Fall of Night The Morganville Vampires - By Rachel Caine Page 0,55

conversation instead, so they won’t be able to tell there’s anything wrong. Now you can talk freely.’

‘My house was searched last night by two men. I think they thought I’d gone out, like my roommate. Professor – they didn’t break in. They let themselves in, like they had keys.’

‘Did you get a look at them?’

Claire nodded. Anderson sat down in her computer chair and brought up a screen. More mouse movement and key clicks, and suddenly Claire was looking at an album of surveillance photos … not the grainy kind, either. These were sharp and clear as high-res stills. ‘See anyone you recognise?’

Claire pointed over her professor’s shoulder at one of the men pictured there. ‘He was one of them, for sure. I’m not sure about the other, I just got a quick look. Could have been one of the others, but I’m really not sure at all. Who are they?’

‘Well, they’re not from the people I work with directly, but there are plenty of players on the board. Best to be careful. Do you have an alarm system?’

‘No, I told my housemate we need to get one.’

‘Convince her. It wouldn’t hurt for you to learn to use that knife I gave you, either.’

‘I know how to use it,’ Claire said, pretty calmly she thought, given that suddenly she was hip-deep in government agencies and foreign spies when she’d thought all that she was getting into were vampire politics. ‘Professor – are you sure that we’re not in over our heads, somehow? Is this related to VLAD?’

‘I have no way of knowing what it’s related to,’ Anderson said, which was just logical, Claire guessed. ‘I am under contract to several government and privately funded groups; any one of them could have decided that you should be carefully checked out. Let’s not read too much into it, shall we?’

‘They came into my house!’

‘And left you and your possessions unharmed. Let’s not call in an air strike quite yet.’ Anderson gave her a warm, comforting smile. ‘Now, I’m glad you’re here early. There are some things about VLAD that still puzzle me, and I’d like to go over them before our test today.’

‘Test?’ Claire had a blinding moment of panic; nobody had warned her there was a test coming.

‘Not for you,’ her professor said, laughing, because the panic must have been visible. ‘We’re testing VLAD on a live subject at noon.’

‘By subject, do you mean—’

‘Vampire, yes, that’s exactly what I mean.’

‘There are vampires here?’

‘Not in the school per se, no. But close by. Because, of course, Amelie doesn’t trust anyone to leave Morganville without a little oversight, especially someone who’s been so deeply into Myrnin’s confidence. Luckily, I’m a friend of my particular minder, and she’s agreed to keep the secret – for now. I’d rather not involve her, but we do need a live subject, and she’s the only one I have at hand.’

‘But – I thought you were scared of Amelie finding out about VLAD!’

‘I was. But the fact is, she’s going to find out. It’s more important for us to make quick, efficient progress than to go carefully. Myrnin would take my side, and yours; I think he’ll be able to contain her paranoia, at least for a while. And so while this will be a risk, it’s probably one we have to take. Now. Let’s go over the questions.’

Dr Anderson brought VLAD out from the secured area, and Claire answered about an hour’s worth of detailed questions on the internal workings. Some of the questions startled her, led her off on tangents that started discussions about better ways to channel and concentrate the energy being generated. It was … well, exciting. Problem solving was always thrilling for Claire, and clearly it was for Anderson, too.

Finally, her professor nodded and stowed VLAD away, and Claire got ready to do something even more exciting.

She was disappointed.

‘Sometimes, being my assistant isn’t going to be action-packed,’ Anderson said, and pointed to a huge bin full of paper. ‘Shred all that, then take the pieces to the incinerator at the end of the hall for burning. I like to be thorough.’

‘What is all this?’

‘Old projects,’ her professor said. ‘Don’t read it. Just shred and burn, or your eyes will melt.’ She said it so matter-of-factly that Claire had a moment’s hesitation, before the other woman laughed. ‘Don’t worry. I haven’t perfected that eye-melting technology quite yet. Shredder’s over there.’

That commenced a vividly exciting morning of sitting in a chair feeding paper into a