Lord of Misrule Page 0,3

she knew that Amelie and Oliver wouldn't stop at putting him in jail. Shane's father was marked for death if he came back. Death by burning. And while Claire wouldn't necessarily cry any big tears over him, she didn't want to put Shane through that, either.

"We'll talk about it," she said.

Shane snorted. "You mean, you'll yell at me? Trust me, I know what you're going to say. I just wanted you to know, in case--"

In case something happened to him. Claire tried to frame her question in a way that wouldn't tip their hand to any listening ears. "When should I expect him?"

"Next few days, probably. But you know how it is. I'm out of the loop." Shane's smile had a dark, painful edge to it now. He'd defied his dad once, because of Claire, and that meant cutting the ties to his last living family in the world. Claire doubted his dad had forgotten that, or ever would.

"Why now?" she whispered. "The last thing we need is--"

"Help?"

"He's not help. He's chaos!"

Shane gestured at the burning town. "Take a good look, Claire. How much worse can it get?"

Lots, she thought. Shane, in some ways, still had a rosecolored view of his father. It had been a while since his dad had blown out of town, and she thought that Shane had probably convinced himself that the guy wasn't all that bad. He was probably thinking now that his dad would come sweeping in to save them.

It wasn't going to happen. Frank Collins was a fanatic, carbomb variety, and he didn't care who got hurt.

Not even his own son.

"Let's just--" She chewed her lip for a second, staring at him. "Let's just get through the day, okay? Please? Be careful. Call me."

He had his cell phone, and he showed it to her in mute promise. Then he stepped closer, and when his arms closed around her, she felt a sweet, trembling relief.

"Better get ready," he said. "It's going to be a long day."

Chapter Two

Claire wasn't sure if get ready meant put on her game face, brush her teeth, or pack up a lot of weapons, but she followed Shane to say goodbye to Michael first.

Michael was standing in the middle of a bunch of hardlooking types--some were vampires, and many she'd never seen before. They didn't look happy about playing defense, and they had that smellingsomethingrotten expression that meant they didn't like hanging out with the human help, either.

The nonvamps with Michael were older, postcollege--tough guys with lots of muscles. Even so, the humans mostly looked nervous.

Shane seemed almost small in comparison--not that he let it slow him down as he rushed the defensive line. He pushed a vampire out of his way as he headed for Michael; the vampire flashed fang at him, but Shane didn't even notice.

Michael did. He stepped in the way of the offended vamp as it made a move for Shane's back, and the two of them froze that way, predators facing off. Michael wasn't the one to look down first. Michael had a strange intensity about him now--something that had always been there, but being a vampire had ramped it up to about eleven, Claire thought. He still looked angelic, but there were moments when his angel was more fallen than flying. But the smile was real, and completely the Michael she knew and loved when he turned it on them.

He held out his hand for a manly kind of shake. Shane batted it aside and hugged him. There were manly backslaps, and if there was a brief flash of red in Michael's eyes, Shane didn't see it.

"You be careful, man," Shane said. "Those college chicks, they're wild. Don't let them drag you into any JellO shot parties. Stay strong."

"You too," Michael said. "Be careful."

"Driving around in a big, black, obvious lunch wagon in a town full of starving vampires? Yeah. I'll try to keep it low profile." Shane swallowed. "Seriously--"

"I know. Same here."

They nodded at each other.

Claire and Eve watched them for a moment. The two of them shrugged. "What?" Michael asked.

"That's it? That's your big goodbye?" Eve asked.

"What was wrong with it?"

Claire looked at Eve, mystified. "I think I need guy CliffsNotes."

"Guys aren't deep enough to need CliffsNotes."

"What were you waiting for, flowery poetry?" Shane snorted. "I hugged. I'm done."

Michael's grin didn't last. He looked at Shane, then Claire, and last--and longest--at Eve. "Don't let anything happen to you," he said. "I love you guys."

"Ditto," Shane said, which was, for Shane, positively