‘They already know too much – enough to use the device, anyway,’ Claire said, and tested the weight of the knife. It felt heavy and cold in her hand, but it would do. No silver edge on it, which made sense for a vampire’s personal weapon; it would do just as good a job against human enemies, though. ‘And they won’t get me. But I’m not going to let them get you either, Shane. We watch each other’s backs, Morganville style.’

He didn’t like it, but he flashed her a quick, unwilling smile. ‘You can take the girl out of the town, but you can’t take the town out of the girl,’ he said. ‘Outstanding. Let’s do it.’

Claire lowered her voice and shot a glance toward the other human still with them, who was leaning against the wall of the warehouse, head down. ‘What about Pete? Should we take him?’

‘Not sure Pete could handle it, honestly. He’s a good guy but he’s a little out of his depth. Being a bouncer never really required a whole lot of stealth. Kind of the opposite, actually.’

She hugged Shane then, and he hugged her back, and then they spun away to collect other things – a flashlight from Eve, and last, Claire got a clip of bullets from Pete. Pete, she couldn’t help but notice, hadn’t volunteered to mount up. Hadn’t even tried. Shane was right – being a bouncer, even in a reasonably tough bar, wasn’t any kind of prep for the kind of industrial-strength risk-taking that was a typical Morganville afternoon.

And then they were on their way. Liz slept on, curled at Pete’s feet; Michael and Eve stayed huddled together. Myrnin waved forlornly, and Oliver … Oliver looked regal, like a king bidding farewell to troops he never expected to see again.

‘I hate that son of a bitch,’ Shane said, and smiled and waved back.

‘I heard that,’ Oliver said, just loudly enough to be heard.

And then they were out, jogging down the alley. Claire said, ‘He’s sending us as bait, isn’t he?’

‘Yeah,’ Shane said. ‘Really, scouting? He’s not even trying to hide it this time. I think we’re the diversion. Fine. Let’s get to diverting.’

Night was starting to give way to the faint and distant suggestion of morning, but the alleyway was still drowning in oddly shaped shadows. Claire used the flashlight carefully, just quick presses to show them the obstacles, and then Shane led the way through. He had her hold up a couple of times, either out of too much caution or because there really still were minions chasing them … and instead of going back to the run-off tunnels – they had no chance of jumping up the way they’d come down, anyway – he took them the long way around, through mostly deserted streets. When a police car cruised by, headlights splashing over them, Shane casually put an arm around her, and she snuggled into him. It also concealed the weapons they were carrying.