I don't own anything

If you're a new reader, I'd recommend reading the last story - Struggles With What's Right And What I Want

& I don't think there's a need for a recap of the last story, so on with it!

Claire's POV:

I wake up with a bang in the middle of someplace where I have never been before; it isn't even someplace which I could have seen on the television; it's entirely alien to me, a foreign place which holds no place in my memory. I could be absolutely anywhere right now, and I wouldn't have a clue. Am I even still alive? What happened to me? Oh God, what if I am dead? Oh God...

I sit upright in the middle of a grassy plane, flowers around me in beautiful patterns, not a single weed or stray flower out of place. It seems extremely peaceful as I look around, before I realise something with a heavy heart: the sun is out. I am not burning up, as a vampire as young as I ought to in the sun – just thinking, I have already been here for a good three or four minutes, not knowing how long I have been unconscious. This doesn't bode well for the "I'm still alive but have just been magically transported to another place" theory that's just been floating around in my head.

I could be dead. That's pleasant. I stand up and look down at my clothing, and see a plain white silk dress, which is definitely not something I would wear. It would be more suited to… she is so dead! If we aren't dead already, I am going to kill that woman: she collapsed, so I collapsed as well, and if she is dead, I am betting my ass on the fact that I am in the same predicament as she is.

Well, it seems that I'm dead, since I'm in a weird place where I've never been before, and I'm wearing something that looks as if it's came out of Amelie's wardrobe from about seven hundred years ago. So, in conclusion, being dead sucks.

Fury igniting itself in my brain, I scan the park to look for her, but it seems as if it is entirely empty of people. Where am I? What has happened to me to end up in such a beautiful, yet, devoid of human life location?

"Child, I am right here," Amelie's voice comes from behind me and I whirl around, my hand over my immobile heart in shock. Something seems different about her appearance – oh, right, it is because she no longer has the bump that pregnancy brought her. She is back to looking in all glory, her hair tied back in a tight bun whilst she is wearing a dress identical to mine in all but colour. Her dress is of champagne colouring and compliments her hair colour perfectly… what the hell am I doing, thinking that she looks good! She could have killed me, here!

"Where are we?" I snap at her, forgoing any politeness and such because, hello, I think I'm dead. "Don't mess with me, Amelie. Don't bother holding back any information as you normally do because, hello, I think I'm dead and I don't want to be dead. Okay?" I yell right in her face but she doesn't seem to care; she takes it without even blinking. That indicates to me that there's something going on, some other factor at play in a game where I'm merely a pawn, someone who doesn't know anything.

"Come with me, Claire, and I will explain everything," she says quietly, looking me directly in the eyes. I see sorrow and pain, regret and fear in her grey orbs and relax slightly, knowing that she doesn't want to be here either. So I nod slowly and she smiles very slightly before placing her hand on her back and wincing – why is she doing that? However, I'm sure I shall get to find out. I hope. With Amelie, anything could happen: one second she could be telling me everything that's going on, the next she could be explaining to me differences in dialect in pre-Alfred the Great times in England.

So we walk across the park, both of us rejoicing in the sunlight which she has not been in for one thousand and eighty six years - enjoyably at least - to a swinging bench. I sit down and she does the same, ensuring she's completely facing me as she crosses a leg underneath herself. It is such a relaxed and informal pose that it catches me off guard for a moment, especially as she turns her head to admire the sun.

"Such wonders the sun brings us," she muses, probably about to begin a pointless philosophical conversation with herself. As I most certainly am not going to indulge in her ramblings, when she could have killed me! "It brings life to all living beings, even vampires; for, you see, if we didn't have the sun then humans could not live… don't you see the wondrousness of it? The beauty, the warmth… these are the things I miss about being human, being able to be in the sun," she continues, creating a idealistic thought process as I imagined she would.

"Cut the sun talk, Amelie, and get to the point," I snap once again, not even regretting it as she turns to look at me with a hard face. Yet her expression softens as I continue, "Please… I just want to know why I am here. I want to go back home."

She takes my hand in both of hers tightly and focuses her attention on me entirely, her eyes already running with tears. Something about her expression indicates I am not going to like what she is going to say. Then again, when do I like what Amelie ever tells me?

