Chapter 8:
Thanks to all reviews and stuff :P I had a short break from writing this week, but I decided to update for you today!
*anything that could be comparable to Breaking Dawn, by Stephanie Meyer, is not intentional and all rights belong to her for this and Rachel Caine for everything else. The plotline belongs to me*
Claire's POV:
"You did WHAT!" Eve and Michael yell at me, unanimously. "Claire, what the hell did you do this for?" Michael asks on his own, Eve glaring at me like I'm the enemy.
"I thought that it could help me save Shane," I whisper, confessing my feelings as I look at the bronze bracelet on my wrist. It doesn't belong there… but if it was the only thing I could do to make sure that Oliver would help Shane, I don't think I could have done anything else… I don't think, at least.
"I'm going to talk to Amelie, to see if she can cancel the contract or something," Michael exclaims loudly, pacing up and down. "For god's sake, Claire! Shane is in jail, going to be killed, and all you can do is go and get yourself in more trouble!"
"I didn't mean for it to be trouble; I thought that by doing this, maybe there was a chance that Oliver could-"
"Oliver do something for a human?" Eve asks, agog. "Jeez, Claire, have you lost every brain cell? When did it cross your mind that he would do anything that could lose him his little bit of power in this town?"
I shake my head and shrug my shoulders before hanging on the banister, trying to make sure that the bracelet stays out of my sight – out of sight, out of mind… At least, that's what I hope!
"He promised, Eve," I say quietly, my voice shaking slightly. "I believe that he is actually going to save Shane; Shane is entirely innocent and I'm hoping that he can be released."
"You know how many people who have been found guilty of murdering a vampire in Morganville have survived?" Michael asks me, agog at my belief. "One. Richard Morrell. He was found to have killed a vampire on the grounds of self defence and was given a respite by Amelie. I doubt, however, if he hadn't have been the mayor's son that he would have gotten away with it. Therefore, I doubt that you signing a bloody contract with Oliver could have done anything but make the situation ten times worse," he gives me the details but I try to not listen. I don't want to hear just how dire a situation Shane is in. I know it's bad... I just never thought it would be that bad.
"I don't want to hear it," I say, covering my ears. As I do, Michael gets a better look at my bracelet before moving over and yanking my arm out. "What the fuck? You signed a body and soul contract with Oliver? Jesus, Claire, what the hell is wrong with you?"
"It seemed the right thing to do," I murmur, but he looks away, disgusted. Eve looks away as I look over at her, before she barges past me up the stairs. Tears flow down my cheeks as I realise that she's not bothered about me - she doesn't care for the reasons why I acted, only that I signed a bloody contract with Oliver and didn't consult with them. "I mean, it's my life, I can do what I want, can't I?"
"Consult with me in future," Michael says sharply, not wanting to upset me anymore but still furious with me. "Go to bed, Claire. I can't face this anymore," he orders me, but I don't mind... He's right; I should have consulted with him first before I did anything.
What's wrong with me? Why can't I remember anything? All I know is that I've signed the contract: I could have sworn that I didn't want to! I can swear that I've done something awful, something that I know I would regret id I remembered. What's happening to me? Seriously, my life seems to be falling apart and I can't remember anything about it when it does; Brandon biting me took forever to come, then the decision to tell Shane came from nowhere, scrapping my past plan to keep it a secret from him for a while, before now signing a contract that I don't have a single memory of! I don't remember the terms and conditions or anything - it looks like tomorrow I'm going to be returning to Oliver, again, to find out.
I nod, weary, and head up the stairs to my room, shaking in worry as I do. What's happening? Oh god... I don't know what to do anymore!
Michael's POV:
I cannot believe this. I cannot fucking believe that she could have done such an irresponsible and silly thing! Claire, the one person I thought (even with the bite) that I didn't have to worry about, has only gone and signed with the most dangerous vampire in all of Morganville! She couldn't have chosen Amelie at least, if she felt Protection could help her get Shane back - no, she had to bloody choose Oliver!
I need to speak to Amelie. I don't know how to contact her, since she isn't answering her phone, but maybe Sam will. If... If I allow him back into my life, maybe he will be able to help me - I haven't spoken to him since the day before Oliver tried to kill me. We had a huge argument and since then, I was a ghost whenever he visited, so I couldn't answer. I began to regret my actions (I was hurting) but I couldn't take them back...
"Sam, I need your help," I say instantly, not even bothering with a hello as my spitting double (just a vampire and with red hair) answers the phone.
"Michael, what's wrong?" he asks, panicked. It may have been two years, but he is still worried about me, cares for me. Maybe Eve was right; maybe I should have allowed him into my life before - he really is a good man; he is one of those who want to do good in the world, even if only a little. I hope... I hope that when I take the same steps to follow the same destiny as him, I do it half as well.
"I need to speak to Amelie but she isn't answering her phone, so I was hoping-" I begin, before he interrupts me.
"You were hoping that I could use whatever I have with her to pull some strings," he finishes for me, a grim tone to his voice. "Sorry, kiddo, but I can't: she refuses to see me. The only thing I can do is ring her for you, and hope that she is getting so bored with my calls that she finally answers," he suggests.
