Thank you so much for the lovely reviews! They've been really great… more please!
I forgot to say this before: I don't own Morganville Vampires!
Thank you again to FireFrenzy596 for getting me to begin this story!
Chapter 2:
Recap of end of last chapter:
"Then where shall you live?" Myrnin's voice interrupts my staring at Oliver. I look away but I feel Oliver's eyes linger on me for a fraction of a second longer before looking away.
"I shall live with Oliver," I say slowly.
"WHAT?" Myrnin squeals. I knew he would take it like this!
Amelie's POV:
I knew Myrnin wouldn't be able to accept the fact that I am abandoning him to go and live with his enemy (although I haven't a clue why he hates him so) even though he doesn't really have a say in the matter. I mean, we are friends not lovers – he doesn't have a say in what I do. The meaning of the word 'friend' is, in my opinion, someone who helps and is close to you – you get on well – but although they give their opinion, they don't get hurt or overreact to your actions. It appears Myrnin is breaking all of these conditions here already!
"Myrnin, it is somewhere I will be living," I say quietly, turning back to face him. He looks rather shocked and hurt, hurt that I don't want to be living with him. "I have lived with you for over five hundred years, Myrnin; I believe that I deserve a short break. Especially given what I have had to put up with during that time," I continue and he grimaces slightly before looking bemused.
"What have you had to put up with for all that time?" he asks and I almost snort, before realising how unladylike such an action is.
"All those women you brought home whilst I was in the house," I begin and he already looks sheepish, as he ought to. My hearing has never been the same – I tried to block it out so much, yet it didn't work… those hours where the most uncomfortable ones I can ever remember. "The trouble you constantly got into with the local authorities, going against the beliefs of the church even though I expressly told you not to. The continual struggle I faced trying to get you to dress appropriately, to put away your absolute rubbish, to stop you killing irregularly and conspicuously. I could go on – would you like me to?" I ask, fury beginning to seep into my tone as I remember the reams of things Myrnin has done to me to infuriate me.
Myrnin looks sheepish but doesn't press the point – instead, Oliver laughs long and hard at him.
"Why are you such an idiot, Myrnin?" he asks, which sort of reduces the work I have done in the last few minutes to diffuse the situation between them to cinders.
"At least I'm not a bamboozling idiotic retard like yourself who needs to have the approval of everyone you could possibly think of before acting, just so that you can then blame them if it goes wrong," Myrnin retorts with a good hint of sourness to his tone. Ahh, he has learnt from me well… before, he was all happiness and light but I managed to teach him how to be bitter, cold and emotionless. Unfortunately, he seems to forget the last one when Oliver is around and always gets entirely heated in the midst of pointless arguments between the two of them.
"Anyway," I say, as I did earlier, making sure that Oliver doesn't retaliate. He has stood up, so I stand sideways as to place a restraining hand on both of their chests (Myrnin also stood up and began to move towards Oliver) so that they don't begin to fight again. They are always fighting – I refuse to let them fight in my home, so they are thrown out into the nearest field so that they can fight. I really don't care about them fighting, yet I would prefer them to not fight… it isn't nice. They are both my friends and I believe that, for me, they ought to get along or not talk. They should both be mature enough to refrain from fighting and opposing one another at every point, yet this appears to be impossible for them. They ought to, at just over five hundred and one hundred years respectively, have the maturity to do this but evidently not. Evidently, I am still needed to get in the middle of them and sort them out… this isn't exactly something I want to be doing, yet it is necessary.
"Anyway what?" Myrnin says, slightly sourly. I take it he is still sore about my leaving him alone and moving in with Oliver.
"When do you believe that we should leave?" I ask their opinion for the first time ever, and they both look shocked at this. There is always a time to change what I do and this could be the chance to do so. There is also the fact that last time I almost messed up fatally as I chose to leave near the summer solstice, so I had to compel many humans who saw us (Oliver especially, I was absolutely fine and Myrnin barely burned) to forgetting what we are – we have stayed here for almost five years and I fear that if we remain here much longer, there is more of a chance that they will remember what I made them forget all those years ago. With that knowledge, we would be chased with pitchforks and I would be extremely worried for myself, and thus Myrnin and Oliver.
"I think the sooner the better," Oliver says, surprising me. I would have expected him to try and draw it out as long as possible so that it would be even longer before I moved in with him. After all, he is going to have to pretend to be my husband in social occasions – I doubt he particularly wants to be doing that! We may be 'friends' – however, he doesn't appear to enjoy spending lots of time with me and also, he always appears to want to be in charge. He hasn't exactly been able to do anything to try and take over but I know if I let my guard down in the future, when he is stronger and older, he will try out his luck on me… I will never succumb to him; his allegiance remains to be sworn to me and as long as that is in existence he will not try an ill advised take over plan!
"I think in about a month," Myrnin counter argues. "We have to sell these houses and buy new ones in London – as I no longer have the pickiest woman in the world living with me, I need to spend some more time thinking about the neighbourhood I wish to live in and the size of house I want," he says – I am not the pickiest woman in the world! Simply because I wish to have enough rooms in the house that means that I do not have to come across him when he irritates me, does not mean that I am 'picky'! Also, just because I do not wish to live in the rough side of town, close to the brothels Myrnin so favours, does not mean further mean that I am 'picky'… it simply means that I have standards and do not wish to have to see the horrific building where Myrnin deigns to spend most of his spare time!
"Would you be quiet?" I ask him sharply, fangs sinking down in an automatic response to the anger that is caused from what Myrnin said.
