Chapter 34 – Life and Death

Eve's POV

She looked peaceful. That was the first thing that I noticed. Her skin was smooth and her eyes were closed, and it looked as if she were just sleeping, as if she were just taking a little nap after the hard works of child birth.

I looked over to see how Myrnin was reacting to the situation only to find him busying himself with other simplicities.

"Myrnin?" I asked, and he turned to look at me with his usual crazy smile – this one seemed crazier than normal by the fact that he was smiling after Claire had just... gone.

"Why yes, Eve, how could I be of service?"

"Why aren't you mourning? She just died for God's sake; the least you could do is shed a tear."

"I have grieved over this one more time than I can count, and I promise you that I am mourning on the inside, but I need to keep myself busy before I start hitting people with things. The other times I knew that there was still a chance, but this time..." He trailed off and looked at Claire's corpse. She held her little child in her arms, wrapped up in blankets, but both looked as pale as ghosts. Coughing, he averted his gaze and continued to keep himself busy.

I wish I could do what he was doing, block out the rest of the world and continue with normal activities that had the potential to distract someone from the awful time of bereavement. They were just trivial things – tidying things up or locking things away, wiping imaginary dirt from his shirt or polishing his totally messed up shoes with the pristine shirt that he had just ensured had no dirt on it... It certainly did now anyway.

Instead, I sat in a pile on the floor beside Claire's corpse and her baby's wrapped up body and shed more tears. I was afraid that they would drown Morganville, leaving just a small desert in its place. Although, I knew that that wasn't possible, and I also knew that I was beginning to get tired. All of this had done me no favours at all, and I knew the only thing that I needed now was sleep.

And so I closed my eyes and let myself slip away just as silently as Claire had done so before.

Amelie's POV

I stood in a room with two collapsed men, one human and one vampire.

I quickly approached Shane where he lay on the floor. His skin was like the clouds that Morganville could only dream of having, pure white. His eyes were closed tight and his hair pointed every which way as he lay on the floor.

I scooted forward and placed my hands on each side of his face and felt the ice cold temperature that his body had dropped to.

I gasped in horror, but instead of moving away I rested my hand on his neck where his pulse should have been.

And it was, weak and shaky, but it was most definitely there.

I knew exactly what to do.

Myrnin's POV

I couldn't bear to look at her body, it was cowardly and pathetic, but I just couldn't. So I decided instead to busy myself with useless things that people would usually do on a daily basis.

Anything that looked as if it needed a clean was cleaned and anywhere that contained a mess was tidied – although, there weren't many messes in Amelie's secret room, the occupiers of this house were certainly not clueless.

I heard a telephone ring down the stairs and glanced in Eve's direction. She was asleep, and she had decided to sleep next to Claire's dead body, meaning that when I looked over at her I saw the corpse of my old friend, my old assistant.

I knew that I couldn't let the call go to voicejail – or was it voicemail? Whatever it was, I couldn't let it happen. It could be something important.

So I walked over to the sofa without looking at the two people that lay against it and clicked the button that allowed the door to open.

Using my vampire speed, I was at the telephone downstairs in a jiffy.

"Glass House's telephone, how may I help you?" I spoke through the phone.

"Myrnin?"

"Yes Amelie, it is I."

"Is Claire alright, you don't seem at all what I thought you would have been like was she dead."

"Claire is dead, Amelie. She is lying in your secret room as peaceful as a butterfly."

"Can you please check her pulse?" she asked.

"I can't even bear to look at her, let alone take her last heart beat measurements.

"We killed Sam, Myrnin. Shane collapsed after Sam had been killed; however, he still has a heartbeat. He is alive, but only barely. Considering that Claire had to give birth during her last moments makes her chance of survival thinner than Shane's. I shall attempt to wake Shane and take him to the Glass House, meanwhile, check Claire's pulse. If she has one – no matter how weak..." I interrupted her, excitement flowing through like my blood would have had my heart beat.

"I will wake her, Amelie. If she has a pulse, I will wake her!"

I hung up on her suddenly and flashed up the stairs. Lifting the photo off of the wall, I pressed the button that allowed entrance to Amelie's secret room and charged up the small set of stairs that led to the gigantic space.

"Myrnin?" Eve asked. She had clearly been asleep before I came back into the room and looked extremely annoyed.

"Claire may still be alive," I told her, leaving her in suspense as I made my way toward them. "Shane still has a pulse, weak but sure, and I need to see if Claire still has one, too."

"You mean she might still be alive?" Eve demanded with a smile spread across her face. This was the type of excitement that showed just how much you cared.

"Don't get your hopes up, but the longer we chat the longer I'm not checking Claire's pulse."

She nodded vigorously and kept quiet as I stepped closer and bent down. I could see how pale she was getting, how utterly dead she looked, but when I placed my fingers on her neck, I could feel the gentle beat of her heart.

Amelie's POV

Awaking a young man from the almost dead was a tricky task; I didn't want to hurt him, although, I reckoned that hurting him was better than letting him die.

So I slapped him across the face – restraining myself slightly – and watched as the blood rushed to the surface. That was certainly a good sign. And an even better sign was the gasp of air that Shane breathed in suddenly.

"Shane?" I whispered as the relief flooded through me – if Shane was alive, then Claire may be also.

"Why did you have to slap me? What happened to ancient grace?" he wasn't any different from before, which was another good sign. The collapsing hadn't affected him in any way.

"I was conflicting with myself whether to hit you with a stake or my hand, be grateful that I went with the latter."

"Right now, I'm grateful to be alive. So, thanks."

Maybe the collapse had affected him.

Shane's POV

Amelie and I raced to the Glass House as fast as we could. The battle in the Elders' Council Building sounded like it had faded; only two people seemed to scream per minute which was definitely a good sign, or a bad depending on which way you looked at it.

I couldn't honestly believe that I was still alive. I had watched Sam die, and lived through it, but when the feeling of darkness had washed over me, I had believed that that was it, that everything was away to go.

Fortunately, Amelie had gotten me out of the horrible trance (if you could call it that) and brought me back to life – because if she hadn't, I imagined that I would have been dead at this very moment.

Amelie had summarised Claire's situation before we left, and I couldn't describe how much I hated my human body at this point. Amelie – although travelling at an inhuman speed – slowed her pace slightly. I was strangely thankful to her, she had saved my life, and we were on our way to save Claire's.

The Glass House eventually came into view and my normally human pace sped up to something I hadn't believed that I was capable of.

We arrived barely a minute later and sprinted into the living room. It was empty, not a single human being (or vampire) in sight. I thought for a second and realised that she had probably wanted to be in her room.

But when we reached her room, we discovered that she was not there. So Amelie then thought for a second and we found Myrnin, Eve and a living, breathing Claire in Amelie's secret room.

"Claire," I said.

"Shane," she breathed.

We just looked at each other for a second and then she stood and ran – or stumbled – to me as I ran to her.

"Are you okay?" I asked her as I held her in a tight embrace.

"Just shocked, we're still here. Shane, we're not dead!"

We burst out laughing in each other's arms but did not break away, instead, we held on tighter, our laughs being muffled by each of our shoulders.

She was alive, and so was I. It was obvious that what I felt toward Amelie for saving my life, Claire would feel toward Myrnin. I hated that thought, so I just pushed it away as I reunited with the love of my life.

And after a minute, I heard a cry. Not the type of sob that you would hear if you had lost a parent, the type of sob that you would let free as you adapted to life.