And now Claire had just stuck the knife in, too. Not a good day for Team Vampire.

I didn’t try to go see if Myrnin was okay; it was pretty obvious he wasn’t – just like Oliver, who was rocking and moaning in the corner. And Michael, whom we’d left trembling in Eve’s arms like a scared little kid. I’ve staked vampires, don’t get me wrong; I’m no wilting flower when it comes to doing what needs to be done, when it needs doing.

But what Anderson had done, and was doing … it was cruel.

Claire was chalk-white, and her eyes were huge; I was afraid she might just fall down too, as the enormity of what she’d done hit her, but instead, she lifted her chin and met my stare without flinching. Like she was trying to tell me something. I had no idea what, but maybe, just maybe, Claire had some sort of a plan.

It made more sense than thinking she’d suddenly developed a talent for two-faced betrayal.

Trust her, something in me said. No matter what it looks like. No matter what she says or does, or what anybody else says or does. For God’s sake, trust her. Because that was the lesson I’d learnt so hard over the past few weeks. When everything went crazy, when nothing made sense … Claire made sense. I just had to trust even when I couldn’t see.

I brushed the back of her hand with mine in a silent caress, and tried to make her understand that I was about to play along. I hope she got the message, because after that, the first thing I did was shove her backward. ‘The hell, Claire? He was our only shot at getting out of this! What the hell were you thinking?’

She stumbled, looked stunned, and for a second I thought she’d totally missed my attempted reassurance – but then I knew she hadn’t. I couldn’t even pinpoint how I knew … but she and I were in sync, again, and we understood each other. ‘He wasn’t our only shot, and we weren’t getting out of it,’ she said. ‘And don’t you push me, Shane. Don’t you ever do that again.’

‘Or you’ll what? Get your buddy there to vamp-tase me?’ Anderson was watching us closely, and I made sure I put as much bitterness into it as I might have once felt. ‘You stabbed Myrnin in the back, Claire. I thought you actually liked him.’

‘More than I like you,’ she shot back. ‘I left you, Shane. I left Morganville. I left Myrnin. I came to make a new life and try to be somebody else, and you all followed me! Why am I the bad guy all of a sudden? She’s not hurting them, she’s just … she’s just disabling them. Like you said. A taser, only for vampires.’