empty structures there were around town. The old tire factory,

and the even older hospital, for example, were fairly gigantic. But the biggest difference to Claire was that she had never been forced to run for her life in the old mall. It had always seemed more of a sad place than an actively evil one.

As the police cruiser pulled up to one of the parking spaces in

the cracked, deserted lot, she thought that was about to change.

“Right,” Hannah said, and turned around in the front seat to

look at them. The three of them had been crammed together in

the backseat this time, which actually was comforting; Claire

loved the warmth and solidity of Shane sitting in the middle, even

if it pushed her uncomfortably into the hard plastic of the door.

“Rules, people. We’ve got them, and you’ll obey them. First rule is, you do exactly what my officers tell you, without hesitation or

question. If they tell you to get down on the floor, you eat dirt. If they tell you to stop, you become a statue. Are we understood?”

“What the hell happened to you?” Shane asked her. “Because

I’m pretty sure you used to be cool, Captain Obvious.”

“So did you,” Hannah shot back. “So be cool now, or end up

back in handcuffs. Fallon said you’d get to see Michael, and I’m

going to make that happen, but you be cool. ”

No one had a comeback for that. Eve looked tense, her dark

eyes huge, as if she was afraid to do anything to screw up the

chance to see the man she loved— but also, Claire thought, as if

she was ready to gnaw through steel bars to get to him, if neces-

sary. At moments like these, Eve looked exactly like what she was:

strong and determined.

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Fallon would almost certainly see that as a threat, that kind of

devotion.

“Watch her back,” Claire whispered to Shane, and got a nod as

Hannah exited the police cruiser and opened Eve’s door.

“I’m watching yours first,” Shane whispered back, then scooted

over toward the exit. Claire followed, blinking at the harsh desert daylight again; the tint on the cruiser’s windows wasn’t vampire-dark, but it had lulled her into a false sense of being in a kinder, gentler place until the dry, dusty reality hit her full on.

The mall was on two floors, and it was built of bricks the color

of dried mud. No windows. It was shaped like a rectangle— no

fancy architectural touches here. The rusted steel letters still clung to the side of the building, or at least most of them did: bitter

creek mall. Only a few letters had fallen away, or been ripped off, so the sign actually read biter eek mal. Which seemed weirdly appropriate somehow.

Two uniformed police officers stood at parade rest outside the

double doors that led into the mall, and Claire recognized one of