Free Feast of Fools by Rachel Caine Page B

back home. That gives us fifteen whole extra minutes.’’
    She felt her heart stammer, and race a little faster. Shane was looking at her with fierce intensity.
    â€˜â€˜So what do you want to do?’’ she asked, trying to sound casual about it.
    â€˜â€˜I want to talk,’’ he said, which was not what she expected. Not at all. ‘‘I can’t talk about this back at the house. I never know who could be listening.’’
    â€˜â€˜Meaning Michael?’’
    Shane shrugged. ‘‘It’s just never exactly private.’’
    He wasn’t wrong, but she still felt horribly disappointed. ‘‘Sure,’’ she said, and knew she sounded stiff and wounded. ‘‘Go ahead. Talk.’’
    His eyes widened. ‘‘You thought—’’
    â€˜â€˜Just talk, Shane.’’
    He cleared his throat. ‘‘I’ve been doing some research on Bishop.’’
    The idea of Shane and research didn’t seem to want to fall into the same sentence. ‘‘Where?’’
    â€˜â€˜The town library,’’ he shrugged. ‘‘Special collections. I know Janice, the librarian—she was a friend of my mom’s. She let me into the back to take a look at some of the older stuff, the things they don’t put out for public reading.’’
    â€˜â€˜The vampire collection.’’
    He nodded. ‘‘Anyway, the only thing I could find out was a reference to a Bishop—maybe not the same one—who killed a whole lot of people about five hundred years ago.’’
    â€˜â€˜Doesn’t sound too unusual . . .’’
    â€˜â€˜Except that he wasn’t killing humans,’’ Shane said. ‘‘From the way the thing was written, Bishop was killing off his enemies in the vampire community. Making himself the ruler of the world. And then something happened, and he dropped out of sight.’’
    â€˜â€˜Wow. No wonder Amelie and Oliver were freaked.’’
    â€˜â€˜If he’s been underground all this time, and has a rep for taking out anyone who stands in his way, human or vampire—yeah. I’d be freaked, too. Anyway, I thought you should know. It could be important.’’
    â€˜â€˜Thanks.’’
    He nodded, gaze fixed on hers.
    â€˜â€˜Anything else?’’ she prompted.
    â€˜â€˜Yeah.’’
    He leaned forward and kissed her. His weight settled toward her, leaning her back against the door, and she felt all the strength and breath go out of her body, replaced with a quivering, golden vibration. Oh. Shane’s lips were warm and damp, soft but demanding, and she heard herself make a sound like a whimper in response. His hands knew just where to hold her—one at the back of her head, one at the small of her back, pulling her closer. Fitting their bodies together.
    It felt so good, it was like swimming in sunlight. Her fingers tangled in his soft, shaggy hair and traced down his back, and for a wild second she imagined what it would be like, right here, right now, in Eve’s big car. It seemed to go on forever, a dreamy eternity of heat. . . .
    His hands slipped down her shoulders, traced her collarbone, then moved lower. She heard herself make a sound that was more a whine than anything else, a naked plea, as the heat of his touch reached the top edge of her bra, slid past the edge and down. . . .
    Shane broke the kiss with a gasp, leaning his cheek against hers. The sound of his breath in her ear made her shiver again. So close. God, we’re so close. . . .
    â€˜â€˜We’d—better go inside,’’ he said. It sounded like he was fighting hard to sound normal, but he was missing by a mile, and when he sat back, all she could see was the hot focus in his eyes, and his damp, reddened, totally kissable lips. She wondered what he was seeing in her, and realized with a shock that it