When Claire awoke to four hundred text messages and seventy five missed calls, she was surprised that her phone battery had survived the night. However, she was secretly ecstatic that her decision to set her phone to silent had paid off.
Though she had no doubts as to the identity of the person attempting so desperately to get hold of her, a groan still escaped her throat when it was confirmed that the only person trying to get hold of her during the night had been her insane boss, Myrnin.
Well, perhaps that was unfair. He was less insane, more…temperamental. They'd been working on something to help control his moods – it turned out that, with a few tweaks, human drugs to assist with mental health worked wonders for vampires, too – and now he was almost…normal. Not that she would ever say that to his face; he took pride in being different to everyone else, leading to Claire mockingly calling him her special snowflake. He still hadn't caught onto the fact that it was a jibe.
However, his lack of internal insanity meant he didn't really have an excuse to have attempted to communicate with her so many times in such a short period of time. She'd be having words with him when she reached the laboratory, for sure – though she couldn't stop herself thinking about just what could be so important.
"If it's because Bob's done a cartwheel, I'm going to kill him," Claire muttered to herself as she forced herself out of bed to get dressed for what would surely be a long day ahead.
-x-
Forty minutes later, Claire was approaching the Day house, armed with enough caffeine to keep a small army awake all night and enough sugar to keep even Myrnin happy. Common Grounds had a new owner now that Oliver was essentially Amelie's knight in shining armour (and by knight in shining armour, she meant a man who did the queen's bidding without hesitation), and this new owner was just ecstatic to see Claire every morning. It was no word of a lie that Claire's contributions to the Morganville economy probably kept half of the smaller businesses alive.
"What on earth has taken you so long to reach me, Claire?" Myrnin was demanding the exact moment Claire descended the stairs, though his expression was immediately impacted on by the sight of what Claire held in her hands. "Oohh, doughnuts!"
Rolling her eyes, Claire set the food and drink down on the small counter next to what Myrnin considered a 'kitchen'. She didn't think it deserved to even be associated with a name which implied a room for cooking, and had plans to bring in joiners the next time Myrnin was incarcerated for doing something to annoy Amelie. She had already designed how she wanted the kitchen to look, with strict 'no experiments' signs plastered across the place – it was just a waiting game for Myrnin to be his usual annoying self.
"I thought we'd had this conversation for the last time, but evidently not: when someone doesn't reply to the first fifty attempts at interaction, it usually means they're asleep," Claire said, her voice icy cool. Spending time with Amelie had come in useful for some things, at least. "Now, what was so urgent that you felt you couldn't wait until now to inform me?"
Disappearing from Claire's sight for a moment, Myrnin reappeared with two retro-looking headsets in his hands. They looked, to Claire, like they had been transported directly out of the seventies: bright green with chrome rimming, they weren't in any sense of the word fashionable.
"If you're wanting to give me a birthday present, you're three months late," Claire commented, taking a step closer to the headphones.
Myrnin lifted them up, allowing Claire to analytically note a few key differences between how she expected the headphones were supposed to look and how they actually were. The wires were connected, meaning that both sets of headphones linked up to each other, and there was a rather large box hanging beneath them.
"Without desiring to bring back bad memories, do you remember what happened in January of last year?" Myrnin said, his voice almost…delicate. It was very un-Myrnin like, though Claire knew exactly why he was treading carefully.
The event he was referring to was one which continued to, albeit sporadically, haunt Claire's nightmares. A vampire had lost their mind, for reasons Claire didn't really care about, and had gone on a rampage. They soon worked out that the vampire was lacking empathy for her human victims, though nothing had succeeded in bringing back the vampire's empathy before she had attacked the Glass House.
They had both lost someone that day.
For months following the attack, they had tried to work on something which brought back empathy for vampires for whom it was lost, but to no avail. Finally, as she moved on, Claire decided that it was no longer a priority for her, and relegated the project to the bottom of the mountain they had. For once, Myrnin appeared to have agreed with her, and there had been no mention of empathy-returning devices for over a year now.
