Chapter 14

Claire's POV:

I…I don't know what's going on.

Well, of course I do, because I've not been hit over the head (I don't think) and nobody has addled with my memories to the best of my knowledge, but I don't get what's been going on. Sam's…Sam's back, and he tried to kill me, but he managed to stop himself – whether that was a conscious decision from him, or just a vampiric one that desired him to play with his food some more, I don't know – and then…then Myrnin arrived to save me.

I probably should have expected that, but it really was a shock, the way that he attacked Sam, someone who could get him out of any trouble he was in with Amelie whatsoever, and then rushed to my aid. And so I kissed him. It wasn't a conscious decision – in fact, I still don't know why I did it – but I did it…and it felt far too good. It wasn't a "I'm so grateful that you've saved me" sort of kiss, but one that had me feeling as though an electric current was racing through me, one that made me think that Myrnin and I are perfect for one another…

…it was a kiss that made me, just for a minute, regret having a boyfriend, because then I could have been with Myrnin forever.

Just out of the corner of my eye, I can see Amelie approaching Sam, and I want to turn and look at their reunion after six months of him being in the ground, presumed dead, but I don't at the same time; it's their reunion, after all, and I don't want to pry on it, particularly as Amelie's involved. You never know what she's going to do…and, though I don't want to admit it, I'm still scared of Sam. I know it's illogical, since I knew that he would be like that and I went looking for him…but to think that Sam could have killed me so quickly – it doesn't seem right. Sam isn't the sort of person who kills humans, and the idea that he's killed nine has been abstract, up until now. Only now is it making sense to me that he killed those people! And, more than that, if Myrnin hadn't saved me, I would have been killed as well.

Quickly turning away from Amelie and Sam, my eyes find Myrnin standing before me, his own eyes on the couple quite far away from us – but it's almost no distance at all for a vampire's sight, is it? Personally, I can barely see over there, the outlines of Sam and Amelie barely more defined than that…but Myrnin can see.

"What…what's going on?" I whisper, hoping that Amelie is far too focused on Sam to be concerned with my requesting of Myrnin to inform me what she's doing – as that means both Myrnin and I are paying them the compliment of our full attention. Hopefully, she'll be too absorbed in Sam and the fact that he is, you know, alive, to be bothered that we're listening to the conversation…or, rather, Myrnin is and I'm going to listen to whatever he tells me.

"She's giving him blood," Myrnin tells me, shifting his position very slightly in order to make it more natural, for him to be glancing in their direction from his peripheral field of sight. "Not only human blood, but also her blood, so that he heals faster, as well as other…positives for the pair of them." The awkwardness of his tone, plus his lack of elaboration speaks words: I don't want to be thinking about that.

"Um…ok…" I wait for there to be a flurry of movement from where Amelie and Sam sit, but there's a long pause where nothing seems to be changing. And all this silence – because Amelie's guards are well trained to be silent, even when they ought to be worried that their leader is with the causation of so many human deaths – just has the consequence of me remembering back to my own actions of a few minutes ago, when I kissed Myrnin.

Again.

It's as though I can't get it out of my head, as though that kiss is going to be the thing that I antagonise over for the rest of my life. I guess that it wouldn't be so bad if I didn't feel anything when it happened – but I had. And I can still feel the shivers running down my back whenever my mind thinks back to when my lips were on Myrnin's, and I get the feeling that there's a blush in my cheeks, and I don't understand why this is. Shane and I, no matter our differences of late (particularly down to Amelie's decisions) have always been relatively strong, and we're going to stay that way, I'm sure of it. Shane and I are meant to be together…so why can I not think of anything other than the beauty of Myrnin's kiss, and the way that I still want more?

