Carpe Corpus Page 0,73

"He's not welcome here," Michael said, and that put the force of the Founder House behind it. Claire felt a pressure building, getting ready to evict Jason and - presumably - Sam, if Sam didn't let go of him.

"Wait," Sam said. "You send him out there, he's dead from all sides, and you know it. Bishop has no use for him, hasn't since Jason's assassination attempt failed. Amelie would kill him without blinking. You really want to do that to your girlfriend's brother?"

"Michael, don't," Eve said. "He won't hurt us." And everyone rolled their eyes at that. Even Jason, which was borderline hilarious.

"Look," Jason said, "all I want is a way out of this stupid town. You arrange that, and I'll never show my face around here again. You can keep your stupid hero life-style. I just want out."

"Too late," Shane said. "Last bus already left, man. And we're thirty minutes away from Bishop's big town hall meeting. You can run, but you can't hide. Anybody who isn't there is dead. He's going to send out hunters. It'll be open season."

"I could stay here," Jason said quickly. "Upstairs. In the secret room, right?"

They all looked at one another.

"Oh, come on, it's not like I'm going to run up your phone bill and watch pay-per-view. Besides, if I was going to kill you in your sleep, I would have already done it." He made a kissy-face at Shane. "Even you, asswipe."

"Jesus, Jason." Eve sighed. "Do you want to end up in the landfill, or what?" She touched Michael on the arm, and he glanced back at her and took her hand. "Can you tell if he lies to us?"

"Uh, no. Drinking blood doesn't make me a lie detector."

Sam spoke up somberly. "I can." He shrugged when Michael gave him an odd look. "It's just a skill. You pick it up, over time. People can't control their bodies the way vampires can. I can usually tell when they're lying."

"No offense, but you've been wrong plenty of times, Sam. Like, deciding that you could trust this little weasel as far as you can throw him," Michael said, then caught a devastating pleading look from Eve. "All right. Go ahead. Ask him whatever you want."

Eve took in a deep breath, looked her brother in the eyes, and said, "Please tell me the truth. Did you kill those girls?"

Because that had been Jason's rep. Murdered girls, dumped all over town, a string of killings that had begun right after Jason had gotten out of jail, just about the time Claire had moved to Morganville. One body had been put here in their own house, in an attempt to implicate Shane and Michael.

Jason blinked, as if he somehow hadn't really expected her to ask. "The truth?"

"Of course, the truth, idiot."

"I've done bad things," he said. "I've hurt people. I need help."

Eve's face fell. "You really did do it."

"It wasn't my fault, Eve."

"Never is, is it? I really thought - "

"He's lying," Michael said. He sounded as surprised as Claire felt. "Right, Sam?" Sam nodded. "My God. You really didn't do it, did you?"

Jason looked away from them. "Might as well have."

"What the hell does that mean?" Eve snapped. "Either you did, or you didn't!"

"No," her brother said. "Either I did, I didn't, or I was there when it happened and didn't stop it. Figure it out."

"Then who - "

"I'm not saying. People think I'm a killer; they leave me the fuck alone. They think I'm just some sad-ass ride-along clown. They'll kill me quick." Jason looked up now, right at Eve, and for the first time, Claire thought he looked sincere. "I never killed anybody. Not on my own, anyway. Well, I came close with you, Collins."

"But you won't tell us who did kill them?"

He shook his head.

"Are you afraid?" Eve asked, very gently.

Silence.

"You know what?" Shane said. "Don't care. Street him before we wake up with our throats cut by him or his imaginary playmate."

And they might have, except that the doorbell rang. Michael flashed to the window and looked out. "Crap. Our ride's here. We don't have time for this."

"Michael," Eve said. "Please. Let him stay, at least for now. Please."

"All right. Get him upstairs and lock him in. Sam, can you stay with him?

"No," Sam said. "I have to go back to Amelie."

"We have to leave. Claire, can you shut down the portal that leads here?"

"I can try, sure."

As Sam hustled Jason up the stairs to the second floor, Claire touched the bare