Just a little fascination I have, Claire/Amelie. Set after about a year-ish after the books. Claire would be about nineteen.
I had always been enchanted by Amelie, by her icy perfection. There was always something so…intoxicating, so mesmerizing. I couldn't help but be drawn to her like a moth to flame, drawn to her and that mind. That indefinitely old mind that held so many memories and so much wisdom was really the start of it all.
I recalled the very first time I had met her in the church when I had been running from Monica. She had frightened me that first time. It was the way she moved or, more accurately, the lack of movement. It was the way she sashayed around the room in dazzling, delicate steps, always keeping poise and grace and that threatening shell of ownership, of possession and that cold silence. She made it clear within seconds of meeting her that she was the all-powerful one and she alone could and would destroy at whim and will.
It scared me and I liked it.
I was drawn to that power from the time that she had exerted it upon me and I found myself always willing to bend to her demands. I was intoxicated by her mere presence and the sight of her threw my mind off balance and set my heart racing and caused me to make decisions that went against my morals. That power that she had contained inside her tainted my mind and left me breathless and ignorant and yet I seemed to impress her with my own wisdom and charms. Somehow she had acted as if I had had the same effect on her. It was like my own determination and views caused her great enjoyment for which she was surprisingly pleased with. It was all that kept me alive as I made bold claims and accusations and insulted her again and again. She put up with me because I made her monotonous life a little more intriguing and vampires, as a race, are always looking for more entertainment. I was a pet to her and yet I wasn't. For some reason she valued me and made that clear by the amount of passes she gave me at my continuous mistakes and mishaps. I would be long dead if it were not for her.
I believe that those ideals of her was a strong reason as to my affection in her; she kept me alive when I should have been dead and time after time saved me when she had made it quite obvious that she cared for no one. It was that attention that attracted me to her, that attention that led me to come when she called.
"Enter," came a lush voice, concealed by a closed door. Cautiously I pushed it open and lightly treaded into the decorative room. The walls were white, the carpet was white, the wood-working was white, the furniture was white, the linens were white, the picture frames were white and the woman sitting on the bed was so closely the same white as the rest of the room that I almost missed her.
I stopped, halfway into the room in shock. There sat Amelie on her very much white bed, dressed in a sheer nightgown with her hair falling about her in smooth, white waves. She smiled very slightly, her eyebrows lightly raised and her small, white hands were folded delicately in her lap. She looked rather startlingly pretty sitting there, almost like living crystal. I couldn't help but to stay frozen and stare.
"Claire," she said mildly, her voice almost in question. Her perfect icy eyebrow rose higher by a fraction of an inch. I still stood there blankly, still staring, my voice locked tight in my throat and my mind millions of miles away and not really helping with my current situation.
I was really only frozen in shock, not fear. I had, after all, been asked to see her in her bedroom which until today I hadn't even been sure existed and this was so un-Amelie. Almost too un-Amelie. I was scared, frightened, confused, startled and just about every other emotion related to those by her mere appearance. I could deal with mad-Amelie, I could deal with really-beyond-pissed-off-Amelie, with, dear God, I hope she can't read my mind right now or she would most definitely kill me, slightly-human-Amelie, I could deal with happy-Amelie and caring-Amelie and icy-Amelie and hell, I could even deal with that weird battle-Amelie when she went into kill mode, with bitchy-Amelie and randomly bi-polar-Amelie and with sick-Amelie and scary/deadly-Amelie. What I could not deal with was undressed-Amelie. As strange as some of her fashions might have been she was always presentable to the world. This was something that no one was supposed to see, a side of her or rather a view of her, that was very much private and very much confidential and I was very much sure that this was something that very few people had seen her as. It felt wrong, altogether too…intimate.
"Please Claire, don't be too alarmed by my appearance, I do sometimes sleep. Did you know that? No, of course you didn't," she said, shaking her head slightly, her lips pursed in her own amusement. "I find that sleep is a rather interesting experience and I enjoy its comforts when it suits me. I presume you have also used sleep as an escape, no?" I nodded my head to show that I had, thoroughly confused by her strange behavior.
