire slowly let the duffel bag she was holding thump down to the floor, and took stock of what she had to work with. Not much. Frank Collins had been turned by Bishop; he wasn’t sick. She had no hope of curing him, or even treating him. This was his naturalstate of crazy.

Her backpack.

Claire let it slide down her arm, hoping that he’d think she was getting ready to make a run for it. It’d be useless to do that; she’d never make it.

Plus, he’d enjoy the chase.

As her backpack caught in the crook of her elbow, she grabbed the front zipper. Gravity helped her pull it down as the weight sagged forward.

Oh, crap.

The stakes weren’t in the front pocket. She’d put them in the bigger interior, with her books. There was nothing in the front pocket but some paper clips, a highlighter, and half a candy bar. She didn’t think bribing him with chocolate would get it done.

“Relax,” Shane’s dad said. “I’ll let you go.”

That seemed . . . too good to be true, but Claire was willing to take it and run. “Thanks,” she said, and bent to grab Dr. Mills to pull him toward the portal.

“I didn’t say hecould go,” Frank said, his smile full-tilt crazy. “I deserve a little bonus for being so accommodating.”

Claire could feel her heart pounding now, even through the layers of calming drugs that Hannah had dosed her with before. Everything seemed to slow down. She didn’t pause to think. She threw all her strength into grabbing the pack in both hands, twirling in place like a shot-putter, and slamming the pack into Frank Collins’s back.

There were a lot of books in there, and physics was something not even vampires could ignore, especially when it hit them full force. Frank went sprawling. Claire grabbed Dr. Mills by one arm and dragged him toward the spot where Ada had been standing.

Ada flickered back into existence as she approached. The speaker in Claire’s phone activated and Ada shouted, “Leave the man; get the bags!”

“Bite me,” Claire snapped. She heaved, got Dr. Mills up to a sitting position, and rolled him through the portal.

Thenshe dashed back for the duffel bags.

Frank Collins’s pale hand grabbed her wrist. She looked up, right into his scarred face and silvery eyes, and screamed. There was no way she could break free, not without leaving her hand behind. He was just that strong.

Shane’s dad yanked her down to her knees on the floor. He pulled the strap of her backpack off her shoulder and ripped the tough fabric open, spilling the contents all over the floor. Advanced Particle Physicsslipped off into the dark, along with Fundamentals of Matrix Computations. Out spilled two sharp-pointed wooden stakes. Out of sheer desperation, she made a grab for them, but his foot came crashing down to pin them to the floor before she could get there.

He stood there, staring at the stakes, and she saw something move over his face, like a ripple of real human pain. “Christ,” he murmured. “I used to carry some just like that when I was starting out hunting them. What the hell am I doing?”

She knew what that pain was, and all of a sudden she knew how to hurt him. “You’re hunting,” Claire said. Her heart was beating so hard, it felt as if it would break her ribs. “That’s what vamps do. Hunt people.”

He shook his head silently, then looked up at her. He almost looked sane again, or as sane as Shane’s father ever got. “I’ve been fighting vampires a long time,” he said. “Killed a couple; did you know that?”

She knew. He and Shane had almost been executed for killing Brandon, even though Shane hadn’t had anything to do with it. He stared down again at the hand-carved stakes sticking out from under his big, scuffed boot.

“Never ended up using stakes all that much,” he said, and looked her right in the eyes. “You know why?”

She was afraid to ask.

“Because if you don’t kill a vampire, it just makes them angrier,” he said. “You think you can kill me with something like this?”

She swallowed hard. “Sure. Not that you’re going to let me try.”

“Truth is, the worst thing I ever feared was this. Being this. Shane tell you that?” She slowly nodded. “I’m sorry he had to see what happened to me. I’m sorry for all the things I did to make his life hell over the years. You understand?”

She shook her head, because she really didn’t.

“You tell Shane I love him,” Frank said. “I always did. Didn’t show it right, I know that, but that was never his fault. I’m glad he found you. He deserves something good in his life.”

And then he lifted up his boot and picked up the stakes. Claire opened her mouth, but her voice caught in her throat.

He didn’t hurt her.

“You go home,” he said. “You tell my son his father says good-bye. Wish I’d gotten to see him one more time, but you’re right. It’s probably not a good idea.”

He turned away toward the darkness, with the stakes in his hand.

