"You want me!" I said, beating him to the punch, and his dark, sinister smiled told me I was right. "You're Crazy!" I yelled, stumbling backwards. "There's no way I'd become your assistant! You must be mad to even think of such a thing!" Mr. Crepsley shrugged. "Then Steve Leopard dies," he said simply. I stopped retreating. "Please," I begged, "there must be another way."
He didn't answer me, I couldn't think straight. Everything that happened to Steve was my fault, I was the one who eavesdropped on his conversation with Mr. Crepsley, I was the one who stole Madame Octa, knowing she was a poisonous spider, I was the reason he was now in the hospital. And now, and the only way to save Steve was to become a vampire like Mr. Crepsley. I couldn't do it, the last works I spoke still rang in my head, there must be another way!
I ran, I ran out of the building and back home the only place where I knew it would be safe, or at least where I thought I would be safe. "You'll come back" Crepsley yelled, "it's your life or his" he said, but there seemed to be a hesitation in his voice, or maybe it was just wishful thinking.
Returning home I saw the lights on, and didn't even bother to hide the fact that I snuck out and entered through the front door. "Darren, where have you been?" my mother yelled at me however she soon broke down crying and wrapped her arms around me. "We were so worried, where did you go?" she asked. I hugged her back and over her shoulder I could see Dad and Annie looking at me with concern. "I tried to go to the hospital, I had to go see Steve" I lied. "Darren you know we were going to go see him tomorrow" she said. "I know I-" I cut off, looking to the faces of my family, how could I tell them the truth. I was the only one who knew the reason behind Steve's poisoning, maybe if I told that I knew the venom had come from a spider, maybe if I described Madame Octa, the doctors could search for such a spider and find the cure to its' poison.
"I'm going to go to my room now" I said, slipping out of my mother's arms, and headed up to my room before my family could stop me. They didn't try to stop me, but I could guess that the matter was not over and that they were going to demand more answers from me tomorrow, as well as lecture me. Still, I had until tomorrow, that gave me time to think.
Would I give my life for Steve's? Of course I would, it should've been me lying in that hospital right now, what with my stupid obsession with spiders it's a wonder it didn't happen earlier. Though, would I let myself be turned into a vampire for Steve? I wasn't so sure. Vampires were creatures of the night, they killed people and drank their blood. I couldn't do that, not even for Steve. I didn't think I could sleep thinking about it, as so many things were swirling around in my head, but I did eventually asleep at some point.
The next day we went back to the hospital to see Steve, it was amazing how much my mother cared for a boy who was not her son, granted me and Steve had been friends for so long he might as well have been. I wanted to tell a doctor what I knew especially anytime they said they were doing all they could, yet every time I opened my mouth nothing came out and I just looked ready to cry, to which the doctors only put their hand on my shoulder and said "it's okay son" in a very distant, attempting to paternal voice.
Steve looked dead while in his coma, I hated to have to look at him this way, but the beeping of the heart rate monitor gave me some comfort, Steve was still alive, and while he was still alive, there was still hope. Yet my hope faded as it turned to nighttime. Then I saw him.
Mr. Crepsley, the vampire with the creepy smile, the vampire who wanted to make me one of him. He was across the street, and easy to see from Steve's window, meaning he had to have been here before, knew which room Steve was in and knew I'd be here. He pointed upward, and I knew he was going to head to the roof of the hospital.
"Darren, honey are you okay?" my mother asked as I turned to leave after him. "Yeah, I just need to grab something to eat" I said quickly, she handed me some money for the vending machine and I smiled and thanked her, hoping this wasn't the last time I was ever going to see her.
I took a few wrong turns but I eventually made it to the roof of the building where the vampire was waiting for me. "Okay" I said softly, thinking of Steve's face as he lie there, "I'll become your assistant" I said softly. "Oh? That's interesting, but I decided that the offer isn't available anymore" Mr. Crepsley said. "What?" I gasped, was he playing some sort of cruel joke? "You were not the only one to mull over your thoughts last night. At first I thought it was a brilliant idea, having your life in exchange for his, but then I remembered the taste of evil in your friend's blood, I may be doing the world a disservice by letting him live" he said.
"Steve's not evil!" I snapped, Steve may be a bit of a wild child, or be intimidating when he gets angry sometimes, but he wasn't evil, I knew that for sure. "Then there's you" Crepsley continued. "I could blood you and make you a half-vampire, in fact that was my plan, but then I remembered how much trouble I would get in as we don't usually blood children, the repercussions might not be worth it, and if I were to keep you as a human during your servitude there's no guarantee you wouldn't run away or kill me as I slept, so I came to inform you that you in fact, don't, have a choice in these events,"
"So you're just going to let Steve die?!" I gasped, and he nodded. I felt my anger swell and my knuckles turn white, "how could you! Steve's not the one who's evil, you are!" The vampire just looked at me, he knew as I did, right now there was no way I could defeat him, him a creature of the night, and me a young child who got in over his head. "Head this" I said "I'll grow. I'll get older and stronger, I'll devote my entire life to developing my body and mind, and when that day comes . . . when I'm ready . . . when I'm fully equipped and properly prepared . . . I am going to hunt you down and kill you," I vowed.
Crepsley simply chuckled, "on that day, Master Shan, I will look forward to seeing you again. he said. In a flash he was gone, leaving me alone on an empty hospital roof. I left before anyone could see me. Anger, hatred, guilt, they were all spinning around in my head, and when I returned to Steve's room, I was greeted by a flat line.