Read Online Midnight Alley by Rachel Caine - Free Book Online Page A

They’ll kill you. No, worse. They’ll make you into one of them, one of the walking dead. I’m not talking about the vampires, either. Nobody who lives here has a pulse, not really.’’
    â€˜â€˜Shane—’’
    He kissed her, and his lips were warm and damp and soft and urgent. ‘‘Please,’’ he whispered. ‘‘We need to leave this town. It’s going to get bad. I can feel it.’’
    God, why was he doing this? Why now? ‘‘I can’t,’’ she said. ‘‘I—school, and—I just can’t, Shane. I can’t leave.’’ Her signature on a piece of paper. Her soul on a platter. It had been the price to keep them safe, but she’d have to keep on paying, right? As apprentice to Myrnin. And she guessed that wouldn’t be a long-distance study course.
    â€˜â€˜Please.’’ It was barely a whisper from him, his lips brushing hers, and honestly, she would have done almost anything for him when he used that tone, but this time . . .
    â€˜â€˜What happened?’’ she asked.
    â€˜â€˜What?’’
    â€˜â€˜Was it something with Michael? Did he—did you—?’’ She didn’t even know what she was asking, but something had deeply disturbed Shane, and she had no idea what it was.
    He looked at her for a long few seconds, then pulled away, stood up, and walked to his window to look down on the backyard they never really used. ‘‘My dad called,’’ he said. ‘‘He told me that he was coming back, and he wanted me to be prepared to take out some vampires. If I stay, I’m going to have to kill Michael. I don’t want to be here, Claire. I can’t.’’
    He didn’t want to make the choice, not again. Claire bit her lip, hard; she could hear the pain in his voice, although he wasn’t going to let her see it in his expression. ‘‘You really think your dad will come back?’’
    â€˜â€˜Yeah. Eventually. Maybe not this month, maybe not this year, but . . . someday. And next time, he’ll have what he needs to start a real war around here.’’ Shane shivered; she saw the muscles in his back tense up under the tight gray shirt he was wearing. ‘‘I need to get you out of here before you get hurt.’’
    Claire got up, walked to him, and put her arms around him from behind. She leaned against him, her head on his back, and sighed. ‘‘I’m more worried about you,’’ she said. ‘‘You and trouble . . .’’
    â€˜â€˜Yeah.’’ She heard the smile in his voice. ‘‘We’re like that.’’

4
    The spaghetti was good, and a little pleading got Shane to sit down and eat. He sat across from Michael, but they didn’t talk, and they didn’t make eye contact. All in all, pretty polite. Claire was just starting to relax when Shane asked, blandly, ‘‘You put extra garlic in this, Eve? You know how I like the garlic.’’
    She shot him a dirty look. ‘‘Oh, the neighborhood knows.’’ And then an apologetic one toward Michael. ‘‘It’s okay, right? Not too much?’’ Because garlic wasn’t something vampires were especially fond of. That was why Shane tended to use it as garnish on everything he ate.
    â€˜â€˜It’s fine,’’ Michael said, but he was picking at his food, and he looked a little pale. ‘‘Monica stopped by today. Looking for you, Claire.’’
    Both Shane and Eve groaned. For once, all three of her housemates were entirely in agreement. And they were all looking at her.
    â€˜â€˜What?’’ she asked. ‘‘I swear, it’s not—I’m not sucking up to her or anything! She’s just—crazy, okay? I’m not her friend. I don’t know why she’s coming around.’’
    â€˜â€˜She’s