Eve was running for the front door; Claire's scream had been lost in a roar of thunder overhead.
In the flash of lightning, Claire saw a gray shape standing next to the car. It was a man, and it wasn't.
Not at all.
She ran for the house.
Eve was already inside, shaking off water, when Claire lunged through the door, slammed the door, and locked it with trembling hands. Somehow, she'd held on to the groceries, but she had no idea how. Her teeth were chattering from the chill, and she sluiced water in silver streams to the already-drenched rug.
"God, we're both soaked," Eve said. "Guys? Hey, guys, we're back!" She headed down the hall, paused to look at the clock, and sighed. "Oh God. We're thirty minutes late. What do you want to bet Shane overreacted? Yep, here's the note - they're out driving to the store. Good job, guys, now you'll get soaked, too. Hey, has he been blowing up your cell or what? Oh, damn, Michael's been hitting mine. I'll let him know we're home. Wait here - I'll get you a towel." Eve headed for the stairs, phone to her ear. "Michael? Yeah, relax, emergency's over. We're home. Claire passed out at the store. I think she has low blood sugar - she seems really tired. I'll get some candy in her and see if she feels better. . . ." Her voice faded as she disappeared up toward the bathroom.
Don't go, Claire wanted to say. She managed to croak something out, but Eve was already gone.
Claire dropped the groceries and staggered into the living room. It felt like the water was turning to ice on her skin, and the cold was sinking deeper and deeper....
I have to tell Amelie what I saw. What I know.
Eve's indistinct voice was still talking upstairs. The house seemed warm around her, as if it were fighting to make her feel better. Feel safer.
But she wasn't safe, and Claire knew that. Nobody was safe.
She turned, and the gray man was standing right here.
Her body threatened to collapse again, and Claire braced herself against the wall. He was just standing there, staring at her with eyes that weren't eyes. She couldn't think of anything now except drowning, drowning alone.
"Shhh," he said, and his voice sounded like the rain outside. Like water coming out of the faucets. "Shhh. It's over now." He tilted his head to the side, as if his neck had no bones. "Curious that you see me. I'm not ready to be seen. Why?"
"I don't know." She wanted to cry, scream, run, but none of those was possible now. "I don't know why I can see you." She swallowed and said, "Who are you?" Because even now, she couldn't let her questions go. "What are you?"
That face that wasn't a face smiled. It was the most horrible thing she'd seen, ever. "Magnus," he said. "I'm the end."
Then he reached out and wrapped those cold, damp hands around her neck, and she felt the house's energy scream and rush around her, but it was as if it couldn't help, not this time.
"Shhh," he said again. In the last instant, Claire thought, Oh no, Shane, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry people keep leaving you. I love you. . . .
Magnus snapped her neck, and everything went star white. It hurt.
But it hurt for only a moment, and then the world shrank down to a bright pinpoint of light, racing away from her. Leaving her behind.
And then it was gone, and she was gone.
Chapter Nine
AMELIE
"As of last report," Mayor Morrell said, "there are now at least twenty vampires missing. All just disappeared in the course of their normal activities, and most vanished during the day." He stood in my office, looking exhausted and worried, as well he should; I had made it clear that sleep was a luxury none of us could afford now. With him was his chief of police, Hannah Moses, who seemed almost as tired but a great deal less rumpled.
"Here's the report on what we know," Moses said, and passed me a sheaf of papers. "Detailed information on where and when each one disappeared, as far as we can track it. Some vanished right in public, but nobody seems to have seen anything. What the hell is going on, Founder?"
I stared down at the papers, but the ink formed meaningless patterns. It was all meaningless now. All useless. I had waited too long, allowed myself to be swayed by sentiment and argument. I had denied my own instincts.
And now it was too late.
Instead of answering her, I pressed the intercom button to alert my assistant outside of the door. "Bizzie, get Oliver," I said. "Get him now. I will hold."
"Ma'am," Bizzie said, efficient as always. There was a short delay, and then she said, "He's not answering his phone, Founder."
"Keep trying."
Not Oliver. No, most likely he was simply out of contact for another reason. I had to believe so, at least. To lose Oliver now would be . . . catastrophic.
Chief Moses was repeating her question, more stridently. I lifted my head and met her eyes, and she went quiet. So did Morrell.
I stood and clasped my hands behind my back as I walked to the windows. The curtains were drawn against the day, but now I opened them. There was no light. Rain was falling, torrential rain that would wash away the world.
It was my fault.
I stared out into the cold silver downpour and said, "What do you know of our origins?"
In the reflection on the glass, I saw them exchange a look, and then Morrell said, "The origins of Morganville?"
That was not what I meant, but it would serve. "Have you never wondered why I founded this town here, in the desert? So far from the comforts of cities, rivers, lakes, water? In the baking sun, when sun is so toxic to younger vampires?" I didn't wait for his answer; of course he had wondered. Everyone had wondered, and only three of us now living knew that answer: Oliver, Myrnin, and me. "I chose this place because the rains came so rarely, and when they came, the land soaked up the water so quickly. No lakes. No rivers. Not even creeks."
"I - don't think I understand," he said.
"No. No, you wouldn't." I pulled in a breath and let it slowly out, a memory of the need for air. Vampire blood did not pound in the veins the way human blood did; it glided, cool and serene, never troubled by spurts of emotion. I missed that, betimes. "We have enemies. And those enemies are a kind of vampire, one that needs water to live. In the old tongue we are both called draug, vampire; my kind ruled the land, and theirs ruled the sea, and we were never, never at peace. I brought us here to be safe. Now the sea draug have found us. They're here. They're picking us off, like a pack of circling wolves. We have only one option if we wish to survive."
I turned from the windows and faced them, these two most burdened with responsibility for the safety of the humans of Morganville. "The vampires must run," I told them. "Far and fast. We cannot wait, and we cannot rescue those already taken. We must get out, because there is no fighting the sea draug. We did, once, in a war that shook the world. And they destroyed us."
I saw the greedy spark of light in Hannah Moses's eyes, quickly hidden; it was better concealed in Mayor Morrell, but still recognizable. Freedom, they were thinking. And they were right in this, but not in the way they understood. "So . . . you're leaving Morganville," Morrell repeated slowly. "All of you. When?"
"As soon as possible," I told him. "We've lingered too long already." I crossed back to the desk and pressed the intercom button again. "Oliver?"
"Nothing, ma'am," Bizzie said. "His phone rings, but it goes to voice mail. I checked at Common Grounds and his home. There's no sign of him anywhere."
I felt the universe waver around me, and sank slowly into my chair. I tasted salt and ashes. Oliver would never turn his phone off, not now. He would never fail to answer. He would never drop out of sight, not of his own accord.
He was gone. Another possibility taken from me, another piece of my world removed. The draug would take it from me bit by bit until there was nothing left but these humans, staring at me with the fatal glow of hope in their eyes.
I was alone now. Vulnerable.
"Ma'am?" I had left the intercom open. "Ma'am?"
"Myrnin," I said. "Find Myrnin. Tell him not to leave his lab. Tell him to get what he needs together in preparation for departure. Bizzie - in your desk you will find a black binder. Break the seal and follow the instructions. On no account will you leave your desk until it is all done. Do you understand?"
"Yes, ma'am." She sounded curious, but not shaken. Not yet. The intercom clicked off.