"Is that…?" Claire whispered, her voice unable to gather more than a whisper of volume. "I…I thought we decided that we weren't going to try any more, that there was no point?"
Myrnin nodded slowly, taking another step closer to Claire so that she was practically touching the device. "I will be honest; it was a selfish decision to carry on working on the project. Whilst we have done much to control the darkness which resides within me, I could not help but notice the similarities between Reena and myself, when I am…absent.
"I lack empathy when I am a monster, and whilst I hope we have managed to control the balance of humours within me to ensure that he does not emerge again—"
"Balance of hormones, not humours," Claire interrupted, unable to help herself.
He shot her a look, but continued. "I want to have a failsafe so that you can bring me back without danger—without much danger, at least—and I am hoping that this is the method by which we can achieve this."
Hesitantly, Claire lifted one of the sets of headphones out of Myrnin's hands, holding them almost gingerly. "So, without wanting to appear obtuse, I'm guessing we both wear a set of the headphones, then we do something with that box?"
Eagerly, Myrnin nodded. "That is exactly right, my dear. You will have to stake me in order to get me to wear them, when I am not my usual, accommodating self, though I entrust that you remain fully trained with regards to the use of silver stakes in enclosed areas."
Once again, Claire rolled her eyes, before making an impulsive decision. She placed the headphones on her head, noting the weight of them: she wouldn't be able to stand wearing them for long, she thought.
"Aren't we going to test it out, then?" she asked, as Myrnin continued to just stand there. "I guess that that's the reason you called me so many times during the night?"
Myrnin continued to merely stare at Claire, his expression almost shocked. "You're not…fazed by this?"
Forcing herself to appear as casual as possible, Claire shrugged. "No, why would I be? This has a different purpose to what we had envisaged previously – it's practically a different project. Now, put your headphones on and do whatever it is that makes this work."
Complying without even demanding more sugar (a surprise in itself), Myrnin set the box upon the nearest lab bench and began to turn various dials upon it. "You may desire to sit down, my dear. I understand that it may feel strange, sharing your empathy with someone who, by design, ought not to have any."
Not commenting on Myrnin's usual feeling of despair, Claire sat down and closed her eyes, listening to the movement of various pieces of metal on the box in Myrnin's care. It was a strange morning, and it hadn't even reached ten am: this was just another day working alongside one of the strangest men in the world.
Within seconds, Claire could see what Myrnin meant about feeling strange – but it wasn't anything she had ever experienced before, or even imagined. It was as if every part of her being was being twisted around in a funnel-shape, swirling and swirling inside her…removing itself from the confines of her body.
"No, no, this isn't right, this should not be happening!" Myrnin cried out. His hand collided with Claire's arm as he attempted to grab her, though what he wanted to do, she had no idea. "Hold on, Claire, I will stop this now!"
But before he could do anything, the moment turned into a cliché movie moment – and everything went black.
-x-
Waking up, Claire felt…different. There wasn't any way to describe it other than different; she didn't hurt, even though she knew she was lying on the floor, and she felt as though she had to keep thinking that she was calm to remain calm.
A terrible thought ran through her, though she ignored it until she opened her eyes.
Everything was clearer than normal—too clear for human eyes. Lights shone too brightly, layers of dust were too obvious, and she could see individual specks of mould on the ceiling.
But it wasn't until she called Myrnin that she realised what had happened.
"You changed our bodies, not our empathies!" She hissed – or he hissed, as she wasn't entirely sure how to define herself now she was in Myrnin's body – and moved to her feet. She had to appreciate the ease by which she could move; no wonder vampires moved so quickly, so stealthily all the time. It was actually fun.
Looking at him—herself—Claire felt an undeniable rage creeping through her, and she had to fight to suppress it.
She had thought that this was a strange day. Well, that was an understatement.
As you can tell, it's been a while since I've written anything.
If you have any requests, feel free to pass them onto me!