Rachel Caine: Carpe Corpus

Michael rescued Eve from a tissue paper war and towed her toward the door with his guitar case in the other hand. “I’m calling a truce,” he said, and looked back at Claire from the door. “We’ll come back after the show.”

None of them were letting her stay the night alone; she got that. She supposed later, that might annoy her, but tonight, it just felt . . . great. She loved being looked after.

Then the door shut, and it was just her and Shane.

“So,” she said. “What’s on TV tonight?”

“Hockey.”

“I’m pretty sure there’s something other than hockey.”

“Nope. Just hockey. It’s on every channel. Better complain to the cable company.” He kicked back in the chair and settled in with the remote.

“Jerk.” She sighed. “I’m the one with low blood pressure, here. Shouldn’t I get the remote?”

“I’m thoughtful. Look, I brought you a present.” He pulled a wooden stake out of his pocket and put it next to her hand, on top of the blankets.

“What’s this for?”

“Emergencies,” he said. “Morganville emergencies.”

She examined the stake. It looked like it might have been one of Eve’s, at least originally. “I hate to break it to you, but Dean wasn’t a vampire.”

“Bet it would have worked good on him, too.”

She spotted some writing on the side. “You put my name on it!” Hand-carved. That must have taken a while.

“I had time, sitting around here waiting for you to wake up. Anyway, Amelie just issued a new law. All humans are allowed to carry stakes for self-defense. See? Progress.”

“Or mutually assured destruction.”

“Well, whatever works.”

Claire held up the stake. “Some girls get jewelry. But they’re such losers.”

He reached in his pocket, came out with a small velvet box, and set it next to her pillow. She took a deep, sudden breath, and felt her whole body go a little bit woozy around the edges.

“What is it?” she asked softly.

“It’s . . . kind of for later,” he said. “I just didn’t want you to think I’m not well-rounded or anything.”

He kissed her, and she felt everything melt away. All the pain, the fear, the worry. It was all just going to be . . . okay.

Somewhere, Michael Glass was playing to a packed house at Common Grounds.

Amelie was sitting alone in her study.

Myrnin was writing down secrets in a leather-bound book.

Monica Morrell was sneering at a blushing freshman girl.

And Claire Danvers was . . . happy.

At least for tonight.

In celebration of reaching book six, I’d like to share with you a list of some songs that have kept me going through the writing process! As always, if you’ve got suggestions, I’d love to hear them (rachel@rachelcaine.com).

"Bridge to Better Days" Joe Bonamassa

"Believe" The Bravery

"Danger Is Here" Elliot Scott

"The Geeks Were Right" The Faint

"Sister Self Doubt" Get Shakes

"Caravan" (DJ Smash's Smashish Remix" Dizzy Gillespie

"Video" India.Arie

"Hole in the Middle" Emily Jane White

"Black Is the Color of My True Love's Hair" (Jaffa Remix) Nina Simone

"Hell Yeah" Rev Theory

"Count to Ten" Tina Dico

"Silence" (DJ Tiesto's In Search of Sunrise Edit) Delerium and Sarah McLachlan

"Let It Die" Foo Fighters

"Gt Free" The Vines

"Violet Hill" Coldplay

"Could've Had Me" Lex Land

"Mercy" Duffy

"Feeling Good" Nina Simone

"Not Dead Yet" Ralph Covert and The Bad Examples

"Burnin' Up" Jonas Brothers

"Let It Rock" Kevin Rundolf and Lil Wayne

"Disturbia" Rihanna

"Hot N Cold" Katy Perry

"Heavy on My Mind" Back Door Slam

"Guess Who" Nekta

"Now You Know" We Are The Fury

"What You Want" Neva Dinova

"Get Back" Demi Lovato

"Sacre Couer" (Live) Tina Dico

"Ghost Town" Shiny Toy Guns

Look for me on MySpace, Facebook, LiveJournal, and Twitter!

www.rachelcaine.com

In addition to the Morganville Vampires series, Rachel Caineis the author of the popular Weather Warden series, which includes Ill Wind , Heat Stroke , Chill Factor , Windfall , Firestorm , Thin Air , and Gale Force . Her eighth Weather Warden novel, Cape Storm , will be released in August 2009. Rachel and her husband, fantasy artist R. Cat Conrad, live in Texas with their iguanas, Popeye 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.