After a few moments of my still standing awkwardly, half-in the doorway she seemed to realize that I wasn't coming into the room by my own accord anytime soon. She gracefully tilted her head to the side, staring back at me and motioned for me to come in. I did, slowly, and closed the door behind me, feeling trapped and listening to the sound of the door hitting the jam and thinking it sounded like the final sound of a lock clicking into place. I almost lost all my nerve and my senses and fled from the room, but Amelie was suddenly in front of me, lightly gripping my wrists in her cool hands.
"Come," she said, pulling me back with her, her voice soft and lilting. She pulled me over to a vanity and gently sat me down in a gilded chair and began to do the strangest thing-peacefully combing through my tangled hair with a gold brush. I stared at the mirror, at our reflection in it. That too frightened me, the way she was so careful and meticulous about her work, always being careful not to pull or tug too roughly. Amelie was never the temperate kind, she was always, well, she was always icy.
"What are you doing?" I stammered out, my voice trembling.
"Combing your hair," she said, smoothing, evenly. I was jealous.
"Yes, but why?" I asked, turning around in my chair and reaching out to stop her. She sighed and set the brush down and elegantly glided back over to the bed and sat down, not bothering to look at me or answer.
"Amelie," I said, trying to keep my voice low and steady like she had. She really was frightening me. When she finally looked up at me with those sad, timeless eyes, something cracked inside.
"I'm very sorry, Claire," she said in an almost whisper, so softly that I could barely discern her words.
"For-for what?" I asked, my hysteria rising. Dear God, please tell me that you did not kill Shane, oh God please, please, please don't have done that or I might never forgive you!
"For what I am about to tell you." I got up, attempting to get towards her, but she had already moved with her vampire speed and was pushing me back into my seat, a single pale finger against my parted lips.
"Easy child, the boy is fine," She said, correctly guessing my sudden concern. I visibly relaxed and after a moment's hesitation she moved back to her perch on the bed. "You are a clever girl, young Claire, brilliant, too brilliant for these times and your age. From the beginning I believe that is what has drawn me to you and continued to keep my interest in you peaked. You cured us vampires, you have saved us more times than I care to remember and you have put your own life on the line to instigate an informal relationship between humans and vampires that would be beneficial to both sides. You have succeeded where I have attempted to for almost two centuries and you and you alone have succeeded where I could not. I will not lie to you, Claire, I am jealous and that is very dangerous for you.
I swallowed nervously and waited for her to continue.
"I have made a decision, a decision that you will not like and that you cannot change. I vow to you that no matter how hard you beg and threaten and cry and no matter how much my heart breaks, I will not change my mind. Do you understand? Begging is futile and would only seek to belittle you and my opinion of you, which as of now is fairly high."
I nodded my head, my brain scrambling to make sense of what she was saying, thinking up the worst possible thoughts that could cross my mind and almost shaking in panic. I could only think of three possible things that I would so much hate and at the same time would only be pertaining to me as she did call me in here alone and if it was pertaining to the whole town she would have simply invited me to a council meeting to listen to her decisions. All three I dreaded to hear pour forth from her divine lips, but I sat there like a good-girl, squirming around in my seat and sweating bullets but still with a patient yet panicked atmosphere.
"I am going to make you a vampire."
I gasped in a startled breath, not surprised to find that I had been holding it and almost choked. I felt my eyes involuntary widen and my vision blurred with tears. Panic.
No, no, no, NO! This couldn't be happening. I had come so close before and had so very carefully avoided it that for it to now come to me was like a slap in the face. I didn't want this. This was hell.
I didn't realize that I had been sobbing quite so hard until Amelie slowly approached me and after a slight falter wrapped her steely cold arms around me in a hug that was meant to be comforting, but only felt distant and controlled.
"I don't want you to," I said, remembering her past words on not to beg and tried to control my haphazard cries.
"I know," she whispered, kneeling before me. The true concern in her eyes almost made the whole thing worse and it sent me into more shudders of desperate tears.
"I can't let you stay human, strong Claire. Your life is so precious to me and to yourself and it is always in danger. I would simply send you away, but I can't for my own selfish reasons. I find myself fascinated with you Claire, attracted to you, to everything you do. Every decision you make surprises me and I find delight in the simplest of thing you do. I need you, Claire, I need you and I love you."
