A/N: For those of you who have read my other stories, I am just trying something new. Not necessarily in writing style, but in the subject matter. I watched the UK version of Being Human a while ago, and I just started rewatching it. I love the show and I love Mitchell. I also Love Aidan Turner. He is one of my favorite actors. Well, I hope you enjoy.
You know, some people would think that working at a bar would be much more fun. I have worked here for a couple months. I'm living with a couple friends, and guess what? Our new home is haunted. It's not a dangerous spirit, though. I'm actually good friends with her. I hope you don't think me insane for being friends with a ghost. Although, I'm not normal and neither are my two other roommates. It is hard to describe what I am, but the closest creature I can think of is a siren.
Yes, that is a mythical creature. A creature that lures men, usually men on ships, to their deaths by singing. Harpies and mermaids are rumored to do the same thing, but I've never seen someone who identifies as either one. I struggle with my abilities. Because of it, I can't have a meaningful relationship with a man. I can never know if his feelings are true. I haven't been on a date in years. But my abilities do get me lots of tips, so that is a good side to me being what I am.
My other roommates are supernatural as well. One is a vampire and one is a werewolf. Mitchell and George are really sweet. I feel so bad for George. Once a month he has to go through an agonizing transformation. I couldn't imagine having to do that. Mitchell? Well, he is certainly a sad character. He was born in 1893, and during the first World War a vampire by the name of William Herrick turned him. Mitchell sacrificed himself to save the rest of his troops. Lately he has been struggling. He asked me to help him. That is the main reason I work at this bar. He usually brings women here, and I help him control his bloodlust. The thing is, though, that I can only help with that when he is in the building.
About a month ago, he brought in this cute girl with short dark hair. They looked like they were having a great time. Things went catastrophically wrong. Not an hour after the two left I get a call from Mitchell. He was panicking and breaking down on the other end of the line. He succumbed to his bloodlust and ended up turning the poor girl. I left work early for a 'family emergency' and helped him move her out of the house. When he was gone I cleaned anything that had blood pooling on it. I had to deep clean a mattress, sheets, floorboards, and pillowcases before George came home. It had been his time of the month, and he was a good friend with the girl. She worked where they worked. Somehow I was successful in cleaning everything up. George didn't even ask about a smell of blood or anything.
Today is George's time of the month again. My shift starts around one o'clock and ends around seven. But around five thirty or six o'clock I get a frantic call from Mitchell. I hope he has not killed someone. Instead he tells me that George's usual 'cage' was being renovated for more office space at the hospital. That is not good. I hear George tell Mitchell to stop the car. The doors are opened and Mitchell tries to get George not to run into the woods. Oh lord, I wish I were with them. I would be able to calm both of them down enough to figure something out. Foolishly Mitchell suggests that George go back to the house and go through with the transformation there.
"For God sake you can't always keep it separate!" I hear Mitchell yell. "This is happening! This is part of you!" George was not answering him. "George! It's safer there! We can contain you! George!" He pauses before starting to talk to me again. "What am I supposed to do, Claire? He just ran off into the woods." I can tell that he is panicking, and to be honest I am too.
"Take a breath, Mitch." I say, trying to calm him down. "Wait a few minutes. He'll probably come back. The local forests are filled with people looking to get away. He'll figure out that your idea is the best idea. I get off in an hour. I'll meet you back at the house, but I can't leave early again. I'm already on thin ice here." I hear him get back in the car and take a few breaths before replying.
"Alright, I'll wait five minutes. If he doesn't come back by then I'm leaving." He says with a sigh. "I'll see ya back at the house." He says before hanging up. I put my phone away before getting back to work. I was distracted for that final hour, and as soon as the clock struck seven I was out the door. I ran all the way home. As I turned onto the street I heard loud music playing. I walk closer to the house and the music gradually gets louder. At the doorstep I see Mitchell and Annie sitting there. They look so defeated, and I'm sure my expression is no different. Mitchell is gasping his TV in his lap as he holds out my music/jewelry box. "I saved it for ya."
"Thanks." I say as I take my most prized possession. It was a gift from my mother before she was killed. I lean on the side of the house, but I sink down to the ground as I listen to the noises coming from inside.
The sun comes up and I realize that I did not get any sleep. There has been no sound from inside for over an hour. Mitchell is the first one to stand up and enter the building. Annie and I follow. As we walk in I see that every piece of furniture is broken. Pieces of the chairs and tables were lying on the stairs, and papers and books and everything else had been thrown all over the floor. In the middle of the chaos, George is lying on the floor asleep. Mitch and I carry the naked unconscious man to his room upstairs. We had to clear the stairs of all the debris first, but we were able to get George up to his room before he woke up.
