She froze, eyes widening. Amelie, who couldn't be surprised, had been completely taken for a ride this time. "The book."
"You think I want your pathetic town? Your ridiculous peasants?" Bishop's contemptuous gaze swept over Claire, over the room beyond. "I want my property . Give it to me, and I'll leave. There. Now all our cards are up, child. What say you?"
"The book isn't yours," Amelie said.
"I took it from the dead hands of a rival," Bishop said. "That makes it mine. Right of conquest." He gave her a cold, slow stare. "The same way you took it from me, if you remember, except that I wasn't quite dead enough. A pity you didn't make sure, eh?"
It was all going wrong. Myrnin had run away, and he was supposed to stay, supposed to fight. Amelie couldn't do this on her own; he'd said it himself.
The other vampires were all standing by and letting it happen.
"Amelie," Bishop said, "I'll destroy you if you refuse. Don't you know that? Haven't you known it from the moment I came to town?"
Claire moved up beside her. "She wants you to leave," she said. "You need to go. Now."
Bishop laughed. "A threat from a little yapping dog. Will you make me, mongrel?"
"No," said Sam Glass. He jumped from the banquet floor up to the table in one lithe, easy motion, and then down to stand on Amelie's other side. "Not by herself, anyway." He'd taken off his Huck Finn straw hat, but even if he'd been wearing it, his expression was one that demanded to be taken seriously.
Michael joined him, crossing the distance with a leap, while Eve and Shane took the stairs.
There was a second's breathless pause, and then others began to move. Oliver. Monica. Charles and Miranda.
Claire's dad came up to take her mother's hands and lead her off to the side, out of danger.
More kept coming.
The vampires and humans of Morganville stood together, crowding the stage in front of Bishop, Ysandre, and Fran?ois. Not all of them - but more than half the room.
"You're not welcome here," Oliver said, "Master Bishop. This is our town. Our people. It's time for you to leave."
"A rebellion," Bishop said. "How refreshingly modern."
He nodded to Ysandre and Fran?ois. Fran?ois yanked Jennifer out of her seat on the dais.
Ysandre feinted toward Shane, then grabbed hold of Jason Rosser and sank her fangs deep into his neck.
Pandemonium. Sam and Michael both hit Fran?ois, bearing him backward as he tried to get his teeth into a screaming Jennifer, and Claire lost sight of them almost immediately. Bishop was on his feet, struggling hand to hand with Oliver.
Amelie, eyes the color and hardness of diamond, grabbed Ysandre by the back of the neck and yanked her backward, away from Jason.
"My property," she snapped, and held Ysandre at arm's length as she hissed and struggled. "Boy. Boy!" She bent over Jason, her pale fingers touching his face.
Jason opened his eyes. He was crying, Claire thought, but then she saw his face, and she knew that wasn't crying at all.
That was laughter.
"Sucker," he said.
"No!" Claire cried, but it was too late.
Jason took a stake out of the folds of his brown monk's robe and stabbed Amelie, right in the heart.
Everything stopped.
Amelie staggered backward. The wooden stake in her chest looked unreal, obscene, wrong.
Amelie was invulnerable. Couldn't be hurt.
A rim of blood spread into the white cloth around the stake, growing before Claire's eyes.
Sam screamed. He abandoned Fran?ois as Amelie fell, and caught her, easing her down to the wooden stage. The look on his face - Claire had never seen that much pain, ever.
Oliver punched Bishop so hard that the old man staggered backward and fell over the side of the throne; then Oliver moved to Amelie's side.
"No!" Oliver snapped as Sam took hold of the stake to pull it out. "She's old. She'll survive until we get her to safety. Take her!"
And then he turned as Jason lunged at him, crazy-eyed, with another stake. Oliver grabbed him in midair and snapped his arm with an effortless twist, tossing him across the stage to crash into Fran?ois, who had Michael down on the ground.
"Mom! Dad! Get out of here!" Claire yelled. Her dad beckoned her to come with them, but she shook her head. She wasn't leaving her friends behind. Not the way Myrnin had left her.
Her parents got out, all the way out the door. Others were running, mostly the ones who'd elected not to go up against Bishop in the first place. Claire saw Maria Theresa slipping out the side door, tugging her human tribute by the arm. He looked horrified, and he was trying to break free.
Out in the darkness, she heard screaming.
Amelie blinked, pulled in a breath, and whispered something to Sam. He looked up at Claire, and his face was as hard and pale as polished marble. "Endgame, " he said. "Bishop's counterattack."
Claire looked out and saw that some of those who'd held back were turning on their humans, or attacking other vampires. Bishop had brought his own sleeper agents with him, and it was only a matter of time before they made their way up to the stage. It was going to be a free-for-all.
Michael joined them. His clothes were ripped, and he had a bloodless cut along one cheekbone.
"Get them out of here!" Oliver yelled to him. "Now!"
Oliver lunged for Bishop, drove the older vampire back against the throne, and reached into his scarecrow costume. He pulled out a long, needle-pointed dagger, and shoved it through Bishop's chest to pin him to the wood.
It annoyed Bishop more than hurt him. Bishop wrenched free and pulled the dagger out, then back-handed Oliver so hard the other vampire went completely off the stage and out into the darkness of the banquet hall.