Chapter 30 – Chaos

Shane's POV

"How long do you expect them to be?" Michael asked Amelie, and I was beginning to wonder the same thing. We'd been standing mostly in silence for the past hour and my legs were becoming more and more tired each second.

"They shouldn't be long. Sam managed to survive a silver stake and he will most definitely be filled with hatred."

"That's an understatement," I remarked quietly, but it was so silent in the in the room that everyone heard and turned to look at me. "Who said that?" I demanded as seriously as I could manage, but it was hard when a giant smirk kept appearing on my face.

Amelie sighed and decided to ignore me – which was probably for the best, like always. "To answer your question simply, they will be here soon. Just to warn you all, every vampire that shows up here will be livid, not just Sam. We must be careful. They may be so blinded with hatred that they decide to kill each and every one of us – even if that means the death of them – or they may have planned a strategy that they believe is sure to take us all down. Either way is dangerous, and we need to steer clear of life-threatening danger. We will help each other and we will fight for each other. That is what Morganville does."

The crowd cheered in synchronisation and I realised just how lucky I was to be part of something this big. This was a place that, no matter what you did, you would always have allies; however, at the same time you would always have enemies. Morganville not only taught you how to protect family, it taught you exactly how to deal with your enemies and how to keep yourself alive in the worst moments of your life.

"Everybody quiet!" Oliver ordered in his commander voice. After only five seconds, the entire hall was silent.

"What is it, Oliver?" Amelie asked as she turned toward him. When she had turned about ninety degrees, she froze. "They're here."

Eve's POV

"I will absolutely not answer that!" Claire told me as she untied another sweetie wrapper and threw the strawberry delight in to her mouth. She sat at the left side of the sofa and I sat on the right.

"You don't have a choice," I said after taking another gulp of coke from the bottle that I held in my right hand. "Come on! If you tell me, I'll tell you."

"It's a stupid question! And I already know what your answer's gonna be."

"It's easy; who did you think was hotter when you first came to Morganville, Michael or Shane?"

"I'm married to Shane!"

"So you thought he was hotter when you first saw him standing beside Michael?"

"I don't know!"

"That's not an answer."

We looked at each other and burst out laughing.

"It feels like years since we last did this," I sighed.

"That's because it has been years since we last did this." She looked at me and suddenly turned serious. "Eve, this could be the last time that we ever do this."

"Don't say that. This will work, you hear me? Sam will die and you, Shane and your baby will live."

"It's not as easy as that; you know that as much as I do. Sonya plunged a silver stake into his heart and yet he's still living. He has an entire army and an overly loyal brother to back him up."

"And we have an entire city. We will not lose this one, CB, I promise."

"I'm scared, Eve. If Sam doesn't die – and don't say that he most definitely will because there is a chance that he won't – then me and Shane will die, and our child will die along with us."

I sighed, knowing that telling her Sam would be dead by the end of the day wouldn't make her feel any better, because we both knew that there was a 50/50 chance of that actually happening. "Do you trust Amelie?"

"Yes."

"Do you trust Shane?"

"Yes."

"Do you trust Myrnin and Michael and... and Oliver?"

"I trust Myrnin, I trust Michael, and I think I trust Oliver."

"Then let them do what they have to do. Meanwhile, you need to relax. I've been notified that stress isn't a good thing for a pregnant woman."

She giggled lightly and nodded as she let go of a heavy sigh, "You're right... Shane."

"What about Shane?"

"When I first came to Morganville and came here to ask about the spare room, Michael scared me. Shane seemed nice, and so I liked him better at the time. Anyway, it's your turn."

"I don't want to say."

"You have to! I told you, and you said that you would tell me once I told you."

"Alright, but you can't tell anyone."

"I promise." She held her bottle of coke up to her mouth.

I sighed before confessing, "Shane."

The coke that she had just sipped was spat out as she looked at me bug-eyed and said, "What!?"

"You cannot tell anyone!"

"I promised, didn't I? Now spill!"

Letting go of a dramatic sigh, I stared down at my fidgeting hands. "Before I ever even glanced at Michael, Shane and I were good friends. He was bothered by Monica for a long time before hand and I had always felt sorry for him. And he was hot at the time, but now he's grown in to an annoying..."

"I may have promised not to tell anyone, but he's still my husband."

"God, it's hard to think that just over three years ago we never even knew that each other existed."

I could see that she was thinking about the fact that she could be dead before we'd known each other for four years, but she pushed it back and smiled, asking, "So, truth or dare?"

