Read Online Morganville Vampires [01] Glass Houses by Rachel Caine - Free Book Online

red and black tartan skirt, black fishnet hose, clunky patent leather shoes with skulls on the toes, a white men’s shirt, suspenders. And a floor-length black leather coat. Her hair was up in two pigtails, fastened with skull-themed bands. She smelled like…coffee. Fresh ground. There were some brown splatters on her shirtfront.
    “Oh, hey, Claire,” she said, and blinked. “Where are you going?”
    “Funeral,” Shane said. On-screen, a zombie shrieked and died gruesomely.
    “Yeah? Cool! Whose?”
    “Hers.” Shane said.
    Eve’s eyes widened. “Claire—you’re going back?”
    “Just for some of my stuff. I figure if I show up every couple of days, let people see me, they’ll think I still live there….”
    “Whoa, whoa, whoa, bad idea. Bad. No cookie. You can’t go back. Not by yourself.”
    “Why not?”
    “They’re looking for you!”
    Shane put the game on pause again. “You think I didn’t already tell her that? She’s not listening.”
    “And you were going to let her just go ?”
    “I’m not her mom.”
    “How about just her friend ?”
    He gave her a look that pretty clearly said, Shut up . Eve glared back, then looked at Claire. “Seriously. You can’t just—it’s dangerous. You have no idea. If Monica’s really gone to her Patron and tagged you, you can’t just, you know, wander around.”
    “I’m not wandering,” Claire pointed out. “I’m going to my dorm, picking up some clothes, going to class, and coming home.”
    “Going to class ?” Eve made helpless little flapping motions with her black-fingernailed hands. “No no no! No class, are you kidding?”
    Shane raised his arm. “Hello? Pointed it out already.”
    “Whatever,” Claire said, and stepped around Eve to walk down the hall to the front door. She heard Shane and Eve whispering fiercely behind her, but didn’t wait.
    If she waited, she was going to lose her nerve.
    It was only a little after noon. Plenty of time to get to school, do the rest of her classes, stuff some clothes in a garbage bag, say enough hellos to make everything okay, and get home before dark. And it was after dark that was dangerous, right? If they were serious about the vampire thing.
    Which she was starting to believe, just a teeny little bit.
    She opened the front door, stepped out, closed it, and walked out onto the porch. The air smelled sharp and crisp with heat. Eve must have been cooking in that coat; there were ripples of hot air rising up from the concrete sidewalk, and the sun was a pale white dot in a washed-denim sky.
    She was halfway to the sidewalk, where Eve’s big car lurked, when the door slammed behind her. “Wait!” Eve blurted, and came hurrying after with the leather coat flapping in the hot wind. “I can’t let you do this.”
    Claire kept walking. The sun burned on the sore spot on her head, and on her bruises. Her ankle was still sore, but not enough to bother her that much. She’d just have to be careful.
    Eve darted around her to face her, then danced backward when Claire kept walking. “Seriously. This is dumb, Claire, and you don’t strike me as somebody with a death wish. I mean, I have a death wish—it takes one to know one—okay, stop ! Just stop !” She put out a hand, palm out, and Claire stopped short just a few inches away. “You’re going. I get that. At least let me drive you. You shouldn’t be walking. This way I can call Shane if—if anything happens. And at least you’ll have somebody standing by.”
    “I don’t want to get you guys into any trouble.” Michael had been pretty specific about that.
    “That’s why Shane’s not coming. He’s—well, he attracts trouble like TV screens attract dust. Besides, it’s better not to put him anywhere near Monica. Bad things happen.” Eve unlocked the car doors. “You have to call shotgun.”
    “What?”
    “You have to call shotgun to get the passenger seat.”
    “But nobody else is—”
    “I’m just telling you, get used to the