Hello, chappies! I got back from Wales a couple days ago ( that's my excuse this week!) so have been busy busy busy. My father and I went for a long weekend, and it was really quite nice! :) We went on some long hikes so of course I have the obligatory blisters on my feet after that! Strange thing was that after about an hour in the country, I accidentally spoke in a Welsh accent! (This is me, who can't put on accents to save my life. I tried to do an English accent once - bear in mind I am English - and it came out Indian!) It's all very strange if you ask me.

Anyhoo, here's the next installment, thank you thank you for everyone who read/reviewed - I love you all! :)

'Addicted To You'

Myrnin's POV

My new donor woke up whilst I was feeding from him, and screamed loudly into my ear. That was the end of him.

I must confess to having killed him by accident though. I panicked.

When your ears are half as sensitive as mine, an inconsiderate person screaming in them is horrifically loud.

I slowly came to my senses again as I set about disposing of the corpse and cleaning the blood from my clothes and skin. I was disgusted with myself, but there was no use to it. I would just keep on killing, no matter what, and I would keep on hating myself afterwards.

What shocked me this time, though, was just how much I had consumed. The man was almost completely drained, with what was left of his blood having settled at the bottom of his body, and in addition to that I had already had five whole bags of blood before him.

I could only come up with one partway plausible explanation for my thirst.

Claire.

I'd only started to notice these increases in my hunger after I had fed from her. It was as if no matter how much blood I drank, I couldn't wash the taste of hers from my mouth. And no amount seemed to be satisfying me, either. Every fibre of my being seemed to be yearning for another taste of her life-force, just another sip from the crystal goblet that held her sweet wine.

But that's ridiculous. After all, she's only human, and her blood is as good as anyone else's to me. Or it should be.

I pulled the now scratched slide out of my pocket, and turned it over and over in my fingers, whirling it faster and faster. It was smeared with the few drops of Claire's blood, and I had been just starting to examine it under a microscope a few days when she entered and...distracted me.

But now I was free to examine it at will, as I had succeeded in pushing her as far away from me as this small town would allow - for now.

Not that I expected to find anything, as vampires are naturally immune to basically anything humans can contract, but I needed to feel as if there may be some explanation to it all, rather than me just losing what little self control I already had as I spend more time with her.

Imagine my surprise when I took but a fleeting glance at the magnified slide and found an anomaly in her genetic structure.

She already had some significantly vampire genes in her DNA, which was a completely new discovery as far as I was aware.

Unbelievable.

Grabbing a notebook and pen from the side, I frantically wrote down what I was seeing, all the time keeping my eyes glued to the microscope.

When I was finished, I quickly pulled on some clothes and shoes, simultaneously pulling my cellphone from yesterday's jean's pocket where they lay crumpled on the floor, and dialling Amelie's number with an odd sense of urgency.

She picked up on the second ring.

"Myrnin."

"Amelie, are you busy?" I said with no preamble.

"Quite. I have a lot of paperwork to look at."

"It's very important."

She sighed, and I heard paper rustling. "Very well. I can see you now, but you must come immediately."

I hung up, and dashed around the room, grabbing all the notes I had taken, only remembering the slide of blood at the last minute and then realising I had forgotten to put pants on when I tried to pocket it and it fell to the floor, breaking cleanly in half with a tiny glass tinkling sound.

Cursing, I picked up the two pieces and set them on the counter, forcing myself to slow down. Amelie didn't really need to see the slide, other than to confirm what I already knew - that it was indeed Claire's blood smeared across it. I felt I would know the scent of her blood amongst ten thousand other humans now.

I quickly pulled on some Hawaiian shorts, stuffed my notebook into one of its pockets, and opened a portal to Amelie's office.

Surprisingly, Oliver was already there. He seemed to be engaged in a passionate discussion with Amelie, although I couldn't hear exactly what he was saying until the portal snapped into place completely.

Unfortunately, he stopped talking just before it did, and saw me as I entered the room.

I would have sworn I saw a vague blush creep across his cheeks, but then he made a stiff bow to Amelie, gave me a terse nod, and absquatulated.

Amelie had been standing when I entered the room, but she sat now, a little wearily. She was slightly flushed, too. I cocked my eyebrows at her, and gave her a questioning look. She didn't deign to answer, merely glared at me, looking irritable.

"What did you want, Myrnin?" She said shortly.

"Ah, yes. One moment." I held up a finger as I rummaged in the pockets of my shorts. Amelie actually sighed and tapped her fingers on the desk. Clearly, there was something nagging at her mind, or she would never behave so outwardly impatient so soon.

I pulled out my thick notebook, and dumped it on the table, flicking frantically through the notes to get to the ones on Claire's blood. I wasn't entirely sure why, but I still had that same sense of urgency I had felt back at the lab.

I finally found the page I wanted, and span the book around so that Amelie could read it.

She peered at it for a couple of seconds, then shook her head angrily and looked up at me again.

"How," She said coldly, "Do you expect me to be able to understand your madman's scrawls? These could be love poems for Claire, for all I know!"