"She's waiting for him to wake up," Myrnin murmurs, so quietly that I can barely hear him, and I'm guessing that the other vampires will have difficultly as well. "From the movement of her lips, I'm presuming that she's telling him that she's there with him and that she loves him, though please do not quote me on this at a later time. I have never excelled in lip reading, after all, and I could just be making this up, as if I were in Amelie's situation, and what I would…" he cuts off suddenly, as though he doesn't want to be telling me this, and the strangest feeling runs through me that he's discussing me. He's referring to if I were Sam, and he was Amelie, and that he would be telling me that he loves me…

What is happening to the world? What is happening to the way that I understand things to be: me and Shane, Myrnin and science, me and Myrnin to work together, Amelie and Sam and then Amelie and Oliver; why is everything changing? No longer does everything seem to just click together – I'm having to work harder and harder to fit the jigsaw puzzle pieces together, trying desperately to make them lock together and to hang onto the remnants of my old life, because I don't get how things are changing. Or, I do, but I don't want to accept them, and to realise that there will (that there is) consequences from the way that it's adjusting to be something completely different.

Nothing makes sense anymore!

"Uh, ok, then," I reply, realising that the silence between us is growing more and more awkward by the second. Mainly because of his comment and the way that he trailed off, but it could have just been him speaking his thoughts aloud, and I have taken it to be completely the wrong thing, reading into things far too deeply. It's happened before, with Shane, and I don't ever want it to happen again, especially when I don't even know what I'm doing with my life. All I know is that Shane and I are over, mainly due to him being a prick about Myrnin and the ball, and that I've just kissed my boss, something I'm sure isn't in the employee handbook.

Myrnin doesn't offer any further conversation, even in regards to Sam and Amelie, and so I try to strain my eyes in order to see the pair, knowing that it's far too intrusive to their relationship, but not particularly caring. I can just about see Amelie holding Sam in her arms, but nothing further, and if I wanted to know anything else, I know I can just ask Myrnin…but…but it seems too personal a thing to be discussing with him. Due to the connotations of his earlier words, I don't want to discuss anything like this because…because I don't know what I want, what I'm doing, why I feel so confused.

"Well, well, well," I hear a voice behind me that makes me instantly want to groan and bang my head against a wall: Oliver. "What have we here?"

It only takes a few seconds – a few seconds longer than Myrnin, probably, but only a few seconds – before I understand that Oliver is here. Oliver is here, and he and Amelie have just had their whole 'I think I love you, let's have a ball' thing, and now Sam is back.

I think he always knew that Sam meant – means – more to Amelie than he does…but there is a difference between irrevocably loving someone who is dead, and someone who is alive, and this basically means that the end of the road for Oliver and Amelie is pretty much here. There is no way that Amelie could ever live with Oliver when there's a chance to be with Sam – though I have a feeling Myrnin will have some explaining to do – and so it seems that the end result here will be a happy Sam and Amelie, and an Oliver who will either go and destroy the entire town, or destroy himself.

Or, you know, both.

"Here, we have a wide assortment of graves, Oliver." Myrnin, of course, is sarcastic with his response, turning his attention away from Amelie towards Oliver, his expression slightly too twisted. Even I feel a little pain for Oliver and the way that everything's changing for him…then again, there was that altercation at the ball between the two egoistical male vampires, and probably about five billion of those happening before, so I'm not sure if I should be surprised or not that there's no sympathy from Myrnin. "I'm not sure if you're familiar with them, given that you did not indeed die, but they are where humans bury their dead. The headstones are quite pretty little things; I'm amazed you didn't order them all removed in your reign of tyranny in England," he continues, that glint even more prominent in his eyes.

It's all I can do not to laugh, because this is a serious situation – serious covers it when the entire area around us is being filled with Amelie's guards, and whoever it is who…is that a helicopter? – and Oliver mad isn't the best idea for my continuation of living my good, albeit very complex, life. And believe me, I spend enough time with vampires to know that mad vampires don't make for increasing life expectancy.

Oliver growls, his eyes focused on the gap between Myrnin and the couple in the background, as so he can look at the two scenes simultaneously, I think, and it's as though I don't exist. "I know quite well where we are; must you always play the fool?" he retorts, continuing quickly when it becomes obvious Myrnin is preparing to answer. "Oh, don't answer that! My question was focused more on…why oh earth is there a dead vampire roaming around, alive?" Oliver is confused, with good reason, but he certainly doesn't deserve Myrnin's shoot-down.

