Chapter 10

Sleep was fitful again that night, but not for the same reason as the nights previous to this. No, last night was more…personal nightmares, rather than those before – about her own life in opposition to more abstract dreams about the wider population of Morganville.

It was hard to decide which was scarier.

On one hand, you had dreams where everyone was either trying to kill you or was laughing at you publicly. On the other hand, you had the moment when you found out your boyfriend had betrayed you to the entire population of the town. Oh and the fact that he didn't bother to apologise and now your dreams were plagued with the moment when you next see him – though, in all likelihood, the next time (if ever) you'd see him would be at his own funeral.

Life was tough…and hard…and mean.

Claire sighed as she stood up, swinging her legs over the side of the bed to do so. Out of the open curtains, she could see that the sun was already well on it's way to being high in the sky, which could only mean one thing: she'd slept till almost lunchtime…and she was still tired.

Stifling a yawn, she trudged downstairs, bedhead hair and all, and walked into the kitchen to find Eve laughing at her. Oh yes, it was a bad day when Eve, Queen of sleeping in, was up before you.

"Don't laugh," Claire mumbled, shutting her eyes as she slid onto the breakfast bar stool. "Sleep deprivation is not fun."

"Bedhead hair is not a look you should be rocking, Claire Bear," Eve smiled, pouring the girl a cup of coffee and 'forgetting' to add milk. "Oh, you've missed the funniest thing this morning," she chattered away, deciding that she wanted to share this information whether Claire wanted her to or not.

The words intrigued Claire to the point that, after downing the entire cup and pulling a face at the bitterness, she asked the question Eve wanted her to. "Go on. What did I miss whilst I was dead to the world?"

"Only the, like, best thing…oh…maybe it wasn't that good, in hindsight." Claire rolled her eyes as Eve continued to deliberate about the quality of the information she was giving Claire.

"Get on with it, Eve," Claire sighed, pouring herself a cup of coffee this time, adding more than half the cup's volume of milk.

"Well…you know how your door was shut and it's probably the thickest door in Morganville?" Eve grinned, getting into the story. "So there you were, dead to the world, and 9am rolls around…and then 10am…and Gérard is absolutely shitting himself, thinking you'd done a bunk out of the window. He was all for breaking down the door to see if you were in there – as, of course, he couldn't hear through the door – until Michael got proper in his face and reminded him that the door belongs to him… oh, Claire, it made me laugh so much," she broke off into what was probably a continuation of the fit of giggles from earlier.

In all honesty, it wasn't that funny…but compared to everything else of late in Claire's life, it was probably akin to Michael McIntyre's Comedy Roadshow - absolutely fricking hilarious. So she found herself joining in with the giggling, just as Michael appeared in front of her.

"It wasn't quite like that," he sighed, looking directly at Eve. "I don't remember doing the Terminator voice, or anything else like that," he poured himself a cup of the near empty coffee – the life and substance of the three Glass House residents – and sat down opposite Claire.

"You need to add in a bit of an extra dimension when you're relaying the story to someone else, Michael," Eve sighed, as if this were the most obvious thing in the world. "God, don't you know anything?"

He would probably have continued this argument, but then Gérard walked into the room, relief more than anything else on his face.

"You're still here, miss," he said to Claire, an surprised edge to his tone that he didn't quite manage to hide.

"No, I decided to jump out of the window, stroll around Morganville, stop about fifty murders and then get back here without anyone noticing I'd gone out," sarcasm evidently was her forte in this sense of the word – arguing with her bodyguard.

"Actually, last time I checked, you aren't Wonderwoman," Eve interjected, ruining the punchline.

After throwing her best friend a glare that could probably kill a vampire, Claire continued. "I said to you that I wouldn't leave without you, Gérard, and when I say something, I mean it. So don't think that I'm going to clear off because I'm not. After all, where can I really go?"

The question stumped the man standing in front of her, a new level of humility rising over him for some reason. It was then that Claire realised again (each time seemed to spur another jolt of surprise) that her words had impact – being the Founder evidently gave you clout with your words.

