Chapter 10:

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Oliver's POV:

She doesn't react to this news, that she must kill her best friend, and it worries me a little, shakes my resolve that this is right. Perhaps... Perhaps I ought to leave murder for later, for closer to Amelie. After all, it would make a better impact later on, wouldn't it not? After all, using your master weapon in the beginning just doesn't leave anything to the imagination. No, no she cannot be murdered. Not quite dead, anyway.

"I mean... I want you to seriously injure Ms Rosser," I contradict myself and her eyes betray nothing... There is nothing in them to be betrayed. She has no emotions in this controlled state, this way that I dictate what she is to think, to do, to say even, if I wanted.

"Ok," she says simply, smiling slightly. She's taking on my beliefs and emotions to the action she is going to do - she has none of her own.

"You will go to Jason's flat - her brother - and steal his gun," I inform her of the first part of the plan, the part that gets him jailed for what Claire is actually going to do. "You shall then return home, as normal, and wait until Michael has gone out and Eve is in the living room. Sneak up behind her and shoot her in the back, but not in the heart. You shall then drop the gun - ensure that you never touch it without gloves - and head upstairs to wash your hands... Get changed and return downstairs, in a state of shock. Return to yourself here. Do you understand?" I explain, happy when she nods. Oh, this is going to be too easy if she takes eveything on as easily as this.

However, the amount of energy I used to ensure she did this was incredible. I believe that to compel someone to do something that is deemed an act of violence you need to use more and more energy, drawing upon it from different avenues. By the end, a kiss isn't going to be enough... How far will I have to take this?

"Go," I instruct her, releasing her from the bind. She snaps back to normal - appearing to be, anyway - and becomes a little confused.

"Sorry, what did you just say?" she asks and I smile very slightly.

"I informed you that you need not donate blood nor money to me, I already have enough of that, thank you very much," my words obviously confuse her: evidently her lovely friends have informed her that I would be taking lots from her... I am. Just not what you would expect. "However, I shall be monitoring your grades and if I feel necessary, you shall have some people who need better grades to tutor... Of course, they shall pay you... Who would volunteer to spend time with them otherwise?" I trail off as my train of thought ends suddenly.

"Is that all?" she confirms and I nod, watching as she moves out of the door once I give the confirmation. Her gaze never leaves me; it's as if she is waiting for me to stop her... But there is something in her eyes that makes me think it's something more.

Once the door is shut, I shake my head to remove this train of thought from it.

Don't be silly, Oliver, she doesn't feel like that...

Claire's POV:

So, yeah, it's gonna be a normal day for me. Just chilling, do some work, breaking and entering, chill, almost kill my best friend. I know I need to do this... I can't exactly remember why, but evidently I have to. It's just the thing to do...

But first, I need to stop off at her brother's apartment. I need to grab his gun - using gloves, of course - because otherwise how am I going to get a gun? Even in this town, they aren't going to give a gun to someone who quite obviously isn't 21, are they? I need a way to attack her, and this is thest way... It can be pinned on her layabout of a brother, who I severely doubt will have an ailibi and has enough motive to try and kill Eve, since she had him put in prison!

I rush down the road, away from the Glass House, and head towards the run down area where I know Jason lives. I sneak into his apartment building, there being no doorman or whatever, and pray that he isn't in his flat; I looked him up on the internet system of ex-prisoners and found his address. Apparently he is at work at the minute but you can't always be sure... He could be ill, on holiday, or even on lunch.

Skulking in the shadows like a vampire, I rush down the dirty corridor, the walls covered in cobwebs and dirt... Ew. I mean, who the hell actually wants to live in a place like this?

Evidently, not even Jason. His door is semi open and I worry for a second that he is inside, until I realise that that's the way that the door remains - it doesn't fully lock. However, inside is a slightly different sight to what I expected: sure, it's dirty, but it's actually got some semblance of order inside, with dvds stacked up next to the tv... So that order must mean that the gun is stored in his underwear drawer, as so many people who own guns keep it!

Grimacing at touching somebody so disgusting's underwear, I move his boxers aside to find the box which looks like it most likely contains the gun. I pull on the thick gloves in my pocket before yanking the box out of the drawer. Carefully, I tease the lid off and reveal a well maintained gun; a gun with a strange barrel shape and a long handle thing... Bullets roll around in the box as I lift out the gun, dislodging the tiny metal shells and I begin to admire the craftmanship of the gun. It's perfect for the job it's been designed for... To seriously injure the owner's sister.

With a sinister grin, I shove the gun into my bag and replace the box in the drawer, running out of the flat and the entire area of Morganville (it's disgusting and run down) within three minutes. With all the speed I can muster, I sprint down three roads to make my return to the Glass House within only five minutes; I know Michael is in at the minute, so I can't do it yet, but hopefully he'll go out... I don't actually know why I want to do this (I love Eve) but it's the right thing to do. I know it is; it has to be!

