Fall of Night The Morganville Vampires - By Rachel Caine Page 0,107

Dr Anderson said. ‘So, you’re going to show us where you left your friends Michael and Eve. We need to retrieve Pete and Liz, as well. For their own safety.’

That phrase made me grind my teeth, but I tried not to let it show. ‘Sure,’ I said. ‘I’ll take you there.’

‘Of course you will,’ she said. ‘Because if you don’t, I’ll find them anyway, and I promise you, the outcome won’t be quite so nice. I want Claire’s cooperation and support, and she’s clearly willing to offer it. But I don’t need yours, Shane. You can go missing just as easily as the vampires, and there are a surprising number of John Does who die in Boston every year. You could be one of them, donating your body to the medical school. Are we clear?’

So clear I could practically see the shine on it. I nodded without bothering to say anything, and when Patrick Davis gestured to me, I followed. Before I got in the blacked-out van, though, I turned around. Dr Anderson was behind me, with Claire next to her.

‘Just one thing,’ I said to Anderson. ‘I owe Dr Davis something.’

She probably knew what was coming, because she didn’t make a move, and I didn’t wait for permission. Sometimes, it’s just better to ask for an apology.

I punched him in the face, and damn, it felt seriously good, all the way down my arm and into my guts. Just a little violence, to let off the steam from the boiling pot.

‘That’s from Liz,’ I said. ‘Asshole.’

Dr Anderson laughed. Davis went down hard, cradling his probably broken nose, and someone made a joke about nosebleeds and vampires, and I didn’t listen because I swung into the passenger seat, buckled in, and rested my head against the glass. For a second or two, the red haze refused to clear. That’s the danger of letting the beast off the chain for a bit; sometimes, he just doesn’t want to come back. But by the time the driver was strapped in and the door had slammed shut, I was my old, cheery self again, and I gave him a smart-assed thumbs up.

‘You’re damn lucky one of us didn’t put a bullet in you,’ he told me.

‘I live a charmed life,’ I agreed. ‘Head out of the lot and turn left. I’ll give you directions.’

Claire and Dr Anderson hadn’t gotten in the van with us. I turned my head and watched the two of them standing there with another set of guys in suits, and I hoped like hell that I was doing the right thing, because if I wasn’t, if somehow I had gotten all this wrong …

Then we were all going to suffer for it.

The warehouse looked as deserted as ever. I made the driver park a block down, just in case Michael had recovered enough to give some kind of warning; I ended up at the head of a column of four guys, including the driver. He was a bland, blank sort of guy, but then you put a dark suit on most men and they start blending together. He was African-American, but that didn’t make him any different from the others, except the usual height and weight and jacket size variations.

‘So what’s your deal?’ I asked him, as we moved down the alley toward the warehouse. ‘You work for some kind of company?’

‘Yeah, kid, I’m a vice president at Van Helsing Incorporated.’

‘Ha, very funny, yeah, I’ve read Dracula, surprise.’ Jackass. ‘What I mean is, are you some kind of true believer or just hired on?’

‘You asking if I’ve lost people to the vampires? Because yeah. We all have. So, shut your mouth and do your job. Let us do ours.’

That answered my question pretty well, actually. True believers. Not great news, considering that I had a lot of experience with those kinds of people. Much better to be dealing with hired guys who didn’t have an emotional stake in what was happening.

‘I’m Shane,’ I said. Step one, try to form a bond. Any hostage negotiator will tell you that’s important to stay alive.

‘Don’t care what your mommy and daddy called you,’ he said. ‘Now shut up and show us where you left them.’

So much for bonding. I followed instructions, and reached the warehouse’s bent siding where we’d crawled in. I pointed to it and indicated he ought to let me go in first. He nodded. I didn’t take that as any kind of promise he’d wait, though. He might give