"Look, maybe you should go," he said to Michael, and then glanced at Eve and Claire. "All of you. Work this out later."
Her impulse was to say that she was staying, that no power on earth could make her leave Shane when he was like this, but if she did that, she knew that Michael and Eve would stick it out, too. And that would be bad. Shane seemed especially angry about Michael being here--and, from the look he gave her now, Eve, too.
A big, overmuscled guy dressed in microfiber sweats and gold chains, like some cheesy reality-show reject, gave Eve areally nasty grin. It was mostly a snarl. "You always ran around town, dressing like a wannabe bloodsucker, and now you're banging one," he said. Well, he didn't actually saybanging , but Claire's brain refused to completely translate it. It was too shocking when it was said with that much venom. "I hate fang-bangers worse than the vamps. At least the vamps are just doing what comes natural.Your kind, you're perverts."
Eve flinched a little, but then she lifted her chin. "Really? Considering what I hear from the girls you date, Sandro, maybe you ought to think twice about throwing that word around. 'Cause I had to look up half the things you wanted them to do on Urban Dictionary, and it was disgusting."
She was wearing the choker again, having tied it back on before they'd left the house, but now Sandro--like Shane had before--reached out and yanked on it. He didn't manage to pull it off, but he pulled it down far enough that Eve's fang marks were clearly visible. "Look at that. Walking blood bank. I heard you're a walking ATM, too. That stands for Any Time Michael wants it--"
Michael stepped in front of Eve, facing Sandro, and said, "You want to say it to me?"
Sandro laughed. "You didn't learn your lesson from your little friend there? Sure. 'Cause you ain't got no backup, Glass. Your whole family's been vamp pets from the Dark Ages, but we ain't having any more of that better-than-you crap. Not here. Here, you're all on your own, bitch."
Shane had gone very quiet behind them. Claire looked at him, at his set, unsmiling face, and felt panic ignite. This was real, and it was dangerous. Rad and the few others who didn't seem angry were backing
off, edging out of the crowd. Maybe they'd send for some help, or maybe not. She certainly didn't trust that the dude taking their money at the door would bother to come charging to the rescue.
Michael was a vampire, but he was young, and he couldn't fight this crowd on his own. Plus, he'd be trying to protect Eve, and her, too.
And Shane didn't have his back. Or any of their backs. It was obvious and painful, and Eve gave him the worst, most heartbroken and betrayed look Claire could imagine. "You'd just stand there," she said. "You'd stand there and let this happen to us.To us . To your own girlfriend."
Shane turned away to start slugging the heavy bag again.
"Shane," Claire whispered. "Please. Please."
He faltered, and one of his punches landed light. He grabbed the bag and stopped its swing, and looked over his shoulder at her. For a long, awful second, she thought he'd just go back to what he was doing, but then he nodded sharply at Sandro. "Let them go," he said.
Sandro cracked his knuckles. "Gimme a reason."
"I owe her that much," Shane said. "Let them leave." He punched the bag again with stunning force. "But take my advice,friends . Don't come looking for me again. Any of you."
There was some grumbling, but the circle slowly parted. Eve grabbed Michael's hand and towed him off, heading for the exit. Claire hesitated, staring at Shane's back as he bobbed, weaved, and punched.
"Shane," she said. "I still love you."
He didn't answer. Sandro shoved her after her friends.
"You heard him," Sandro said. "Get the hell out and stay out. He ain't interested."
She looked back just once. There was pain--real pain--on Shane's face as he fought the training bag, and their eyes locked just for a second before he looked away.
His were red. It wasn't possible to tell tears from sweat, but she thought--no, she knew--how devastated he felt.
Because she felt exactly the same.
Tears welled up and spilled over, and she sucked in a trembling breath that smelled like sweat and metal and despair.
Eve took her hand. "Come on," she said. "Nothing you can do here."
That was true, and it hurt so, so badly.
