Chapter 19:
All knowledge of gas is from my wondrous chemistry GCSE - Don't even GO near this AS stuff :( - & random facts from WWI and WWII xD
DEDICATED TO FRIZZYHEAD101 FOR THE SOON TO BE BIRTH OF HER BABY BROTHER! Or, it could be a medical error and be a girl...
I don't own anything!
Evil Claire's POV:
It's a simple enough task. I mean, all I have to do is set up a couple of timer systems to release the gas into the school hall in time for the school assembly: the number of children here is so small that the entire school can fit into the hall for an assembly. This is the opposite of my high school, which was so big that there was a struggle to fit one year in there… but anyway, the point here is not to be reminiscing upon my past. No, it is a chance to utilise the lack of children in Morganville to my advantage, to kill more than I perhaps would normally.
"Tomorrow morning?" I confirm, feeling a sort of hold over me vanish. A part inside of me fights the idea that this is a good thing to be doing, but I ignore it: after all, Oliver has asked me to do it. It can't be bad, can it? He saved me from Brandon as well as releasing Shane from the cage – he has been nothing but helpful to me.
He frowns slightly for some imperceptible reason but nods at the same time. "Yes, 9am… I presume that you shall know what to do in order to have maximum impact, yet without every child dying."
I nod in agreement, plans already forming in my mind as I realise I have the perfect manner in which to attack.
He clicks his fingers and a great sheet seems to disappear from my mind somehow: it is indescribable what occurs, yet I feel freer in a sense. "Claire, do keep this quiet. After all… never mind," he trails off and I nod, knowing that it isn't the best of ideas to tell the world what my plans are for Morganville School.
"I'm going to leave the gas here, until I get some other stuff," I tell him, my mind whirling as I try to think up things to do with how I can release the gas better. I don't know what type of gas it is and Oliver didn't say, so I'm going to have to go look at the canisters first – after all, if it is natural gas (methane) then it had better not have the added smell as then they will be alerted. But chlorine gas has a certain yellowish-green tinge, one that could be noticed – especially as it rises… but it causes a much stronger reaction on the skin, with blisters appearing.
I turn to look at Oliver who narrows his eyes at me, trying to size me up for some reason. After a long while, he nods slowly and motions for me to leave, something which I don't do instantly. Instead, I stand up… but head towards the canisters, heading for the label on the front of them.
Phosgene gas… that's absolutely perfect!
I smile slightly as I walk out of the room, not saying another word to Oliver. This gas… it's colourless so they won't see it as it fans out of the air conditioning units. The aroma is of hay or grass, so that isn't too odd to be in there and could be described by the mowing of the field that occurs weekly on… today. That's even better because it is fresh so will be there! The only slight letdown is that the bodies are not disfigured whatsoever – the gas blocks the pulmonary system and causes the victim to suffocate… but perhaps disfiguring the bodies of children is too far. Perhaps this is the right course to go down – even though I doubt that Oliver has chosen this gas because of the properties it has. No, he'll have gone for the first damned gas he could find.
I head home to the Glass House and begin to work on my plan for the school, knowing that I must get the system set up between about 9pm and 5:30am…shouldn't be hard!
Oliver's POV:
Something about her, it is beginning to worry me. Even when she was under my control entirely, she was able to think her own thoughts. It was harder for me to bring her under my control, but I managed it: I can always manage it. But now, now she has the ability to think for herself about a plan when she ought to be only concentrating on me, on what I tell her to think. Even now, when she is under my control though she still acts 'normal', I feel that she has too much freedom of thought. I could sense it; though she was planning the same way that she did with the bomb in City Hall, I am beginning to wonder if I need to move things up a grade between us…
… but can I do it without succumbing to the changes I feel occurring inside of me, no matter how much I fight it? Can I do it without sacrificing my plan for power, to get this town from the only person in the world who does not deserve it? I can only hope so… but at this current moment in time, I cannot confirm anything.
The phone on my desk rings, breaking my reverie with a suddenness that isn't at all pleasant. I sigh as I consider just who the most likely person is to be on the other end of the phone: they have blonde hair, are smaller than myself, and I am trying to over throw them.
Amelie.
I pick up the phone but do not say a word, mimicking her impolite means by which, when answering the phone, you do not speak which, in turn, unnerves the person on the other end of the phone.
