Fall of Night The Morganville Vampires - By Rachel Caine Page 0,6

polka-dotted, lime green and purple. She wasn’t sure if they were too weird or not, but at least she wouldn’t lose them.

The party was short – fifteen minutes, and then Claire’s dad began to cheerfully remind people that she had a plane to catch. Her mom hugged her tight as the first of the visitors began to leave, and said, ‘It’s so good to see you, sweetie. Even just for this.’ She pushed Claire back to arm’s length and gave her the mom inspection, up and down. ‘You look a little thin, sweetie. Are you eating?’

‘Yes, Mom, I’m eating. Don’t worry. Once I get to Boston, it’s all the snacks and cafeteria food and pizza, so I’ll probably gain ten pounds the first week.’

‘Well, you could do with another ten pounds, anyway.’ She nervously brushed at Claire’s hair, rearranging it around her face. ‘Oh, dear, you could use a haircut too. Well. Promise me – do you think you’ve got everything you’ll need? Do you need sheets, or towels, or—’

‘I’ll be okay, Mom,’ Claire said, and caught her mother’s hands in her own. ‘I’ll be fine.’

Mom took a deep, convulsive breath and let it out before she nodded. ‘I know,’ she said. ‘You probably need clothes, though. You always do.’

It was an old refrain. Mom had her hair fixed nicely, and she had make-up on, and the sweater and pants she was wearing fit her well. Her mother had always had much more fashion sense than Claire possessed, and it had always been something Mom had seen as a social shortcoming. Claire didn’t. She figured when she was ready to care about those things, she would. But right now, the comfortable geek-girl tee, loose jacket and jeans were all she really needed.

‘I’ve got enough clothes,’ Claire said. Half of them had been given to her by Eve, who’d rolled her eyes at the destitute nature of Claire’s closet and donated things that were – by Eve’s standards, anyway – conservative enough.

‘And money? You’ve got enough money?’

‘Yes.’ She did. She’d gotten a salary from Morganville as Myrnin’s assistant, and she even had a credit card, one that Amelie had assured her would be accepted anywhere in the world. It was very shiny. ‘Honest, Mom, I’m fine.’

‘I know you are, you always are.’ Her mother sighed, and folded her in a suddenly fierce embrace that smelt of powder and perfume. ‘Are you looking forward to seeing Elizabeth again?’

Claire’s friend Elizabeth from high school had moved to Cambridge as well, though she was attending a different school from MIT. But honestly, beyond exchanging e-mails and phone calls, and the flurry of sudden plans in the past few days, she didn’t really know Elizabeth any more. Two years apart was a lifetime these days.

She still remembered the rush of excitement and consternation she’d felt opening the first e-mail. Your parents told me you were moving to town, Elizabeth had written. You CANNOT live in a dorm!!!! I’m renting a place. Share? PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE? That was Elizabeth, all right; she probably had been bouncing up and down, unable to stand still while she wrote the pleases. And there was no reason not to accept.

Except now, Claire felt a little sick to her stomach. Maybe I should have just stayed in the dorm. But she hadn’t had such good luck with that before at Texas Prairie University.

Mom noticed her silence. ‘Oh, sweetie. I hate you going so far away, but I’m so proud of what you’ve accomplished. I know it’s just the beginning of such great things for you.’

That was a very odd thought, suddenly. She’d done so much these past few years in Morganville that the idea there was more … well. It just seemed strange.

Like the thought that she was about to get on a plane and fly to Dallas, and then on another flight off to Boston. She’d been in Dallas only once before … with Michael and Eve. With Shane. And she remembered every second of that sweet, beautiful, wild weekend, where the two of them had just begun to discover each other in new and personal ways. It was … it was magical, in her memory.

Going back to Dallas without him seemed just the opposite of magical. It seemed like the ominous sign of a curse.

Dad helped her check her suitcases through to Boston, and she got through the nervous excitement of showing her ID for the tickets, and then it was – all of a sudden – time for