Chapter 25:

Wow, sorry about the cliffhanger… hope you enjoyed the suspense as to what goes down between Bishop and Claire… you don't find out yet though!

Sorry for the long update, I was waiting for Tipsy14 to update & also, I wrote a play! It's going in for a competition in the next week or so, but maybe I'll make a FictionPress and let you have a gander at it!

Enjoy the chapter!

Myrnin's POV:

I do feel guilty. I mean, I have just gotten back my Claire and she expected me to be on her side in this important issue. If I was naïve and didn't know what Bishop is like, I would have gone on her side and ruled against Amelie. However, there are reasons as to why I couldn't do that. One is that Amelie IS right... It is too dangerous for such a young vampire (with no fighting abilities whatsoever!) to be so closely involved in major fighting to the death. I wouldn't be able to survive the pain her death would bring to my soul. The other reason is a selfish one: to watch my Claire suffer in a fight that she cannot win would be truly horrendous - she is only 8 months or so old and she knows nothing. Although perhaps for different reasons (primarily the link established between them), Amelie agrees with me - that's why she told Claire she shouldn't be involved.

I look into Claire's face as she looks at me pleadingly to get me to persuade Amelie to change her mind. She looks so worried as to be left out of this fight, and as we lock eyes, I want to succumb and allow her her way. I feel weakening in my soul and resolve, yet I cannot. I know that she cannot be party to this fighting - she doesn't have the TIME to learn how to fight. I wouldn't teach her anyway.

Looking at her makes me weaker, so I look away from her. I shake my head to show her that I will not accept her into the fight. Not only is she unable to fight, she would be a liability - I would end up being unable to be proactive myself because I would have to go and protect her.

"This totally isn't fair," she mutters darkly and strides towards the door. I wince as she wrenches it open - I can just tell that she's going to... Yep, she slams the door so hard, if it wasn't reinforced (Amelie is partial to the odd door slam) it would have splintered into a million pieces. Still, the walls shake erratically and if Sam hadn't have suddenly darted over to support it, one of the many paintings on the wall would have fallen. She has such a temper! I cannot blame her, however, because she is being forcibly kept out of one of the biggest events she will ever live through.

I look up at Amelie and wince again as I process her face. She looks murderously angry, as if she cannot stand that her Granddaughter (hey, that makes me her grandson-in-law... Not that that is creepy or anything!) slammed a door in her house. She needs to take, how do the youngsters put it, a chill pill? Yes, Claire continually told me to do that in the past - she hasn't since we got married! Then again, we've only been married about one month and a half and most of that we've been 'seperated' so it's not the most accurate depiction. I can see Amelie is trying to get herself back under her own control through deep breathing and closing her eyes. Within a few seconds she appears to be back to normal and smiles wanly as she looks at me again.

"She cannot be involved, you know that Myrnin," Amelie says quietly to me. I nod, deep in thought... I know why she can't. As well as all those other reasons I mentioned earlier, there is something I may have to do. It's definitely not something I want to do, yet it could be the thing that means we beat Bishop once and for all. Maybe I won't have to do it. Maybe Michael or Lindsay or, or... No, I don't know. One thing I do know is that Samuel nor Amelie will be partaking in it.

"I know," I snap at Amelie, my anger bursting through. "I know she cannot be. Yet that doesn't make it right that she can't - she deserves to be able to take part in this, if she wants to!" I continue and I feel my face turning into a wrangled mess of anger.

"Do you want her to die?" Amelie puts it bluntly. I look shellshocked and she takes this as a no. "I thought not. If you want her to have a very good chance of this happening, permit her to take part. We five here know what has to happen... She doesn't. Why should we permit her to include herself in very risky odds which could end with her death?" she continues - now she's put it like that. But still, she should know the full facts... Yet if she knew the odds under what we're going into this war with, she would insist on fighting with us. She needs to be out of this entirely: a world where Claire does not exist is a place that would be ever more horrific than a place without any of the others.

This plan we have is deeply disturbing. I can only hope that it's status as a contingency plan remains the same - I do not want it to change. If it does, we remain perilously close to... I cannot even say it.

"It still isn't fair to not inform her," I argue back, even though in my heart I agree with Amelie.

