"Then we have to do it," Shane said. "Yo, Michael! You there?"
"Here's there," Eve said. "I'm cold."
"Anything you can do?"
Eve looked puzzled. "Yes? No? Oh. Maybe. He says maybe."
"Maybe's not good enough." Shane opened the door to Eve's room and grabbed the black comforter off the bed. "Blankets, towels, whatever, get it in the bathroom and soak it down. Oh, and let Miranda out, will you? We can hate her later."
Claire kicked the chair out of the way from under the doorknob. The closet door flew open, and Miranda spilled out, coughing. She took one look at them and ran for the stairs.
"My clothes!" Eve yelped, and grabbed a double armful of hangers, then ran to Michael's room to dump them in a pile.
"Yeah, way to stay focused, Eve!" Shane yelled. He had the tap going in the bath, and seconds later he was back, dragging the soaking wet bundle. "Stay back."
He kicked open the door, and behind it Claire saw fire licking from the curtains up toward the ceiling.
Her bed was on fire, too. It looked like that was where Monica had started it, since it was mostly in flames.
"Be careful!" she yelled, and hesitated to watch as Shane yanked the curtains down, threw the wet comforter over the bed, and began stomping down flames.
"Don't just stand there!" he said. "Blankets! Towels! Water! Move!"
She dashed off.
Chapter Sixteen
The whole house smelled like smoke and burned mattress, but on the whole, it could have been a lot worse. Claire's room was a mess, and her bed and curtains were a dead loss. Scorches on the floor and smoke damage on the ceiling.
Still.
Shane dumped more water on the mattress, which was already a sodden mess, and collapsed against the wall next to Claire and Eve.
"They've got to be wondering why we're not all screaming and burning by now," Eve said. "I mean, logically."
"Go look."
"You go look. I've had a tough night."
Claire sighed, got up, and went to the unbroken window at the far end of the room. She couldn't see anything. No vampires, obviously, since the sun was blazing in the sky by now, but no human flunkies, either. "Maybe they're all out front," she said.
In the silence, she distinctly heard...the doorbell.
"You're kidding me," Shane said. "Hey, did you order pizza? Good thinking. I'm starved."
"I think you have brain damage," Eve shot back.
"Yeah, because I'm starved."
There was a crash from downstairs, and Shane stopped smiling. His eyes went dark and focused. "I guess this is it," he said. "Sorry. Last stand at the Alamo."
Eve hugged him and didn't say a word. Claire walked over and hugged each of them in turn, Shane last so she could spend more time doing it. There really wasn't enough time, though, because she heard footsteps coming up the stairs, and she felt a strong chill sweep over her. Michael was with them. Maybe that was his version of a hug.
"Stay strong," she heard Eve whisper in her ear. She nodded and took Eve's hand. Shane stepped out in front, which was - she knew by now - just what Shane did. He picked up the baseball bat he'd retrieved from down the hall and got ready.
"There's no need for that," said a light, cool voice from the hallway. "You must be Shane. Hello. My name is Amelie."
Claire gasped and peeked around his broad back. It was the blond vampire from the church, looking perfectly cool and at ease as she stood there, hands folded.
"You can put that away," Amelie said. "You won't need it, I assure you."
She turned and left the doorway. The three of them looked at one another.
Is she gone? Eve mouthed. Shane edged up to the doorway and looked out, then shook his head.
What's she doing?
That was obvious one second later, as there was a faint click and the paneling on the other side popped free.
Amelie opened the hidden door and went up the steps.
"I think you have some questions," she called down. "I have some, as well, as it happens, and it would be prudent if we indulged each other. If not, then of course you are free to go - but I must warn you that Oliver is not happy. And when Oliver is unhappy, he tends to be rather childish about lashing out. You are not, as they say, out of the woods quite yet, mes petits."
"Vote," Shane said. "I'm for leaving."
"Stay," Eve said. "Running won't do us any good, and you know it. We need to at least hear what she has to say."
They both looked at Claire. "I get a vote?" she asked, surprised.
"Why wouldn't you? You pay rent."
"Oh." She didn't even have to think about it. "She saved my life today. I don't think she's - well, maybe she's bad, but she's not, you know, bad. I say we listen."
Shane shrugged. "Whatever. You go first."
Amelie had settled herself on the antique Victorian settee. There were two other vampires in the room, standing very quietly in the corner, both wearing dark suits. Claire swallowed hard and fought an urge to back up and change her vote. Amelie smiled at her, lips closed, and gestured elegantly at the chair next to the sofa. "Claire. Ah, and Eve, how lovely."
"You know me?" Eve asked, surprised. She took a look around at the other two vampires.
"Of course. I always pay attention to the dispossessed. And your parents are particular favorites of mine."
"Yeah, great. So who the hell are you?" Shane asked, blunt as ever. Amelie regarded him for an instant in surprise.
"Amelie," she said, as if that explained everything. "I thought you knew whose symbol you wore from birth, my dear."
Shane looked pissed off. Of course. "I don't wear any symbols."
"That's true. You don't now." She shrugged. "But everyone in this town did once, including those from whom you sprang. One way or another, you are owned, body and soul."
Shane, for once, didn't try a comeback. He just stared at her with dark, angry eyes. She didn't seem bothered.
"You have a question," Amelie stated. Shane blinked.
"Yeah. How did you get in here? Oliver couldn't."
"An excellent question, well phrased. And were I any other vampire, I would not be able to do so.
However, this house is my house, first and foremost. I built it, as I built several such in Morganville. I live in each of them in turn, and while I am in residence the Protections will defend me from any enemy, either human or vampire. While I am absent, they will exclude vampires, if the residents are human, and of course humans if the residents are vampires. Unless the proper permissions are given." She inclined her head. "Does that answer your question?"