"No," he said. Had he ever looked this pale to her before? This . . . alien? "Just tell me, Claire. I travel faster alone."
Something inside her warned her not to say, not to trust him . . . but it was Myrnin. For all his faults, all his oddities, he wouldn't hurt her. Or Shane.
Still, she hesitated. "Just tell me why," she said, and shivered as the rain soaked through her jacket and began to crawl cold over her skin.
"He's in danger. Now, Claire, before it's too late!"
She couldn't banish that tingle of doubt, but she couldn't take the chance that he was telling the truth, either. Not if Shane was really in danger. "He was at Common Grounds," she said. "I think he was headed home. . . ."
Before she finished saying it, Myrnin was a flash through the rain, a shadow . . . and gone.
Claire fumbled in her pocket, pulled out her cell phone, and bent over to protect it from the rain as she quickly texted Shane. Get home fast, she sent. Something wrong. Run.
That was all she could do. There was a gnawing, terrible fear in her now. Myrnin wasn't playing around, hadn't been since he'd seen that message out in the desert. There was something more wrong than she'd ever seen it.
She hesitated, torn, and then ran for the science building. Another flash of lightning put her back on course, and she pounded up the steps, shivering from the chill, and skidded into the relatively dry shelter of the lobby. Hers weren't the only wet footprints, but they were definitely going to be the muddiest. She wiped her shoes as best she could on the mats, threw back her sodden hood, and ran down the hall to the stairs, then up to the offices. Professor Howard's door was shut. She knocked twice, didn't wait for an answer, and opened it to see him look up from his paperwork.
"Sorry," she said. "Got caught in the storm."
"I can see that, Miss Danvers. Have a seat; the chairs are plain wood for a reason."
"I can't, sir." She let her backpack slide off her shoulder - waterproof, luckily, with the rain still beaded up on its surface - and opened up the compartment to grab the envelope inside. She passed it over, her damp fingers leaving smudges on the surface. "I have to go. I'm so sorry, but it's an emergency!"
"What, another one?" Professor Howard eyed her cynically over the top of his reading glasses, unfolded the note, and then glanced back up at her with an entirely different expression. He carefully folded it again, slipped it into the envelope, and handed it back. "I'll expect you here to take the test tomorrow at noon, Danvers. No excuses other than death - do you understand me? Hospitalization will not cut it."
"Yes, sir! Thanks!" She hastily stuffed the note back in her pack, shouldered it, and hurried out of the office. She banged the door shut behind her and nearly flew down the steps again, down the hall, and yanked her almost-useless hood back up before plunging out into the rain again.
And ran into another vampire on the sidewalk.
Oliver.
What was this, Vampires Take Strolls Day? It was way out of character for Myrnin to be on campus, and now Oliver, too? This was starting to be less weird than outright terrifying.
"Where's Shane?" Oliver demanded. "I thought he'd be with you."
Suddenly, everyone wanted Shane. Claire blinked as rain dripped in her eyes. Oliver hadn't bothered with a raincoat or a hat, so he looked about as drowned as she felt. He also looked like he wasn't going to let that - or anything else - stop him. He had that same look, like Myrnin's - focused, intense, committed. But without that edge of sadness. Oliver's was all business.
"What the hell is going on?" she demanded. "Myrnin said - "
Oliver stepped into her personal space, chin lowered. That was, to put it mildly, intimidating. "Myrnin found you," he said. "Of course he did. He's tasted your blood - he can always find you if he wants to. What did he say to you?"
"He said Shane was in danger and he needed to find him."
"Did you tell him?"
She slowly nodded, not taking her gaze from Oliver's eyes. They were dark and unreadable, and rain dripped from his lashes.
"Then I have to hurry if you want me to save him," he said.
"Who? Myrnin?"
"Shane. Where is he?"
"Heading home from Common Grounds." She grabbed him by the arm, suddenly terrified he was going to bolt off like Myrnin, lost in the rain before she could draw a breath. "Wait! If you're going, take me! Please!"
"Bother," Oliver sighed, but he grabbed her around the waist, and suddenly she was being lifted, thrown with bruising force over his shoulder, and then . . .
. . . Then the world smeared around her into a blur. Rain whipped her like stinging lashes, and Claire hid her face as the wind rippled her clothes under its force. Too fast, too fast . . . She couldn't get her breath to protest, not that Oliver would listen to it anyway. She'd always known vampires could move fast, but this was insane. It was like being trapped in a wind tunnel, and if it hadn't been for his iron grip holding her legs, she'd have been torn away from him like some flapping piece of paper in a tornado.