"Okay, so how do we go about it?" Claire asked, immediately ready for battle.

"We'll have to make sure Amelie isn't in on it. She must be enraged and seemed betrayed that I would give up your protection. No one must know but you, Mr. Collins, and I."

Shane rolled his eyes, "No one would have to know if we weren't doing this in the first place," he grumbled.

"Knock it off Shane." Claire snapped and he stared at her. He locked gazes with Alucard for a brief moment and he nodded, leaving the room.

Claire stared after Alucard, then turned shocked eyes to Shane, "What did you do?"

"Who are you and what have you done with my smart, always-thinking, never-making-rash-decisions Claire?"

"Shane, I promised I would fix this! I failed the first time and now Eve is hurt. If I fail again…" Claire trailed off as tears filled her eyes at the infinite possibilities of the fates of her friends.

That lay in her hands.

Shane stepped forward and held her to him again, and instead of comfortable silence and Shane's quiet words, the room echoed with Claire's fear filled sobs.

After a while, Shane sat Claire on the bed and grabbed the phone, "What are you doing?" Claire asked

Shane held up a finger when he pressed the phone to his ear, "Hey, Mike!" he bellowed, "Is Eve up yet?"

He paused and smiled, "Great, put her on." He passed a shocked Claire the phone, grinning evilly.

Claire hesitantly put the phone to her ear and heard a, "Hello?" but it didn't sound like Eve. Not the sassy, bitchy, bring-on-the-trouble Eve she knew.

This Eve sounded small, tired.

Claire squeezed her eyes shut and forced herself together when Eve's voice called again.

"Hey, Eve," she said softly, "How ya' feeling?"

"Pretty good, C.B.," she said, a little cheerier, "a little tired, but they give me the good stuff here." She laughed a little, "How are you doing Claire Bear?"

"Don't worry about me," she took a deep breath, "God, Eve, I am so sorry. I didn't want any of this to happen. You have to believe I tried to fix this—"

"No, sweetie, don't do that to yourself. I know you tried to fix it, I was there when you got attacked, remember? See how well that worked out. I'm sorry I let him get away again—"

"No, Eve—"

"Shut up, C.B., let me have my moment." Claire smiled a little, "I don't want you to take the blame for this. I put myself out there, and I got hurt. Not for the first— or last— time, I'm sure. I'll be fine, Claire, you take care of yourself. I don't need you getting hurt, too. Okay?"

"Okay," Claire whispered, "I love you."

"I love you, too, girl. Stay safe." And the line went dead.

Shane put his arm around her shoulders, smiling to try and hide the slight concern in his eyes, but Claire didn't miss it, "Feel better?"

"A…a little, I guess."

Claire still doubted that Amelie had an effective plan to end this once and for all, but she wasn't sure what to do anymore.

"Great!" Shane said, "I'll go tell Alucard we can leave in the morning."

He kissed Claire on the cheek and left the room. She stayed right where she was, deep in thought. If Amelie failed to come up with a plan, she and Shane could be on the run for who knows how long? Claire hated the thought of constantly running away like a coward. She'd faced worse than this.

Claire's head shot up.

She had faced worse than this! This was nothing compared to the oldest, most vengeful vampire coming to destroy their town. Not only that, but he had basically made Claire his slave with a magical tattoo that made his call irresistible, and she'd even managed to escape that.

This was amateur. Immature. A vamp without a plan and a sloppy initiation.

But Claire wasn't sloppy. And she could make a plan. She was already started.

What about Shane? That put a whole new perspective on her choice, and she would have to choose carefully.

She knew she wouldn't be able to talk him into it, but she couldn't do nothing. If she went, she would betray him; but if she stayed, she could ultimately be impending hers, and; or her friends' doom.

And she knew what she had to choose. Both options would hurt, but one would hurt less than the other.

When Shane came back in, he made up for their lost day at the beach with a nice dinner at the hotel restaurant. Claire wasn't sure if she felt guilty for the choice she made. With this choice, she was neglecting something very important, and both could make her miss out on special memories like this.

Maybe, one day, her choice could be forgivable, but she wouldn't change her mind now. It had to be done.

She wouldn't commit a betrayal like that, this was the only way to salvage the relationships she lived for.

Okayyy… I'm sorry it's late, I had to run about three scans on my computer and restart it 4 times because everytime I opened a window it would just say not responding, but the chapter is up now. So, can anyone guess what Claire's choice will be? I hope I made it pretty hard, including pros and cons of each choice. Will Claire stay on the run with Shane? Or will she go on a secret sabotage of Amelie's plans to prosecute her own? When you review, tell me what you think she chose, and if you're right, I will dedicate the next chapter to you.

And prepare yourselves, the next chapter is going to be really short, but I have to keep up my cliffhanger reputation, and that was the best place I could leave it.