Midnight Alley: Shane's Point of View (A Morganville Vampires Fanfic)

Chapter Three

“The candor sing the praises of the truth, but they never tell you how much it costs.”                                         -Veronica Roth

Chapter Three

I heard Claire come home and ran downstairs. She was talking to Eve about dinner and sounded shaken. I came up behind her and as surprised her when she turned around. She took me in for a second and took a huge step back, looking horrified. I frowned and felt a little stab of hurt go through me. “Hey, you alright?” I asked tentatively. Claire nodded. I slowly took a step closer and placed my right hand on her waist and my left on her face, making strong, reassuring strokes with my thumb. Claire sighed in contentment and leaned into me. I wrapped my arms around her and tilted my head down to whisper in her ear. “You’re working too hard. You look pale. School okay?” 

“School’s fine.” She still sounded strange. “I guess I need more sleep,” she said absently. 

“Just a few more days until the weekend,” I whispered then dropped my voice lower, “My room. I need to talk to you.” I kissed the top of her head and locked my eyes with her confused gaze for a second before retreating back to my room. My dad had called today, but that wasn’t what I needed to tell her. It triggered it, sure, but I didn’t want to tell her. She’d freak. 

                                                            <>Flashback<>

I groaned when my phone rang. It all the way upstairs. But, thinking that it could be Claire needing help, I got off my ass and made my way to my bedroom. I almost vomited and punched a hole in the wall when I saw the caller ID. It was my dad. I looked around the room anxiously for some great interruption, but it didn’t come and my phone seemed to never stop ringing. I closed my eyes and, with a new found small bit of confidence, pressed “answer.” As soon as I did I heard lots and lots of background noise. He was in a bar. I rolled my eyes and pressed one finger into my other ear. “Dad? Dad? Hello?” Dammit, if he butt dialed me....

“Shane? Shit, I didn’t expect you to answer. Hold on, my boy.” I cringed and heard shuffling and all of a sudden the back noise dimmed and my dad picked the phone up again. “Shane?”

“I’m here.” 

“So you’re not in jail? Hell, I thought for sure.... Hm, got lucky, eh?” 

“Yeah, lucky.” I rolled my eyes.

“How’s that girl of yours? Still alive I hope, what with all the hell you went through to save her. What’s her name again? Cher? Blair? Sara? Eh, something with an ‘air,’” he grumbled. I didn’t want to bring Claire into this. 

“Claire, Dad, her name is Claire. Now, can you stop with the damn small talk. I’m fine. She’s fine. What do you want?”

“Still an ungrateful bastard, I see. Well, if you want me to cut to the chase, I will. Me and my guys are gonna be coming back to town soon. Like real soon. We’re coming back and we’re gonna kill some vamps. So gather your stakes and shit, because you’re helping. It’s in your blood and I won’t let you-” I hanged up the phone and threw it at my bed. Fuck my life. Shit is too fucked up right now for him to be coming back. Not now. Not this soon. Not with Michael. Shit. Michael....

                                            <>End of Flashback<>

Claire followed me into my room and I heard her set her backpack down against the wall. She glanced at me suspiciously as I sat on my bed. “What?” she asked as she came to join me. 

“I’m thinking of leaving,” I told her quickly and quietly. 

“Leaving? But Eve’s making dinner-” I shook my head and turned to meet her eyes. 

“Leaving Morganville,” I clarified. 

Her eyes went wide and panicked, “No. You can’t!”

“Done it before. Look, this place, it’s-I didn’t come back here because I missed it. I came back because my dad sent me, and now that he’s been and gone and I’m not doing his dirty work anymore....” I tried to make her understand, because she was looking at me shocked and scared. “I want a life, Claire. And you don’t belong here. You can’t stay. They’ll kill you. No, worse. They’ll make you into one of them, one of the walking dead. I’m not talking about vampires, either. Nobody who lives here has a pulse, not really,” I shook my head. 

“Shane-” I kissed her hard, pleading her to understand. 

“Please. We need to leave this town. It’s going to get bad. I can feel it.” 

“I can’t,” she whispered. “I-school, and-I just can’t, Shane. I can’t leave.”

“Please,” I whispered against her lips. 

She sat still for awhile then pulled away, “What happened?” Damn. 

I went the clueless route, “What?” 

“Was it something with Michael? Did he-did you-?” She looked at me desperately and I wondered why. 

I sighed and stood up, walking to the window. She wasn’t gonna listen unless I told her. “My dad called. He told me that he was coming back, and he wanted me to be prepared to take out some vampires. If I stay, I’m going to have to kill Michael. I don’t want to be here, Claire. I can’t.”

“You really think your dad will come back?”

“Yeah. Eventually. Maybe not this month, maybe not this year, but...someday. And next time, he’ll have what he needs to start a real war around here.” I shivered and tensed at the thought. “I need to get you out of here before you get hurt.” All of a sudden I felt her arms slide around my waist from behind, and she settled her head on my back-between my shoulder blades. I relaxed immediately. Something about Claire...-no other has ever touched me the way she does, and we haven’t even had sex. 

“I’m more worried about you,” she said and I rolled my eyes. “You and trouble....”

“Yeah,” I grinned. “We’re like that.” 

______________________________________________  

FAN, VOTE, AND COMMENT!   Thank you, Sydney4285