A/N : Hey guys! I'm sorry i haven't updated for so long! I am really bogged down with a lot of work :) i am trying to update quickly and by the summer I will be updating more often I hope!:D thank you for sticking it out with me...

Please Please Please go read the fiction by author: Eve Rosser-Glass. She is an amazing writer and has helped my with my ideas!

Thanks again:)

Myrnin didn't know how long he held Claire in his arms as silent tears rolled from her eyes and down her rosy cheeks; if he had to guess, he would have said at least fifteen minutes. The sleeve of his lab coat was a dark, damp colour where it was now soaked through with salt water.
"E-Excuse me a second please, Myrnin," Claire mumbled, leaning back and dragging the back of a shaking hand across her face in an attempt to expel her tears. It only succeeded in making her pale skin red and raw. Myrnin unravelled his arms from around her as she climbed to her feet and brushed imaginary lint off of her sleeves to avoid looking her former boss in the eyes.
"Claire..."
"Don't. " She interrupted him sliding around the desk and moving across the soft carpet towards the door at a brisk pace. Just before opening it, she turned back slightly, still not looking directly at him. "I'm going to talk to Mary for a moment; when I get back I will show you what changes I have incorporated into this town since the Vampire's left." She left the office, pulling the door closed behind her with a click.

Myrnin stood alone in the room feeling dread for the first time. Claire had been alone, that meant no one to open up to, no one that cared for her; naturally she had built up protections in her psyche. Walls that were designed to keep even him out. This new Claire was stronger, yes, but also more vulnerable at the same time. Prolonged mention of her friends could be enough in some situations to crack her. This worried Myrnin, slightly more than the fact that she closed up when he was close to her. He thought that even though six years had passed, she may still have retained some trust for him. Turns out she hadn't. Claire Collins seemed to trust no one, except maybe this Mary person. With Claire out of the room for the time being, Myrnin decided that now was his chance to find out as much as he could about this new girl as he could, so he began to explore the office. First was the pine bookshelf in the corner adjacent to the door, but it wasn't the books that caught his eye when he looked at that piece of furniture. Perched on top was a silver framed image - Myrnin knew this because he had reached out to get a better look at it, burning him outstretched fingers in the process - it was of four people. Claire, Eve and Michael were in the foreground of the photo. The girls were tackling Michael to the ground holding stakes and grinning; Michael's expression was mock fear. The other person in the photo was Shane, he stood at the back just behind the scene smiling a smile filled with so much love for his three best friends. If Myrnin's heart had been beating, it would have just broke for Claire. She had lost so much when her friends went missing, that much was obvious.

Myrnin continued his perusal of the office, there were dying flowers - Geraniums and Poppies if Myrnin's botanical knowledge had not failed him - and only one flourishing plant: Nightshade, on the windowsill, it was slightly worrying to see such a poisonous plant in a human's office but Myrnin knew that if he brought it up Claire would snap at him. Inside the room Myrnin found other things that interested him, including a mechanical pencil sharpener that distracted him for two whole minutes, and a rather curious looking device that turned out to be a hole-puncher. Overall, however, he didn't find much evidence to tell him about the new Claire other than the fact that she was still a silver hoarder. Her desk drawers each had at least one silver coated stake, three silver nitrate bullets and a gun to fire them with; she seemed to be expecting an army.

Outside, Claire was sitting on Mary's desk while the girl typed viciously at her computer. This girl was insane at multitasking; Claire had once seen her murdering a vampire with a flame thrower whilst killing about three others with silver throwing knives. It was one of the main reasons that Claire had hired Mary as her secretary. That, and she wanted someone to talk to, Mary had been the only one to agree that Claire should look for Eve, Michael and Shane.
"...I just can't believe he's back, Em," Claire said to her friend, picking up a stapler and stapling the edge of the desk. Mary allowed her to because it had become a habit, when Claire was nervous or upset, she'd staple things. It began just after her friends had disappeared. Claire had just stapled the wall in her room at the Glass House with bits of paper for college and threw herself into work; sooner or later she had stopped needing the paper as an excuse. There was a line of about 50 staples running along the rim of Mary's desk where Claire had come to talk to her and gotten upset over something that was worrying her. Sometimes they wouldn't even talk; Claire would just add a few staples the desk and Mary would work. The girl knew she wasn't a replacement, nor would she ever replace, Eve Rosser-Glass, but she was glad that Claire could talk to her about things because she could see that her boss needed it sometimes.
"I know. From the things you told me about him though, I expected him to be a little more... well, crazy is as good a word as any, I suppose..." Claire laughed at the statement.
"He used to be. He was quirky, though he bit me sometimes. I believe the years away from this forsaken place appear to have done him some good. Though I'm sure he's not completely out of the crazy phase. He probably has his moments." She was thoughtful. "I opened up properly to him today. It was strange - no offence, but I haven't done that in a while-"
"None taken"
"It's nice to see him... but can I really trust him, Em? He seems all sane, he can't have managed that on his own! What if he's with Amelie. And will the towns folk tolerate a vampire back in the town?"