"Oliver, if you deign to stop being such an idiotic creature, your presence could be required over at the Elder's Council building," Amelie says, her voice tetchy as my usage of her 'trick' words wonders.
I tilt my head back and shut my eyes, smiling as I shake my head. "And what interest do I have in attending a meeting led by you?"
I can hear her teeth grating as she attempts to maintain her ice cold composure whilst talking with me. I am one of the only people in this world who knows her well enough to be able to get under her skin, so to speak, and this gives me a great advantage in annoying her. Whilst it may not get me very far with my plan for Morganville, I know for a fact that it gives me great pleasure to be able to press all her buttons in a manner that means she cannot overreact.
"I would have thought," she says slowly, keeping herself ice cold, "That you would have a desire to find out the state of our people after the attack the other night. Unless you are so heartless not to be concerned for our vampires," each word cuts through the phone and causes me to wince involuntarily. She is still strong, even with the events of late, and could destroy me if she had a reason to.
"Ahhh yes," I say, deciding I do want to attend. "After all, I was under the impression that this meeting would revolve around you pining for someone who you could quite easily be with, as they usually do. But I shall be down there shortly," I continue, deciding to snipe somehow, or she will think I am losing my touch.
Silence greets me for such a long time that I think she has thrown the phone down in anger, or something similar. But then she responds, "I suggest you make your way down here most imminently, Oliver, or you shall find your usefulness to me most depleted… perhaps so much so that I decide that removing you will not be an issue," she threatens me, something within her voice so deadly that I can believe her.
"Yes, my dearest Amelie," I say to her venomously, before hanging up by throwing the phone down back in its jack. I feel my face contorting in anger at the way that she feels she can speak to me: she has no right to!
This 'conversation' has only reaffirmed one thought inside of me: I must get control of this town, no matter how I could possibly feel for certain individuals. After all, I cannot confirm that I feel this way for Claire – it could be anything. But there is one thing I am confident on: Amelie needs to die.
I stalk towards the wall, having forgotten that Amelie does not know of my knowledge of the portal system she has kept secret for so long, before remembering at just the last moment. I then turn back around and stalk out of the café through the main door, heading for my car parked in the shade of the huge tree in front of it.
Driving like a maniac that definitely causes a good heart attack or two from the humans, I reach the building of my desires, looking over at the remnants of City Hall. The bomb caused a great deal of damage – perhaps even more than I expected, with the effects reaching on for possibly years. I know that there are still vampires who are living on the edge, so to speak, one of which is no longer Michael, something which both pleases and displeases me at the same time for various reasons.
As I make my way up the stairs in the Council building, I catch the scent of many different vampires' blood loitering, no matter how much it has been cleaned by the staff. I can smell the despair lingering from those of my kind who died that night, in excruciating agony. And I have to smile as I realise it was me who initiated this, not Amelie… I have managed to do something that has caused her agony at watching so many die.
I waltz through the doors to the room we always use as if I own the place, which can only annoy her. As I enter, her head turns and her eyes narrow, as if she wishes only to dispose of me. This is a wish she really ought to take up on, if she wishes to keep this town.
"Why, how pleasant is this?" I say slowly, sinking into the chair opposite the most wondrous woman in the history of this world.
"How can you be so calm?" she asks me slowly, her inner turmoil evident on her face for a mere moment. For this moment, I can see that the destruction of her town has rocked her more than perhaps she would care to admit, that spending so much time with dying vampires (something that isn't always that common) has knocked her confidence and utter belief that we cannot be destroyed.
"You think I am calm?" I confirm, deciding to play along. I raise my eyebrows and shake my head, laughing slightly in faked disbelief. "Amelie, I want to rip every human in this town apart until I find the one who has done this to our people. And you think I am calm?"
"Something about you seems… you seem as if you wanted this to happen," she deduces correctly, too close to the truth for my liking.
"That is preposterous," I say coldly, shooting daggers at her as I would normally. "After all, Amelie, I want the town and the vampires… why would destroying the town bring me closer to my end goal?" the only route down which I can go is protesting the fact I want the town intact, the only one which would seem plausible in this situation.
Her eyebrow rises in disbelief and she laughs slightly before returning to neutrality. "Yes, I suppose that that is the truth," she says slowly, accepting my lies as the truth. Her expression cools further as she levels a glare at me before continuing, "We have lost a great number of our people. It has been a travesty and many of them are still in an extremely fragile state. If we do not find out who has done this soon, they may strike again-"
"But have we any ideas?" I butt in, deciding to take a little control from her in the situation we are presently in.
