It started off like any normal day which wasn't a given living in a Texas town full of vampires. Yes vampires, they run this old town and always have done. At first when Claire moved in to the Glass house, after getting bullied by the queen bee/bitch Monica Morell, she found it difficult but you have to learn to quickly adjust or face the consequences. Now she was living a fractionally normal life where her and her husband, Shane Collins, have just moved into their first home leaving behind Eve and Micheal who were only a few doors down. It's not perfect but they were happy and neither dared asked for more.
Nobody interrupts Claire as she walked down the street but she did get a few nods from people who were vaguely familiar as they are rushing home due to the setting sun. As crazy as this sounds she liked living here and despite the dreams Claire knew that her husband still secretly had she saw Morganville as her home.
Tonight they were going to the Glass' house to eat so as she made her way towards the familiar porch the feeling over familiarity overwhelmed her. She didn't bother to knock, old habits she guessed and instead made her way towards the kitchen where Claire guessed Eve would be. Her assumption was correct and there she stood in her semi goth/normal clothes that looked like they had seen much better days. Flour covered the band top and what she could only guess as eggs were splattered on her ripped jeans. Them two things weren't concerning to Claire for she knew her friends cooking habits however the tears that were streaming down her powered white face were a cause for concern.
"Eve what's wrong?"
Claire could see her trying to hold herself together but after about a minute she broke down completely and ran to the slightly smaller girl and embraced her tightly. Claire did what she could to help but was limited actually improving the situation due to her not knowing what had happened. Her mind immediately wondered to Micheal and Claire considered whether they had, had one of those massive fights again.
But before she could question Eve she blurted out with a tearful voice, "We always assumed there was a chance that Micheal was infertile so he took some tests and by some miracle we found out that he wasn't but-but for some reason it still wouldn't work! So secretly I took some-some of the tests as well and-and-"
"Oh Eve I'm so sorry." Claire knew nothing of what she said could help her so instead she just wrapped her arms around the broken woman and prayed.
Eve had wanted children for as long as Claire had known her, she was always so good with them and everyone knew that she'd make a great mother. When having deep talks with Eve she had admitted to Claire that she wanted to prove that she was better and nothing like her parents and that it also would give her reason. Claire at the time had tried to disagree however it was one of the few things that she was confident about. She had no idea what Eve must be feeling but in that moment her heart broke a little too.
"Have you told Micheal?"
"No and you cannot tell him. I promise I will but not now."
Claire agreed but silently made a promise that if this went too far she would inform Micheal of the news. It was her job as her best friend to make sure Eve was happy and well, this news could destroy all hopes of that. Her and Shane had only briefly talked about having children and she knew that now the idea had to be put back for at least a couple of months.
"Is there anything I can do?"
"No but you can help me with the cooking, I may have messed it up a little."
"Of course but as long as your sure that you don't want to talk about it."
"No not at the moment but we will have to go out for coffee later on this week and then we can talk, the boys will be back any minute now and I don't really want-you know him knowing-not until it's hit me properly."
Respecting her wishes they began to remake a new batch of tacos forgetting about Eves plan for a pasta bake. It was simple and done in respectful silence as a feeling of mourning and sorrow filled the air. Now it wasn't anybody job to be happy and although Claire knew that when the men returned home she and Eve would have to act normal for now acting like this was ok.
"Hello?" The familiar voice of Michael Glass filled the room and Eve put on a 'smile' that was as genuine as her real one. It was frightening really how real it actually seemed but Claire knew that it was one of many consequences of years of abuse. Eve never really talked about him but when she did it caused shivers down Claire's spine.
"Hello my wonderful husband would you be my hero and just stir that." Her tone was playful and Claire knew that if she didn't know she would have never guessed.
She wondered whether Micheal had picked up on her behaviour but when he replied, "Of course." Claire knew that he had been totally fooled.
It was sad really and Claire couldn't help but wonder how many times Eve had done that to her in the past. Before her thoughts could get lost however a much more loud person entered the house and she knew that her husband had arrived.
His eyes landed straight on her as she entered the room and she could identify that small flicker of relief that passed through him as his large muscled body relaxed. Without words he embraced her smaller being and gave her a long welcome home kiss that still made her insides feel funny. They had been together for over three years now and it had been a hard journey but now they were here and everything was amazing. For a blissful second she was selfish and forgot about Eve until she felt a gaze from across the room and caught her looking at them longingly. Guilt filled her and she quickly retracted from Shane saying that she needed to chop some brisket for the extra flavour he was always banging on about.
