Chapter 2:

Dedicated to fading daylight (Maddie) for being such an awesome gal on RoseScorpius Fans forum & because she is reading MV because I asked her to…sorry about the name mess up, hon!

I don't own anything

Claire stepped out of the changing room in one of the dressing up shops in Morganville (evidently the town was filled with alter egos because there were at least four of them around) with a scowl on her face. "I look like a little kid playing dress up," she moaned to Eve, who had stepped out looking like a supermodel.

"You do not, especially when Auntie Eve will sort your make up and hair out – you'll look like a proper witch," Eve laughed, moving some of Claire's hair out of the way so it made her look as if she wasn't twelve again. "Now, how do I look?" she motioned to her own outfit, which made her look like the reincarnation of Catwoman and didn't exactly help Claire's self confidence.

"You look hot, which is what you were going for, I'm sure," Claire grinned, in turn getting her hair ruffled by Eve. "What? You ruffled my hair?" she snapped in outrage.

"You're the one who said you look like a little kid; all I did was back that up," Eve responded. "Nah, I'm just kidding CB, you look fantastic. Now, hurry up and get changed so I can buy these outfits and then go dissuade our boyfriends from wearing the most ridiculous outfits."

Claire sighed but walked back into the changing room and began to change back into her normal clothes, regretting the plan that Shane has refused to change for him to be wearing a vampire hunter's outfit. There were hundreds of people in Morganville who wear them every year, yet she knew that Shane wearing one of those wouldn't go down well whatsoever. She had lost count of how many times he had been arrested or accused of attacking vampires, sometimes (but not often) this being a false charge but, on the whole, him being the human known for being the most anti-vampire. Michael, Eve and she had tried to make him realise that it was ironic for Michael to dress like that (since, hello, vampire) but the minute he stepped out with a stake, he would be arrested.

"Hurry up in there, CB, are you texting lover boy?" Eve yelled through the curtain after a few minutes, waking Claire from her reverie she had fallen into.

"Coming!" she called through, yanking her top on over her head. "Look, see, I'm almost done now! Do you want to know anything else about my getting dressed or is seeing me enough?" with that, she yanked the curtain open to reveal her dressed self to Eve.

"No need for a little hissy fit, Claire, I can see you're here," Eve, Queen of drama, decided to say to Claire, resulting in the raising of Claire's eyebrows. "Now, hand that over, Miss I-can-raise-my-eyebrows, so I can pay for it, unless you want to…" she trailed off as Claire handed the outfit straight out to her, having no intention of paying for her own outfit when someone who earned more money than her (Myrnin didn't exactly pay top dollar for her services) was offering.

When Eve had paid, they walked out of the shop and headed home, each step taking them closer to finding out what their respective partners would be wearing for the party. Claire's heart sunk as she reached the front of the Glass House, wondering what the hell Shane would have gotten to store his stakes and knives in – as she knew Shane and now he had said he was going as a vampire hunter, there was no stopping him.

It was just wondering where he would stop.

"So, guess what I'm wearing!" Shane jumped out on the girls as they walked into the house, resulting in them both dropping their bags and screaming. He was the scariest thing Claire had ever seen, fake blood (or at least she hoped it was fake) dripping from his clothes which were horrific. All over the front of the shirt, he had "we hate vampires" written, completing the look with a cloak akin to that of a vampire's apart from the way hastily drawn stakes were all over the front and inside was laden with real stakes…and silver knives.

"Holy crap, Shane, what the hell are you wearing?" Eve was the first to recover, slamming the door shut on the off chance that there could have been a vampire running down the street and just so happened to want to spy in the Glass House. "You're actually crazy, you know, absolutely fricking mental! You'll be dead before you even get to the party, with the vampires in this town."

"Chill out!" was all Shane could respond with, waving his hands in the air to calm her down. Unfortunately, all this did was show even more weapons wrapped around his waist, which resulted in Claire stepping around him and walking through the house without a word.

How could he be so stupid? As she walked away, she heard him calling her name, sounding hurt, but she didn't care: he had just shown he had completely disregarded her wishes, as he did all the time. And she was sick of it. She supposed that she should be used to it now, since she'd gone out with him for so long, but she wasn't. in fact, it only made her angrier, that she had to modify her wishes for him, that he got into so many of the most ridiculous situations and she had to both bail him out and forgive him.

