*Characters belong to R.C all except Scarlet James in this chapter she belongs to me and my friend Cupcake. Read and Review Please!*

Chapter 6

The next day, Claire got up and dressed in one of her mom's old Beatles shirts and a pair of shorts. She unlocked her door and went to the bathroom. Claire stared at herself before she brushed her hair. Her eyes were the same eyes that she was born with but there was a slight glow to them. She finished with her hair then walked down the stairs, to find every one talking. She stopped to see what they were talking about.

"She wasn't doin' it on purpose Shane." Eve said with a giggle. Michael laughed, "Yeah she didn't have control. And she needs the blood so when you were together she lost it. She locked you out so she could get a handle on things. Trust me I know how she feels. I've been through the same thing." Claire guessed that Michael must have kissed Eve because she heard Shane say, "Oh get a room! So it's because she wasn't you know?"

"Hehe, yeah that's why. Oww!" Eve slurred as she stopped at the bottom of the stairs, where Claire could see her and then turned back to the living room. "Shane-y, I'm hot right?" She asked as she sluggishly placed her hand on her hip. Claire stiffened a giggle. She could tell Eve was drunk because (1) She just asked Shane if she was hot, and she doesn't really care what Shane thinks, and (2) Claire could smell the alcohol in the air.

"Um… I'm going to get back to you on that one. Eve you're totally wasted you should go lie down."

"Oh screw you Shane-y!" She attempted to yell but failed to. She giggled then stumbled her way past Claire. She raised an eyebrow as she heard Eve's door close. Claire made her way down and was suddenly in Shane's arms.

"Hey." He whispered. He kissed her and she wanted to pull away. They were all drinking. Claire could taste it on his breath and the scent was hanging like smoke in the air. When she finally pulled away, she placed her hands on his chest but his arms were still around her.

"Hey, um… I'm sorry about last night. I didn't mean to lock you out." She said as she broke away. She walked over to the couch and sat on the edge. The clock on the wall caught her eye. "4 o' clock? Really? Crap!"

"Yeah and apparently you missed a lot. Eve was at work and a couple of other workers were taking shots and of course Eve joined them. So I got a call from her asking if someone could pick her up and I sent Shane to pick her up, which I totally regret now! Then he called me and said that he had also joined in and in the end I was the one that had to go and pick up the two idiots!"

She looked over at Shane who was standing behind where Claire was sitting on the couch. "Oh really? I guess I did miss a lot." Then unexpectedly, Shane collapsed to the floor. Michael was the first one there and stood Shane up straight. Shane stood there with a smile on his face. "I think I should lay down for a bit," He must have seen Claire's worried face cuz he added, "Hey I slipped. It's the floor, it must be uneven." Michael rolled his eyes then slung Shane's arm around his shoulder then took Shane upstairs.

It was about 8 o' clock when Claire decided to go down stairs to see how Shane was doing and to see if anyone was home. Claire walked down the stairs to find Shane playing 'Zombie Uprising'. When is he ever off that thing? She asked herself as she walked up behind him and wrapped her hands around his neck. He paused the game and looked up at Claire.

"Hey." He said. She smiled as she leaned down and kissed him.

"Hey how are you feeling after you 'slipped' on the 'uneven floor'?" She asked as a smile tugged on the corner of his lips.

"I'm fine. Its Eve you should worry about." He turned back to his game and un-paused it. Claire looked around and noticed they were alone.

"Where's Michael?" She asked as she headed to the door.

"He went to the Clinic I think." She grabbed her coat and put it one but stopped with one arm through it when Shane added, "Whoa whoa where was are you going?"

"Um… to Myrnin's." He had a worried expression on his face.

"Michael said for you not to leave."

"Shane the sun is down and everyone is out of the streets. I'll be fine. It's just Myrnin." She said as she walked to the door. With a glance back at Shane she left in to the dark silent streets of Morganville…

Claire walked down the streets just wandering, she was alone and no one else was out. Myrnin's place was by the Day house which was on the opposite side of town. She thought about really going to Myrnin's then decided just to wander, Shane would never know. As Claire was walking, she saw Scarlet James from one of her classes, walking on the other side of the street walking the other direction.

Why is she out here? She doesn't live in Morganville, doesn't have to stay on campus? It's after curfew. Claire was trying to figure out why she was here. Claire stopped and watched Scarlet. They were friends but not good friends like Claire and Eve were. Claire saw a crack in the concrete in front of were Scarlet was about to step, but she realized it too after she already fell.

When she fell, Claire ran over using her vampire speed and not realizing it. "Hey let me help." Claire said breaking the silence of the night. She picked up some of the books that fell from Scarlet's bag. When Claire turned them around to hand them to Scarlet, Claire noticed her heart was beating faster than normal.

