Claire's POV
Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.
The clock is too loud, its echoing in my ear drums; a base beat which in itself is droning away every other decibel of sound. We are all gathered in Amelie's quarters; us, Myrnin and Jessie, Oliver all because of the death of the chief of police…and Myrnin is currently trying his very hardest to incriminate himself of her traumatically, horrific end. Because she was murdered. And not by Myrnin… before you start to guess. She murdered by the Draug. The cold, blood sucking inhuman beast that is ruling the majority of our small now almost happy town.
'But it was me… if I hadn't got so distracted and…' Myrnin breaks into my inner monologue with his growl which almost becomes a scream. I can tell by just looking at him that his blame is soul deep; he isn't just blaming himself, he's torturing himself with what ifs, replying a million ways he could have saved her. Saved Hannah. But the fact is they did try and save her. They tried to pull the draug off, their hands show evidence that they took hold of it, that they tried but what I've learnt about these demons are that their weakness normally aren't our strengths and they had us in that lab… they had the upper-hand; as Shane would say they had the leverage. And now we have another body in our make-shift morgue. A morgue that is getting far, far too much use.
'Myrnin listen it was only a matter of time…' Amelie tries to reason with him, her tone bare of her usual power and authority.
'No.' Myrnin physically exhales. 'No it's not. He was right Aquinas he was; sex is intrinsically wrong… look what it's done today…' And then Myrnin lets out a scream, an animalistic vestibule of his utter sorrow and regret- and I'm taken back all those years to when the disease was eating him alive making him the stereotypical vampire of those awful fictions.
'Myrnin listen man…' Shane is trying to talk some sense into Myrnin… and for some reason that brings tears into my eyes. 'You tried to stop it. You had the snow in the lab to try and help save us all. You are not to blame, none of us are too blame. It happened we are in the middle of Hell…no one is responsible.' Shane sounds so mature saying all this; so far removed from the guy I'm usually married to, the one who sits and plays video game every night, hooting in laughter when the zombie bites off Michael's avatar's head before his own.
'He's right.' Michael says. Moving closer to Myrnin, placing a hand on his shoulder. 'You have no blame here; it was just too strong.'
'But she's dead…' Myrnin whispers.
'But not because of you my brawd.' Amelie murmurs. The welsh custom makes Myrnin raise his head, meeting Amelie's eyes, his long brown hair hiding the majority of his face. 'It was not you who made the fatal blow my dear friend; in war death is an occurrence that is customary, yet this war is one where each death is a blow- but not one that is at the hands of our enemy will make the consequence fall at our own feet; instead when we fight we will fight for them.' Amelie raises her voice and addresses the room, I can't even hear a breath. 'We will fight in their honour, making sure that their deaths were worth something.' We're hushed, even Annabelle who's cradled in Eve's arms.
'I never thought I'd see her go.' Oliver says, his voice hauntingly soft in tone. 'Returned from war, a hero.'
'She won't be forgotten, no-one in this town will be forgotten.'
It's in the following silence that I feel Shane's arms around me, his cheek resting on my head, as we both savour the closeness and the beauty of the relationship we have together- we have been so lucky to have gotten this far in a town where once nightfall was almost a death sentence in itself. And now when we'd actually believed we were safe, we were once again being hunted in our streets, in the place we actually call home.
'Daddy?' Annabelle's high pitch voice, echoes in my ears as both me and Shane turn in her direction. In her struggle Eve lowers her to the floor, where she walks almost haphazardly to Shane her arms raised above her head, for him to pick her up. Her chubby toddler legs adorably sweet in the leggings, her mother probably picked earlier this morning. Shane picks her up, throwing her in the air and catching her- making her belly laugh, and scream 'Ag..ain! Ag..ain!' in-between hysterical giggles; her joy is tangible and also very catchy because before long I hear Eve laugh, them Michael, then even Jessie; I look over to Amelie to find her smiling at my little girl, along with Oliver even Myrnin is looking at her adoringly.