"I apologise," Gérard replied, slightly stiffly, and took a step back. "I believe you had plans to go to the office today?" he continued after a short pause, looking up at the clock to show her that it was actually later than she originally thought – closer to 1pm than any other time.

She nodded, tilting her head back and groaning before standing up, Eve instantly nicking her vacated seat. "Looks like I'm off to get ready," she sighed, giving Eve a pointed look to which the girl just shrugged.

"What can I say? You get up, you loose dibs," Eve answered, rolling the eyes that Claire only just realised were heavily lined in thick black kohl. "Oh and it's your turn to cook tonight, CB. We'll get ya the ingredients since, ya know, it's sort of not the best idea for you to be going out, so text us, 'kay?" she called after Claire as she walked out of the kitchen.

"Yes, yes!" waving a hand behind her to show she understood, Claire stomped through the living room and up the stairs, slamming the bathroom door behind her for no reason other than to try and wake up.

If the ear-splitting crash didn't wake up the dead, she didn't have a clue what would.

~x~

Half an hour later, and considerably more alert, Claire emerged downstairs, finding her bodyguard loitering in the back of the living room as he waited for her.

"They went to the shops," he explained the lack of noise emulating from anywhere in the Glass House before she could even fully open her mouth, a feat which Claire found impressive.

"Thanks," was all she could manage as she walked over to the portal handily left there by Myrnin – after all, she didn't exactly rate losing about half her brain cells in one movement as a good idea if she had to make all the executive decisions around the town.

Walking through it, she emerged into the office she instantly decided she hated. They'd cleared out a tonne of the absolute rubbish that had been the previous owner's decorations of choice (even seeing her in the field hadn't made Claire accept that Amelie had died) and yet it was still…so old fashioned!

The office Claire had always desired, if she had ever been lucky enough to get her own, would be glass based, plenty of sunlight flooding in the windows and be neatly organised. This one had the last one dead on – not a single sheet of paper unnecessarily scattered around – but the other two were no-no's so far.

And something told Claire that the second option would be about as likely as Oliver returning from the dead simply to tell her he loved her and missed Myrnin.

Ie, not very.

She opened her mouth and then closed it near instantly, not sure what to say. Should she get on with working – as she surely has weeks worth of work to be getting on with – or would making her working environment more appealing be a better starting point?

Being a girl, even one who preferred science to fashion, Claire chose the second option. Weighing it up in her mind, she decided that she needed an appropriate working environment in which to complete the mounds of work she had to do – or at least have it on order.

"We're redecorating," she informed Gérard, who stood behind her like a lemon. "I mean, you have to agree that it's absolutely disgusting in here. Get the black bags," she ordered, ignoring his (admittedly whispered) protests that it wasn't disgusting.

As soon as the black bags were in her hands, she made a start.

~x~

Almost an hour later, she had just about cleared out the entire office. She kept the desk until she could get a replacement – glass, on order from the internet – and every single item of furniture in the room that comprised of a colour darker than beech oak was thrown out…which was pretty much everything. In fact, the only thing that one hundred percent survived the chop – slightly insensitive wording, given how the previous owner died – was the huge mirror on the far side of the room. Gilded, it hung tall and proud upon the wall and gave Claire the first real glimpse – one that could be entirely made up – into Amelie's world.

She had hung the mirror there, Claire assumed, to remind herself that work was her life, that Morganville was her life. So long as she could see herself in that mirror with her desk in front of her, she was happy. It was her entire life.

She died for it.

Of course, Claire realised, that could be entire bull that she had just thought up, but it was worth a shot trying to get into Amelie's head. Whilst she may have had a heart made out of more ice than you use to separate organelles in a cell, she was a good ruler who only died to save the one she loved…ones, technically, since there was absolutely no getting away from the fact that Amelie loved Morganville.

"I think that we can get rid of that then," Claire said slowly to Gérard, nodding her head in the direction of the pile of unwanted items which almost equated the entire room.

