Kiss of Death Page 0,50

place, clearly taking it all very seriously. Claire didn't really blame him. She remembered her first encounter with vampires, her first realization that the world wasn't the neatly ordered place she'd always been told it was. It could really mess up your head. In fact, she wasn't entirely sure hers had ever recovered, come to think of it. She was just starting to relax when Morley reached out and grabbed her and Eve by the arms. When Shane yelled a protest, Morley squeezed, and Claire felt agony shoot in a white bolt up her arm. Yeah, that was almost broken. "Don't cause a fuss, boy, or I'll be forced to shatter bones," Morley said. "The girls come with us. If you want to run, you may. I won't stop you." Like Shane would. Or even could, being Shane. He fixed Morley with a bleak, grim stare and said, "You take them, I'm coming, too."

"How gentlemanly of you," Morley said, smiling. "I believe I already told you how I feel about gentlemen. But suit yourself." He hustled Claire and Eve out into the open room that was the police bullpen. Desks had been shoved around, papers littered the floor, and Deputy Tom was lying half hidden behind one of the chairs. Claire was glad she couldn't really see him. She hoped he was just... knocked out. Somehow, though, she really didn't think so. Shane followed behind Morley. Patience walked next to him, but she didn't try to touch him --which was probably smart, given the fiery look in Shane's eyes. His muscles were tight, his hands bunched into fists, and the only thing holding him back from punching Morley was the certain knowledge that it would be Claire and Eve who'd get hurt. Morley shoved open the glass outer door with a booted foot, and glanced up at the blazing sun. "Quickly, if you please," he said, and dragged Eve and Claire across the open ground at a stumbling run to an idling bus. It was an old passenger bus, with darkened windows, and the next thing she knew, Claire was being shoved up the steep, narrow steps ahead of Morley, with Eve being dragged along behind him. It was dark inside, with only a few overhead reading lights on to show her the interior. There were worn, fraying velvet seats, and in almost every one sat a vampire, at least in the front two-thirds of the bus. In the back were mostly humans--tied up, gagged, and looking desperate. There were no Morganville residents, at least that Claire could spot offhand, but she saw two immediately familiar faces--Orange Cap and Angry Guy, from the diner, who'd trashed Eve's car. The sheriff had said they'd disappeared; she'd assumed they were dead, like their friend who'd been left with his pickup truck. Morley had grabbed them. Claire thought that the other one, the one who'd died, had been more of an accident than deliberate murder, although maybe he'd done something to make Morley angry, too. There was no way to tell, really. The two bullies weren't looking quite so in control now. Their eyes were wide, their noses were running, and they kept wrestling against the ties that held them in place. "Friends of yours?" Morley asked, seeing her expression. "I'll see if I can seat you in the same section. Aisle or window?" He shoved Eve into a seat next to a window, across from Orange Cap, and then slung Claire into the empty chair beside her, on the aisle. Then he turned to Shane. Shane sat down silently in the chair in front of Claire. Patience, watching this, bit her lip and shook her head, but when Morley snapped the orders, she broke out some plastic cable ties and fastened Claire and Eve to the seats, then turned to Shane. "I'm sorry for this," she said softly. "You should have gone. Gotten help. I would have made sure no harm came to them."

"I don't trust their lives to anybody but me," he said. "No offense."

"None taken," Patience said with a sigh. "But Morley will require you to provide blood. He's promised not to drain any of our captives, but I'm sure you understand his temper. Resistance would not be wise." Shane shuddered and looked away. He didn't like giving blood, even at the Bloodmobile or the blood bank, and that was a lot more removed from having a vampire taking it, no matter whether they used medical equipment or went the