Myrnin wasn't entirely sure what he was expecting to find upon his return to the lab, but the sound of Claire's laughter was music to his ears. He paused for a moment at the door to the lab, his hand resting on the doorknob as his eyes slipped closed, letting out a soft sigh of relief as he took in the glorious sound. He'd begun to worry he was never going to hear her laugh again.
With a calming breath, he opened the door to his lab; he needed to be a pillar for Claire, and he was determined that he would be.
Claire and Michael were watching something on the television, he had no idea what, but it was making Claire happy. She was curled up on the couch, her head resting on Michael's lap, and a blanket covering her legs.
Michael noticed Myrnin before Claire did, and he turned to face him, smiling and nodding slightly, a clear gesture that Claire was alright at that moment. Myrnin smiled in return, schooling his features as Claire registered his presence and sat up, turning to face him.
"I can't believe you got a TV!"
"Technically, I only asked Amelie to procure me a television set, although, I am glad you're taking enjoyment from it."
"Thank you." Claire said firmly, not leaving any room for any other excuses or babbling as she offered him a soft smile.
"It was no problem at all." Myrnin shrugged, waving a hand to dismiss the very notion, stepping further into the lab with a sunny grin. "Nevertheless, I will leave you to finish your moving pictures." He gestured towards the screen vaguely, moving to walk past them.
"No!" Claire blurted, sitting up. "I just, I mean, you could join us, if you wanted to."
Catching Michael's nod behind her, Myrnin smiled back at her, sitting in his armchair with a curious tilt to his head as he turned his gaze to the TV, a soft frown lining his features.
"Thank you." Claire said suddenly, meeting Myrnin's eye as he looked up from his microscope with a raised eyebrow. "For earlier."
Keeping his eyebrow raised, Myrnin tilted his head at her slightly. "You already expressed your thanks; I assure you it was no problem at all."
"For the TV," Claire corrected, fiddling with the glass slide she held in her hands, "I only said thanks for the TV. I just…getting Michael over here meant a lot. Thank you, Myr."
He smiled at her, big and brilliant. "You're very welcome, fy nghariad."
Returning his smile, Claire continued twirling the slide in her hands, letting out an irritated hiss when the glass snapped in her grip, piercing her pale skin. "Crap." She muttered under her breath, dropping the glass out of reflex and grimacing when it smashed on the floor. "Sorry."
Anything Myrnin could have said in return was cut off by the sound of someone calling from outside the lab.
"Hello? I'm sorry, I'm just totally lost, and I thought I heard voices." The voice called softly, the wooden panels of the door creaking, abhorrently loud in the silence that settled over the lab as Claire and Myrnin both froze, the latter watching Claire cautiously. "Hello?"
Fire writhed to life in Claire's eyes; her body pulsing with adrenaline after cutting herself, small a wound as it was.
Not daring to say a word, Myrnin stayed deathly still, praying for the foolish girl at the entrance to the lab to turn around and leave before Claire totally lost control of herself.
"Shit." A pained mutter from the girl had both of the vampires on full alert, Myrnin grimacing when he caught a faint waft of blood in the air. "Damn nail."
Crashing into Claire, he managed to send the two of them tumbling onto the other side of the lab, ignoring the shocked scream from the stranger who had managed to wander into their area at the most inopportune time.
Dropping into a defensive crouch as Claire clambered to her feet, fangs bared and eyes blood red, Myrnin narrowed his eyes at her, assessing the best way forward as she attempted the same, searching for a path around him.
"Claire?" He broached carefully, not missing the way her eyes darted to him for a split second before returning to their analysis. Letting out a relieved breath, he continued to watch her closely, reaching out to the portal beside him with his mind, dialling the location as he thought. If she was lucid enough to recognise her name then he had a chance of getting through to her before this encounter turned fatal.
Stepping towards her, he held his hands up slowly, making all of his movements as uncharacteristically calm as possible. "It's Myrnin, it's okay; we both know you don't want to hurt this girl."
