Claire tried to slow her breathing and the pace of her racing heart, knowing full well that the vampire on her bed could hear the irregularity. But, she just couldn't help it. On her bed sat the head vampire, dressed in all white like the ice queen she was, with an unreadable facial expression. If Claire thought that Amelie's fury was frightening, then the blank expression was downright terrifying. "Um, hello, Amelie." She tried to keep her voice calm and collected, but what supposed to be a warm greeting sounded more like a question.

Amelie stared straight into Claire's eyes, and after what seemed like an eternity, finally spoke. "Claire." She was silent again, so Claire took a glance around the room, realizing that no one was with Amelie, not even her usual guards. That meant no one to calm Amelie down if she got too angry. She looked back at Amelie, who had an eyebrow quirked. "You might want to control your breathing before you have a heart attack."

Well, that means she doesn't want me to die…or maybe she doesn't want me to die from natural causes, because she wants to brutally kill me for betraying her, Claire had to stop thinking like that, because it wasn't helping her pulse at all. She was wondering how she had managed not to go into cardiac arrest already. "Is there something you needed?" Her voice was still shaky, but a bit better than what it was moments ago.

Amelie stood up, walking over to the window, and turned her back to Claire. After a moment of gazing, she turned back to look at Claire. "You left." It wasn't a question, just a statement, and Claire still was unable to tell if Amelie was pissed. "You left without speaking to me about it, care to explain?"

Damn these people and their curiosity as to where Claire had gone for three months. She still wasn't ready to explain, but this was Amelie, and she didn't have much of a choice. Amelie was probably furious now, and if Claire refused to tell her where she'd been, well there wasn't any doubt that today would probably end with blood shed. And not Amelie's blood, either. So, Claire bit her lip and prepared to re-live the past three months that had been somewhat fun, but also hell. "I got a phone call one day and I found out that my friend wasn't doing so well. She, um, she had cancer…" Her voice broke on the end and she could feel the tears pool in her eyes.

Claire wasn't like Eve. She didn't like breaking down and crying whenever the smallest thing went wrong. Plus, she probably looked pathetic to Amelie. Surely an old, head vampire was used to death by now, but nevertheless, Claire continued. "I left to spend some time with her before she, you know…" She wasn't able to say the 'D' word, so she skipped it. "I was going to ask, but I knew it was rare to get permission to leave Morganville, so I just went without saying anything…"

Amelie's face hardened, obviously not liking the fact that Claire took it upon herself to just leave. But, there were most important matters at hand. "And your bracelet?" She eyed Claire's wrist, where the bracelet once was, but only a scar remained now.

"Once I hit the border, it disintegrated." Claire debated on whether she should tell Amelie about her wound, but decided against it. Amelie would obviously know what would happen to people and their protection bracelet's if they fled without permission.

"But not before it dug and sliced into your flesh?" Claire's mouth dropped. So she did know. "Oh, I know all about it, dear Claire. I knew about it the exact moment you hit the border. So, if we wanted to get technical, you did get permission to leave."

Claire was stunned. If she had gotten permission to leave, then why had her bracelet tried to kill her? And how had she gotten permission when she had never informed anyone that she was planning to leave? But, some things were beginning to make sense. If Claire hadn't gotten permission, she would more than likely be dead right now. There were definitely some pieces of the puzzle missing and she wasn't going to figure them out on her own, so she waited for Amelie to continue.

"The moment you hit Morganville's border, founder's bracelets are programmed to tighten, and become extremely uncomfortable. Usually once the bracelet starts tightening, it frightens people into going back into Morganville, and then the bracelet goes back to normal. But, in your case, you chose to keep going, and the bracelet continued to tighten. Well, once it cut into your wrists, the blood seeped onto the bracelet and alerted me."

Claire could hear a million questions forming in her head, so she asked the one that came first. "But how did you know that it wasn't just a small cut or something? What if I had been home, fallen, gotten a cut and some blood dripped onto the bracelet?"

"I would still have been alerted. Anytime your blood drips onto the bracelet, I'm alerted with your exact location and how much blood had dripped onto it. So, I would know if it was just a paper cut you received at home. Are you also aware that there are cameras at Morganville's borders?"

Claire should have known; these vampires didn't do anything half-ass. Then, another question popped into her head. It was the question that had always been there since the day she left Morganville. "But the bracelet disintegrated. Does it do that once you get so far away from the border?"

Amelie laughed, but not a normal one, it was a cold, creepy laugh. Myrnin's laugh was nothing compared to this. "No. No, it does not. You could be very much dead had I not chosen to free you of my protection. That bracelet would have continued to cut until your hand was severed off if I hadn't stopped my claim over you."

So, Claire was supposed to be dead, and she would have been if Amelie hadn't….Oh God. "So does that mean what I think it means?"

"If you think it means that you no longer belong to me, then yes. You will no longer participate in Myrnin's studies or do any favors for me, while I am not obligated to provide protection for you."

Claire felt her heart pick up pace again. That meant it was hunting season, vampire style. She couldn't let that get to her, though, because she still had more questions. "Why'd you let me go? I thought it was rare for anyone to be allowed to leave Morganville."

Amelie sighed, apparently growing tired of all these questions. "Don't think I let you go completely free and unwatched." Claire froze. She had been watched. She had been watched for the entire three months she was away. By vampires. "I was quite disappointed when I heard of your new habits. Partying and drinking? I thought you were different from the other children your age, but I was obviously wrong."

Claire was a second away from correcting Amelie. She was not a child, but then again, her behavior was far from mature. She supposed she could just blame it on being a typical rebellious teenage stage, but Claire wasn't a typical teenager. Sure, she had rebellious moments, but they were usually only brave acts to save herself or her friends. They were never anything foolish like crashing parties or drinking until she couldn't see straight. All Claire could do was mumble, "I'm sorry."

"Sorry you may be, but it doesn't change anything. I believe the old saying 'you made your own bed and now it is time to lie in it' describes your current situation well. So all I can do now is warn you, don't leave the house at night and watch your back during the day. Farewell, child." Amelie dismissed herself and headed for the door. Farewell, there was just something so final about it, and Claire didn't like that.

"Wait!" Amelie froze, but didn't turn to face Claire. "Isn't there anything I can do to fix this? I know I made a mistake, okay, I made a lot of mistakes, but I'll do anything to make everything right. Please, I'm sure you've done some things that you regret; you have to understand."

"You're right, I've made plenty of mistakes, but I learned from them. I'm not so sure you have, and until you do, forgiveness is not an option." Then, Amelie was out of sight.

The tears streamed down Claire's cheeks, finally receiving their release. The world was crashing around her and every mistake she had made was ringing in her head. She had so many regrets, and the biggest one, was accepting that phone call. It had ruined everything. She could still be living happily in Morganville with protection at this very moment with her friends and boyfriend. She wouldn't have had to experience three months of hell watching her friend slowly succumb to death, seeing Cara's eyes gloss over, but refusing to cry because she figured that it did nothing to change the matter of fact she was going to die, anyways.

But that stuff didn't matter anymore. What was done is done. And even though Claire might not be able to take back her mistakes, she could start working towards overcoming them. She wouldn't touch another alcoholic beverage and she'd spend time studying instead of partying. She had to redeem herself. So, she grabbed her money, and headed back downstairs to meet Shane.

Hmm, so I feel like something is missing in this chapter? I dunno what, though. But, I made it as good as I could. I've re-written it about four times, so I hope this pleases you and answered some of your questions. Yeah, I know there are still a lot I haven't answered, but I will in due time. Review & share your opinions?