I stopped crying and sat there motionless as she studied me, waiting with apprehension. I couldn't process what she had just said, said that she freaking loved me and so I just kind of sat there, for a good ten minutes or so. I don't think that I even blinked in that whole amount of time and I could tell that my behavior was scaring Amelie. I could tell that she had been prepared for a great range of emotions, but utter silence and total shut-down was not one of them. Staring into her grey eyes I could almost see that rising worry and distress that she had broken me, broken my mind and I was now gone.
"Claire."
It was a whisper.
I blinked.
"Claire?"
Softer now.
I blinked again.
"What?"
It was like that simple word awakened something deep within her and she leapt at me, eyes hazed in red. It was like watching her come towards me in slow motion. I could variably see each frame of a second during that mad leap, could see her beautiful and terrifyingly wild and uncontrolled face that was faceted with emotion for each and every moment in crystal clear perfection as it came towards me and I wasn't afraid. Not even for a slit second. In fact I was quite the opposite.
I couldn't wait until those frozen arms were once again encircling mine.
She hit me like a glacial wind and it knocked the air right out from lungs in a twisted gasp. I struggled for a moment, inhaling frigid air that burned though me like a reverse fire. My arms swept up and around her, holding tight against the silky soft nightgown as her own cool ones whipped around my body sliding up and down in frantic waves before finally settling with firm hands around my face.
Her lips pressed against mine, briefly, cautiously, for the most fleeting of seconds and it drove me wild. She pulled back, hands still grasped around my face and stared me in the eyes, questioning me as to whether this was okay, desperately hoping that I could return her emotions. I did.
Instead of using words which had caused me so much pain in life I simply leapt back at her, pressing against her whole body my lips centimeters away. I stayed like that, frozen, for a few seconds before smiling with joy and expectance about what was to come before closing the gap and returning my lips to their rightful place against hers.
My hands gripped around her waist, pulling her close, close, close as possible and I shoved her, rather roughly onto the ground before crawling onto her lap and grinding my hips into hers. I could feel every inch of her shake with laughter and I sat back for a moment, consumed in the sheer pleasure of it. She smiled at me and ran her hands down my back, pausing and then moving back up, enticing me to continue. I licked my lips, my eyes narrowing in excitement before diving back in to my frantic kissing.
The kiss was glorifying. It burned through me like a never-ending flame, heating me up to full inferno. I hummed with the force of it; the elasticity that bounced in me was exhilarating and new. It was pure pleasure that coursed through me, faster than light and sent pangs of an oncoming frenzy that threatened to plummet me into a blazing pit of ecstasy. There was madness in that kiss and longing and a passion that exploded into an all-consuming burst that made my heart pound and my blood race.
It was a frozen fire, that flame. Something new, something wonderful. It wasn't something to be experienced with anyone else, couldn't be really, and it was not something to be taken lightly. It was bliss.
She half pulled, half picked me up from her, dragging me backward towards the bed. Reaching the edge she leaned onto it, towing me with her until I was once again seated in her lap. The kissing continued with the same inconsistent opposition of fire and ice in the same manner of splendor.
This was wrong, so totally wrong.
Not wrong because she was a vampire, although that did sicken me a bit, and not wrong because she was a woman and that I also found slightly disturbing, but wrong because I loved Shane and this was cheating.
I jumped back from her, surprising her and myself and sat there for a moment on the ground, collapsed at her feet, afraid and sacred, and licked my lips, reveling in the taste of her. So wrong. She returned my gaze and looked at me with questioning eyes.
What's wrong? They whispered to me.
Everything. I whispered back.
"Amelie," I said my voice low and stead which I found to be curiously surprising. I was going to continue and say that this had to stop that even though I had most definitely kissed her back I didn't mean it and it needed to be forgotten. Forever. She cut me off before I could finish, shushing me with a cool finger to my lips. I had always thought that Amelie could read my mind to some extent and now I found that it came in handy as I didn't have to voice my opinion to her, she just…knew. It made things easy and helped to avoid a rather awkward conversation.
