BTW THIS STORY IS SUPPOSED TO BE BASED AFTER GHOST TOWN, BUT SOME BITS MIGHT BE OFF SO SORRY! ENJOY! Please review if you have time thank you!

Claire screamed after glancing at the library clock "What is wrong with me at the moment?" she growled to herself. She'd finished all her classes for the day and decided to finish reading the alchemy book she'd got from Myrnin's Lab before heading home, but she'd fallen asleep like an idiot, face planted on her book, probably drooling.

She headed through the schools assortment of corridors heading for the west exit, which took her straight by common grounds and back home, but Claire got a nasty shock when she opened the swinging metal door.

It was dark.

"Damn." She gasped.

What was she going to do now! She couldn't walk home, all three of her housemates would be mad, never mind just Shane. How did it get so late! She must have slept for at least 2 hours, how does someone do that in such a public place, without being woken up!

She sighed, rummaging through her backpack for her mobile phone, a newly issued model given to her by Amelie, God forbid she'd already had her old one for 3 months. Shocker. She speed dialled Detective Hess, him now being the only contact available as a night time chaperone. But, obviously, it went straight to voicemail. She hung up in the middle of his message, advertising his late night shift.

Great. Now she was out of options, Shane was still at work at The Grill; Michael had the newly built town studio room booked for tonight, it was a Monday, he did this every Monday and of course Eve's phone had died of natural causes a couple of weeks ago. Typical. Normally any deaths in this town are related to the Vamps, but no, this time her old friend, Science, was playing a nasty, mean trick on her.

She stood on the TPU steps, unconsciously tapping her bottom lip repeatedly with her phone, her eyes trailing the campus for any bulging shadows that seemed out of place; as they always seemed to contain a hungry vampire. Especially at the university. Claire had discovered, when she first got here, that the Vamps got free reign on a certain percentage of students every year. Of course she did have Amelie's bracelet, but that didn't mean a lot to the Vamps now-a-days, considering Amelie now had joint leadership with Oliver and the whole protection scheme seemed to be in complete havoc after all the recent "problems" in Morganville.

Then it came to her. Myrnin. He would probably come to the university to escort her home if she promised to let him take the reins for the next week or so. No vampire would dare start on Myrnin, he was well known for his crazy, unpredictable temperament and of course he was very old, and would therefore be able take down most of Morganville Vamps in a one-on-one fight, if it came down to it.

She dialled Myrnins mobile number, praying he hadn't boiled it by accident or left it in the bottom of a random flask, which was probably bubbling away with all kinds of corrosive crap on top of it by now. Just when she was about to give up, after several long tones, Claire heard Myrnin's familiar drawl on the other end of the phone.

"Claire! What a delight, I have to say I've been thinking about you all day, you just left me this morning without a word of goodbye" He chanted accusingly.

"All day? Don't you have better things to do?" Claire challenged. What was she doing bantering with him? She needed his help. "Look, Myrnin, I'm at the university and I need you to escort me back home. Please" She added as an afterthought, remembering the way he reacted this morning to being ordered around.

"How many times do I have to tell you, I'm not your own private taxi service Claire, why not call that plump police officer you're so fond off, doesn't he normally play the role of chauffeur for you and your dear friends? I am rather busy you know." He ranted in a disinterested tone.

"I've tried him, he's on duty tonight. Myrnin please. Amelie wouldn't be too happy if she knew I'd begged for your help after I've been mauled by some rogue vamp and you'd refused, would she?" Okay, so I was being sly, Myrnin always had a thing for obeying Amelie, even when it came to making work on the stupid town defences for three whole days with no sleep. Not a wink. It nearly killed me.

"Do not threaten me Claire. I do not take kindly to threats." He responded quietly.

"Argh! Myrnin please! Why are you being so difficult? It'll take you 20 minutes max for God's sake." I nearly yelled at him.

"I do not see why we have to bring God into this Claire. But very well, I shall be there in a minute or two." He hung up, leaving me sighing at the dial tone in my ear.

I still don't think I'll ever understand Myrnin. I'd worked for him for over a year now and still his moods were a mystery to me. Myrnin had taken the cure just like every other vampire in Morganville. The disease which deteriorated their mental state into nothing more than savage vegetables was all but wiped out, and to be honest Claire had accepted a while ago that maybe Myrnin had just been more crazy than the average Vamp all along (which was a hell of a lot of crazy). If he was human he'd probably be in one of those castle-like mental asylums you see on those crappy horror films, wrapped up in a grimy straight jacket in a padded cell by now.

"BOO!" shouted a loud voice suddenly right next to my ear, causing me to jump at least a foot in the air screaming like a banshee.