"Life isn't about being fair," Amelie shoots back. "We do what we can to survive... Do you really think any of us would truly be here if life was fair? No, we wouldn't. So be quiet about being fair because fairness doesn't exist, at least in our world," she finishes before pacing around the room faster than I have ever seen her move before. Given that I have seen her in combat more times than I care to remember, that is rather worrying – if she hasn't felt a need to move that fast when she is trying to save her life, why is she now?

"Hear hear," Sam says gravely, lifting a glass of whiskey he has just poured himself. How did I not notice any whiskey? Deary me, this entire saga has made my nose forget the sweet scent of my favourite tipple – it has gotten me into quite a few hair raising situations in my life, yet it is the best drink in the world. Besides freshly flowing human blood from the neck of a human, their heart beating the blood lusciously around their body… stop. I cannot bare to think about this – it will only make me unnecessarily thirsty, which is something I do not want to happen!

I rush over, almost without realising it, to the drinks cabinet where Sam is standing and I pull out the oldest bottle of malt whiskey there is in there. Ahh, this is Amelie's secret stash – the alcohol we bought centuries ago and she insisted that I drank it all! The little minx hid it away and kept it for herself! My, I have to admire the brashness Amelie has – not many people would attempt to steal from a vampire but to blatantly have the stolen items on show is just so her!

"Amelie, I think you have something to be saying to me," I say to her, lifting the bottle up to show her. Her eyes narrow slightly as she processes the identity of the whiskey, before she blushes slightly. She then turns away to talk to Oliver without even apologising… then again what did I expect from Amelie? I turn to Sam who shrugs slightly before downing the rest of his drink, Michael looking on longingly. That is rather funny – he's not allowed to drink anything with even a hint of alcohol in when he is around Sam. I was going to extend it to when he is around me, but then Claire would probably get all snippy and such so I decided not to – it would have been fun though!

I pour a whiskey before moving back over to the main group of us, to listen in to the plan. Unfortunately, it seems that we have moved on from discussing this, and the meeting is at its close.

"Oliver, if you could once again relay everything we have just discussed to the vampires in my ballroom, that would be extremely helpful," Amelie says, pinching her nose slightly. Oliver nods and ducks out of the room, leaving the door open, and doesn't even make a noise of complaint; if fighting Bishop is good for anything, it's for Oliver to realise what his place is in the society of Morganville.

"Amelie, what are we going to do now?" I ask as I sip my whiskey. Something in the back of my mind is telling me that there is something not quite right somewhere, but I cannot tell what it is.

"We are going to go and explain to Claire as much as possible what is going to happen," Amelie says – when she says Claire's name, I realise what is wrong.

I throw my glass down on the table and race out of the room, Amelie Sam and Michael hot on my heels. Within less than a second I am in the living room where Claire's scent is highly concentrated… just Claire isn't in here. where could she be?

"Where is she?" I growl, listening all around the house for any signs that she may just be in the bathroom or have gone to another room to vent her frustrations pertaining to not being involved in this all. Yet she isn't.

"Here," Amelie says quietly, picking up a folded sheet of paper on the table. I whirl over to stand behind Amelie to be able to read the letter, my heart disappearing once again as my brain processes the information it is telling me.

Hi

I am not going to sit around and watch as you all go and fight… I cannot do that. I will not do that. That is why I have gone back – I will have them all rounded together, as best as possible, for your attack tomorrow night. Please don't try and bring me back because it will just get you caught. I will see you all soon.

Love

Claire

She has gone back to Bishop. She has returned to the place where we will be attacking in mere hours to try and do some fool hardy thing to be part of this battle. She has put herself into more danger than I could ever imagine… she isn't here. She isn't safe and secure, as we planned. No, she is in a higher level of danger which will probably mean that she is going to die anyway.

"That stupid girl!" Amelie snarls as she passes the paper to Sam. I sink onto the sofa and put my head in my hands: perhaps I can go after her and stop her? "She has gone back! Even when I expressly told her that it was too dangerous for her to even consider returning before we decided we were going to attack!" she continues and Sam holds her close to him – I can hear the crinkling of fabric as they join.

