Chapter 4:

Well, the reviews are a little disappointing, with the amount of different readers (over 70 now!) but here's an update anyway because I love you all!

As there was only two responses to the question, I had to just use them & my own opinion on what should happen to ascertain this chapter. So here you are!

I don't own anything…

Oliver's POV:

I follow on behind Amelie, heading to London, and feel completely rejuvenated from the addition of blood to my system. I acknowledge I should have had someone before I went on this journey, but I was too preoccupied… what was I preoccupied with?

Amelie.

I was preoccupied with Amelie. I was thinking about how I should act as we select a house, well she selects a house, for us both to live in for the next few years. Should I be blasé and act like I don't care… or, on the other hand, do I show how I do care about where I live? Do I show how I want to live with Amelie because, because I love her?

Yes, I said it. I said I love Amelie. I have done for many a decade now, since that fool made us live in the wilderness for three decades. Spending every single day in her company, without fail, helped secure and seal the building feelings I had for her to leave me feeling the way I do. For over a century I have lived in close proximity to her and I have loved every single second of it. The only thing I have wanted is happening – perhaps all the prayers I have prayed to God have resulted in this; Amelie choosing me over Myrnin. It sounds so silly of me to be saying how I love Amelie: surely my actions of the past century have been for me to be able to steal her power in the future? Surely… surely they have, but no. No; they have been because I love her – I cannot survive without her. If she was to walk out of my life now, I wouldn't be able to truly live – she is for me.

Yet why do I hide this, if I truly love her? Why do I pretend I enjoy my bachelor life, going out and selecting a beautiful girl every night to just drain her after…? You see, if I reveal my feelings to Amelie or Myrnin, they will ridicule me… especially the latter. But, you see, there is a reason why I want to live with Amelie. One is that if she lives with me, hopefully I can help her see the feelings I know she has for me. She just cannot identify them – she hasn't anything in life to compare them to. I, on the other hand, had a fully human life and suppose I felt love then. But she hasn't ever had anything to feel love in regards to – her father is an absolute… and she was turned too young. I doubt she has ever even kissed a man, not a proper kiss, let alone anything else.

"Oh do hurry up Oliver," she calls behind her and I increase my speed, realising that I have been lagging slightly. The gap between us has increased exponentially and I can see that she has noticeably slowed down for me to catch up to her. I increase my speed as she decreases hers, and I soon arrive at her shoulder. Her beauty is breathtaking: her silk dress flares out behind her, along with her loose blonde hair. Her face is so innocent and perfect; heart shaped along with prominent cheekbones and lips so naturally red they cannot be compared to blood in any circumstances.

"I apologise," I say rather stiffly, cursing myself inside. This is what I do every time I speak like this to Amelie – I hate myself for it. Yet I have to behave like this; otherwise she would suspect something and make me reveal the emotions, probably ending in my death. She will only realise what the feelings are after she does this, meaning that she will live forever in pain and suffering – not exactly what I want for the woman I do truly love. However, if we are living together, I have a chance for her to identify the feelings and she then isn't going to kill me, is she? She would know how she felt, so therefore mean that she will tell me how she feels, not the other way around. "Would you like to continue?" I motion for her stock still figure, the most beautiful figure I have seen in my life, to move and she looks slightly annoyed. As in, I am telling her what to do!

I mean it when I say that her body is the most perfect thing I have ever seen. Those women I have been with hold nothing on Amelie. She is beautiful: petite and delicate looking but with a backbone and inner strength so strong nobody could destroy it – even Bishop didn't manage. She has a bust, yet not overly pronounced, like so many women are, and she knows what clothing she ought to wear to draw the appeal to her… if she is in a room, every single eye is on her – the men's because they want her (their emotions are so obvious on their faces… they should at least try and hide them – I have kept them under wraps for so long without one slip up) and the women's because they want to be her. It's better than being me – the men see me as a threat and see me as old, whilst most women (who are sober and don't take money for… ahem, pleasures) stay as far away as possible. This is something that Myrnin enjoys to tease me about – stop thinking about him!

