Its Eve, she said. Shane smacked his forehead right into the steering wheel and made a sound of utter frustration. Should I get it?
Yeah, he said, not too happily. I guess so. But tell her I hate her a whole lot right now.
You dont.
Oh, trust me. I could not hate her more.
Claire pressed the button and said, Eve? Shane says She was interrupted by the sound of screaming. It was so loud and shocking that she almost dropped the phone. Eve? Eve!
Shane caught the alarm in her tone, and reached out for the phone. Give, he said. She handed it over, shaking, and he put it to his ear. Eve? Eve, can you hear me? Whats going on? He stopped to listen, and gave Claire a look that made her shiver again. Yeah, I hear it. Are you safe?
Speaker! Claire said. Put it on speaker!
He did. Screaming blasted out of the phone, but it wasnt Eves; she was trying to talk. Only part of it came through.. . . Define safe. . . . trying to get . . . crazy . . . need help
Hang on, Eve. Were coming, Shane said, and tossed the phone to Claire as he fired up the hearses engine, slammed it into reverse, and backed up with a squeal of tires. Try to get an address!
I know where it is, Claire said. She gave him the address, clear and sharp in her memory from the flyer shed been handed days ago on the steps of the Science Building. Thats not far, right?
Not far, he agreed, and hit the gas, speeding toward the exit past rows of parked cars with fogged-over windows. Keep her talking.
Eve? Can you hear me?
Yes! Eves voice suddenly came through the background noise loud and clear. Were okay for now, but we need backup, big-time.
Whats going on? Vampires?
Oh, youd think, but no. Some jackass jocks started tearing up the place. Theyve been rampaging around through half the town. . . . Oh, shit! There was a rise in screaming and confused sounds. When Eve came back, she was out of breath. Now therere vamps. And they are pissed.
Is Oliver there?
Didnt stop to read name tags. Oh, manseriously not good here. People are dyingCory! Cory, no, dontCory! Eves last word was a scream of utter horror, and then the phone just . . . died. Claire hung up and tried calling back. Eves cheery voice mail took the call. She looked over at Shane, who was staring straight ahead with an expression as hard as stone. He shook his head.
Hurry, Claire whispered. She realized her shirt was still open, and quickly buttoned it up with trembling hands. Does Eve keep any weapons in here?
Probably in the back. Waitcheck the glove box.
Claire opened it and found two silver-coated, sharp-tipped stakes. They werent her favorite vampire-fighting accessory, only because they werent something she could use at a distance, but the heavy, cool feel of them eased a tight, anxious knot in her stomach. But there was something odd about the way they felt. . . . Claire turned the stakes over in her fingers until she saw what that roughness in the surface was, and almost laughed.
What? Shane asked. Claire showed him the stake. The dashboard lights caught the silver surface and shone red from a skull design blinged out in fake rubies on it.
She BeDazzled her stakes, Claire said.
Yeah, she would. He almost smiled, but his eyes were wild, and he couldnt seem to get his face to relax. Get Chief Moses on the phone; get her to send the marines.
Claire nodded and speed-dialed Hannahs number. Hannah sounded cheerful and alert, but on guard when she answered. Moses.
Hannah, its Claire. Eves in troublewell, a lot of people sound like theyre in trouble. You know about the rave tonight?
I had some plainclothes officers there making sure the kids didnt get into trouble. Except they did, right?
Eve called me, and there was screaming. I think youd better send everybody. Just in case.
Done. And, Claire, dont you go running in there.
But Eves in there!
And well get everybody out.
Hannah hung up on her. Hannah says not to go there, Claire said.
Well, I like the lady, but screw that, Shane said. Call Michael. Eve probably did, but just in case; hed rip my ears off if I didnt let him know what was up.
Besides which, Michaels vampire strength wouldnt be at all a liability right now. Claire tried his phone, but it went to voice mail. She left a message with the address, and texted him, too. That was all she had time for, because Shane skidded the hearse around the last corner and onto a street that should have been deserted after darkwell, was deserted most of the timebut was parked up with cars on both sides.
