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FIVE

"But it was self-defense!" theguy seated next to Claire said He&039;d been saying it a lot, and at a loud volu any

They were sitting in a quiet, wood-paneled roo faux-Greek temple that always felt to Claire like a funeral ho, highly polished table of dark wood, fancy chairs, and--of course--no s There were two doors, one at either end, but they were both guarded by Ahtly, but now they had their sunglasses hiding their eyes, and she knew they wouldn&039;t give her any breaks They had their serious faces on

A table Oliver sat at the other Police Chief Hannah Moses was seated on one side, along with Mayor Richard Morrell, who&039;d taken his father&039;s seat on the council along with the not-too-fun job of governing the hu ht, but he usually also looked tired, and like he didn&039;t s Monica Morrell&039;s brother would probably take eneral

On the other side of the table, shackled, were one of the big EEK frat boys with blood all over his shirt, and Claire Shane, Michael, and Eve had been shut out of the room, and Claire hoped they&039;d taken Eve hoency was over, and had badly needed to clean up and change clothes

Though Shane had wanted to stay, of course It had taken all of Claire&039;s powers of persuasion to convince hiave the order to leave I&039;ll be okay, she told him, with confidence she didn&039;t co happen toso cold and emotionless at the end of the table, Claire felt she&039;d probably overstated that Maybe a lot

"According to the testimony of both huuilty of the deaths of two of my people," Amelie said into the silence The frat boy beside Claire shifted, and his chains rattled, but he didn&039;t say anything He had a leather bracelet on his wrist, a Morganville band that identified hi to some vampire in town Claire wondered why the vampire wasn&039;t here He or she was supposed to be, at any legal thing that involved their people

"We&039;ll start with you, Mr" Oliver consulted a file in front of him "Kyle Nemeck? Testimony of vampires and humans says that the trouble started with you and others froroup who arrived at the warehouse Vampires tell us that you attacked a vampire, Ioan ap Emwnt, on the street, beat him severely, robbed him, and left him for dead He is not dead, fortunately for you" Oliver closed that file and opened another "This vampire, unfortunately, was not as lucky" He slid a color photograph out onto the table, and Claire had to look away It was the decapitated body she&039;d seen in the club Once had been enough "Here&039;s hispiece" Another photo, this one probably the head; Claire definitely didn&039;t look "While your friends held this unfortunate down, you severed his head Comments?"

The frat boy--Kyle--eating He looked younger now, and very scared "Isirma&039;aht you had killed one of our own," Amelie said "Any vampire can, by law, pursue such an offender and claially pursuing group into a blood rage Everything that followed, including all the human deaths, can be laid directly at your door A his file, frowning Now he looked up, directly at Kyle His brown eyes were narrowed, and there wasn&039;t any hint of sympathy "Correct," he said "If it were only the huue for a life sentence With vampire deaths involved, it&039;s out of my hands You&039;re a native, Kyle You know better"

Kyle looked as if he ht start to cry Oliver took the photos back, neatly stacked them, and closed that folder, too "Any defense?" he asked, not as if he really cared

Kyle&039;s ain "ILook, we didn&039;t know that first dude was a vampire I mean, we never would haveI swear"

"So your defense is that you&039;d have done the sa to a human Which would almost certainly have killed him"

"I--" Kyle clearly didn&039;t knohat to say to that "I just mean we didn&039;t knoas one of you"

"Weak," Oliver said "And the vae to kill, do you clainize him very well, since his name appears on the bracelet you wear around your wrist"

Claire took in a slow breath Kyle had killed his own Protector She didn&039;t know if there was a law for that, but if there was, the punishruesoht have been a vamp hinize your Protector before you beheaded hihtsI don&039;tNo, I didn&039;t knoho it was; I just kneas a vaulped His voice sounded faint and rusty "I&039;m sorry"

"Well," Oliver whispered "I suppose that excuses everything, doesn&039;t it? He was seven hundred and sixty years old But you&039;re sorry" Oliver shoved his chair back from the table as he stood up, so hard it tipped over and crashed against the floor with a bang "This is what being soft with the huets us, Amelie You already know my vote Guilty I&039;m done with this nonsense"

"And what about Claire?" Aed with a si for the door, but he hesitated, just a brief step He didn&039;t look back "Guilty," he said "She should have left it to us to police our own I&039;d be hypocritical if I said anything different, wouldn&039;t I?"