"Very well," Amelie says, with a suspicious look in my direction. She breaks into a run and I make sure that I keep up this time, staying just behind her shoulder all the way to London. I'm behind her; I'm in my rightful place, according to her.

Yet there is something inside of me that wishes I was in control and she was subject to me. Yet this is never going to be reality… is it? She is too strong to be taken over.

OoOoOoOo

"This is the house that I found; it has good links with the facilities around and I don't believe it would be hard to find supplies," Amelie says, gesturing to a house in the middle of a bustling street. Well, I assume it will be bustling in the middle of the day – something that would be rather helpful for us vampires who have to stay inside during the day. The house appears to be rather spacious from the outside, with small windows in the two storeys.

"Yes, it appears to be rather nice thus far," I say, keen to see what Amelie likes her homes to be. I wonder if she has selected every home she and Myrnin have shared, or if he has had any input whatsoever. I suppose that she has had to come up with homes that have had enough space for all of his science rubbish and books: she has so many books, but I believe he may have even more than she does… something which I can assume that Amelie is rather bitter about.

She motions for me to enter the building first and I do this, ducking my head under the low doorframe. I notice how she has no qualms with the height of the door – presumably due to the height difference between us – and I grimace slightly… she always has it so easy compared to the rest of us. Every other vampire we come across ends up eating out of her hand, she can twist them around her little finger that easily. Still, she had me twisted before she even put her blood into my system… I was fascinated with her. Part of the reason, although I will never confess this aloud I hope, I became a vampire was so that I could be with her in eternal life. She doesn't recognise the feelings I have for her (and I doubt Myrnin does either… the only thing he has ever loved is damned science and alchemy) so the idea I told her about wanting eternal life for me is believed by her entirely.

OoOoOo

"I have to say, I rather like this house," she comments as we finish the tour of the house. There are four rooms downstairs and six upstairs. Downstairs there is a kitchen and a small bathroom, leaving two for lounges. Upstairs there will be an individual bedroom apiece, a bathroom and three other rooms – I presume Amelie shall take at least two of them. One will be for her office and the other for her changing room… she may even take the third for a library, although I presume I shall be allowed to enter that room to read her books.

"I will agree with you there, Amelie," I say and she looks slightly confused again. She obviously isn't used to me agreeing with her – she expects conflict from me, I presume. It hurts me that she thinks I automatically disagree with her, just because she is friends with Myrnin and he hates me, as I him.

"Shall we take it?" she asks me and I think a moment. Can I live in a house like this for the next five years? Will I be able to cope with Amelie's finicky ways in a house like this?

"Yes, I think we should," I say and she smiles slightly. She looks so beautiful, if possible more than normal, when she smiles: she also looks so much younger when she does this; normally she doesn't exactly appear her tender age, yet the happiness makes her appear less than her age.

"Good," Amelie replies simply. Then she turns to the door and walks out quickly, gliding almost. I follow her and I see she is heading towards a man in the corner, a man with a steady heartbeat. If it wasn't for the snack Amelie provided for me earlier, it would have made the thirst I feel already too unbearable… then again, I probably wouldn't be here without that snack. She looks him in the eyes and I can tell that she is using her unbeatable strengths as a compeller to get her way. "We shall take this home. The new owners are Mr and Mrs Launceston and we shall be moving in in approximately one week. Do you understand?" she says to him and he nods blankly. She snaps her fingers and he is released from his trance, scurrying away as most street vermin do.

"That is settled then," she turns to me and says with a smile. "I have already arranged Myrnin's accommodation - somewhere he will be very comfortable and will have easy access to everything he wants - so now we can return to out present homes," she says. I nod in agreement and smile at the way she has said about where Myrnin will be living. I get the impression that she is being evil here… that he isn't exactly going to be comfortable, not really, in his surroundings. Then again this is Myrnin we're talking about, the one who can be comfortable living out of a flour sack, so maybe he will be. Still.

Now we've arranged where we're going to live, that is step one of my plan complete. The second part: make Amelie realise that she is in love with me.

Just how am I going to do that?

So what do you think?

Please review!

There will be a one-shot about the time after this story posted in the future, once the twist in the ending has been put in – there is quite a while until then though!

Vicky xx