I frowned at Myrnin who was bent over double laughing his heart out. "Oh what a reaction! Have you never noticed Claire darling that humans tend to jump higher when they know something is coming. I saw the most hilarious thing the other day, this old woman was watching her microwave, straight away I knew what was going to happen, and my Lord did she-" Oh dear, he was in one of his high moods, these could be just as bad as when he was in an extreme depression, the worst was when he begged me to end his life. This mood though was the most unpredictable of all.

Claire really didn't care whether Myrnin spent all day; watching soaps or spent his time stalking ladies in their kitchens, but he always insisted on telling her the most stupid anecdotes.

"Myrnin! Can we go now? Please. My friends are going to be worried enough as it is, I don't want to get home to an organised search party."

Myrnin straightened up, all the laughter gone from his eyes. "Ah, yes and I suppose these friends you mention include that pathetic excuse of a boyfriend of yours?" He jabbed at me, while leading the way down the steps and into the night towards common grounds.

"Don't start Myrnin. You have no right to say that about Shane, just because he shot you doesn't mean you have to be an asshole to him all the time. He was trying to help." She said shooting a scathing look at him.

"Yes. Of course all his motives were focused on trying to help" He said mockingly.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Claire demanded, trying to catch up with him. We were walking past Common grounds now, officially shut for the night. Seeing the small coffee shop so empty, looked plain wrong, I was used to the sight of students filing endlessly in and out of the doors, fighting over chairs and socket spaces for laptops. But now it made Morganville seem eerily quiet. Claire hurried past now level with Myrnin brushing his arm as she fell into step with him.

He glanced sideways at her, raising his eyebrow slightly. They walked under the streetlamps in silence, nearly home now.

"This reminds me of a night about ninety years ago with Ada." He murmured into the night, my breath was forming into little condensation clouds infront of us, but nothing came from Myrnin.

"Why?" She asked in shocked response. Quite surprised that Myrnin was willingly mentioning Ada. That was twice in one day he'd brought her up. Oh God, she hoped he wasn't thinking of trying to bring her back again. Myrnin had been unquestionably in love with Ada, a fact he frequently admitted too, enough so that after he'd accidently killed her, he resurrected her in the form of a machine that manifested as a sort of spectral image, and she basically ran Morganville. After Ada had been destroyed Myrnin temporarily lost his mind becoming the vampire of people's nightmares and had nearly killed Claire more than once.

"It was just like this. The moon was half full and we were walking under the street lamps hand-in-hand. A midnight stroll I think they are called. Obviously we walked outside at night, not during the day, Ada loved it. I think it made her feel like a more normal couple, I could tell she missed some parts of being human." Myrnin was sounded weirdly sane right now, hearing him talk about love was always odd, as he constantly criticised her feelings for Shane and ridiculed classic romance novels like Pride and Prejudiced.

"Well don't you? Miss parts of being human I mean?" Claire asked genuinely curious. There were so many things humans could do that vampires could not, walk in the sun being the prime example, many vampires missed that.

"Not really." He answered abruptly, returning to the snappy Myrnin. What the hell.

"Really? Absolutely nothing?" Claire enquired, scepticism filling her voice. "What about the sun and flowers and-" Claire was interrupted by Myrnin abruptly bring his fingers up to her mouth to quieten her.

"No, my dear Claire. I have replaced the Sun with the stars, which just about equal it's beauty, and flowers? What sort of poetic nonsense is that! Why would I fret over my existence because of poxy flowers! The only thing, I think, I regret not having…is a beating heart." He looked into her eyes with so much sincerity, she almost felt like she wanted to give him a hug. Almost. Not quite. "I miss not feeling my heart quicken when I run, or feel adrenaline being forced through my veins in a fight, being able to tell if a woman really moves me, or if I'm just being whimsical, now it's a constant emptiness, and sometimes I feel an ache as if it would beat again if it could.". Claire blinked a few times to clear her head. Myrnin had never talked like this before. Never sounded so human before . It made her see him slightly differently.

Myrnin was lonely. Lonelier than anyone she'd ever known.

And it was so sad.

Myrnin moved a stray lock of hair from Claire's face, placing it back in its rightful place with a gentle flick, keeping his cold hand resting on her cheek. Then he did something which startled Claire more than his loud exclamation on TPU stairs, he gently stroked her cheek with his thumb.

"Beautiful Claire. You shine brighter than anyone I've ever known you know. So much brighter." He murmured so quietly she barely caught his words.

The silence that followed was so perfect, she heard her own shallow breathing as loud as if she'd just ran a marathon, staring confused into Myrnins green eyes. Which seemed to be getting gradually closer and closer, as if she was being drawn in to their emerald depths.