Link to book 16 – Lurking shadows: s/9896910/1/Lurking-Shadows

Bloody Escape – Book 17

Morganville, what a wonderful place! A city where the citizens will never go outside after the sun has set and there's hardly ever committed crimes. To top it all, it never rains and no matter what season the sun will keep on shining and providing everyone with healthy warmth and light. Beautiful houses are priding each and every street. The Founder has made sure no one will ever ruin them. Also, the Founder of this incredible city makes sure that things are going well and she controls everything – of course in a good way that keeps everyone safe. Doesn't Morganville just sound perfect? I bet that you would never want to leave.

Finally, after two long days at the hospital they were getting home. They were going home with a tiny little baby in their arms and bigger smiles than ever.

Claire placed a hand on Shane's thigh as he parked the car outside the Glass House and gave him a bright smile. He returned her smile and bent over to kiss her forehead.

'Come on let's get inside. I'll take Carrie and you'll go in the front and open the door?' Shane took her hand up to his lips and kissed it. It was awfully dark outside and none of the streetlights worked anymore. She swallowed and nodded. They both knew the routine, but it had changed ever so slightly now that they had a baby basket to get inside as well.

'Okay. Be careful and quiet,' Claire warned and took the keys he handed her. Of course, he nodded and jumped out of the car. Quickly she did the same and sprinted up to the door, unlocked it and turned to see Shane hurrying after. Everything seemed legit until Carrie let out a full-blown cry, which took Shane by surprise and made him freeze for a second. A second was all it took for something to push him out of the light that came from the Glass House. The baby basket fell gently to the ground with its pink bow falling off. Shane was pinned down just where the light didn't reach and Carrie had stopped crying. Claire snapped out of the trance and felt up her pants where she usually had some kind of weapon – but not today.

'We're under Amelie's protection!' she yelled into the dark. The vampire that had Shane made sure he wouldn't make any sound. And there weren't just one. Out of the shadows came a tall, dark skinned vampire. She had never seen a dark skinned vamp, just about every other race including Greeks, Asians, Americans and even a few of them that looked like Scandinavians.

'Take one step closer and I believe your little baby here will be punished. She looks new. Congratulations, is it a girl?' He smiled. In her side view, she saw Shane fighting for his life trying to keep the hungry vamp from nibbling his throat.

'Who are you?' With only one eye scan she could tell he came from the filthy street, the place where all the less succeeded vamps were living. She barely remembered the first time Shane had taken her to the drive-in movie theatre for the first time. The fastest way there would be through the Vamp Ghetto.

'Aren't I rude? I'm Jeremy. You must be Claire?' He lifted the baby basket up to his nasty face and sniffed inside. 'Mm, infants. They smell really good the first weeks, don't you think?'

'I don't know. You kind of took her away from me before I got to smell her,' she replied with a voice ten times steadier than she felt.

'Claudette, lâcher prise maintenant!' Jeremy said in perfect French. The vampire, who Claire really thought had been a man, let go of Shane.

'Mais, Monsieur Jeremy, je suis avide!' Claudette protested and looked at her master. Shane quickly got up at his feet again, capturing the baby basket with his eyes. The woman vamp pushed him down again just for the hell of it and laughed. 'Tu ne comprends pas la vie, mon petit garçon.'

'Claudette! I'm sorry for my companion's behavior. She doesn't really know the native language of America yet,' Jeremy said softly and put the baby basket down. Claire let out a sigh in relief, but it stopped when he picked Carrie up from it. His fangs were down. No. Not Carrie. Shane must've seen it as well and he fought twice as hard to get up and loose from Claudette's grip. 'I haven't had a baby's blood since the Revolution. It's a real… Treat,' he continued, emphasizing the word treat. Claire felt sick to her stomach and felt like she would puke any moment. Just as he was going to take a snack, Claudette mumbled something and Jeremy put Carrie down.

'We'll be back and believe me, this little girl won't be here for long.' And with that, they were gone. A police car stopped in the driveway and three men came out. Or two men and a woman, whose name was Hannah. Claire ran to the little baby basket and so did Shane.