"Hey, CB," Eve says easily as I walk in the house. I notice she is all edgy, waiting for something or someone - Shane. I'd half forgotten about him... But why is she suddenly speaking to me? I thought she hated me, for signing with Oliver! "Look, I'm sorry about how I reacted about the whole contract thing. I was in shock about that and Michael and, well, I didn't take it too well. But you're the genius; I'm sure you know what you're doing," she explains this point to me as if she has read my mind on what I was thinking.

"Thanks Eve," I smile, slightly superficially... Do I really want to shoot her, a part of me thinks. Do I really want to cause such pain to my best friend? But the answer comes as yes: the majority of my body knows that, although I may not particularly like it or remember the reason, I have to do this...

"Where are you going?" Eve suddenly yells, and I realise Michael is zooming past us towards the door... He's leaving... This is my opportune moment...

He halts by the door and turns to look at us, sighing heavily.

"Well, you see, I have some things to do and they're quite important," he vaguely says. "I'll be back in like six hours or so. See ya!" he yells over his shoulder, sprinting from the house to the heavily tinted car he's already managed to get himself.

"Well, wasn't that nice!" Eve mutters, turning her attention to the wall. "Hey... Did Oliver manage to release Shane or not?"

"He's released him but he's managed to get him out of town until Amelie cools down; at least he's out," I explain and Eve turns to look at me with an elated grin.

"CB!" she squeals, rushing over to hug me. The bag with the gun in falls to the floor with a soft thud and I freeze for a second, waiting to see if it'd go off... It doesn't... It's just in One Tree Hill (and various films) that it does that! "That's brilliant news, isn't it!"

"Yep, it's absolutely amazing: it's what I wanted!" I squeal, unable to not be ecstatic at this reminder of the brilliant news. He's free! He isn't going to be killed for a crime he didn't commit!

Eve jumps back onto the sofa, her back to me, and becomes engrossed in a film.

"You watching this?" she asks suddenly, as I hover behind her. I shake my head as I recognise New Moon: how the hell does she get all this vampire stuff in here? Oh yeah... I brought that one with me... But still! "Suit yourself," she smirks before refocusing her interest entirely in the shirtless Taylor Lautner.

It's almost too easy.

Suddenly inspired by something, I snatch my bag up and pull on my gloves before removing the gun from my bag. With hands shaking with trepadation, I raise the gun to the back of the entirely unaware Eve and focus it on the centre of her back... Hopefully it will make her unconscious and, if I leave her a few minutes, she'll settle into a coma and not be able to contradict me saying it was Jason...

BOOM!

The bullet flies out of the gun faster than I thought possible and connects with Eve's skin with a THUD! It's so instantaneous that she doesn't have time to react; she simply falls fowards and begins to bleed.

With a smile, I drop the gun to the floor and head upstairs to wash my hands, knowing that my work is done...

(Like Claire changes to be herself again... She thinks that she was upstairs during the attack...)

Oh god... What was that noise? It sounded like a gun, when someone shoots someone on television... But it sounded more real.

I rush down the stairs... NO!

"EVE!" I yell, spotting the body keeled over on the sofa, blood dripping softly onto the floor. I grab her and throw her back amidst the tears, and check to see whether or not she's breathing... Oh god, it's a weak pulse...

I scramble over the sofa to the phone and dial the emergency services.

"Hello, please you have to help me!" I exclaim down the phone as soon as someone picks it up. "My friend... She's been shot!... Yes, it's the Glass House on Lot Street, come quickly; she's got a very weak pulse and she is barely breathing!"

I throw the phone down and rush back to Eve; who did this? What happened... There's a gun on the floor and I have a feeling that that was the thing that shot her.

"Eve, come on honey, wake up!" I urge her... Where's Michael? Of course he's going to want to bloody know that she's injured. I look for my phone, realising it's in my pocket, and wipe my bloody hand on my trouser leg before pulling the phone out. I dial him but he doesn't answer... Where the bloody hell is he, that he can't even respond to a life or death phone call?

The only person left I can think of ringing is Oliver... But the sirens are coming. I hear them approaching the house, so I rush to open the door and wait to invite them in, since no humans can enter without permission since the owner became a vampire.

Oh god, Eve, why are you like this? Surely I should have heard it happen, I should have realised that this was happening when I was upstairs... God, please... Eve WAKE UP!

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I'm literally going to get on the ferry to Calais to take me to Barcelona in a bit, so I'm not updating for about a week. I've not died or anything! :P

Vicky xx