She'd had enough.

"No, Shane!" she snapped, whirling around as he approached. "I'm sick of this! You never listen to me; you only do what you want! I don't…I don't think I can deal with this anymore." She whispered the last bit, her eyes filling with tears as she looked at him.

Instantly, his face seemed to crumple as he looked down at her, concentrating on nothing but her. "You're breaking up with me over a costume?" he sounded both outraged and shocked at the same time, especially as she nodded slowly.

"Not just the costume, Shane, but what it symbolises," she explained her nod, taking a step backwards until she felt the banister behind her back. "You do what you want and I do what I want. We don't need each other anymore, you know that better than I do. So go wear your costume, Shane, and dodge the vampires. It's what you love. Unfortunately, that's not me."

And, with that, she ran up the stairs, wiping the tears from her eyes as Shane continued to stand there, unable to move with shock.

…

He didn't try to talk to her that night, for which she was thankful. Though she knew she had had to do it, it didn't make it hurt any less and if he had came near her, she was sure she would have abandoned her resolve and just let him back into her arms. By the next morning, however, she was fully sure that she had made the right decision, even if that wasn't something Shane agreed with – Shane or the rest of the Glass House.

As she reached the bottom of the stairs, she found her outfit still in the bag, hanging on the bottom of the banister. It was the outfit she would have to wear to the party in six days – alone, since she didn't have a date after last night. It was her own fault but she couldn't help but feel a little wistful that she didn't have someone to protect her incase things went bad: she was strong enough to hold her own against one young vampire, but not against a whole crowd of probably centuries old ones. Even though Shane would be the one causing the issues with how he was planning to be dressed, he would have at least had a spare stake for her.

"Hey, CB," Eve sounded her usual self as Claire walked into the kitchen, pouring the girl a coffee before she could even ask. "Extra milk and sugar, as you like," she smiled, almost to help the girl feel better about what she did.

"You…you don't think I was wrong last night, do you?" she whispered to Eve, her eyes turned to the table.

"You did what is right for you, Claire, which is all I'd expect my girl to do," was the response she got. "It'll hurt for a bit, but you'll get over it and you'll be friends before you know it," Eve continued, plonking some toast down in front of Claire.

"Thanks."

"No problem. Right, well, eccentric boss man phoned and said he needed my help setting up the Monster to take it over to the party site – evidently he won't be able to go a night without coffee – so I better get on with that," Eve said, her tone as cheery as before – probably something to do with the fact she had had almost an entire pot of coffee and it was 11am. "Gotta hate the man, but he pays better than TPU did, so who's to complain?"

"You, since you do every day," for the first time that day, Claire said something that resembled her usual self and that had Eve smiling instantly.

"Well, nice to know that you know me, CB," she ruffled the girl's hair as she walked out. "I'll be back later, kay? Shane went out and Michael's still in bed, lazy bugger, so you get the experience of being home alone." The mocking tone to her voice was meant in a humorous manner, which had Claire laughing despite herself.

"Sure will, Miss mother-of-the-nest," she replied, yelling the last bit through as Eve unlocked the front door. "Bye!"

Now, she thought wryly, she had the full day spare.

Or did she?

…

Within three or four minutes of thinking that, her mobile chimed with the unmistakable sound of a text. Heaving herself up and dodging the pile of clothes that Eve had decided were not suitable for her to wear anymore and would suit the little kids down to the ground for Halloween – literally, some of the kids were so short, you wouldn't be able to see them in some of Eve's attire – she reached the place she dumped her mobile yesterday morning and picked it up.

Claire, I require someone to decide what outfit Bob shall wear to the party. Come over now – I shall send a portal for your dear self.

Yours

Myrnin

Well, that was what she thought it said: unfortunately, Myrnin was yet to have fully understood how to operate a mobile phone and ended up pressing the wrong letter in his haste to send the message. But once she figured out the translation, her heart sank; was she seriously going to have to help Myrnin dress his spider for the party?

Do I have to?

She sent that and flopped back down on the sofa, burying her head under a cushion that smelt of Shane, something she didn't want to smell. So she lifted her head and stood up, looking around the room for something that didn't remind her of the boyfriend she had dumped – the only thing she found was the guitar of Michael's.

