IMPORTANT! PLEASE READ!

Hey guys! So it's been a really long time since I updated, and that's because it took ages to get to 26 reviews! I have had this chapter ready for ages, and I checked the reviews page every day, but the reviews just weren't coming in, even though I left a taster of this chapter . So I'm leaving it at 24 reviews, but here's the deal: please don't read, follow or favourite without reviewing! And when I get to 34 reviews, I will post chapter 10, where some huge shit is about to go down! It's ready now, and I am checking the reviews every day! Thanks!

Chapter 9

"Come to your senses!"

"I can't!"

"Don't be a fool, Amelie! You are the only one who can save my little Claire now!"

"She's gone, Myrnin. She's gone and it's all my fault."

"Amelie, at least try. Please try, for both our sakes. Try, Amelie, please. Do it. NOW!"

There was a searing pain in Claire's neck. It burned like a bonfire on the fourth of July, it burned like she had swallowed a spark, it burned like someone had held ice to it for too long.
Most of all, though, it burned like any time a vampire had bitten her, and any vampire who had bitten her had done it on that exact place. Claire's mind wouldn't function properly, and she was unable to even make an attempt in figuring out what might be happening to her. In the next moment, it felt like someone was pulling two unbelievably sharp thorns out of her neck, and the aftermath was horrendous. A pain almost as terrible as when Amelie had cast her glamour over her spread from her neck down her entire body, and something warm and stingy gushed from the source of the pain and was making a pool around her head. Claire, in as much as she could when she was already unconscious, passed out from the pain.

When she came to, she couldn't move. She opened her eyes, but everything was blurry. She didn't really know what had happened. There was an enormous pain in her neck, and her face was wet. Another drop of liquid fell beside her mouth and, finding that she could move her tongue, she licked it in an attempt to figure out what it might be or even, perhaps, where she was. It tasted salty, almost like…

"Teardrops", she whispered. As her eyes adjusted to the dim light, she could make out two blurry figures standing above whatever she was lying on, which felt like a sofa from heaven, soft and cosy. It was so good to lie down!

She opened her eyes wider, and the two figures gradually slid into focus. Myrnin was holding her right hand, and she wasn't on a couch, she was on a bed in a magnificent white room. She guessed who's room it was before she saw her sitting across from Myrnin, holding her other hand. Myrnin looked about to cry, he still remained dry-eyed. It was Amelie who was crying, her face expressionless, tears streaming silently from her own face onto Claire's, rain on a cold marble statue. Suddenly, Claire remembered everything-the blinding pain, the shouting voices, the sobbing. And then the second pain, the one that came from her neck, a lesser pain then the first, yet still agonizing. And the creature that had caused it all was touching her hand.

Claire opened her mouth and screamed, high and loud, her heart beat in her chest, and she struggled to fight her paralysis and obey her instincts:

Run!

No sound came out of her mouth. The vampires, obviously picking up on her speeding heartbeat, both reached out to soothe her at the same time, and Myrnin growled low in his throat at the founder. She growled back, and although Claire stopped trying to scream and dash for the door, her heart rate increased another bit. Great, now she was paralysed on a bed with two snarling, red-eyed vampires arguing above her. She was feeling more spectacular with every minute.

Amelie stood above Myrnin menacingly, and Myrnin…

…SHOVED HER HARD ACROSS THE ROOM.

She hit the wall with such force that the plaster rained down on her, and she snapped. Not in the way she had before, she wasn't angry, she looked…devastated. Amelie slid down the wall, rested her head on her knees, and cried. Her shoulders heaved with heavy sobs, her whole body shook, and her cries were so heart wrenching that Claire found it hard to believe that she was the same Founder she had met in the church so many months ago.

Myrnin's face showed no sympathy for the weeping…lady? Woman? Vampire? She looked at this moment to be younger than Claire herself, and under normal circumstances, Claire would have wanted to comfort her, but now, even though she looked so small and fragile, Claire would have either ran for the door or gone for her if it weren't for her current inability to move or speak. Right now, she knew that the only thing slowing her racing heartbeat was Myrnin holding her hand.