"When has Claire ever done as she is told?" Sam asks wryly, and I move my head in agreement. She never does what I tell her to, or what anyone else does. If it is different to her own plan of action, she will just ignore her orders and go ahead with what she wants! It's something I normally love, but now… now that her life is in danger, I find it idiotic!

"I have to go and fetch her," I say and begin to make a move to stand. However, before I can, Amelie is already holding me down by my shoulder, meaning that I cannot move. No matter how hard I try to force her off me, she is stronger than me. Even pregnant, she has more strength than I ever will – part of being so much older, I presume.

"Stay here, Myrnin, you cannot go there!" she says urgently but I shake my head.

"Claire is in danger, I cannot just sit here!" I yell and try to throw her off, yet again to no avail.

"I'll go," Sam says gravely, already moving around the room and picking up various items of ammunition. Wooden stakes, holy water… things to use on his opponent, and obviously not Claire or himself.

"Samuel, you cannot go!" Amelie says to him but she cannot move – she is too busy holding me down. She knows that if she moves to stop Sam, she will release me – and I will be out of that portal in the corner faster than a rocket. "Michael, stop him!" she continues, pointing at Michael to block Sam's passage through the portal.

"Michael, I love you, but if you do not move I shall have to hurt you," Sam says in a grave tone as he reaches the portal that Michael is blocking. Michael move – you are stopping my wife from being rescued! No, get your ass out of the way now before I throw a pregnant woman across the room and move you myself!

Finally, he moves aside and let's Sam through the door. Sam shuts the door on his way out and it slowly dematerialises. As soon as that happens, Amelie darts away from me and places her hand on the wall to lock the entire house down. I follow her and as soon as she removes her hand from the wall, I instantly begin trying to use my power as creator of the machine to be able to override her blocking.

"It's my home, Myrnin, so you do not have jurisdiction here as to whether or not I block you from leaving," Amelie says to me coolly before facing a horrified looking Michael. "You are an idiot. You let Samuel go there, where he is probably going to die, into one of the most dangerous scenarios he will ever face alone. He is going before we are ready. If he dies, this is on you, Michael," she spits out before turning away. He looks so shocked and unhappy, my heart would go out to him if it was here. if Sam is going to die, then Claire has absolutely no chance. She hasn't got even a morsel of resistance against a stake to the chest – I guess she is most likely already dead. That's a brilliant beginning to a second try at marriage, the wife dead because I wouldn't give her something she wanted.

"Don't take it out on him, Amelie," I say, moving into the corner besides her. I place a hand gently on her shoulder and she almost throws it off before resisting. I look back at Michael and he gets the message that I want him to leave the room; he shuts the door on his way out. "He's just a boy. He hasn't done anything wrong – Sam was going there, whether Michael stood there or not. The only difference is Michael isn't hurt, which he would have been if Sam threw him out of the way," I continue conceding, trying to make her feel better. I mean, I am not going to be able to relax whatsoever or get over this pain, but at least Sam has a chance of getting out of there.

"He moved aside and let him leave – that isn't a good thing, it shows a coward," Amelie snarls but I can see tears dripping down her face. I pull her around and into a hug, feeling the slight bump her pregnancy has given her so far.

"No, it shows someone who has the brains to realise when he shouldn't fight," I say gently but she punches my shoulder, breaking down.

"Sam doesn't have that!" she wails into my shoulder, collapsing against me. "He is going to be a father! He shouldn't have left to go on a blasted suicide mission! He's going… he's going to die, for real this time, and leave me here, alone with a baby to raise. I cannot do it, Myrnin. It's not me – I cannot do such things alone. He has to survive!" she continues and I move her gently onto the sofa, supporting her all the while.

"He will be ok," I promise, even though I know no such thing. "You won't be alone Amelie, this baby will have two parents with it all the way through its life. You can count on that."

But can she really?

I decided, for dramatic effect, Sam/Claire thing will be next chapter, meaning that you will have a nice long chapter update!

So, the MAIN battle won't be next chapter, but there's going to be LOTS of tension... stay tuned... someone may die...

Please review, as always! PLEASE REVIEW! I will dance around for eternity if you ALL review... if I don't get many, the nail-biting next few chapters may spend some time in my Doc. Uploader!

Vicky xx