She turns back to me, her eyes ablaze with uncontained anger at being interrupted. "If you would be so kind as to allow me to finish, I could perhaps have said," she snarls at me, before a slight brightening appears on her face. "After all, you must be awfully sad to know that with the loss of Mr Collins from this town, we cannot blame him, along with Ms Rosser's state of being comatose ruling her out also."
Her sweet smile at me is laced with bittersweet satisfaction on her part, this being that the human I voted to have saved so that Claire would come to me, and I grimace. "Yes, well, there are a great number of rebels who oppose your system in Morganville, Amelie, so I believe it is more along your line of duty to discover which of your enemies is the most prominent and to dispose of them, not mine," I retaliate, deigning that this is the best course to take. Whilst I would relish the opportunity to dispose of some of the more troublesome humans in this town by guiding the inquiry to them, leaving all the work to Amelie will be the better option, especially with the addition of the stress that shall be caused tomorrow.
"Very well, at least I shall not have to put up with your moaning throughout," she sighs, evidently not knowing that there shall be a huge problem with this tomorrow. I wonder if she will try and do everything herself, or will come running to me for assistance throughout… with Amelie, it could be either, I honestly do not know.
"I suppose that shall be a bonus for you," I agree, leaning back in my chair. "Now, mon ami, do we have any other business here or is that all?" I continue, slipping into her native tongue in a strange attempt to unnerve her for she knows of my contempt for French.
Her eyes narrow once again as she contemplates what to say and how to say it, "Je pense que tu t'es trompé l'endroit où nous sommes," she answers, a small smile on her face. she thinks I have mistaken the location in which we are in… I don't understand why she thinks this, if I am honest.
"Je ne sais pas pourquoi tu penses cela," I reply in fluid French, my accent almost as exquisite as hers.
She shakes her head slightly and allows herself a brief smile before answering – in English. "You do not know why I think that you have mistaken your location? I believe the fact you have been speaking in French is enough of a concern, when you consider the fact that we are in America," she hisses at me, sensing I must want something if I am speaking in her tongue.
"Au contraire, Amelie; I simply deigned to allow myself to slip into your native tongue, for we continually speak in mine," I respond simply, a level of truth to my tone. "I could have, for instance, began to speak in German or Spanish, yet I felt a certain kin with the language of dear France for this moment in time. Is that explanation enough, my Founder?" I hiss the last word at her, anger evident in my tone.
She shakes her head and turns away from me, motioning for one of her servants to collect the paperwork from in front of her. "I have no further requirement for you, Oliver, so leave."
"You called me all the way down here simply for you to insult me, then order my departure from the building?" I confirm, increduled.
"I merely required to know if you were willing on being cooperative enough to assist my finding out as to whom attempted to kill us all," she responds coolly, on her way out of the room. "You are not, so I have no further need for your presence. But let me inform you of this before I leave: your charge, Miss Danvers…" she trails off and leaves me to ask what she wants to know about Claire. If she is bringing her up, this cannot be good.
"Yes?"
"I understand she is alone in her home now and I would like you to remind her to be careful," she says, surprising me. Perhaps she does ca- no, she cares for nobody but herself and perhaps Samuel. "After all, she is a human living in a vampire's home… alone. This is not the wisest of decisions and whilst Sam may be willing to keep an eye on her, he is not always going to be there. So ensure she is wise, Oliver, and knows how to protect herself… she could be useful to us in the future, you know, and I do not wish for such talent to be wasted," she finishes on an almost dreamy note before walking swiftly from the room, leaving me alone.
Claire has her mission, one which I know she is more than capable of completing. I have my mission, to ensure that she is kept safe. Just will that interfere with my master plan for Morganville?
And will keeping Claire safe make me lose my overall goal?
Merci for all the reviews last chapter - I'm going to write another OliverxClaire, but as a oneshot, sometime in the future so I'll tell you all when!
10 reviews, bitte (Ich spreche Deutsch auch, und Spanisch, aber ich habe nicht Franzozisch oder Spanisch in die Oberstufe machen - I speak german and spanish, but I have not taken French or Spanish in 6th form) but...I may switch geog to Spanish.
Anyway, review please, and thanks! :D
Don't fav or alert without reviewing, or continue to do this XD
Vicky xx