"I'll have George come and fetch it all," her bodyguard agreed, allowing Claire the chance to get on with her work. It was more than slightly daunting; the few menial things she had done before had been with Myrnin, someone who could tell her when she was doing something wrong, or if there was a better way to do something. But now…now she was on her own.

So what did she do first? That was the question she needed to decide upon an answer to as she swung into the chair – the only other thing she was keeping in the room. It was so comfortable, so perfectly awesome, that she had decided as soon as she set eyes on it that it would never be leaving. As soon as she sat in it, she felt as if she never wanted to get out of it.

Before she could decide what to do, a green light began to flash on the phone, indicating it was ringing. Claire would need to edit that to make sure that it rang – it was all well for a vampire to have just a flashing light, as they'd see it, but since lights made no difference in her peripheral vision, she'd need the noise of the telephone.

"Hello?" she picked up the phone, forgetting that there was a caller-id tab on the top of the phone.

"Miss, we have an issue that has arose and requires your assistance in solving," the voice of one of her assistants – she'd had about three seconds to see them and they spoke so fast, she missed their names – greeted her ears. "The vampire Hollis has been arrested and is now attempting to kill every human in the police station. Mayor Morrell has already been called and is unable to get him to calm down and it is required for you to make the decision what is to be done with him," she explained to Claire, the latter of whom was already closing her eyes and groaning. The first day on the job and she was already getting called out to deal with a damned rogue vampire.

"Great, thanks…" where she would normally put the name of the person on the phone if she knew it, Claire ended up pausing and almost waiting for the other person to give their name – though if she removed the phone from her ear, she knew that she would know who it was.

"Linda, miss," Linda replied, sending a wave of guilt through Claire. She had so much to learn and remember that forgetting the name of someone whose existence you only discovered earlier in the week wasn't much, but it seemed the biggest problem in her life at the minute.

"Sorry, Linda," Claire apologised, slowly opening her eyes. "We'll head down there now. Thank you and goodbye," she thanked the woman and indicated that she was going to hang up before she did, feeling it was only etiquette. However, the surprised expression on her bodyguard's face at what she had said told her everything; Amelie had never been like that.

Amelie can get stuffed, Claire found herself thinking, for one second angry with the other woman – for another reason other than dying. She had the most power in the entire town and she was still never courteous – from what Claire had seen so far – towards those who worked for her.

But instantly the guilt hit her again, as she knew she shouldn't have been finding out all this information and wouldn't if Amelie hadn't been so self-sacrificing for Sam. Oh no, she would still be sitting in the Glass House, or in a classroom, or even in Myrnin's lab – certainly not redecorating the office and heading down to the police station to 'deal' with a vampire.

She stood up and walked out of the room slowly, not entirely sure the best way to get out of the building. It was merely a three or four minute walk (she thought) from the building she was in then and the police station and it would do her good to walk. After all, she wasn't a vampire who couldn't get fat – if she was to spend her life sitting down, she didn't want to end up like the late Mayor Morrell.

"Miss?" Gérard called her back as she headed towards the door that led to the street, himself lingering around the door which, she assumed, would take her into the garage. "Where are you going?"

"Walking – it's not like it's exactly across country to get to the police station," Claire replied, not thinking through any possible limitations that the daylight could have for her bodyguard.

"The sunlight, miss," Gérard sighed after he spoke, probably internally wondering how the head of the town could be so thick as to have forgotten the restrictions upon a portion of her population.

"But…but I want to walk," not caring that she sounded like a spoilt brat who only wanted to get her own way, Claire pouted as she looked at her bodyguard. Mentally, she began calculating the distance to the door, how quick she could get it open, and whether she could get out without him grabbing her. However, she instantly discounted it when she remembered he was old so could follow her out without an issue - even at midday.

"There could be anyone out there to try and kill you," he warned her but she simply shrugged it off.

