Feast of Fools (32 page)

‘‘I'm giving them equality,'' Amelie said. ‘‘Do you wish to argue the point with me now, of all times?''

Oliver, after a heart-stopping second, shook his head.

‘‘Then go,'' Amelie said. ‘‘Oliver, Eve, go to Common Grounds and hold it. Sam, choose defenders for each Founder House. At least two vampires and two humans per house. Michael, Richard—go to the university. I will call the regent—you'll have all you need.''

Her gaze moved to Claire. ‘‘I need you with me,'' she said. ‘‘We will fetch Myrnin.''

‘‘Bishop's there,'' Claire reminded her.

‘‘I'm well aware. We will take precautions.''

Shane cleared his throat. ‘‘You're not going anywhere without me.''

‘‘I'm afraid we are,'' Amelie said. ‘‘I have a very special job for you, Shane Collins.''

‘‘I'm not going to like this, am I?''

She smiled.

‘‘Didn't think so,'' Shane finished under his breath.

‘‘You will be in charge of the Bloodmobile,'' Amelie said. ‘‘And one other thing.''

‘‘Like the Bloodmobile isn't bad enough?''

Amelie reached in the pocket of her crystal-specked robes, and pulled out a small leather-bound book.

It looked really, really familiar. It was the book that had gotten them in such trouble before—the book Bishop wanted.

‘‘You'll be in charge of this,'' she said, and held it out to him.

He took it, and as he did, Claire realized what Amelie had done.

She'd just made Shane the bait.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

In addition to the Morganville Vampires series, Rachel Caine is the author of the popular Weather Warden series, which includes
Ill Wind, Heat Stroke, Chill Factor, Windfall, Firestorm,
and
Thin Air
. Her seventh Weather Warden novel,
Gale Force
, will be released in August 2008. Rachel and her husband, fantasy artist R. Cat Conrad, live in Texas with their iguanas, Pop-eye and Darwin; a
mali uromastyx
named (appropriately) O'Malley; and a leopard tortoise named Shelley (for the poet, of course).

Please visit her Web site at
www.rachelcaine.com
and her MySpace,
www.myspace.com/rachelcaine
.