Bite Club Page 0,109

but it was healing. There was blood on the canvas and on my hands and dripping down his cheeks. Any human dude would have been ready for the hospital.

I realized that he wasn't fighting back.

Easy money.

I pulled back my fist for another punch, and he didn't flinch. He didn't look away, either. He just said, "It's not your fault, man. I don't blame you."

For some reason, that was the first thing he'd said that I reallyheard.It was almost like I was hearing my father's voice again, saying something that I'd needed to hear every day since Lyss disappeared from our lives.

That it wasn't my fault.

That I couldn't have stopped it.

The truth was, the fire hadn't been my fault. Nobody could have gotten to my sister to save her.

But this--thiswas my fault.

I sat back, staring down at him. His blue eyes were bloodshot, flickering with red, but he wasn't going vamp on me even though I'd hurt him badly. He was just going to take it.

"It's Glory," he said. "You know that, right? Not your fault."

Glory. I looked around but I didn't see her. It was just a sea of faces now, screaming faces that didn't care about me or Michael or anything but their own entertainment. Except for Eve, looking so stricken

and horrified on the other side of the bars.Shecared. Too much, probably.

"Bishop's here," Michael said. "They're going to put him in here with you once I wear you down. I can't let that happen. I have to stay in here with you. It's going to take us both to get him. You understand? We have to stand up together, Shane."

I did. I'd been right before; this was some kind of nightmare, some weird spell that was going to snap any moment now, and things would be okay, all okay. None of this was...real....

Then I saw Claire.

She was standing outside the cage by the bleachers, and Myrnin was holding her arm like he was trying to keep her from going full-out Eve and running for the cage, but I didn't think she was trying. Like me, she was paralyzed, trapped in her nightmare, and those dark eyes were looking at me,seeingme, and I saw myself, too. Sweating, bruised, feral, angry, cruel.

It made me sick.

I rolled away from Michael and curled into a ball, facing Claire, staring back. Maybe it was the pain from my hand still tearing through me; maybe it was, finally, my own brain waking up and screaming.

Maybe it was seeing that horrified look on her face. I didn't even care that she was with Myrnin; I was gladshe had someone to protect her here. And I knew he would. He'd better. Him, I would kill if he let anything happen to her, and he knew it.

I saw her lips shape my name.Shane.I couldn't hear her, but I knew how it would sound, how heartbroken and disappointed and scared. I'd let all this get away from me. I'd hurt her and she'd hurt me, and we had to fix it. We had to. Because I couldn't let this destroy the people I loved.

That included Michael, the jackass. I flopped over on my back, breathing fast, and saw him sitting up. Too-pale-to-be-normal blood ran down his chin and dripped on his bare chest. Without a shirt he looked buff but very, very pale, almost ghostly. Still Michael, though.

Still my friend.

Always my friend, even when I was the biggest dick on the planet.

He was looking at me with a frown, checking out whether I was still in that other, scary place, and I nodded to him and wiped sweat off my face. I felt cold now, not burning hot like I'd been. When I flexed my hand, the pain from the broken bone sliced through me like a clean red knife, driving away all the lingering ghosts of anger.

"You didn't fight," I said. "Jesus, man, I could have killed you."

"Don't think you could have, not for a long time," he said. "Anyway, you didn't." He looked around and saw Eve. His smile was real and full of delight, but there was something else mixed up in there, too. Something almost scared. "I'm okay, Eve. No permanent damage."

She was clinging to the bars like she intended to force her way inside with sheer fury. "Shane, if you hurt him, I'llkillyou!"

I waved at her wearily. "Yeah, thanks. I'm the one with a broken bone."

I exchanged a quick look with Michael, who was making plans. "Get away from the door," he said.

"Why?"

Michael stood