"Yes, I agree, be quiet!" Oliver snaps at Myrnin and, for once, I do not reprimand him for this. He is simply backing me up. Perhaps he will be better to live with than with Myrnin – he doesn't appear to have an interest in science, so I will not be awoken from my sleep every night to pointless bangs and pops which create nothing of interest! I cannot decide upon this until I actually HAVE lived with both of them – perhaps my opinion of Myrnin will dramatically increase again after years with Oliver… still, I cannot say anything as of yet.
How…quaint. That is the only word I can use to even begin to explain how I feel about myself right now. I mean, there is something inside of me that I cannot explain, something that seems to increase dramatically as I see Oliver. When he is in my presence, I cannot help but notice that this strange feeling is at its utmost strength… yet I cannot identify it. It is something that I have never experienced before. I don't feel as if this could be put into any type of context as to what I have experienced in my life. How can I put this? Well, there have been so many emotions that I can honestly say I have never felt so I cannot even narrow down the field, even a little. How awful is that for someone who likes to be in control? The only thing I can hope for is that during these next few years of my living with Oliver, the emotions will reveal their identity to me so that this agony they cause me for not knowing will cease to exist. Yes, agony is one of the few emotions I have fully felt… how I wish I could change this.
"I agree with Oliver," I say slowly as I move back to the plush chair I have behind my desk. As I return to my seat, the two men do also and breathe deeply, although they have no need to. Myrnin's face looks even more hurt now than it did before; his immaturity levels seem to be on the increase with age, rather than decrease! "I believe that I can have found us new accommodation and have sold this present housing in time for the end of the month – nine days time. Is this acceptable to you both?" I ask.
"Not that you were going to give us a choice anyway," Myrnin mutters darkly – just because I didn't agree with him doesn't mean that he can go all moody and angry towards me. There are two reasons for why I agreed with Oliver, one practical and one more superficial. The first, practical, reason is that as soon as possible is the best course of action: I have been receiving many odd looks from the fellow residents of this town for many a reason. One is that I do not to appear to have aged (which I quite obviously haven't) and that is peculiar. The other reason is that I haven't had children. Oh, you do not know how much I wish I could have children – it is the one thing about my current way of being that I entirely regret… yet it is impossible! However, if I have been married to my 'husband' for five years, it would have been expected to have had a child almost instantly. Yet no such child has been produced (for quite obvious reasons… I am sure I haven't a need to explain such obvious reasoning) and people must be growing suspicious. The witch trials are still in action across the country and I fear that soon I will be brought before a witch court (although I would run and escape) and be accused of being a witch as I am unable to bear a child. These are the primary reasons for why we must leave promptly: there are others, of course, but they aren't as important.
"Myrnin if you cannot say anything nice, please do not speak whatsoever," I say, my voice sounding like the poles the king impales the heads of traitors onto. It irritates me so that people believe that they can speak to me, one of the most important vampires in the world that isn't evil, in such a tone… he may be my closest friend, yet that doesn't mean that he ought to be able to speak like this to me!
"I agree with the time span, Amelie," Oliver says, and I smile at him. The feeling suddenly increases in strength, leaving me furious with myself that I cannot identify it! I have changed my mind – if it takes me five years to name it, I will have probably committed to a mental asylum! Perhaps such close proximity to Oliver every day will bring about a faster discovery… I cannot say. But I know that the length of time we shall spend together will be so much more than it is now: every moment of the day we shall be inside the same house, and he probably won't leave at night – after all, he has to be much more careful with his selection of women than Myrnin now, because he is technically 'married' to me. Myrnin always managed to keep his identity a secret to his prostitutes (mainly down to his stronger powers of compulsion, something that Oliver doesn't have) yet I do not believe that Oliver will have the same ability. If he wishes to… ah, satisfy himself (something I do not see the need for whatsoever, yet men will be men) he shall have to find a brothel on the far side of London. That shouldn't be too hard, given the size of London and the amount of women who deign to specialise in this unsanitary realm of life in the capital. It is just so seedy!
"Very well then," I say with a small smile at him. "I shall be making my way to London tomorrow night, at dusk. Would you like to assist in selecting a house to live in or shall I make the decisions?" I ask, although I already know the answer. There isn't a chance that Oliver would not come and try and throw his power around here – he will be coming. However, I cannot say that I mind. He has more… civilised tastes than Myrnin does. We are more on the same wavelength in terms of fashion, décor and where we want to live. The only thing I am not going to enjoy is going to be having to continue to hear about these women!
"Yes, I shall come with you," he says in his normal tone of voice and this makes me feel happy – at least I cannot be blamed for choosing the wrong house!
"Very well," I say coolly, in my usual tone of voice. "Be here for dusk tomorrow, or I leave without you. You may go," I order and Oliver nods, standing. He bows his head before moving as fast as he can (trying to show off… unfortunately it doesn't work) to the door. Myrnin remains seated and looks at me in confusion.
"You're making a mistake, you know," he murmurs before standing himself. As he turns to walk towards the door, I feel something inside of me break. He is my best friend and I cannot have him thinking I am in the wrong… I like him to approve of me!
He walks out of the door and I remain in my seat. All I can think of is Oliver. What is wrong with me?
So, what did you think? I had almost 20 different readers for the last chapter, but only 4 reviews. I would love it if everyone who read, please reviewed (even if it is to say how much you hate it… because it's good to know how my writing is received)
Also, do you think I should have any of this story written in Oliver's POV, or should it remain exclusively Amelie's?
Vicky xx