They see me in a seconds' glance, they feel me when they breath I hide in the bones of the establishment as their too eager eyes seek. For I am not ready to be seen, to wreck the havoc that I truly can, rip my enemy to the ground taking everyone I can. They know not that I'm upon them till they feel my silky breath, as a coldness enfolds them they have no resolve left; for they are trapped beyond and below the white, somewhere they'll never be seen- feeding my petty army till we are ready to take down the queen.

Claire's pov.

I can feel it coming closer, something behind me creeping slowly up to me- the slow breathing a ticking time bomb. I shout for the others to run. Michael runs. Eve runs. Shane runs. I can't run.

'Help!' I scream, again and again- getting louder as the harsh breathing gets closer and closer.

'Shane!' I yell, my fear alive in his name.

'Claire run…c'mon Clai…' But he abruptly cuts off, as I see nothing more than snow… too much snow.

A second goes by and the snow just stops. And he's gone. No footprints. No sound. Just gone.

I scream.

I open my eyes and surrender myself to the blinding industrial lights.

'Claire! Claire are you okay?' Shane's face is hovering above me, panic etched into his features.

'Yeah…' I stutter. 'Fine.' But I'm not, my body is aching with pent up anxiety, my muscles bunched up, contracting against normality, my breathing is fast, and my heart is pounding against my rib cage. This is my nightmare losing him… as I have nearly done time and time again. One thing about living in vampire central is there is no such thing as an uneventful year. Again we must stand against an enemy.

'What…what time's it?' I ask trying to prove that I'm fine, and failing horrendously as my voice quivers.

Eve's face says I'm fooling no-one. 'Just after four, Amelie wants a meeting in the big hall at five, we were just going to wake you.' Just after four that means I've slept like three hours… yeah sleep hasn't been all that good. A 5am meeting something isn't right- although it's not like the vamps have to worry about missing any sleep- they've been considerate of late though…

'What for?' I ask catching myself on a yawn.

'Not sure really, no-one knows out there.' Michael- bumping his way through the door carrying four cups of pure caffeine energy- the ex-ghost, ex-vampire now turned human again of our weird little fraternity… yes in Morganville born-again humans are the new thing.

'Someone must have an idea, like I'm not being funny but even the white queen can't just call a random 5am meeting when the human folk haven't been asleep for more than a couple of hours.' Taking a large gulp of her coffee Eve scrunches up her face at the bitterness. 'Caffeine can only do so much.' She's too right there, in the last couple of days I'll have been lucky if I've had six…seven hours sleep total. My body is full of fake caffeine addict energy the kind that you only get off having far too many cups of the good stuff- I've even stopped having milk and sugar- the sharp, bitter sting is the only thing that's keeping my eyes open.

'The vampires are out in force though.'

'What?' Shane asks, confusion clear in his tone.

'The vamps they're mingling out there.' Michael pauses for moment taking a sip of his coffee. 'You know building up camper spirit…' There is no humour in his tone.

'This isn't good.' I breathe. Taking a sip of my coffee, the bitterness makes me cringe sending a tingle through each and every nerve. I shiver, and try to remember what it's like to have a good night's sleep.

We're quiet for a while, the only noise is our breathing and the occasional chink of jewellery against our mugs as we sip our boiling drinks. The clock seems to speed forward as if time is lost in our bubbles of thought.

'Guys we better start…' Shane stops as we all look up, as the door to our…'bedroom' opens showing Oliver. Standing with his grey threaded hair tied back, and normal guy clothes (maybe from the seventies but better than usual) he looks the prime example of a caring coffee shop owner; only we know different.

'Present yourself at five.' And with that he leaves, his clipped words lying heavy in the air.

'What happened to Mr nice vampire?' Shanes breathes. I force a laugh.

'Whatever this is, it obviously isn't good…'

'Babe…' Michael addresses Eve, holding her gaze. 'We'll get through this.' She nods, a forced smile on her lips.

'Makes you wish we still had a vamp on side, doesn't it?' Shane always the joker.

'Dude…' Michael laughs.

Then Shane starts laughing. Then Eve. Then I can't stop my giggles.

And for some reason that funny. Actually properly funny and it feels good to finally have something to laugh about.