The rest of the evening went on without any trouble although Claire knew that Shane had figured out that something was wrong with her. She wasn't the best at hiding emotions especially from Shane, which was one of the best and worse parts of her relationship.
After about three hours the Collins said there goodbyes and quickly made there way to their new house down the road. It was still the early days of moving in and only the living room had been redone completely but despite that it was already looking like home. Shane hugged her from behind as they entered and when she looked in his eyes she could see the pride in them, for him this was everything he could ever dream of. It made her happy to know that she was such a large part of it all.
"What's up?"
She knew he wouldn't like her answer, "I can't tell you right now because they need to be the one to give you the news, it's not fair otherwise."
When they first met an answer like that would have ended in at least an hour of sulking but he had matured so much and after about a minute of looking into her eyes sceptically he whispered, "ok I trust you but as long you tell me if it gets out of hand."
"Of course Mr Collins." I put on my best seductive whisper and then bit my lip.
"Why thank you Mrs Collins." They kissed again and again until they entered the bedroom and admittedly that night they didn't sleep a lot.
/
Today was Thursday and for Claire that meant another day spent with her crazy, vampire boss and friend Mrynin. He was probably the most interesting person Claire knew and she couldn't help but love him in a complex sort of way that she couldn't really explain.
Shane, like always, attempted to pull her back into his embrace but this time she refused and hopped into a shower and got changed before heading off. Over the past few weeks she had been eating breakfast and Grandma Days so everyday she set of her short journey twenty minutes early to give herself plenty of time.
Hannah had gone back for another tour around Afghanistan and although Grandma had company everyday Claire knew that she got lonely. It was a nice way of keeping sociable anyway and Claire never saw it as a hassle.
As she walked up the pouch she knew something was wrong and a small part of her mind knew exactly what that something was as well. The door was locked but Claire got out the keys the old woman had entrusted her with and entered the house.
"Hello? Grandma?" No reply so instead she began searching the house.
Claire found her body laid down, tucked in, inside her bed as if she had simply fallen asleep. The atmosphere was rather tranquil and the breeze caused by the open window was calming to her soul. This was no murder or tragedy a God had simply came down and taken one of his soldiers to rest. It wasn't sad particularly but Claire couldn't help but cry a little when phoning for the ambulance knowing there was nothing to do.
They said what was expected, a too common speech in Morganville and left with her body with the promise of contacting the blood relatives. There was no need for a post-mortem examination she was an 87 year old human that had been on the edge for sometime now.
It was her phone ringing that woke Claire up from the long trance she had been in, the distinctive gothic music playing through the phone. She picked up to be met with "I don't appreciate the lateness Claire and here I was thinking you had jolly well improved on your time management ski- oh there it is! Where did you walk off too? Now where are you?"
Her voice was still slightly teary when she said, "Grandma Day died."
"Claire my dear, that woman lived more of a life than most people in this world, don't pity her, she lived a good life and now she's not but that doesn't mean anything really. Now come over here and I'll make you some tea and maybe a scone if I can find them." She heard crashing in the background as he hung up.
The option was too tempting to pass out on and Claire knew despite his slight ramblings that he was right, Grandma Day wouldn't want her pity she did live an extraordinary life and Claire would never forget that. On the short walk next door down the familiar path she didn't forget to inform her friends of the happenings through a short text.
Mrynin was waiting for her with the lights fully on (thank god) and holding a mug of presumably tea. "Hello there little bird, how do you like your tea?"
He seemed pretty stable today and that was becoming a more common occurrence which was good. Claire thought that Mrynin liked it as well because it meant he could be more independent without Amelie holding him back. The founder of Morganville as one of his few close friends had only the best intentions for him when stopping him from doing something but even she was seeing and respecting his changes.
"Just white no sugar please." He nodded his head and Claire prayed that the milk was in date. Knowing Myrnin it could have been from the 1700s but when she saw a small modern carton with clean white liquid she relaxed.
After a while of her just sitting and drinking the tea whilst Myrnin complained about a scone thief she just smiled and got lost in his ramblings. Then when finished she was feeling back to normal again and she quickly stood up and asked, "So what are we doing today."
