The next morning, Claire was ready to do anything but get out of her room, but she convinced herself otherwise. As much as she hated it, she had to forget about Shane, just this once, and do what she had to do to protect all of them. She eventually made her way out of bed, into the shower and downstairs where she met Eve in the kitchen, downing probably her third cup of black coffee.

Eve looked at her as she walked in, "You okay, C.B.?" she asked worriedly. Claire nodded silently and poured herself an orange juice.

"You know you can talk to me, right?"

Claire nodded again, "Shane doesn't particularly agree with my plan. It sort of didn't go over well."

"What happened?"

"We argued for a bit and he stormed out. I'm sure he'll get over it soon." She said it, but she wasn't really sure she believed it, "But, I have to go."

Claire went to grab her bag and flung it on her shoulder, "Already?" Eve asked, following Claire to the door.

Claire smiled, "The earlier I start, the sooner this is all over." And was out the door. She was grateful for the long walk in the fresh air. She could clear her head a little and it felt good to be in the sun again. As she was about to turn into the alley, she saw Grandma Day sitting on her porch, "Good morning Miss Day."

"Don't tell me you're going back to that spider, girl. When I didn't see you, I thought you came to your senses."

Claire smiled softly, but otherwise stayed quiet, "Why don't you come up for some lemonade?"

"Sorry, I'm in a bit of a hurry. Rain check?"

She started down the alley, hearing, "You'd be good to stay away, girl!" behind her, but ignored it while making her way to the lab she hadn't seen in a while.

She opened the door to see a bigger mess then she left it in, and ducked as an ancient book flew at her head, "Hey!"

Myrnin froze in the middle of the room, his back to her. When he turned to her, he was in her face in a flash, making her flinch, "Claire! How lovely to see you, good to see you're recovering well, my dear. Now, come, I have a job for you." He said rapidly as he tugged her hand, "Actually, Myrnin, I have a job for you."

He stopped and stared at her, "What do you mean? You are the assistant, if I do recall correctly, or have you not been giving me my doses?"

Claire snorted, "Myrnin, have you been taking your medicine?"

By that time, Myrnin was flying around the lab, making an even bigger mess she was surely going to have to clean up later, but she knew he heard her.

It was times like these, he reminded her of the Mad Hatter, and briefly wondered if Alice in Wonderland was based on him. That made her laugh bitterly, instead of a rabbit hole; it was a trap door spider, and instead of the Queen of Hearts, they had the Ice Queen. She had to stop thinking about it, the resemblances were too creepy.

"Yes, I believe so." He stopped in thought, and then turned back to her, "Claire, I wonder if you realize how valuable you are to me, you must remind me to keep my sanity." He disappeared came back within seconds, "Now I've taken them."

Claire rolled her eyes, but honestly missed this, "Myrnin, I need your help."

"Yes?"

"You know about Brandon. I need to catch him, so that my friends are no longer in danger, so that I can leave my house without a constant argument. Do think you can talk Ada into tracking him? Don't tell her it's for me; just ask her to do it, please. If we find him, we tell Amelie and he's a goner."

"I'll see what I can do, but you have to help observe for him if the option arises."

"You'll help me?"

"Well, I very highly doubt Amelie will be happy with you searching for him, but who am I to follow the rules? Now, until we can get to work on Brandon, we get to work here."

Claire hoped that meant more lessons and challenges, but was disappointed to be met with the cleaning job. Although, it was a challenge.

Finally, once she was done and exhausted, she said goodbye to Myrnin and walked out of the lab to see that the sun was close to setting. She walked most of her way home before going into a jog as the sun got closer to the horizon. She walked in the door just in time, but her friends weren't happy. She walked into a glaring Eve in the kitchen, "Where the hell have you been?"

"What? I made it before dark."

"Cutting it pretty damn close, there, Claire."

"I'm sorry, I had to clean up the lab, Myrnin was a complete mess, I can't leave him alone for a minute."

Eve rolled her eyes and hugged Claire, "Whatever, I'm glad you're home, but you're still a bitch for making me worry."

"I know," Claire laughed. She looked behind Eve to see Shane, not even looking at her. Well, apparently he wasn't too worried. Eve saw where she was looking and whispered, "Don't worry, he's been sulky all day. He'll get over it."

Claire nodded with a fake smile and walked upstairs to her room, ignoring her when Eve asked if she wanted dinner. When she closed the door, she put her bag down and opened up a textbook. She wanted to go back to class tomorrow and had to catch up. Claire didn't go downstairs for the rest of the night, just kept concentrating hard on the textbooks in her hands. Anything but Shane. And for once, studied herself right to sleep.

Claire woke to bright rays of sunshine peering through the cracks in her blinds, making her squint, still not hearing anything from Shane, and continued not to see him as she walked out the front door. She was able to slip out easily, even Michael was still asleep and he was an unusually early riser, for a vampire anyway. It didn't take long for her usual pursuer to make up for two weeks of not making fun of her to catch up with her on campus, "Hey, freak!"

Claire sighed at the voice behind her and turned, "What do you want, Monica?"

"Well, I haven't seen you in so long, Claire. I can't just let that alone, can I?"

"You could." Claire pointed out.

"Ooh, way to get me. You're not on your usual game today, Danvers, problems with the boy?"

Yes. "Yeah right, let him go already, Monica. You just can't handle that he's probably the only guy, one you want, I might add, that doesn't drool all over your designer clothes and he's with the freak that made you look stupid one time. I think it's about time you let that go, don't you? Or are you going to set my house on fire, too?"

Monica actually looked shocked, if not a little scared, not of Claire, of course, but of the fact that she killed Shane's sister was brought back to the surface, "Bye." Claire said flatly, walking away.

"You stupid bitch! You won't get away with that!" Well, great. Now, she had a spoiled teenage girl and a psycho vamp on her back.

Well, she's had worse.

Claire had a feeling it wasn't going to be a good day and glumly walked into her first class.

Classes that day weren't so bad, if you ignored the blatant stares from Monica Morrell, but Claire was still anxious to get off campus and back into the lab. Yet, she still took her time getting there; she needed the air and the long walk. Not to think, no she didn't want to do any of that, instead, she used it to get her mind on anything else. When she finally did get to the lab, she could here Myrnin mumble a quick greeting and some rummaging in the back. On one of the tables, she saw a note with her name on it and figured it was a new assignment.

She was horribly wrong.

Dear Claire,

Oh, I was so disappointed that you managed to slip from my grasp twice, it was such a blow to my dead heart, but I won't give up that easy. I assume you won't want to waste too much time, so I'll make it quick.

If I can't have you, I'll have what I wanted in the first place, your lovely little boyfriend. If I were you, child, I would expect a lovely, bloody, little present when I got home.

Sincerely,

Brandon

*Hides* alright, don't hate me :D im sorry guys, but this is literally my favorite part. I was so excited to upload this, because, yes its torture to you, but if you're tortured, that means I did a good job. :)...would it help if I told you I love you? No? Well, look forward to next week :)