Vampire Vacation

Chapter Nine

Claire, Eve, Michael and Shane were practically swimming in the sand. They were laid out, head to toe in a circle, fingers combing through the sand as the flames of the bonfire flickered high above them. Their stomachs were full of fresh seafood, followed by marshmallows and melted chocolate. Eve and Michael hadn't been able to find graham crackers at the store so they had used the chocolate pieces as the sandwich bits, not only was it messy but it led to a much higher consumption rate of chocolate.

Shane was tugging on Claire's feet, making her laugh. Intermittently he would kiss the arch of them, making her shiver. She was falling asleep though, whether it was from the exhausting day or because she was going comatose she wasn't entirely sure.

"What time is it?" she asked, breaking the silence. With the clouds shifting over the faint stars and crescent moon it was hard to depict time. She had listened as the groups of people celebrating one thing or another on the beach had disbanded. When the rowdy group of college students had left she knew it was getting late.

"Late," Eve yawned and sat up.

Michael looked at his watch, "It's almost three." Michael of course, didn't look very tired but that was what being a vampire did for you.

"You know," Shane sat up and scooped Claire's feet on to his lap, "this is probably the first time in a long time, maybe ever, that I've been out at night and not been afraid for my life."

Claire rubbed at her eyes and turned over so her head was in Shane's lap, "You could get a parasite from the sand, if that makes you feel more at ease. You know, more at home. It could burrow its way in to your skin as you walk back—or it could even be already burrowed in to you and wreaking havoc on you. You could be dead by morning."

Shane, Michael and Eve looked at Claire like she was crazy. She just shrugged. "I watched a documentary on it."

"Okay, your TV time is now going to be monitored," Eve said. She stood up, then looked down at her bare feet. "Hey, Michael, wanna carry me back? It would be very romantic."

He looked at her with a dry eye, Michael wasn't buying in to Claire's horror stories but he was also a vampire which probably made him immune to parasites. Claire wasn't sure, she would have to ask Myrnin once she got back.

Michael got up, but instead of picking Eve up and cradling her like Claire expected, he picked her up and threw her over his shoulder. Eve screamed and began to kick, her struggle made little of a difference to Michael though. "Oh my God, Michael! If you do not put me down right now I will not be giving you—"

Claire didn't hear the rest of what Eve was threatening because Shane had covered her ears with his hands. Once he pulled away she looked up at him, "Treating me like I'm innocent again?"

"I live in Morganville, let me have my delusions." He kissed her then got up from the sand and pulled Claire up.

"I could get used to this," Shane mumbled. Claire was wrapped up in the blankets, Shane's chest warming her back.

"Imagine how boring it would be… days in the sun, nights out on the beach. No vampires to kill, maybe a rogue jelly fish or two… things would be so easy."

"Are you going to say 'easy isn't always good'?" Shane's hands were roaming, but it didn't seem that he wanted to start anything. It felt like he was doing it without thinking about which made Claire feel giddy and content all at once. The idea that they were this inseparable unit was something so indescribable to her.

"Well, easy isn't always good… but, sometimes I wonder if we deserve it. I mean, are we still going to be fighting the bad guys when we're in our thirties?" Claire turned around to face Shane, he was still sleepy looking but his full attention was on her, except for that wondering hand, "I don't want that for me, Shane. I want—I mean, I know I'm only seventeen but I want a family and a job and I want to go out at night and not have to be scared for my life," she rushed out the last part, she remembered how Shane had reacted at the thought of children last time.

"I—I want that too," his voice croaked, Claire wasn't sure if it was because of how early it was or because he was emotional. Shane didn't really get emotional though. "We'll figure it out. There will be peace in Morganville again, or we'll get out. One day at a time."

"You go to AA meetings?" Claire joked, just to ease the tension. The thought of leaving Morganville scared her. She had only been there for a short period of time and yet it felt so much like home. It was scary how she adapted so fast.

Shane growled and flipped over on her, straddling her waist. "Are you making fun of me?" He bent down and kissed her.

"Maybe just a little. You gonna teach me a lesson?"

He nipped at her bottom lip. "Maybe."

"You two look like cats that got the cream," Eve said, with a sly smile.

Claire didn't say anything, she just grabbed two of the toaster waffles from off the table. They had set up a makeshift kitchen in the basement so they didn't have to cover all the upstairs windows for Michael. Thanks to their lack of cooking skills a coffee maker, a microwave and a toaster was really all they needed.

