1

Who creates a vampire town in such a sunny place as Texas? That was the thought running through Saoirse's mind as she passed through the magical, or whatever it was, barrier into Morganville. Something, somewhere just recorded her entrance and Saoirse shuddered, it was kind of creepy. Morganville smelt dusty and coppery, like old dried blood. The clear blue sky let the sun shine strong and hot on her pale skin through her pathetically pale blue tinted windows. She adjusted her Vivienne Westwood sunglasses to block out as much as she could.

The streets were as worn and as tired as the few people she drove past. They all kept their heads down, power walking to their destinations. Very different from London, where Saoirse was almost living these days. People were always chatting, laughing, even crying- not running (well, from her, it wasn't unusual for people to be running from muggers.)

A few younger people dared hushed comments as she pulled her car over. She wasn't surprised, really, she was starting to think her purple convertible didn't exactly fit in with Morganville's look- even with the hood up.

Despite the fact she hadn't been to the town before, she knew the layout of Morganville perfectly. She'd done her research, so she knew the next corner she turned would lead her to Common Grounds, the 'it' coffee place owned by Oliver. Saoirse smirked as she pulled the keys from the ignition and hopped out. It had been a few decades since she'd seen Oliver, she sort of missed his company. Sort of.

He could be an ass when he wanted to be.

She walked around the corner of a grey building and then slipped into the café, the bell tinging as she went. It was bustling, filled with college students and business assistants out for their bosses' hourly caffeine fix. Saoirse hadn't thought Oliver would actually be working in the café, but there he was, wearing his obviously fake smile and a tie dye tshirt. The picture of Oliver as a peace loving hippy was too priceless- she pulled her iPhone from her Guess jeans pocket and snapped a picture of him. She was going to print it and keep it forever.

There was a small queue at the counter and Saoirse stood at the back, pulling her sun hat down a bit further to conceal herself. When she reached the top Oliver began, "Hey what can I g-"

She pulled off her glasses, "Surprise!"

Oliver's jaw dropped, just a little, in shock. But he quickly recovered, plastering on his hippy smile, "Saoirse. Its been a while. What brings you to town?"

There was something much deeper than the light-hearted way he spoke. He really wanted to know why she was there, if it was a threat to him or not- so typically Oliver.

"Oh you know, just...business..." she said cryptically just to annoy him.

His jaw tightened slightly, "lets talk in my office?"

Saoirse didn't reply, just hopped over the marble counter and followed him, shouting over her shoulder to the teen boy now pulling the expresso shots, "Oh! I'll have a cinnamon latte please! Don't cheap out on the cinnamon!"

Oliver's faux hippy fashion didn't extend to his office, its walls as bland and an boring as a funeral home's. The neutral carpet was eerily perfect though, as if it had just been rolled out from the plastic packaging. Everything was neat and organised and shiny.

So Oliver.

He pulled out a seat for her, very gentleman like. But then he had always been a gentleman, when it suited him.

Saoirse however, was not a gentlewoman, and rolled her eyes at his patronisation but sat anyway out of the vague sense of politeness she held onto these days.

"So," he said, sitting at the opposite side of his desk, "how have you been?"

Saoirse laughed, full and hard. Her whole life, Oliver had never, ever, asked how she was. If she was good, good. If she wasn't, well that was her own problem in Oliver's mind.

"Don't play games Oliver, you know I hate politics. Just say what you want to say."

He shrugged, "I want to know why you are here."

"I wasn't lying when I said business. I am simply here as a messenger, and I have a message for Amelie." She tried and failed at keeping the bitterness from her voice.

Oliver, naturally, picked up on it, "You know Amelie? You never told me you'd met her... she never mentioned you."

"I met you a long time after I'd met Amelie. We didn't know each other that well. We met through Myrnin and then..." she trailed off, not wanting to think of that memory.

Oliver's eyebrows rose in shock, "You know Myrnin? I see there is much I never found out about you."

"Well, you were never one for talking and I was never one for talking about either of them so..."

Oliver stared at her for a long time, trying to figure something out, in the end he said, "Well. What is the message? I can pass it to Amelie."

"Nope. Bosses orders, message goes straight to Amelie. You can be there, though, if you want."

"How kind of you," his voiced dripped of sarcasm, "well I have better things to do than be your tour guide."

She pouted, "Pleasseee?"


Claire watched in interest when a vampire she didn't know entered Common Grounds. Well, she assumed that the deathly pallor was due to her vampirism, but she wore it well, with a fashionable sunhat and a designer outfit that would make Monica jealous- like she'd stepped right out of pages of a fashion magazine. She watched the girl (woman? She looked as though she was in her early twenties), snap a picture of Oliver on her iPhone and grin.

Yep, definitely a vamp. No human 'in the know' in Morganville would ever dare to do such a thing.

Claire was pretty sure that she was new, she had never seen her before and she wasn't very conspicuous. Plus Oliver called her 'Saoirse', and that wasn't one of the names on Claire's vampire symbols list. She was completely eavesdropping but pretending to look at her laptop screen and sipping on her mocha. The newbie had a strange accent, slightly Scottish, or Irish? She couldn't be sure, it wasn't very strong.

Well, this was news. So far in Claire's experience, there had never been just a peaceful new vampire coming to Morganville. Most had an agenda and it was usually dangerous. She sighed, downing the last of her mocha as Saoirse and Oliver slipped out the back, she was going to have to be careful. And she was going to have to do some research- in secret of course, vampires didn't like humans knowing their business. Maybe Myrnin would have something about her in his library she could sneak a peak at.

