Fade Out

He laughed and combed her hair back from her pale face. “You’re cute. I might have to turn you and keep you as a pet.”

“Hey!” Claire said sharply, and took a step forward. “Didn’t you hear me? Let her go! She’s under Amelie’s protection!”

“I see no bracelet.” Morley grabbed Eve’s arm and lifted it to the dim light, turning it this way and that. “No, definitely nothing there.” He kissed the back of her hand, then extended his fangs and prepared to munch out on the pale veins at her wrist.

Eve twisted and punched him in the mouth.

Morley stumbled backward against the car, and Claire triggered the sprayer, coating him in silver spray. This time, he screamed and flapped his arms and lunged away from Eve, toward the darkness. Claire sprayed the rest of his crew again as they followed, waking howls of pain and anger.

Shane dashed forward, vaulted the gate, and helped Eve stand up from where Morley had shoved her. “That went well,” he said. His voice was shaking. “No fang marks, right?”

“Lucky me,” Eve said, and laughed wildly. “Get the weapons bag. I can’t believe you left it in the car; what was that? What town did you grow up in?”

“I was trying to help you fix the car!”

“Bozo.” She hugged him, hard, and smacked him on the back of the head; then she took a deep breath as Shane left her to retrieve the black nylon bag out of the car. “And you.”

Claire lowered the Super Soaker. “What? What did I do?”

“Saved my life? Redefined awesome in our time?”

“Oh. Okay.” She felt a smile bloom from deep inside, and for a moment, it was all good.

Really good.

“Ladies,” Shane said, and slammed the car door. “Let’s have the champagne inside, okay? And talk about who pulled the wires in the engine, and how we’re pla

He had a point. Claire covered their retreat with the Super Soaker, feeling kind of like a neon-gu

The second Claire put the water gun down, Shane wrapped her in his arms and kissed her, really tender and sweet and a little bit desperate. Hot.

“Hey,” Eve said. “Michael, remember? What are we doing for transpo, cabbing it?”

There was exactly one taxicab in Morganville, and he didn’t work at night, so that wasn’t much of an option. They didn’t even bother to discuss it. “Well,” Claire said, very reluctantly, “there’s another way. But you won’t like it.”

“I’ll like it less than getting molested by a vampire in a flasher raincoat who smells like graveyards? Try me.”

“I could open a portal,” Claire said. “But I’ve never been to the radio station, so I can’t risk doing it blind. I have to go someplace close that I know. What’s around it?”

“Hang on a second,” Shane said, and dropped the weapons bag to the wood floor with a thump. “What about Ada? You said she was out for blood, right?”

“I said you wouldn’t like the idea.”

“So just to recap—Ada wants to kill you, and you’re going to walk through a portal she controls?”

“Well—”

“No, Claire. Next.”

“But—”

“Not happening.”

She sighed. “What if I get Myrnin to open it for us? He’s better at it. I don’t think she dares mess with him directly.”

“And tell Myrnin what’s happening? Bad idea. The dude is half crazy all the time.”

“So what’s your bright idea?” Claire asked. Shane spread his hands out. “That’s what I thought.”

She pulled her cell phone out and checked the screen. Her battery was getting low; she hadn’t had a chance to charge it up recently, although that was Morganville Survival 101. She picked up the old-fashioned landline phone on the hall table and dialed Myrnin’s lab.

It rang, and rang, and rang, and finally, Myrnin picked up. “What?” he snapped. “I was in the middle of di

Claire was afraid to ask who that was. “I need help,” she said.

“Claire, you are my assistant. Not the other way around. Perhaps it would be helpful if I prepared an organizational chart you could keep on your person. Possibly tattooed on your arm.”

He was in a mood. Claire bit her lip. “Please,” she said. “It’s a little favor.”

“Oh, all right. What?”

“You know the old radio station outside of town? KV—” Her mind blanked. She looked at Eve, who mouthed the answer. “KVVV. Could you open me a portal?”

“Hmmm,” he said. She heard the sound of liquid being poured in the background, and him swallowing it, and him smacking his lips. “Well, I suppose I could get you close, if not inside the building. Would that do?”

“Sure. Anything.”

“And why can you not do this yourself?”

“Ada . . . ?”

Myrnin was silent for a long few seconds. “She’s better,” he said. “I don’t know what got into the old girl. But I’ve had a talk with her, and really, she’s much better now. Much better.”

“That’s good.” It would be, if it were true, but Claire didn’t trust Myrnin’s judgment when it came to Ada. “Um, about that portal—”

“Yes, fine, coming right up. I will be there in a moment.”

“No, Myrnin—”

He hung up before she could explain that she didn’t actually need him to come along. Not that he was going to listen to her, anyway. Claire replaced the phone on its cradle.

“Crazy boss is coming,” Shane interpreted, just from the expression on her face. “Lovely. This ought to be fun.”

About five seconds later, Claire felt a psychic wave sweep through the house, so strong she was surprised neither Shane nor Eve seemed to feel it, and then a dark opening formed in the far wall of the living room, and Myrnin stepped over the threshold.

“I so want his wardrobe,” Eve sighed. “Is that shallow, or just strange?”

“Don’t sell yourself short. It’s both,” Shane said, and cocked his head to take in Myrnin’s latest effort at blending in. It was . . . interesting. Claire couldn’t decide if it was some deliberate, unholy mix of Victorian lord and hippie, or just what had been on the floor of his closet.

He had on his bu

These had fangs.

They all stared at them in silence for about a heartbeat, and then Shane said, “That is impressively wicked. Crazy, but wicked.”

Myrnin frowned at him, then looked down at his shoes. He seemed genuinely surprised. “Oh. Those. I thought—well, they’re appropriate, I suppose.”

“Wouldn’t want to be inappropriate,” Claire said. “You really didn’t have to come. I’m sorry.”

“I did, in fact. I tried to open the portal to the radio station, and I couldn’t do so.” Myrnin’s dark eyes were wide and gleaming, clearly fascinated. “Claire, do you know what this means?” He paced, the bu

“Who else could?”

“No one.”

“But—”

“Exactly!” He smacked his hands together in glee. “A mystery! Thank you for calling and imposing on me for a favor; this is very exciting stuff, you know. Chaos, mayhem, someone stealing a march against me—ah, I’ve missed it these past few months, haven’t you?”

“No,” they all said, exactly together. Claire took Shane’s hand and said, “Myrnin, who else could lock down areas of town and freeze out portals?”

“Amelie,” he said, “but it’s not her. There’s a certain signature to her work, and by the way, she’s been here recently, did you know? She reeks of pain these days. It’s most disturbing.”

“Dude, focus,” Eve said. “Who else?” She threw Claire a why-am-I-even-asking look, but Myrnin got hold of himself and nodded as he thought about it.

“There have been a total of six others in the history of Morganville,” he said. “But they’re all dead. All but you, Claire.”

They all looked at her. She blinked. “Well, I didn’t do it!”

“Oh. Pity. Then I have no idea.”