Bite Club Page 0,64

carried the food out, Shane's seat at the table was empty. She checked his room, but he wasn't there, either.

He was gone.

And she didn't know where.

SHANE

I sat there alone at the table, looking at the house that had meant so much to me. Myhome.And it didn't feel like home anymore. Nothing felt right--least of all me. I didn't fit here anymore. I was dangerous. Something was wrong with me, and I couldn't take the risk I'd hurt Claire. I couldn't stop thinking about Eve's face as I'd been about to punch her, about the shocked, furious, haunted look she'd given me.

About how I'd seen my dad's face in that reflection.

I hated Michael now,hatedhim, and I didn't want to. He was my best friend, my buddy, my rock, but that didn't matter inside me now. He was just one of them.

It hurt. Bad.

Hearing Eve say she was marrying him...It tore everything apart. I hated him, and I couldn't hate him. I loved her, and I couldn't not hate her, too, because she'd made that choice. None of it made any sense anymore. I hated the people I was supposed to love. Not Claire--that was pure; it was perfect. I couldn't hate her.

Not until I thought about Myrnin. Not until I remembered what Jester had said...She's marked. I can smell the bite on her.Not her fault, but I hated that Myrnin had that claim on her. That I couldn't make it go away, no matter how much I tried.

Vassily had promised me money, and he'd delivered. He'd also promised me and Claire a way out.

And I had to take it soon, because there wasn't going to be anything left to save.

Claire was in the kitchen, talking to Michael and Eve, and a sensation swept over me...paranoia, probably. I just knew that she was trying to make it all okay, that we would all have to sit together and pretend, just pretend that the cracks weren't big enough to fall through.

And I couldn't do it. I just couldn't.

I got up and left, closing the door quietly behind me.

Out in the dark, no Protection, no vampires who would snap their fingers and make sure I could walk around in safety--not that it worked that way, no matter what they promised. I had gotten a letter in today's mail; I was overdrawn at the blood bank again, and if I didn't show up to pay my taxes soon, the Bloodmobile would come calling. They weren't gentle when that happened. They came in, grabbed you, strapped you down, and stuck a needle in your vein, whether you liked it or not.

Sometimes they forgot to take it out when you filled up your pint. Or two. Or three.

Sometimes people just didn't come out again.

No way I was going to do that anymore. I wasn't part of this. I was going to get out and take Claire with me.

I walked to the gym. If there were vampires out there in the dark, stalking me, they'd be sorry, and they must have sensed it, because I made it there without anybody touching me. I was sweating, even in the cold wind; there was steam coming off my skin. I felt shaky, though. Empty again. Not hungry, but thirsty.

When I got inside the gym and behind the private door, the first thing I did was pop open a sports bottle from the common fridge and down the protein drink. Then another one. Then another. By the third one I was feeling steady again. In control. Focused.

Strong.

"Hey, man," said Greg, another human who was training. He was a juicer, bulked up with fake muscles, but he was cool, anyway. 'Roid rage was an advantage in the ring. We high-fived as I passed him, and then I went to sit on the bench with five others waiting for a chance at the ring. Shiemaa was the only girl--buzz cut, tougher than her weight in iron. She gave me a fist bump, and so did the others. All crazy together.

"I heard Stinky Doug got his ass killed," Shiemaa said over my head, talking to Keith, another juicer with arms as big around as Shiemaa's whole head. "Somebody said it was because he talked. True?"

"Guess so," Keith said. "Crazy little bastard. He wasn't going to last--didn't have the fire, anyway--but he could take a punch. I'll give him that."

"Yeah, you gave him plenty of those," Shiemaa said. She and Keith tapped fists in front of me. "Not like I miss him, but what did