“I guess you should know that he loves you, too. He can’t help it.” Her voice echoed from the stone. She didn’t know why she said it, except that she knew, with sad certainty, that she wouldn’t see him again.

She thought Shane’s dad hesitated, but then he shuffled on, until he was out of sight.

The instant he was gone, Claire grabbed the duffel bags, and lunged to her feet, heading for the open portal.

She stumbled out on the other side, tripped over Dr. Mills’s motionless body, and fell into Oliver’s arms.

He looked at her with an absolutely disgusted expression, and dropped her on her butt on the plushly carpeted floor of Amelie’s study.

“It’s gone,” Claire said for the four hundredth time, as Oliver turned her arm this way and that, holding it under a light so bright it felt like a laser cutting into her skin. “Hey! I said it’s gone!”

Oliver held her in place with a grip so hard she knew it would leave its own kind of tattooing. In blue, purple, and black. “And I said that Bishop would very much like us to think that it’s gone,” he snapped. “You were told to stay where you were. As usual, you ignored that instruction, and now you’ve placed us all at extreme risk of—”

“Let her go, Oliver,” Amelie said from the other side of the vast, polished desk. She drummed her perfect fingernails on the surface, making a light, dry tapping sound like bones dropped on marble. “The girl could have betrayed us a dozen times or more by now. She hasn’t. I believe we can give her the benefit of the doubt, for now.”

He let Claire go and stalked away, arms folded. This, Claire thought, was Amelie’s war council—Sam Glass sat next to her in a side chair, looking more like Michael all the time as his red hair grew out into a mess of waves and curls. Oliver paced. Richard Morrell stood nearby, looking as if he wantedto pace, but was too tired to make the attempt.

Michael moved up next to Claire, put his hand on her shoulder, and led her off to the side, near where Hannah Moses leaned against the wall, looking fascinated and worried. Claire knew just how she felt. Being plunged into the deep end—and this was it—meant swimming for your life, with sharks. Even the supposedly friendly ones could turn and take your leg off when they felt like it.

“Where’s Myrnin?” Claire whispered. Michael shook his head. “Isn’t he here? Somewhere?”

“No idea,” Michael whispered back. “Amelie stashed him someplace; I just don’t know where. He’s not—”

“Michael,” Amelie said, “I said I would give her the benefit of the doubt, not the full story. Please be quiet.” She stood up, and Claire saw that she’d changed clothes again, this time to a flawless pale pink suit, something that looked like it belonged on a runway in Paris. Not what Claire would have thought you’d wear to a show-down. “Claire. Thank you for bringing the supplies that I requested from Dr. Mills. Thank you also for retrieving the good doctor. I am told that he will recover from his wound.” Her light-colored, cool eyes focused on Claire, and shot right through her. “May I also see your arm?”

Always polite. That was when Amelie was the most dangerous, Claire knew. She slowly extended her arm, still holding Michael’s hand on the other side for comfort. Amelie’s touch was cold and light. She didn’t study the skin, like Oliver had; she ran her fingertips over the surface, and then lowered Claire’s arm back to her side.

“Michael,” she said,“please take Claire to your friends. I am sure you would both prefer to be with them now.”

“But . . .” Claire licked her lips. “Don’t you want me here? To help?”

“You’ll help when it’s needed,” Amelie said. “For now, you should be elsewhere. We will be bringing in some of my people to remove them from Bishop’s influence. The process can be somewhat unsettling to witness.”

Oliver made a rude noise as he continued his relentless pacing. “It’s far worse when it fails,” he said. “I hope you’re not fond of this carpet.”

Amelie ignored that. “Myrnin and Dr. Mills had told me that the work could not continue on the serum without more of Bishop’s blood. Is that correct?” Claire nodded. “Difficult to achieve, I’m afraid, but I will include that in our calculations.”

“We talked about drugging him.”

“So Myrnin said.” Amelie wasn’t going to tell her anything. “It’s no longer your concern. I will rely on you and your friends to be in attendance this evening. You should come prepared.”

“Prepared for what?” Claire asked.

Amelie’s eyebrows rose. “Anything. We are no longer following a plan. We are facing the final moves on the chessboard, and who wins will very much depend on nerve, skill, and the ability to do the unexpected. You may count on my father being ready to do his worst. We must be just as ruthless.”

