Bitter Blood (The Morganville Vampires #13)(91)

She was probably going to say more, but she never got the chance, because a dark-clothed figure came out of the shadows behind the trees, and before Claire could draw a breath, the figure knocked Jenna out of the way, spinning her to the ground. The gun tumbled away, lost in the sparse, weedy grass.

The intruder showed a flash of a pale face, red eyes, a young woman’s crimson smile, and in a heartbeat more, she had hold of her target.

Not Jenna, after all.

Angel. The vampire clapped a hand over his mouth when he tried to speak and said, “Hush, now, pretty. What will all the neighbors think if you make a fuss?”

Tyler mumbled out a curse, and ran for the van. He made it as far as the fence before another vampire ghosted out in front of him.

Jason.

Eve’s brother looked just as demented as he had earlier, and Claire shuddered at the smile he turned first on Tyler, and then on his sister. “Hey, Eve. You don’t write, you don’t call…but at least you brought us dinner. That’s nice.”

“No!” Eve dashed forward and put herself between Tyler and Jason. “No, Jase. What the hell are you doing? They’re not from here! You can’t just—”

“I hate that word. Can’t. Fact is, I can, big sister. I can do anything I want. So can Marguerite, here. And Jerold, he’s back there somewhere…. Wave to my nice sister, Jerold.” Claire turned. There was a vampire crouched on the edge of the steep roof, staring down at them with a knowing smile. He waved. “See, we have privileges now. We get to hunt if we want. And we really do want. So if you don’t choose to be on the menu, turn your ass around and walk back in the house and shut the door. Hell, you were just arguing with these fools. Why do you care?”

“I—” Eve didn’t really have a comeback for that. “It’s not about them. I don’t want to see you…be this. God, Jason. Is this how it’s going to be? You weren’t bad enough already?”

“No,” he said, very rationally. “I’ve never been bad enough to keep the bad stuff from happening to me. Until now.” He waited. Eve didn’t move. “Okay then. I’m going to be kind this time. We can share just this one. You can keep the other ones.” He snapped his fingers, and Marguerite, the one who had Angel, nodded. She picked Angel up in her arms—quite a feat, because the man was bigger, taller, and panicked—and before any of them could draw breath, she just…disappeared.

Michael started to run after her, but he came up short when Jerold dropped off the roof into his path. In one gloved hand, he held a glass bottle that swirled with silver. “We learned this from you,” Jerold said. “You started fighting your own kind, and we’re going to fight back. You like this stranger enough to burn for him, Michael?”

“No!” Eve looked pleadingly at her brother—who, whether she liked it or not, clearly was in charge. “No, come on, please—Jason, don’t. Don’t hurt him.”

“If he stays out of our way, he’ll be fine,” Jason said. “Ditto for you, and Claire, and Shane; I’ll leave you alone. But it’s a new day around here. Our day. And the sun’s never coming up to spoil it for us.”

Somewhere out in the darkness, there was a pained cry. Angel. Claire tried desperately to think what to do, but there was nothing. They had weapons but Michael had just been outflanked; Shane just had stakes, and although Eve had a crossbow, she didn’t seem inclined to use it on her own brother.

I need to do something, Claire thought. Anything. I need to save him.

“Jason, if you let him go, I think we can make some kind of deal,” she said, talking as fast as she could. She didn’t even know what she was saying. “Look, I’ll even let you bite me—two pints for the guy you just took. Come on, it’s a good deal. I’ll get it witnessed at Common Grounds, we can put it in writing, and—”

“Shut up,” Jason said, still smiling. “I don’t want a measly two pints, like I’m out for a beer with the guys. I want to hunt. Button it if you don’t want to play the rabbit, little girl.”

She shut her eyes and tried to think what to do. There were three vampires, and even though she and her friends outnumbered them, it would be a tough fight, and probably one of them would be badly hurt, maybe killed. She’d never hated math so much in her life.

Shane put his arm around her. “Don’t,” he said quietly. “You can’t, Claire. You can’t save everybody.”

And God, he was right; he was right and she hated that, too.

“All right,” she said. “Eve—call the cops. Hurry.”

Eve nodded and ran into the house. Jason laughed out loud.

“Good call,” he said. “And nice counter, but the cops ain’t gonna catch us, and you know it. They know better than to try. Nice doing business with you folks.” He touched a finger to his forehead in ironic salute. “Catch you later.”

“Wait!” Jenna blurted. “Wait, what about Angel, what—”

“Pretty lady really doesn’t get it, does she?” Jason said. “Explain it to her. I’m starving.”

And then he and Jerold were just…gone. Like smoke on the wind. And Angel had stopped crying out, though whether that was due to being gagged or being dead, Claire couldn’t tell and didn’t want to imagine. Her whole body ached with strain, and she wanted to throw up. What did I just do? Nothing. She’d saved the life of one of her friends, probably. At the cost of Angel’s.