'She's okay, she's okay,' she cried and scooped her daughter up. Shane's arms went around her. Pain engulfed her heart and she's never felt more like a traitor. Carrie was alive, but it was only because someone had called the cops. Without them, her precious little baby girl would have been drained right now. Truth had been told; Claire and Shane couldn't protect her from anything every second of her life. They had failed already the first day. It hurt so badly it couldn't be described by using words.

'We need to get inside. Come on,' Shane's voice was shaky. He bent down and picked up the basket and they headed in together. Michael and Eve came rushing down the stairs immediately.

'Why didn't you do anything?' Claire screamed and handed Carrie to a confused Shane. She walked up to them with long, angry steps and pushed Michael as hard as she could in the chest. Of course he didn't move an inch, but he looked genuinely hurt. 'She could have died! Shane could have died, and you knew but you didn't do anything!' she cried in frustration and kept on hitting Michael who probably barely could feel it.

'Claire, we called the cops-'

'Nothing more? Did you just expect that they would come fast enough?' Claire interrupted him.

'They were pointing crossbows at them the whole time. I saw them,' Shane said and placed baby Carrie in her crib by the couch. Then he came towards her and pulled her slowly away from Michael.

'Are you okay?' she took a pirouette to get out of Shane's strong grip. He was beaten. Not much, but a scratch marks prided the left side of his face. Claudette obviously had sharp nails, which Claire would write down in her vamp journal.

'Yeah, I'm fine. The French girl just ruined my pretty face.' His sarcasm was still going strong.

'Guys, could you all shut up for just a few minutes?' Hannah said impatiently, tapping her foot. Everyone shut their mouths and turned to look at the officer. 'Thank you. Shane, tell me what happened.'

Claire was rather shocked that Hannah asked Shane. The police, and everyone else, always asked her. She snuggled closer to Shane, ignoring his smell, which was a terrible mixture of sweat and cologne.

'Ugh, I just got out of the car with Carrie's basket while Claire opened the door. Carrie started crying and a French girl vamp swept me off my feet and wanted to dance. Then some random black man came and started sniffing my baby. Said his name was Jeremy.'

'Claire, something to add?' Hannah asked.

'The woman who took Shane was called Claudette. I think they where from the vampire ghetto,' she shrugged and snuck a look at Shane's stone face. 'They said they would come back for Carrie.'

'We'll have police around, guarding your house all night. I'll send reports to Amelie, because I don't think I've ever heard about these two vamps before,' Hannah made one of her colleagues scribble something down. 'And one more thing, Shane and Claire.'

'What?' They both replied a little worried.

'Congratulations,' she smiled and nodded at Carrie's crib. 'She's lucky to have you two as parents.'

Then they left.

Silence filled the Glass House as Shane guided his wife to the couch and tucked her into a blanket. 'We'll stay down with her tonight, okay?' he whispered and kissed her forehead.

'Okay. Michael, I'm sorry for hitting you.'

'I'm fine. It's been a rough day for ya', you know, giving birth and stuff,' he smiled and crouched down next to her and Shane. Eve joined them too.

'How is Ethan, by the way?' Ethan was Eve and Michael's son. He was only a month older than little Carrie.

'He's great,' Eve smiled and stretched out her legs. She hadn't changed out her big clunky boots even though she was a mum.

'I just don't get why people ask that! Babies don't do anything but crying, eating and pooping. It's not like they smile, laugh or show any signs of expressing emotions!' Michael sighed frustrated. He had been like that since the very first day after Ethan was born. He, somehow, had guessed that the baby would come out with as a five year old kid and was really disappointed when he got to know that the baby would only be crying and pooping. Not even a single coo would come out of the small baby mouth in months.

'Michael! He is adorable, stop being such an ass,' Eve kicked her husband, clearly annoyed by his complaints. Claire laughed a little at them and Shane rubbed her shoulder whilst smiling.

