I watched Jesse as she walked away, hood up, hands in her pockets. She didn’t even hurry. Yeah, that was some scary confidence, considering she was essentially vulnerable out here, alone. ‘Sorry,’ I said. Not to Jesse, but to Claire. I was still trying not to look her in the eye. ‘I’d rather talk about all this someplace safer. Can we go?’

‘I’d rather talk about it here,’ she said, ‘because at least if I’m here, I can order coffee, and I probably won’t scream in frustration out loud. Think of it as a public buffer zone.’

Oh, great. I winced, but I asked the question. ‘So, do you feel like screaming? Specifically, at me?’

‘A little bit,’ she said. ‘But God, this doesn’t matter right now, does it? What about Liz? What’s going to happen to her? I mean, even Derrick doesn’t deserve … Jesse didn’t mean it about crossfires, did she?’

‘I don’t know,’ I said. ‘Claire, this is not a good place to stay. Jesse said to keep you safe, and in my opinion an open table on the sidewalk isn’t exactly the textbook definition of secure …’

‘Do you have an apartment?’

‘I’ve got a room at Florey’s. It’s not spacious. Or clean. But it’s cheap, and the work’s solid. It’ll do until things settle down, if you’re, ah, not too picky.’

‘Well, it couldn’t be much worse than where I was living,’ Claire sighed. ‘All my stuff is back there, though. All my clothes, anyway. I’ve got my computer and books, and that’s what’s important. Hey … did you know Jesse was …’ Claire gave the universal Morganville sign for teeth in the neck, and I smiled, just a little. Carefully. Not just because it hurt like a son of a bitch.

‘Hey, it’s me,’ I said. ‘I can spot ’em a mile away.’ I only wished that was true; it would have avoided so many problems over the years. My dad was the one with the nose for the Nosferatu … not me. ‘Pete’s human, by the way. In case you were wondering. He cut himself on a bottle the other day, and I helped him dress the wound. Didn’t heal immediately.’

Claire nodded, because it was a good piece of proof, at that, because vampires couldn’t control the speed at which they healed, not without putting something on the wound that held it open or continued to burn, like silver. ‘Is Jesse the only one you’ve spotted?’