I laughed to hide my embarrassment, but it came out far too high and Amelie looked at me suspiciously. There were indeed some love poems about Claire in there, as sad as it may seem. Most of them were actually written whilst she was in the lab with me, working. I would pen them when she wasn't looking, or when she thought I was taking notes on a particular experiment.

Love has made me a hopelessly romantic idiot.

Amelie cleared her throat pointedly, and my mind returned from it's wanderings to focus on the matter in hand.

"What is this?"

Amelie asked, stabbing a long finger on the notepad. I picked it up, pulling it out of the reach of her stabby finger.

"This," I said, flicking through the book to the right page again, "Is a quick analysis of Claire's blood, which I did this morning."

"And what does it mean?" Amelie said, clearly losing what little patience she had originally had.

I glared at her. "If I knew that, why would I be here?"

"To gloat about how brilliant you are."

I couldn't argue with that, it was a fact.

"That is beside the point." I said eventually.

"And what IS the point?"

"The point. Ah, the point. Well, as I said, these madman's scrawls are actually an analysis of Claire's blood. You see, ever since I fed from her, I haven't been...well, I've been finding it harder and harder to control my desires." Amelie raised her eyebrows at me, and I quickly corrected myself. "My thirst. It culminated tonight when I drained an innocent man."

Amelie looked at me steadily, and I sighed.

"After I had drunk five bags of blood."

That got a reaction from her, no matter how infinitesimal; her eyes widened slightly, and she leaned forwards in her chair a bit, showing her rekindled interest.

"Is that so?" She whispered.

I nodded, and continued. "I decided that, even for myself, that behaviour was... abnormal. I recalled having been like this since feeding from dear Claire, and I realised it must either have been something in her blood that triggered this, or that my continued and regular contact with her has weakened my self-control. I decided to study her blood first, although I thought it unlikely. I was...unwilling to accept that my control was slipping again. This is what I found in her blood."

I proceeded to describe to Amelie at length exactly what I had found in Claire's blood. By the end, she was looking very interested indeed.

"But what does this all mean?" Amelie murmured thoughtfully.

"That," I said with a small smile, "Is what I thought you might be able to help me with. Have you ever come across anything like this before?"

Amelie shook her head slowly. "Vampire genes in a human's blood. Little wonder you couldn't get it out of your system. Her blood must be better for you then any other human's..."

I nodded in agreement, and closed my eyes as wave of nauseous longing washed over me.

"It would mean that my body wouldn't have had to work so hard to convert the blood..." My eyes snapped open, eyes blazing red in accordance with the direction my thoughts were taking.

"No-one else can know." I said, locking eyes with Amelie.

She held my gaze steadily, and nodded. I relaxed, coming out of the threatening stance I hadn't even realised I had taken.

"Myrnin..." Amelie began, looking a little unsure of herself for the first time.

I tilted my head to the side slightly.

"...how have you managed not to kill her?" Amelie said finally, although I am fairly certain this was not what she originally intended to say.

I chuckled, then became more serious.

"I don't know, Amelie. I have killed women whom I have been less attracted to, and drained them without thought. But Claire is akin to the most tempting fruit on the forbidden tree, and I have yet to pluck it from the branch." I said, grimacing at my own analogy. Forbidden fruit.

"You have taken a bite or two, though." Amelie reminded me.

My throat burned again as I remembered that first taste, and for a moment I was lost to the world, engaged in yet another battle with my inner demons.

In a second, Amelie was behind me, a supportive hand ghosting at my shoulder.

I straightened after another minute, breathing heavily. Never has the thirst been so painful before.

Suddenly, I needed blood. Urgently.

I felt my head start to spin, and I doubled over in pain, cursing.

"Myrnin?"

"Blood. Amelie, please."

She left my side and returned almost before I noticed her absence, silently handing me a bottle of lukewarm blood.

I ripped the lid off and downed it as fast as I could, not even savouring the taste as I normally do. I was shaking, a fine tremor running through my body that I couldn't seem to stop. Blood dripped down my chin, and I wiped it away with a shaking hand.

"Thank you. I don't - I don't know what happened. I already had more than enough tonight. Too much, in fact." I sighed. "I feel like a bloated tick that has gorged itself on too much blood."

"That is probably the case." Amelie returned to her seat behind her desk, and regarded me over steepled fingers. "Go and get some rest, Myrnin. I want you to spend as much time as you can bear studying Claire's blood and the possible implications of the vampire genes. This is to be your priority now; however, do not let Claire find out, or take any more blood from her. I say this because I am sure that were her blood to be spilt whilst you are in the same room as her, in your present condition, you would not be able to control yourself. Do you understand?"

"Thank you, Amelie." I said, surprised she was taking it this seriously. I did not realise she cared so deeply for Claire. With a deep bow, I backed out through the wall, back into my lab. I closed the portal and straightened immediately from my bow, before dropping all my public mannerisms and slumping onto the couch, putting my feet on the arm.

I slept badly, dreaming of Claire's body, limp and lifeless on the floor, and her delicious blood smeared around my lips.

Well, there you have it! Back to Claire's POV next chapter, so please remember to put this on your story alert list if you haven't already! Many thanks :) xxx

Also, please push the little review button and review, it only takes a minute of your time and it will make me very happy indeed! :) xxxxxxxxxxxxx