But it felt like being alone. Deliciously, magically alone. Because they were in a crowd of people, but nobody was paying them the slightest bit of attention.
The movie had started, but she had zero idea what it was about, other than some crazy zombie guy stalking people. Oh, and there was a smart girl with glasses, and a hot guy who would probably survive, too. With the sound turned down to a whisper, she saw only flashes, and when she closed her eyes, she didn't see anything but sunbursts of light against the darkness.
"What's this?" Shane asked, and traced the line of her new bra with his fingertip. "Sexy. What else you got?"
"I'll give you a hint. It matches."
"Let's take a look. . . ."
Things were about to get very interesting--and she wasn't thinking about the movie at all--when her cell phone rang. Claire yelped and flailed around for it, mostly to shut it off, but Shane sat up, and she squirmed around to get to a sitting position, holding her shirt closed as she squinted at the display.
"It's Eve," she said. Shane smacked his forehead right into the steering wheel and made a sound of utter frustration. "Should I get it?"
"Yeah," he said, not too happily. "I guess so. But tell her I hate her a whole lot right now."
"You don't."
"Oh, trust me. I could not hate her more."
Claire pressed the button and said, "Eve? Shane says--" She was interrupted by the sound of screaming. It was so loud and shocking that she almost dropped the phone. "Eve? Eve!"
Shane caught the alarm in her tone, and reached out for the phone. "Give," he said. She handed it over, shaking, and he put it to his ear. "Eve? Eve, can you hear me? What's going on?" He stopped to listen, and gave Claire a look that made her shiver again. "Yeah, I hear it. Are you safe?"
"Speaker!" Claire said. "Put it on speaker!"
He did. Screaming blasted out of the phone, but it wasn't Eve's; she was trying to talk. Only part of it came through. " . . . Define safe. . . . trying to get . . . crazy . . . need help--"
"Hang on, Eve. We're coming," Shane said, and tossed the phone to Claire as he fired up the hearse's engine, slammed it into reverse, and backed up with a squeal of tires. "Try to get an address!"
"I know where it is," Claire said. She gave him the address, clear and sharp in her memory from the flyer she'd been handed days ago on the steps of the Science Building. "That's not far, right?"
"Not far," he agreed, and hit the gas, speeding toward the exit past rows of parked cars with fogged-over windows. "Keep her talking."
"Eve? Can you hear me?"
"Yes!" Eve's voice suddenly came through the background noise loud and clear. "We're okay for now, but we need backup, big-time."
"What's going on? Vampires?"
"Oh, you'd think, but no. Some jackass jocks started tearing up the place. They've been rampaging around through half the town. . . . Oh, shit!" There was a rise in screaming and confused sounds. When Eve came back, she was out of breath. " Now there're vamps. And they are pissed."
"Is Oliver there?"
"Didn't stop to read name tags. Oh, man--seriously not good here. People are dying--Cory! Cory, no, don't--Cory!" Eve's last word was a scream of utter horror, and then the phone just . . . died. Claire hung up and tried calling back. Eve's cheery voice mail took the call. She looked over at Shane, who was staring straight ahead with an expression as hard as stone. He shook his head.
"Hurry," Claire whispered. She realized her shirt was still open, and quickly buttoned it up with trembling hands. "Does Eve keep any weapons in here?"
"Probably in the back. Wait--check the glove box."
Claire opened it and found two silver-coated, sharp-tipped stakes. They weren't her favorite vampire-fighting accessory, only because they weren't something she could use at a distance, but the heavy, cool feel of them eased a tight, anxious knot in her stomach. But there was something odd about the way they felt. . . . Claire turned the stakes over in her fingers until she saw what that roughness in the surface was, and almost laughed.
"What?" Shane asked. Claire showed him the stake. The dashboard lights caught the silver surface and shone red from a skull design blinged out in fake rubies on it.
"She BeDazzled her stakes," Claire said.
"Yeah, she would." He almost smiled, but his eyes were wild, and he couldn't seem to get his face to relax. "Get Chief Moses on the phone; get her to send the marines."
Claire nodded and speed-dialed Hannah's number. Hannah sounded cheerful and alert, but on guard when she answered. "Moses."
"Hannah, it's Claire. Eve's in trouble--well, a lot of people sound like they're in trouble. You know about the rave tonight?"
"I had some plainclothes officers there making sure the kids didn't get into trouble. Except they did, right?"
"Eve called me, and there was screaming. I think you'd better send everybody. Just in case."
"Done. And, Claire, don't you go running in there." "But Eve's in there! "
"And we'll get everybody out."
Hannah hung up on her. "Hannah says not to go there," Claire said.
"Well, I like the lady, but screw that," Shane said. "Call Michael. Eve probably did, but just in case; he'd rip my ears off if I didn't let him know what was up."
Besides which, Michael's vampire strength wouldn't be at all a liability right now. Claire tried his phone, but it went to voice mail. She left a message with the address, and texted him, too. That was all she had time for, because Shane skidded the hearse around the last corner and onto a street that should have been deserted after dark--well, was deserted most of the time--but was parked up with cars on both sides.