Even then she knew that he was no match for Amelie.

So why had she shied away from him?

"Claire? Oh, thank goodness!" Myrnin looked to be actually glowing with relief as he spoke, and Amelie's sobs subsided and she looked up at them both, drying her eyes with the back of her hands in a gesture that was very un-Amelie. Myrnin scowled in her direction, and turned his gaze back to Claire.

"Claire my love, I'm afraid something very bad has happened. Before I tell you, though, I must ask you something: do you remember everything or nothing? You should be able to whisper, darling."

Claire intended to say "everything", but instead, all that came out was, "Please don't let her hurt us again."

Myrnin's face fell, and Amelie bowed her head. She looked ashamed.

"Little Claire, I was expecting you to say no. Even hoping it. I'm sorry such agony was thrown at you by this ungodly creature." Amelie began to sob again. "Claire, I don't know how to tell you what I must. However, I can only tell you so much. She must tell you the rest." He threw another look of contempt at the Founder.

At this last comment, the tone in his voice turned, and he could have been talking about something he had on the sole of his shoe. Amelie looked up at him, a little frightened, a lot upset, and maybe a bit ashamed. Myrnin continued; "Claire, you must make a very difficult decision here. I…you…" He sighed, and he was clearly being strong for Claire's sake. "Claire, this pathetic woman, as you know, turned her full glamour on you. I know it must have seemed like a long time, but in reality it was only about five seconds before I managed to stop her. It is still too much for a human to withstand. You are dying, Claire."

His voice cracked, and a single tear rolled down his cheek. Claire couldn't breathe. Dying? No. It couldn't be true!

"How" she whispered.

"That I can't explain", he gasped. He was crying properly now. "Claire, I don't know what will happen next. Amelie will discuss it with you, as I know that she is the only one who can really explain it. But know this, Claire; whatever choice you make, I love you." Claire was crying now, too, as she whispered back to him. "I love you too." Myrnin stood up, and he kissed her softly, gently, on the lips, before nodding stiffly at Amelie and departing the room.

Amelie stood up, brushing plaster dust off her clothes and out of her hair-which was hanging down loosely around her shoulders and was getting quite tangled-and wiping away tears again. She walked over to the bed and reached out. "Claire?" she asked tentatively.

Claire didn't want her to come near her. "Dno't touch me", she whispered. Amelie flinched at the words and a small, sad sound escaped from her lips. "Okay."

She sat down in Myrnin's seat, and for a few moments they watched each other with weary caution. It was Amelie who spoke first. "I'm so sorry, Claire." No answer. "Claire, I know you're in deep shock, but I must inform you of the little details of our… problem." Her voice shook, and Claire couldn't understand why. "Claire, I did not paralyse you with my glamour. I did it while trying to save you. I knew it would happen, but I had to do something to let you have options other than death. At first I refused, but Myrnin would not have it. So…I bit you, in a way. You have some of my blood now, Claire. Not enough to make you a vampire, not even close. But enough to keep you this way." It was then that Claire noticed the bandages around her neck. She suddenly understood all too well what Amelie was trying to tell her.

"You want to turn me into a vampire, don't you?" she whispered. Instead of answering directly, the Founder said, "As I said, little Claire, you have a choice; you can stay this way, and I will give you my blood when you need it to keep you alive. You would remain in this condition for the rest of your days, but I would look after your friends for you and I would always know if you were afraid or endangered. You could choose the option which, quite honestly, would destroy Myrnin, your friends...and me. You could leave this life." Claire's eyes widened. She didn't want to be paralysed for the rest of her life, and she didn't want to die! "There is, of course, one other option. You know what this is, Claire." She did. "No…not that…" Amelie nodded.

"I'm sorry, Claire. This entire mess is my fault!"

So Claire had a choice.

She could stay paralysed for the rest of her miserable life, only able to whisper, never truly able to protect her friends…

…she could let herself die…

…or she could become one of them…

she could become a vampire.

Mwahahahaha! So, when I get to 34 reviews you will get to find out what happens next! Yay! Bye bye! x Clyrnin 4eva! x