Chapter 5:

~thank you SOOOO much to Madelyn Grey who gave me an idea that basically took this story in an entirely different direction… sorta… yeah, this shall be revealed through this chapter & the next~

I don't own anything besides the plot… which partially belongs to the aforementioned person.

Myrnin's POV (simply because it's only been Claire for a couple of chappys):

When she danced with me, I know she felt something for me. I know she did. I could see it in her eyes, when she locked eyes with me; a jolt connected the two of us. But she has gone off with Amelie, of course, to discuss the information that I told her that I shouldn't have! Trust my Claire to have to rush off and tell the one person that she shouldn't… no, one of the two people she should not have told, the other being Amelie's lovely new lover, Oliver. I cannot believe that she has moved on with him: there is a difference between sleeping with someone and being in a relationship and I have a feeling she isn't even doing the first.

And now, her paramour is back, the one she loved 'so much' and was devastated when he died. But Claire should not tell her that she knows! She may be a great asset to Amelie, but that is it: Amelie cares nothing for my feelings – if she deemed Claire to know too much, or to be an annoyance, she would dispose of her in a flash. That is just how important a human is to Amelie, the only exception being Sam.

And even he turned into a vampire for her.

I wonder, just perhaps, if I run away now, Amelie won't find me until after she has killed Claire and alleviated some of her anger that I told her about Sam's state of missingness. I am a coward but I would rather be a living coward than one who has to fight Amelie – and lose, as her display at the prison with Jason showed – and then just dies anyway. I think that Bob would miss me the most, for Claire would already be dead… a plus side to dying, however, is not having to explain to her little friends as to why she is dead.

I begin to slink away out of the corner as I realise that the conversation must be almost over, that Claire's death must be imminent, but then Oliver steps in front of me. He is the most annoying vampire I have ever had the misfortune of crossing paths with… and he is now 'dating' Amelie. This is going to make me puke sometime soon… unfortunately.

"What do you want?" I snap at him as I down a whiskey shot in one; if I'm near the refreshment table, I may as well down a few of my favourite tipple! I dump the glass down on the table and grab a couple of O negative blood shots – interesting refreshments – and he rolls his eyes before nabbing one from me. "I am amazed that you are actually risking your life to take one of my blood shots," I snap at him, desperation as I wait for the door to open and a blood covered Amelie to step out.

He, once again, rolls his eyes and focuses his attention on the same door as myself. "What has happened to make Myrnin, the jester, appear so worried? Claire tell you that she is actually in love with that Collins boy and not interested in you?" he laughs at his own joke, albeit a hard noise that brings no humour into the situation whatsoever.

"No, not at all," I respond… "Wait… how did you know that?" I inquire suspiciously, wondering if Oliver has managed to develop his technological skills – he did, after all, live alone in the modern world for a few decades – enough to bug my lab or Amelie's office… surely not.

He looks astonished before smug… of course, this is Oliver we are talking about – when does he not look smug? "You really are a fool, aren't you?" he says, sounding increduled. "If someone paid me a penny for every time your infatuation with the human was mentioned to me, I could afford to buy the entire city of New York… before you say anything, Amelie didn't betray you," he continues, defending the honour of his… Amelie. She isn't his and she never will be: part of my role as her oldest friend is ensuring she does not make decisions which could destroy her. After all, trusting Oliver could be her demise.

"Oliver, did you hear the conversation dear Richard had with Amelie earlier?" I ask innocently, ignoring his comments as I ignore him normally.

"Yes, why?" he inquires suspiciously, wondering what relevance the missing state of Sam's body could have… oh, if only he knew what link there is between Amelie and Sam, he would never have tried to snare her for himself.

"You know the person who was being discussed?" I talk cryptically as so that the other vampires in the room do not hear Amelie's business… I don't want to die anyway, let alone painfully and in a mutilated manner by the room finding out that Sam has been stolen. "Well, Amelie isn't going to leave them behind, is she? Stop kidding yourself that you could be together because it isn't going to happen."