"This isn't wrong, little Claire," she responded, her voice as clear and sharp as a bell.
"Yes it is, Amelie and if you're trying to sleep with me perhaps you shouldn't call me little. It's a bit strange," I shot back, hoping that my voice was filled with venom. Somehow I doubted that I accurately portrayed my anger. Amelie laughed, giggled really, and maintained her never faltering gaze that was now lit with a dimming haze and an amused glint.
"Oh, young, little, innocent Claire, how your generation fascinates me! And you, always trying your hardest to do what you've been taught is the right thing, always trying to be moral! You humble me Claire with your fervor for righteousness. It's really too bad that you're very much wrong and misguided," she articulated, a smug expression snapping into place. My own anger snapped and I stood up, sending daggers with my eyes.
I couldn't talk to her, couldn't deal. She frightened me, frightened me a great deal more than I cared to admit and so I did the sensible thing to do when you find yourself afraid. Run. I ran across the room, aiming for the door, certain I knew where it was and was astonished to run full tilt into a door that was no longer there. Or there was a door, but a door with no handle, a useless door, a vampire door. It was the kind of door that locked victims into rooms with scary, hungry killers and I was suddenly worried that that was what I had been all along, food. That Amelie had really called me in here not, after all, to bring me news or use me for other means, means I wasn't going to acknowledge at this point, but to eat.
"Let me out!" I screamed in panic and frustration. It just wasn't fair that I was always the one being tricked into locked rooms and chased down and trapped. I was fairly certain that no one managed to get themselves into as much trouble as I got myself into on a regular basis. At this point I was really ready just to give up, but no, that just wasn't the person I was.
I spun around quickly, not even slightly shocked to see that she was right in front of me. Vampires kind of always did that thing, moving in one-hundred percent silence and suddenly being right next to you, but even as I was used to it, it didn't stop the fear from that closeness. I could feel my heart practically jumping out of my chest and my breathing was accelerated and jagged.
"Where are you going, little one?" She was close now, too close and both her pale arms were securely placed on either side of me, preventing escape. Her eyes were calm yet there was a hidden storm beneath them that warned me to tread very, very carefully.
"Please, Amelie, please let me go," I begged. The look in her eyes was mad and I had a sudden moment of déjà vu where she reminded me so acutely of the insane Myrnin that I almost asked her to take her meds. She cocked her head to the side and raised one frosted eyebrow.
"Why would I do that?" she asked, almost looking genuinely confused.
"Because you care about me and value my life. You need me, Amelie, please!" She then laughed, but it sounded off, sounded fake like it was forced.
"It's not in your best interest to tell me what I need, young one, but I am confused for I mean you no harm. A kiss is not my warning of violence. You need not worry."
"Wh-wh-what?" I stuttered out, confused now myself. I had been so sure that she wanted me for a snack. She shook her head at me and removed her arms from their claustrophobic circle.
"I said that I loved you, Claire. I don't toss those words around or lie about them. I wouldn't, couldn't kill you." She paused, eyes taking on a sad frame. "If you want to leave you may, I won't stop you, but I really wish you wouldn't."
She was so honest, so open. My compassionate side spilled out without my consent and I abruptly felt sorry that I had acted so brashly. I should apologize.
"Amelie, I'm sorry, sorry for running away, but I can't do this. It's wrong. I love Shane and I can't just desert him when thing become difficult and a better offer comes along," I stated, suddenly realizing my mistake. Had I really just said that she was a better offer? God, where was my mind? Oh yeah, with her. She smiled, I frowned. "Amelie you're making this really hard on me."
"So you admit to having feelings for me, Claire?" she inquired, her eyes examining me with an intimate gaze. I suddenly realized how thin her white nightgown was, how thin and how see-through. I found myself staring at her chest, at the mounds of flesh there and as soon as I caught myself I snapped my gaze back up to her eyes, but it was too late, she had already seen. "Tell me you love me."
I stared into her eyes for a long spell, entranced by the depth of them and waited for the answer to come.
It wasn't the answer that I expected to hear, but the one that I found out that I most and secretly wanted.
"I love you," I whispered, my voice barely audible, but I knew she could hear me. It was true, I did love her. I loved her and I had absolutely no reason why, except that I did and that was really all that mattered at that moment.