Shane's POV

Everybody was silent, not one person dared move a muscle as Amelie and Oliver walked slowly around the perimeter of the room. We all expected an army of vampires to come charging into the hall with murderous expressions and eyes as red as blood, but what we got was much more surprising.

The roof exploded above us, and where the crowd had been standing as still and silent as statues just moments before, the people in the room were now in motion; some screaming, some running, but what I was proud to see was that most stood together with their weapons held in a tight grip, ready for the battle that was to come.

Angry vampires poured down on us like the rain we never saw. The screams that followed filled the entire room like an air raid siren.

I turned on my heels and found that there was a vampire running toward me. I grabbed the stake that I'd shoved into my deep pocket and plunged it into the vampire's heart.

Eve's POV

Before I was able to answer, I heard a loud bang somewhere outside of the house. Claire and I were up and running in seconds.

"Do you think it's...?" I began.

"Definitely," she replied.

We didn't dare open the door in case there was an angry vamp at the other side of the door just waiting for us to go outside. Instead, we looked out the window in the living room to check that the coast was clear.

"Anyone out there?" Claire asked.

"Nope, it's all good," I told her.

We ran to the front door, unlocked it and ran out to the top of the stairs. This far away, all you could see was a ringlet of smoke hovering above Founder's Square.

"What do we do?" Claire asked.

"We do nothing, just like Amelie told us. They can handle this."

I was beginning to think she'd run down the stairs and along to the Elder's Council Building judging by the way she seemed to sway on her feet, but she just looked at the smoke, looked at me, looked down at her stomach, and then nodded. We turned and walked back inside, making sure to lock the door behind us.

"So," she started, "What do we do, sit and wait?"

"That's exactly what we do," I told her.

We sat back on the sofa in silence. I couldn't imagine what was going on over there, and honestly, I was glad that I was here with Claire. I knew that we were safe, and that was more than any of the people in the Elders' Council Building could say.

After minutes of deafening silence, Claire bent forward, screaming and convulsing.

"Claire!" I yelled as she fell to the floor. She balanced herself on both her hands and her knees. She squealed again, this time louder. I spotted a tear falling to the floor.

I bent beside her and touched her upper arm gently. She turned her head to look at me, her eyes glittered with tears and her cheeks were slick with salt water.

"What's wrong, CB?"

"It hurts, Eve."

I didn't know what to do, this wasn't exactly my area of expertise – whatever this was – but I knew when someone needed comfort. I embraced Claire with open arms and she laid her head against my shoulder. I could still feel her shaking, but she seemed to be getting better.

Claire's POV

The pain was excruciating. I wasn't sure what it was, all I knew was the pain that it brought.

My head lay against Eve's shoulder and she was whispering in my ear that it would all be okay; that it would all get better.

And she was right, after a few seconds the pain disappeared almost completely.

"It's gone," I told Eve, "It doesn't hurt anymore."

"Well, that's a relief. You scared the hell out of me, Claire Bear!" She gave me a unyielding hug, and I squeezed tight.

"I think I spilled your juice," I told her guiltily.

"You didn't spill my juice, it's sitting on the table," she replied.

"Then what's..." I began, and then the realisation hit me. "Oh my god!"

"Claire, did...? Did...?"

"Yeah, my water just broke. God, I'm going into labour! Eve, I'm going into labour!" I was panicking and I knew I shouldn't be because that helped in no way whatsoever.

"Claire, it's going to be okay. I'll call Amelie and tell her to send someone."

"I'm only seven months gone, Eve. If this baby is born today, then I die today, and so does Shane."

"If killing Sam is what it takes, then killing Sam is what we are going to do. You hear me? Do you want to go to your room?"

"Can we go to Amelie's room? It's safer than the rest of the house."

"Of course, should I call Amelie first?"

"Please."

When Eve left to get her phone from the table in the hall, I lay back on the floor. I couldn't process properly what was going on; all I could process was the fact that Shane and I were going to die. There was no way on earth that we could survive, us or our baby.

"Amelie?" I heard an irritated Eve say, "Answer your stupid phone! Claire's gone into labour and we need you to send help, I don't care who, just send someone who can keep people calm and has experience with this sort of thing. Claire?" she asked me.

"Uh-huh."

"Do you want Shane here?"

"No, they need as much help as they can get, and I've already taken one person away." She looked at me with a question swimming in her eyes. "Eve, please. If we're going to die, then we can't go without a fight."

She nodded her head before saying to the phone, "Don't tell Shane, he'll want to come and you need as many people as you can get."

I heard a beep that signalled the phone call had ended.

"Do you need anything?" Eve asked me.