Claire thought about that moment in the tunnels, with Frank Collins. She hadn’t felt ruthless at the end. She’d felt sad.

She didn’t suppose Amelie, Oliver, or any of the rest of them would have hesitated for a second. Frank Collins was a bad guy. He’d been a bad guy as a human, right? But still . . . there was just that one moment when she’d seen him as a man who loved his son.

Maybe everybody had those moments. Even the worst people.

Maybe it didn’t matter, except to her.

The door opened at the far end of the room, and two of Amelie’s favorite vamp bodyguards came in, dragging a beat-up human. At least, Claire thought he was human; it was hard to tell, under all the dirt and bruises.

Oh. She knew him. It was Jason Rosser, Eve’s crazy-ass brother. He looked like he’d been living in a garbage dump for months—for all Claire knew, he had been. Eve had said he’d been coming by the house, maybe even acting less insane, but right now, Claire couldn’t see it. He looked like a rabid sewer rat, and as he scanned the room, he was all gleaming, crazy eyes and bared teeth.

When the guards let him go, at a nod from Amelie, Jason lunged for the Founder of Morganville. She didn’t raise a hand to defend herself. She didn’t have to.

Oliver met him halfway, grabbed Jason by the throat, and slammed him down onto the carpet flat on his back.

“You see?” Oliver said, and gave Amelie a freakishly calm smile. “You really should have thought about the carpet; you’ll never get the smell of him out of it. Really, Amelie, you do insist on bringing home strays.”

“I also put them down when necessary,” she said. “This one happens to be yours, Oliver, yes? So I leave him to you for proper judgment.”

Nobody said a word in protest to that. Not even Claire. Jason was nobody’s friend; Claire would never, ever forget the night he’d almost killed Shane, for nothing.She wasn’t about to speak up on his behalf.

Oliver stared deep into Jason’s eyes and said, “You deserve to die, you know. Not only for the fact that you reek of guilt; I’m partial to a bit of mayhem now and then. No, you deserve to die because you broke the laws of Morganville without my permission.” Oliver’s smile widened into something out of a bad-clown nightmare. “So what then am I to do with you? You broke your word to Brandon. You broke your word to me. You had the bad taste to betray Amelie, in full public view. You took the side of that ancient reptile Bishop.”

Jason laughed.It sounded like breaking ice. “Yeah, I did,” he said. “Vamps are getting a break for doing the same thing. I get to die. Perfect. Nothing ever changes around here, does it? If a vampire does it, they can’t help it. If a human does it, they’re lunch meat.”

Amelie said, “Is there anyone who will speak for him?” Claire knew it was a pro forma kind of question, like, Speak now or forever hold your peace,but she was thinking about Eve. About how she was ever going to tell her that she’d watched her brother die, and hadn’t said a word . . .

But as it happened, she didn’t have to.

“I will,” Michael said.

There was a collective intake of breath. Nobody—Claire included—could quite believe he’d spoken up. It even made Oliver turn and lose his bitch face.

“Don’t do me no favors, Glass Ass,” Jason snapped.

“I’m not.” Michael turned to Amelie. “He’s a pathetic little worm, but he’s just a criminal. He deserves to be punished. Not killed like some rabid dog.”

“He’s a killer,” she said.

“Well, if he is, he’s not the only one in this room, is he?”

Amelie showed her teeth briefly in a smile. “Will you take his parole, Michael? Will you put him into your own household and shelter him with those you love?”

Michael didn’t answer. He wanted to—Claire could see it—but he just . . . couldn’t.

Finally, he shook his head.

“If you won’t trust him with those you love, how can I trust him with anyone else’s family?” Amelie said, and nodded to Oliver.

Claire blurted, “Wait!”

“May we pleasehave done with interruptions from the children’s section?” Oliver said.

“Why is he here?” Claire asked, talking so fast that she stumbled over the words. “Why is he here? Who brought him here?”

“Who cares?”

Amelie held up a warning hand. “It’s a reasonable question. Who brought him to us?”

“Nobody,” one of the guards said from the door. “He came through the portal.”

“ What?” Amelie crossed to Jason in a flash, knocked Oliver out of the way, and slammed the boy back against the closest wall. “Tell me how you came to work the portals.”

“Somebody showed me,” Jason said. “He showed me a lot of things. He showed me how to kill. How to hide. How to get around town without anybody knowing.”

“ Who?”