"What's on the schedule today?"

"Not a whole bunch," Eve sat next to Michael who was taking his breakfast from a plastic sports bottle.

Claire looked over at the cuckoo clock on the wall, it was well past noon. "How late did we stay out last night?"

"Late. Three or four. It was nice though; being out at night and not fearing for our lives," Michael said before tipping back his sports bottle.

"Who would have thought that you could actually do that," said Eve. Claire realized that this had to be incredibly weird for Eve; this was the first time she had ever been out of Morganville. And yet she was staying in with Michael right now, had Claire been in her position she wasn't sure she would be able to do that. She'd probably leave the house, run around the town and not come back until she was dragged. But maybe if Shane… she couldn't finish the thought. It was okay for Michael to be a vampire, but Claire knew Shane would self-destruct if he became one.

After they finished breakfast, Shane and Michael worked hard at beating each other at the zombie game Michael had brought.

"Did you have to bring the console?" Claire asked. She hadn't hoped they would leave the game at home, but only because she hadn't realized they would think about bringing it.

"Hey, I'm stuck in this house while the sun is out. You guys get to soak up some vitamin D, while I have to hope vampires can live without it—"

"You don't actually soak up vitamin D," Claire interrupted. Eve, Shane and Michael all shot her a look.

"You're being awkward again," Eve said gently.

"I was just correcting him," Claire mumbled.

Like the day before, the three that weren't so allergic to the sun (though Claire's face was still a little pink from yesterday) went out to lounge around. Eve had picked up a Frisbee at the store for them throw around. "I saw it on TV once." Claire had no coordination though and once Eve started sweating she sat out, after only a few minutes Shane tossed it over to some kids.

"That was nice," Claire said, leaning against Shane's shoulder when he sat down next to her. Shane shrugged as if to say "no big deal" he was far too cool to be nice to little kids. He stole their candy and tipped over their ice cream cones. Claire smiled, she knew under the tough Morganville exterior he had developed that he had a heart-of-gold. She thought of it as her little secret.

"You know," Eve said after a while, "I saw this cool little club when I was going to store. I think we should go."

Claire looked over at Eve, she was sitting pretty again under the umbrella. Her swimsuit for today was cut the same as the one from before, but instead of black it was bright vixen red. "A club? Like dancing? Partying? You know we have really bad luck with that."

Eve rolled her eyes, "But this isn't Morganville," she whispered, just in case anyone was listening.

"Let's just go," Shane nudged Claire, "It'll be fun. Dancing, drinks for me, a short skirt for you—" Claire rolled her eyes and Shane held up his hands to fend her off "—okay, you can wear whatever you want. Jeans, sweat pants, your pajamas. Whatever makes you comfortable!"

Claire pursed her lips, "I wouldn't wear sweats."

"Oh, thank God."

"You know," Eve piped in, reminding the couple that she was there too, "you're not doing such a good job at the sweet, devoted boyfriend thing right now, Shane. Maybe you should ask Michael for some tips."

"Michael's sweet? He sucks blood in order to live."

"You should see what else he does with his mouth."

Shane gagged, "I'd rather not."

Eve frowned, "Yeah, never mind. I'm not in to voyeurism." Eve got up and picked up her bag, "In fact, I'm gonna go hang out with him. I think you two might have some talking to do. Feel free to not come back for a while."

"Oh, ew," Shane said. Claire just rolled her eyes and waved good-bye to Eve.

"You wanna go for a walk?" Claire asked him, standing up and dusting sand off her back.

Shane raised his eyebrow.

"It'll be sweet," Claire prodded. Eve was right, he really hadn't been doing such a great job as of late. Shane relented and stood up behind her, grabbing her hand and following her along the water line. They figured that since it was a private beach their stuff would be safe enough.

"So, what did you and your grandmother talk about? You never told me."

"I know, I said I didn't really want to talk about it."

"Not even to me?"

"Certainly not to you," Claire was indignant. What Cee Cee had said to her yesterday made her stomach rumble and gave her a bad taste in her mouth.

"So it was about me?"

Claire did an about-face. "Why do you say that?"

"Because if it wasn't about me then you wouldn't have a problem telling me," Shane stopped walking and Claire turned back to face him. Her hand slipped out of his and she crossed them against her chest, "Also, that reaction. What'd she say?"

This time Claire relented. "She just thinks that you might be getting in the way of my studies. And she wants to meet you." When Claire said it out loud she realized how not big of a deal it sounded, but since Claire knew Cee Cee she knew just how big of a deal it really was. Shane and Cee Cee meeting would lead to nothing good, and Claire wanted to protect Shane from that.