There were people boiling out of the doorway of one of the big, rickety warehouses on the left, and Claire had a blurry impression of open mouths and panicked faces as the hearse hurtled toward them.
Shane blurted out a curse that normally would have made her blush and slammed on the brakes. Somehow, he managed not to hit any of the running, screaming crowd, which just parted and flowed around the car, scattering into the dark in all directions. Shane threw the hearse in park and took his hands off the wheel. They were shaking. He stared at them a second, then snapped out of it and grabbed one of the stakes from Claire. Stay with me, he said. I mean it. Right with me.
She nodded. Shane took a deep breath and got out of the car, and she slid out after him as he ran to the back and opened up the hatch to grab a black canvas bag. Hope this isnt her makeup, he said as he shouldered the strap and slammed the door. Lets go.
People were still coming out. Claire noticed that most of them seemed okay, just freaked-out, but there were a few who seemed like they might be injured. Maybe that was just from the general crowd panichard to tell. She hoped so. She heard the wail of sirens approaching, and had time to think, Hannahs going to be really angry at us, but then it was too late to have second thoughts. Shane was moving against the flow of people, heading inside, and shed promised to stay with him.
She kept her promises.
Someone smacked into Shane as he started through the doorway, and he staggered back a step, then grabbed whoever it was and yanked her out into the street.
Monica Morrell. She looked just as scared as everyone else running from the building, and then, as she realized who it was who had hold of her arm, she looked . . . relieved. Relieved? Claire thought. Really? Because Shane and Monica made cats and dogs look like besties. Collins, Monica said, and looked back. Jennifers still in there. I think . . . I think shes still in there. She was trembling, and she looked cold in her red and white minidress.
No, it wasnt red and white. It was white. Claire parted her lips, realizing what all the red was, and looked sharply at Shane. He was staring at Monica with a very odd expressionpity, mixed with distaste. But mostly pity. It was almost concern.
What happened? he asked. She didnt answer, so he shook her, not too gently. Monica, snap out of it. What happened?
It was all going okay, and then the Epsilon Epsilon Kappa guys showed up. They were all drunk and crazy, started yelling about being in a fight and how they kicked somebodys ass. They busted stuff up.
Shane went from concerned to pissed. Thats it?
No! No, they . . . they were followed. Monica swallowed. She looked pale and shaky. The vamps came. I guess the ass they kicked belonged to one of them. It got ugly. Its getting worse. She looked down at Shanes hand around her arm, and got a little of the old Monica tude back. Who said you could go all bad-cop on me, Collins? Back your wannabe ass off!
He didnt let go. Did you see Eve?
Little Miss Goth Princess had some boring chick with her. Shes Monica looked over her shoulder. I dont know. Everybody was running. I didnt see where she went. Shane let go of her. Monica grabbed him instead. Hey, she said. Look for Jennifer. I didnt see her come out. She was right behind me. I think.
Shane said, Let go or lose the fingers, and she did, instantly, stepping back and wrapping her arms around her torsofor warmth, not in defiance. Shane looked back and held out his hand. Claire took it. Ready?
I guess.
Watch your back.
The oncoming wail of sirens meant help was coming, but Claire knew Shane wasnt going to wait. She didnt want to, either. That had been real fear in Eves scream.
They plunged onward, into the warehouse.
The place smelled like smokenot burning-insulation smoke, but the kind of bong smoke college students liked a lot better. It made Claires eyes water. The rave lights were still on, cycling through all kinds of colors and patterns, strobing white every few seconds. The music was still thundering, toothe deejay had left tracks running and bugged out from behind the console in the corner. Claire could feel the vibrations in her bones, and her ears went instantly into shock. She could still hear, but it was like hearing through earmuffs.
A few people were too scared to make a break for the door; she could see them hiding behind the speakers, or pressed against the walls in a huddle, trying to pretend it all wasnt happening. The usual Morganville strategy. It was hard to make out details in the weird lights, but none of them had Eves Goth style. Mostly college kids, Claire thought. Well, theyd gotten their tuitions worth tonight.
There were bodies on the warehouse floor. They werent moving. Some of them had very, very pale faces, and wide eyes, and mouths still open in silent screams. Bite marks on their throats.
