Bite Club Page 0,32

thinking you don't live by the commandments too much."

"Oh, I do. I pay special attention to the parts I agree with, same as everybody else. Now, if you stand still, it won't take long." He grinned evilly. "Not saying it won't hurt, of course. What'd be the point if it didn't hurt?"

She took a giant step back. Useless. Close quarters, no place to run, no weapons. Hand to hand with a much bigger, stronger, vampire-type dude, she had zero chance, and she knew it.

But she wasn't going to beg. Even if the screaming voice in her head wanted her to.

Should have left that I-know-who-killed-me note.

And then the door next to her popped open with a harsh buzzing sound. She didn't hesitate. As the vampire lunged for her, she shoved the door open and ran out into the lobby, dodging the wooden desk.

The angry vamp came after her and skidded to a fast stop when he saw who was standing there in his path.

Amelie.

She wasn't a tall woman, but shelooked tall in her carefully tailored silk jacket and skirt and heels, with her pale hair piled on top of her head in a crown. The silk clothes were one shade paler than her skin, giving her a sleek, marble look that was enhanced by the stillness of her body.

"I also believe in an eye for an eye, John," she said. "Quite strongly, in fact. It's one of my founding principles. You'd do well to remember that."

John gave Claire a fast, furious look, and bowed his head. "Yes, ma'am. I will."

"I believe I employ you for a specific job, John. Guarding a very valuable, and possibly very dangerous, prisoner."

"You do, ma'am."

"Then perhaps it might be good for you to return to it and stop indulging your own petty little grudges."

He silently crossed to the desk and sat down behind it. Claire let out a trembling breath. She would have saidthank you , but she didn't think Amelie wanted to hear that, not now.

"You did me good service, Claire," Amelie said, turning to face her. "And now I need your word that you will forget what you heard here tonight."

"You mean about--"

"I meanforget ," the vampire queen of Morganville said, and the force of her personality hit Claire like a wall of cold water. "I can't compel you, but Ican assure you that if you share the information you heard here, I will know. And we've already established how I view betrayals, I believe."

This wasn't Amelie, the one who'd sometimes unbent enough tosmile ...no, this was Queen Amelie, the Founder of Morganville, who never smiled. The daughter of Bishop. The one who'd survived ages and every enemy thrown at her through all those dangerous years.

And Claire never doubted for a second that she meant what she said.

"I won't say anything," she said. "But I need help getting home."

"You'll have it. Myrnin!" Amelie's voice was sharp, brittle, and impatient. "Out here. Now."

A section of the wall opened--one that Claire would never have guessed for a door--and Myrnin leaned out, eyebrows raised. "Then we're finished here?"

"For now," Amelie said. "Take her home. And--"

"Say nothing--yes, yes, I heard you the first seven hundred times," Myrnin said, much too sharply. "I'm ancient. I'm notdeaf. "

Amelie's cold expression deepened, and her gray eyes took on an unpleasant reddish glitter. "Do you think I find this a joking matter?"

"Maybe you should," he said. "And maybe you should have cut off the old man's head when you had the chance. Absolutely no one would have argued with that choice. Merely walling him up, to increase his suffering and create an example--that was unmerciful, and, worse, it was sloppy. I believe that flapping sound you hear is pigeons, coming home to roost."

If Amelie had looked any colder, Claire would have expected frost to form on the floor around her. "Really? Because I believe it's the sound of my patience with your nonsense running out.Old friend. Do remember your limits."

He crossed the room in a flash, standing toe-to-toe with her. He was taller than she was, and gangly, and raggedly just the opposite of her elegance...but there was something about him, something that made Claire catch her breath and hold it. "I am your friend," he said quietly. "I've always been your friend, dear one. But on the subject of your father, you've never been very rational. Don't let him drive you. Don't play with him; he'll always be crueler than you.Kill him when you find him. I'd have killed him for