I shook my head. The only thing I needed was the only thing I couldn't ask for – Shane.

After another small while, I heard Eve dial numbers on her phone again.

Amelie's POV

The hall was filled with unimaginable chaos – knives and stakes and fangs and spears – but the worst part was that there was no roof overhead. If I survived this, then I would need to deal with that as soon as possible.

I felt a vibration in the pocket of my black trousers. It was probably the mobile phone that Claire had given me to 'keep in contact.' I was away to dig it out and answer, however, I was interrupted by a very annoyed Morley.

I grabbed the silver stake that I had pinned to the back of my blue silk blazer and held it behind my back to keep it hidden.

"Are you here to kill me?" I asked.

"You left my brother for dead; of course I'm here to kill you!"

"Well, we both know that your precious brother is still alive – or as alive as a vampire can be. Where is he on this fateful evening?"

"That's not important," he stated.

"I consider it very important. He managed to survive a silver stake, and we both know that is almost impossible."

"Almost impossible. I lost my hand saving my brother." He held up his left arm, and just as he had said there was no hand where there was supposed to be, just a stump. "And I am here to ensure that you lose your life this fateful evening, considering what you did to me and my brother; it seems fair, does it not?"

"What I did to your brother had nothing to do with you, it is not my fault that you decided to risk your soul for a soul as blackened as your brother's."

"It was you that blackened his soul, Amelie. It was you who gave away his baby boy without his knowledge or consent. You blackened his soul when he first became a vampire and I – like a fool – stood by and watched as you ruined his life!"

"I was his life, Morley! You know that as well as I do. Nothing I could have said or done would have made a difference. The only thing that blackened his heart was his own selfishness and cruelty."

"You continue to defend your wretched self and I fail to understand why. You have lived a lie, Amelie. You locked a box that should have been kept open to haunt you for your entire lifetime; instead, you chose the easy way out. Sam did not. He fought for his sanity, but sadly lost it on the way. I blame you for that, Amelie, and I am here to get the revenge I have always dreamed of."

I felt another vibration from my mobile and looked Morley directly in the eye as I said, "I will allow you to get the revenge that you have always wanted, Morley, but there is something that I need to do beforehand."

I turned away from him and walked to the door that led in to the hall as I pulled the phone from my pocket. The Caller ID read 'Eve Glass.'

When I answered, the first thing I heard at the other end of the phone was, "Answer!" which was closely followed by, "Huh, it finally worked."

"What is it, Eve? If you didn't already know, I'm a bit busy at the moment."

"Too busy to hear that Claire has gone into labour?"

"What do you mean?"

"Exactly what I just said; her water broke fifteen minutes ago, she's not had any contractions but we need help."

"I will send Shane and Myrnin to..."

"Don't send Shane; don't even tell him that she's in labour."

"Why not? He is the father."

"Claire doesn't want to take too many people from the fight."

I sighed, "Well, I shall have to respect her wishes. I will send help soon."

Myrnin's POV

I was tremendously proud of myself this evening. I had killed almost ten of the oppositions in the battle so far and injured at least twenty – as the children would say, I was on fire!

Vampires kept attacking from every direction, and I had to keep my eye out for the next attacker that came my way.

I felt a tap on my back and turned in a hurry, and surprisingly it was Amelie I found standing behind me.

"You need to make your way to the Glass House right this second. Get all the equipment you need on the way, Claire is in labour."

She left no time for questions before zooming away.

Michael's POV

Everywhere I looked, there were vampires. I wasn't afraid of vampires, but I couldn't exactly say I was comfortable in a room full of angry, ancient, biological vampires.

I hadn't killed any, and I certainly wasn't disappointed because of that. I couldn't help thinking that these vampires were all people. They had been turned against their will because of some stupid experiment. Had they been forced to leave their families? Had they been shunned by the ones they loved most?

I was surprised when I bumped in to a panicking Myrnin who looked as if he was heading somewhere.

"Myrnin?" I asked him, "Are you okay?"

"I am very well, thank you, although I cannot say the same for Claire."

"What do you mean?" I said, panic that mirrored Myrnin's rising to the surface. "Is Claire okay?"

"She is alive, don't worry," he assured me, "But she might not be for long; she's gone in to labour."

"But she's only seven months!"

"I am only repeating what Amelie has told me," he said.

"Is Shane going?" I asked.

"I would assume so, although I was told nothing of him. Stay here, and if you find Sam, make sure to end him."

With that, Myrnin rushed away, leaving me shivering with worry. I wanted to help Claire but I knew that the only way I could do so was to kill Sam, and I hadn't seen Sam anywhere.