"Thanks. I'm so clumsy sometimes." She looked down and Claire could smell the blood that was coming from the large open cut on Scarlet's leg. Claire tried to hold her breath, but that same feeling she had with Shane come back. Claire's eyes turned red and her pearl white fangs extended. Scarlet let out her last gasp.

"Claire no!" Behind them Claire heard Michael yell. But before he could do anything to stop her, Claire already plunged her teeth into Scarlet's neck. Claire tried to stop but couldn't and instinct took over. She closed her eyes as the sweet blood flowed down her throat. Michael stood a couple feet away as he watched his friend drink someone dry. Michael got over his initial shock and shouted.

"Claire! Stop!" his voice was full of fear. She heard Michael's last cry and slowly pulled away from the lifeless body. She looked up at him with an expression that showed she had no idea of what just happened. Claire looked down at the life she had just taken and backed away from it. She burst into tears. Michael ran over to her side and cradled her in his arms. "What did I just do?" she whispered behind all the tears.

"I'm not sure Claire. Come on lets go home." Michael said as he stood up.

When they got home, Claire walked into find Shane asleep on the couch and as she advanced further, Michael pulled her back and told her to stay on the porch. He went inside and came back out. "Hold your breath." he said.

"Why?"

"Because you just ki—fed not that long ago and we don't know what your reaction will be when you smell Shane and Eve. Just hold your breath and run to your room." Claire nodded her head and holding her breath she ran to her room trying not to make any loud noises. When she shut the door she collapsed on the floor to where she was leaning against the door. She put her head in her hands and let it all out.

When she was done crying, she went to go sit on her bed. Why did I do that? What happened? Am I some kind of monster? Claire got out a small mirror from her bag and looked at herself. Monster, she repeated. There was a knock on her door.

"Can I come in?" Michael asked. Claire wiped away a few tear drops from her cheeks. She went to opened the door and Michael came into her room.

"Are you mad?" she whispered then Michael laughed.

"I'm shocked for someone who wanted to drink every other two days, you drank more then you bargained for." He said. Claire closed the door and stood there as Michael paced the small length of her room.

"I…I really don't know what happened. It's like my body took over and I went on vampire autopilot."

"I know. You're new and you still can't control your thirst around fresh blood all that well."

"Michael, what are they going to do to me?" Claire really didn't want to think about it but she wanted to know. She could imagine fire burning through her skin, or them putting her into sunlight and her skin smoking and blistering. Claire shuddered at the thought. Michael shook his head.

"I don't know. We can't tell anybody. If they find out, well then they find out."

"Then what should we do about her body? Hide it?" Claire asked, thinking about Scarlet's lifeless body laying on the sidewalk.

"No we would both get in more trouble if we tried to hide it. We just have to forget it even happened and move on."

"And what do we say when they do find out?" She had no idea what to do about this and Michael wasn't helping all that well.

"When they find out we will tell them the truth." He said. He had just as much worry in his tone as Claire had.

"What is the truth Michael?" Claire almost sounded angry. Michael opened his mouth to say something but before he could they both heard Eve's car pull up. He looked towards the door waiting for the front door to open. "We'll talk later, Claire." He went to Claire's door and as she was turning the knob, Claire spoke.

"Michael?" He turned toward her and lifted up his blond head. Claire took a deep breath. "Don't let them kill me. I didn't mean to and you know it." Saying that Claire almost started crying again.

"I know and I won't." with that being said, Michael turned around and went out the room. Claire got her pillow from her bed and put it over her face and screamed into it. She ripped it in half and the stuffing came right out. She was sitting on her bed trying to pick up all the devoured pillow that was lying on her bed. She almost had the stuffing in her hands when she heard a knock on the door that scared her to where she dropped everything on the floor.

"Ugh!" she said to herself.

"Claire? It's Eve, I'm making dinner. Any special requests?" Claire couldn't even think about eating. Right now all that worried her was trying to get all the pillow stuffing out of her room. Claire quickly picked it all up and went to open the door. "What's with the pillow shredding?" Eve asked. She had a laughing tone in her voice. But she didn't laugh. Claire just shook her head.

"Nothing. Um I don't know. Since when do you ask if I want something special for dinner?" Claire asked with a confused look.

"I'm asking everyone and then deciding if I want to make it. So far Shane wants tacos and Michael picked spaghetti." She put a quick grin on her face then if went away just as fast as it appeared. She couldn't help but smile back.

"I really don't care. I'm not that hungry." Claire said.

"Suit yourself. I'm making spaghetti. I'll leave some leftovers in case you're hungry later." Claire just nodded and went to put her hand full of stuffing into her trash can. Eve shut her door and right after, Claire went and laid down on her bed and fell asleep.