I grin impishly, letting my natural charm shine through as his natural evilness returns. Unfortunately, my internal gloating causes me not to pay attention to his fists, so as his connects with the side of my face, I stumble. "There was no need for that!" I snap at him as I crash into the refreshments table, the glutton of alcohol and blood (which had an alcoholic tinge to it) causing my reflexes to not be sharp enough. It isn't as if it hurts my body but it does cover my jacket in perfectly good alcohol that has now been rendered impossible to drink.

I sit up and kick him right where it hurts, the dancing vampires stopping to observe the fight which could have gone so much further – and ending in my victory – if Amelie had not appeared.

Fury is not even comparable to the emotion shown in her eyes, her stance, as she looks down at us, fangs out in anger. Her eyes are blazing silver and only heighten the anger… which apparently is already there in my case, since I informed Claire of what is going on with dear Samuel.

"Get. Up. Now." She hisses at me and I move fluidly to be standing next to her, brushing some of the liquid from my jacket. Behind her, I notice Claire – she hasn't been murdered, which is always a good thing – but I avert my gaze from her and refocus on Amelie… I wish I hadn't though. "Oliver, you stay here – I shall talk to you later. Myrnin, come with me," she snaps at me, striding off in the direction of the room she just exited with Claire and expecting me to follow. She looks like a Phoenix with the anger emulating around her, the power so ferocious: it reminds me of the time when Bishop was free again (until I saved everyone) and she was proving that she was the most powerful person around…

I scurry after her, realising my life can only be shortened if I don't, and unfortunately have to walk into the room with her. I notice her standing by the door which I am barely through by the time she slams it shut, the frame reverberating. Thankfully, I remember building this room to be soundproof (rather, making the blueprints to have it soundproofed; I am not some manual labourer) so none of the vampires outside can listen in.

"You fool!" she hisses at me, her hand reaching out to strike my face in the exact place where Oliver punched me. It isn't as if it hurts, but it could have damaged my looks if I were human still.

"Funny, I can't remember doing anything in the last while that could cause such a derogatory name to be used to describe me," I feign ignorance as I attempt to move away from her; all she does, however, is move with me, her movements sharp and entirely feral.

"You told Claire that Sam has been stolen; Myrnin, how could you?" she cries and her angry façade falls to reveal the injured and broken woman beneath. That is what I think, however, until her hand grabs my throat again and she slams me to the floor, her nails digging into my throat. It cuts off the unnecessary breathing I do but causes blood to spill out onto the once pristine collar of my shirt. "Listen to me, Myrnin, and listen well. You cause me quite possibly the most agony and I am sick of it. I could destroy you right now and it wouldn't cause me any qualms, merely remove rather a huge load from my plate. You understand?" she hisses and I nod.

"Whilst I would love to give you a more detailed explanation, I am running out of air and your fingernails – whilst they are a lovely shade of green – are digging into my airways," I use the last of my breath to answer, my usual charming and interesting tone to my voice. So she releases me, shaking the blood from her fingers over me. As the wound heals, I hand her the handkerchief in my pocket, as I did in the prison, something which she takes without a change in her facial expression.

"I am serious, Myrnin, why did you tell her?" she asks me as she takes a seat in the armchair of the small room we are in. it is rather charming and I can see where she has lost her temper with Claire – such a short length now, since she relinquished her perfect hold on herself the other month – with a candle in pieces on the other side of the room.

I sit upright but stay away from her, not trusting her right now, before answering. "She had the right to know, Amelie. She is integral to Morganville now and to not inform her of such huge things in the politics here is not right."

"And I suppose it has nothing to do with the fact you quite blatantly love her and you have even confessed this to me?" she retorts angrily, sensing there is more to the story than I admitted.

"I would say that that is the truth," I am extremely vague with my answer, not identifying which direction I take her statement to be for the usual answer would be 'yes', but my opposition could be confusing her. Oh, it is a hard job, to be this confusing for people!

