“Inside,” Michael said. Claire hadn’t heard him, hadn’t seen him coming, but he was in the doorway, gesturing her in. As soon as she was over the threshold he grabbed her arm and pushed her out of sight behind him. She peeked around him to see what was happening.

Shane was talking, but whatever he was saying, she couldn’t hear it. Eve was backing up, slowly, and when the back of her heels touched the porch steps she whirled and ran up, diving into the doorway and Michael’s arms.

“Shane!” Michael shouted.

Brandon lunged at Shane. Shane dodged, yelled, and kicked the vampire with all his weight. Brandon flew backward into the fence, broke through, and rolled into the street.

Shane fell flat on the ground, scrambled up, and ran for the door. It was impossible for Brandon to move that fast, but the vampire seemed to flash from lying in the street to reaching for Shane’s back…

…and grabbed hold of Shane’s T-shirt, yanking him to a sudden stop. But Shane was reaching, too, for Michael’s hand, and Michael pulled him forward.

The shirt ripped, Shane stumbled in over the threshold, and Brandon tried to follow. He bounced off an invisible barrier, and for the second time Claire saw his fangs snap down, deadly sharp.

Michael didn’t even flinch. “Try it again, and we’ll come stake you in your sleep,” he said. “Count on it. Tell your friends.”

He slammed the door. Eve collapsed against the wall, panting and trembling; Claire couldn’t stop shaking, either. Shane looked flushed and more worried about the damage to his T-shirt than anything else.

Michael grabbed Eve by the shoulders. “You okay?”

“Yeah. Yeah, he never—wow. That was close.”

“No kidding. Claire?”

She waved, unable to summon up a word.

“Where the hell did he come from?” Shane asked.

“He picked up Claire’s scent at the coffee shop,” Eve said. “I couldn’t shake him. Sorry.”

“Damn. That’s not good.”

“I know.”

Michael clicked the locks on the front door. “Check the back. Make sure we’re secure, Shane. Upstairs, too.”

“Check.” Shane moved off. “Dammit, this was my last Killers T-shirt. Somebody’s paying for this….”

“Sorry, Michael,” Eve said. “I tried, I really did.”

“I know. Had to happen sooner or later, with four of us here. You did okay. Don’t worry about it.”

“I’m glad you and Shane were here.”

Michael started to say something, then stopped, looking at Claire. Eve didn’t seem to notice. She stripped off her leather coat and hung it on a peg by the door, and clumped off in the direction of the living room.

“We were just attacked,” Claire finally managed to say. “By a vampire.”

“Yeah, I saw,” Michael said.

“No, you don’t understand. We were attacked. By a vampire. Do you know how impossible that is?”