"We are connected through our family tree, so if one of us is close to death, the other will follow – this can only happen if there are only two people in the entire lineage, I believe" she begins softly. "I am close to death, so you came with me to this place where I can tell you everything I never told you when I was alive… at least, this is my theory. It isn't exactly a tested hypothesis, but this is what I have concluded," she continues, smiling slightly.

"But… but that means that you are-" I begin, trailing off as the fear hits me that I could be right. She smiles slightly before continuing with her piece.

"I feared that this would happen, as soon as I found out I was pregnant: I have never known of a pregnancy with two vampires, as we are the only ones with the gene, and therefore the chances of me having enough strength were low. Yet I dealt with this, keeping from Sam how I felt death creeping over me, stealing me away from this world. I pretended that I was better than I was so that he wouldn't worry… as he wouldn't be able to do anything but feel guilt," she says, and it hits me that she has been pretending for this entire time that she was better than she actually was.

Tears begin to drip down my own cheeks, mirroring hers, and I shake my head. "You should have told him… or me… we're related, you're supposed to tell me things!" I burst out and, this time, she shakes her head, not me. I look away from her and cast my gaze to my pressed together knees, not really looking since the mirage of tears is blocking my clarity of sight, just desperate to get the image of her out of my head. It isn't Amelie. It's a broken woman, someone who can feel, someone who has reasons for doing what she's done - because she's wanted to protect us. And that's something that's worse than being lied to just because she didn't want to share her information.

"No, Claire, I am the elder, I am supposed to protect you from these things, not have you shoulder my burden," she says gently, her voice shaking from the pain in it. "I shouldn't have had to tell you; I didn't want you to be worrying about it… it was my choice not to tell anyone, so please don't stress as to why I didn't tell you," she continues, the tears sliding down her cheeks thickening with every word. Soon, they're a steady stream that refuse to let up, silvery rivulets tracing their way down her cheeks; apparently, even vampires can be affected by enzymes.

"So you are dying," I state simply, my voice trembling as I acknowledge this. Amelie, the strongest person I know, is dying. My last living relative is dying and going to leave me. "No, you can't! We cannot have a life without you, Sam will be destroyed! He won't...he won't do anything. Morganville… please, Amelie, Oliver can't have Morganville – it wouldn't work at all!" I stress, sobbing as the thought of no Amelie. She is Morganville; without Amelie, there is no purpose in the town. She is it; she breathes life and soul into it, has made it what it is today, and it's all down to her - true, we have aided her, yet, without her will and determination, none of this would exist.

She pulls me into her arms and it reminds me of the times when my mother comforted me as I was distraught about menial, trivial things – nothing could ever have been as bad as a mother dying when she thought she never would, especially when she is leaving behind a child – which could also have died.

"You will not have to worry about Oliver ruling, because you are the person I decided to leave Morganville to," she whispers into my ear, stunning me so greatly that my tears stop as I stare into her face. "I could never leave my town in the hands of someone like Oliver, but you are my kin: I can trust you… as for Sam… this isn't my choice, Claire, evidently it is what God wants me to do. I can only follow fate," she shrugs it off, but I see the pain in her eyes at leaving her husband and child.

But what she has said has struck a nerve with me. I stand up and stare at her, agog that she could think that. "You believe in fate," I say simply. "How bloody old are you? Jeez, Amelie, you may have "found" religion or something in your youth, but that doesn't mean that science or something isn't more powerful than God… he doesn't decide if you live or die – that's up to you! If you have the strength to keep fighting, then you live. If you have the determination to fight for what you want, then you live. So don't blame fate, Amelie. You are giving up yourself, not anyone else making the decision for you."

All she does is nod. For a moment or two, she moves her head in an upwards motion, then down at the same speed, avoiding eye contact with me. For the brief time I see her eyes, I see that they're clouded with confusion, indecision, loss before, finally, peace. And this is, perhaps, the most disturbing emotion of all.

"That is your belief; I have my own, albeit it very different to your own" she sighs and I know I have no chance of changing her mind here. Those born prior to the 1900s are religious, it seems, and Amelie is no exception; she will not bend for her faith. "Yet, in regards to Oliver…" she begins but trails off before finishing the thought.

