Chapter 15:

I don't own anything.

Amelie could only stare at her father as he held her handkerchief. Foolishly, she made to reach out to try and grab it from Bishop, but he stepped out of her reach and replaced the evidence in his pocket.

"Now," he continued, as though he hadn't paused, "I could take this to our dearest Elder now, and have you staked for destroying so many of our kind…but I won't. You are my daughter, and so long as you do what I want you to, you will be kept safe." He smiled, and Amelie knew in that moment that he had won. He had control over her that she had always tried to avoid him having…and there was nothing she could do to stop it.

"Very well, initiate your attempts to bring an army against Jonathan, but do not expect me to aid you in this mission," she replied coolly, narrowing her eyes at her father. "Communicate with me when you have the next stage of your plan finalised, since it evidently no longer considers me to be a pivotal part."

With that, Amelie made to walk away, until her father's fingers wrapped around her wrist, pulling her back to face him. The physical contact scared Amelie, though she wouldn't openly admit it, simply because of who it was touching her, and just what he was capable of.

"You leave when I tell you to," he whispered in her ear, his voice fierce. "You are very much a part of this plan, daughter, but it is mine, and you will do what I want. Do you understand?"

She nodded slowly, keeping her expression neutral as their eyes met. "Certainly. You are egoistical and want me to do what you demand; I refuse. I will be my own person as long as I can manage." She knew the blow was coming and ducked, twirling out of her father's grasp and stopping ten metres away. "Come to me when you have something you want to discuss, father, for I am headed home."

Amelie knew that Bishop would be angry, not only with how she spoke to him but how she dismissed him as nothing…but that was not an issue to her at the current time. All she had to do was go home to her friends and relax for a time, until the most likely idiotic stage in her father's plan was completed.

~x~

Almost three months later, he visited.

It was in the dead of night, when even Amelie, Oliver and Myrnin had headed to their beds, and Amelie couldn't say that she was surprised it had taken such a short time – relatively speaking, of course. Her father had always been manipulative, and even if he hadn't persuaded Elders, there would be a large number of younger vampires who he could make join him in his stance against Jonathan.

"Answer the door, Amelie," he called from the front door, and as he spoke, Amelie shot awake. She knew that he could enter without her permission – they were both vampires, after all – but she appreciated that he was behaving with civility.

Within three minutes, Amelie had dressed hastily in one of her simplest dresses and had moved downstairs in order to answer the door. Myrnin, too, was up and moving around, just a little behind Amelie's schedule, and he was just emerging on the top of the stairs when Amelie answered the door.

Her father was standing on the doorstep, alone, a slight smile playing on his lips. "You certainly took your time answering the door; you weren't sleeping, were you?" he said, moving into the hallway without another word.

Across the street, Amelie saw Oliver's head in the window, his eyes on her and her visitor, and she inclined her head ever so slightly to indicate that she wanted him to come across. "I was, yes, father; we do try and blend in with the humans around here." Her voice was slightly irritated as she spoke, following her father in his pursuit of her library. In that moment, she was glad that her more private documents were upstairs, in the cupboard, given that her father was rather fond of prying through her things.

She was right. Immediately after entering the room, Bishop was picking up books and flicking through them, pretending to look as though he was reading them, though Amelie knew that he was actually looking for slips of paper hidden within them.

"What do you want tonight, father?" she asked, breaking the silence that was growing between them. In the hallway, Myrnin stood, waiting to see what he was to do, and within another thirty seconds, Oliver was standing alongside him.

"Bring your little friends in if you want to, Amelie; I am not going to hurt you, but they are part of this, after all," her father replied, not answering her question, his tone almost amused.

With his words, Amelie's friends entered the room and stood behind where she sat, watching her father with intense stares.

"What do you want tonight, father?" Amelie repeated, her voice low and steady as she waited for an answer.

She stared at him until he responded, setting the book back on the shelf and taking the seat opposite Amelie. "I have an army – I am ready to march on the Elders' Council and defeat them," he said in a tone far too matter-of-fact for what he was saying. "I will, naturally, defeat Jonathan at the final battle, as per our agreement…but I am here to have you sign an oath of loyalty to me, so that you will not try and assist Jonathan."

Amelie was stunned. She had expected he had his army – she just didn't expect him to turn up and expect her to sign an oath of allegiance, something she had never, ever done in her life.

"No," she said quietly, turning to look at her friends for a brief moment before shaking her head. "I will fight alongside you, naturally, but I will not sign or swear anything to you; I never have done, and you cannot force me to."

Bishop stared at her in shock for a full five seconds, before his features twisted into a version of a smile. "Are you saying that you won't swear to me?" he confirmed, standing in one, fluid movement. "Even if I threatened your little friends here, would you not sign with me?"

Another look passed between herself, Oliver and Myrnin. Another shake of her head. "Even if you threatened my friends – even if you threatened me – I would not agree to anything you want to make me say to be yours forever. You know that I want my freedom, father, and that I have never wanted to be your servant."

He flashed across the room, reaching for Oliver's neck, but before he could get there, Amelie stood up, flashing her fangs in her father's direction. "Now, now, father, you don't want to attack my friends, do you?" she said, her voice taking an airy-fairy quality. "They belong to me, and attacking Oliver would be to attack me – and that would destroy our partnership, you know. Stay away from them."

Bishop stopped a metre away from the three of them, Amelie, the shortest, in front of her friends, and laughed once; it was without humour. "Very well. If you promise that you will not tell Jonathan of my plans, then you will be spared. If you—"

"Don't threaten me, father," Amelie replied, her eyes flashing bright, brilliant red as she spoke. "I will be there, with Myrnin and Oliver, and we will fight and defeat Jonathan and the other Elders. You do not require a promise from me; I want this. Please leave."

Father and daughter stared at one another for a good minute, trying to make the other stop staring first; in the end, it was Bishop who looked away first. "I will see you at the next meeting, Amelie – and you had better be prepared to fight."

He stormed out of the room, and out of the house, and as Bishop left, Amelie sank back into her chair; it had taken energy to appear as confident as she did, and she wondered whether or not she would ever have the energy to truly defeat her father.

With the situation as it was, she doubted it.

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