Her face transformed from one of practiced calm into a startling beautiful canvass of joy. I loved it! I loved her!
We were instantly back at it, her once again pulling me onto the bed, no hesitation this time. Clothes were ripped away with ease on her part and a fumbling mess on mine that made her laugh even more. I really liked it when she laughed. It made her more human, more real, less of an ice-queen.
Fingers flying and hands roaming we were sent into an abyss of dizzying ardor, a place of rapture and zeal with a supporting vehemence that left my mind reeling and my body thrumming. She was dazzling, a total blur of fast and frenzied heat that filled me up and banished cold, unfeeling thoughts. Never had I experienced such an intensity. I was content.
And then when she pushed me into climax I screamed loud enough for the whole town to hear and shuddered in wave after wave of never-ending euphoria and as she screamed my name I found an even better satisfaction.
We lay there, on the bed, after all the movement so still with the now crumpled and sweaty sheets, curled into each other, attempting to be as close as possible and all was well. I was in a perfect place, still heated from former passion and cooled from her dead embrace and I found that perfect place was the perfect place to think. Thoughts aren't always good.
I was worried, worried that this was one-time thing, that in the morning I would go home and I would continue to hate vampires and we would continue on in that restless battle we had always been in. That I would have to pretend that this never happened.
She felt me tense against her and immediately sat up, stroking my forehead and murmuring questions as to what was wrong and if I was having sudden regrets. A pang of fear enveloped me in a blindingly fast cloud and I gripped her arm, staring at her eyes and begging her to never let me go. I couldn't ever get over this, it was something too much, too much that I didn't understand yet and I was bound and determined to figure my new and abrupt attraction out.
"Do you love me, Amelie?" I asked, fear quaking my voice.
"What a silly question, Claire! I told you that I did and I told you I wouldn't lie. What brings this?" she asked, genuine concern clouding over her face.
"Yes, but do you love me forever?" I asked. She understood my fear then, understood that it wasn't really about love or commitment; it was rather about whether she would choose to act on that love. She could very well love me from a distance and that was not what I wanted at all.
"I promise. Here," she said and bit delicately into her wrist, drawing blood. I watched, disturbed and fascinated by what she was doing, even a little bit scared by it, but I kept my mouth shut and just watched the blood slowly ooze and swell.
She dipped her finger into the forming pool on her arm and reached out for my left hand, pulling it towards her, palm down. She slowly and meticulously drew her Founder's symbol onto my hand and repeated her earlier words. "I promise."
The blood absorbed into my skin, disappearing within seconds and leaving no trace. I was confused to say the least and alarmed to say the most.
"What-?" I started, but she cut me off.
"A blood oath. It makes the pack sacrament and now my vow cannot be broken until your death," she explained, setting my hand back into my lap and wiping the blood from her wrist and fingertip.
"Amelie?" I asked, an epiphany hitting me.
"Yes, love?"
"I want you to make me a vampire," I said slowly, my gaze slipping to the floor. I felt her attention snap back onto me and away from her now healed wound.
"Claire-"
"I'm sure," I said, softly now, but with determination. I could feel her gaze intensify and blaze straight into me. She reached out and cupped my chin with her cool, dead fingers.
"Look at me," she commanded and I did. The fear, the hesitation, all my doubts vanished in a single second as I looked into those grey eyes. Vampire magic or not I was truly hers now and I was hers for the taking.
I wanted to close my eyes as her stormy ones turned a violent red and as her head tilted back, mouth agape and glistening, pearl white fangs sliding slowly into place, but she held my gaze and refused to let me close them.
She moved slowly, gracefully, accurately with a predator's grace that was beautiful and terrible to watch, slinking closer and closer to my exposed neck. Finally as cold lips brushed against me she allowed me to close my eyes and I did, squeezing them tight as those deadly teeth slid easily into my skin.
I screamed with the pleasure of it and embraced a new world.
Hope that you all enjoyed! Don't forget to review! Please don't fav/alert/read without commenting, thanks! I'll write any oneshot about anyone for the 10th reviewer!
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Evey Claire