SHANE
I wish I could say I don't know why I did it. That would make me feel better, cleaner, about what I said to her. But I knew. It was just like Claire figured: Glory had glamoured me. But I didn't care, because
under the glamour there was a real bad streak of...me. I felt right. More than that, I felt righteous, like a knight in the old stories riding off to some God-justified war. I felt like I had when I'd had a purpose and my dad had been alive to tell me what it was.
I punched the heavy bag until my arms trembled and my legs felt like lead, and then collapsed on a metal bench. Somebody brought me another protein shake, and I downed the bottle in thick, thirsty gulps. My head was hurting, and I was having trouble catching my breath.
"Hey, man, you all right?" That was Sandro. I hated Sandro, I hated his greasy smile and his gold chains and his fake New Jersey cred. He was from Morganville, like the rest of us. Hell, his dad was a baker. You can't be a badass when your dad makes cakes.
Sandro squeezed my shoulder, tightly enough to bend tendons. I knocked his hand away. "Fine," I said. "Get lost."
"Good job dumping that little Renfield. I don't know what you ever saw in her, anyway. She looks like half a boy. Me, I like my women with curves and bounce, if you know what I mean."
I drained the last of the shake and felt a fresh burst of anger and hunger. "Maybe you need to look up whatget lostmeans." Michael wasn't here to take it out on, but Sandro would do just as well.
"Don't get attitude with me, Collins. You ain't that tough."
I knew better. Sandro was schoolyard tough. I was fight-for-your-life tough. But I wasn't going to teach him the difference, because for all his faults, for all he was a prime, grade-A jackass, he was breathing and his heart was beating, and that's all it took to put him on my side. Two kinds of fighters: us and them.
None ofthemwere here right now. Glory and Vassily had separated us into humans and vamps, and it had worked. Now every time I saw a vamp it made me want to rip into it.
Including Michael.
That made me feel weird inside, but not weird enough to want to change it. This was where I belonged. This was what I was meant to do. Born and bred to it, honestly. My dad had taught me well.
In here, I didn't have to be Shane Collins, eternal slacker, orphan, lost boy. In here, with these guys, I was part of something. Part of the war.
Even if, right now, that war was fought one on one, in the ring, with people cheering.
Someday, it would be fought in the streets, and people would cheer there, too.
Even Claire.
Soon.
"It's Gloriana," Claire said once they were safely in the car. "I saw her, Michael. I saw her watching you and Shane fight. She wassmiling. "
"I don't know how she could do it without affecting me or you or Eve," he said. "Glamour isn't that specific."
"Hers is," Eve said. He gave her an odd look as he drove down the street, heading for home. "What, you didn't know that? She can grab one guy out of a room if she wants to. I've seen her do it. I've seen her do it toyou ."
Claire had seen it, too, at her welcome party--Gloriana had lured Michael away with just a smile and a wink, right out of Eve's arms. She hadn't been serious about it--at least, Claire didn'tthink she'd been serious--and Eve had gotten him back fast, but she'd felt Glory's influence now, and the worst thing about it was that it seemed like the most natural thing in the world. Frank had even warned her, and she still hadn't believed that there was anything wrong with what she was feeling or doing.
That was what had happened to Shane.
"Sure, she can draw men to like her," Michael said. "It's not that hard. But changing them, the way Shane's changed? That's a whole different kind of thing. I don't think even Glory can do that."
"Well, who'd know?" Claire asked. "Amelie?"
"Maybe. Or Oliver; he seems to know her better."
Claire remembered Oliver sitting with Gloriana at Common Grounds. Yeah, they had seemed cozy. Which made her stomach twist a little, because the last thing she wanted to think about was Oliver having any kind of love life, ever, with anyone. That was just disgusting. "Frank said something about--" She shut her mouth, suddenly flooded with alarm and adrenaline, with a snap, because she hadnot meant to mention Frank. Ever. "I mean, before he, you know--"