Kiss of Death (31 page)

He looked at her, holding the stare for so long it felt as if the fall would go on and on, falling forever....

And then he said, very quietly, “How can I not go back? How can I let you go, Claire? We all stay, or we all go back. I’m not letting you go on your own.” He touched a fingertip to her nose, startling a laugh out of her. “Somebody’s got to be your bodyguard.”

She kissed him, and their skins warmed together in the sunlight; silently, Shane raised her right hand to his lips, and kissed her fingers and kissed the claddagh ring glittering there, that promise of the future that had so much meaning for him, in the past.

And then, one more time, while they were still completely free, he told her how much he loved her.

Afterward, going back to Morganville didn’t seem so dark.

TRACK LIST

As always, music drives the creative bus for me, so here are some songs that rocked this little road trip. Feed the artists, please. They deserve your support.

 

“Good 2 U”
“Fire”
“Guilty as Charged”
“Call in the Cavalry”
“Troubled Land”
“Luisa’s Bones”
“Looking Pretty, Pretty”
“Post Blue (Dave Bascombe Mix)”
“Running up that Hill”
“Sister Rosetta (Capture the Spirit)”
“Circle the Fringes”
“Nighttiming”
“I Can’t Do It Alone”
“Wish We Were Older”
“That Dress Looks Nice on You”
“Kill Kill”
“I Love You Good-bye”
“Prime Mover”
“I Don’t Live in a Dream”
“Down Boy”
“People C’mon”
“The Future’s Nothing New”
“Snakes and Lions”
“Gift”
“World Can’t Have Her”
Dave Mason
Daniel Lanois
Gym Class Heroes
The Shys
John Mellencamp
Crooked Fingers
TAB The Band
Placebo
Placebo
Noisettes
The Gutter Twins
Coconut Records
30H!3
Metro Station
Sufjan Stevens
Lizzy Grant
Thomas Dolby
Steve Stevens
Jackie Greene
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Delta Spirit
The Alternate Routes
Melpo Mene
Curve
Cobra Verde
“Go My Way (The iPod Song)”
“Don’t Let the Devil Take Your Mind”
“Keeper”
“Lonely Ghosts”
“Mama Told Me (Not to Come)”
“2080”
“Wild Life”
“Architeuthis”
“On Fire”
“I’m Good, I’m Gone”
“Disappearing”
Bacon Brothers
Jackie Greene
Butterfly Boucher
O+S
Three Dog Night
Yeasayer
Bacon Brothers
Bacon Brothers
JJ Grey & Mofro
Lykke Li
Simon Collins

 

More playlists at
www.rachelcaine.com

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

In addition to the Morganville Vampires series,
Rachel Caine
is the author of the popular Weather Warden series, which includes
Ill
Wind,
Heat
Stroke, Chill Factor,
Windfall, Firestorm,
Thin Air,
Gale
Force,
and
Cape
Storm. Her ninth Weather Warden novel will be released in August 2010. She also writes the Outcast Season series, which currently includes
Undone
and
Unknown.
Rachel and her husband, fantasy artist R. Cat Conrad, live in Texas with their iguanas, Popeye and Darwin.

Web site:
www.rachelcaine.com

Social networks: MySpace, LiveJournal, Facebook, and Twitter