"I see," Amelie said. "And you did nothing to provoke them?"
"My friend--" Eve's voice failed. Claire could see she was trying once again not to cry, and how much it hurt. "My friend Cory was just trying to have fun. That one, the redhead, she grabbed her and just . . . tore her up. Cory's dead. I saw it happen."
"Oh, man," Shane whispered. Claire put her hand on top of his, where it lay on her shoulder. "Eve . . ." It sounded like he wanted to say something, but he had no idea what. She loved him for that.
Amelie waited a moment, and then said in a very low voice, "I am sorry for this experience, and for the loss of your friend. All who broke the law will be punished."
Eve's eyes grew brighter, but not with tears. With fury. "Punished ? What, like little kids going to bed without their blood supper? No TV for a week? Time-out?"
"I can assure you that the punishment will be severe."
"Not enough!"
Now Amelie's voice turned cool again. "It is enough for me, and that will be enough for you, Ms. Rosser. Enough for all of you. Do I make myself clear?" She didn't wait for an answer; she turned to Oliver, who was standing nearby, hands folded behind him, watching as the vampire prisoners and humans were herded out. "Vampires are dead here. I will expect a full investigation."
"Of course," Oliver said without turning. "And I expect the appropriate punishments will be meted out, according to the law."
"Sir," called one of Oliver's men, who was kneeling over the red-haired girl with Claire's stake in her chest. "You should see this."
Oliver walked over, frowned, and crouched down to examine the girl more closely. "Silver," his man said, and Oliver nodded. Oliver tugged on a pair of leather gloves and grabbed the stake, which he pulled out and immediately dropped with a clatter to the floor.
The girl didn't breathe, move, or react.
Claire gripped Shane's arm tightly, and waited, but the vampire stayed still on the floor, unmoving. There was a burned patch where the stake had gone in that continued to slowly burn outward.
"She's dead," Oliver said. "Silver poisoning. She must have been unusually allergic."
Claire had killed her.
And the appropriate punishment for a human killing a vampire was death.
FIVE
"But it was self-defense!" theguy seated next to Claire said. He'd been saying it a lot, and at a loud volume, and she thought his anger probably wasn't helping any.
They were sitting in a quiet, wood-paneled room in the Elders' Council building, a big faux-Greek temple that always felt to Claire like a funeral home. A really nice one. This particular room featured a long, highly polished table of dark wood, fancy chairs, and--of course--no windows. There were two doors, one at either end, but they were both guarded by Amelie's personal security men. Claire knew them, slightly, but now they had their sunglasses hiding their eyes, and she knew they wouldn't give her any breaks. They had their serious faces on.
Amelie sat at one end of the long table. Oliver sat at the other. Police Chief Hannah Moses was seated on one side, along with Mayor Richard Morrell, who'd taken his father's seat on the council along with the not-too-fun job of governing the human side of Morganville. Richard was a nice-looking man, Claire had always thought, but he usually also looked tired, and like he didn't smile nearly enough. But then, being Monica Morrell's brother would probably take most of the sparkle out of life in general.
On the other side of the table, shackled, were one of the big EEK frat boys with blood all over his shirt, and Claire. Shane, Michael, and Eve had been shut out of the room, and Claire hoped they'd taken Eve home; she'd been pretty shaky, once the emergency was over, and had badly needed to clean up and change clothes.
Though Shane had wanted to stay, of course. It had taken all of Claire's powers of persuasion to convince him not to start throwing punches when Amelie gave the order to leave. I'll be okay, she told him, with confidence she didn't completely feel. Amelie won't let anything happen to me.
Looking at Amelie right now, sitting so cold and emotionless at the end of the table, Claire felt she'd probably overstated that. Maybe a lot.
"According to the testimony of both humans and vampires on the scene, the two of you are guilty of the deaths of two of my people," Amelie said into the silence. The frat boy beside Claire shifted, and his chains rattled, but he didn't say anything. He had a leather bracelet on his wrist, a Morganville band that identified him as belonging to some vampire in town. Claire wondered why the vampire wasn't here. He or she was supposed to be, at any legal thing that involved their people.
"We'll start with you, Mr. . . ." Oliver consulted a file in front of him. "Kyle Nemeck? Testimony of vampires and humans says that the trouble started with you and others from your fraternity group who arrived at the warehouse. Vampires tell us that you attacked a vampire, Ioan ap Emwnt, on the street, beat him severely, robbed him, and left him for dead. He is not dead, fortunately for you." Oliver closed that file and opened another. "This vampire, unfortunately, was not as lucky." He slid a color photograph out onto the table, and Claire had to look away. It was the decapitated body she'd seen in the club. Once had been enough. "Here's his missing piece." Another photo, this one probably the head; Claire definitely didn't look. "While your friends held this unfortunate down, you severed his head. Comments?"
The frat boy--Kyle--was sweating. He looked younger now, and very scared. "I . . . sir . . . ma'am--it was self-defense. They came after us."