“Come on, we need to get Eve and Michael out of there,” Shane

said. He shoved through the crowd, heading for the stairs that led

up to the stage. As they took the steps, they were crowded to the

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through, heedless of their yells and cries, and he somehow kept

hold of Claire and made enough space for her to follow.

Then they were at the top, and Michael spotted them.

It was what he’d been waiting for, apparently, because he turned

and threw a sharp elbow right into the jaw of the man behind him

and Eve. Eve let out a war yell, threw her chair aside, and kicked

the man solidly in the chest as he tried to throw a punch in return.

It threw him backward and tangled him in the curtains, and they

were ripped loose as he toppled off the stage to the rear.

Eve turned back, color burning in her cheeks, and grabbed

Claire’s hand. She didn’t speak, but the pressure of her grip was

enough. Michael and Shane exchanged quick nods. “What now?”

Michael asked.

“We get the hell out of the way, because hell’s coming,” Shane

said. “Come on, man.”

But they didn’t make it. The man Eve had kicked off the stage

came scrambling back up, and his companion came back from the

other side, dragging the limp body of a red- haired woman that

Claire recognized a heartbeat later as Jesse.

He dumped her on the stage beside Fallon’s podium, and even

from this far away Claire saw the tremor that went through

Myrnin.

She saw his eyes turn bloody crimson.

But if Fallon expected him to attack, he was disappointed.

Myrnin said, “You’re a fool, Rhys. You achieved your own mortal-

ity. Congratulations. Let your anger go. Let her go.”

“After I send your friends to hell, where they belong,” Fallon

said. He crossed to Amelie, reached down and yanked sharply up

on the stake.

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Rachel Caine

He expected it to release silver nitrate and destroy her, of

course, and it must have come as an awful shock to him when she

opened her eyes, sat up, and said, in a calm, clear voice, “Thank

you. That was unpleasant.”

He stumbled backward as Amelie climbed to her feet. She was

burned and weak, but moving, and the sight of her sent a ripple

through the crowd of vampires that were standing so still. She

crossed to Oliver and yanked the stake from his chest, too, then

helped him rise. Then Morley.

That’s when Fallon stumbled back to the podium and pulled

out a copy of Claire’s VLAD device— the clumsy, bulky gun that

she had made and Myrnin had steampunked out. This one looked

sleeker, and deadlier, and Fallon aimed it at Amelie.