"Yes?" I question slightly harshly, but if she is going to insist on giving up I need to get into the role as being head of this town...she's giving me no choice, after all. It's literally been: "oh yes, Claire, I'm dead. Sorry about that. You're now in charge of everything as you're my descendant. Sorry about that as well. Oh, and watch out for Oliver, he's a prat." Also known as, not good, because how the hell do I control Morganville?

"He is, deep down although you may not believe it, a good man who is wise and stays true to his beliefs, his promises," she surprises me by saying – I thought she was going to give me a warning about him! That's Amelie for you - always full of surprises...albeit not particularly helpful surprises. "He is a good man to keep on your side, Claire… before my father came, we quarrelled, but it was put into perspective after our lives were turned upside down. Do not fear him, for he is on our side entirely and will prove this time and time again in the future," she continues, closing her eyes deeply. It's as if she is praying for him, for some mission that he is going to take… yet there is nothing, is there? There is absolutely nothing going on besides this… unless she means in terms of looking after her child… I cannot be sure.

"So that's it," I state without emotion inflicting my voice. I hold back the tears to stare her down, my eyes noticing how she is rubbing her back still, and my brain considering whether or not I could do something about that when I get back. "You're giving up. You are going to let Sam suffer without you, when you made sure he came back from the dead, so to speak, so that you didn't lose him. You're being selfish and not fighting simply because you think it is fate. Do you not love your child at all?" I snap at her, trying to hurt her so that she will fight with me, fight to get back to the world of the living and out of this strange inbetween land we are in.

Fight to do anything. As that's all I want, for her to come back. She need to come back.

She stands to face me and I am only slightly taller than her with both of us in bare feet. Yet I use my strength and new found power to challenge her, to see what she will do if I try and make her return with me...and she backs down instantly. That is so not what I wanted to happen. "You are right, Claire. I am giving up. I cannot fight any longer… I fought death for nine months, but I have been fighting it ever since I was born. It is just time to concede defeat. Of course I love my child, I have since I found out I was expecting it. Yet… I am sure that they will be happier without my constant bad luck clouding them. Everything bad happens to me, Claire, not anyone else. You think everything started when you came to town, but that was mere coincidence - I have never had an entire year of my life which has been happy. So, I give up. I'm throwing in the towel, I think you say, nowadays, and am merely letting someone else decide my fate."

I growl at her, but she holds her ground, not reacting besides to pull me in for another hug. Her face is suddenly covered in fresh tears and I sob into her shoulder, pleading with her, begging, for her not to leave me, for her to come back with me.

"Hush, child, everything will work out – whether it be that I return in my own time… or, if I don't, then everything happens for a reason. Remember that, my Granddaughter," she whispers into my ear as I feel the tug back to the land of the living. I am returning, returning as the new Founder of Morganville, the new head vamp even though I am the youngest of us all.

"Come with me, I'm sure if you will it to you can come with me!" I urge as I begin to disappear back, my legs beginning to disappear just like magic. It's the strangest feeling, my heart being torn from me because it wants to stay here, with Amelie, at the same time as my body returning to the waking world.

Yet she shakes her head and takes a step back, her eyes glistening with the tears already spilling down her cheeks. "I love you, Claire, and I love Sam and my child. Please pass this on," she says, before turning away. She doesn't say another word, or even look at me; she just walks away.

"NO!" I scream as the distance between us increases, her head hung in shame. "No, you can come back! Amelie, please! Fight, fight as you know you can. Please, do it for me, for Sam, for your baby, for Myrnin, for whatever will make you do it!"

She turns back to me as I am almost invisible and shakes her head, a wry smile on her lips. "I can't, Claire," she says, and it is almost a whisper. She turns her attention to the sun and smiles as she basks in its beautiful rays. "I'm not coming back…"

So, what did you think of this chapter?

It's slightly ironic, actually, since I wrote this in Spain last April, and I'm going to Spain today, so...

Don't favourite/alert without reviewing. & I expect a healthy number of reviews for when I get back. About 15, basically.

Vicky xx