The Morganville Vampires: Safe and Sound

Chapter 9

Chapter 9

"Are you sure?" Michael asked for the hundredth time as we all hovered over Myrnin's locked journal. "Can you really trust Myrnin? He doesn't even trust himself."

"Michael," Eve frowned, "don't scare her."

"I'm not scared." Claire said matter-of-factly. "Yes, I trust Myrnin."

"But, Claire he almost killed you!" Shane complained.

"You said it yourself: almost. Yet... he didn't." Claire smiled at him, "I'm still alive aren't I?"

"What if you get hurt? What if it burns you?" Michael joined in with Shane's resentment.

"I can handle it. I've been hurt loads of times and I'm fine. And I've handled acid on my back; I think I can handle a little burn." Claire said as soothingly as she could. She smiled when she saw Eve roll her eyes.

"The bigger question is how do we open it?" Eve asked and tugged on the lock to prove her point. "There's no way anyone can pick that."

"I need to get liquid nitrogen." Claire said as if it was the easiest thing in the world. "They have some back at the University."

"Do you want a lift?" Eve offered.

"I'll go tomorrow. I got some studying to catch up on." Claire pushed the journal aside. "I'm going to start my classes again."

"Claire," Shane sunk into the chair beside her, "you seriously need to rest. Go back next week, if you really must."

"No, Shane. I love my classes; I love a challenge. I can't just sit at home like an injured little butterfly." Claire said tugging on her hair in frustration.

Shane just shook his head as Michael said, "you could take up a hobby? Practising cooking-"

"God, sexist much?" Eve interjected.

"-or I'll teach you guitar. Or Shane will teach you something productive." Michael finished. "Anything will do."

"Anything goes..." Eve sung in a British accent.

"Not funny, Eve." Shane glared at her. "Why don't we talk about this later? I'm starving! How about some chilli for dinner?"

Claire had a sudden craving for Shane's famous chilli. "Mmm... sounds delicious. Hurry up, I'm starving too." Then she remembered, "hey, we are not talking about it later. I'm going tomorrow; end of discussion."

Eve and Michael went upstairs, out of the way, doing God-knows-what and Claire sat in the kitchen reading another physics book as Shane cooked his chilli. Her stomach rumbled as she turned the page and Shane glanced over his shoulder at her. She carried on reading and her stomach rumbled again. This time Shane turned to face her.

"You must be very hungry." Shane smiled, "I won't even take you portion of the chilli. I'll be fair tonight."

"Am I hearing voices or did you just say you'd be fair when it comes to eating?" Claire laughed, properly.

"I love your laugh," Shane thought out loud, then he cleared his throat and added, "and yes. You did hear me say I'll be fair."

Claire had read through almost three quarters of her physics book when Shane announced the chilli is ready. Claire started eating her bowlful as Shane went upstairs to tell Michael and Eve that dinner was ready. By the time Shane and the others were back downstairs, Claire was helping herself to seconds.

"Wow," Eve said as she scooped up a bowl for herself, "you ate that fast. Who knew such a tiny person could eat so quickly?"

"Who knew a tiny person could kick vampire-butt and marry badass Collins?" Michael counter-asked, fondly.

"Err... I did?" Claire spoke up as she scooped in another mouthful of chilli. "See? You shouldn't judge things until you've got all the facts." She felt a bit weird in her stomach.

"We don't," Eve explained, "we didn't even anticipate anyone could stick it to the vamps and get Shane Collins whipped."

"Hey, I'm not whipped!" Shane protested. "Claire, please tell them..." he trailed off as he looked at his wife go pale.

Claire sickening feeling grew. She belted out of the kitchen and up the stairs, just managing to throw up in the toilet and not miss. She threw up every last bite of chilli she had eaten. When she had finished brushing her teeth afterwards, she really needed the toilet. Shane knocked on the bathroom door. She could always tell it was him by his knock thanks to the many times he knocked on her bedroom door before she married him.

"I'm ok, Shane." Claire said through the door. "Really, I probably just had a reaction to something in the chilli. Maybe I'm allergic."

"Claire... you know that's not true." Shane responded, knowing that she would have had a reaction before. "Please, let me in."

"It's alright, Shane. Some people develop allergies. And some ingredients - depending on their portion - can have an affect on someone." Claire said calmly.

"Claire, please." He said desperately through the locked door. "Don't make me kick the door down - if I have to risk you getting hurt, I won't be very happy."

"Maybe I have that virus... oh, what's it called?" Claire started talking to herself instead of Shane. "I think it's... EBV or something? It can make you throw up a lot and it makes you tired."

"Claire," Shane begged again, it was clear that he was going to take full measures - such as risking hurting Claire to get into the bathroom, "I'm scared for you. Just let me in!"

"Fine," Claire said as she opened the door, "no need to be so melodramatic."  She pasted on a bright, unfelt smile on her face. "See? I'm ok now."

"No, you're not, Claire. You need to see a Doctor." Shane wrapped his arms around her. "I'll take you tomorrow."

"After, we get the liquid nitrogen and find out what's inside that journal." Claire said sternly. "I'm not waiting another damn day! Plus, I miss going to my classes. I need physics!" She laughed at how nerdy that sounded.

"I'm not going to win this, am I?" Shane asked and Claire shook her head. "Alright, alright. Have it your way, go to your classes, get the chemicals, open the journal and then go to the doctors?"

"That sounds like a plan, Mr Collins." Claire smiled, thinking about how she was Mrs Collins and married to the person she loved the most in the world. Shane. "I love you, Shane."

"I love you too, Claire." Shane kissed the top of her head. "Sometimes you scare me... more than those bloodsuckers or anything that we've faced together."

"Well... I'll only scare you a few more times. Promise." She said seriously and then they both bursted out laughing. They'd always have scary times. It wouldn't be Morganville if they didn't.