When they arrived at their first daytime shelter, about an hour before dawn, the five of them were all still remarkably quiet as Haven requested a double room, if such a thing existed at that particular inn. The room in question ended up being merely a large room, with two beds on opposite sides of a sliding curtain, obviously designed for a family with simply one or two young children. However, Haven’s reasons for wanting them close together were merely a matter of security, which was more than a top priority during those daylight hours.

Claire sat quietly on the bed that graced the right side of the room, while Haven and Sean moved to a small table near the door of the large room to check over their maps. Claire was still deadly silent as the men planned their route and Ana and Chantarell went about covering each of the windows with the darkest blankets that had been packed. Claire watched the two women somberly. She hadn't really spoken to either of them since the trip began, considering. And she'd never even spoken to Ana at all since she had only met her for the first time that night.

Claire couldn’t help staring at them as they went about securing their room for the day. She understood why now, but was still in a bit of shock at the fact that they both looked younger than she. Chantarell only looked half of Claire’s age, and Ana looked less than a decade older than her daughter. Though Claire also looked a bit younger than her actual thirty years of age, it was still a bit jarring when she knew for a fact that they were both older than herself.

“What are you staring at, dear?” Chantarell asked her in her usual blunt manner, causing Claire to quickly look down.

“Sorry,” was her only answer, as the two men briefly glanced at their interaction.

“Don’t be sorry. Just answer me,” Chantarell allowed a smile as she moved to the bed near Claire.

“You just, you both look so young,” Claire managed, knowing how unimportant a thought like that was on top of all of the other concerns screaming through her brain, but she honestly had no more strength to talk about any of those right now.

“Don’t worry dear. I’m pretty sure none of us will ever look a day older than we do now,” Ana added with her own smile towards the only friend her daughter had ever managed to make in thirty-one long years. That was Chantarell’s true age, despite all appearances.

“But how old are you two, for real?” Claire asked, still a little startled by how close Chantarell sat to her.

“I’m a year older than you, remember?” Chantarell teased.

“But, you?” she dared to ask Ana.

“I’m still only about twenty years older than I look. Forty-six maybe? I actually was quite young when I had Chan,” Ana offered quietly.

“I’m a hundred and fifty-two,” Haven added with his own smile, adding to their attempt at lightening both Claire’s and Sean’s moods.

Claire just shook her head, but couldn’t help letting some of those thoughts come to the surface after all, “And the dead girl?” she asked in a near whisper, causing them all to sigh a bit.

“She was seventeen, and dying already,” Ana reminded her once more, just to try and alleviate a bit of that guilt that Claire was feeling, as impossible as that would truly ever be to do at all.

“But you all must hate me,” Claire whispered, causing Sean to look down sadly once more. “She was your friend, part of your household, even.”

“And you have always been my best friend,” Chantarell reminded Claire firmly as she reached up to gently touch those long black locks. “And all of us know that you were not in control in any way when you hurt her. So stop, okay?” Chan told her with a soft comforting tone to her voice as she moved to place a tender kiss at the corner of Claire’s pretty mouth, which did cause Sean to tense a bit, though it was almost more out of interest than jealousy, he realized with surprise.

Claire looked up at Chan with a bit of shock herself. Though she did not pull away. She simply looked confused, as did Sean; unlike the other two members of the group who simply wore little grins.

“You don’t hate me?” Claire finally managed to ask Chantarell again.

“Not even close,” Chantarell assured her. There being an almost sultry tone to her voice as she startled Claire further by placing a hand gently upon her waist as the two women sat close atop the bed.

Sean’s eyes narrowed at this too, but he still made no move or verbal response. Then Haven interrupted as he stood to place a gentle arm around Ana’s waist before speaking, “We know how much you love us children of the night, Chan, but stop trying to fondle your sister-in-law and come to bed,” Haven scolded her playfully, which only caused further confusion on Sean’s and Claire’s faces. The other three smiled knowingly as Chan finally pushed herself up from the mattress next to Claire and moved to Haven’s side.

“I shouldn’t be going to sleep yet anyway,” Chantarell said as she moved to kiss his neck with a near purr. “There is only an hour till dawn,” she reminded him.

“Who said anything about sleep?” Haven told her with his own sultriness, as he guided the two women toward the bed in a less than subtle manner. Haven then gave the slightest smile to Sean and pulled the curtain across the room to separate the two halves however minimally.

