Claire suddenly realised that a shadow off to the side, about six feet away from Shane, wasn’t empty any more. Myrnin had managed to make his way there. He didn’t have the weapon any more; his hands were empty, and he stood very quietly, utterly immobile. Waiting for a chance to strike.

But any second, Dr Anderson might notice him. So Claire kept talking. ‘That doesn’t give you the right to—’

‘To do what?’ the woman snapped, eyes blazing. She took a step forward, then another, and Shane instinctively shoved Claire back as he got in the way. It also put Anderson closer to Myrnin, and Claire expected him to lunge for her … but he didn’t. He was waiting for her guard to drop completely. ‘To do exactly what you were planning to do – develop a weapon that would allow humans the chance to really defend themselves from a vampire attack? To create a nonlethal solution to the problem you know exists? Because you are the one who put us in this position, Claire. You solved the problem of the disease that was destroying them; you helped them defeat the only things that they feared. You put the top predators back on top, and you were right to think we needed a way to stop them.’ Dr Anderson touched VLAD’s casing with a light, almost reverent hand. ‘I’m just the one who pointed it at them first.’

All that sounded right, but at the same time, wrong, all wrong, but the passion of Anderson’s words robbed Claire of the ability to argue … until Shane did it for them.

‘Bullshit,’ he said, with a strange, tight little smile. ‘Man, you sound just like my father. He was really good at this, too; good at justifying all the lying, stealing, beating and killing he needed to do. Oh, it’s all for a higher cause, kid. Don’t you sweat the details. We’re fighting monsters, we have to get our hands dirty. But you used Claire to get the weapon here, and then you used her to get Myrnin coming to the rescue when he heard there was trouble. Then you used Liz, because you knew Claire would come for her, and we’d all help. You weren’t picky about who got hurt. Still aren’t. So don’t preach at us like you’re some kind of saint. You’re just another sinner.’

Claire nodded. ‘You could have taken Myrnin when you talked to him about the missing gun – which was never missing in the first place. But you waited.’