signing special agreements for Protection and paying a tax in earn-

ings or blood for the privilege of not being, y’know, eaten.

It’s worked for a couple of centuries under the iron- in- velvet

touch of the Founder, Amelie . . . but the past few years have been turmoil, trouble, and rebellion. Claire Danvers left to get away

from it all, embarking on a special study program at MIT. But

even if you can take the girl out of Morganville, you can’t take

Morganville out of the girl— and she ran headlong into a menac-

ing new enemy who knew way too much about vampires. The

Daylight Foundation.

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Now Claire’s returning home with her housemates (Eve, Mi-

chael, and Shane) and her allies (her bipolar mad scientist boss,

Myrnin; Amelie’s ex- second- in- command, Oliver; Claire’s new

vampire friend, Jesse; and Dr. Anderson, a captive scientist who

was once a Morganville native, now turned traitor).

But home sure isn’t the way they left it. . . .

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Claire stared at the creaking billboard that marked the

town limits of Morganville, Texas, and thought, I ought to

be crying. Her best friend, Eve, already was, in helpless, furious sobs. Claire held on to her and did all the sympathetic things

right— murmured that it would be okay, patted her on the back,

hugged her.

But although she said all the right things, she felt . . . empty.

Dry as the sand that blew through the desert outside the police

cruiser’s windows. They were sitting in the backseat, behind steel

mesh, and the doors wouldn’t open from the inside. It was made

like a taxi, but it most definitely wasn’t since it took you only where you didn’t want to go. Namely, to jail.

And across from where their cruiser was parked, four limp

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vampire bodies were being loaded into two of the town’s

ambulances— strapped tightly to gurneys, in case the wood still

buried in their hearts to keep them temporarily dead didn’t work.

Claire identified the slack faces as they were rolled by: Oliver, once town Founder Amelie’s second- in- command, now disgraced and

in exile. Jesse, the vamp who Claire knew the least well, a beautiful woman who looked ridiculously young and fragile now, robbed

(temporarily, hopefully) of her vampire life. Then Myrnin, Claire’s bipolar vampire boss and friend, his dark hair an untamed mess

around his still, white face.

Finally, and most horribly, Michael Glass, Claire’s friend and

the love of Eve’s life. His skin had turned the color of pure white marble, and his blue eyes were open and dull. He looked deadest of

them all.

“It’s fine,” Claire whispered, making sure to keep Eve’s face

turned away as Michael’s body was rolled past. “Vampires can