"Let me make it quite clear for you, Myrnin," she snaps at me, moving closer to the door as she speaks. "Since you informed Claire of this information that I, in hindsight, did not forbid you to share – a mistake I shall not be making again – I have deemed it to be a good idea for you both to investigate the theft of my Samuel. Do I make myself perfectly clear?" she says… no, no, no, no, NO, NO, NO!

"You can't let her investigate… please, Amelie, don't," I beg her not caring about sounding weak because she cannot get involved. Yet Amelie's eyebrows only raise as I contest her 'authority', her contemplating what my words could mean.

"Do you know something further than what I do?" she asks me quietly, each word like a dagger shooting into my side. How to answer… do I answer honestly and confess my part in this? Or, to save myself for a little longer, do I lie and hope that she cannot see through it?

It is obvious which choice I take.

"I know nothing, Amelie, I just do not want a human to be involved in a situation which involves nine dead ones and a missing vampire who is supposed to be dead," I answer fluidly, hopefully disguising my lies. After all, I managed to lie to Bishop for six months… but I was half crazed then, though I pretended to be crazier than I was to allow myself more leeway.

She looks suspiciously at me but evidently cannot find anything to dispute with me so simply continues with her statements… "If that is the case, then there is no dispute: Claire will work with you to find out who took my Sam. After all, if you love her, you will protect her no matter what, won't you?" she smiles at me sweetly but the undertone to it… it's truly evil, as if she is finally showing that she is her father's daughter.

"Of course," I answer in a sharp tone, no longer caring about being polite when she has no qualms about putting Claire in danger. Perhaps this is her revenge for me telling Claire the secret regarding 'her' Samuel. "Maybe we ought to return to the party… after all, you don't want to leave your date, Oliver, alone do you?" I slip in the snide comment about how she has evidently moved on from her 'darling Sam', causing her eyes to narrow at me. Yet she does not contest it, which is the thing I have been worried about the most… perhaps my actions have been rendered useless and shall have only caused pain on all sides, rather than showing the lengths to which people shall, foolishly, go to for love.

She stalks out of the room and I follow her, looking for Claire. We must leave the party now to begin our work… but I feel that I need to tell her about my involvement first.

This ought to be fun.

Claire's POV (Myrnin's was supposed to only be a couple of hundred, not over 2000!)

I cannot believe that he was fighting with Oliver in public! It isn't that I don't condone, for when would a vampire listen to what a lowly human says, but that Amelie will be furious. I half expected her to rip Myrnin limb from limb where he lay and for her to dump Oliver on the spot. But, this being Amelie, she took Myrnin into another room to rip into him – with her temperament recently, I would take that literally – so that the rest of us could not listen in.

Unsurprisingly, Oliver stormed off so it left me there alone, until Michael and Eve came over to make sure I was ok: not a good idea, leaving a human who has a rather fast heartbeat on account of the whole 'Amelie mentally torturing me' thing that went on in a room full of vampires, I don't think.

"CB, what is up with everyone of late?" Eve asks me as she stands with me in the corner, but I can't tell her anything. If I shouldn't even know, she, someone who is barely condoned by the community, has no chance of knowing.

So I shrug my shoulders and try and fob her off with, "Everyone seems to be pissed with each other because Amelie came with Oliver," but it doesn't work. It only gets her more interested in what's going on. "Eve, honey, I'm sorry but I can't tell you anything. I'm not kidding when I say even I shouldn't know…" I snap at her, causing her to step back in confusion.

Michael moves across as he sees this, his brow furrowed in confusion. "Eve, sweetie, why don't you go to the toilet whilst I talk to Claire?" he suggests quietly, causing her to nod and stalk off, her heels clacking. He watches her to make sure she reaches the toilet safely before he then turns back to me with a concerned expression on his face. "What the hell, Claire? What the hell is going on?" he asks me, his hands on my shoulders as he pushes me further back into the corner to avoid any prying ears.