"They'd manage it if I was in a car or if I was walking, Gérard, it doesn't exactly make a difference," she told him bluntly. "Anyway, I don't really think that anyone has any plans to murder me today, as it would get more than a little boring if that happened every day," she rolled her eyes at the idea of being cooped up inside every single day for the next fifty or sixty years – she wasn't Amelie. During the night, she needed to sleep and so the daytime was the only time she could go out. People may still slightly hate her but not enough to kill her – or so she hoped.

"Did you, or did you not, put me in charge of your security?" Gérard asked her, a tone creeping into his voice into his voice as he spoke to his boss.

"Yes…but there's a difference between needing security from people with homicidal tendencies aimed at me and then not letting me walk across a street!" she snapped back, losing all patience with the situation. "If you don't let me go, I'll fire you," she threatened him, knowing this was old threats but it was all she could think of.

"I believe we have covered this issue before…" he trailed off, exasperated but being unable to show it to the most important person in the entire town.

"No, we haven't," she responded, a new edge to her voice that had never been there before. It wasn't…it wasn't Amelie, it wasn't Oliver, it was just mean. "You all tried to insist that I need these protections and all they are doing is destroying my life. Don't bother to go down the whole "your life is different now" route, since I don't give a toss. If I want to walk to the damned police station, I will!" and, with that, she stomped to the door and tried to wrench it open.

Unfortunately for her, Gérard was in front of her before the key could even get turned in the lock.

"I repeat," he whispered quietly, respect in his tone as he evidently remembered both his place and the fact that he was facing a human girl. "You cannot leave the house without me. As with all vampires, I do not go out into the sunlight unless it is a life or death situation, something which this is not. Therefore, we travel in the safe car."

She shook her head, fiercely holding back tears as she stared him down as best a human could stare at a vampire. "In that case, you're fired. I'm not her, I don't want bodyguards all the time."

Rolling his eyes dramatically, Gérard pulled out an extremely modern phone from his pocket and began to dial a number. "Myrnin? Yes, I require your presence…she's being difficult."

"You're talking about me?" Claire huffed, once again acting like the teenager she was. "You are actually discussing me to Myrnin, in front of me? Have you absolutely no idea how this world works?"

Ignoring her, Gérard turned his back on her and continued the conversation, muttering so quietly that she had absolutely no chance of hearing, particularly because she was muttering to herself about how everyone in this town is ganging up against her.

Within about thirty seconds, Myrnin had arrived through a portal, a bored expression on his face. "Dear me, we're having this again?" he sighed. "I heard you on the cameras saying that you don't want bodyguards, Claire, yet I do believe that we have discussed the reasoning behind why you must have Gérard with you many a time."

"You're stalking me?" she looked outraged. "Jeez, Myrnin, why cameras? It's not like…oh God, you don't have them in my room, do you?" she shuddered as she contemplated the likely possibility that Myrnin could have put cameras in her room (not thinking of the more pornographic material on there) to simply ensure she never left unaccompanied. The mere thought made her shudder more than ever before.

Though it was something he would perhaps do, Myrnin looked outraged. "My dear, I have never set foot in your boudoir without you and have no plans to in the near future," he told her quite believably. "Additionally, if I were to "booby-trap" your room, I would do so to the door and the window, for simply observing you in your room would do nothing for my ensuring that you are safe."

"So, you don't?" she confirmed, realising he never gave a definitive answer.

"I don't," he nodded, looking at her in a way that had her thinking she believed him. Then again, he pretended to be Bishop's for six months, so could she really believe that face?

"Good," her face went back to being entirely impassive. "Therefore, if the pair of you have such a desire to take the limo, take it. I'll meet you there in all of five minutes – if it makes you happy, I'll even let you drive along next to me," she grinned suddenly, lunging for the door and unbolting it with the speed of a vampire – or faster, actually, since she managed to get out of the door without either of them bringing her back.

Yes, she thought as she ran out into the sun, breathing in the scent of fresh air and freshly cut grass, looking around at the bit of Morganville she always described as "the lush piece of Europe".

