Bite Club Page 0,51

She felt a pulse of dread, deep down inside, but it was just a twinge. "His name is Shane."

"I've seen him at the gym," she said. "He's got good instincts, I must say. A good fighter. He'd be very valuable, in the right situation." There was a glint in those lovely blue eyes, and Claire knew, in that same distant, unimportant way, that Gloriana was playing with her now, batting her around like a mouse. "Yes, I can see how he'd bevery profitable to have in your corner."

Oliver leaned back. "Too bad you don't still own the boxing clubs that you were so fascinated by in Victoria's time. Those were very lucrative for you, weren't they?"

"Oh yes, quite profitable," she said. "Too bad. He'd be quite an asset, wouldn't he? And an orphan, too, I understand. So sad. Not having good influences makes one so...vulnerable." She leaned across the table, and the warm intensity of her gaze on Claire's cranked up so high that it felt like being bathed in pure, warm light, floating in it without a care in the world. "I understand you know my old friend Myrnin. How is he? I do so adore that mad old man. Is he working on anything...interesting?"

"Claire," said a voice in her ears, a metallic voice that took her a second to place.Frank. "Claire, you can't answer that. Snap out of it. Do it now."

But she couldn't. Even though Glory was talking about Shane as if he was a side of beef, even though she was asking questions aboutMyrnin , Claire still felt calm and entirely comfortable. She just couldn't

bring herself to feel anything else. Frank sounded angry and upset, but she couldn't understand why. Glory was the best friend she could imagine having, better than Eve, because Glory would never judge her, never make her feel bad or guilty.

Claire said, "He's working on--"

"Claire, sorry, but you need to stop this before you get in over your head," Frank interrupted. And in the next second, she felt a burning, hissing pain that zipped through her body in a flash so fast, it was over before it registered. A shock coming from her headphones. Claire jerked a little, blinked, and her heart rate sped up with a jolt. She yanked out the earbuds, shuddering, and the calm fell away like a shed blanket.

Fear closed in, icy and sharp. Gloriana was still smiling at her, but it didn't look warm anymore. It looked...predatory. And cruel. Claire swallowed and stood up. Her chair scraped back loudly. All of them were staring at her now, and the only one who didn't seem to be on the verge of flashing fangs at her was Oliver. He was frowning, but now it was aimed at Gloriana.

"Glory," he said. "Were you glamouring the girl?"

"A little," she shrugged. "I just wanted to play."

"Oh, for pity's sake, play with someone else. She's Amelie's property. And she's hardly worth your efforts."

Glory laughed. "I know. But I didn't hurt her, did I?" She turned that smile back on Claire. "Leaving us so soon, little one?"

Claire took a giant step back. The smile didn't work now, probably because she had so much adrenaline racing through her body. "Stay away from us," she said. "Stay away from Shane."

Glory rolled her eyes. "I don't want yourboy ," she said. "Whatever would I do with him? He isn't good for very much except violence. So much of that inside him."

Claire left her mocha sitting on the table and moved for the door as fast as she could. She looked back over her shoulder as she left, but nobody had moved, not even Oliver, although he was watching her go. Glory was laughing and seemed to have forgotten all about her already.

Claire stepped out into the sunlight, ran half a block down, and leaned against the rough bricks between two storefronts. She closed her eyes and concentrated on breathing and controlling her shaking. Then, finally, she put her earbuds back in place. It took her two tries, thanks to her unsteady fingers.

"I didn't get anything," she said to Frank. "I didn't know she could do that, make me feel like that. I didn't knowanyone could do that. Bishop couldn't."

"It's a pretty rare power, even among vampires," Frank said. "I only knew of three or four who had it. Killed two of them. Too bad I didn't make it a clean sweep."

"I didn't even know what she was doing. I had no way to fight it." Claire took