"Amelie decided that she had quite enough of your bad-temper, rude habits and smelly breath, so faked a robbing of Sam's grave to show that she still loved him, and then proceeded to put every single penny she had into bringing him back to life – something, incidentally, which used your bank balance also," he replies, far too cheerfully, wrapping his arm around Oliver's neck. I can sense the older appearing vampire to tense, and know that Myrnin's insults aren't being taken well.

More than the anger that builds in his face, I can see hurt; it probably isn't a good sign to be this close to a vampire when you can see emotions like this – turning and running would be a good idea, if I didn't still feel a bit woozy and confused – but I can, and I can't help but feel sorry for Oliver. Myrnin's being a prick for no reason, even I can see that through whatever rose-tinted glasses I seem to be wearing right now, but it still doesn't make me want to go and offer Oliver counselling sessions; I've just almost been killed by the (one time) friendliest vampire I know. I deserve the right to be confused and to attribute any lack of reaction (or, more to the point, the kiss) to that.

"I don't…" Oliver begins, but cuts himself off, his face hardening. In the distance, I can see Amelie's head shooting up, her eyes focused on our group of three, and though I'm not sure what her facial expression is, something from Myrnin's murmured description, of which I miss over half, is that she's sad…but also content, with Sam. So she won't be running back over here to Oliver and deciding whether or not to have an affair with him, because she loves Sam the most. "I…I will see you later, when you explain to me what is going on." an order from Oliver, it seems, and Myrnin even manages to take it semi-seriously, restraining himself from mocking Oliver.

Somehow, I find myself slightly closer to Myrnin as Oliver moves away, back in the direction he came in – short visit – and I'm about to speak when Oliver turns back around. There's now something manic in his eyes, something that scares me because I've only ever seen it when he's been fighting, and I'm half afraid he's about to test whether or not Myrnin will protect me, when his mouth opens.

"And just what is there between the two of you, little Claire Danvers?" his addressing of the question to me leaves me shell-shocked, a blush rising in my cheeks because what does this look like? Does it look like I'm hooking up with Myrnin, just because he's the only vampire I feel at least partially safe around, or is he just messing with my head because—

"It was just a kiss, alright? It was nothing serious, nothing…urgh, why does it even matter?" I find myself blurting out, blushing even more so as I say it. Oliver's eyebrows merely rise slightly, and his gaze focuses on Myrnin, something I can't even contemplate reading; I don't dare to look at either of them, instead turning around to see that the dearly beloved Ice Queen has gone back to tending to Sam, speaking with some aid who has dared to approach her, because we're not interesting enough for her.

I turn around and my eyes catch something that doesn't seem in the right place, though it takes a few minutes for my beginning-to-breakdown brain to understand it, and process through a suitable reaction to what I've just seen.

Oh fuck.

Michael's over there, on top of the hill, near to Oliver. And he's evidently heard every word, because there's an expression on his face that reminds me of when someone is about to murder someone; he looks positively murderous, one hundred percent vampiric, and positively Shane's best friend, from the way that he's looking at Myrnin and the gap between me and my vampire boss.

"I can explain?" I offer weakly, but Michael doesn't seem to care, his eyes locking onto the figure behind me, the one with the copper hair. He tears his gaze away from there to level me off again, and this time, I can see anger, confusion, and disbelief. "Oh, I can explain that, too…well, he can." I point at Myrnin, wiping away any smile on my face.

We've both got a lot of explaining to do.

Michael doesn't speak as he flurries down the hill – at least, I presume he does that, given that he's standing on top of it one second and then by my side the next. His body position is so that he's facing me, but I can see that his face is in the direction of Sam and Amelie, his eyes narrowed – to try and see the couple more closely, maybe? Maybe so that Michael can see his Grandfather slightly more clearly, after six months of thinking he was dead? "How?" he whispers, his voice quieter than anything I've ever heard before, a mixture of anger and confusion.

"Long story, but basically Myrnin did something and forgot to tell someone about it," I say, avoiding the question basically, because I don't want to be telling Michael before Amelie finds out. Now, all I want to do is leave, but I'm sure that I'll need some sort of permission, because my movements in Morganville always seem to be threatening my life – and normally, the movements are controlled by the vampires, so I'm thinking that they're sending me a subtle message. Well, not so subtle, given what vampires do to humans, but that's besides the point, and it's hurting my head to think of it.