The security guard let hi, alert pose again

Claire was having trouble breathing Guilty She&039;d been defending herself Defending her friends And Oliver knew that, and he&039;d still voted against her

"Mayor Morrell," Amelie said "Your vote on Mr Nemeck"

Richard rose slowly, put his hands flat on the table, and looked at Kyle as he said, "Guilty I&039;m sorry, Kyle, but you left ot up, too She looked as focused and cold as Amelie "Kyle," she said "One question first Do you swear you really didn&039;t knoho you were killing?"

"Yeah, I swear!"

Even Claire could tell that he was lying He&039;d known He&039;d thought he could get aith it in all the confusion

Hannah shook her head "Guilty as hell, I hate to say"

Amelie hesitated, then rose smoothly to her feet "By unanihest crianville: the murder of your own Protector I had sworn that the more barbaric punishments we once practiced would be outlawed, for the sake of harmony with humans, but I see no alternative than to punish you as harshly as you deserve You will be placed in a cage in the hts, so that all may come and read an account of your crime After that, you will die in the traditional way By fire"

"No!" Kyle screa around in his hobbling chains "No, you can&039;t do this to me! You can&039;t! No!"

Claire stood up She wasn&039;t shackled; n they respected her more, or just weren&039;t afraid of her at all She didn&039;t know But she looked directly at Amelie and said, "Don&039;t do this Please don&039;t do this"

"He&039;s guilty of the worst cri to kill er talking to the someti to the Founder, or to the long-ago royal princess Amelie had once been "There are ti weakness Weakness invites worse outrages" She nodded to her guards "Reain, but she saw both Richard and Hannah sending her warning looks Hannah actually esture and mouthed, Don&039;t be stupid

Claire slowly sank into her chair as Kyle was dragged out of the roory, but uards were busy, she could have et out of Morganville? She knew better than to even try it Security was tight, and getting tighter

A her, and anyway, A distance of the door

"Now to you," Amelie said, as Kyle and the security detail disappeared down the hall, and his screauard, this one felasses, stepped into the room and shut the door behind her

It seehed and sat back in her chair, and it seemed to Claire as if she became a different person One as irritated and unhappy and sad Hannah and Richard sat down, too After a moment, Amelie continued "Claire, this is a very unfortunate situation You know that, don&039;t you?"

Claire nodded, thinking, It&039;s really da just harshly sentenced Kyle, I can now afford to show leniency toward you There arein defense of your own life, and all of the witness statements support it The vampire you staked was known to be extraordinarily violent, and we have been considering for some time what to do to restrain her appetites; you have reh I can&039;t be seen to celebrate this, I ain"

Aers tapped the table in a little dry clicking rhythm, and her eyes went half-closed as she stared at Claire Finally, she looked to Richard Morrell "What say you?"

"She acted in self-defense It&039;s unusual, but there are plenty of precedents--I did it myself once, and you found that what I did was justified I don&039;t support any kind of punish beats after he&039;d finished, and neither of them blinked She turned her attention to Hannah "And you?"

"Not guilty," Hannah said "You changed the rules in Morganville You gave huhts to defend themselves, even if it cost vampire lives Claire ithin the law to do what she did, and she saved her own life and the lives of at least some of the people in that room"

Amelie closed her eyes for a moment, and said, "I&039;d have preferred you to use nonlethal methods in your heroic defense, but I cannot deny that there is right on your side On mine, there is only tradition, but tradition is a very powerful force to vampires It will be quite difficult to convince thee Oliver already cast his vote I will be obliged to overrule hi Oliver in his angry mood would be hard, if not ianville in the past, and even though they had developed a kind of respect, that didn&039;t ht Viciously, if necessary

Aanville, I rule that Claire Danvers is innocent of the crime of deliberate es Claire, I give you two alternatives First, you will be given into Myrnin&039;s charge until you complete the repairs for which he requires your assistance During this time, you cannot leave his lab, nor see your friends or family, nor rest until the repairs are completed to Myrnin&039;s satisfaction I will not deny you food and water, however"

Claire sed "What&039;s the second alternative?"

"You can choose someone to suffer punishment in Founder&039;s Square in your place," Amelie said "One of your friends, or your family It will not be the punishment Kyle faces, but it will be severe, and it will be public"

If a va Claire even wanted to think about And choosing one of her friends? Her mom or her dad? She couldn&039;t do that She could never do that

"Think carefully," Amelie said softly "The first alternative may sound reasonable, but there will be no sleep, no rest, no contact until you have finished your work It may well be a death sentence on its own, if the problem is as complex as Myrnin tells me You&039;ll find that such a sentence is brutal in itself"

"At least it&039;s hed and looked grie an objection to this," he said "She isn&039;t guilty You&039;re bending the laws to benefit vampires"