Morganville Vampires 1
Rachel Caine
Claire Danvers is a 16 year old girl that has just started college. She graduated high school early with the hopes of attending MIT, however, her parents want her to stay closer to home. So she finds herself in Morganville going to Texas Prairie University. One of the girls in her dorm Monica Morrell, takes pleasure in torturing the other girls. Claire made the mistake of correcting her in front of others and is now Monica and her friends’ main target. They took her clothes from the washer and threw them down the dorm’s garbage chute. As Claire is going to retrieve them, she runs into Monica, Gina, and Jennifer. When they start shoving her and hitting her, she fights back and ends up being pushed down a flight of stairs. Monica whispers that she will “get it” that night. When Claire wakes up, a normal girl from the dorm quickly checks on her and then hurries off.
Not really know the extend of her injuries, Claire goes to the University Clinic. She then gets a newspaper to find a new place to live. There is only one listing with any potential, so she calls the number. THe message gives the address and says to stop by, so she takes a cab. before she can make it to the door, she is overwhelmed and starts crying. Eve finds her and brings her inside to look around the house. She introduces Claire to Shane, who instantly guesses what happened to her. Shane vanishes to get ready for a date. Eve tells Claire about the vampires in Morganville. Claire wonders if she is crazy or being honest. Eve shows Claire the bedroom and tells her to sleep; she can meet Michael (the house’s owner who sleeps all day) for final approval when she wakes up. Claire agrees and falls asleep.
Claire wakes up and hears music. She goes downstairs to find Michael playing his guitar. He instantly knows that she is not legally an adult and tells her she can’t stay. Claire tells him what happened with Monica and how the girls plan to kill her. Michael asks if they were wearing bracelets with white symbols (meaning they are protected), but Claire can’t remember. He agrees to let her stay temporarily until she can find another place.
Eve and Shane are cooking breakfast when Claire enters the kitchen the next morning. The doorbell rings and Eve hides Claire in a secret room behind the pantry. She hears someone asking about a girl that disappeared from the dorm. When Eve lets her out, they ask what she did. She insists that she didn’t do anything and wonders if the police can help. They tell her it was the police looking for her and they work for the vampires. Shane asks about the girl that beat her up. When she tells them it was Monica, he gets really upset and goes to his room. Eve explains that Shane went to high school with Monica and got on her bad side. She burned down his house and his sister died as a result. Michael got him out of town for a few years and he just returned to Morganville.
Claire knows that she can’t hideout forever. She starts getting ready to leave for class when Shane tells her it is a bad idea. She explains that if she shows up at the dorm alone, she will no longer be considered missing. She can also grab some of her stuff. Eve comes home and also tells her that it is a bad idea. Claire decides she is going and walks out of the house. Eve follows and gives her a ride, though Claire has to duck down when they see a cop. Eve gives Claire her cell phone and 15 minutes in the building.
Going upstairs first, Claire finds her dorm room has already been gone through. She grabs whatever useful things she can find and starts heading back downstairs. She hears Monica. Another girl helps her get outside by lending Claire her hoodie and cello. She doesn’t make it very far before a bag is put over her head and she is dragged to a basement. She pulls out Eve’s phone and speed dials Shane. She is able to set the phone on a shelf quickly. In the end Monica lets her go and Claire shows her the phone before leaving. She puts her stuff in Eve’s car and heads to class. Afterwards, on her way home, she picks up food for dinner from the grocery store. She heads back to the Glass House and starts cooking. Shane helps. Michael appears and they all eat together. Shane takes Claire upstairs to show her another secret room. He speculates that the police sent her to kill Michael because they think he is a vampire. She promises that she has been telling the truth and wouldn’t want to kill Michael even if he was a vampire, which is good enough for Shane.
The sound of Michael’s guitar drifts upstairs when Claire wakes up. She goes to listen. After a few minutes, an alarm goes off. He puts down the guitar and goes to the window. When the sun rises, it looks like he is in pain. Claire goes to him and he tells her not to tell the others as he vanishes. She tells him that they will talk later and goes to class. When her day is done, Claire stops by the coffee shop, Common Grounds, where Eve works. Eve tells her to hang out and she will drive her home after she is done working. At the end of the night, Claire packs up her things and accidentally bumps into Brandon. He makes her realize that vampires are real. He wants to claim her. Eve’s hippie boss, Oliver, puts a stop to it and sends the girls home. However, Brandon follows them and attacks. Shane is able to kick the vampire down long enough for them all to get inside. Michael takes Claire to his room to tell her how he died. A vampire followed him home from a gig and tried to turn him, but failed. The house turned Michael into a ghost and he can only take form at night.