We head back downstairs and clean up the mess. With the three of us working, we're able to get most of the wreckage cleaned up. We are able to save the couch and some of the kitchen items. About an hour later, I hear George come down the stairs. Annie is the first one to greet him as she finishes up the sweeping. I throw one of the orange blankets over the couch to cover the large scratches.
"Oh, no." George says as he looks at the empty rooms. "Where's, where's all the stuff?" He turns the corner and I start to walk towards him. "What'd it do?" I engulf him in a hug as Mitchell answers him. I always felt like George and I had a connection similar to siblings.
"We've salvaged what we can, but there's about ten bin bags of crap in wreckage stashed in my bedroom." I let go of George and turn to Mitchell.
"I'm sensing a trip to IKEA." I say excitedly. Mitch just glares at me. "And you are coming with me." I point to the vampire.
"You know my feelings about that." He says annoyed.
"I don't care. You owe me." I say referencing the incident with that Lauren girl. I glance back at George and see that he looks guilty for this happening, not that he could've done anything different. He can't help the fact that he's a werewolf.
"Look, why don't you three go out. Lemme finish up here. It's the least I could do." That's just nonsense. Everything has been cleared up at this point. Annie pipes up to distract us with her personal news.
"Owen rang!" She says.
"Owen who?" George asks.
"Our land lord." I answer.
"My fiancé." Annie clarifies. "Ex-fiancé. He's coming round." George looks to me and I nod my head.
"I took the call. He should be here soon." I say. Mitch looks at the clock.
"Soon as in about now." He says, still trying to make the couch look presentable.
"He's, he's coming here? Why?" George asks me.
"He said he's back in town for a few months and wants to meet us." I say, throwing a pillow at Mitch. He chuckles and throws it back at me.
"You guys are his longest staying tenants." Annie informs us.
"Hmm, I wonder why?" I say as I place the pillow on the end of the couch closest to me.
"All the others. They found it strangely unwelcoming." The ghost finishes. George turns to me once again.
"Why didn't you put him off?" He says in an upset tone of voice.
"Don't be angry with me. Trust me, I tried." Then I look to Annie. "She kept bugging me, and I needed to get back to cleaning. I went the path of least resistance at the time." George takes his glasses of and rubs the bridge of his nose.
"Sorry, you don't mean you're actually going to be here when he arrives." He asks Annie.
"Obviously I'll hide." Annie says, like it was so obvious. "He's not gonna see me." I sit on the couch and relax for a minute. After this visit I am going to bed. "Okay," The ghost says waving a memo pad in my face. Mitchell goes around the back of the couch to see what is written on the paper. "I've written a few questions for you to ask him." I read them to myself as Mitch starts reading the first one out loud.
"Are you screwing Janey Harris?" He reads.
"She always fancied Owen." Annie says to George as he just stands there in shock of the situation. "Trust me, if she had known when I died, she'd have been here before the ambulance crew." I read the second question.
"Aww. Has my sister had a baby?" I look between George and Annie.
"Yeah, cuz they've been tryin' for ages." As I read through the rest of Annie's questions as she continues to talk. Man, does she love to talk. "I blame her husband. His name's Robin. Works in the post office."
"Oh my God, has everybody taken stupid pills?" George says.
"No need to be rude, Georgie." I say.
"Clair, this is Annie's ex we're talking about. Annie's ex who buried her. She can't be here." He turns his attention to Annie, herself. "You can't be within ten miles of here."
"George." I warn sternly.
"I can't have him in the house and not see him. For Christ sake, we were engaged." Annie defends.
"And could you imagine what would happen if he sees you?" George gets closer to Annie. "The effect it will have on him." I can feel Mitchell getting restless behind me. "The, the, the danger it puts us all in." George gestures to all of us.
"This isn't about our safety." Annie says. "This is about you. You've lost your lover, and now you can't bare the thought of me seeing mine." That was a bit harsh.
"That's total, how dare you?" George stutters. Mitchell jumps in to try doing what I usually do. Calming down a werewolf is no easy task.
"Look, as long as she stays upstairs, what's the worst that could happen?" Amateur hour, Mitch. I rub my forehead. I am beginning to develop a headache.
"Oh, I'll remind you of that as the crowds gather outside with torches and pitchforks. No, I'm sorry. We have to protect the household." I think George is overreacting a bit.
"You have just smashed up the household." Annie points out.
"Alright, alright, listen. This argument is getting nowhere." I push Mitchell out of the way. "And that comment did not help whatsoever." I turn to Annie. "You know that wasn't him." Then I turn to George. "And you are overreacting just a tad." I say holding up my fingers to show him the 'tad' he was overreacting. "Meeting ones land lord is a normal thing that everyone does at one point or another." I walk up to the panicking man and place my hands on his shoulders. "Calm down, everything is going to be fine." The moment I finish my calming words the doorbell rings. All of us look towards the door, none of us moving to answer it.