When she woke up she heard the news on in the living room. She threw on some clean clothes, rushed down stairs and in a few seconds was behind Shane, who was on the couch. Shane's eyes were glued to the television. "—another murder has been discovered at approximately 1 A.M this morning. The police department identified the young woman as Scarlet James, a College student here at Texas Prairie University. A young man, who has asked to be presented as anonymous, discovered the body. The MVPD has announced that she a murdered by a vampire. Sources have yet to discover who that certain vampire is-"

"Oh my god!" Claire said. She didn't realize that Shane had heard her until he responded.

"I know. Well that sucks. Hmm that probably wasn't the right word." He pursed his lips.

"Yeah it does." She said.

"You alright? You look… scared. Did I miss something?" Shane said. Claire wasn't looking at Shane and when she spoke, she quickly turned her head in his direction.

"What?" She asked as she blinked.

"Are. You. Okay?" he repeated slowly raising an eyebrow. Claire nodded her head fast.

"Yep. I'm fine, are you okay?" Claire asked with a smirk on her face. Shane laughed silently.

"Super." He turned the TV to a different channel and scooted over to where there was enough room for Claire to sit down. Claire took the opportunity and sat down. She curled up next to him so that their bodies fit perfectly together.

"Shane?"

"Yeah?"

"If, ya' know, something were to happen to me…" At that point Claire didn't want to finish the question, nor did she wasn't to hear the answer.

"What are you talking about Claire? Why would something happen to you?" He turned his body towards Claire and he was looking her directly in the eye. Claire let out a deep breath and smiled.

"Nothing. Never mind." Shane frowned but he didn't ask any questions. Claire didn't think he wanted to hear it either. When he faced his torso back towards the TV, Claire frowned and got up.

"What are you doing?" Shane asked, "You can't go anywhere, the sun is up." He continued. Claire looked at him.

"Who said I was going to go outside?" before he could say anything else Claire was already outside of the secret room. She moved the frame and pushed the button and went down the narrow hallway. When she finally go to the room she saw that the portal door was already there. She shrugged as she went towards it and opened it.

Inside she saw Myrnin sitting at his desk reading a really old looking encyclopedia, she stepped inside. Myrnin didn't notice she was there until she spoke.

"Hi Myrnin." Claire said. He looked up at her and frowned.

"Hello Claire, good to see you. You're a vampire. And it suits you well." He made a tiny smile. "Please, come in dear." He stood up gesturing to a chair. Claire stepped over a stack of book and sat down when he did.

"Thanks." Claire said.

"Ah always so polite. Claire my dear did you need something?"

"No, not really, I just needed to get out of the house. There isn't a lot of placed for me to go in the daytime I guess."

"Oh yes of course." There was silence in the room for awhile.

"Myrnin? What do they do to people, well to vampires, when they kill someone?"

"Well on the circumstances they send them to, oh what's it called, ah yes, death row." At that moment there was a knock on the door. "Come in!" Myrnin shouted. He frowned at Claire. "I'm so very sorry my dear, but the price must be paid." Two men came into the room. Claire could tell they were vampires by their white faces and by their scent. Claire never noticed that scent before. The men that came in stood behind Claire and grabbed both of her arms.

"Myrnin? What's going on? Why are you doing this?" Claire was on the verge of tears. And Myrnin looked like it also.

"Claire I know that it was you who killed Scarlet James. I have gone to the council about it. I'm sorry but I make no exceptions when it comes to justice." he nodded to the men that were holding Claire.

"Myrnin!" Claire yelled. Myrnin just looked away in the opposite direction. Still looking away he said, "I'm sorry." Again. The men took Claire outside into the shaded alley. One of the guys took out handcuffs but he wrapped a cloth around them. Claire realized that it was made out of silver.

"No! That will kill me." Claire pleaded.

"Sweetheart, after this, it won't matter. And it will just burn you." One guy said, he had short red hair, while the other one long brown hair.

"Where are we going?" Claire asked.

"The Vampire chambers. Now stop talking you're giving me a migraine." The red headed one said.

"Oh don't be so harsh Gavin. The girl ain't going to live much longer. Doesn't hurt nobody if she's curious." He was definitely from Texas. He had the whole accent down perfectly. Gavin just looked at him with a annoyed look on his face.

"Oh shut up Phil." They stuffed her into the car and the handcuffs burned.

It wasn't a very long drive to everywhere the vampire chambers were. But the whole ride, Claire wanted to cry. She kept it together and followed Gavin's orders. Claire's wrists were burning. She could even smell the burning skin in the air. She was trying not to make it hurt even more than it did by not moving. Phil and Gavin got Claire out of the car when

she realized that they were at Founder's Square. Then they led her inside if a place Claire has never been and hoped she'd never have to go.