Bitter Blood (The Morganville Vampires #13)(103)

Except that I heard Shane, still standing behind me, pump a shotgun. Roy’s eyes slid past me to focus on him, and his snarl faltered.

“Looks like somebody brought a can to a gunfight,” Shane said. “Just to be clear, if you tag my friend, I get to spray you right back. Seems fair.”

“You won’t shoot me,” Roy said. “I’m like you. I’m resistance.”

“Then the resistance is scraping the bottom of the DNA barrel,” Shane said. “And you’re going after my friends. That trumps anything else.” I wouldn’t have doubted him, in that moment. Eve was like his adopted sister, and I knew how Shane felt about her.

So did Roy. He stepped back, eyes darting side to side. He finally dropped the spray can and held up his hands. “Okay. Okay, fine, you got me. What you gonna do now, vamp? Kill me?”

“I could,” I said.

“He’s got a card that says he can, and everything,” Shane said. “But he’s not going to.” I sent him a look. Shane shrugged. “You’re not, man. I know you. Anyway, it ain’t the Roys of this thing you have to worry about. You need to talk to the head man.”

“Captain Obvious,” I said. Roy’s face drained of color. “You’re going to tell me where to find him.”

“No way.”

His girlfriend was getting to her feet behind me. I didn’t even look at her, but I grabbed her and pulled her closer, my arm around her neck to hold her still as she struggled. “We’ll start with her,” I said. “And if she’s not important to you, then I’m pretty sure saving your own neck will do the trick. You kicked my wife when she was down, Roy. You’re not that brave.”

“Michael,” Shane said, very quietly.

“Shut up,” I said, and let my fangs come down. “Captain Obvious. Now.”

It took only about a minute for him to give it up, but for me to feel I was done with him, it took four more.


“You have something to say?” I asked Shane. I was in the front now, since it was no longer daylight. He cut his gaze toward me for a second, raised his eyebrows, and shook his head. “Too little or too much?”

“I’m not you, Michael. I don’t know. It’s really too bad about the car, though. That was a really nice car.”

“If it were Claire—”

“It nearly was Claire.” He paused for a moment, then shook his head. “I don’t know. I’d want to kill the little bastard. Hell, I still want to.”

“I could,” I said. “And nobody would say a thing about it. Do you know how scary that is?”

“Yeah,” he said. “And I think it was damn nice of you to just break his arm. But the next vampire, they’d kill somebody for staring at them too long, spilling their coffee, whatever. That’s why it can’t be like this, with every vampire getting some kind of free pass to murder. For every Michael, there are three Jasons. Get me?”

I nodded. I understood that better than he did, probably; I’d been around more vampires over the past year or two than he ever had. “We have to fix things,” I said. “You’re right about that. First Captain Obvious, and then—”

“Then Oliver,” Shane said. “Because that crusty old bastard is getting his way, and if he does for much longer, we’re not going to have a town left. The only way we’re going to survive here is if we make everybody show respect.”

The drive—like every drive inside the city limits—was short, and when we pulled to a halt in front of a plain, everyday house—it was a little weather-beaten, a little run-down—Shane and I sat for a moment, assessing it. “What do you think?” I asked him. He shrugged.

“Looks okay,” he said. “But if Roy wasn’t shining us on, and it is Captain Obvious’s place, he’s going to be prepared for the vampire apocalypse in there. You walk in there all fangs and red eyes, and you’re done.”

“You want me to let you go in by yourself.”

“Seems safer,” Shane said. “After all, I’m the poster child for anti-vamp, right? He’s going to hear me out.”

“Maybe,” I said. “But the point isn’t to talk, Shane. It’s to kick ass and make sure he never comes after Eve again. Or you. Or Claire. If he wants to nail a target on me, fine, I’ve earned it along with the thirst for blood. But there’s a line, and he’s crossed it.”

“I know,” Shane said. “Believe me, I know.”

“No, you don’t. You haven’t seen Eve yet.”

Shane considered that, then nodded, opened his door, and got out. He left the shotgun behind, on the rack behind the seat. “You hear me yell, get in there,” he said. “Otherwise, wait here. Promise me.”

I didn’t, and he didn’t insist on it; after a second’s hesitation, he shook his head and walked up the cracked steps to the front door. He tried the bell, then knocked, and after a few long moments, the curtains in the front window twitched, and the door swung open.

I sat very still, watching. Listening. And, I realized, I wasn’t the only one. There was another vampire in the shadows, almost invisible except for a quick shimmer of red eyes. Vampires had no scent, unless they’d recently fed, and out here in the yard, with all the smells of grass, manure, dirt, wood, metal, there was no chance to detect one that way at all. I wondered who it was. No point in a confrontation, anyway; I needed to focus, in case Shane ended up needing me.