"Well, then let's meet. I mean, I already met your parents, if your grandmother is a part of your life then I'll meet her. For you." Shane really hated the meeting of relatives.

"But, see," Claire stumbled, was there even a way to say this without offending him? "I don't want you to meet her." Of course there wasn't.

Shane squinted at her, "What do you mean?"

"My grandmother is just really… old-fashion and opinionated and snobby and she's not going to like you and she's paying for my college and I'm scared of what she'll do if she meets you."

"Why won't she like me?"

"Because she's crazy, Shane!"

"So she doesn't like meeting new people?"

"No…"

"So, it's just me? She'd be fine with meeting Eve or Michael?" Claire floundered around for an answer. The Goth and the musician.

"No…"

"Is there something wrong with us?"

"I don't think so. Isn't that what matters?" Claire knew her grandmother wouldn't like her friends; they were different, they were ragamuffins, they were rebels. Claire loved them and that's what mattered to Claire.

"If who we are isn't an issue with you then you shouldn't have an issue introducing me, or all of us, to your grandmother," Shane reasoned. Shane started walking again, faster this time. Claire started after him but he turned around, "Don't follow me." His face was tight and his tone even more so. Claire would have preferred that he lashed out at her, let her have. This reserved Shane never led to anywhere good. In fact, she hadn't seen him like this since his father had turned.

Claire didn't follow him. Instead, she stood in the sand, her feet sinking further in as each wave crashed in to her. She stared after him, waiting for him to turn around, come back and explain everything, tell her sorry. Claire crinkled her nose as if she smelled something awful. The stench was her though.

Claire was so smart when it came to books, but there were still things where she fell short. Common sense was certainly one of them.

Shane was too far in the distance to run after, but she would be able to talk to him once he got back to the beach house. And that would be better because he would have calmed down by then.

A breeze came up and Claire shivered, she wrapped her arms around herself, both because she was cold and because she was lonely. She walked quickly back to where the blanket and umbrella, packed them up and took them back to the house.

"Everything okay?" Eve asked. She was in the kitchen, painting her nails a dark shade of red.

Claire bit her lip, she didn't want to say it. If she did, it would be real. "I think Shane and I had a fight." Eve's face paled and she set down her nail polish.

"Tell me everything."

"It's my fault," she started, and then it all came out in long sentences that ran together. She was crying at the end, her throat hurt from the talking and her chest ached. "What if—what if I screwed it up? What if we're done?" Eve hugged her, letting her continue talking. "Oh my God. I don't know what I'm going to do if he breaks up with me! I never thought I was going to become this kind of girl, Eve. I love Shane though, I just want to protect him." Claire pulled back, waiting for Eve to tell her what to do.

"What?" Eve asked.

"Can't you be your usual mother hen? Help me out, Eve! I don't know what to do!"

Eve smiled, sweet and serene even beyond the Goth make up. "You already know what to do. Shane loves you, he won't break up with you after this. You two just need to talk. If you really have no problems with Shane then you won't have any problems introducing him to your grandmother. If your grandmother cuts you off or whatever, well first off that's messed up, but secondly we'll cross that bridge later."

"I already know what to do?" Claire asked, making sure she heard her right. "But I don't."

"Shane told you. Yes you do." And that was all she said on the matter. She turned back to her nails, "Are you still going to go to the club tonight? A little music and dancing will make you feel better."

Claire didn't have anything better to do, and she guessed she deserved a good party without interruption from vampires.

Claire did some homework before digging through her luggage for something appropriate for a club. When she realized she had nothing there was a knock at the door. Claire starred at it, waiting for it to open. It was either Eve or Shane, with the sun coming through the huge window over the front door and shining down the hallway there was no way it was Michael. Shane didn't need to knock, he was using the room too. Oh God, Claire thought, maybe he's getting his stuff. Claire wasn't sure which would be worse. A long and awkward night together, or a long and awkward night apart.

"Claire?" It was Eve.

"Yeah, come in."

"Shane called. He's going to meet us there."

"Oh," was all Claire could come up with. What were they going to do once they were there? Were they going to dance? Would they want to dance together? Claire didn't want to dance by herself, she wanted to dance with Shane pressed up close to him. Claire shivered and tried to remember that Eve was in the room.