"Well, I guess that's settled." Mitchell says. "Annie." He says. The ghost takes the hint and starts to head upstairs.
"Okay," She says, handing me the broom in her hands. "Okay. Um, and remember, Janey Harris." We nod as she finally goes upstairs. I hand the broom to George and head towards the door. Mitch follows me.
"You're all crazy." George says to himself. He snaps out of it as I place a hand on the doorknob to open it. "Woah, woah, woah." He puts his hand on the door to keep me from opening it. "Ask about the clankey tap, no I will."
"Oh, stop it Georgie. You two just need to leave all the talking to me." I say.
"Now remember, we're two guys and one girl renting a house. It's the most natural thing in the world. We just have to be totally and completely normal." George tells me.
"Maybe take your own advice." I say as I roll my eyes.
"Yeah, good luck with that." Mitchell says to George as they both step out of the way of the door. I open the door to see the man standing there. He's sort of handsome, but he's not my type. I feel like there is something about him that just puts me of.
"Hey, how are ya?" I greet him with a smile. "I'm Claire. Nice to meet you.
He returns my smile. I know that look. My powers are working perfectly.
"Owen." He answers as he shakes my hand.
"And these two are Mitchell and George." I say point to each of them. Owen shakes each of their hands.
"How's it going?" Owen says to George.
"Yes." The werewolf replies. Yeah, that sounds like a normal response. As Owen makes his way into the house I shut the front door.
"So, where's all the furniture?" Owen asks. I go to speak, but George cuts me off.
"Oh, um, we wanted a more minimalist life." George says awkwardly. "It's so easy to get seduced by all the clutter and debris of twenty first century living, isn't it?" He then looks to Mitchell and me. "Isn't it?" He looks back to Owen as Mitch and I make eye contact. What happened to me being the one to speak? "To think, having this sofa or that uh, uh, chair would bring you happiness. When really, Shouldn't we be striving for something more spiritual." Oh God. I try to bury my face in my hand. When is he going to stop talking? Just stop talking George. "More, um, Zen."
"I thought maybe you were gonna redecorate and didn't want to get the furniture all painty." Owen says. There is a silent pause until I finally start talking.
"Yeah," I say staring at George. "That would've made more sense." Suddenly, a noise comes from upstairs. Why, Annie, why?
"George." Mitchell says to get his attention. "Why don't you go and see what that was?"
"Yes, thank you, Mitchell." George heads upstairs and I breathe a sigh of relief. I hope he stays up there the rest of the time Owen is here, but I know that won't happen.
"Can I get you a drink, Owen?" I ask him. "Tea, coffee, we might have a couple beers in the fridge."
"Actually, I wouldn't mind a beer." Owen says rubbing his chin.
"You want anything, Mitch?" I turn to the vampire.
"Yeah, if there's a second beer in there I'll have one." He answers. Owen walks to the couch and sits down, getting comfortable.
"Keep talking to him." I whisper to Mitchell. "Keep him distracted." He nods to me and I head into the kitchen to get the beers and a bottle of water for me. Luckily, there were two beers. I quickly made my way back out to the other room and hand each guy a beer. They are talking about the tap as I open my water bottle.
"Like I was saying to Mitchell," Owen says, talking to me. "It's such a relief havin' you guys here." I smile as I sit next to him on the couch.
"It's nice being here." I say.
"It didn't work out with the last lot of people." Owen states. Mitch and him clank their bottles together and say cheers to each other. "I think they heard about what happened, and let their imaginations run away with 'em." He then sips at his beer. I make eye contact with Mitchell before Owen begins to speak again. "You do know, about my fiancé." Mitchell is the one who answers him.
"A little. Just what the estate agent said."
"I've hardly been back since." Owen says. I watch his expression. It doesn't really look like he is grieving. I know she died a bit ago, but being back here should be bringing back the bad memory of Annie dying. But he looks like he is not even remotely effected by being here. "You can imagine, it's still kinda weird being here."
"What happened exactly?" I ask. "If you don't mind me asking." He turns to look at me before reluctantly answering.
"Um, we'd literally just moved in. I mean, we were still lining out of boxes. And it was dark. I hadn't sorted the wiring out yet. And she was at the top of the stairs, and I don't know." I watch him closely as he tells the story. It doesn't seem convincing coming from his mouth. Sure, it could be the way that Annie died, but I feel like he's trying to hide something. "They said she must've fallen awkwardly, or something."