Speaking of which, she had a meeting with Myrnin, so she packed up her laptop and books and headed out into the sun.


Amelie was hidden away in some huge, stone building in Founder's Square (or Vampville as Saoirse termed it), through a maze of dizzily similar corridors and doors, Oliver led the way, pushed open an ornate wooden door and nodded for Saoirse to enter.

Amelie looked up from her stack of papers, her paper white hair and skin making her seem like a moving statue. Her mouth formed a small 'o'.

"Saoirse?"

"Ah. You remember my name. That's nice," Saoirse said, with a dry smile.

"I...well, we thought you were dead," Amelie admitted, regaining her cool.

Saoirse was confused. Dead? Technically, she was dead. But that hadn't been what Amelie meant. She'd disappeared, yes but she had never give any hint she had passed.

"Why would you think that?" She asked, unsure.

Amelie took her time considering her answer, which seriously pissed Saoirse off.

"Well, after that unfortunate incident, Myrnin spent a long time looking for you, he came across Pennywell who told him you'd died- that he'd killed you. He had your necklace."

Well that was just so...wrong. "No no no," Saoirse began, shaking her head, "I left and yes, I came across Pennywell. But I nearly killed him. After all he had been very...annoying in my past. Still, I didn't. I did throw my necklace at him though. How did he think he would get away with telling people I was dead? Vampires always pop up again sometime, he should have known."

Amelie nodded slightly, "Yes. Perhaps he said it just to anger Myrnin. It worked."

The room fell into silence for a moment. The other vampires were deadly still, pun intended. Amelie's guards lined the room in black suits trying to look as frightening as possible, it probably worked too, on humans but Saoirse and any other vampire could tell that in that room, they weren't the ones to fear.

Oliver was sitting on a chair next to Saoirse, who was still standing. She was much too agitated to sit.

"Well. Forget about all that. I didn't die, as you can see. I am here for business. Elliot has sent me to tell you that he has finally decided to except your offer of moving to Morganville. But I have some negotiations."

The pair talked for a long time, debating, arguing, listening until they'd finally agreed to some, sadly not all, agreements. It was deep into the night, the hour when the human world was asleep and the moon shone brightest, when they finally closed their discussions.

Saoirse was positively proud of herself for getting through the meeting without killing/trying to kill the annoying ice queen Amelie. She was so, so close to getting out in one piece when Amelie called her to a stop as she was about to slip through the door.

"Saoirse. About what happened that day, I apologise." Amelie said, stiffly but honestly. It should have meant something, Amelie wasn't really the type to apologise even if she was wrong, but to Saoirse it was evidence of her guilty conscience rather than a bid for forgiveness.

Saoirse whipped round, glaring, "That's nice, princess. But save it for someone who cares. You want Myrnin? Then have him, I care nothing for him any more, I suppose I should thank you for that, if you'd never shoved your tongue down his throat I'd probably still be stuck with that pathetic maniac." Saoirse turned and glided out, careful not to be too quick or too slow, lest she show her weakness. In a moment Oliver was at her side. She knew he wanted information, he was hovering like a fly over a dead carcass, buzzing to find out what she was talking about.

"Are you going to tell me?" He asked eventually, turning the keys in his car as she slipped in.

She sighed, rolled her eyes and answered, "Lets see. I fell for Myrnin, Myrnin turned me, I catch Myrnin and Amelie getting it on. I leave, that whole Pennywell mess up happens, I met you, you went...where ever you went. I lived my life elsewhere. There? That a good enough life history for you?"

Oliver stared at her with blank eyes, the type that were warning her she was pushing him over the edge. But he didn't, he knew what a betrayal that was. Vampire lovers are freakishly protective and possessive of each other, to cheat is unthinkable.

"That ...what do they say these days... sucks," he said.

Saoirse smiled despite herself. Oliver could be a hard ass, but when he wasn't feeling threatened, planning battles, plotting take overs and intimidating people, he could actually be... nice. To other vamps at least, Saoirse wasn't sure he'd show that side to the day-inclined. Oliver drove them back to Common Grounds where Saoirse had parked her car.

She cleared her throat when she got out and gave him an 'I'm so sweet and innocent so please don't say no' smile.

"What?" He asked, staring wearily.

"Well... I need a place to crash for a week or two..."She said casually.

"No." He said, turning to enter the café.

Saoirse pattered up beside him. "Oh, Oliver. That glare doesn't scare me. Deep down I know you're a caring, drugged up hippy. And caring, drugged up hippies like to live communally. I was around in the 60's ya know."

He glared at her as though this time he might actually snap and try to kill her.

"It'll be like old times,"

He sighed, "No. Rent somewhere."

"I can't. Well, I mean, I don't wanna. I promise, you won't even notice I'm there. Plus, don't you want to keep an eye on me? Make sure I'm not running amok in your precious town?" She knew that would appeal to him, information is power and Oliver craved that above all else.

"Just the week."

Score.


Well, there you have it, chapter 1. I've written up to chapter 6, so I'll post the rest soon hopefully.

I hope you liked it, sure, no Myrnin yet but he'll be arriving soon. If you would like to write a review, I would love to read one :) If you don't, that's okay too. Just no flames, or I'll set Bob on you ;D