Chapter 9 – The Escape: Part Two

Amelie's POV

"Yes Morley," I called back, emphasising each word so that the travellers below would hear me. And just as I had hoped, they fell silent. "If you would do me the favour of retrieving the poison that we keep in the lab, I would be extremely grateful."

"You sound much closer than before," Morley pointed out.

"I am on my way up, not long to go until I reach the top. But I am in need of the poison, Morley."

"Of course, I shall be right back." He sounded a bit uncertain, but disobeying his master was not something he would ever consider.

After I heard the sound of a door closing, I leaped up the extra two flights and placed Claire on the ground as lightly as I could.

"Is he gone?" Shane called in a loud whisper.

"Yes. But try to stay silent while you continue your journey. He is a vampire, meaning that if he is currently listening, the chances that any of us will be leaving here are very slim."

The hushed clatter of the others making their way up the ladder seemed to be the last thing on my mind as I glanced toward Claire. She should have been awake by now.

I bent down beside her and moved a strand of her hair from her face. She looked much older than when she first came to Morganville. Two years since then and she had grown into her own woman, just like Eve. Both were happily married and they were so young – but it was obvious to even the strangest stranger that the two couples were in love.

Unfortunately I had never had much luck in that department, and when I did eventually find someone whom I loved dearly, I never once acted. And then when I did, at last, admit to myself my feelings for him, he had already been murdered from the hand of my father. The same father who had turned me into a vampire in the first place, creating an entire generation of vampires and allowing those vampires to create more...and more...and more. Now there was a town full of vampires, and no doubt there were others spread throughout the world.

I hadn't thought of the fact that Morley could return at any second, and when I heard the passage open, I jumped in surprise. There he stood, Morley; but it was still Myrnin. No matter what happened, I would still be me, and Myrnin would still be Myrnin, whether we were possessed or not.

He looked at me, bemused, and seemed to realise why I was bent down beside a girl that meant nothing to him – a girl that should have meant nothing to me. The realisation startled him so much that he made the mistake of turning to look at Claire, and with the emotion he had given Myrnin, he was out and Morley was gone.

"Is she alright?" He asked instantly as he walked over.

"She is fine, Myrnin. She should wake up soon." I couldn't help keeping my guard up, I knew it was Myrnin, but I also knew that Morley could appear at any moment.

He let out a sigh of relief and bent down on the other side of Claire. "Can you hear me?" He asked her. "I'm here, Claire. It is me, Myrnin."

"Myrnin, you..." I was cut off by his protests.

"I will only be a moment." He turned back to face Claire, and smiled as if he were about to cry. "You will wake up soon, do you hear me? Amelie said so herself." His expression turned slightly darker, less caring. "And Amelie knows best, does she not? Little Miss Princess, Founder of Morganville, Amelie Bishop."

"Morley."

"Why, of course! Your friend has already experienced the hurt and defeat and whatever else he felt when he saw the girl the first time." He pointed toward Claire. "Do you think that the caring of a child can overcome an all-powerful vampire immortal more than once? I am sorry, dear Amy, but I am much stronger than that."

"Don't you dare call me that. We may have been friends centuries ago, but that time is long past, and that name has long been forgotten."

"I understand that we are no longer friends, since friends do not usually lock friends in Crypts. And I think that you will find that Amy is quite a popular name in this day and age. Oh, how lucky you are, to be the first person in history to ever have the name Amy. But you are many things, are you not? The winner of both the 'oldest vampire' award and the person (well, vampire) with the 'cruellest father' award," he paused to laugh, and then finishing by saying, "Why so many people believe you is beyond me."

"I thought it was true. You, Sam... You were supposed to be dead! And it wasn't until I was possessed by a long forgotten friend just five days or so ago that I learned that you are not. Honestly, I had forgotten that you had even existed until then."

"Like you could have forgotten Sam... I remember the two of you sitting in the corner of the very Crypt you just left, lying in each other's arms, fake smiles and sad eyes making you both irresistible to each other."

While he was chattering on about how two people can really grow apart over quite a few centuries, I couldn't help but notice the fact that he held the poison in his hand...

And a plunger.

It was perfect, but the chances of grabbing it and stabbing it into his vein were pretty slim considering the reaction time of a vampire, and the fact that I would need to get the poison inside of the plunger. But if I didn't, then he would allow the poison in my bloodstream to dissolve, and that would make this entire escape pointless.

And then I had an idea.

First I closed my eyes in as dramatic a way as possible, and then I took a deep breath to make him notice the 'change' in me. And finally, when I opened my eyes, I put on an expression of utter bemusement.

"What is going on?" I muttered in a very Sam-like way, my voice lower and my face grim.

"Sam?" Morley asked, clearly hoping but also keeping his guard up to ensure that it was definitely his friend.

"Well, of course. Who did you think I was, Amelie? Now, that..." I started, "Is just plain offensive."

"Oh, thank goodness! Amelie was here! She wanted the poison, though I have not yet figured out what for!" He believed the act, and I had a chance. Just to make sure, I stayed still for a few seconds and was glad to hear silence; the others had heard Morley and I speaking, and now they were staying silent.

"Well, why else would such a devious character want it?" I stopped, as if actually asking him the question, but when he stood there waiting, I was forced to continue.

And the only thing I could think of was the truth.

"To get rid of you, of course! To bring her friend that lives inside of you back to himself," I sighed in outrage, "Well then?"

"Well then..." Morley repeated.

"Hand me the poison."

"What for?"

"Well, if she managed to get enough of the poison into her system, it means that she drained this girl of the poison that I had put inside of her. We need to inject it again." I looked at Myrnin's face and wondered what he was thinking (both him and Morley). It was strange, seeing a person that I'd known and trusted for years and years become someone other than himself, someone that I could not trust.

He handed me the poison while asking, "What if Amelie showed them the escape? She couldn't have left with the girl without telling them where the escape is."

When he finished speaking, I knew that it was now or never. And that was exactly what I kept telling myself as I zoomed behind him and plunged the plunger – that I had already filled with the poison – into the vein at his neck, but before I could flood his veins with it, he threw me across the dark passage and as I landed against the stone wall, I screamed as if in agony to send a message down to the people halfway down the tunnel.

"You really have become weak, Amelie Bishop. I remember all of those days that we spent together, doing justice to the world. But now, I don't even know if you are the same person." He pulled the plunger out and threw it to the ground, hatred blaring in Myrnin's eyes. "And now, finally, I am going to make you pay for what you did to me, what you did to Sam, what you did to our people." He barked a laugh that was not in the slightest way amused. "I remember lying in that Crypt, so starved that I couldn't even make the smallest sound. But the thing that gave me hope, the thing that gave me the need to stay alive, was the thought of plunging a stake through your heart." Just then he pulled a very familiar silver stake from the pocket of Myrnin's very large trousers. "Do you remember this? Our brilliant creation. This stake, the one that you helped to create, will be the death of you Amelie Bishop. Though first, of course, I have got to torture you in the same way that you tortured us for centuries." And he strolled forward with determination lighting up his eyes, and I knew that I had failed – that tomorrow I would be dead – so I chose to give up. To let the hand of fate take its turn.

And as Myrnin came toward me – my murderer, my friend – I gasped as Claire rose behind him and stuck the plunger in the same spot I had and, in Morley's moment of shock, pressed on the plunger.