Chapter 1

Claire Danvers is stood outside on the pavement. It's a late hot Saturday afternoon in the small town called Morganville. She's staring up at 716 Lot Street; a big, beautiful, almost creepy-looking, mansion.

Ok… this was SUCH a bad idea! But what other choice do I have? It's this, or the last year on the run. She thinks to herself. She takes a deep breath, picks up the only two bags she owns, and opens the little front gate. She walks up to the front door and presses the doorbell.

What if there's nobody in?

She looks down again, at the little newspaper clipping clutched in her hand. It reads,

'Room for rent! 716 Lot Street. Privacy assured and with reasonable rent!'

She's about to lose her nerve and walk away when the big front door swings open to reveal an older looking guy, about a year or so older than Claire, standing on the other side. He has shaggy brown hair and bright green eyes.

'Um… can I help you?' he asks. His eyes run over her light denim shorts and her dark blue blouse.

'Erm… I hope so. My name's Claire and I'm here about a room for rent?'

'Oh right, the room!' his eyes run over her again appreciatively, they start off at the top of her shiny black hair, and travel all the way down to her black ballet shoes, before resting back on her crystal blue eyes.

'I'm Shane,' he says, he holds out his hand and they shake. 'Eve and Michael are at work, but you can come in and wait if you want?'

'Um, sure, that'd be great!'

'Cool, c'mon in!'

He leads her down a big hall, with pictures hanging on the wall and big posh rugs, and into a huge living room. In it, it has; an expensive looking TV, three leather couches, one armchair, a coffee table, and some bookshelves.

'Wow, this place is huge!' Claire breaths.

'Yep. We weren't kidding about the whole privacy thing you know,' he nods towards the paper clipping in her hand.

'No kidding!'

She looks up at Shane and finds him watching her. She feels a blush creeping up towards her cheeks and so she quickly continues with inspecting the room.

'Is that an Xbox 360?'

'Yep. It's one of the many awesome things I brought with me when I moved in here,' he announces.

'Neat!'

'You want a game?'

'Depends… you got any zombie games?' She looks up at him, expecting an answer, and finds him grinning at her. 'Tons,' he says.

After about an hour or so of killing zombies, they hear the front door go.

'Yo, Goth's in the house, my peeps!' a girl's voice comes from the hallway.

'In here!' Shane calls back.

'Big shocker,' the girl says, walking into the room. 'Oh, who's this?'

The fact that she's a Goth is un-doubtfully obvious. She's wearing a skirt that looks as though it's been caught up in a shredder, along with some black Doc Martins. Also, she has on a black top with a skull on the back and some writing on the front saying,

'Either bite me, or get bitten!'

Not to mention the long, jet black hair, and the full Goth makeup.

'This is Claire, Claire this is Eve,' Shane introduces them.

'Hey!' Eve says brightly.

'Hey,' Claire says a little awkwardly.

'She's here to check out the room. What time's Mikey getting back?'

'Hell, I don't know. Ring him and ask,' Eve says.

'Dude, you're his girlfriend, you ring him and ask!'

'No.'

'Yes.'

'No.'

Yes!'

'Read the shirt dumbass!' Eve says.

'Very funny,' Shane says sarcastically.

'Well, I try,' Eve says, fluttering her eyelashes at him innocently. Shane just rolls his eyes and turns back to Claire.

'So, how come you're looking for a place to stay, anyway?'

'Oh,' Claire says shrugging. 'I haven't really got anywhere else to go, it's this or the street. And we all know that, in Morganville, the streets aren't exactly the safest place to be at night.'

'Tell me about it,' Eve sighs. 'Well, I hope you stay, it'd be nice to have another girl around.' Claire smiles.

'Then let's hope I stay!'

Shane and Claire go back on the Xbox for another thirty minutes, Claire wins.

When the third roommate gets in he walks into the living room and spots Claire.

'Hey Mikey, this is Claire. She's auditioning for the room!'

'Hey,' Claire says, smiling sweetly.

'Heya, I'm Michael,' they shake hands.

'She's awesome! She's kicking my ass, man. I think I've finally met my match!' Shane grins. Claire rolls her eyes.

Michael smiles before asking, 'Where's Eve?'

'Here!' Eve calls. She walks into the room and kisses Michael quickly on the lips. 'How was work?'

'Same old, same old. How about you?'

'Oh, you know, my boss is an asshole of a vamp who takes pleasure in other people's suffering.'

'That bad, huh?' Shane asks. That's when Claire notices something about Michael, his skin's too pale.

Oh my God! He's a fucking VAMPIRE!

Claire quickly looks over at Shane, he's watching as the realisation hits her, but he simply smiles and nods reassuringly. Claire lets out a breath she hadn't realised she'd been holding, her heartbeat speeds up. Michael must've heard it because he turns towards her and gives her an apologetic smile, he must be able to read her expression like a book right now.

Oh God, what if he knows who I am? I'll never have a hope in hell of staying hidden! She thinks to herself in horror.

'So Claire,' Shane says. 'How old are you?'

'I'm, um, seventeen in about two and a half weeks,' she replies.

Just then there's a knock at the front door. Eve stands up and goes to answer it.

Claire, Shane, and Michael are all silent as they listen to the voices drift down the hall.

'Hello, Miss Rosser,' came a formal female voice, a voice Claire knows all too well. Claire freezes and both the guys stare at her. The voice came again, 'I would like to see Miss Danvers please.'