to be happening. She couldn't hear Michael, or Shane, or anything else.
And then she heard screaming behind her, in the hall. Vampires, she thought, and quickly opened the door to look.
Someone fell against the wood, knocking her backward. It was Fran?ois. Claire tried to shut the door, but a bloodstained white hand wormed through the opening and grabbed the edge, shoving it wider.
Fran?ois didn't look even remotely human anymore, but he did look absolutely desperate, willing to do anything to survive, and very, very angry.
Claire backed up, slowly, until she was standing with her back against the far wall. There wasn't much in here to help her--a desk, some pens and pencils in a cup.
Fran?ois laughed, and then he growled. "You think you're winning," he said. "You're not."
"I think you're the one who has to worry," Michael said from the hole in the wall. He stepped through, carrying Mayor Morrell in his arms. Shane and Eve were with him, supporting Richard's sagging body between them. Mrs. Morrell brought up the rear. "Back off. I won't come after you if you run."
Fran?ois' eyes turned ruby, and he threw himself at Michael, who was burdened with the mayor.
Claire grabbed a pencil from the cup and plunged it into Fran?ois' back.
He whirled, looking stunned . . . and then he slowly collapsed to the carpet.
"That won't kill him," Michael said.
"I don't care," Eve said. "Because that was fierce."
Claire grabbed the vampire's arms and dragged him out of the way, careful not to dislodge the pencil; she wasn't really sure how deep it had gone, and if it slipped out of his heart, they were all in big trouble. Michael edged around him and opened the door to check the corridor. "Clear," he said. "For the moment. Come on."
Their little refugee group hurried into the rainy hall, squishing through soggy carpet. There were people hiding in the offices, or just pressed against the walls and hoping not to be noticed. "Come on," Eve said to them. "Get up. We're getting out of here before this whole thing comes down!"
The fighting in the stairwell was still going on--snarling, screams, bangs, and thuds. Claire didn't dare look over the railing. Michael led them down to the locked secondfloor entrance. He pulled hard on it, and the knob popped off-- but the door stayed locked.
"Hey, Mike?" Shane had edged to the end of the landing to look over the railing. "Can't go that way."
"I know!"
"Also, time is--"
"I know, Shane!" Michael started kicking the door, but it was reinforced, stronger than the other doors Claire had seen. It bent, but didn't open.
And then it did open . . . from the inside.
There, in his fancy but battered black velvet, stood Myrnin.
"In," he said. "This way. Hurry."
a portal, but she didn't have time to tell anybody else, so when they stepped through into Myrnin's lab, it was probably kind of a shock. Michael didn't pause; he pushed a bunch of broken glassware from a lab table and put Mr. Morrell down on it, then touched pale fingers to the man's throat. When he found nothing, he started CPR again. Eve hurried over to breathe for him.
Myrnin didn't move as the refugees streamed in past him. He was standing with his arms folded, a frown grooved between his brows. "Who are all these people?" he asked. "I am not an innkeeper, you know."
"Shut up," Claire said. She didn't have any patience with Myrnin right now. "Is he okay?" She was talking to Shane, who was easing Richard onto a threadbare rug near the far wall.
"You mean, except for the big piece of metal in him? Look, I don't know. He's breathing, at least."
The rest of the refugees clustered together, filtering slowly through the portal. Most of them had no idea what had just happened, which was good. If they'd been part of Frank's group, intending to take over Morganville, that ambition was long gone. Now they were just people, and they were just scared. "Up the stairs," Claire told them. "You can get out that way."
Most of them rushed for the exit. She hoped they'd make it home, or at least to some kind of safe place.
She hoped they had homes to go back to.
Myrnin glared at her. "You do realize that this was a secret laboratory, don't you? And now half of Morganville knows where it is?"
"Hey, I didn't open the door; you did." She reached over and put her hand on his arm, looking up into his face.