That was, however, until Myrnin grabbed her arm and pulled her back into the shade. "What did we say?" he growled, not even flinching as the midday sun hit him square on – he was old enough to walk the entire way with her in the sun to the police station, rather than trying to make her go by car.

"I think we said that unless you allow me to walk, I was quitting," she looked at him full on, quivering slightly even with her position as she looked at the look of absolute fury on his face.

"No," he said, very obviously making himself calm down before he either attacked her or broke her arm. "I believe the comments were that you are not to leave alone."

"And I think I just said that, as the head of the town, I get to decide what I do, not you," she snapped back, forgetting the fact that she was nice little Claire and instead just being a bitch to try and get her own way.

He shook his head slowly, a look of disappointment on his face. "Claire, we agreed that myself and Gérard would be in charge of your security, for you are absolutely unable to protect yourself. You are a naïve child, Claire; you have no idea of the dangers that face you in this job – but we do. This is for your protection, so don't dispute it," he explained to her, a level of concern for her palpable in his voice.

"All I want to do is walk in the sun," her lower lip quivered as she looked away from him, unable to face reading the emotions evident in his near black eyes.

"I know," he replied, his voice surprisingly gentle. "I understand the limitations of this job-"

"Stop," she ordered him and, much to her continued surprise, he obeyed. "I am not a vampire; I can walk in the sun. One short journey, Myrnin, and you can walk with me. Please…" she begged and could tell he was at least beginning to relent.

"One walk," he agreed, noises of disdain and disparagement issuing from where her bodyguard stood, "but then, Claire, you must accept this life. You have the night to do as you please – with Gérard, Sam or myself. This is the one and only time I shall allow this."

But, she knew that if she had gotten him to do it once, she could manage it again.

~x~

Mere minutes later, she arrived at her destination, Myrnin slightly grumpy about the sunlight but realising that it was the only way he would ever perhaps dispel the "I'm going to quit" feeling from Claire. She had gotten what she wanted; perhaps it would make her more amicable to her new life.

The sun was glorious upon her skin, sending rivulets of light dancing over the almost translucent colouring of her outer membrane. The perfection of the near cloudless blue sky engrained itself in her mind as she saw every detail she would normally class as too unimportant to catalogue.

The way that the poppies danced in the wind; the way that the blades of grass were perfectly symmetrical and rippled at the same time every time a whisper of wind crossed them. The clarity of the air, not too polluted like big towns, was a fresh breeze upon her skin, the smell of pollen in the air.

The majority of this would be lost to her in the dark; each and every detail obscured as night fell and brought out the most dangerous of monsters. It was with a heavy heart that she pushed open the door to the police station and was greeted by the familiar darkened room, lit simply by electric lighting.

"He is through there," the woman on the reception indicated where Hollis was waiting for Claire. once again inside, Gérard caught up to Claire and walked in front of her as they approached the vampire-proofed (apparently) cell, Myrnin wandering off to complain about the sunlight damage that was nonexistent.

Cautious as she followed Gérard, Claire walked through into the area where, enclosed in a silver cage, Hollis snarled and lunged as he tried to reach anyone to vent his anger on.

"Enough," Gérard said coolly, looking at the other vampire with an air of superiority. "The…head of the town is here to see you," he changed tact midway through, remembering Claire's preference to name herself the head of the town rather than Founder – after all, she was the 'Founder' (for want of a better word). Whilst she, for lack of experience, had no control over her security situation, she controlled everything else – including everyone in Morganville.

Hollis looked at her disdainfully, shaking his head as he refused to accept that Claire was the leader. "No, you're wrong," he directly challenged both Claire and Gérard. "She's human. I hardly deem that the criteria for Amelie's successor."

Snarling, he lunged for Claire, but Gérard simply stepped in front of her, raising one hand and throwing the other vampire across the room.

"I can quite assure you, Hollis, that I am the one for the job," Claire said, her voice slightly too friendly, she realised too late. "Not only am I the only one, yet I already had the beginnings of what to do from Amelie when she was still alive, so my status as a human ought not to matter," she continued, lying slightly because, as far as she could see, Amelie hadn't prepared her for anything of the sort.

