Amelie's P.O.V

"Have your guards found the wandering girl yet?" Oliver asked, coming into my office at Founder's Square.

"No, but they followed a scent to a house with decomposed bodies." I replied without looking up and suppressed a shiver. The guards had described what the bodies looked like, which was more information than I needed to know.

"Bodies? Where was this?" Oliver asked. I looked up at him then, with a frown on his face.

"In one of the abandoned houses on the edge of town. They think Claire is trying to find her own house to stay in."

"She has moved from that house then? At least you doing have to worry that Claire is living with dead people." Oliver chuckled.

"Yes, that's reassuring. What are you doing here?" I was in the middle of looking through a folder for Claire's paperwork. She had signed on with me as Protector and handed in her sheet, for when she was at the University. I didn't know what I was looking for, I just needed something to do. I had been feeling distracted lately.

"I came to see how you are doing." Oliver replied. "What are you looking for?"

"Claire's paperwork." I went back to looking, but I found nothing and closed it. "I thought it might tell me something about her."

"You know everything about her." Oliver said. The next time I looked up, Oliver was in front of me, with only the desk separating us. "I've noticed you've been distracted lately. Are you thinking about her?"

"No, I've just got a lot on my mind." I said and picked up the folder and put it away. Oliver grabbed my arm and took it from me.

"Come back to my place."

"Excuse me?" I pulled my arm out of his grip, but he grabbed my arm again.

"Come around my place. I can help you... To clear your mind." Oliver said, which probably sounded better in his head.

"No, I'm going to my house. Do not come by, I need time to myself." I pulled out my arm again and collected my bag and went out. I walked downstairs and outside, where the driver was waiting and opened the door for me.

Before the door closed, Oliver got in. "You need company right now. So if you won't come to mine, I will come to yours."

I considered telling him to get out. But like so many people I had met, he wouldn't stop until he got what he wanted. "You can come, but your not coming upstairs."

"We could always do it downstairs." Oliver chuckled, then hissed. I had broke some of his fingers. I felt no need to tell him of his inappropriate thoughts. "Fine. No going upstairs."

"This must be hard for you. Being nice when not around humans." I said. The door closed the car drove off.

"I'm always nice." Oliver replied. "To you, anyway."

"On a few occasions." I shrugged slightly. It didn't take long to arrive at my house, mostly because the house was quite close to Founder's Square.

The guard opened the door and I got out, headed inside and up the stairs to my room. Oliver would follow me, but maybe I could have a few seconds alone.

I closed the door and sat on the bed. My thoughts turned to Claire and I wondered how she was doing. I had thought about the way I had ended it with her and now I thought it was a little harsh. But back then, I just wanted her out and had no feelings for her anymore.

Now, I felt something, but I didn't know what it was. I hoped I wasn't feeling anything for Claire, she wouldn't take me back. Also I didn't want to have to worry about where she was all the time. I sighed and lay back on the bed.

I opened my eyes and felt disoriented. Had I fallen asleep? It was nearly impossible for me to do that, unless I willing went to sleep. I sat up and went out of the bedroom and downstairs. It was surprising that Oliver hadn't come up yet.

When I walked into the living room I found out why; he wasn't here. Usually, I wouldn't mind but I couldn't hear the servants heartbeat or anyone moving around the house.

Also it seemed too quiet. I felt a breeze behind me and turned. A woman with long dark hair and blue eyes stood there. She looks familiar but I couldn't place her.

"Hello."

"Hi."

"Where am I?" I asked, looking around.

"Where you were. Your dreaming." She said. I looked back at her, puzzled.

"Dreaming? I didn't go to sleep though. Besides I don't dream." I walked over to the desk, only for it and everything else to disappear and a strange house took its place. "What's happening? What are you doing?"

"Relax. Dreams don't stay in one place too long. Look around." She said, then walked through a wall. That would be disconcerting, if I had not been dreaming. I sighed and went up the stairs, hoping they wouldn't disappear.

I got to the top and pushed open a door and saw Claire. "Claire?" I said, before I could stop. But there was no need to be worried, she couldn't hear me.

I walked closer then a little girl came out of the wall, beside me. She looked familiar also but I could remember her name this time. "Hello, Eva."

"Hello. She can't see you, by the way." She said.

"I know. What are you doing here? I thought I was dreaming...?" The last time I saw Eva was many, many years ago. She was with her family and I had to leave, to prevent the villagers from noticing I hadn't aged in 10 years.

"Mom says we're ghosts. But she can make other people dream to talk to them, but we can't talk to her." Eva pointed to Claire.

"How... did you become ghosts?" I felt near overwhelming sadness to hear that Eva is dead. She had been such a sweet child and even after she found out what I was, she still wanted to be my friend. She gave lots of little handmade dolls, which I still have.

"I don't remember. I was sleeping one night and then the next moment, I woke in this white room..." Eva hugged her teddy bear. "I was scared, because I couldn't find mommy or dad, but mom found me."

"I'm very sorry you had to go through that." I said. The room changed again, this time to my house. I was in the living room with Claire and this was when Oliver had visited. "What's happening now?"

