She would have played along with that, but the idea of the tap water made her suddenly realize that she was drinking the coffee in the cup in her hand, and she resisted a sudden violent urge to gag. "Uh, the coffee ...?"
"Made with the finest bottled water," Eve said. She was back, and she'd brought cookies this time. "And these are sliced off a roll, so don't think I've gone all Martha Stewart, Shane. The vamps stocked up on bottled water some time ago. I'm guessing it's their version of survivalist training, if they've been worried about the draug for so long. All those plastic containers may be bad for the environment, but they're really good for us right now. So ... you're looking for Theo?"
"So says Oliver," Shane said, and stuffed a whole cookie in his mouth.
"Trust me, I work for Mr. Scary Guy in Charge, and you do not want to disappoint the man, even if you're just pulling espresso shots. Especially not now. Besides, having Theo here would be a nice antidote to all this"-Eve gestured at the marble, carpet, dim lighting-"gloom. Theo's cheerful, at least."
He was, mostly. Although Claire thought that like all vampires she'd ever met-except Michael, and his grandfather Sam-Theo was essentially concerned about his own survival first. Once you accepted that was how vamps saw the world, it was a whole lot easier to understand what they would do, and why. Morganville, for instance. It was pragmatic, having this isolated town, which they controlled for their own safety. They were cruel sometimes, but they saw it as self-defense .... Let the humans get the upper hand, and the vampires feared they'd be killed, sooner or later. Claire didn't agree with it, but she understood it.
Theo was ... less pragmatic about that than most. Thankfully. And Eve was right. He would have a calming effect here, if he wasn't floating somewhere in a pool of water, being eaten alive.
Claire shuddered.
"Want to come with?" Shane asked, licking melted chocolate from his lips. Which was a little bit mesmerizing, actually. Claire had a dizzying impulse to help him with that, but she shook it off. Time and place, Claire, time and place ...
"She can't come with us," Claire said, as Eve opened her mouth to agree. "Come on, Eve, you lost about two pints of blood last night. You're not strong enough yet and you know it. You need rest."
Eve's mouth closed without making a comment, but she gave Claire a steady, cool look, as if she'd let her down by even mentioning what had happened. Although it was pretty clear that Eve, and Michael, were thinking a lot about it.
"Right," Shane said in the silence. "That was awkward. Eve, you stay and ... bake or something."
"The hell I will," she snapped back, way too tense. "If you don't want me with you, maybe I'll just grab a couple of Amelie's boys and take them shopping for more weapons. We need to arm up, and we need to do it fast. That okay with you, or should I change into my pearls and an apron and die like a good girl?"
Shane held up his hands in surrender and took a step back. "I-have nothing to say." Smart boy, Claire thought. "But if you go out, you take more than a couple of vampires with you, Eve. I mean it. Take Michael."
"Well, you know what they say: less is more," Eve said. She didn't even comment on the Michael issue, but there was a stubborn, wounded look to her, and she didn't meet Shane's eyes.
"Right now, more is more, and much more is much better. You can't dick around with these ... things. You know that, right?"
"Oh, I know," Eve said. Her dark eyes were filled with shadows, windows in a haunted house. "I was just thinking that it would be a good idea to start making weapons stockpiles around town. If we start a running fight, we need to be able to get to weapons when we need them."
That was ... a very good idea, Claire realized, and she nodded without speaking. Shane even looked respectfully impressed, which was an odd look for him; he wasn't impressed by much. "Get silver," he said. "If you can, knock over a jewelry store and get all the silver chains. We can break them up into pieces. Makes a good grenade." Silver hurt, or killed, both vampires and draug. Shane sounded practical about it, but then, he'd spent his high school years being dragged around with his vampire-hating father. He probably knew more about killing vampires than anyone else in town ... except the vampires themselves, of course. "It's about the only thing that does work on these bastards. Talk to Myrnin about making more shotgun shells, too."
Myrnin being Claire's vampire boss-if a relationship that crazy could be called employer-employee, anyway. She was Igor to his Frankenstein. He had an underground lab and everything, which she'd managed to make a whole lot less creepy during her tenure with him ... but not less chaotic. Myrnin was walking chaos, and a lot of the time that was fun.
Sometimes, not so much.
Eve rolled her eyes, now almost back to the old carefree girl Claire knew. "Yeah, Collins, I wouldn't have thought of Myrnin ever. Of course I'll talk to him. He's the only one who had his crap together before we went out the first time."
"Hey!"
"Present company excepted, supposedly."
"Better," Shane said, and surprised her by suddenly enfolding her in a fierce hug. "Stay safe, all right?"
"Safe." Eve agreed, and then held him at arm's length, studying him with thoughtful intensity. "Huh. You don't hug, you know. Unless you get hugged first."
"I don't?"
"Nope. Never ever."
Shane shrugged. "Guess everybody changes once in a while."
All of a sudden Claire was struck by how different they all were now. Eve had grown steadier, more thoughtful. Shane had taken his aggression in hand and was starting to understand it, channel it. Even open up a little more than he had.
Michael ... Michael's changes were more unsettling, less easy to appreciate, but he'd definitely changed. He was struggling not to change even more-not to drift further away from his lost human life.
As for Claire herself, she couldn't say. She couldn't tell, really .... She supposed she had more confidence, more courage, more insight, but it was hard to imagine herself from the outside like that. She just ... was. More or less, she was still Claire.