"What was she like?" Mitchell asks.
"Annie?" Owen asks as he looks towards Mitch. The vampire nods in answer. I continue to watch as his face changes slightly. "She was kind and funny. Cleverer than she thought she was." I can tell he is telling the truth. This is what he truly thought about Annie. "And she was mine."
"I believe people can leave an echo." Mitchell starts to try and cheer up the man. "In a place where they were. I know the tenants before us said they could detect something. Maybe that's what it was."
"They said it was creepy." Owen says.
"It's not." I say. Both men look at me. "It's not creepy. It's good. It's happy." I look over at Mitch and he nods in agreement. "We like it." I smile at Owen as I finish my words. I hear a sound I don't want to hear. George is coming back downstairs. As he steps in the room Owen asks him about the noise from earlier.
"What was it?"
"What?" George says. I nearly slap myself in the face as I face palm.
"The noise, George." I clarify.
"Oh, um, it was, it was a pigeon." Is that really the best he could come up with?
"A pigeon?" Owen asks.
"Must've left a window open." George suggests.
"Well, have you got rid of it?" Owen asks another question.
"I killed it." George says straight up. Oh my God. I am going to kill him when Owen leaves. I see Mitchel choke on the sip of beer in his mouth.
"You, you killed it?" Mitch asks. George nods to Mitch.
"Wit a shoe?" What? What is he talking about?
"You know what?" Owen says. "I should get going." He stands from the couch.
"Yeah." I say in response. "It was lovely to meet you, Owen." I say, leading him to the door. He shakes Mitchell and George's hands before meeting me at the door.
"Thanks for the beer, and if you have any problems you have my number, right?" Owen asks me.
"Yeah, of course." I smile at him as I open the front door.
"Like we said," Mitchell says. "It's great. We're really happy here."
"Thank you, really." George says. As Owen steps outside. I close the door and drop my smile immediately. I turn to George.
"I could smack you right now." I glare at him and try to lunge forward, but Mitchell grabs me around the middle, holding my arms to my side. He rests his chin on my shoulder as he addresses George.
"How did you do that? Stay so calm." George tries to defend himself, but Mitchell continues. "You're a spy aren't you? I mean you've clearly had training because the way you held it together there, it was chilling." That's when Annie finally comes down the stairs. She doesn't even pay attention to us. She turns to the living room, or the room with the couch. Mitchell lets go of me as he tries to make her feel better.
"He loved you very much, Annie." I would say that is wrong, but I don't want to break my friend any further. "The way he talked about you," Annie walks over to the beer bottle left on the ground. "You made him very happy." George then pipes up.
"Oh, did you ask him about the tap?" George asks. I smack him on the shoulder to stop him from talking.
"Is this his?" Annie asks.
"What?" George asks.
"The bottle." She clarifies. "Is it his?" I can tell by her tone that she is very upset.
"Yeah." I answer. She bends down and picks up the bottle, and brings it close to her face. The three of us standing in the entryway stay silent. She has more grief for her loss than her ex-fiancé than he does for her. It's sad really. I turn to Mitchell and whisper my plans to him. "I'm going to bed. I have work in about five hours." He nods to me. I turn to George and he nods as well, having heard what I whispered to Mitch. I head upstairs and try to get some sleep. I try for a couple hours, but for some reason I can't get any shuteye. A knock sounds at my door as I give up. "What?" I ask, irritated. The door opens and Mitchell is standing there.
"Seems like you can't sleep."
"Oh really? What was your first clue, Sherlock?" I know that him and George have heightened senses to some degree. I have been tossing and turning in bed, and groaning in frustration for a couple hours.
"No need to get moody." He walks in and closes the door.
"What are you doing?" I ask as I sit up in bed.
"Helping you sleep." I narrow my eyes at his words as he moves around to the other side of my bed. He sits down and takes off his shoes. "I figured I needed some sleep too, so we are going to cuddle."
"Are you really Mitchell?" He laughs at my words.
"Yes," He says turning to me, laughing a bit. "For some reason, I don't feel the need to feed when I'm close to you, so your neck and blood are safe from me." He lays down and holds his arms towards me.
"What could it hurt?" I ask myself in defeat. "I hope we don't oversleep."
"I told George to wake us up an hour before your shift." He replies, pulling my back into his chest.
"And you trust him enough to actually remember?" I ask as I close my eyes.
"Annie is my back up." He answers. I hum in agreement. Slowly, I sink into the black abyss. Before I completely lose consciousness I feel Mitch kiss the back of my head and nuzzle his face into my hair.
A/N: So, what do you think? Should I keep going with this story? Do you like Claire? Do you like her relationships with her roommates? I would love to read your comments on it.