There were also a couple of vampires downalso pale, but with stakes in their chests; that didnt necessarily mean they were dead, just wounded. There was one who was definitely dead, becauseand Claire had to control an urge to retchhis head was missing. There was still a stake in his heart, too.
She thought she saw the head a few feet away in the corner, but no way was she going to go take a closer look. She was thankful Shane turned away from all that, heading into a hallway that channeled the thundering music into waves. It was still too loud to talk. In strobe flashes, Claire saw blood on the walls in smears.
The hallway opened into another big room, and the music wasnt quite loud enough here to cover the screams. Or the sound of fighting.
Shane stopped, zipped open the bag, and pulled out a crossbow. He stuck the silver stake hed been gripping into a pocket of his jeans, loaded the crossbow, put another bolt between his teeth, and nodded to Claire to follow. She nodded back.
When they came around the corner, they saw where the noise was coming from. A group of people were hemmed tightly into a corner, mostly cowering, but some were big, drunk-looking frat dudes who were yelling challenges and smashing wooden crates over the heads of the vampires who were closing in on them. The lights in here were dim, dirty fluorescents, and flickering like mad, but somehow Claire saw what happened next with high-definition, slow-motion clarity.
A male vampireyoung-looking, with long blond hair tied back in a ponytail, wearing a black leather jacketgrabbed hold of one of the frat boys (who was, she realized, wearing an EEK T-shirt) and dragged him away from the others. The boy was football-big, but the slender vamp lifted him right off the ground by the neck, glaring up at him as he struggled and tried to scream.
Then the vampire said, You think you can defy us and live? Who do you think you are, meat? This is our town. Its always been ours. You have to pay for your disrespect.
And then he closed his fist and crushed the boys big, muscular throat like crunching up a sheet of paper.
Shane brought the crossbow up almost as fast and fired. The bolt hit the vamp in the back, on the left side, just about dead center in the heart.
The two bodies hit the floor together.
And then all the vampires turned on Shane and Claire. Shane loaded the second bolt and dropped the bag between the two of them. Claire didnt need any instructions; she crouched down and groped around inside the bag. No extra crossbow, unfortunately, but plenty more bolts, which she took out, and two vials of silvery liquidsilver nitrate. Claire handed Shane another bolt to put between his teeth and popped the cap on one of the vials.
The vampires didnt look familiar to her, but then, she didnt keep up with every bloodsucker in Morganville; she thought these were probably some of the ones Amelie had been concerned about, who werent taking the new human-rights decrees of the town quite so well. Well, vampires liked to be in charge, no doubt about that. And they didnt like being challenged.
I just saw that boy die, she thought, but then shut that thought off, walled it away, because it wouldnt help to think about it. Not at all. Eve! she yelled. Eve Rosser!
From somewhere near the far edge of the human crowd, she saw a very white face turn toward them under a sleek cap of black hair. Eve didnt say anything, but there wasnt any time, because the vampires were coming for them.
Shane fired once, taking down one of the five, and as he reloaded, Claire threw the contents of the vial in an arc across the other four. Where the silver nitrate hit vampire skin, it hissed and bubbled like acid. That stopped at least one, and slowed down the others long enough for Shane to get off another shot. It went wide as the vampire batted the bolt aside in midair and lunged for them. Claire dived one way, and Shane the other; he hit the floor and rolled, came up on his knees, and reloaded another bolt in time to get the vamp square in the chest as it rushed him. It still reached him, and Claire uncapped the other vial of silver nitrate, heart pounding, but Shane rolled again, out of reach, and the vamp collapsed on the floor before it could claw him.
The other two still in the fight were womenone about her moms physical age, with gray streaks in her long hair, and a lean, mean face. The other looked barely older than Claire herself, with short red hair and a round face that might have been sweet-looking, if it werent for the glowing eyes and pointy teeth. Both had gotten burned by the silver nitrate, and they werent in a hurry to get another dose, but Claire realized that Shane was out of crossbow bolts, and shed dropped the rest by the bag, ten feet away.