Shane takes Claire shopping for new clothes. On the way, Shane tells her to go into the nearest shop as a police car approaches. She does and meets officer Bradfield, a vampire. He offers her protection if she agrees to return to the dorms and be good. She runs out to Shane. Michael convinces Claire to lay low for a couple of weeks until her bruises heal. When she finally decides it is time to go back to class, Shane tells her he is going with her. She protests, but he is resilient. On the way to her first class, they see Monica. She and Shane stare each other down before Claire drags him inside the building. During her chemistry lab, they are both so engrossed in the project that they don’t hear Gina approaching. Claire is burned down the back with acid. The TA helps as much as he can, but she will need medical help. Shane holds onto Gina while the TA tells her she will have to speak with campus police. Claire passes out.
When Claire finally wakes up and is ready to leave the hospital, Shane gets her out to Eve’s car quickly. Eve drives them to Common Grounds, but only Shane goes in. He talks with Brandon (Monica and her family’s Protector) and comes back to the car. Oliver stops Brandon from following. When they get back to the house, Shane helps Claire inside as Brandon watches them from the street corner. Once inside, Michael demands to know what Shane promised the vampire to save Claire. Shane tells him and storms to his room. Eve explains that Brandon can bite Shane twice without killing him. However, being controlled like that might kill him inside. Michael tells her that Shane wants to make up for not saving his sister, Alyssa. Claire suggests they go to a higher up vampire and make another deal. Eve says the vampires want a book. Eve and Michael spend hours telling Claire everything they know about vampires. Michael also mentions that when people leave Morganville, they seem to forget everything and only remember if they return. Eve shows Claire the symbol tattooed on her arm, which is also on the cover of the book they need. She wants to make a fake copy of the book to trade. Since Vampires can’t read it, it will take her some time to figure out it is a fake. They just have to claim that was what they found.
Against everyone’s better judgement, Claire goes to Common Grounds with Eve for her night shift. As she researches how to forge a really old book, Oliver comes over. He says he will do his best to get her and Shane out of trouble, but Claire doesn’t believe it is possible. She finds out that she doesn’t have the skill to forge the book, but she might be able to fake a picture of it. When the shop closes, Oliver makes Brandon stay until the girls are gone. On their way, they see a woman getting out of a limo (Amelie). Shortly after, they are cut off by two vampires in front of and behind the car. Claire looks one in the eyes and looses control. She tries to get out of the car until Eve smacks her burn. Eve is able to drive away from them.
The girls make it home and find a visitor in the house: Miranda. No one seems too pleased that she is there, especially when she starts talking about blood and death. Claire notices bite marks on her neck. Eve takes Miranda upstairs. Shane and Michael send Claire after them to try to get Miranda to leave. Eve gets angry when Claire asks if she really believes that her friend is psychic. Claire goes back downstairs and falls asleep watching the boys play video games. Shane wakes her up and sends her to bed, which she agrees to after they deny her a beer. On her way up, she finds the other two girls coming down, announcing that they are going to have a seance.
They all hold hands as Miranda beings the ritual. She seems to be talking about how Michael died and the house won’t let him go. When she talks about fire, Shane gets fed up and goes upstairs. Claire follows and finds him in the secret room. They talk about everything and nothing for hours until they both fall asleep. When they wake up in the morning, Claire rushes out to go to the library. Shane tries to stop her, but she is able to get past him. Claire goes through the Library’s listing to find what she is looking for. However, she notices that the Library doesn’t have anything listed as being located on the fourth floor. When she doesn’t find a door on the stairs, she checks another staircase. The door is locked, so she goes to her chemistry TA. When his back is purposely turned, she steals a thermos-like container of liquid nitrogen. She returns to the library and freezes the door open. Two vampires find her right away. A professor calls her by the wrong name and explains that she is there to help him. They look for the book and at the end of the shift, Professor Wilson tries to take a copy of a collectable classic. The vampires go after him and Claire unleashes the last of the liquid nitrogen on them. They run for the elevator and press down. The professor tells her to get the black book from his house and then dies. She goes to the administration building gets his addresses from a receptionist that obviously doesn’t care about her job.