"That'd be great..." I say, not sure what else to say. After all, I need her for such a grim thing...
"Can I come over, Michael?" he asks me, and I think for a second. Why would he want to come over...? Either to see me or hope that when Amelie comes to see me, that she will realise her undying love for him and jump into his arms... Yeah, because that's gonna happen.
"Fine, whatever, yeah," I say slowly, smiling slightly. After all, it will be good to see him again - we had the greatest time when I was a kid, it just began to peter out a little when I got older (ok, a lot!) but I wish it hadn't.
"See you shortly, Michael," he says, a new found leap of enthusiasm in his voice. I hang up the phone before contemplating whether or not I really want to turn into a vampire.
I discussed it with Eve (unlike Claire, I actually consult at least some of the people I love) and she was supportive enough of the idea: I doubt she really wants to be dating a vampire, but I don't particularly want to be a vampire... Nonetheless, if it lets me get out of this house and able to possibly help Shane, I'll pay that price.
A knock at the door interrupts my thought process - that must be Sam. I rush over and unlock the door before proceeding to invite him in, feeling slightly nauseated that I actually invited a vampire in... This may be my Grandad but the last vampire I invited in tried to turn me, but ended up killing me.
The same vampire that has Claire.
"Michael, what's up?" he asks, inbetween listening to his mobile, cutting off when a recorded message hits before redialling.
"Claire has signed with Oliver," I say, and note how his expression changes to be entirely frozen in shock. His phone gives up ringing and a cool voice answers, seeming annoyed with the ringing (I can't make out words, only the tone) but he doesn't answer. "Don't you need to answer that?"
He nods slowly, unable still to process Claire's stupidity. Yet he lifts the phone to his ear and listens to Amelie's ramblings before she obviously manages to reach the question: what do you want? But this has to have been the first time in fifty years she has picked up the phone to him - directly, at least - and he's wasting it on me... Yet perhaps if I hadn't have made him ring continually in the space of five minutes then she would have continually ignored his phone calls, which are probably depleting in quantity every year. So, in a way, I'm sort of saving him.
It just took Claire to need it to be possible.
Of course, I'm doing this for Shane as well as for me. Shane needs to be saved imminently as he's going to die, and I need my liberty. But Claire signing with bloody Oliver is what has pushed it forwards slightly... If she hadn't have signed body and soul to Oliver, the contract could have possibly been able to be terminated by Amelie. Unfortunately, the gravity of the contract means such actions cannot be taken.
She's his until he doesn't want her anymore...
There's a reason why there isn't anybody in Morganville under Protection by Oliver that is body and soul; he can dictate who she lives with, what she does, who she married... But he always grows bored. A year, two max, down the line and he declares they've done something wrong and terminates their contract, often without their knowing. This means that they then go about life normally, rush into Common Grounds at night, and the rest is history: they're not Protected so nothing needs to be done to stop the predators - they're in the 'black' - in Morganville...
I hope I'm nothing like that. If I am... Eve has to destroy me... Or Sam... I don't care, as long as I'm never like Oliver or Brandon or Pennywell. If I become them, I have relinquished my humanity: something which I am NOT going to do.
He hangs up the phone and I realise, through all my brooding, that I missed the entire conversation.
I look over at him and he smiles slightly, nodding. "She's coming over now. But she said if it isn't important, she will get extremely angry," he conveys her message but I smile. She obviously loves him to come over for me, she hasn't fully left him no matter what he thinks.
"Ok," I say unnecessarily and he smiles. Suddenly, he moves over and gives me a hug, which I reciprocate.
"I'm sorry, Michael, for everything that happened in the past," he says quietly into my ear. He never did anything wrong! It was all me... But I suppose he feels guilty for it all.
I'm about to respond when he tenses up and moves away. I look at him, confused, and he inclines his head towards the wall (clear) and murmurs the word "portal" - there's nothing there, how the hell did he know?
Suddenly, the wall shakes and a door appears: he was right. He must have had enough experience with portals in the past to know when one is coming - when Amelie is coming. I doubt she allows Oliver to use them, for valid reason, and probably only the creator, whoever that may be, is the only other user. Sam has probably got the chance to use them, just probably never does. Then again, I don't really know him - who knows if he does or not?
Through the door comes Amelie, her long blonde hair tied back, and two bodyguards, looking menacing. Does she really think that Sam, the person who loves her, is going to hurt her? As for me, I probably could, but why bother?
"Michael, what do you want?" she greets coolly, not using a normal word of greeting.
"Claire has joined Oliver for Protection: body and soul," I say, noting how her face pales slightly and she loses some composure. Fear and shock break through her mask until she manages to regain it in less than a second. A human wouldn't have seen it; probably a vampire wouldn't have seen it. But I seem to have as good a reflexes and stuff as a vampire. It'll be the exact same, just I don't have to die every night.
"I do not see how that is relevant to me," she says finally, no emotion in her voice whatsoever. "I also do not see the relevance of Samuel being here, nor of his continual phone calls to insist that I answered."