Jason laughed. “No way, lady. I’m not telling. That’s all I’ve got left to bargain with, right?”

Amelie’s face twisted with anger, and she was about two seconds from snapping some bones for him. “Then you have nothing, because I will have it out of you one way or another.”

Sam Glass, who hadn’t said a thing, slowly rose to his feet. “Amelie. Amelie, stop.”

“Not until this worm tells me who showed him the portals!”

“Then I’ll tell you,” Sam said. “I showed him. I showed him everything you showed me.”

Silence. Even Oliver looked as if he didn’t quite understand what he’d just heard. Amelie stood there like an ivory statue, holding Jason in place with one flattened hand on his chest.

“Why?” she whispered. “Sam, why would you do such a thing?”

It felt, to Claire, like suddenly the room was empty and they’d all turned to ghosts, except for Amelie and Sam. There was something so powerful in the stare between them that it just vaporized the rest of the world. “I did the best I could,” he said softly. “You left me no choice. You wouldn’t see me. You wouldn’t speak to me, all those years. I was alone, and I—I wanted to do something good.” He took in a deep breath and walked toward her, coming close enough to touch, although he didn’t reach out. “Jason was a victim. Brandon brutalized him, and no one did anything to stop it. So yes, I taught the boy to fight, to defend himself from Brandon. I taught him to use the portals to help him escape when he needed to get away. I couldn’t stop Brandon, not without you, but I could try to save his victims. I thought I was helping.”

“Don’t worry, man; I wasn’t going to throw you under the bus.” Jason laughed. “Fuck it, you were the only one who was ever good to me. Why should I?”

“The boy rewarded you by showing my father everything you taught him,” Amelie said softly. She broke the stare with Sam and looked at Jason’s face. “Didn’t you?”

“It was what I had to trade. You set up the rules, lady. I just followed them.”

Amelie grabbed Jason by the hair and shoved him at Sam, who caught him in surprise, and then held him when Jason tried to break free. “He’s yours,” she snapped at Sam. “You created this. Deal with it.” She spun to Oliver. “You were right. Bishop does know how to use the network.”

“Then we can take advantage of that,” Oliver said. “Since he assumes we do notknow that he does.”

They’d effectively dismissed Sam and Jason. Sam stared at Amelie with so much pain in his face that it made Claire hurt to look at it, then shook his head. “Let’s go,” he said, and nodded to Michael and Claire. “All of us. Now.”

No one tried to stop them. When Jason tried to make one last clever little comment, Sam slapped a hand over his mouth and dragged him out. “Shut up,” he said. “You’re still alive. That’s a better outcome than you deserve.”

Claire portaled them directly into the Glass House. She breathed an involuntary sigh of relief at finding Shane sitting on the couch, staring at a flickering TV screen like it held the secrets of the universe, and Eve pacing the hallway in her clumpy boots.

Eve spotted them first, screamed, and threw herself on Claire like a warm Goth blanket. “Oh God, everybody thought you were dead! Or, you know, Bishoped, which would have been worse, right? What happened? Where did you go?”

Over Eve’s shoulder, Claire saw that Shane had gotten to his feet. “You all right?” he asked. She nodded, and he closed his eyes in sudden relief. Claire patted Eve’s back, in thanks, love, and a little bit of get-the-hell-off-me .Eve got the message. She backed up, sniffling a little, and couldn’t keep a smile from ruining her sad-clown makeup.

“Sorry about that,” Claire said. “I . . . well. It wasn’t exactly my idea, and I can’t really explain. . . .”

“But you’re okay. No fang marks or . . . ” Eve’s gaze darted past Claire, and she stopped talking. Stopped moving, too.

Shane, on the other hand, moved fast, putting himself between Claire and Jason. “What the hell is he doing here?”

“Fuck you too, Collins.”

“Shut up,” Sam said, and gave Jason a warning shake that must have rattled his bones. “He’s here because I didn’t want to kill him. Any other questions?”

Eve still wasn’t saying anything. Claire couldn’t blame her; she had the same kind of conflicted emotions passing over her face that Shane had when he thought about his dad. Love/hate/loss. That sucked, when Jason was standing right there. She hadn’t really lost him. Not yet.

Michael went to her, the same way Shane had gone to Claire—to get between her and her brother. “He’s not welcome here,” Michael said, and that put the force of the Founder House behind it. Claire felt a pressure building, getting ready to evict Jason and—presumably—Sam, if Sam didn’t let go of him.

