Chapter 2:

That reminds me, thank you to Madelyn Grey for the inspiration, in part, for this story!

"Amelie, we are not going to go and eavesdrop on the damned Elders, unless you want to die!" Myrnin exclaimed at her in shock that she could actually be considering this.

"Slot these grips into my hair, if you would," she replied coolly, changing the subject. The two hundred year old vampire sighed but did as his friend requested, fastening her long blonde hair into a tight bun as he did every morning. "And, Myrnin, it is not a fools mission nor a death wish," she continued, changing the subject deftly back once he had finished with her hair. She stepped away from him and fastened a thick gold chain around her neck that complimented the emerald green velvet dress she had deigned to wear that day.

"Let me guess, Amelie wishes to go and see the Elders, or rather spy on them," Oliver's voice droned into the room, causing both of the other vampires to turn and look at him in disgust. Myrnin, simply because he hated Oliver and wasn't particularly going to smile even when they agreed, and Amelie, because they had disagreed on what to do in regards to the Elders.

Amelie didn't want a circle beneath her, but rather her friend Myrnin as her friend and Oliver as her second - she needed one, she realised, and Oliver was the perfect choice. He may have been only almost half of her near three hundred years but he was powerful and she knew if she didn't have him as an ally (currently) then he would have been a very dangerous enemy. So Oliver was an ally... For now.

"Be quiet, pray," Amelie said coolly, her voice matching the icy feeling spreading throughout the room. "I am my own person, not under your control which ought to be shown by my turning of you, and you are not to tell me what to do."

"Remind me, Amelie, how you managed to find out how to turn a vampire, since this is supposed to be classified information," Oliver argued back, attempting to shoot her down in flames.

She blushed slightly and turned away before answering. "I... Does it truly matter?" she asked, to which Myrnin nodded.

"Hey... Why does he know and I don't?" he inquired, realising that Oliver already knew the answer.

"I accidentally relayed the information to him when he deliberately got me drunk," she replied icily, still raw about the night mere decades ago. Oliver smiled at her but she shook her head, then explained what she had done. Shrugging slightly, she said, "I tricked the youngest into telling me: I pretended to be older than I am, plied him with blood and alcohol to ensure he was blathered, and then he told me."

"You truly astound me, Amelie," Myrnin said, outraged that she could do such a thing and not tell him.

"However, I find that the completely unethical methods Oliver used to find this out were despicable," she continued, turning to look at the man in question with a cool expression on her face.

He shrugged his shoulders and grinned at her, unable to help himself. "All I did was instigate the same tactics you did, just on yourself therefore you cannot moan."

"I did it so that I could destroy them, fool!" she snarled, remembering back to the time when she had nobody to confer with... Until she acted and managed to find out how to make the new vampires. "Don't you see how I need to destroy them, so that the world can be a safer place rather than them dictating what we do?"

"What are your plans?" conceeded Oliver, knowing that the leader of their little group was, as always, right.

"We go and spy on the entire collective of Elders tonight," she suggested slowly, formulating in her head just how she wanted to proceed. An ever calculating mind, she knew exactly what to do in seconds. "We identify them and as they head to their respective homes over the Empire, then I, we, attack them individually. The mistake many of us have made in the past is trying to kill them all together: they will not give away information as a pack and you are more likely to die... But if you wish to find everything out, pick them off one by one," she explained, plopping a grape into her mouth as she did so. The men stared at her, agog that such a delicate flower could have such violent tendancies in her...

Then again, Bishop is her Father... Myrnin thought wryly, remembering his experiences with his friend's Father. He had never been a pleasant man, and Myrnin doubted he ever would be... He knew Amelie wanted rid of her Father forever, and that she would do anything to get it - but what lengths would he go to support her?

"You've really thought this through," Oliver said, impressed with the female's skills... Then again, this was Amelie, he reminded himself. She was a wonder, a warrior so strong he had never seen anything like it, and he knew she always got her way. Whatever she wanted, she got. That was just life for Amelie; if something took her fancy, she couldn't live in peace until she did... It was a quality Myrnin found both admirable and infuriating at the same time.

"What do you expect me to have done, Oliver?" she asked him, irritated that he thought so little of him. "Rushed into it and bludgeoned my way through it, as seems to be your motto?"