"I asked him to do that because you weren't answering mine," I say honestly. Her eyebrows rise a fraction and she turns her attention fully to me. "But, you see, I need your help. With everything that's going on, I... I can't be a ghost anymore. To sit in here when Claire is going and signing away her life and not even being able to prevent it is impossible for me."
I take a deep breath and process my thoughts so that they are coherent, before continuing.
"I want to become a vampire."
Sam's eyebrows raise at the same time as Amelie's: oh yeah, I didn't quite tell him that part. I doubt he'd be exactly pleased since he didn't want to be a vampire, but I am asking to be one. Living in this house is a life sentence, never breakable, at least in the US. But if I were a vampire, I could always kill myself if I had to. At least I would have options.
Amelie looks more surprised than I could have possibly imagined. She moves closer to me, waving off her guards as they make to do the same, and looks me in the eye deeply, as if trying to see if this is a hoax. Yet I only show the determination I have felt for such a thing to occur for too long now, and that is all Amelie can see.
"Are you absolutely positive?" she asks quietly, warmly almost. "Michael, this is an irreversible change. If you were to change your mind even tomorrow, there is no going back. You will be a vampire forever, unless you choose death. I need you to understand that you cannot go back to even being a ghost. Do you?" she asks me, explaining things I was already positive about. Of course, not being on speaking terms with any vampire I couldn't be positive, but just from my Grandad, I guessed: he didn't want to be a vampire, especially after Amelie left him, and he still is, so it must be impossible.
"I know, and I'm willing to accept that," I say steadily, continuing to look into her eyes. She seems to accept that, but Sam doesn't. He yells at me to stop, to consider what I'm doing, so she pulls him aside and talks to him. I cannot hear her but the pause makes me nervous: I have a theory about how this is going to happen, but I'm not entirely sure.
"Michael... I see why you're doing this, I think," Sam says to me quietly, his tone heavy and more than slightly upset. "I hope that... I hope that you can accept what I am once you are the same, and can put the past behind us," he continues and my heart beats faster as I want to agree.
I nod, swallowing loudly but being unable to get rid of the blockage in my throat which is preventing me from replying. He smiles, hugs me, and goes to stand by the stairs - probably so that I don't try and attack the girls once I have turned.
Amelie turns to me with a sad smile and says quietly: "Michael... Only if you are 100percent. There is a disease that I and my dear friend are fighting to prevent all vampires becoming sick; so far, the outlook is weak. Claire was part of my plans but I don't think I can allow her into the equation anymore since you have told me this dire piece of news. Please tell me whether you wish to terminate your request now, for the fears of the future," she says - there's a disease? One that will destroy all vampires, in the end?
No matter; I have to do this - if, in the future, all vampires die, then I shall be stuck as a ghost forever. Shane... If he survives, Claire and Eve will die in the future, so nobody is going to want to live with a ghost; Morganville may even entirely collapse with no vampires forcing people to live here.
I could be alone.
"I still want to," I mutter, around the lump in my throat.
"Very well," she says gravely before moving closer to me. "Good luck, Michael... I hope that this will work."
Her fangs extend and are in my throat faster than I could possibly imagine. I fight the urge to throw her off and instead succumb to her draining of my blood without a word, although I wish I could scream with the pain. She's stealing my life, my blood, and it is more painful even than when Oliver did it, because I know it's happening, I chose for this, therefore I cannot scream.
I begin to grow weak and she has to hold me up, before she retracts her fangs. She lays me carefully on the floor, my eyes half closed with all my effort focused on keeping my slowing heartbeat alive, meaning that I can stay alive.
Her wrist raises to her fangs and she rips it downwards, causing a sudden flow of blood to cover the carpet. However, it is suddenly in my mouth, her hand holding my jaw open so that the flowing blood will enter my mouth before the wound quickly closes.
The crimson liquid tastes of rust and salt and my instincts say to spit it out. But I manage to struggle it down my throat, swallowing it even though it makes me want to gag.
"Ssshhh, it's alright, you'll be fine," Amelie murmurs, her soft fingertips grazing over my skin softly.
My heart rate begins to slow even more and I worry that it's because I'm dying. But then the burning begins in my throat: the vampire bloody begins to spread through my body in a burning manner that begins to attack my organs and blood cells. I begin to convulse, my body trying to fight the alien substance in me but failing, as the blood begins to affect my brain. I loose my sight and every sense as the pain in my head feels like it is being stabbed continually.
My throat burns and burns and that is all I can focus on until my senses return: everything is so much sharper to taste, to smell, to hear... I hear heartbeats upstairs, heartbeats that make my burning throat set on fire even more, and I want them.
My eyes fight to open but they won't... Not before my heart slows even more. It's barely making a beat every five seconds until it just suddenly stops. One second it's beating, before just silence... Silence.
My eyes flicker open and everything is just so sharp, so perfect.
I look up and hear an extra thing upstairs - it must be the bracelet... But it doesn't deter me. I simply flash upright, moving ridiculously fast - faster than I could have imagined, and zoom towards the stairs.
I want to kill Claire and Eve.
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Vicky xx