Appeased slightly, Hollis stopped trying to fight back and simply sat on the far side of the cell, looking at her. "So, Madame Founder," he sneered the title of Amelie, most likely trying to disturb Claire. It worked. "Do tell me what you are going to do for me to get me out of this hovel."

"Nothing," she replied instantly, knowing she had to answer like this in order to keep the humans appeased. "You broke the law and you know from the speech the other night that humans and vampires are to be treat according to the same rules, therefore you suffer the same punishment as a human would in this instance…actually, I lie. A human would be killed for this, but I shall simply see you are imprisoned for one very long time," she told him in a matter of fact tone, watching as his face darkened. Evidently, he didn't agree with her logic.

"No," he snarled at her, lunging once again as he forgot that Gérard would step in front of Claire to protect her every time. This wasn't wrong; as soon as Hollis began to take moves that could end up being offensive against Claire, he was in action, moving forwards to incapacitate the vampire, whom angry would be an understatement to describe his feelings.

Unfortunately for both Claire and Gérard, Hollis being angry meant he had extra strength – evidently, even vampires got adrenaline rushes. So he managed to dodge Gérard's restraining arm and began his advance towards Claire, who froze. Forgetting every single lesson she had ever been taught, by the Glass House, by Amelie in terms of Myrnin, everything she had learnt about vampires – even her natural instincts – failed her. She simply stood still, waiting for him to grab her – something which he would have done if Gérard hadn't whipped around and grabbed him from behind.

"That, miss, is what you are going to be facing from many," he told Claire in a matter-of-fact tone before calling for other vampire guards (most likely including Claire's best friends, Hans and Gretchen) to come and take the rogue vampire into the dungeons where the old infected vampires went.

"Even vampires?" Claire shook herself as he returned to stand before her, his eyes trained on her face to watch her reaction. She was suitably scared, he decided, now that she knew what would be facing her.

"Even vampires…especially vampires," he continued, knowing that, as her bodyguard, he would have to be honest with her. "Miss, they already are not happy about the small change – small for you – that you are already implementing. I have heard that they simply thought you were joking; however, your movements today shall prove to them that you mean equality across the board for both vampires and humans. You are at more risk than you were perhaps yesterday."

She groaned, stepping out of the celled room that if a vampire couldn't escape from, she'd have had no chance. "Guess that the return to normal life sort of disappeared again, huh?" she sighed as they made their way down towards where Myrnin abandoned them before.

Her bodyguard had no need to reply, for he knew she knew the answer. So they continued back to the foyer of the police station in silence, Claire deliberating internally just how much her life had changed even further in those few moments.

"Why hello, dear Claire," Myrnin appeared suddenly beside her, a grin on his face. "I presume that you have no plans to walk home from here?" he continued, nodding along as she agreed.

"I don't," she whispered, fear in her eyes as she contemplated the idea that there could be more than that one vampire against her – what if her first official move as "Founder" had enraged every vampire against her?

"Good," he responded, walking with her to the door. "I don't fancy that walk again, though it was rather pleasant to see the sun again…even if it did burn my eyes," ever the melodramatic one, Myrnin continued to complain about his 'sunburn' all the way in the limo back to the office.

Maybe I'll just get a gym, Claire decided as she walked back into her office and sat down.

She then looked up at Myrnin, who continued to stand on the far side of the room. "Feel like helping me?" she asked, but he instantly shook his head.

"Oh God no," he raised his hands as he began to back away. "In all honesty, Claire, everything I know I have taught you. I always stay as far away from politics as possible; quite frankly, it's a disgusting subject," and, with that, he ran out of the room.

Of course, she thought, slightly bitterly, as she pulled the keyboard out. He got to go do the fun science – as he had with Amelie, he ran away when the going got tougher, or out of his interest zone.

She had plans where she wanted to take the town, of course she did. And now, she decided, now was the time to begin to implement them…