SNAP SNAP SNAP went the stapler, accidently pinning the edge of Claire's immaculate trousers to the desk. She swore.
"Ohhhh! These are a good pair as well! Mary, would you pass me that letter opener, I'm going to have to pull the staple out. Dammit!" She grumbled as she took the blunt object offered and prised the staple from her trousers, tossing it across the room. "Oh Mary, I really hope I can trust Myrnin. What if I can't though? What if he is Amelie's spy and all my old friends are now gone? I've lost too much to lose the little bit of hope I got back when I saw him!"

"Miss Claire! Calm down!" Mary began, stopping typing and placing her hands over her friend's, "Myrnin seems stable at the moment, that is good news. You're panicking yourself. You've built your walls so high that no one can climb them, but that leads to your anxiety attacks. Miss Claire, you must calm yourself or you're going to work yourself up again. Remember last week? Shane wouldn't want this! Breathe!" Claire breathed. Mary had worked out the best ways to get her boss to calm down, it mostly involved mentioning the woman's husband, that way she'd go off into her own little world and think about him. It was always slightly worrying though that Claire Collins was losing her grip on reality. "Go back, talk to Myrnin. You'll never know unless you ask. From what you've told me about him, he doesn't sound like he'd ever betray you."

"A lot can change in 6 years." Claire muttered, fully composed from her little panic and looked around, standing up and straightening her trousers. "Right, well, wish me luck." She said, and hurried off down the hall.

In her head, Claire made a mental map of the sites that she wanted to show Myrnin, not that much in terms of infrastructure had changed, just more, the atmosphere. The corridor felt very short and before she knew it, she was standing in front of the door to her office, breathing deeply. It was now or never. She opened the door.

"Myrnin, so I-" Claire stopped short. Inside the room she was met with a very strange sight. Myrnin was perched upon the edge of her desk in a very owl like fashion, staring wide eyed at something and occasionally poking it. He hadn't noticed Claire. The touch lamp was turning on, getting brighter and then turning off each time Myrnin poked it, Claire couldn't help but giggle at the bizarre sight in front of her. Myrnin spun around, toppling off the desk but landing cat-like on the ground and glancing up at the sound Claire had made. The lamp was still on so he reached out behind him and poked it one more time for good measure, it blinked out with a faint clink. Looking around, Claire could tell that Myrnin had been searching for something, nothing ever changed in her office because she was the only one that went in there. Her hole-puncher was open and it's confetti like contents were buried in the carpet like little white snow peaks on each individual carpet strand mountain; the photo of her friends had a faint patch of smouldered skin where Myrnin had tried to touch it; and the geraniums and poppies on the windowsill were no longer there, the soil was strewn across the floor and the flowers were in a glass of water that Claire had been drinking. Myrnin had tried to revive them.

"I'm not even going to want to know what happened here, am I?" Claire asked cautiously, "What am I going to do with you, Myrnin? You're like a puppy! I leave you alone for two minutes and you trash the place! And would you please stand up, you look a little intimidating crouching like that, it reminds me of when you used to attack me." Myrnin straightened up at once, pulling at the lab coat to remove the creases so that he looked presentable.

"Shall we go?" He asked, composing himself and trying to cover the fact that he was fishing soil from his pockets.

"Uh, yes, lets..." Claire hesitated, stuck between giggling more and scolding him for the state of her office but before she got the chance to do either, Myrnin had swept forward and linked arms with her, a reassuring grin plastered on his face. He dragged her out of the door, down the corridor and into the streets, waving to Mary at the front desk as they passed. Claire was just trying not to trip over the high boots that she was wearing. "So where are my bunny slippers, may I inquire?" Myrnin asked suddenly when they were out in the open air.

"They're mine now." Claire replied with a grin, dragging Myrnin by the arm down the road.

Has being away from her friends for so long made Claire go a little psycho? Find out next time...

And it would mean the world to me if you would review. I feel very disheartened when people don't because i don't know whether you're all enjoying it or not! So pleeasee, review? :D Free cookies to everyone that does ;)