jump ball, and caught it with ease. He grinned smugly, all sharp teeth at crazy angles, and put the phone in his jacket pocket. "Now, now," he chided her. "Where's your sense of adventure?"
"Off on a beach somewhere with your sanity? We can't do this. You know what happens out on the streets at night."
"I can't help that. I need some air, and besides, walking is very healthy for humans, you know." With that, Myrnin dismissed her and started walking down the narrow alley into the dark. Claire gaped for a second, then hurried after him, because the being-left-behind option didn't seem all that fantastic a choice. On her right, over the high wooden fence, she saw the looming dark bulk of the Day House. It was deserted these days. Gramma Day had moved out, temporarily, and her daughter had gone into hiding - probably for good, considering that she'd thrown in her lot with the antivampire forces in town, and that had not gone well for anybody.
Claire slowed for a second, staring at the unlit windows of the house. She could have sworn that in the cold star-light she'd seen one of those white lace curtains move. "Myrnin," she said. "Is there somebody in there?"
"Very likely." He didn't slow down. "People are hiding out in dozens of places all over Morganville, waiting."
"Waiting for what?"
"God to descend from on high and save them? Who knows?"
From the other side of the fence, Claire heard a faint, breathless giggle. She came to a stop, staring at Myrnin, who paused and looked at the fence, shook his head, and shrugged. He moved on.
But Claire was convinced that whatever was on the Day side of the fence was pacing them now, and when they got to the end of the row . . . Bad. That will be bad.
"Myrnin, maybe we should call somebody. You know, get a cab. Or Eve, we could call Eve - "
Myrnin turned on her.
It happened fast, so fast, and she barely had time to gasp and duck as he came at her, a white blur in the star-light. There was a sense of hard impact, of falling, and then everything went a little soft around the edges.
Myrnin was stretched out on top of her, and as the world stopped wobbling, she realized she was flat on her back on the ground. "Get off!" she yelped, and battered at his chest with both fists. "Off!"
He put his cold hand over her mouth and lifted a single finger of his other hand to his lips. She couldn't see his face in the shadows, but she saw the gesture, and it made the panic in her shift directions from oh my God, Myrnin's going to bite me to oh my God, Myrnin's trying to save me.
Myrnin dipped his head low, so low he was well within critical vein range, and she heard him whisper, "Don't move. Stay here."
Then he was gone, just like that. As noisy as he could be at times, he could also be as silent as a shadow when he wanted.
Claire raised her head just a little to look around, but she saw nothing. Just the alley, the fence, the sky overhead with wispy clouds moving across the stars.
And Myrnin's flip-flops, which he'd left behind, lying sad and abandoned on the ground.
There was a sudden, enraged shriek from the other side of the fence, and something crashed against the wood with enough force to splinter heavy boards. Claire rolled to her feet, heart pounding, and gripped the stake in her hand hard. Funny, I didn't think to use it on Myrnin. . . . Maybe she'd known, deep down, that he was acting to protect her.
She hoped so. She hoped it wasn't that she couldn't see the threat in him anymore, because that would eventually get her killed.
Whatever was happening on the other side of the fence, it was bad. It sounded like tigers fighting, and as she backed up from the snarls and howls and sounds of bodies slamming around, the boards of the fence broke again, and a white hand - not Myrnin's, this was a woman's - clawed the air.
Reaching for Claire.
"I've changed my mind," Myrnin called. He sounded eerily normal. "Do go on and run, Claire. I'll catch up. This may take a few moments."
She didn't wait. She grabbed up her fallen backpack and ran for the exit of the alley, where it dumped out into the cul-de-sac next to the Day House.
A vampire