"I… I can't tell you, Michael, I'm sorry," I sigh, knowing that this is the answer I have to give. He cannot know about the missing humans and definitely not that his Grandfather – dead Grandfather, may I add – has gone walk about…

His hands grip my shoulders tighter: what is with damned vampires and trying to give me bruises? "Michael, ow, it hurts," I wince as he gets me right where Amelie grabbed me before, where Myrnin had me before that, but he doesn't release me… guess it isn't the best idea to piss off a vampire. Jeez, Claire, where did you get that idea from? Of course it's surreal, for vampires are supposed to be happy bunnies that like to dance in meadows and never hurt anyone… NOT!

"Tell me," he says very calmly, "what is going on, or god help me Claire, I will go crazy!" he snaps, entirely vampire Michael. For the first time, he scares me.

That is, however, until another male vampire steps behind him and pulls him off me. "I believe the lady told you to let her go," Myrnin snaps at Michael, throwing him backwards in a way that doesn't attract any attention from the crowd. "I can tell you right now that this has absolutely nothing to do with you, so run off with your little girlfriend and leave the mature people to save the town," he continues, snarling in Michael's face.

"Myrnin, calm down," I say hurriedly, seeing Michael prepare to retaliate. "Michael, calm down… just go," I tell him quickly, watching as he looks at me with disgust.

"You really do have something for him, don't you? Shane was right?" he asks, but the way he asks suggests as if he is only confirming something he previously considered.

"What? No!" I shoot back, ignoring Myrnin's confusingly hurt look to tell Michael the truth. "I don't have anything with Myrnin; we just really have to work!"

"Whatever," Michael says in response, walking off with his hands in the air. Just as he does this, Amelie passes and the air she gives off is not pleasant: I take it that she is happy with neither Myrnin nor myself… wonder what he did to piss her off. Oh yeah, fight with Oliver and tell me that Sam is missing.

"You have three days to find the person we discussed," she informs us. "If not, I would not wish to be where you are standing right now. Do you understand me?"

"Basically you are threatening our lives if we don't bring you something that, if it remains missing, will leave your life much less complicated," Myrnin foolishly argues back instead of just agreeing.

"Basically, you are sorting something which could cause great pain to this town and that is something that, just thinking about, makes me want to rip off the heads of the nearest people to me," she responds, causing a shiver to run down my spine as she looks at us. I am weak: I would not survive an attack by her; there is absolutely no chance of it. Oh no…

"Stop the threats, Amelie, or we won't do it," Myrnin shoots back, his own voice as full of venom as hers was previously.

Her eyebrows raise at this blatant opposition to her, before she retaliates. "Remember the person we were discussing earlier, Myrnin?" she asks him, and I get the strangest feeling that she is talking about me. He does not respond but simply stares at her to show he understands. "Well, if you do not do as I ask, their life expectancy shall be cut down to mere minutes, do you understand? And being turned is not an option…"

"Fine," he answers mutinously and entirely unhappy about this… I would have done it anyway, to find Sam, even if he got me out of it. "I do hate it when you play the power card. Let me be quite clear, Amelie: I am doing this for you, but I don't like it and I no longer wish to be friends when this is over."

She snorts at this but looks quite shocked, as in that her friend would abandon her because she is forcing him to do something… or rather because she is insisting that I am involved.

"Very well, but you have three days," she repeats before disappearing. Three days to find a body… that shouldn't be hard, right?

"Should we go?" I suggest, no longer liking being in this dress. It's already associated with too many bad things… I never want to wear it again.

After staring after Amelie for a long time, he finally jolts back into action and nods, taking my arm and leading me through the throngs of vampires without a word. They all look at us, but don't comment, partially because of Myrnin's half crazed expression and the way that I am trying so hard to keep the fear off of my face… fear drives them on and I don't fancy being an exquisite entrée in here right now.

It seems quite ironic that I told Shane I wouldn't be here long. After all, I thought I was going home early to be with him, rather than going home to change before spending three days exclusively with Myrnin, "the bloodsucker he likes the least," to put it in Shane's words. I have to, if we have any chance of finding Sam: I can't be going home for a third of the day to sleep.

