Lord of Misrule Page 0,24

felt pretty tense herself. "This close to dawn, they wouldn't be doing this. They shouldn't even be outside. He said both sides would regroup, but this looks like some kind of fullon panic."

Claire had to agree, but she also had no explanation. She dug one of the radios out of her backpack, typed in the code that Oliver had given her, and pressed the TALK button. "Oliver? Come in."

After a short delay, his voice came back. "Go."

"Something strange is happening. We're seeing lots of vampire cars, but they're all abandoned. Empty. Still running." Static on the other end. "Oliver?"

"Keep me informed," he finally said. "Count the number of cars. Make a list of license numbers, if you can."

"Er--anything else? Should we come back?"

"No. Deliver the radios."

That was it. Claire tried again, but he'd shut off or he was ignoring her. She pressed the RESET button to scramble the code, and looked at Eve, who shrugged. They pulled to a halt in front of the second Founder House. "Let's just get it done," Eve said. "Let the vamps worry about the vamps."

It seemed reasonable, but Claire was afraid that somehow . . . it wasn't.

Three of the Founder Houses were piles of smoking wood and ash, and the Morganville Fire Department was still pouring water on one of them. Eve cruised by, but didn't stop. The horizon was getting lighter and lighter, and they still had a couple of stops to make.

"You okay back there?" Eve asked Hannah, as they turned another corner, heading into an area Claire actually recognized.

"Fine," Hannah said. "We going to the Day House?"

"Yeah, next on my list."

"Good. I want to talk to Cousin Lisa."

Eve pulled up outside of the big Founder House; it was lit up in every window, a stark contrast to its dark, shuttered neighboring residences. As she put the car in park, the front door opened and spilled a wedge of lemoncolored light across the immaculately kept front porch. Gramma Day's rocker was empty, nodding in the slight wind.

The person at the door was Lisa Day--tall, strong, with more than a slight resemblance to Hannah. She watched them get out of the car. Upstairs windows opened, and gun barrels came out.

"They're all right," she called, but she didn't step outside. "Claire, right? And Eve? Hey, Hannah."

"Hey." Hannah nodded. "Let's get in. I don't like this quiet out here."

As soon as they were in the front door, in a familiarlooking hallway, Lisa slammed down locks and bolts, including a recently installed iron bar that slotted into place on either side of the frame. Hannah watched this with bemused approval. "You knew this was coming?" she asked.

"I figured it'd come sooner or later," Lisa said. "Had the hardware in the basement. All we had to do was put it in. Gramma didn't like it, but I did it, anyway. She keeps yelling about me putting holes in the wood."

"Yeah, that's Gramma." Hannah grinned. "God forbid we should mess up her house while the war's going on."

"Speaking of that," Lisa said, "y'all need to stay here, if you want to stay safe." Eve exchanged a quick glance with Claire. "Yeah, well, we can't, really. But thanks."

"You sure?" Lisa's eyes were very bright, very focused. "Because we're thinking maybe these vamps will kill each other off this time, and maybe we should all stick together. All the humans. Never mind the bracelets and the contracts."

Eve blinked. "Seriously? Just let them fight it out on their own?"

"Why not? What's it to us, anyway, who wins?" Lisa's smile was bitter and brief. "We get screwed no matter what. Maybe it's time to put a human in charge of this town, and let the vampires find someplace else to live."

Dangerous, Claire thought. Really dangerous. Hannah stared at her cousin, her expression tight and controlled, and then nodded. "Okay," she said. "You do what you want, Lisa, but you be careful, all right?"

"We're being real damn careful," Lisa said. "You'll see."

They came to the end of the hallway, where the area opened up into the big living room, and Eve and Claire both stopped cold.

"Oh, shit," Eve muttered.

The humans were all armed--guns, knives, stakes, blunt objects. The vampires who'd been assigned to guard the house were all sitting tied to chairs with so many turns of rope it reminded Claire of hangman's loops. She supposed if you were going to restrain vamps, it made sense, but--

"What the hell are you doing?" Eve blurted. At least some of the vampires sitting there,