"I want to talk to you about your friend." The woman came in and now I remember her.

"Melissa. Which friend?"

"Your male one. I can tell you like him." Melissa smiled.

"This was when I was with Claire. I had no feelings for him." I replied, but I could tell then, that being with Claire annoyed Oliver a lot. I hadn't noticed back then, but now I could tell that he was trying subtly to get me to go with him somewhere.

"Watch this." Eva said. I waited and a few moments later, the one monster I hated most second to my father came in.

"What's he doing here?" I demanded. "I can't be dreaming of him." Christopher had me up against the wall, but unlike how it had been last time, he didn't look dead or feel wrong judging by my expression.

"Your the one dreaming. I just did something to come in and talk." Melissa said. "But he's been in Morganville longer than you know. That house that your guards found bodies in? That was us."

"What?" I felt myself go cold. "He burned you alive in the house? What happened to Eva?"

"She died of smoke inhalation. But what I'm getting at is, you never found out why he was so interested in you and Claire."

"Why was he?" I asked, intrigued. I had forgotten about that until now. I had just thought he wanted to tell the whole town.

Eva held my hand and I lightly squeezed. She led me to the wall. "Wait, I can't go through there."

"You can." Eva said. She pulled me forward and I reluctantly followed her. Luckily I passed through the wall without a problem, or I would have looked like a fool.

We emerged out the other side in a different building. "Where is this?"

"You see that book over there?" Melissa asked. Eva led me over to a table with a book open, to a page on bounding items.

"Witchcraft?" I almost didn't believe it. I also didn't believe that Christopher had come from an island with others like him. "Is this how he appeared dead?"

"Kind of." Eva replied. She flipped the pages which I thought was impossible in her ghostly state and in someone else's dream. "Here. He was trying to sever the bond between the two of you, but he needed proof or it wouldn't work."

"Thats it?" It seemed unbelievable he would put me through that much false illusions, just for a confirmation of my love for Claire.

"Well... He practices a kind of spell that requires something from you. Mom said we didn't survive when he took what he needed from us." Eva explained.

"I don't understand..."

"Christopher practices a magic that requires certain things from people. For me and Eva, it was life because he was growing old and for you it was a little bit of immortality and for some reason, he had to make you lose your love for Claire." Melissa explained. "Basically, for the spell to work he was going to make you confirm you loved Claire, then he does the spell and you would fall out with Claire, and he would feed off your immortality and eventually you would become weak and... die."

"He's dead," I said, even though what she had said had alarmed me, a bit. "Someone came and took him away."

"She was a witch too. She gave him a new body here, and now he is going to finish the spell. It's an effort to erase vampires from existence."

"So he's still here?" I sighed and let go of Eva's hand but she wouldn't let go. "Eva, you can let go."

"I can't, or you will be teleported somewhere." She replied.

"What are you talking about? I'm still dreaming, I'll be fine."

"This isn't your dream. Have you noticed it hasn't changed in a while?" Melissa asked.

Now I thought about it, I noticed. "Take me back. I need to get a search organised."

"He's in a different body with a different face. You wouldn't know him." Melissa said.

"So you brought me here to tell me he's still in Morganville, wanting me dead and vampires extinct, but you won't tell me who he is?" Even though dreams and this strange place had no sense of time, it still felt like I had spent too much of it already.

"We will help you. But we're using Claire to stay in the earth plane. She has to move back in with you, so it's easier to communicate." Melissa said.

"She won't. I broke up with her and she's angry."

"I can't keep her blond friend away forever. He came by today, but I made him leave." Eva said, smiling.

"What did you do?" I asked, fearing she might have accidentally seriously injured him or something.

"He tried to wake Claire when we were trying something and it would have ended badly, so I knocked him out and took him somewhere else. But he will come back and mom says we can't use our energy to keep him away. We need to find Christopher and stop him and move on."

I sighed. "Fine, I will try my best. May I leave now?"

Eva looked to Melissa and she nodded. The little girl took me back through the wall, back into the dream where it had changed to me and Oliver on the bed. We were deep in conversation, but it looked like I was falling for him. "This is now?" I asked, hoping for Eva to say no.

"Your dreams. Your dreaming about being with him." Eva said and let go. "We will be in touch. Try to get Claire back with you." Then she disappeared and the dream around me vanished.

"Amelie!" I awoke and sat up quickly. Oliver is looking at me strangely. "You were sleeping."

"It appears so. I don't remember though." I stood up and looked outside. Day was almost night, yet another thing I couldn't remember, was what time of day it had been when I had fallen asleep. "How long was I sleeping?"

"I wasn't timing you, but I guess an hour, maybe two." Oliver shrugged. "You didn't come down when I called and you wouldn't wake."

"I apologize for scaring you." I said, not meaning it all. I walked past him and downstairs to my office. I went to my desk and saw movement near the wall. I remembered the dream and sighed. "I'll try."

Eh, I'm not sure about this chapter but I hope it is interesting!

Review!