Picking it up, she began to strum, just as Michael had shown her the other week…just as the portal opened. "Claire, you're supposed to be dressing Bob for the party rehearsal, not playing that piece of utter rubbish," Myrnin called through in a cheery voice, only poking his head through. "Hurry, child, I haven't all day – I have work to be doing, as do you, you know!"

She set the guitar down and sighed before following Myrnin through the portal into his lab, where she was faced with the sight of Bob moving frantically around the lab, an array of different coloured cloaks on the work bench nearest his cage. "I'm going no closer," she announced, stopping about ten metres away from the spider. "If you think I'm going to go nearer than this to a spider, you're crazed," she continued, her eyes narrowing as she could tell Myrnin was thinking of pushing her forwards.

"How you are ever going to be a good scientist is beyond me when you cannot even abide to touch a spider," he chastised. "Especially a spider who, Amelie said, is a guest of honour at the party that we are all to attend…" he trailed off as Claire groaned internally, knowing she was going to be subjected to spending time with a spider.

"Well what are you wearing?" she inquired suspiciously. "As Amelie said that everyone has to dress up and I'm pretty sure that she meant you more than she did Bob…so what are you planning to wear?"

"An alchemist never reveals his plans before they are ready to be revealed – and that includes costumes," he told her, a deadly serious tone to his voice. "You shall find out at the party, after all. Now, tell me dear, are there any plans from the human factions to launch rebellions?" he sounded as if he actually believed that Claire would know if there were to be any.

"Firstly, why the hell would I know?" she asked indignantly, unable to be any form of polite towards him when he could accuse her of knowing that. "Secondly, why would we bother? I mean, things are relatively normal in Morganville – to fight would be futile!" she continued.

"Amelie assures me that every year since Morganville began, All Hallow's Eve – or Halloween, to coin the modern day term – has been a night of struggling for power from the humans, including ones she never expected," he informed her gravely, sitting down on his special chair. As he put his spectacles on, she could no longer take him seriously, a man in his mid-twenties physically, dressed like a cross between a Victorian and a modern day surfer, who felt it nice to wear reading spectacles, not that he needed them.

"Well this year will be different," Claire insisted, confident of this answer. Why would people fight when they had gotten things that they had never had before, like equality in so many more fields than this time last year?

"You have never been in Morganville on the night of All Hallow's Eve, Claire, or at least in the town," he reminded her gravely, since her only other Halloween in Morganville was before she met the Glass House residents. "Whilst I may have only limited knowledge of the intensity of the modern day riots, this being second hand knowledge from Amelie and the imbecile, I remember those of the days of the beginning of Morganville. And I can assure you there were people you would not expect to be involved."

"So you automatically assumed that I would be?" she was astounded that her boss, her friend, could consider her to be a possible leader of a resistance against vampires to be held on the most stereotypical day of the year for that to happen. "Well, you've got no need to worry, Myrnin. I've got no interest in hurting any vampire, unless they try and kill me. Then the battle is on."

He chuckled as he smiled, yet the smile never quite reached his eyes, as per usual for when science had no involvement in the conversation. "I would expect nothing less from you, little one, nothing less at all. Just be careful you don't get mixed up in dangerous groups, that's all," his tone turned to near concerned, which was unique since Myrnin was nearly never worried.

And then she knew she should be running and screaming.

…

The stock piles of stakes were being dug out of their hiding places of so many residents of Morganville's homes: some were being cut out of the lining of curtains, some being removed from hollow legs in furniture whilst others still were being brought up from beneath the floorboards.

The preparation for All Hallow's Eve was underway.

Knives were being sharpened and costumes arranged to conceal all weapons in handy places. The new rules about being able to carry stakes in the street was being used to the extreme, cauldrons usually used to be filled with the sweets given in trick-or-treating were being reused in mass stake cartels, a handy source for the battle that these humans knew would happen.

Planning had begun shortly after Bishop's fall from power, the plot to decide which vampires to target thickening as moral issues began to raise from the question – some of the intended had helped them in the past, were their friends in some cases. However, the plan was the most important of things, even more important than relationships.

No matter what Amelie thought, this was not a year that would bring peace. They would not fall under the submission of vampires ever and this party wouldn't change anything.

No, they were fighting harder than ever.

And they were fighting to win.

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