Amelie sighed and picked up the phone. She dialled Myrnin's number. He answered on the second ring.
"Hello Amelie. And what do I owe the pleasure of your call at this time of night?"
"Myrnin, I think it's time we had a talk. Come to my office. Now." Myrnin was silence on the end of the line. And then he asked,
"And what is this talk about, may I ask?"
"Why don't you just come down, and we'll talk about it then." Amelie hung up. If he had any sense, he would come. She wasn't in a forgiving mood, at that precise moment. She was appalled at Myrnin's behavour and they had been right. He had to be punished. Amelie was considering her options, when she felt the portal in the room open. She looked down at one of the books she had laid open on the desk. Myrnin walked through the portal, closed it and came to stand in front of Amelie.
"You wanted to talk?" He asked, a smile on his face. Amelie looked up at him and said,
"Sit down, Myrnin." He looked confused but did as he was told. "Now, I know you know why I have called you heard, so you can stop pretending. It's about Claire." Myrnin's face dropped and he suddenly looked guilty.
"She came to speak to you?" He made it a question, even though he knew the answer. He was just hoping that it hadn't happen. Amelie shattered all his hope when she said,
"Yes, she came to speak to me. Along with her friends. It seems you have made some enemies, Myrnin." She looked up at him. He was staring at the table with a glare she didn't think it deserved. He didn't say anything to her. The silence stretched on. Finally, Amelie broke it by saying, "So is it true? Did you attack her?" Myrnin's head shot up when he heard this and a look of confusion crossed his face.
"Attacked?"
"Yes, attacked."
"They are accusing me of attacking her?" Amelie was getting tired of his feeble attempts to side-track her.
"Yes, that is what they accused you of. They told me that you kissed her and held her arms down to stop her from escaping, so tell me Myrnin, is it true?" The note of command in her voice was obvious. Myrnin looked at her for so long she thought he wasn't going to answer. And then finally he said,
"Yes it's true. It did kiss her and I did hold her arms down. But I don't agree that I attacked her. I would never do that. I would say I restrained her, that's all."
"Well I agree with them. I believe you attacked her, and deep down, you know it's true. And what I must ask is why? Why you would be possessed to do such a thing? What was going through you head, please tell me?" Myrnin was staring at her in shock, like he'd never seen her like this before, which wasn't true, because he'd definately seen her like this before, although it had never been aimed at him before. Until now.
"I don't know." Was all he said. He refused to meet her eyes. "I don't know why I did it. Something inside of me made me do it. I couldn't control myself. I knew she was fighting me, but I couldn't stop. I did grab her arms, but I don't know I was holding that tight. I forgot that I'm stronger than her."
"Yes you did, didn't you?" Amelie was furious. She had refused to let her emotions show when Claire and her friends were here, but now that it was just Myrnin, she let them go. They boiled out of her and she couldn't stop them. " You didn't think did you? Not for one second, you didn't think. Not about the consequences, not about what you were doing, not about anything! And now look what you've done. She has bruises on her arms, Myrnin. That's how little you thought."
"Bruises?" Myrnin asked, shock all over his face. "She has bruises?"
"Yes, she has bruises. And they are your fault." Amelie stopped to take a breath. "I knew this would happen. I warned you. I warned Oliver. But you told me it wouldn't happen. That there was no way you would ever develop feelings for her, for any human. And here you are, attacking one, against her own free will. You know, Oliver even said that he suspected it would happen, and that I should be careful, and you know what. I didn't listen! And now I wish I had. Then we would have never been in this mess. So what do you suppose we do now then?" Myrnin continued to look down, avoiding her stare.
"I don't know, Amelie. I don't know what to say."
"You could start by apologizing."
"I'm sorry-"
"No, not to me. To Claire. After all, she's the one you hurt. She's the one you kissed." She spat the last word. It was all she could do to show her disgust at him. "You know how important Claire is to me. To Morganville. And now look at what you've done. You've ruined everything. Why don't you think sometimes?"
"I do think." Myrnin stood up and shouted in Amelie's face.
"Well clearly not enough!" Amelie roared. "You are banned from seeing her, until I decide it is appropriate. Is that clear?"
"But Amelie..." Myrnin started to protest.
"Is that clear?" Amelie interupted him, fury evident in her voice. She was beyond listening to his protests and complaints. She'd had enough.
"Yes, Amelie."
"Yes, Founder." Amelie corrected him. Myrnin looked at Amelie in shock. She had never made him call her that before. Now that he thought about it, they'd never fallen out either. Defeated, Myrnin said,
"Yes, Founder."
