Chapter 4:

Three weeks later:

Amelie's POV:

"Who are you?" the weak male vampire inquired as he lay on the floor, inches from death.

Amelie sighed, having grown weary of this entirely tedious and repetitive conversation that she had had with the other vampires, the ones she had already killed. John and Elizabeth had perished the week prior to this, but she had had to track Hugo down, in order to kill him.

"I am Amelie," she responded as she had done to the other two, not elaborating any further. "Mon ami, you have no need to know anything further, since I am sending you to your grave within the next few minutes… it would be a waste of my valuable time, you see."

"You plan to try and take over the Elders Council?" he accurately deduced from her stance, her seemingness to know everything around her. "Jesus, you don't know anything do you?" he riled her with this statement, just enough for her to cock her head in inquisition.

"Very well," she said slowly, relaxing her angry stance a fraction – but not enough for him to escape or attack her. "Reveal your knowledge."

He shrugs slightly and slides around on the floor to sit upright slightly. She allows him this, especially since Myrnin and Oliver are only on the other side of the room and if Hugo tried to attack her, they would throw him off.

"You saw Jonathon at the meeting, I presume, as how else would you know I was an Elder?" he thought to himself and she nodded slightly, to show agreement with this. "Well, you saw how powerful he was. He had been hiding from Clemence this fact for many years, ever since she killed the previous Eldest and took their place. You may be strong enough to destroy us all, although that would take many a year… I presume you are French, with your accent? Your lack of denial makes it ever more obvious. My point? My point is that the amount of vampires in France probably equals over half of the population of vampires… and Bishop… he is the scariest vampire I have had the misfortune to come across – he may be young, but he is definitely powerful," finally, Hugo finished, shutting his eyes as he realised he had just told the young vampire an extremely beneficial point in aiding her to her position she desired so.

She smiled and even let out a slight laugh, which confused the elder vampire.

"Hugo, you seem to be under a huge misapprehension," she informed him with the sun in her voice. It was this, and her perfect looks, that made her seem like a perfectly innocent twenty something year old… she hid the deadliness so deep that sometimes even her friends had a job remembering she was the deadliest thing – besides Bishop – that they had ever came across. "You see, Mr Bishop is my Father. We are kin, as you were to your father, Paul. So I know just how dangerous he is… I had to grow up with him. Therefore your worries and probable hopes that this is where I would meet my match are unwarranted – I know how to defeat him, what his weaknesses are," she smiled at the confused vampire who only then put things together. It finally clicked into his mind that the dangerous female before him was so dangerous because she had been forced to act in such a manner to make it through her childhood. He wondered if she was an only child (she was) and if that was because she was the only one who could survive with him as their Father; he supposed that only the firstborn would be granted the chance to be strong and the rest would be weaklings…

"You don't have to kill me… it is the Eldest female that has all the powers, not the Eldest in general," he tried to save himself, resorting to begging. "I could be the Eldest and you could have the powers!"

"If that is the case, then why did Jonathon feel the need to kill Clemence?" she asked, smiling at the lucidity of his words. "And even if it were true, why would I choose you? I could save myself the hassle of trying to kill my father and simply allow him to be the Eldest," she continued, shaking her head slightly.

"You are going to kill me now," Hugo stated in a heavy voice, no emotion inflicting the statement that his 450 year long life was going to be ending. His plea for clemency had been ignored by Amelie… she had no need for him, none whatsoever.

"Yes," she responded just as simply, seeing no need for elaborate explanations. Then she reached into her pocket and withdrew a stake before proceeding to plunge it into his heart without fuss. She simply stared at him as he slowly died; the process sped up by the silver torture she had already administered.

"Congratulations," Oliver said in a tone that could be deemed sarcastic – although it was doubted that he would be aiming for such a tone when he saw what his female companion was able to do to someone over double her age. "You are the only vampire, besides us two, in the neighbouring counties. Surely that must please you?" he asked, as the blonde turned to him. She surveyed him a long moment, the vampire side to her nature the prominent part, before she smiled and released her hair from its tight bun. She relaxed her shoulders before motioning for her friends to come closer.

"I feel we shall have to burn the house down – there are evident signs of a struggle and I cannot have the suspicion associated with the fighting going around the area, especially on the off chance that another Elder catches wind of it," she explained, already reaching for the oil lamp. The men found the alcohol and began sprinkling it around the rather disgusting house that belonged to one of the eldest Elders.

Once they were ready to leave and she had said a small prayer for both her and Hugo's souls, she dropped the oil lantern into the pool of alcohol before rushing out of the house. The other two followed her and remained in the same position the entire way back to their homes in the neighbouring town. They remained anonymous and knew exactly how to avoid the main areas of town that were still busy even at this late an hour. If they, but especially Amelie (a woman who wasn't a prostitute, clearly shown by the good taste of her clothing), were caught out at this hour, they could lose their secrecy.

"We shall talk tomorrow evening, just after sunset," she ordered calmly, as Myrnin and herself lingered outside of their home to see Oliver cross the street to his own. He may have been 100m away but he could still hear her soft whisper.

"That is when we shall meet," he agreed before disappearing into the depths of his house.

"Congratulations, my Amelie, you completed your first stage," Myrnin commented as they sat down in their living room, not wanting to move.

"I just wonder who will be moving to take their place in the Council," she murmured, her brain tiring faster than she thought possible as she tried to process this. But she soon relaxed and allowed herself a little time to rejoice in her actions. She had the next five months or so to relax and possibly find other vampires. It made a nice change, not to be worrying.

Yet somewhere deep down, she knew that she had to find a plan to fight her father. Hugo had reminded her how ruthless, vicious, relentless, he was in a fight and she had to destroy him. It was him… or it was her.

Bishop's POV:

He wiped the blood from his face as he surveyed the remnants of the third vampire he had killed in that week following the Elders meeting. He was glad that he had observed the other vampires who lived close to his home in Calais, so he didn't feel as if he was simply resting for the remaining five months or so – the final month would, as before, have to be the secret journeying to England and then concealment of himself. He was proud of his hiding skills and his hunting skills – he had found the vampires he desired near enough instantly.

He had a strong feeling that Amelie would be dealing with the English vampires, so he needn't worry about them. Why on earth she moved to England when she is French, I will never understand, he thought, as he thought of his daughter. He loved her, he supposed, but not in a conventional way. She was all he had left now, but he didn't feel that his feelings would put him at a disadvantage if they came to fight – she wasn't that important to him.

He left the room as silently as he had entered, slightly grieved that he had not managed to prise any information from the young man's lips before he had perished… it was a shame, but not a hindrance – he hoped that some of the other vampires he knew lived in either France or the north of Spain or Italy would lead to more information. He needed as much information as possible, if he were to take on the biggest and most feared vampires in the world – including Jonathon. Oh, that would be a huge fight… he only hoped he won it.

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Vicky xx