Claire had way too much sugar in her blood, she also had way too many white blood cells and platelets. They had come to the assumption that she probably had more energy, as the glucose levels couldn't really have any detrimental effects due to her immortal status, and would heal much faster, but they didn't really have any way to test it. Claire had rolled her eyes when Myrnin had said that, but he moved faster than her and he had the scalpel out of her hand before she could inflict any injury to herself.
She narrowed her eyes at him and he raised his eyebrows at her, challenging her without words.
"It's an experiment." Claire snapped, folding her arms over her chest.
Myrnin scoffed, not even bothering to answer that with actual words.
"We need to know if I'll heal quicker or not, what if something happens?"
"I think we're quite safe in our assumptions, little Claire." He twirled the scalpel in his hands. "Perhaps I should leave this somewhere out of your reach."
"Are you suggesting I'm going to hurt myself?" Claire squeaked, sounding slightly offended.
Myrnin raised a single eyebrow, smirking when she looked away in defeat. "What is that phrase the youth are fond of? 'If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck'…" Myrnin trailed off, making Claire look around and glare at him.
"I'm not going to kill myself, Myrnin!"
He laughed.
"Well obviously not! You'd never manage it with me around."
"That sounds like a challenge." Claire muttered under her breath, forgetting, or not caring, that Myrnin could definitely hear her.
He appeared in front of her and Claire jumped, not having seen or heard him move. "If you think that I am above telling Amelie that you have a death wish, and having you placed under constant and permanent supervision then you are very wrong, Claire."
She swallowed around a lump in her throat, he hadn't even been this cold when she'd asked about Amelie earlier. The last time he was like this was probably when he had the disease and she shivered slightly. She managed a shaky nod when she realised he appeared to be waiting for an answer and he let out a soft sigh, realising how tight of a grip he had on her shoulders and relaxing it.
"Forgive me, fy nghariad," he murmured, looking away from her, the Welsh rolling smoothly from his tongue, "I didn't mean to hurt you, but I don't intend to sit idly by and watch you destroy yourself." He looked up at her again and Claire met his eyes evenly, noticing the sincerity burning in them. "I know that this feels like a curse to you, believe me, I know, but it is far from it."
"Myrnin, I-"
"You can do this, Claire, I promise you."
She didn't look at all convinced and Myrnin sighed. "Two weeks."
"What?"
"Embrace this for two weeks, let me teach you, be open to learning, let yourself develop for two weeks."
"What happens after that?"
Myrnin shrugged, a blasé action that's insincerity didn't match his eyes. "That's up to you. Give it two weeks, Claire."
She sighed but nodded in acceptance. She could manage two weeks.
"You need to push as hard as you can. Focus on where you want to go and then push."
It was fast approaching midnight, but neither Claire nor Myrnin had any intentions of going to sleep. Claire needed to feel air on her skin, having been cooped up inside for days, Myrnin thought it was perfect opportunity to begin teaching her.
This led them to where they were now, standing at one end of Myrnin's alley with the intent for Claire to use her advanced speed to get to the other end. Consciously trying to move at such a speed was much more difficult than when she had been moving on instinct.
After another failed attempt, Claire growled in frustration, flinging her hands in the air. "This is pointless! I feel ridiculous!" She kicked at the wall of the alley. "I'm never going to get it!"
"Claire." Myrnin sighed, not moving to intercept her and continuing to lean against the wall with his arms folded over his chest.
"Don't 'Claire' me!" She snapped, whirling to face him and pointing an accusatory finger. "This is your fault!"
"My fault?" Myrnin raised an amused eyebrow, noticing that, despite her temper, her appearance hadn't changed this time. It was some what relieving to see this side of Claire he thought, because this wasn't her vampire instincts, this was just Claire.
"He wants to hurt you! You and Amelie! I'm just some twisted, messed up…collateral damage! This never would have happened if you'd actually managed to kill him!"
Claire had advanced on Myrnin while she'd been ranting and he looked down at her in amusement, their bodies nearly touching.
"This isn't funny, Myrnin!" Claire growled, punching the wall beside his shoulder.
He glanced at the wall, noting with some satisfaction that she'd left a mark, and then quickly reversing their positions, pressing Claire into the wall with his hands on either side of her head.
She looked up at him, her eyes burning with rage and he smirked at her, leaning closer. For a second, Claire thought he might kiss her and then he ducked his mouth to her ear to whisper to her.
"You are quite right of course, my dear, this is indeed my fault. How does that make you feel?"
"I'm going to kill you." She whispered, her voice automatically dropping to match his.
Myrnin chuckled softly and Claire shivered at the feel of his breath on her skin.
"You'll have to catch me first."
And then he was gone.
Claire frowned, glaring into what used to be darkness, but no longer was with her new eyesight. Where the hell had he gone? The sound of a twig breaking made her roll her eyes and sigh. Like it or not, she was a fucking vampire, she didn't need to see him to find him.
She was pretty sure that was him breathing, but she had to remember that they weren't in the confines of the Glass House now, she could just as easily be listening to someone else. With that in mind, Claire tried to find another way to confirm if that was Myrnin she was focused on.
He had such a distinctive smell, she closed her eyes and breathed in, searching for the smell of old books and chemicals and something else that she wasn't quite sure how to define.
Quickly she established that the breathing she had been locked onto was in fact her boss (though she wasn't sure that was quite the right word to define their relationship anymore) and she stood away from the wall with a sigh. It was now or never. Push.
Suddenly she was beside Myrnin and he grinned, steadying her when she wobbled slightly.
"Brilliant, Claire."
He disappeared again and before she knew it, she was chasing him around, eventually moving out to half of Morganville when he thought she was up for more of a challenge.
He circled them back towards his lab after a while, making a surprised noise when he landed on the floor, realising that Claire had tripped him up. Before he could move, Claire had him on his back and she straddled him, pinning his hands over his head.
Her eyes were lit up with excitement and her red-stained hair was falling around her face in disarray.
"Did you let me do that?" She asked, noticing the stunned look on his face.
He shook his head slowly, breathing more heavily than he probably needed to.
"What does that mean?"
"You're faster than you should be, quite a lot faster." He tacked on as an afterthought. "Perhaps stronger, but we'd have to test that more thoroughly." He studied her with interest, neither of them making any movement to get up. "Judging by how long we were running, I'd say we were correct that you have more energy as well."
"How long?" Claire asked, frowning, it hadn't been that long had it?
She noticed a light turn on in the Day House in front of her and realised that she could just about see the sun beginning to break in the distance. They'd been running for hours and she hadn't even noticed.
Any anger she'd harboured had melted from her body and she felt a lot better for the burst of exercise.
"We should go inside." Myrnin whispered, noticing Claire's shoulders droop at the reminder.
"Not yet," she whispered back, relinquishing her hold on him and sitting upright, but making no further movement to get off of him, "I want to see it."
Myrnin almost opened his mouth to argue with her, before he changed his mind, looking in the direction of the rising sun. They had time.
This story is soo neglected, I'm so sorry to anyone who may be keeping up with this. Reviews make me tick, so please please let me know if you're still here!