Sean just shook his head as he quickly moved away from Haven’s side of the room where the other man finished closing the curtain and chuckled as he joined the two women upon his own bed. “Ok,” Sean swallowed the word before finally moving to Claire’s side once more.

“That was odd,” Claire said in her own soft voice as Sean sat next to her, beginning to remove his shoes.

“You should see them on Hallow's Eve” Sean mumbled.

“What?” she asked, caught.

“Nevermind,” he smirked, trying to ignore the giggles he heard from the other side of the curtained room. “But we do still have an hour,” he added as he finished removing the boots. “So what should we do?” he asked, trying not to put any innuendo into the question, which was difficult considering how much he did want her, and considering what was now going on barely ten feet away.

“Jeez, does everyone in your family want to sleep with me?” Claire couldn’t help responding, though not seeming totally offended by the idea, somehow.

“Ooh, can I answer that one, big brother?” Chantarell giggled as she peeked over the top of the curtain, only to be playfully pulled back into the bed by Haven’s strong arms.

Claire’s jaw dropped a bit at the girl's words. Sean couldn’t help looking down while almost wearing a smile, almost. “Considering I only really have one family member…” he let his voice trail off, with yet another shake of his head.

Claire shook her head at his response as well, before allowing her own, “Wasn’t that just a little weird, though?” she said, only lowering her voice slightly, figuring that by now the other three just might be too busy to be paying attention to their conversation, considering the noises now coming from the other side of the curtain.

“As opposed to all the other things about our lives that are so normal, now?” he asked pointedly.

“But she’s your… And she’s a….” Claire shook her head, not letting herself dwell on this line of conversation. “I think we’re all too tired to make sense right now,” she added in a slight mumble.

“You and I don’t really get tired anymore though. You’re probably just hungry,” he told her softly, hoping like hell that the statement didn’t bring back all those memories of the previous night, as impossible as it was for Claire to ever get that out of her head any time soon.

“Not like I was last night,” she assured bitterly, though with an obvious sadness to her tone as she too began removing her shoes.

“But if you don’t at least eat a little, you will get that hungry again,” he reminded her in his own worried whisper.

“And who exactly do you recommend that I bite? I’m not about to kill your sister, or her mother!” she told him, somehow hurt by the very fact that he was even suggesting that she did feed again.

“Claire, you can feed without killing. We all can,” he assured her, still trying to speak too quietly for the lovers to overhear.

“Maybe you can,” she said, her voice breaking a bit as she turned her eyes downwards.

“Haven fed on Chan tonight, and I took some from Ana. Do either of them appear to be dead? Or even hurt?” he asked her, trying to speak gently, but firmly.

“Well, apparently, you and Haven aren’t monsters,” she added as she pulled away, only to be pulled back to his side by his strong grip on her arm.

“You have to eat,” he repeated softly as he gently kissed her cheek. “I already fed. You can feed on me,” he told her in the same soft, concerned tone.

“What?” she asked, appalled. “You are the last person on the planet who I’d risk killing! God, Sean,” she shook her head vehemently.

“Claire, I’m strong enough to stop you if you start to take too much, remember? This actually probably is the best way for you to learn,” he added gently.

“Biting you?” she repeated, still more than wary of the idea, though his argument made sense.

“Yes. I can stop you before you do any real damage, and Haven’s here too. So there’s no way you don’t have someone to pull you back, this time,” he added the last bit softly.

“But won’t it hurt you?” she asked in her own whisper.

“Did it hurt when I bit you?” he reminded her, a bit of sultriness there as he remembered that that Kiss had been the furthest thing from painful, for either of them.

“Not exactly,” she admitted as she looked down at the memory of how incredibly pleasurable that bite had been.

“Then come here. Take what you need from me. After all, hasn’t it always been my job to give you everything you need?” he reminded her with a slight smile.

With a sigh of concession, nervous though it was, Claire steeled herself to move closer, and slowly began kissing his neck. The kisses only intensified when she felt him wrap her in his arms, pulling her down to the bed with him. As he pulled her tight against his body, she easily remembered all the passion this man had always inspired in her, and finally talked herself into doing as he asked. Sinking her fangs into his neck at last, their shared moans of pleasure at the feel of that Kiss nearly outweighed the sounds of the lovers who pleased each other in slightly different ways at the other side of that very room.

