Hey everyone! I'm sorry it's been so long but I've had a lot of school work. I break up tomorrow for summer so I'm all yours! (unless I get distracted lol). Thank you to all my readers and reviewers, I really appreciate all of your support. I love hearing from readers too so keep those reviews rolling in! Ok so enjoy chapter 23 x Its a bit shorter but it is an important one . . .xx R&R!

From Thalia's Tree.

Disclaimer: I do not own Morganville vampires, only this storyline xxx

Claire's POV

Michael had gone for a quick shower to wash off the remaining blood from his slowly healing body. Eve had found the first aid kit and had wrapped a bandage around her now black and blue wrist. Michael must have really grabbed her hard. Shane had tried to help Eve to wrap it but she just snapped at him.

"Back off." She said. "I can do it by myself." She said it as if she didn't trust him. To be honest, I'd be surprised if she ever trusted anyone again. Michael is the one person that she has truely ever loved, and he had really let her down. That was going to leave a mark, and not just the one on her wrist.

I led my best friend to the sofa and sat down next to her, holding her hand. Shane perched himself on the arm of the sofa next to me. It was actually nice in a bad way. For once, not everything was about me. We were all concentrating on something else. It was still dark out, and my body was telling me that it was time to go to sleep, which it was. My friends looked just as exhausted as I felt.

We sat in silence, all deep in our own thoughts. What could Michael really be doing? He'd made us all wait for him in the front room, like whenever we have house meetings. We don't have them very much and even when we do, it is only for serious circumstances.

Michael then entered the room, head down, trying to avoid eye contact with any of us.

We all waited for him to talk as he sat down opposite us.

"If I tell you," He began. "You're going to hate me. I don't think I can deal with that."

"And if you don't tell us, we'll hate you anyway." Shane replied. "So come on, is it seriously that bad?"

I think we all already knew the answer to that question.

Ihad a really bad feeling about this. Something wasn't right at all. I held on to Eve's hand tighter and I felt her do the same.

Michael rubbed his face with his hands in a tired motion and, letting out a sigh, stood up and began to pace the space in front of us.

"I did what I thought was best. It sounded like a good deal but it just didn't seem to stop."

"You made a deal?." Eve asked, clearly shocked.

"Yeah." He replied.

"Who did you make a deal with?" I asked, speaking for the first time in a while. My voice sounded dry and tired.

Michael came to a stop in front of us. He looked at each of us in turn before saying, "I made a deal with Oliver." When none of us said anything, he continued.

"I made a deal so that anytime in future, all of us can leave Morganville, no questions asked."

"But why would we want to leave Morganville?" Eve asked. "Not that I wouldn't be thankful of a holiday but . . ."

". . . Never mind that." Shane cut in. "What is Oliver making you do?"

I just sat there. I didn't say anything, it was easier to just listen. But I was even finding it hard to concentrate on that. I tried to tell myself that this was important, that I should listen, but I was out of it completely. All I could do was sit there until my body decided to react.

Michael took in a deep breath and said "There are rogue vampires on the loose, ones that may want to take over or kill innocents. They're dangerous and they are beginning to form alliances. Soon they will be too strong. Oliver wants them all dead before they do too much damage, before they . . ."

". . . You're telling me that you are going around the town killing?!" Shane yelled, jumping up from his seat and standing face to face with Michael.

"It's not like I'm killing humans." Michael said in a low voice but I knew that he didn't believe. "Believe me Shane, I wouldn't do it if I had a choice, but they're the killers." He voice began to get louder. "They're the murders not me!"

"So now being a murderer depends on who it is you're killing? Humans or vamp man it doesn't matter. You're killing in cold blood!" Shane raised a fist to punch him. My body reacted. Eve and I both jumped up quickly. I stayed standing where I was while Eve got between them, putting her hands out to keep them apart.

"Stop it!" She yelled. Shane was breathing heavily and Michael was looking at Eve. When everything calmed a bit, she turned to Michael and her anger faded to sadness. "Why Michael?" She asked, almost begging. "Why would you do something like that? For Oliver? "

Michael hesitated. "I - because . . ." He looked at me, like he was making the decision on what he said next based on me. I didn't say anything, I just looked down. The room felt darker than before. I don't know if that's because it was half two in the morning, or because my eyes didn't want to work. Nothing could have prepared me for what Michael said next.

" I did it so that in the future, we can leave Morganville and take Claire to a special hospital. One where there are better facilities for her." He turned to me. " I want whats best for you."

What?

This hung in the air for what seemed like forever. That was a good thing right? But he was doing this horrible thing for me? I don't think I can live with that. But wait, if he had planned for this, does that mean . . .

Shane said it for me. "What the hell man?" He yelled. "So what? You've given up on her already?"

"No I . . ."

". . . what then? Cause that's exactly what is sounds like!"

My head span. "Shane." I said.

"Do you think Claire's not strong enough to get through this?" Shane asked sharply.

"Shane." I said a bit more quietly. He didn't hear me, and I was finding it harder to hear things myself.

I knew Michael was trying to fight his case, but Shane wasn't letting him get a word in. This was way to intense. He wasn't thinking straight. Which was probably why the next thing he said was,

"You think she's going to die don't you?"

My vision blurred, noised roared in my ear. I heard Eve say "Claire?" But it sounded far away.

"Shane. . ." I whispered one last time everything black and I hit the floor.