Claire tried to watch out the window as Alucard drove. Tried to look at the passing road signs, passing cars, passing scenery, anything, but it had vampire tinting. Only Alucard could see out clearly, so Claire was left staring at the blackness of the windows and thinking about how much Shane will hate her in the morning. She only regretted this decision for that. The betrayal she'll be forced to see in Shane's eyes when she goes back for could only hope he'd forgive when she came back, that she hadn't done too much damage to fix the damage she'd already caused.

It was getting close to sunrise, and they were getting close to the town boarders.

Here goes nothing… Claire thought.

Alucard glanced toward her as they passed the boarders and she nodded, "Hold on," he said.

Claire held the handle as the car came to a halting stop.

"You are no longer under the protection of The Founder! How hard is that to understand? You have caused her too much trouble and are no longer worth her time. You have performed all the necessary duties for the town, we will not need your services any longer."

"You can't do that!" Claire yelled desperately, "Brandon is still out there! All of my friends have given up on me. I'll be all alone, I'll die!"

"You must now just be like any of the citizens; survive on your own. I cannot help you now, please exit the car." Alucard said calmly.

"You can't make me! Take me to Amelie! She can't do this to me!"

Alucard gave her a soft nod, signaling what he was about to do and darted out of the car and to the back seat, opening the door and promptly, throwing Claire on her butt, and chucking her other belongings next her before getting back into the car and screeching off before Claire could even react.

"No!" she yelled after the car. She raked her hands through her hair harshly, breathing deep. It wasn't hard to pretend she was scared, she was just dumped on the street. Even though it was all part of the plan, she couldn't help but fear what Brandon was going to do once he got a hold of her again.

She didn't have to wonder for long.

"Oh! You came back for me! How sweet." He said, his voice taking a sinister tone and he hissed. Claire gasped as he appeared at her side. He took a strand of her hair and smelled it and she shuddered, "You smell even more appetizing than I remember." His fingers slid down her arm and Claire bit her lip to keep from whimpering at the touch. The way he stared at her, the way he touched her…

It made her sick.

His cold fingers glided under her hair and around her neck and Claire squeezed her eyes shut, "Did I hear correctly, little Claire? Has all of your loved ones given up on you?"

Claire had to keep up the act, which wasn't hard. Imagining the things his sick mind must be thinking was enough to bring terrified tears to her eyes.

"No," Claire said with mock sadness, "Amelie will f-find you! She'll…" She trailed off, as a part of the act, but also, seeing a familiar figure just beyond the boarder.

No. She mentally called. I told you to stay at the hotel! Why don't you ever listen?!

Although, Claire found the irony in her own thought, Shane had also asked her to stay, and she didn't listen.

"Of course we didn't give up on her! Get your damn hands off her!" Shane yelled.

"No! Shane—"

She was cut off when Brandon's wandering fingers squeezed her neck, blocking her air. She struggled as Brandon stood, pulling her up with him, up in the air so her feet weren't touching the ground. She clawed at his hand but it didn't do her justice.

"Foolish girl! You believe you can trick me. That was dirty, child, I thought we were friends."

Black spots were covering her vision just before she was knocked harshly to the ground. She tumbled until warm hands caught her and Shane pulled her up from the ground and held her as she stumbled and swayed.

"I told you to stay at the hotel," she managed to croak out.

His worried face morphed into a hard expression, "We'll talk about that later. For now, you need to stay safe." She took that as a sign that she would be forgiven eventually and relaxed against him as he stroked her hair. They both knew they needed to get away, but Claire could barely stay on her feet and it would slow them down for Shane to carry her.

When she heard the commotion behind them, she looked around, with Shane's help, to keep her standing, to see Alucard and Brandon sparring viciously.

Alucard swung his fist so fast it was blurred and lunged at Brandon, but he darted out of the way and caught Alucard's arm on the back swing, launching him into and through the Welcome to Morganville sign.

"Shit," Shane breathed. Brandon immediately turned back to the pair and lurched toward them with inhuman speed, nails like claws, eyes red, and fangs down. Before either of them could move, Claire was slammed backward, her whole body screaming in pain and she cried out. She hit the ground as Brandon crept up on her, teeth bared in a horrific smile.

Out of the corner of her eye, Claire could see Shane digging through her bags and found stake. She almost laughed that he knew her well enough to know she'd be prepared, but the humor quickly faded when she realized he was too late.

Brandon had sprung and sunk his fangs into her neck cutting off her shrill scream.

Thank you for your patience! Because of you guys, I didn't have to worry too much about staying caught up with my writing and I had a wonderful week with my big brother that I haven't seen in nearly ten years. Seriously, as I was writing my author's note, I also found out that I have over 6,000 views! that's more than all of my stories on wattpad combined! Thank you all so much, it means so much that people enjoy my writing. I hope you enjoyed the chapter :)