Oliver's eyebrows raised at this and his face set into a hardened line, but he declined to respond. She smiled at this tiny victory before walking over to the desk on the side of the room.

"So what do you wish to do?" Oliver asked her, pressing the issue. She rolled her eyes at him before returning to the duo of men, the tension palpable between them - they never had gotten on and they never would do; the only reason they remained within one another's company was because of the woman in their lives. Myrnin was her best friend, her longest friend, and Oliver was... Well, Oliver was complicated: who knew whether or not they could be together in a few years, but at the current moment in time they were friends... but it was rather complicated.

"We know they are meeting at Stonehenge tonight, and it is a full meeting," she reminded them. "I propose we identify the Elders who live in this country and then track those down. The next meeting of the full Elders court will be held in three months time, again at Stonehenge, and we can then choose our next targets. Does that sound acceptable to you both?" she asked them, both nodding in agreement.

"Yes," Myrnin needlessly clarified.

"Good," Amelie smiled, and when she did her face lit up hugely. She lost the wisdom she appeared to have when she was emotionless when she did, and all she had left was utter beauty and grace: her appearance took away the men's breath entirely - it was a good thing that they didn't particularly need it. "Good day, gentlemen, I believe it would be wise to sleep and restore all energy now, rather than fritter it pointlessly listening to you two arguing," she said, moving towards the far corner of the room, through which her bedchamber was situated.

"I shall return in seven hours," Oliver said pointedly, his heels clicking as he walked over the stone floor.

"If you have to," Myrnin predictably responded, picking up the notebook of notes he and Amelie had complied since his turning, two centuries ago. She had had a burning desire to destroy the Elders since she was turned by her Father - she wanted to know the secrets of her kind and if she had to live this life, she wanted to be the most powerful... It had never been her wish nor desire to be a soulless vampire - she was a good Christian and wanted to live a pure life - but that was what fate had drawn for her, so she had to make the best of it. The only way for this could be to be in control of the entire race of vampires... She had to destroy everyone, including her Father.

A despicable being, someone who ought to have been killed when he was human, she contemplated her Father as she removed the only recently added grips from her hair before climbing into bed. She hated him; she had hated him since she was a small child and her Mother had died - she always believed he had had a hand in her death but she could never prove anything.

She hated him. She had detested him for her entire life, and she knew the only thing she had left to do was to kill him. She couldn't live in a world that had him in it any longer than she had to: he would be the final Elder she killed; she would savour the satisfaction that she destroyed him when he had forced her into this life; she would revel in him knowing that she had truly beaten him in it...

She climbed into bed, knowing that she was going to prepare the rest of her life that night...

Bishop's POV:

His eyes narrowed as he surveyed the sight before him. Stonehenge: a place of mystery and confusion - no wonder the Elders insisted on meeting there every full meeting. But why was he here, so early in comparison to the actual meeting? He had to prepare to be able to identify the Elders, the ones who were easiest geographically to his home in France to kill. He had swam the Channel - very rarely did a ship cross with the tensions between the two countries -the prior day to be here early, and he was glad he had.

He had an optimus location in the trees closest to the Stonehenge stones, but far enough away that they wouldn't know of his existence... He was safe.

He sat down and prepared to wait: he wanted to find the Elder vampires and kill them, to them their power. He wanted control of the world: he had turned his daughter, Amelie, many years ago in order for her to be his second (the only thing he trusted was sa famille, and she was all he had left) but she had declined him.

It is strange, but I miss her, he pondered to himself, continuing to seethe from when she had attacked him, in an attempt to kill him. He had hated her for a short time but he knew that he needed her - she was his Daughter and more like him than she knew... He knew that she would come after him, eventually, but she couldn't defeat him: he was stronger and would always win over her. He defeated her weak mortal self to turn her into the vampire she didn't want to become - he would always be able to defeat his offspring. But she was like him... Strong, powerful, wanting to be in control - everything he was. He knew she had a vengeful side to her, a ruthless one, but it had never emerged before: but it would have to, soon.

He had half expected to see her here, but he knew she was more about survival rather than jumping in with both feet... She would make decisions that could threaten all around her, but never herself. She had a survival instinct rooted into her so deep that it would never be rocked - she would never risk her safety.

He smiled as he remembered his daughter, before refocusing upon the stone settlement and began to wait for the vampire Elders...

Whatcha think?

I hope you liked it!

Please review!

Vicky xx