Bite Club Page 0,105

didn't wince, but the pain that shot through me made me see waves of red, and it was suddenly tough to breathe. I rode it out and forced myself to grin back at him.

"I get any hotter, I'll burn you alive," I said. He howled like a wolf. Some guys didn't need Glory's influence to go nuts; Brett was like that. "Hit me again, and I'll bust you up, man."

He flexed his fists and grinned, but he took me seriously and sat down against the wall of the van. "You thinking about that girl again?"

"No," I lied. I was trying not to, because it hurt. It hurt thinking that somewhere out there she might be looking for me. All I could think about was that somewhere she could be alone, afraid, maybe crying. Because of me.

I shut my eyes again and banged my head on the wall of the van, enough to hurt and leave a dent. I

wished Glory had ridden with us.

I really, really did.

When I got out of the van, we were at some falling-down old warehouse, another crappy piece of Morganville ancient history that nobody cared about. I saw fading letters on the outside. It must have been some kind of carpet mill. Big brick building, not many windows, and what windows had been there were broken out three stories up by some local kids with good arms. Not a lot of time for sightseeing, but I recognized the area; you don't grow up in this stupid town without prowling around the places your parents don't want you to go. Me and Lyss had poked through some of these abandoned warehouses when she was about twelve and I was stupider than usual. We'd gotten away with it, but looking back on it now, I couldn't believe we'd ever taken that chance.

Now that she was gone, it made me cold to think all the risks I'd let her take. If I could make things right again, make that fire stop, get her out of the house before all the smoke and the flames...then I'd never let her take another risk again. I'd protect her. That's what a big brother is supposed to do: protect.

But no, I'd been a jackass to her, and I'd fallen asleep on the couch, and by the time I woke up, the house was burning and I couldn't get her out. I don't know if she woke up. I hoped not. I hoped she never knew, never felt the kind of screaming fear that I did while trying to get to her.

Shake it off, Collins.Lyss was gone. My mom and dad were gone. I had to focus on getting myself through the next two hours or so without joining them. If I did this right, I'd make a lot of money: enough to buy my way out of town, get lost, make a new life. Forget Claire.

That was what I had to do. Forget. Forget everything.

It was easier when Gloriana prowled over and took my arm. She was a vamp, yeah, but she didn'tfeel like one; I didn't hate her and I didn't want to hurt her. I wanted to please her, in all kinds of ways--not that she wanted anything from me except to put up a good fight. She went for the fanged boys. Like Michael.

Just another reason to hate him. Like I needed more.

"Are you ready?" she asked me. "Are you going to be my knight in shining armor, Shane, protecting me from all the big, bad men?" She said it with a smile, but I had the feeling she didn't mean it. She seemed to be making fun of me, but I couldn't get too upset about it. There was something about her...something that deep down I knew I hated but still couldn't resist. "Because we have a lot riding on you tonight. We need you to make us a lot of money, very quickly, and we're going to take that money and pay off some debts. Old debts, to someone we'd rather not owe, if you know what I mean. Then there will be new owners for Immortal Battles, and Vassily and I will be safe. And we can all be out of Morganville forever."

She was telling me things that I knew she didn't intend for me to understand, and on some level Idid understand...and I knew that something was very wrong. But it was too late for any of that, for caution or thinking or resistance.

I hated her