Eyes darting between him and the doorway, where the girl appeared to have frozen in shock, Claire barely registered the door to the portal opening until Oliver stepped through.
Springing forward, Myrnin caught Claire around the waist, mid leap, as Oliver lunged for the human girl, bracing protectively in front of her in a movement that proved unneeded as Myrnin held his grip on Claire firmly; despite her thrashing in his arms.
"Get her out of here." He grunted, grimacing as Claire managed a harsh elbow to his ribs and tightening his arms around her waist. "Now."
Oliver needed no more persuading as he grabbed the girl by her arm, dragging her out of the lab and securing the portal door behind them.
"Claire, you have to breath." Myrnin tried again, hoping he could get through to her now that the main object of her focus had been removed. "I know you're trying to fight this, but you're not strong enough to resist without a tether, Claire, do you understand?"
"No." She managed eventually, the word barely more than a shuddering whisper, yet she had no idea how significant it was.
"It's okay." He reassured her softly. "Breathe."
Claire sucked in a harsh breath at his reminder, letting it out just as abruptly.
"You need to think about something you know really well, Claire, something you know off by heart that you can focus on and recall whenever you need to. A story, or a rhyme, or a poem."
They stood in silence for a few moments, Myrnin's grip never relaxing as Claire desperately wracked her brain.
"Hydrogen." She muttered eventually, her voice quivering. "Helium. Lithium." She closed her eyes, forcing herself to take in another breath and relax her tense muscles. "Beryllium. Boron."
A soft smile curved Myrnin's lips as she whispered to herself. "Good," he mused, "the Periodic Table, that's a good one." He relaxed his grip on her a little, his head dropping to rest on the top of hers. "Keep going." He encouraged.
"Carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, fluorine, neon." She exhaled deeply, her body melting against his as her brain caught up with what had just happened. "Sodium, magnesium, aluminium, siliconphosphorus, sulphur, chlorine, argonpotassiumcalcium." The elements escaped her quicker and quicker as she spoke, eventually jumbling together as a sob tore from her; her body going totally lax in Myrnin's arms as he held her upright.
Slowly sinking to the floor with her cradled in his arms, Myrnin knelt behind her, holding her tightly as she fell to pieces.
A keening sob wrenched its way from Claire's stomach, her body folding forward over the arms Myrnin had wound around her stomach as her entire frame shuddered from the force of her cries.
Sagging totally against his hold on her, Claire was nearly totally unaware of just how much Myrnin was holding her weight up off the floor.
"I can't." She cried, her voice breaking between her heaving breaths. "I can't do this. I can't."
"Breathe, little bird, just breathe." Myrnin consoled, holding her tightly as she broke apart in his arms.
She gasped for air around her cries, her breaths coming in quick pants as she turned closer to hysteria. "He was right." She managed eventually, hyperventilating as she spoke. "Bishop was right."
Myrnin let out a frustrated huff of breath, gently closing the door to Claire's bedroom behind him. He was rapidly running out of time to encourage Claire around to her new reality of being a vampire.
Two weeks. Why on Earth had he said two weeks?
How had he never realised how short two weeks was?
On reflection, he should have known that Claire would have an unusual level of difficulty adapting to life as a vampire.
Despite her uncanny ability to adapt to the many, many life-threatening situations Morganville had presented her with; transitioning into a vampire was something else entirely. Despite Claire's many relations with various vampires in town, Myrnin really didn't know exactly what opinion she held of their kind…her kind now.
Then there was the whole issue of being tortured and turned against her will.
Now, Myrnin wasn't one to talk about having a healthy psyche, but he was sure that Claire's mental state could not be the picture of perfect health.
Unfortunately, knowing that and knowing what to do about it were two completely different things.
It's been a loooong time, I know! Trying to get back into my writing and where better to start! I foresee this story still having a lot of angst to come, so don't be surprised!