“No, you won’t,” Myrnin said, and smiled at her. “Since I shall expect you at your table in the laboratory at ten a.m. sharp next Monday. Oh, and I’m to tell you that you will need to repeat some credit hours at the university. Apparently, some problem with your transcripts.”
“What?”
He shrugged. “Oh, don’t pretend you don’t love class, Claire. We both know better.”
Shane tapped Myrnin on the shoulder, and just for a second the two of them stared at each other . . . and then Myrnin gracefully, flamboyantly, bowed himself out. “Let me just say this once,” Shane said, as he slipped into place to whirl Claire away on the dance floor. “No more flirting with the crazy.”
She kissed him, and even though they stopped dancing, even though the world spun around them on its axis, even though things would never be exactly right, and vampires would fall short of their promises, and humans would be mean and spiteful and murderous . . . even with real life looming all around them, for that moment . . .
Everything was perfect.
“Mrs. Collins,” Shane whispered in her ear. “Let’s blow this party and go home while we can have it to ourselves.” He was right. Jenna was here, and Miranda was alongside her, looking sweet and pretty in a pink dress and getting invitations to dance from high school boys. She’d never looked so happy. Or so alive. Michael was onstage playing, while Oliver whirled Eve around the dance floor in an impressive show of grace.
Her heart pounded hard against her chest, and the beautiful white wedding dress felt too tight to hold her. Too tight to hold all the emotions that rioted inside her.
“Yes,” she said. “Let’s go home.”
EPILOGUE
“Founder.”
Amelie looked up as Oliver slid yet another dreary file folder in front of her on her desk. She frowned at it peevishly. “And what’s this one?”
“For your signature,” he said, and settled with insolent ease into a chair on the other side. He’d gone back to his customary black, which—she was sure he was aware—looked quite intimidating on him. “Reports on the ongoing prosecutions. Rhys Fallon is pleading not guilty, along with Anderson and some of the other key members of the Daylight Foundation. I assume you will sign the orders to terminate them once the verdict is in.” He was watching her carefully, probing for weakness. As always.
She handed the folder back. “No. My original decision still stands.”
“You really must disabuse yourself of the notion that mercy will heal all wounds. Some diseases need surgery.”
“Fallon thought he had such a surgical cure,” she said. “I am not so foolish. If they’re found guilty, they will serve prison sentences, Oliver, and I shall hear no more of it. Chief Moses and I are in perfect agreement on this matter.”
“Chief Moses is just as much of a sentimental fool as you are.”
“Careful,” Amelie said in a low, even tone that nevertheless was edged in ice. “I have ceded control of most things to the humans, but within our ranks I still rule. You know that.”
“I do,” he said. “But you’d be terribly disappointed in me if I didn’t test you from time to time.”
He was, unfortunately, right. All rulers needed gadflies to keep them alert, keep them questioning. And for better or worse, for eternity, he was hers.
And she could not deny that it suited them both, very well.
“Anything else? The night is growing short.”
“The university is reporting a few incidents,” he said. “It would appear not all vampires are behaving themselves quite as well as you require. I assume you’d like me to look into it.”
“Send Jason Rosser,” she said. “Since you’re grooming the psychotic little beast to act as your second-in-command, best give him the responsibility for keeping others in line. He will hopefully learn some restraint himself in the process, with your oversight. No deaths involved, I assume?”
“No,” he said. “I suppose the three vampires you locked up for murder did get the message across effectively.”
“Then I suppose we are . . .”
“At peace?” Oliver stood up and offered her his hand. She took it, and he escorted her to the door of her office, which he held open as he saw her out. “There are still humans who hate the sight of us, and you’ve given them power and trust. Myrnin is still running about unattended in that lab of his, concocting God knows what new nightmare. There is an emissary from the new Pope coming to review our status, which may be unpleasant. A blogger in Kansas wrote an incoherent piece about vampires hiding in Texas. A number of vampires have requested Fallon’s cure, despite the slender odds of survival. And I believe that Monica Morrell is demanding your presence as a judge at a dog show. Peace, dear Founder, might be a bridge too far.”
“Ah,” she said, and gave him a cool, calm smile as they walked the hallway toward Founder’s Square and the night. “Then I suppose we must settle for controlled chaos.”
“As ever, Amelie,” he said.
“One might think you far too familiar,” she said.
As they stepped out into the moonlight, he bent and raised her hand to his lips. “I am not familiar enough, dear Founder. Yet.”
“Good,” she said, and controlled a shiver. “Very good.”
It was, when all was said and done, now a human town, with human values.
But in the dark . . . Morganville was still hers.
Always.
TRACK LIST
It’s bittersweet to say good-bye to Morganville, and I needed a sound track that said everything about these characters and this special place in my heart. So listen, enjoy, and support the musicians who create this great music. They need your ears, but they need your financial love, too.
“Can’t Play Dead (Radio Edit)”
The Heavy
“Put the Gun Down”
ZZ Ward
“Man Like That”
Gin Wigmore
“Afterlife”
Switchfoot
“Bring It”
Trapt
“My Sorry Cinderella”
Kev Bayliss
“My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark (Light Em Up)”
Fall Out Boy
“Alright”
Kinnie Starr
“Too Close (Acoustic Version)”
Trapt
“Be Tomorrow”
Madlife
“Move Like U Stole It”
ZZ Ward
“Back to Life”
Lansdowne
“Daylight”
Maroon 5
“Seasick”
Silversun Pickups
“Virgin”
Manchester Orchestra
“Going Under”
Trapt
“Blue Eyes Blind”
ZZ Ward
“Spiritus Khayyam”
Globus
“Living in the Eye of the Storm (Acoustic Version)”
Trapt
“Surrender”
Digital Daggers
“Justified”
Rhino Bucket
“Secret Things”
Ken Andrews
“Love Hate Relationship (Acoustic Version)”
Trapt
“Wicked”
Greg Dulli
“Holy Doom”
Jason Edwards
“Boy (Hostage Remix)”
Nina Nesbitt
“Sacrilege”
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
“Home”
ZZ Ward
“Sinister Kid”
The Black Keys
“Stand My Ground”
Within Temptation
“All Waters”
Perfume Genius
“What Makes a Good Man? (Original Version)”
The Heavy
“Short Change Hero”
The Heavy
“Radioactive”
Imagine Dragons
“Leave This Town”
Kev Bayliss