Shane's pov
'Hang on a minute. That guy is your uncle?' She can't be serious.
'Yes Shane, an uncle I for many years have believed to be dead.' Amelie looks very different to the cool and collected founder I met when I handed her the book. Her brows are crossed in stress and thought, Oliver is hovering at her side, watching always watching.
'Is there may be an aunt we should be waiting for? Or another estranged sister or possibly a brother this time?' I can't control the anger in my voice, it's tangible in the air; but look what we've had to fight Bishop -her father- and Naomi -her sister- so now there is an uncle; great!
'Shane, don't.' Claire murmurs to me, we're at the Glass house, about forty people squashed into the downstairs with a few crashed out on the floor in random places. This was the final place, people are confused about what happened and how they came to be where they are. If it wasn't for the danger of the situation Amelie would be beyond furious.
We haven't got much in the way of supplies for our human guests; maybe enough to feed the four of us for about two days, and that's if we work some magic with bare essentials. But it's not that I'm so worried about, maybe the fact we have say fifteen possibly twenty vamps in the house and we have no blood! Hell they keeping watching us, like we're wearing a vein for rent sign.
The parlour is full of humans, Rad said he'd take care of them. After raiding all the rooms and a few closets we found the bare minimum of blankets, and the few less than clean pillows. The house is trying to help, trying to keep us all comfortable at least. Eve's trying to cook up some sandwiches but feeding twenty with food for four is a challenge for any self-confessed cook, so not a job for the demon of the kitchen.
'Shane.' I turn my head, looking straight at Amelie, all the tension in her brows has been released; she looks about Claire's age or to be honest younger. 'You want to know Shane, I believed him dead; for it was I who laced his blood with silver. For it was I who stood by as his insides blackened and smoked with no form of release. How he comes to stand before me, leads me to a conclusion I can't fathom.' I feel multiple eyes watching me, seeing my reaction ready for anything really.
'Why did Bishop turn him? What did he mean?' No one expected me to question her further, Claire's deep intake of breath shows me that. But instead of anger, her lips form what I can only describe to be a smile.
'Mr Collins, you of all people know what it is like in a more than dysfunctional family.' I actually see her take a breath, a real intake of oxygen. 'My dear father thought his brother of no real talent deserved to be crowned as one of us, the ones living an eternity. He was a cruel man, a ravaged drunk but not how you would think- drink in that day was something that showed wealth, and the power upheld. He was a ruthless drinker, killed for it. In his life he had found a taste for the female in society, liked to play with his food before he ate it; if you do understand me?' I nod, its only now that I realise the whole room is in silence; listening to Amelie's tale. 'I killed him, as a nuisance but also in self-defence, he realised I could eternally be the youth he wanted. To see him tonight is to see a ghost- he in all truth should be dead.'
I watch her, the cool ruler of Morganville the one I believe to be cruel and corrupt, weak. She was the victim of an uncle, older and crueller. I realise now that in her life she can't have always been the ruler, at points she would have been the weaker of many.
'Amelie?' It's Claire, her voice a little shaken with a small tear rolling down her cheek; I wipe it away with my finger pulling her a little closer. 'Why is he here?'
It dawns on me now; I have a wife, a home and friends to protect; this is Morganville where carrying a stake is like remembering your keys!
'I don't know. And that's what scares me most.'
Another family reunion. With fang.