"Now, you will start by going to Claire and apologizing for you dispicable behaviour, and then you will return to your lab," She put a whole lot of sarcasm onto the word. "and will stay there until further notice. Is that clear?" Myrnin nodded, too shocked to even begin to protest. "Oh and Myrnin, I will be monitoring your every move, so don't think you can do something behind my back. I will know if you even put a toe out of line. Now, you have been warned. If I hear of you having anymore contact with Claire, or anyone else from that house, I will..." Myrnin refused to listen to what she would do. It would, no doubt be ghastly. He had never seen this side to Amelie, or at least, he'd never seen it aimed at him. Now he knew what it was like to be on the blunt end of justice. And now he knew that he never wanted to be there again.
Back at the Glass house, nobody knew what to say. They knew that vampires were rarely punished in Morganville, and the thought made Claire stomach turn. So he could get away with it and nothing would be done. She hoped that Amelie would stick to her word and punish Myrnin severly. After all, he did deserve it. The idea of him roaming around freely, after what he'd done to her, made her want to throw up. Suddenly, she felt a psyhcic wave sweep through the house. The portal. It was being opened. She looked at Michael and they both had identical expressions of confusion and horror. Seconds later, a large, black space opened up in the far wall, behind the sofa. To Claire's utter horror, Myrnin stepped through. She backed away from the couch, and most importantly, from him.
"Wait, Claire. Before you jump to any conclusions, I'm here to apologize-" In the next moment, Michael had zipped across the room, vampire-speed, and had Myrnin up against the wall, next to the open portal. "Wait, Michael, wait. I'm not here to fight. Amelie sent me here to apologize." At the mention of Amelie, Michael slowly started to back off.
"Mickey, what are you doing?" Shane was looking at him in horror.
"He said Amelie sent him here to apologize. Maybe we should let him."
"You can't trust him."
"I know, but when he's done, he can get out of our house." Michael looked at Shane for a second, and then returned his gaze to Myrnin. "He owes Claire that much, at least." Myrnin continued to stare at Claire, but she refused to look at him.
"Claire, please look at me." Myrnin pleaded with her, but she wasn't listening.
"She can do what she bloody well wants to." Shane said standing in front of Claire, protectively. He was slowly starting to move towards Myrnin. Whether that was subconsciously or not, Claire couldn't tell. "Now, get on with it." Myrnin looked at Shane briefly, and then nodded. He returned his gaze to Claire, and continued.
"I came to say... I'm sorry, Claire. I'm sorry for what I did to you. If you could find it in your heart to forgive me, I would be extremely grateful-" Shane punched Myrnin in the face, hard. He collapsed to the floor. Shane shook out his knuckles.
"You've said what you needed to. Now get the hell out of our house." Shane's voice was hard and blunt. He glared at Myrnin, clearly ready to punch him again, if he saw fit to. Myrnin got up off the floor. Claire could see that his nose was broken. It was crooked and blood dripped out of it and ran down Myrnin's chin. He pulled the cartalige back into place with a soft crack. The blood slowly stopped dripping and Myrnin wiped the excess off with the back of his hands. He stared at Shane and his eyes flashes red. He took one last, torchered look at Claire and then backed slowly into the open portal behind him. The minute he was gone, Claire closed the portal with her mind and asked the house to seal it off. A second later, another pyshcic wave swept through the house and it sealed its self over the portal. An invisible lock, better than anything Claire could ever do. No-one was getting in now. Eve, like Claire hadn't moved throughout the confrontation, now collapsed on the sofa. She looked as exhausted as Claire felt. After a few seconds, Michael walked over to her. Their eyes met and finally Eve said,
"Right. I'm going to bed. I've had enough trauma for one night." She started to walk up the stairs, but Michael caught up with her. Holding hands, they continued up the stairs.
"Night." Michael called over his shoulder, a grin spreading across his face. Shane rolled his eyes at Claire and she laughed. It felt so good to laugh, after the shit day she'd had. She smiled and walked towards her. He lifted his hand and stroked her cheek. She noticed that his hand was red. She held onto it and delicately rubbed his knuckles.
"Are you ok?" She asked him, worry spreading across her face. "Does it hurt?"
"Only a few bruises, nothing I can't handle. It was worth it to break that bastard's nose." He grinned to himself and then focused back on her. She smiled at him.
"Thank you, by the way."
"For what?"
"For going all macho-man on him and punching him." Claire smiled at the memory. Although it wasn't very nice to watch, she was glad he'd done it. Myrnin deserved it.
"Your welcome. He deserved it." Claire nodded in agreement. "He hurt you. And I wasn't letting him get away with that. Not ever." Claire smiled at him and a few seconds later he returned it. He put his arms around her and pulled her close. "So... What do you want to do now?" Claire grinned at him and pecked him lightly on the lips.
"I have an idea." Claire said and leaned forward to kiss him. It was a hot passionate kiss, and it sent butterflies flying around her stomach. Yes, she had one thing in mind and she hoped Shane felt the same way. As if he could read her mind, Shane lent forward and planted a warm, sweet kiss on her lips. She turned around and dashed up the stairs, full of excitement, with Shane in hot pursuit.