"I want to know, Claire. He's my grandfather!" Michael snaps, and I recoil slightly at the venom in his voice. His face turns to look at me directly in the face, and I can see the redness of his eyes, the strange glint to them that marks him out as a vampire and fear overtakes any other emotion. Never has Michael been like this with me, and it's more than a little scary.

"And Amelie is his…well, for want of a better word for this is most certainly not the perfect description of her, girlfriend…no, perhaps eternal partner would be better," Myrnin cuts in for me, before starting to babble on about what Amelie is to Sam. "Anyway, back to my point," Wow, this is weird; Myrnin is going back on topic himself, "I believe that Amelie, as the Founder and having such a strong connection to the ginger-haired man, has the right to know the specifics first. And even if you don't, well, I don't particularly care."

The only piece of information I glean from this is that Myrnin has decided to not call Sam by his name, and refer to him as his hair colour. This would be interesting, besides for the fact that both Michael and Amelie are blonde, Shane and I are brunette (though he's blonder than I am) and…I get the feeling that there'd be widespread confusion, when Oliver was desired.

Michael's eyes suddenly focus on me again, and there's something in them that I don't want to read, because it has me wanting to spill out everything I've ever felt for Shane, and also for Myrnin…and possibly even those ridiculous crushes, like on him and also, weirdly, even on Richard Morrell, but that's besides the point. What I need to be doing now is…is going home and explaining to Michael on the way that it was just a kiss that happened because Myrnin saved me from something, and…and, basically, I'm screwed.

"Michael, are we going home?" I ask him, breaking the silence, and looking away from him so that he can't do any mind-control things. Not that I think Myrnin would let him, but you never know with my boss; he can be crazily cool one minute, then be your worst enemy the next. "Because I really want to—"

"No," he cuts me off mid-sentence, his eyes flashing once again. "I'm not going home with you. Not…not after you kissed him! Don't think you can pretend with me, Claire; I saw the way that you were with him at the ball."

"I do always find it interesting the way that people discuss me as if I'm not even here," Myrnin comments reproachfully, and I shoot him an angered look.

"Shut up, Myrnin," I order him, and he holds his hands up, smiling even though I don't think that the situation calls for it. "And Michael, you know nothing, alright? Literally, you don't know anything that's gone on! So if you're not going to talk to me, just go home. I'll call you when we can tell you what's going on, alright?" realising how bitchy I'm being, I try to level my tone off by the end, but I can tell he's had it, given that he turns on his heel and runs up the hill within mere seconds of my last word.

"That went rather well," Myrnin comments needlessly, and I just flip him off, not even bothering to tell him to shut up. "Well, it looks as though Amelie and Sam are moving off towards that shining…she is using my portals!" he sounds positively outraged, and the shock of his attention being so firmly drawn to this has me laughing, because he's so serious about being mad! It's actually the best thing that's happened in weeks, and I find myself half sinking to the floor with the reverberations of laughter through my body.

"Go tell her not to use them, then," I suggest, knowing what'll happen if he does.

"I may…"

"No, you won't," I tell him, "because you know you'd either be dead within a minute, or ordered to work with Oliver for the rest of your life. So don't do it. I'm sure that Amelie commands the portals as well, so…"

At this point, I can see Amelie's head shooting in our direction, and there's a smile on her lips that I've never seen before; Sam is in her arms, and though she's only looking at us for a second or two, I can see the love and adoration for the man in her arms. As well as a touch of humour because of our conversation—wait, did I just use the words Amelie and humour in the same sentence, and not implying that she's lacking humour?

Is the world right here?

"So, what do you want to do, little Claire?" Myrnin reminds me of his presence and I shiver, remembering just what Michael said, and so guessing how Shane will react.

"I want to go back to the lab and work on something to help Sam to integrate to society easier, or something, I don't care, I just want to work," I decide, fighting through fatigue because if I slept now? The nightmares would attack, and I don't feel strong enough for that. "Don't try and fight me, Myrnin. I don't want to talk."

And as we walk towards the portal that lingers, he doesn't even question my orders. This world definitely is different.

I'm sorry for not updating for a while; every time I was going to, I was either RPing, at a party, doing work experience, or ill, so.

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