'Can you two idiots find another battlefield? I've heard there are weapons in Eve's underwear drawer,' Shane suggested. Both Eve and Claire flinched.

'What the fuck did you do searching through my underwear you fucking perverted creep?' Eve drilled her eyes into Shane.

'Yeah, I would like to know that too, Collins boy,' Claire raised her eyebrows at her husband.

'Searching for weapons?' He suggested.

'If I ever catch you going through my wife's underwear again-' Michael started half serious and half playful. Things seemed nearly normal. Michael hadn't spoken to Shane nicely since the incident with Eve. When Claire turned her attention to Shane, she saw how his eyes were shining with hope.

'Nah, bro. I'm sneaky. If I decide to do the same thing again you won't ever know,' he winked. Then when his attention got back to Claire the glow in his eyes died and he looked down. 'Sorry. I love you.'

'Idiot.'

'Do you think he meant what he said about coming back for her?' Claire asked quietly and made room for Shane on the couch. Eve and Michael had gone to bed so they were all alone in the dark living room with two candles as the only lights.

'Yeah, I have no idea. I just know that we won't be taking any risks,' he said thoughtfully and climbed up next to, but more underneath, her. Their couch was small, but with extreme closeness, it could fit two people.

'I'm scared and I know I could never go through with it, but it tempts to give her away to a nice family at the other side of the globe - just to get her as far away as possible from this hellhole,' she sighed and kissed his shoulder softly. At first he didn't answer, and it didn't seem like he was going to say anything either. Not before she felt something wet run down her cheek and it wasn't a tear of hers. 'Hey, don't cry. We're not going to do it, honey...'

'Yeah, we're way too selfish for that kind of action,' he wiped his tears, clearly frustrated. 'I just thought I could protect her, you know? I promised her. I promised her a few hours ago when she first opened her eyes that I wouldn't let anyone hurt her. I didn't even keep my vow for a day!'

'We'll protect her together. She's just as much my responsibility as yours-'

'You keep on saying stuff like that, but it's bullshit. I'm the man and I'm supposed to be the protector! Sure, you'll probably smack me for saying it, but that's just how I see it. Also, I promised myself I would never let anything happen to Lyss either, but heck of a lot good it did,' he groaned and leant back to stare at the ceiling. Claire felt a lump in her throat as she closed the distance between them on the coach by sitting up and kissing his cheek. Poor Shane. She wished that she could take his constant guilt feeling away and let him even if only for a minute relax.

'You did everything you could for Alyssa. I didn't know you back then, but I know you did. Carrie will be fine with us, I just know it.'

'I'm just freaking tired of loosing people,' his jaw was clenched but he softened all up when he looked at his daughter. 'And I love her. I honestly wouldn't be able to cope if I let something happen to her.'

'I feel the same way. Are you open for suggestions to keep her alive?' Her small hand reached for his.

'Anything.'

'We could ask Amelie to provide us all with protection and not just me,' she said and held her breath.

'Well, literally anything but THAT,' he hissed. 'What has she started with? Family packages?'

'Be quiet! And you said you would do anything, so I just assumed you meant it,' she sighed and moved a few inches away from him.

'You know how I feel about vampires! And I'm not getting her under any life-binding protection crap until she's 1, 'cause if she's anything like me, she would get the offer, rip the contract and live free and like a normal person,' he whispered harshly. Claire suddenly felt hot boiled anger inside herself.

'So you're saying I'm just a trapped inhumane person with no will of my own? Because I'm pretty sure that if I hadn't gone under Amelie's protection, you would have been dead years ago.'

'Yes and yes!' he yelled and stood up. A few seconds later he was gone. He'd probably gone to his own room. Just as Claire heard him close his door, Carrie started whimpering, which led to a full-blown cry. She scooped her gently up and sat back down.

'Sh, sweetie. Your dad is just being an ass-' Claire cut herself off immediately and decided never to swear in front of here daughter again. 'First night in your new home, welcome to life,' she sighed and leant back with her crying baby in her arms.