She came to a stop as the tips of her shoes bumped into the first of a wide expanse of marble stairs. She looked up - and up - at the largest building on the square: big columns, lots of steps, one of those imposing Greek temple styles. This was the vampire equivalent of City Hall, and inside . . .
"Just go on already," she muttered to herself, and hitched her backpack to a more comfortable position as she climbed the steps.
Claire felt two things as the edge of the roof's shadow fell over her - relief, from getting out of the sun, and claustrophobia. Her footsteps slowed, and for a second she wanted to turn around and take Richard's advice - just go home. Stay with her parents. Be safe.
Pretend everything was normal, like her mom did.
The big, shiny wooden doors ahead of her swung open, and a vampire stood there, well out of the direct glare of sunlight, watching her with the nastiest smile she'd ever seen. Ysandre, Bishop's token sex-kitten vamp, was beautiful, and she knew it. She posed like a Victoria's Secret model, as if at any moment an unexpected photo shoot might begin.
Just now, she was wearing a skintight pair of low-rise blue jeans, a tight black crop top that showed acres of alabaster skin, and a pair of black low-heeled sandals. Skank-vamp casual day wear. She smoothed waves of shiny hair back from her face and continued to beam an evil smile from lips painted with Hooker Red #5.
"Well," she said low in her throat, sweet as grits and poisoned molasses, "look what the cat dragged in. Come on, little Claire. Y'all are letting all the dark out."
Claire had hoped that Ysandre was dead, once and for all; she'd thought that was pretty much inevitable, since the last time she'd seen her Ysandre had been in Amelie's hands, and Amelie hadn't been in a forgiving kind of mood.
But here she was, without a mark on her. Something had gone really wrong for Ysandre to still be alive, but Claire had no real way of finding out what. Ysandre might tell her, but it would probably be a lie.
Claire, lacking any other real choice, came inside. She stayed as far away from the skank as she could, careful not to meet the Vampire Stare of Doom. She wasn't sure that Ysandre had the authority to hurt her, but it didn't seem smart to take chances.
"You come to talk to Mr. Bishop?" Ysandre asked. "Or just to moon around after that wretched boy of yours?"
"Bishop," Claire said. "Not that it's any of your business, unless you're just a glorified secretary with fangs."
Ysandre hissed out a laugh as she locked the doors behind them. "Well, you're growing a pair, Bite-size. Fine, you skip off and see our lord and master. Maybe I'll see him later, too, and tell him you'd be better at your job if you didn't talk so much. Or at all."
It was hard to turn her back on Ysandre, but Claire did it. She heard the vampire's hissing chuckle, and the skin on the back of her neck crawled.
There was a touch of ice there, and Claire flinched and whirled to see her trailing pale, cold fingers in the air where the back of Claire's neck had been.
"Where'd you learn to be a vampire?" Claire demanded, angry because she was scared and hating it. "The movies? Because you're one big, walking, stupid cliche, and you know what? Not impressed."
They stared at each other. Ysandre's smile was wicked and awful, and Claire didn't know what to do, other than stare right back.
Ysandre finally laughed softly and melted into the shadows.
Gone.
Claire took a deep breath and went on her way - a way she knew all too well. It led down a hushed, carpeted hallway into a big, circular atrium armored in marble, with a dome overhead, and then off to the left, down another hallway.
Bishop always knew when she was coming.
He stared right at her as she entered the room. There was something really unsettling about the way he watched the door, waiting for her. As bad as his stare was, though, his smile was worse. It was full of satisfaction, and ownership.
He was holding a book open in his hand. She recognized it, and a chill went down her spine. Plain leather cover with the embossed symbol of the Founder on it. That book had nearly gotten her killed the first few weeks she'd been in Morganville, and that had been well before she'd had any idea of its power.
It was a handwritten account, written mostly in Myrnin's code, with all his alchemical methods. All the secrets of Morganville, which he'd documented for Amelie. It had details even Claire didn't know about the town. About Ada. About everything.
It also contained jotted-down notes for what she could think of only as magic spells, like the one that had embedded the tattoo in her arm. She had no idea what else was in it, because Myrnin himself couldn't remember, but Bishop had wanted that book very, very badly. It was the most important thing in Morganville to him - in fact, Claire suspected it was why he'd come here in the first place.
He snapped the book closed and slipped it into the inside pocket of his jacket, where a religious person might keep a copy of the Bible handy.
The room he'd taken over for his own was a big, carpeted office, with a small, fancy sofa and chairs at one end of it, and a desk at the other. Bishop never sat at the desk. He was always standing, and today was no different. Three other vampires sat in visitors' chairs - Myrnin, Michael Glass, and a vamp Claire didn't recognize . . . she wasn't even sure whether it was a man or a woman, actually. The bone structure of the pale face looked female, but the haircut wasn't, and the hands and arms looked too angular.
Claire focused on the stranger to avoid looking at Michael. Her friend - and he was still her friend; he couldn't help being in this situation any more than she could - wouldn't meet her eyes. He was angry and ashamed, and she wished she could help him. She wanted to tell him, It's not your fault, but he wouldn't believe that.
Still, it was true. Michael didn't have a magic tattoo on his arm; instead, he had Bishop's fang marks in his neck, which worked just as well for the life-challenged. She could still see the livid shadow of the scars on his pale skin.
Bishop's bite was like a brand of ownership.
"Claire," Bishop said. He didn't sound pleased. "Did I summon you for some reason I've forgotten?"
Claire's heart jumped as if he'd used a cattle prod. She willed herself not to flinch. "No, sir," she said, and kept her voice low and respectful. "I came to ask a favor."
Bishop - who was wearing a plain black suit today, with a white shirt that had seen brighter days - picked a piece of lint from his sleeve. "Then the answer is no, because I don't grant favors. Anything else?"
Claire wet her lips and tried again. "It's a small thing - I want to see Shane, sir. Just for a few - "
"I said no, as I have half a hundred times already," Bishop said, and she felt his anger crackle through the room. Michael and the strange vamp both looked up at her, eyes luminously threatening - Michael against his will, she was sure. Myrnin - dressed in some ratty assortment of Goodwill-reject pants and a frock coat from a costume shop, plus several layers of cheap, tacky Mardi Gras beads - just seemed bored. He yawned, showing lethally sharp fangs.
Bishop glared at her. "I am very tired of you making this request, Claire."
"Then maybe you should say yes and get it over with."
He snapped his fingers. Michael got to his feet, pulled there like a puppet on a string. His eyes were desperate, but there seemed to be nothing he could do about it. "Michael. Shane is your friend, as I recall."
"Yes."
" 'Yes, my lord Bishop.' "
Claire saw Michael's throat bob as he swallowed what must have been a huge chunk of anger. "Yes," he said. "My lord Bishop."
"Good. Fetch him here. Oh, and bring some kind of covering for the floor. We'll just remove this irritation once and for all."
Claire blurted out, "No!" She took a step forward, and Bishop's stare locked tight onto her, forcing her to stop. "Please! I didn't mean . . . Don't hurt him! You can't hurt him! Michael, don't! Don't do this!"
"I can't help it, Claire," he said. "You know that."
She did. Michael walked away toward the door. She could see it all happening, nightmarishly real - Michael bringing Shane back here, forcing him to his knees, and Bishop . . . Bishop . . .
"I'm sorry," Claire said, and took a deep, trembling breath. "I won't ask again. Ever. I swear."
The old man raised his thick gray eyebrows. "Exactly my point. I remove the boy, and I remove any risk that you won't keep your word to me."