We rush through the dining room and up the staircase to the entry room, where Myrnin heads to the door. "Myrnin, can't we take a portal?" I ask but he doesn't slow as he responds, pulling me with him.

"I need to fetch my car: we are going to have to drive to the graveyard for there is no portal there," he explains, but I dig my feet into the ground. It makes no difference to him as he lifts me along, experiencing no problems.

"Myrnin, let me get the portal back so I can be changed by the time you've gotten home and changed and then pick me up," I protest, not wanting to be driven in a car by Myrnin if I don't have to… at least to get home.

He stops and looks down at me, wondering about the practicalities of this. But then he nods, waving a hand to conjure a portal and opening it for me like a true gentleman. The darkened Glass House living room greets me and I step through, the last thing I see as I turn being Myrnin. I turn on the light and hear his voice, "I shall be round to pick you up in fifteen minutes. Do be ready; I have no time to wait and neither do you."

"Whatever!" I call and hear him shutting the portal carefully, as to not splinter the already damaged door: I think it needs replacing.

But I can tell instantly that Shane isn't home. Nobody is: Michael and Eve are at the party and Shane is probably down the pub with his 'friends', getting pissed. So I turn a few lights on, even though this has to be the safest night in town because every vampire is at the party, and head up the stairs, unable to absorb everything.

Amelie and Oliver are in a relationship. Nine humans have been found dead, all in the same area of the graveyard. Sam's body has been nabbed by some thieves. Myrnin knows something that he isn't telling me.

We have three days to find Sam or I basically die.

Should be fun.

I change out of the dress quickly, discarding it without a second thought on the floor of my room, and grab the first jeans and t-shirt I see. I throw them on and pull my hair out of the intricate style Eve had put it in earlier, tying it back in a ponytail so that it is out of my face. I remove the makeup from my face and find a pair of normal shoes that I can run in, just incase some vamp that has been killing all these humans tries to grab me… sure they're probably not going to help, but if I'm on my feet for hours, I think they could be helpful.

Now sorted with clothes, I grab my thick jacket and head downstairs into the kitchen, finding the coolbag and piling drinks and chocolate bars into it: I don't know how long we're going to be out, so I need food as I doubt Myrnin will have been prepared enough to get me something. Sure he may have remembered blood, but, hello, blood doesn't sustain me. Therefore, I believe that my forward thinking could be beneficial… as well as getting the blanket from the living room incase we have to do a stakeout or something.

Eleven minutes after I returned home, a knock comes at the door. "Little one, it is me," Myrnin's voice comes through the door, frustrating me because how many times have I told him not to call me that? So I wrench open the door to reveal him dressed in actual normal clothes – jeans and a t-shirt that looks just like the ones on the internet site I told Amelie about… she actually listened to me – which I presume he is only wearing incase he 'gets his Edwardian stuff dirty'. He is more of a girl than I am!

"What do you want, Myrnin?" I ask him sharply. "I have four more minutes."

He shrugs and moves into the house, there being no barriers because a vampire owns the house so vampires can enter as they please. Something about him… he doesn't seem as confident as normal.

"Please don't come, Claire," he begs as he sits down on the sofa. My curiosity kindled, I shut the door and sit down opposite him.

"Why? I have to, you heard Amelie," I retort, wondering whether or not he is just messing with me. Perhaps, just perhaps, he has been shaken by the news that nine humans… no, it's because Sam is missing and he wants to get him back so that Amelie will remember that she doesn't love Oliver.

"Pretend you're sick or just stay here and I can cover for you," he continues urgently, the desperation evident in his voice.

"Why?" I repeat. "Tell me why, Myrnin, and I will consider it."

He leans forwards gravely, his curls bouncing perfectly – why I have noticed this is beyond me – before saying, very seriously, "I know where Sam is."

WHAT?

So, not quite as long as last time, just a couple of hundred words shorter.

Tell me: do you like the chapters long, like this length, or do you prefer more 1K or 2K chappys?

And what do you think is going up here? :P

Please don't fav/alert without reviewing...

Vicky xx