“Wait,” Sam said. “You send him out there, he’s dead from all sides, and you know it. Bishop has no use for him, hasn’t since Jason’s assassination attempt failed. Amelie would kill him without blinking. You really want to do that to your girlfriend’s brother?”

“Michael, don’t,” Eve said. “He won’t hurt us.” And everyonerolled their eyes at that. Even Jason, which was borderline hilarious.

“Look,” Jason said, “all I want is a way out of this stupid town. You arrange that, and I’ll never show my face around here again. You can keep your stupid hero life-style. I just want out.”

“Too late,” Shane said. “Last bus already left, man. And we’re thirty minutes away from Bishop’s big town hall meeting. You can run, but you can’t hide. Anybody who isn’t there is dead. He’s going to send out hunters. It’ll be open season.”

“I could stay here,” Jason said quickly. “Upstairs. In the secret room, right?”

They all looked at one another.

“Oh, come on,it’s not like I’m going to run up your phone bill and watch pay-per-view. Besides, if I was going to kill you in your sleep, I would have already done it.” He made a kissy-face at Shane. “Even you, asswipe.”

“Jesus, Jason.” Eve sighed. “Do you wantto end up in the landfill, or what?” She touched Michael on the arm, and he glanced back at her and took her hand. “Can you tell if he lies to us?”

“Uh, no. Drinking blood doesn’t make me a lie detector.”

Sam spoke up somberly. “I can.” He shrugged when Michael gave him an odd look. “It’s just a skill. You pick it up, over time. People can’t control their bodies the way vampires can. I can usually tell when they’re lying.”

“No offense, but you’ve been wrong plenty of times, Sam. Like, deciding that you could trust this little weasel as far as you can throw him,” Michael said, then caught a devastating pleading look from Eve. “All right. Go ahead. Ask him whatever you want.”

Eve took in a deep breath, looked her brother in the eyes, and said, “Please tell me the truth. Did you kill those girls?”

Because that had been Jason’s rep. Murdered girls, dumped all over town, a string of killings that had begun right after Jason had gotten out of jail, just about the time Claire had moved to Morganville. One body had been put here in their own house, in an attempt to implicate Shane and Michael.

Jason blinked, as if he somehow hadn’t really expected her to ask. “The truth?”

“Of course, the truth, idiot.”

“I’ve done bad things,” he said. “I’ve hurt people. I need help.”

Eve’s face fell. “You really did do it.”

“It wasn’t my fault, Eve.”

“Never is, is it? I really thought—”

“He’s lying,” Michael said. He sounded as surprised as Claire felt. “Right, Sam?” Sam nodded. “My God. You really didn’t do it, did you?”

Jason looked away from them. “Might as well have.”

“What the hell does thatmean?” Eve snapped. “Either you did, or you didn’t!”

“No,” her brother said. “Either I did, I didn’t, or I was there when it happened and didn’t stop it. Figure it out.”

“Then who—”

“I’m not saying. People think I’m a killer; they leave me the fuck alone. They think I’m just some sad-ass ride-along clown. They’ll kill me quick.” Jason looked up now, right at Eve, and for the first time, Claire thought he looked sincere. “I never killed anybody. Not on my own, anyway. Well, I came close with you, Collins.”

“But you won’t tell us who did kill them?”

He shook his head.

“Are you afraid?” Eve asked, very gently.

Silence.

“You know what?” Shane said. “Don’t care. Street him before we wake up with our throats cut by him orhis imaginary playmate.”

And they might have, except that the doorbell rang. Michael flashed to the window and looked out. “Crap. Our ride’s here. We don’t have time for this.”

“Michael,” Eve said. “Please. Let him stay, at least for now. Please.”

“All right. Get him upstairs and lock him in. Sam, can you stay with him?

“No,” Sam said. “I have to go back to Amelie.”

“We have to leave. Claire, can you shut down the portal that leads here?”

“I can try, sure.”

As Sam hustled Jason up the stairs to the second floor, Claire touched the bare wall at the back of the living room, and felt the slightly pliable surface of the portal lying on top of it. It was invisible, but definitely active.

“Ada,” she whispered, and felt the surface ripple.

Her phone rang. Claire answered it. No incoming caller ID had appeared on the display, just random numbers and letters. She answered.