December was just beginning as they decided to make a stop to give the horses a break and allow Chantarell and Ana to get some dinner. They would then move onward to the New York border, where they hoped to find another inn. Though they still thankfully had about six more hours till dawn. They found a stretch of road surrounded by thick woods on both sides, and began a fire to heat Ana’s and Chantarell’s dinner.

Claire sat quietly off from the fire with Haven and Sean as the two men conversed about their impending arrival in New York. Once Ana and Chantarell finished cleaning up after the evening’s meal, Haven ceased the conversation and nodded for Sean to follow him over to where his two servants had just tucked their utensils and plates back into the carriage. Sean simply nodded and followed as the other two women turned to the men with smiles.

Claire watched as Haven easily moved to pull Chan against him, sinking his fangs into her neck as the girl let out a pleasurable moan, wrapping her arms around him for support during the ecstasy of that Kiss. Ana simply nodded to Sean with a smile as she took a step closer to him. After a moment, Sean moved towards her, also sinking his fangs deeply into her neck as she couldn’t help her own moan of pleasure and the way she too wrapped him in her arms for support. The scene caused a bit of a twinge in Claire, as seeing any woman wrap Sean in her arms would surely have done. Especially during a moment when he was giving this other woman such pleasure, despite the way he was doing so, and the reasons for it.

Haven’s feeding ended slightly before Sean’s as he gave Chan a moment to compose herself, before giving her a smile and moving off to feed the horses. When Haven moved away, Chantarell’s gaze turned toward where Claire sat silently, her own eyes glued to where Sean was just then finishing his feeding and holding Ana up a moment to allow her to recover as well. Chan’s eyes followed Claire’s as she sighed only slightly at the obvious discomfort Claire was in at seeing her husband giving another any kind of ecstasy.

“You could switch next time,” Chantarell’s voice broke into Claire’s thoughts as she approached her.

“What?” Claire asked. She startled at the other girl's voice, only then dragging her eyes from where Ana was finally recovering, as Chan took a seat next to her.

“Next time, you feed on one of us. Let Sean feed on you,” Chantarell stated simply as she moved her hand to cover Claire’s. “It’ll make it easier. Trust me,” she smiled at her sincerely.

“I know there’s no way to avoid the Kiss feeling so good, and I know we have to feed, but still,” she just shook her head as she looked down while Sean and Ana moved to join Haven by the horses.

“Would you rather the Kiss hurt?” Chan teased.

“It’s ok for it to feel good, but you know how good it does feel,” she paused, dropping her voice a bit. “It feels good the way sex feels good.”

“Yes, that it does, admittedly,” Chan couldn’t help her smile. “But it’s also something you each need to indulge in, with other people besides each other, just to survive at all now,” she reminded Claire of the facts that she already knew.

“It feels that good to Sean too, not just Ana,” Claire continued. “That’s why he doesn’t bite you. It would be like, incest or something,” Claire added with a shake of her head and a wrinkle of her nose.

Chantarell sighed, “That's probably true, I suppose.” She then looked over to see that that answer did not make Claire feel any better. “But I’m not related to you,” she told Claire with a bit of mischief as she moved closer to her once again.

“Chan…” Claire stammered a bit, really beginning to honestly wonder about this girl’s actions lately. Not that Chantarell had been all that normal before she found out the truth about her household.

“Come on, bite me. I know you’ve gotta be hungry too,” Chan prodded her gently.

“But it… You’re a…” Claire continued to stammer.

“What, you gonna spend eternity only biting men, then?” Chan chided her.

“Well, no, but…” Claire couldn’t really find the rest of that sentence.

“Give me the Kiss,” she whispered against Claire’s ear as she touched her hair once more, pressing that much closer. “You need it, and I want it,” she purred against Claire’s ear, knowing that her hunger would make it that much harder to resist the idea.

“But Haven, he just bit you. What if I take too much?”

“I trust you, especially with your sire and his sire only a few feet away,” Chan chuckled, then kissed Claire’s neck for several long moments. Claire tensed as she did, but she didn't move away. Chantarell finally ended the kisses, nipping at Claire’s neck ever so gently before turning her eyes back to the other woman’s. “Your turn,” she told her pointedly.

Feeling the heat of the girl’s body that close to hers, combined with the sound of Chan’s heartbeat, as well as Claire’s own hunger; she finally gave in, and sunk those fangs into the girl’s neck after all. And both of their moans fueled each other's hunger that much more.