"Here," she handed her a bundle of clothes, "I figured you would have anything. Don't worry, it's not too bad. Just a little something to get Shane's attention," Claire started to interrupt, she really didn't want to be uncomfortable, "Don't worry," she smiled and then left the room.

Hopefully it wouldn't be too bad.

Claire pulled the clothe on, not looking too closely at them and then went to look in the full-length mirror. Claire was a little surprised, it wasn't half bad. A slim black dress that she could bend down in but still managed to show some leg, the straps of the dress were thin and sat just off her shoulders. Claire supposed that this would be enough to give her a hand up in trying to talk with Shane again.

By the time Claire had figured out what to do with her hair (it was at such an awkward length) and get the mascara where it needed to be the sun was low enough that they would be able to leave.

Michael and Eve were waiting on the couch for her, Michael looked like he was dressed normally but Eve had taken the chance to dress up and ran with it. A lacey black top and incredibly short puffy skirt. With her long black hair, dramatic cat eyes make-up and pale skin Eve rocked the outfit.

"You look great," Michael said, offering his arm. He might have been a blood-sucking vampire, but he was always a gentleman.

They walked down the road to the club where they all showed ID. Claire got her hand stamped and a wrist band. "We're gonna do a sweep of the club at midnight, that's your curfew."

Claire huffed and then frowned at Michael and Eve once they were in the club. "Why didn't you guys get tagged?" She itched at the rough, plastic band around her wrist. It reminded her of the freaky metal one she had had ages ago.

"IDs," Eve waved hers at Claire before putting it back in her purse.

"But…" Claire lowered her voice, "you aren't twenty-one."

Eve shrugged, "That's not what the ID says."

Claire looked at Michael and he shrugged as well.

Before Claire could pout too much Eve grabbed her wrist and pulled her on to the dance floor, "Come on, I love this song!"

Claire listened to the overplayed pop number, "You hate this song!"

"Claire, you need to learn the rules of dancing. The song doesn't matter, it's all about the beat." At that, she rolled her eyes and began swaying to the hard beat, her hands up in the air. Claire felt embarrassed to be next to her, not because she was standing out but because she looked so amazing dancing. Claire knew she could never look that hot.

"Come on," Michael said, he grabbed her hand and began dancing awkwardly with her. He twirled her back and forth and spun her around, ignoring the rhythm of the songs playing and what people around them were doing. Soon enough, Claire was laughing and she didn't even care that she was terrible at dancing or that she wasn't dancing with Shane.

When a slow song came on Michael pulled her close. Claire stiffened, "Don't you want to dance with Eve?"

"There'll be other songs."

She loosened up and wrapped her arms around his shoulders, "Are you just dancing with me because you feel bad?"

"No, I'm dancing with you because I see what Shane is doing to you and I have to make up slack. I'd hate for you to think we're all bad guys."

"That's sweet," Claire said softly. Had Michael been human he wouldn't have heard, but he wasn't human. Claire didn't mind that he had heard though. She rested her head on his shoulder and swayed with him.

A messy head of hair caught Claire's eye, then the wrinkled t-shirt she had thrown on the bed earlier. Shane. A beer was in his hand, and a—oh God. A beautiful blonde girl was wrapped in his arms, her tan was real but the low-cut white top showed that her, ahem, assets certainly were not. Was that what Shane wanted her to be?

She pulled back from Michael. "I don't feel well. I'm going to go home."

"You want me to walk you—" he had turned around and seen the sight that Claire had. "Claire, he's just drunk—"

"No," her voice cracked. "I—uhm—the music is loud and you go dance with Eve. I'm just going to go to bed."

She pulled away from Michael and he must have let her because she knew he certainly could have held her back. She ran past Eve, who was staring at her with sad eyes. Then past Shane, she barely saw his reaction. She didn't want to.

The air was wet and foggy when she ran back. By the time she got back to the beach house she was cold and sweaty and terribly out of breath. She looked for the hidden key in the flower plant, then under door mat, then the mail box. "Where the fuck is it?" She finally tried the door, it was open. "God, Shane you're so freaking stupid." She slammed the door and threw her shoes across the room.

"Hello Claire," a calm male voice spoke out in the darkness. Claire ran her hand against the wall, trying to flip the light switch. Instead of the switch, she met a cool, dry hand. "My son should know better than to leave the door open, you have no idea who is going to come in to your house while you're gone."

AN: dun dun dun dunnnnnnn. c: Probably another chapter and an epilogue, or two more chapters… or one really long chapter.