Page 14 (1/2)
FOURTEEN
Frank&039;s friends turned out to be--no surprise--kind of the dregs A couple of vampires whom Claire absolutely didn&039;t trust around her veins, and who had a disturbing tendency to flash fangs at her when they thought she wasn&039;t looking One was nah), and the other just went by West They looked exactly like the kind of friends she&039;d have expected Frank Collins to have--greasy, shifty, and tough Oh, and West was a woh blond biker-type chick ore a reed were iain, biker types, ere big on ht) not soto help, and for their own reasons--otten all about the overlooked
The Glass House filled up pretty quickly, and Claire had to send people out for supplies; she broke out all of the va equipment she knew about in the house, which was considerable, but it still wasn&039;t enough to equip as shaping up to be a save her recurve bow--a souvenir of her last trip outside of Morganville--to West, who said she used to be a competition archer, back in her day Which was, apparently, back in the day when people wore ar crossbow for herself
By the time the human bikers came back with more wood for stakes, and cases of beer and Cokes, the day was half over
"Do they have to drink beer before we do this?" Claire co over a selection of stakes and testing them for sharpness on the end He had a can in his hand, too "Correction: do you have to drink beer before we do this?"
"You get ready your way," he told her, and chose his weapons "We&039;ll get ready ours" She started to leave hiot only a couple of steps away before Frank said, without looking up from the stakes in his hand, "How is he?"
"Who?"
"Your father"
Of all the things Claire had expected, that wasn&039;t it, and it took her a minute of honest puzzlement to try to work out why someone like Frank Collins would even care She finally said, "He&039;s doing okay I talked to my mom yesterday; the doctors think they can fix his heart proble a lot better"
Frank nodded "Good Family&039;s important," he said "Maybe too important, sometimes I kno much I screwed it up with Shane Can&039;t bla me now" It was almost aquestion? And if it was a question, what could Claire say? Yeah, he hates your guts That probably wasn&039;t what Frank was hoping to hear
"Just take care of him," she said "That&039;s what you&039;re supposed to do Stop using hi him I know he thinks he doesn&039;t need it, but sometimes he does Sometimes we all do"
Now Frank did look up, and Claire felt a blush building in her face as he stared at her like he was actually seeing her for a change "He did okay," Shane&039;s dad finally said "Picking you"
She wasn&039;t sure how to feel about earning the worst dad in the world&039;s approval, so she just smiled weakly, and headed for another rooot the with the preparations when the front door rattled
Claire hushed everybody, and went to look out theThere were two people on the doorstep One of the, floppy black hat and coat, and the other one was completely shrouded in a blanket
"What do you think--should we let them in?" Shane asked He&039;d come up behind her, as close as if he actually reood, that he wasn&039;t trying to stay out of her space That he trusted her that much
"I think that they probably have a key anyway," Claire said, as she heard the lock turn "Let ot to the hall just as the door swung open, and the figure in the blanket came over the threshold Behind it, the one in the hat ca you," Eve was saying, "so around here My mother is completely mental More mental than she was before, and that is at least ten trailer trucks of crazy" She stopped when she saw Claire standing there, and pulled off the hat Her look of surprise turned to calculation, and then an outright glare "Okay, who&039;s this? Michael? You have a girl in your house? You could have told irl? Get this off of rabbed one end of the blanket and unwrapped, and Michael stuhtly broiled but nowhere near as bad as the last tiht and ood idea, because they both looked iuard
Crap They didn&039;t know her Once again, it hurt
"Hi, Michael, Eve," Claire said, and tried for a reassuring s in Morganville, no doubt about it Eve, I&039;m Claire I talked to you on the phone, remember?"
Eve let that process for a second, then turned to Michael "Is this your girlfriend?"
"What? No! No, I never saw her before!" Michael said "I told you, I don&039;t have a girlfriend! Ah, right now, I mean Not that I never have Or will"
"He&039;s kind of between girls," Shane said, stepping up behind Claire "Hey, Mikey Eve"
Eve squealed "Shane? Thank God, soive hied hi"
"Don&039;t get all handsy, Gothica; I was busy" Eve backed off, sed a manly fist-bump with Michael "Hey, man You&039;ve lookedbetter"
"I know I&039;mI&039; here? Wait" He looked past the beer cans and checking weapons "Okay, I think I have a better question What are they doing instory," Shane said "You guys had better sit down"
In the end, Claire was pretty sure Eve believed it, and Michael really didn&039;t; he see that didn&039;t fit his sixteen-year-old-logic fra the fact that he was a vaet used to the idea that his parents had one Shane had adjusted pretty fast, but Michaelnot soto do with their personal histories; Shane had grown up adapting to whateverto be on his own, learning not to assu was as it seemed Michael must have had just the opposite kind of life--stable, quiet, with parents who loved hiot taken away fro to drive him crazy, like some of the other vampires, if they didn&039;t fix this soon
"Wicked crazy stuff you&039;re telling us, you know," Eve finally said, sipping her Coke "Not that I don&039;t believe you Morganville&039;s always running on Standard Insane Time So What do you want us to do, exactly?"
"Ahnothing?"
