Bite Club Page 0,6

gel and decontamination. No, he did something stupid, and I need to convince him not to make it worse--that's all." She explained

about the experiment, the blood, and Doug's boneheaded move. Eve kept steadily drinking her coffee, eyes half closed.

"You considered snitching on him?" she asked. "Because, honestly, wouldn't be the worst idea ever. Just make sure Larkin knows you didn't take it. Let him draw his own conclusions."

"That's the same thing as throwing Doug under the bus," Claire said. "Look, he's just dumb, that's all. And he doesn't know about"--Claire waved vaguely around, indicating Morganville--"all this." Well, she wasn't one hundred percent sure of that, actually, but heshouldn't know. That counted.

"If he had any kind of a clue, he wouldn't be caught dead with that stuff. See what I did there?Caught dead? I crack myself up." Eve sipped more coffee she probably, at this point, didn't need. "So you're visiting Stinky Doug and warning him off, without explaining why. Is that your whole plan?"

"Kinda."

"Awesome. Let me know how it goes, Plan Girl."

"You have any better ideas?"

Eve took another delicate swallow of coffee. "Well," she said, "Stinky Doug has a lot of classes. If you've got his dorm room address, how difficult would it be to toss the place, find the stuff, and get rid of it? Nobody has to know."

"Great. And do you actuallyknow a ninja?"

"Yep," Eve said, and gave her a sleepy, luminous smile. "He's my boyfriend."

Hmmm. Claire had to mull that over for a few seconds, because technically vampireswere like ninjas--quiet, sneaky, fast, and deadly. And when they wanted to be, they could be disturbingly invisible. "Would he do it?" she asked. That wasn't what she wanted to ask, actually; she wanted to ask,Will he tell Oliver?

Because, like it or not, Michael was a vampire in equal measure to being her friend, and even though he tried to stay on the human side, sometimes he had to be a vamp first. Maybe this was one of those times.

Eve jacked up her black eyebrows another half inch in answer.

"Okay," Claire finally said. "I admit, he has significant ninja qualities."

"Booyah. I will summon the ninja. Oh, and take a lunch break while we burgle."

"You're going, too?"

"Am I not ninja enough? Are you saying that I lack ninja?"

"No, I was just thinking you're a little, uh, recognizable, maybe?"

Eve batted her thick eyelashes. "Why, thank you, sweetie. That's the nicest insult I've had today, not counting the jock who said he'd date me but he had a restraining order out for necrophilia. I promise, I'll dowdy up for the occasion. It'll take me five minutes." She took her cell out of her pocket and texted as

she spoke. "Promise me you won't leave without me."

"I promise."

"Want me to organize Shane into this posse, too?"

"He's at work." Claire sighed. She would have gladly had Shane added to the mix at this point, but he was already on fragile ground at work, considering he'd ditched twice this month--once for a legitimate sick day, but the other had been just plain boredom. "Next time we commit crime, we'll make sure to include him."

Eve held up one fist while she kept typing with one thumb, and Claire tapped it. Eve finished with a flurry of keystrokes, snapped the phone shut, and drained her coffee. "Right. Mikey's on the way. I'll be anti-Eve in five. Enjoy your mocha."

Claire did, drinking fast. It was a good thing she did, because in just about five minutes, Michael was walking through the big UC open hall outside the coffee area, a guitar case slung over his back. He should have drawn attention--Michael was just plain gorgeous, and girlslooked --but he was walking with his shoulders slumped, hands in his pants pockets, looking down, and the whole aura just projected Don't look at me so strongly that Claire couldn't see a single person other than herself actually taking notice of him.

He slid onto a seat next to her, leaning the guitar case against the table. "So, now we're going to be actual criminals," he said.

"And, see, you brought a guitar."

He gave her alook . "I was on my way to practice."

"Oh. Well, thanks."

"Sounds like I didn't have much of a choice. This guy has vampire blood?"

"I guess so. Larkin was using it for some experiment. I suppose it was authorized."

"Larkin? Had to be. He wouldn't dare do it on the side." Michael nudged her empty mocha cup with a fingertip. "Where's Eve?"

"Right here, Ninja with Fangs." Eve leaned over behind him, put