"Hello?" Claire called out to the almost silent Glass House. If it weren't for the soft hum of the fridge, and the feeling of the warm vibes from the house, she would have thought that everyone had vanished. She smiled softly and closed the door behind her, locking it, but not sliding the dead bolt in place.
Claire thought that would make it easier for the rest of her housemates when they finally got home.
She patted the wall as she passed down the hallway, just like she always did. Because, the way Claire saw it, the house was alive, and it was a part of the household.
The house itself was actually alive, and it had been alive ever since it was built. Claire couldn't quite understand it, but she was living in a town run by vampires, and she worked for the strongest and most ancient vampires in Morganville. Scratch that. In the whole world. She could accept the fact that her house was practically alive, surprisingly. The house's energy warmed the space around Claire, welcoming her arrival, and she smiled softly and she looked up at the ceiling. She didn't know why, but she felt as if she was actually looking at the house itself when she did that.
Claire dumped her bag pack on the floor, and she kicked it softly under the table and where none of her clumsy housemates would trip over it. Clumsy housemates meaning Eve, and possibly Shane.
Honestly, Claire didn't - couldn't - understand how the two could be such dorks at times, but then again, Claire was a pretty big dork herself. She had finished her classes early, and it wasn't even one yet. Michael Glass, the owner of the house, wasn't home, and she proved the theory that the newbie vampire wasn't sleeping still when she went upstairs and knocked softly on his door.
Claire figured that he might be at the new guitar classes that he had recently opened up to kill time and earn some extra cash; probably teaching teenage guys how to play in attempt to impress girls.
Claire couldn't judge though. If some guy came up to her and started rocking out on his guitar, Claire would be impressed. But she got the thought that they wouldn't be as good as Michael.
Eve Rosser, her somewhat fashionable Goth best friend was at Oliver's Common Grounds coffee shop, and Claire remembered her mentioning that she had a double shift. That eliminated her.
And then there was Shane. Shane Collins. Just like her two other house mates, Shane was eighteen years old, but Claire was seventeen. That had caused a lot of problems, and not just when Claire's parents had suddenly turned up out of the blue and decided that they were going to live in Morganville, but from Michael as well. Because Michael was the owner of the house, and he was the responsible one. He'd done well for a while, and so had Shane, but boundaries could only be pushed so far, and Shane had given in. Finally.
Claire felt herself smile, and she blushed at the memory. She didn't even know why she was blushing, she had been with Shane for a while now, and they had spent a lot of time together.
Together, together.
Claire pulled the hair tie free, and she shook her head as the hair settled around her face. It had been short when she first moved to Morganville, but she had decided to grow out, and now it reached down past her shoulders and hung loosely. Eve had even put in some highlights, and when the light hit her hair, it gleamed a bright red. It was cool, and it was the new, improved Claire.
She backed away from Michael's door, and headed downstairs again; it was obvious that she home alone. Claire hardly ever had time to herself, not that she minded it.
She ran her hand along the walls, before letting her arm drop back to her side as she walked into the kitchen and reached for an apple. She felt warm breath against her neck, and Claire did what any smart person in a town like Morganville would do; she screamed.

Claire's throat was actually sore by the time she clapped a hand over her mouth, and her heart thumped painfully hard in her chest. She was scared that it was going to leap out of her chest.
Although, when she realized who she was staring wide eyed at, she was sure her heart would leap out her chest. Shane was grinning down at her, and he flicked dark hair out of his face, amusement evident in those big, beautiful, amber eyes of his.
"Well, damn girl," Shane looked down at her chest, watching as Claire breathed frantically, and then back up into her dark eyes. "I'm pretty sure the whole neighbourhood heard you. Hell, I'm pretty certain Grandma Day heard you."
"That's what you get for sneaking up on a girl!" Claire smacked him on the arm, but it was nothing too hard or serious. She turned her back on him and ducked down to grab the apple she had dropped. The apple Shane had made her drop.
"There's a girl in here?" Claire turned in time to see Shane looking around the kitchen.
"Jerk!" Claire exclaimed and she hit him again, only a little harder.
"Ow," Shane said it in that way that meant it hadn't hurt at all, and Claire felt her eyes roll automatically. She really was turning into a mini Eve. Or a Eve with less fashion sense.
"What are you doing home anyway? Don't you have meat to chop? Mr McStabby." She added the last point to annoy him, and when he rolled his eyes, Claire smiled.
"Boss man let me leave early. No big deal."
"Shane, did you get fired?"
"Me? Fired me?" Shane actually smiled in what seemed like pride, and he glanced down at Claire before walking towards the living room. Claire followed after him. "Please, I'm their best man."
"Can't imagine why," Claire mumbled as she snuggled in beside Shane on the couch, but she knew that Shane had heard her. He'd been trained basically his whole life to fight, and to kill vampires.
Chopping meat was technically a way of training, and Claire wondered if that was why he liked working there so much. He draped his arm around her shoulders and looked around, as if there was something missing. Claire tried to reach out for his Xbox controller, but then he opened his mouth.
"Where's Michael?" Shane asked. "And Eve?"
"Michael, well, I don't know. Thought he might be teaching guitar or something. And Eve's working double shifts, so she won't be home until five or something."
"So, it's just you and me?"
Claire smiled and she caught her bottom lip between her teeth as she looked up at her boyfriend.
Boyfriend. It still made her feel warm inside.
"And the house," Claire shrugged, but that didn't stop Shane's hands from grasping onto her hips. The corner of his lips twitched up into an askew smile, and he glanced around.
"And the house," Shane repeated, and his lips were on hers. Warm and soft and damp, and everything Claire needed. Claire pulled away slightly, and she licked her lips, her gaze never broke away from Shane's dark and wild eyes.
"You taste like barbecue," Claire almost whispered.
Shane smiled down at her, and opened his mouth to say something, but he didn't get the chance because Claire's lips were on his again. Hot, and feverish, and reminding her of how much she needed him. How much she wanted him.
"I missed you," Shane managed to murmur into her lips.
"Good," Claire ran her tongue along the outside of Shane's bottom lip, and as he let out a soft moan and let his tongue clash against hers, he pushed Claire backwards onto the couch.
Claire wrapped her legs around his slim hips, pulling herself even closer to him as she already was. Shane's fingers pressed against the bare skin underneath her shirt, and then he was pushing the material up, and up, and Claire let out a soft moan as Shane's lips moved to her neck.
"Yo, dudes!" Eve yelled, and the front door slammed closed. Claire yelped, and she shoved Shane off her, sitting up and brushing her shirt down. She knew that her hair must have been a mess as a result of Shane tangling his hands in it, and her lips must have been red and swollen from the kisses. But as Eve walked past the lounge room, and slowed down to look at both her house mates, she didn't say a word.
She was favouring magenta today, along with black, and she had let her dark hair fall down to the small of her back. Her bright pink lips puckered, and she blinked once.
"What's going on?" Eve asked.
"Nothing," Claire blurted, but at the same time, Shane said something else.
"I don't kiss and tell."
Eve stared at them for another few seconds, and Claire felt like she was a kid that had been busted by her mother. Eve just had that sort of vibe, even though she would be drilling Claire for juicy details later. The Goth simply raised an eyebrow, nodded her head once and continued on.
And as she headed upstairs, Claire heard her say, "I don't even want to know."