Hey, this is my first fanfic, I hope you like it. Basically, this is what happens when Claire gets stuck in Morganville after dark. Not much happens in this chapter, but it's only the first one and I promise it will get more exciting! I apologise if there are any mistakes. Please R&R! :)

Disclaimer - I don't own Morganville Vampires or the charcaters I've used; they all belong to the wonderful Rachel Caine.

Claire Danvers looked up at the empty Glass House, then back down at her backpack, and sighed. Why was it that the onetime all of her housemates were out of the house doing God knows what, she forgot her keys?
"Great. This is just great." She muttered to herself as she sat down on the porch and resigned herself to waiting for someone, anyone, to come home. It was only four in the afternoon, and it was summer, so needless to say the sun was beating down on her almost unbearably, so she thought that maybe it wasn't so bad sitting and waiting. She could definitely do with the vitamin D, Claire decided at she looked down at her pale arms, as long as she didn't burn. She had had enough sun burn to last her a life time (admittedly, that hadn't actually been the sun, more like a UV bomb meant for her crazy bad-ass boss, Myrnin, but the effects were pretty much the same. She had walked round for over a week with a bright red, pealing face). So Claire leant her head back against the door, closed her eyes, and waited.

She didn't know how long she had been sitting there before she realized that the sun was steadily dropping from the sky. In any other town, this might have been a mere annoyance, after all, no one liked being out on their own after dark, but in Morganville, Texas, it was suicidal. Even with her special pin, that identified her as a friend of Morganville and was just about the best protection anyone could get, she wasn't completely safe. Not when you lived in a town run by vampires.
"Damn it!" Claire said, and reached down into her backpack looking for her phone. Eventually her hand closed around the cold metal of her Nokia, and she pulled it out. She scrolled down her contacts list until she found Eve's name, and pressed the button to call her. It rang a few times before it went to voice mail. Eve's cheery voice (which, when Claire thought about it, didn't really go with the gothic exterior of her best friend), filled the tiny speaker.
"Hey losers! This is Eve, but I obviously can't pick up the phone right now. I'm probably working, or maybe I've lost my phone, or maybe I just don't wanna talk to you! HA! Anyway leave a message! See ya!"
Claire looked down at her watch, it was seven thirty, and Claire remembered belatedly that Oliver had roped Eve into working in his coffee shop, Common Grounds, for the evening. She had no idea how he'd managed that. Oliver was one of the meanest vamps in town, and none to popular with the humans (at least the ones 'in the know' about Morganville), and Eve hated working nights. Which was understandable, given the whole vampire issue. He must've offered her at least double what he usually paid her. Claire shut the phone without leaving her a message, and rang her second housemate, Michael, instead. He picked up the phone, but wasn't much more help.
"Hey, Claire." He greeted her when he answered.
"Hi, Michael. Look, I left my keys in the house and I need a favour-"
"Sorry, Claire I'm kind of busy right now, Amelie needs me to do something. Have you tried Shane?"
"No, he's working."
"Phone Eve." He said, and Claire heard the cold hard voice of Amelie, Founder of Morganville, in the background, though she couldn't make out what she was saying, "Sorry Claire, I really have to go, I'll see you at home." He hung up before Claire could tell him that she had already phoned Eve, and she wasn't picking up her phone.

There was only one more person that Claire could call, and while he was the person she wanted to see the most out of all her housemates, he also had the most to lose, and would take way longer to get here than the others. Claire's boyfriend, Shane Collins, was a slacker, and didn't always bother to go to work, so wasn't far from losing his job cutting up barbeque meat, and he really needed the money; he wasn't exactly rolling in cash. But Claire knew without a doubt that he would come running if she needed his help; Shane was very protective of those he loved, of which Claire was most definitely one, and would do anything to keep them from harm. She didn't want to be the one responsible for making him unemployed, but she couldn't sit outside all night and wait for the vampires to come out. Not that all vampires were bad, Michael Glass, for example was one of her closest friends and housemates, he owned the Glass House and was a sweetheart, and Sam Glass, Michael's grandfather, had always stood up for the humans, at least until Bishop, the evil cold-hearted vampire, had come to town and killed him, along with many others. Of course, there was also Myrnin. He had been insane for a while, with the 'Bishop disease', but was now cured; though in his sane state he was still half crazy all of the time. He was by far the cleverest person Claire had ever met, which was logical seeing as he had been around for hundreds, maybe thousands, of years, and he seemed to live in his underground lab, where Claire worked. She didn't think she could count him on her list of 'good' vampires, he could easily lose control; the fang marks on her neck were proof of that, but in a weird way she had grown to care about him, and even consider him her friend. Amelie rarely lost control, and never went around biting random people, but she could never be considered a friend; she believed that vampires were superior, and humans expendable. The majority of Morganville vampires wouldn't kill random people, but there were always some who didn't believe in Amelie's rules, and would hunt whomever they could.

After debating with herself for a while, she realised that her surviving was a lot more important than Shane's job, so she rang him on his mobile. He answered on the second ring.
"Hey, Jailbait." He sounded like he was in a good mood; there must have been lots of meat to chop with a very big knife at work.
"Hey, Shane."
"So, what's up? You miss the sound of my, admittedly wonderful, voice?" He teased.
"Ha, ha, you're so funny. Not."
"Ouch girl, harsh."
This time she really did laugh, "No, I didn't call just to hear your voice. I need your help."
"Help with what?"
"I left my keys at home, and now I'm locked out of the house."
He laughed; "That doesn't sound like you."
" Yeah, whatever. It's getting dark and I don't really want to be stood out here like free food."
There was a slight pause on Shane's end of the line, and Claire started to wonder if he had hung up.
"Shane?"
"I'm here. Shit, Claire. You can't be out after dark; it's not safe."
"I know that!"
"Right, I'm coming now."
Claire breathed a sigh of relief, nothing bad could happen if Shane was on his way. She knew that was stupid, and precisely the way to get herself killed, but that was just how she felt. "Thank you."
"Try and climb through a window, or something. Anything. Just get inside, Claire."
"I'll try."
"Damn it! I need a car!" He sounded out of breath; he must have been running to get to her, "Stay on the line until I get there, shout if there's any trouble."
"Okay." Claire replied, and walked around to the side of the house in search of an open window. There weren't any, of course; that would've made life way too easy, so she leant back against the wall and waited for Shane to arrive.

lAuRaa'XD