His eyes lit up as he began explaining complex physics and alchemy to her and then listing all that he desired to get done. One thing was for sure, it was going to be a long day.
It was around nine when she finally left work but luckily her beautiful husband was parked outside ready to take them home. He asked her the usual questions about her day and she mirrored until Grandma Day came into the conversation. Mrynin was talented, she had to admit, at distracting her because admittedly she had almost completely forgot. However as soon as Shane mentioned it it all came flooding back and she told him everything, even though there wasn't much to tell.
Claire could tell that he was equally as upset as her but they both knew the it was going to happen some day soon, she hadn't been completely well in ages. It didn't make the news any less sad but Claire supposed a little more easier to accept. Grandma had been at peace with the world as much as she could have been and knew her time was short, it wasn't something horrible and sudden, it was slow and tranquil.
"They will be lining the streets, I bet. A woman like that won't have a quite send off. Everybody knew her. . ."
It was like he wanted to say more but Claire understood. Her and Shane had come to that point in their relationship when speaking wasn't always necessary because they were connected in a way deeper than either could understand. It was bliss sometimes to just sit in their own little atmosphere as weird as that sounds in utter silence. And that's what they did.
/
After waking up in a empty bed due to her husbands early shift, which was unusual, the first stop she made was at the coffee shop in the common grounds where she picked up her usual served by the vampire Oliver that had chose the hippy look to appear less threatening than the true badass Claire had occasionally seen. When seeing to her order they didn't speak and since the shop was quite the affaire could have come across as awkward but she didn't care. Impressing a vampire like Oliver was the least of her worries although she always said a quick thanks just to be polite.
The walk was short and the slight burn on my hand from the coffee was beginning to hurt and it was almost unbearable as she walked down the stairs and into the laboratory. To her surprise as she looked up, after putting the coffee and doughnuts down, Claire was met with the icy eyes of Amelie. It wasn't shocking to see her here but the fact that Mrynin was nowhere to be seen did unnerve her slightly.
She smiled and said "Hello Claire, Mrynin is out at the moment but he shall be back at any moment just completing an errand for me. Please take a seat."
She did across from the standing ice queen and Amelie carried on talking, "I trust you studies are treating you well."
"Oh yes ma'am everything is going well"
There was a quick pause and then Mrynin came through the portal and after a quite discussion Amelie turned to her and said in a polite tone, "Keep safe and stay productive there is still a lot to do."
Mrynin obviously unwilling to discuss her visit went straight over to the coffee and doughnuts and tucked right in. Claire complied with his wishes happily knowing that nothing dealing with Amelie was straight forward but she just hoped that it wasn't bad.
"Clean the lab and then we will start. Now did you get any of the custard ones?"
"Yes sir!" She said with a mock salute in response to his command. Even though he was technically her boss, her and Mrynin were much closer friends.
As always it took her around two and a half hours to clean the lab and it was when everything was almost clean when it went wrong. As she picked up the box full of random books she knew it was a mistake. Immediately after getting a grip she slipped on a puddle of who-knows-what and almost fell and hit her back. Luckily Mrynin was close by and caught her before impact and even managed to pull her away from toppling books that had splattered everywhere.
After the immediate shock he sighed and said, "If you were a vampire you see, things like that just wouldn't happen."
She rolled her eyes and pulled herself from her arms that hadn't let go, "Mrynin we are not having this discussion again. I'm human and that's the way it's supposed to be."
Claire could tell that he was dying to protest but stopped himself and instead said, "Yes I know what you think but I've still got some time to convince you. Now let's get on with this experiment."
Claire should have really said something, totally quenched his desire because despite the whispers tempting her with eternal life, deep down she knew that she was meant to be a human. And in all honesty that was ok because her life was complete.
Another long day at work had passed but her husband was in cooking them his famous chilli so all was ok. She kissed him and after a sweet moment he looked at her with sad eyes and said, "Micheal told me, the news you were keeping from me."
She put the pieces together immediately and looked up at him and blurted out, "It sucks."
Shane laughed and said, So do a lot of things in Morganville."
My first go at fanfiction! Did I get the characters right? I was so upset when this series finished and I didn't really like the daylighters book or how it all ended so I decided to try and do it myself and depending on how popular it becomes it may become a really long book (I hope so).
