Fall of Night The Morganville Vampires - By Rachel Caine Page 0,93
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And Myrnin seemed quite taken with that, Claire thought; she’d never seen him look at anyone with quite that much admiration. It surprised her that it made her feel a little … what was that? Jealous? Couldn’t be.
‘What’ve we got?’ Shane asked. He stepped forward, too, because if there was any kind of a fight, Shane Collins had to be on the front lines of it; Claire rolled her eyes and pulled him back. ‘What? It was just a question!’
‘Looks like six guys out there,’ Pete said. ‘Six I could spot, anyway. All armed. The four of you might be bulletproof, but I’m not in the mood to try dodging semi-auto rounds today. Any ideas?’
‘It’s the only way out,’ Claire said. ‘At least, that I know of. Eve, you take that wall, look for something we didn’t see before. I’ll go this way.’
But it was actually Shane who found the exit – a rusted iron grate just big enough for a person to fit through, set in the floor in the corner next to an equally rusty water main. Flood control, Claire guessed; it must go directly into a run-off tunnel. Well, that was a good thing. Run-off tunnels generally spilt out somewhere, and if they didn’t, there would be other ways out. Maintenance crews regularly came down to clean out brush and debris that collected in them.
As Jesse pried up the grate – too heavy for anyone else except Oliver, and his hands were pretty much shot for the moment – Pete called back to them with a new, tense note in his voice. ‘Okay, they heard that. They’re on their way, I can hear them talking. Look, they’re probably going to spray and pray, unless they’ve got some kind of anti-vamp devices.’
‘Spray and pray?’ Claire asked Shane, who shrugged and mimed firing an automatic weapon in a circle. ‘Oh. Not good.’
‘Nope.’ He bent and added his muscles to Jesse’s. Between the two of them, they managed to get it up and over, and it fell with a heavy, loud boom on the other side. ‘Okay, Jesse, you first.’
‘No,’ she said. ‘I’ll stay. Michael, you go, make sure the way is clear. I’ll help Eve down.’
He didn’t protest; Michael jumped down, and Claire had no idea how far down it was, but it sounded like a long drop. No way any of them could make it without vampire help, or risk broken bones at the least. It’d be pretty dumb to die of a broken neck, after all this trouble.
‘Ready,’ Michael’s voice echoed up. Jesse braced herself over the hole and held out her hands to Eve. Who hesitated.
‘Maybe there’s some other way,’ she said.
‘Maybe you’d like to see if you’re bullet resistant,’ Jesse said. ‘But I believe your husband won’t let you fall.’
‘Yeah, but I don’t know about you,’ Eve said. She sighed and held out her hands. ‘Fine. If I die, I’m coming back to haunt you.’
‘That’ll be fun.’ Jesse took Eve’s weight easily, even with her silver-wounded hand, and lowered her down, then released. Eve’s surprised cry echoed back up, followed by a breathless laugh.
‘All good,’ she called up. ‘Nice catch, handsome.’
‘Anything for you,’ Michael said. They may have even kissed. ‘Ready, who’s next?’
‘Claire,’ Shane said, and Myrnin nodded. She didn’t like it, but nobody looked like they were going to take no for an answer this time. She held out her hands, and Jesse took hold, winked at her and gave her a reassuring smile, and swung her out over nothing. Claire had a dizzying moment of terror, because even though she knew intellectually that Michael was down below her in the dark, ready to catch her, it didn’t much matter. Humans feared the dark, and they feared falling into it, and wow, it was scary.
Before Jesse could let go, Pete yelled, ‘Down!’ and Claire felt herself being swung away from the hole, thrown toward cover, and a lot of things happened all at once. A deafening, ear-shredding burst of gunfire in the enclosed space. Bright flashes. Yelling and screaming. Bodies moving against the bursts of light.
The only thing Claire could do was curl up and try to make herself small.
Shane fell on top of her, driving her breath away, but he wasn’t hurt, just shielding her from the chaos; she could feel the hot press of his breath against her neck. ‘Are you hit?’ he yelled, and she said no, but she wasn’t sure he could hear her.