"Kinda do, " Shane said coolly.
"Fine. Either hit each other or get a room, " she snapped, and stepped out of the middle. "Just don't pretend it's all about protecting the itty widdle girl, because it isn't. It's about the two of you. So get it together, or leave, I don't care which. "
Shane stared at her for a second, eyes gone wide and oddly hurt, then looked at Claire. She didn't move.
"I'm out, " he said. He turned and walked out through the kitchen door. It swung shut behind him.
Eve let out a little gasp. "I didn't think he'd go, " she said, so unsteadily that for a second Claire thought she was going to cry. "What a freaking idiot. "
Claire reached over and took her hand. Eve squeezed, hard, and then leaned back into Michael's embrace. Vampire or not, the two of them seemed happy, and anyway, this was Michael. She just couldn't understand Shane's anger. It seemed to bubble up when she least expected it, for no reason at all.
"I'd better -- " she ventured. Michael nodded.
Claire slipped out of her chair and went to find Shane. Not like it was difficult; he was slumped on the couch, staring at the Playstation screen and working the controls on yet another zombie-killing adventure. "You taking his side?" Shane asked, and splattered the head of an attacking undead monster.
"No, " Claire said, and settled in carefully next to him, with enough open space between so he didn't feel pressured. "Why are there sides, anyway?"
"What?"
"Michael's your friend, he's our housemate. Why do there have to be sides?"
He snapped his fingers. "Um, wait, I've got this one ... Because he's a bloodsucking, night-crawling leech who used to be my friend?"
"Shane -- "
"You think you know, but you don't. He's going to change. They all change. Maybe it'll take time, I don't know. Right now, he thinks he's just human plus, but that's not what it is. He's human minus. And you'd better not forget it. "
She stared at him, a little bit stunned and a whole lot saddened. "Eve's right. That sounds like your father talking. "