Claire calls Shane to help her get into Professor Wilson’s house. He breaks a window on the door and they go in to find floor to ceiling shelves filled with books. They go through them until Shane finds a Bible. Inside there is a hollowed out space for the book they are looking for (which is hand written in Latin). They put it in a grocery bag and head home. Parked outside of the house is Claire’s parents’ car. Shane makes her go inside and face them. They are furious until Michael explains the situation Claire was facing at the dorms. They are almost ready to let her stay when her dad goes into the fridge and finds beer. Her parents give her two days to finish her business before they come back to take her home. Shane ends up hugging her and saying that he will miss her. The moment is gone when Eve calls his name. Later that night, Claire can’t sleep. She hears a knock on the door and finds Shane on the other side. He tells her that he doesn’t want her to leave the house in the next few days, but she can’t promise that. He kisses her, and she kisses him again until it gets a little too passionate. He tells her to lock the door behind him and she does.
Just after sunrise, Claire leaves the house. She returns the thermos and then goes to talk to Oliver at the coffee shop. She tells him that she has the book, and he tells her that he will be at their house that night to discuss what is next. When Claire walks outside, she is thrown into a van that speeds off. Monica and her friends plan to burn her alive, but Jennifer, the driver, crashes the van. Claire gets out of the van and runs until she finds a church. Unfortunately, it is closed until sundown, so she has to break in to hide. Amelie, an obviously old and important vampire is already there. She asks Claire if she knows anything about the book. Claire lies and says she doesn’t know where it is. Amelie explains that she cannot help her. Monica comes barging in and Claire hides. Amelie tells her to leave. After the bully is gone, she tells Claire to run home. She finds Shane on the front porch and tells him everything, including that she is sorry. Claire tells Shane that Michael is a ghost. He doesn’t believe her until Michael appears between his three roommates at sundown. Shane feels like he lost his best friend and storms off. Claire follows him and leaves Eve and Michael to talk. Oliver appears at the door, claiming that the house’s protection won’t let him in. Claire is about to invite him in when Michael stops her. He explains that Oliver is the vampire that killed him. Oliver beckons to Eve through the closed door and she can’t help but invite him in.
Michael fights off Oliver while Claire brings Eve back to herself by slapping her across the face. Michael tosses the vampire outside and Eve revokes his invitation. Claire admits that the book is in the house, but the others don’t want to know where. The house becomes surrounded by vampires and police, who start evacuating the neighborhood. Michael tells his friends to hid behind the pantry, but they are distracted by all of the commotion. Oliver breaks the kitchen window and sends a human cop inside. As people start coming in, Michael throws them out. They go upstairs to find people there too. One of Monica’s friends from the dorm is scared off easily. Clair checks her room and then Eve’s. She finds Miranda there with a knife to Eve’s throat. Claire and Eve fight her off while she tells them her vampire boyfriend, Charles, said killing Eve would make the visions stop. Eve tries to slap her (in case a vampire was controlling her), but it doesn’t have any affect. The girls lock Miranda in the closet. Claire realizes that the sun is almost up and they are about to loose Michael. She runs to warn both boys. Michael disappears mid-sentence and the three remaining residence try to block the door. Shane uses Eve’s cell phone to leave his dad a voicemail asking for help. Claire and Eve head for the secret room, but are cut off by Monica, Gina, Jennifer, and their knives. She also introduces Claire to her brother, Richard, a cop with a gun aimed at her. Eve pretends to faint. Shane comes up and gives them the book inside the Bible. They leave and Jennifer wards them that Monica started a fire. Shane instructs them to wet down whatever they can to put out the flames eating away at Claire’s room.
Claire, Eve, and Shane are too exhausted to see if people are still outside. The doorbell rings and Amelie appears. She says she wants to talk to them and then heads for the secret room. They follow, knowing they don’t really have any other options. Amelie explains that the Glass house is one of her many residences in Morganville. She offers them protection in exchange for the book (Shane reveals that he only gave the cover to Richard). She explains that the book contains knowledge of how to create new vampires, which only she knows. They all agree and give her the book. She explains that they can’t leave Morganville because they know too much. The founder’s symbol is appears on a plaque on the front of the house.
Shane’s dad shows up looking to kill vampires to avenge his wife and daughter. Shane tries to tell him that things are different, but the biker-like man refuses to listen. When Michael approaches him, he is shocked. Shane’s dad thinks he is a vampire and raises a knife over his head. The residents protest, but he brings the knife down.