“What?” the computer snapped. “I’m busy, you know. I can’t just be at your constant beck and call.”

“Shut down the portal to the Glass House.”

“Oh, bother. Do it yourself.”

“I don’t know how!”

“I hardly have time to school you,” Ada said primly. God, she reminded Claire of Myrnin—not in a good way. “Very well. I shall do it for you this one time. But you’ll have to turn it on again yourself. And stop calling me!”

The phone clicked off, and under Claire’s fingers, the surface turned cold and still, like glass.

Blocked. Quantum stasis, she thought, fascinated, and wondered how that worked, for about the millionth time. She wanted to take Ada apart and figure it out. Yeah, if you live long enough.It had taken Myrnin three hundred years to put Ada together; it might take her that long just to figure out the basic principles he’d used.

Michael came back into the living room, leading two other vampires—Ysandre, that smug little witch, and her occasional partner François, an equally nasty reject from some Eurotrash vampire melodrama.

They were walking clichés, but they were also deadly. Claire couldn’t even look at François without remembering how he’d ripped the cross off of her neck and bitten her. She still had the scars—faint, but they’d always be there. And she couldn’t forget how that had felt, either.

A hot flood of emotion came over her when she saw him smirking at her—hate, fear, loathing, and fury. She knew he could feel it coming off of her in sick waves.

She also knew he enjoyed it.

François gave her an elaborate bow and blew her a kiss. “ Chérie,” he said. “The exquisite taste of you still lingers in my mouth.”

Shane’s hands closed into fists. François saw that, too. Claire touched Shane’s arm; his muscles were tensed and hard. “Don’t let him bait you,” she whispered. “I was a snack. Not a date.”

François closed his eyes and made a point of sniffing the air. “Ah, but you smell so different now,” he said, with elaborate disappointment. “Rich and complex, not simple and pure anymore. Still, I was the first to taste your blood, wasn’t I, little Claire? And you never forget your first.”

“ Don’t!” she hissed to Shane, and dug her fingernails in as deep as she could. It was all she could do. If Shane decided to go for him, she knew how it would end.

Luckily, so did Shane. He slowly relaxed, and Claire saw Michael’s tension ease as well. “We talking, or are we walking?” Shane asked. “I thought we had someplace to be.”

Claire felt a sunburst of pride in him, and a longing that came with it—she wanted all of this to just stop; she wanted to go back to the night, the silence, the touch of his skin and the sound of his whispers. That was real. That was important.

It was a reason to live through all this.

She took Shane’s hand and squeezed it. He sent her a look. “What?”

She whispered, “You’re just full of awesome; did you know that?”

François made a face. “Full of something. In the car, fools.”

Founder’s Square at twilight was full of people—rock-concert full. Claire didn’t even know this many people lived in Morganville. “Did they grab the students, too?” she asked Michael.

“Bishop’s not quite that stupid. It’s residents only. University gates were closed. The place is under lock-down.”

“What, again? Even the stoners are going to figure out something’s going on.” Claire certainly would have, and she knew most of the students weren’t that gullible. Then again, knowing and wanting to push the status quo were two very different things. “You think they’ll stay on campus?”

“I think if they don’t, the problem’s going to solve itself,” Michael said somberly. “Amelie will try to protect them, but we’ve got a much bigger issue tonight.”

Technically, that challenge was saving Morganville, and everybody in it.

There were no chairs down on the grassy area, but Bishop’s vampires were out and about, and they were separating people at the entrances to the park and sending them to special holding areas. Or, Claire, thought, pens.Like sorting cattle. “What are they doing?”

“Dividing people according to their Protectors,” François said. “What else?”

Bishop had kept the Protection system, then—or at least, he hadn’t bothered to really dismantle it. People were being questioned at the gate. If they didn’t name a Protector, they got slapped with a big yellow sticker and herded into a big open area in the middle. “What if their Protector is one of Amelie’s rebels?” She knew the answer to that one. “Then they’re no longer Protected. They go in the middle, too?”

Michael looked pallid—not just vampire-pale, really stressed and upset, as if he knew what was coming before she did. Claire didn’t get it until François said, “Just like your friends,” and he grabbed Shane. Ysandre took hold of Eve. They both fought and cursed and tried to get free, but it was no use—they were shoved apart from Michael and Claire.