“If you ask me if I’m imagining it again, I’m going to punch you out, Dead Man Walking.”Michael raised his eyebrows and glanced at Eve. “He doesn’t sound crazy.”“Er,” she clarified, “crazier. He sounds like he’s back to normal, which is baseline crazy.”

“Bite me, Goth princess,” Shane called from the back. “Not literally or anything.”“Maybe you should say that to Michael.”“Not funny, Eve,” Michael said.Eve raised her eyebrows and held her fingers up, measuring off about an inch. “Little bit,” she said.”

“I'm worried he's going to ... do something crazy." "He lives in a hole in the ground, dresses funny, and occasionally eats his assistants," Eve said. "Define crazy.”

“I'm worried he's going to...do something crazy.""He lives in a hole in the ground, dresses funny and occasionally eats his assistants," Eve said. "Define crazy."Claire closed her eyes. "Okay. I think he wants to put my brain in a jar and wire it into the machine."Dead silence.”

“He let Shane drop back down in his chair, and walked out, back stiff. Furious.Shane sat with his hands clutching at the armrests. He exchanged a stunned look with Eve, and they both stood up at once. "No," Shane said. "I did it. Let me fix it."He went off after Michael. Eve chewed her lip and said, "Well, we're either going to see half the house destroyed, or their bromance is going to go all the way.”

“I’m sorry, Eve. I love you. I’m not letting you do this.”She screamed and battered harder. “You love me? You asshole! Let me go!”

“Won? He’s one of them! How exactly is that winning?”Michael shook his head, moved up behind her, and put his hands on her shoulders. He kissed the nape of her neck gently. “I don’t know, Eve. I’m just telling you what I heard. He got some kind of agreement out of the vampires. And it was because Amelie loved him.”“Yeah, loved him enough to kill him and turn him into a bloodsucking fiend,” Eve said grimly. “How sweet. Romance isn’t dead. Oh, wait. It is.”