Shane mimed throwing the baseball at her. She mimed ducking.
"What time is Michael getting up?"
Shane gave her another mock throw. "Hell, Eve, I don't know. I love the guy, but I don't love the guy.
Go bang on his door and ask. Me, I'm gonna go get ready."
"Ready for what?" Eve asked. "You're not seriously going out again, are you?"
"Seriously, yeah. Bowling. Her name's Laura. If you want more details, you're gonna have to download the video like everybody else." Shane rolled off the couch, stood up, and padded off toward the wide stairs leading up to the second floor. "See you later, Claire."
Eve made a frustrated sound. "Wait a minute! So what do you say? You think she'd do okay here, or what?"
Shane waved a hand. "Whatever, man. Far as I'm concerned, she's okay." He gave Claire one quick look and a crooked and oddly sweet smile, and bounded up the stairs. He moved like an athlete, but without the swagger she was used to. Kind of hot, actually.
"Guys," Eve sighed. "Damn, it'd be good to have another girl in here. They're all like, Yeah, whatever, and then when it comes to picking up the place or washing dishes, they turn into ghosts. Not that you have to, like, be a maid or anything, I mean...you just got to yell at 'em until they do their part or they walk all over you."
Claire smiled, or tried to, but her split lip throbbed, and she felt the scab break open again. Blood dribbled down her chin, and she grabbed the napkin Eve had put on the tray and applied pressure to her lip. Eve watched in silence, frowning, and then got up from the floor, picked up the ice pack, and settled it gently against the bump on Claire's head. "How's that?" she asked.
"Better." It was. The ice began to numb the ache almost immediately, and the food was setting up a nice warm fire in her stomach. "Um, I guess I should ask...about the room...."
"Well, you have to meet Michael, and he has to say yes, but Michael's a sweetie, really. Oh, and he owns this place. His family does, anyway. I think they moved away and left him the house a couple of years ago. He's about six months older than I am. We're all about eighteen. Michael's sort of the oldest."
"He sleeps days?"
"Yeah. I mean, I like to sleep days, but he's got a thing about it. I called him a vampire once, 'cause he really doesn't like being up in the daytime. Like, ever. He didn't think it was real funny."
"You're sure he's not a vampire?" Claire said. "I've seen movies. They're sneaky." She was kidding.
Eve didn't smile.
"Oh, pretty sure. For one thing, he eats Shane's chili, which, God knows, has enough garlic to explode a dozen high-quality Dracs. And I made him touch a cross once." Eve took a big swallow of her Coke.
"You - what? Made him?"
"Well, sure, yeah. I mean, a girl can't be too careful, especially around here." Claire must have looked blank, because Eve did the eye-roll thing again. It was her favorite expression, Claire was sure. "In Morganville? You know?"
"What about it?"
"You mean you don't know? How can you not know?" Eve set her can down and got up to her knees, leaning elbows on the coffee table. She looked earnest under the thick makeup. Her eyes were dark brown, edged with gold. "Morganville's full of vampires."
Claire laughed.
Eve didn't. She just kept staring.
"Um...you're kidding?"
"How many kids graduate TPU every year?"
"I don't know.... It's a crappy college, most everybody transfers out...."
"Everybody leaves. Or at least, they stop showing up, right? I can't believe you don't know this. Didn't anybody tell you the score before you moved in? Look, the vamps run the town. They're in charge. And either you're in, or you're out. If you work for them, if you pretend like they're not here and they don't exist, and you look the other way when things happen, then you and your family get a free pass. You get Protection. Otherwise..." Eve pulled a finger across her throat and bugged out her eyes.
Right, Claire thought, and put down her spoon. No wonder nobody rented a room with these people.
They're nuts. It was too bad. Except for the crazy part, she really liked them.
"You think I'm wacko," Eve said, and sighed. "Yeah, I get that. I'd think I was, too, except I grew up in a Protected house. My dad works for the water company. My mom is a teacher. But we all wear these."