I look forward to seeing how that turns out for her." Morley paced back and forth in front of the bars, humming a song Claire didn't recognize. In the net of his wild hair, his eyes glittered with a kind of silvery light. They expressed not exactly hunger, but more like amusement. "You look cramped in there, my friends. Shall I get you out?"
"Actually, it's pretty roomy," Shane said. "I'm feeling better about it all the time."
"Perhaps ..." Morley turned. "Ah, you're playing the gentleman, I see. Of course, by all means. Ladies first."
"No!" Shane lunged at the bars. Morley had his eyes fixed on Eve and Claire now, and Claire thought, with a sinking sensation, that putting on a brave face wasn't going to get her very far --not with him. "Changed my mind. Sure. I'll go first." Morley shook his finger gently in Shane's direction, but without taking those shining eyes off the girls. "No, you had your chance. And I despise those who think themselves gentlemen in any case. You're not making friends that way."
"No!" Shane yelled, and slammed his hand into the bars, which rattled uneasily. "Over here, you ratty flea-bag! Come and get it!"
"Fleas suck blood," Morley said mildly. "Quite the cousin of the vampire, those clever little creatures, so why should I find that insulting? You really must find more interesting ways to bait me, boy. Tell me my beard would better stuff a butcher's cushion. Or that I have more hair than wit. Live up to your heritage, I beg you." Shane had no idea what to say to that. Claire cleared her throat. "Like ... you're... an inhuman wretch, void and empty from any dram of mercy?" She hated Shakespeare. But she'd had to memorize lines back in high school for a production of The Merchant of Venice. And it had finally paid off, from the surprise in Morley's face. He actually took a step back. "It speaks!" he said. "And in lilting, glorious words. Though I am not so partial to the Bard, myself. He was a pitiful man to drink with, always dashing off to scribble away in the dark. Writers. Such a boring lot."
"What are you doing here? Because I know you didn't come to get us," Claire said. She advanced and wrapped her hands around the bars, as though she wasn't at all afraid of him. She hoped he couldn't hear her heartbeat, but she knew he could. "We're not important enough."
"Well, that's certainly true. You're entirely incidental. Actually, we're in search of a town. Something small, remote, easily controllable. This seemed a good possibility, but it's rather too large for our purposes." We. Morley hadn't just slipped out of Morganville alone. Claire remembered the big, throbbing engine outside. Might be a big truck. Might be a bus. Either way, it would probably hold a lot of vampires--like the ones Morley had applied to be allowed to leave Morganville with in the first place. Oh, this just got better and better. "You can't just move in here," Claire said, trying to sound reasonable, as if that would do any good. She let go of the bars and backed away as Morley took a step toward her again. "People live here."
"Indeed, I'm not planning on it. Too much trouble to subdue such a large population. However, we're in need of supplies, and this town's quite well stocked. Couldn't be better." Morley suddenly lunged forward, grabbed the bars of their cell, and ripped the door off--just like that, with a shriek of iron and sharp snapping sounds. Eve, behind Claire, screamed, and then the sound went muffled, as if she'd covered her mouth. Claire didn't move. There didn't seem to be much point. Shane was yelling something, and for some odd reason the place on her neck hurt, the place where Myrnin had bitten her, where there was still a nasty scar. Morley stood there for a moment, hands on both sides of the doorway, and then stepped inside. He glided, like a tiger. And his eyes turned red, the irises lighting up the glittering color of blood. "Get down!" somebody yelled from behind him, and Claire hit the floor, not daring to hesitate even for a second. There was a loud roar that it took her a second to identify as gunfire, and Morley staggered and went down to one knee. The sheriff looked dazed, and there was blood on the side of his head, but he held his