"Nothing? Oh, coo all Mission: Iet to wear a fake face or pose as a spy or anything? This plan sucks I am not the friend who holds the purses" Eve leaned forward For Eve, she was dressed kind of plainly--a black, tight T-shirt, a silver skull necklace, the silver choker that , and some temporary tattoos of roses that ran up her arms Plain black jeans and heavy boots "Look, I&039;m all Action Goth! Give me a job! I live here, too, you said Don&039;t I? Doesn&039;t that mean I have as much to lose as anybody else?"
"Uhyeah, you do Okay, you come with me and Shane But remember--the idea is to distract Myrnin, not kill hier than you have to"
"If she&039;s going, I&039;," Michael said Eve looked at hiirls have all the fun"
"Hey!" Shane said "Shut up, Goldilocks"
"I&039;, my faet things done Ifif there&039;s nobody else, then it&039;s just me So I&039;ll help"
"Just don&039;t va va on for about an hour, and evidently, Frank was really tired of it He walked out of the living room and into the parlor, pulled the knife from his belt, and sliced Michael across the arm
Eve screamed, and Shane jumped up and shoved his dad back Michael stared down at his arly cut, and it bledand then it stopped
And then it slowly closed up
Eve sat down so suddenly it was as if she&039;d fainted, except her eyes were still open Shane froze, staring at Michael&039;s arhost His own ghost "No," he said "No, it&039;s notI&039;m not--"
"Oh, shut up," Frank snapped "You&039;re a vaet this done, let&039;s go Seeht We can&039;t wait for to here won&039;t re by then We can have your therapy session later"
He put his knife back in the sheath and stalked away Claire cleared her throat "Michael? You all right?"
He ran his fingers over the s away the blood Then, as if in a dreaood," he said "Eve, it--"
"Yeah, I get it; you&039;re a vampire," she said "Creepy And okay, a little hot, I admit"
"You don&039;t mean that"
"Come on I still like you, you know, even if youcrave plasma"
Michael blinked and looked at her as if he&039;d never seen her before "You what?"
"Like You" Eve enunciated slowly, as if Michael ht not know the words "Idiot I always have What, you didn&039;t know?" Eve sounded cool and grown-up about it, but Claire saw the hectic color in her cheeks, under the s?"
"I guess II just thoughtHell I just didn&039;t thinkYou&039;re kind of inti? Me? I run like a rabbit from trouble, mostly," Eve said "It&039;s all show andI mean, come on All that talent, and you lookWell, you kno you look"
"How do I look?" He sounded fascinated now, and he&039;d actually hed "Oh, co"
"You don&039;t think you are?" He shook his head "Then you&039;re kind of an idiot, Glass Smart, but an idiot" Eve crossed her arms "So? What exactly do you think about ?"
"I think you&039;reyou&039;reah, interesting?" Michael was aht, but then he saved it by looking away and continuing "I think you&039;re beautiful And really, really strange"
Eve smiled and looked down, and that looked like a real blush, under the rice powder "Thanks for that," she said "I never thought you knew I existed, or if you did, that you thought I was anything but Shane&039;s bratty freak friend"
"Well, to be fair, you are Shane&039;s bratty freak friend"
"Hey!"
"You can be bratty and beautiful," Michael said "I think it&039;s interesting"
Shane cleared his throat "Look, could we get oing to get this done--"
"Oh, chill out, Collins; we&039;re bonding, here" Eve ood?"
"AhI guess"
"Don&039;t bite o save this stupid town so I can ask you out on a date already"
"Well, you don&039;t actually have to wait," Michael said "This is kind of a date"
"Herous-- yeah, it does sound like a lot of the dates I&039;ve had, come to think of it Only with at least twice the hotness"
Shane looked at Claire and h That made him smile, and for a second there it was, that connection, that feeling that took her breath away, like she was flying all the way up into the sun&039;s warlow
Shane hesitated, then held out his hand to her "We do it together," he said "The four of us Right?" His fingers felt warht tears to her eyes "Right," Claire said "Michael, just because you&039;re a vampire doesn&039;t mean you shouldn&039;t watch out for Myrnin He&039;s killed other vampires before Justeverybody, watch out for each other"
"Hey, we&039;re Morganville kids," Eve said "That&039;s e do"
"If you&039;re all done kissing and exchanging class rings, let&039;s go," Frank said from the doorway, and tossed Eve a wooden stake, which she snatched out of the air Michael got a crossbow They looked at each other, and then exchanged the weapons without saying a word
"We&039;ll take Eve&039;s car," Claire said
"I have a car?"
"It&039;s the hearse out there"
"ButI don&039;t even have a driver&039;s license!"
Claire went out to the skull-shaped purse sitting on the table in the hall, opened it, and coh stuff until she found Eve&039;s ID She handed it over Eve looked at it, openmouthed, and showed it to Michael "That is a wicked bad picture, so don&039;t judge," she said "But look Eighteen I&039;hteen!"
"Come on, I&039;ve seen you with fake IDs since you were twelve," Michael said, and looked at Claire "Is it real?"
"It&039;s real She&039;s eighteen You&039;re nineteen, by the way"
"Huh" Michael said that like he wasn&039;t sure how to feel about it
"You&039;re going to let her drive?" Shane asked Claire quietly "Really? Even though she doesn&039;t re," she said "You can co-pilot She&039;ll be fine" Claire left theroup "Move this" She pointed to the bookcase Michael had put in front of the portal for extra protection The bikers shoved it out of the ith a lot of enthusias to the floor "There&039;ll be a door here at soh as fast as you can I don&039;t kno long I can keep it open"