'New mama?' She asks.
I think my heart stops beating. I feel tears build in my eyes. I turn to look at her, in Shane's arms; hours ago we had just the two of us but now we're part of a family.
'What?' I say to her, smoothing down one of her curls.
She doesn't answer just stretches out her chubby little arms towards me, pushing herself into my arms, I take her from Shane without taking my eyes from her face her little arms wind their way around my neck, with her head resting on my shoulder; she gives a contented sign. The tears no longer just pool in my eyes; I feel a smile playing at my lips. I lean into Shane as his arms encircle my waist, and now I feel content… I feel somewhat safe. Annabelle's breathing becomes heavier, as sleep welcomes her lovingly.
Its then that a realise today is finally over. I catch myself on a yawn.
'Yes I very much agree, today has been somewhat exhausting. Go to your rooms, sleep as best you can.' We all nod, making our way to the door. 'Oh and Claire?' I turn expectantly. 'I'll see that my people find the child's belongings and other necessities.' I smile and nod, literally asleep on my feet.
Myrnin is walking ahead of us in the hall leading from Amelie's chambers, the hallways wide but somewhat claustrophobic due to the heavy maroon carpet and dark walls ornamented with large brass frames holding photos many centuries old. His rambles drift over me like a fine spring rain, that even in the small concentrated state seems to soak you to the skin.
'They will not leave here alive…' I hear snippets of the conversation Jessie and him are having in harsh tones. 'I have enough… they are weak!'
'What?' Shane's asks, confusion lacing his tone. Michael and Eve have come to a stop too, forming a circle round Myrnin and Jessie; Jessie if anything looks remotely smug.
'They're weakened.' Myrnin murmurs.
'Miranda…' I breathe.
'Oh God.' Eve whispers.
'Fuck then what do we do…' Shane questions, surveying the corridor as if expecting a draug to appear.
'What do you mean Miranda?' Jessie asks, watching us all questioningly.
'Oh we didn't… when we came down the lab we we're coming to tell you but then…well…' I stutter, unsure how to finish that sentence.
'Right, well let's go to the hub and we'll sit and you can tell us.' The hub is what we call the intersections between corridors, pointless circles of space with the main one being right outside our bedroom…fabulous right? Even through my exhaustion I know there is absolutely no point in arguing with her, so we trudge down the rest of the corridor, I literally moan in relief when I sit on one of the couches.
'So Miranda is the physic girl, right?' Jessie asks.
'Yes.' Eve replies. 'But after she died then became a ghost, human you know, she stopped having visions; this is the first one in a while.' Eve finishes breathless.
'Okay so why did you all react the way you did before?'
'Well this is why.' Michael sighs, prizing his phone from his jean pocket, he taps a few keys and shows the screen to Jessie.
'As if by magic it will return
As white as purity, as blackened as earth
Though we feared it before, its only grew stronger still
She still sees it the girl who knew
But everything has changed and the power is no longer the prize.
The blood of the innocents will be pay the price
But no-one survives as the world turns as cold as ice.
Magnus watches, a piece in the games
Snow is watching, each and every move we make.'
Jessie reads the poem out-loud in her angelical voice, Myrnin's pacing begins to make me dizzy due to the sheer speed.
'This girl, she saw this?' Jessie snaps.
'She saw it.' Shane confirms.
'Well we may as well snap their necks and swallow silver.' Myrnin growls.
'You will do no such thing.' Oliver growls. 'We fight it. And we win.' He concludes.
'We can win.' Comes a breathy voice from behind Oliver. 'If we all stick together, and realise there is a lesser evil…' Miranda comes into view, her petite frame if anything looking even more minute.
'What do you mean child?' Oliver asks.
'Bishop.' She breathes.
'It's never candy is it?' Shane rasps.
'My father?' Amelie's voice echoes from down the hall.
Sorry about the delay in updates, but hopefully this twist makes up for it! Any ideas I'd love to hear and don't forget to leave a review!
