Chapter 1: After All These Years.

There is absolutely nothing more shocking than being visited at lunchtime by a vampire. I learned this firsthand one Saturday morning.

My best friend Steve Leonard had just arrived at my house for lunch. Steve and I became friends in kindergarten and have remained so ever since. We even attend a college together which was only a short driving distance away. We only live a few streets away from each other.

When the doorbell rang, I opened the door for Steve. "Well, if it isn't the 'Leopard' himself," I smirked as he wiped his feet on the doormat and entered the house.

"Very funny, 'Hotshot Shan'," he replied. I laughed. Steve had matured since we were kids but he still had that wild rebellious streak in him that my mother had always been wary about.

I led Steve into the house and told him to sit down while I finished up the last of the cooking for our meal. Finally, I set the table and served warm bread, coffee, and chicken soup. Steve and I immediately tucked in.

"Can you believe it, Darren," said Steve through a mouthful of bread. "Cirque Du Freak is a hit!"

"I'm pretty excited," I admitted, reaching for a spoon.

"You're a brilliant novelist!" laughed Steve.

I nodded. The books he was referring to had been based on diaries of mine that I don't even remember writing. But I believed that every word of them was absolutely true. Of course, I never told Steve that. He would have laughed at me. He thought the books were pure fiction based on the time we sneaked out of our houses to see an illegal freak show. Regardless, he loved the books and thought it was hilarious that he was a "villain". After a while, I no longer cared who believed my story or not. I believed and that's what counted.

After wiping my mouth on a napkin, I cleared the table and placed the dishes in the sink while Steve picked up the newspaper.

"Hey, Darren," called Steve from the table. "How about you and I see that horror movie that comes out next Friday? You know, just for old time's sake?"

"Maybe," I replied, joining him back at the table. "Sounds fun. I–"

Ding dong!

At the sound of the doorbell,Steve looked up from the paper. "Expecting somebody?" he inquired.

"No…" I said, puzzled. "It could be a salesman. I'll go check."

The bell rang again. "One second! I'm coming. I'm coming!" I told the visitor as I cut though the living room and unlocked the door.

His appearance startled me at first. He wore a long red trench coat with the collar up even though it must have been about eighty degrees outdoors. A wide-brimmed top hat cast a shadow over his face and little bits of orange hair peeked from beneath. "Darren," he said. "May I come in? I am baking out in this horrid sun."

"Who–" I began.

"Later. May I enter please?"

I stepped out of the way and gestured for him to come in. He immediately did and I closed the door behind him. He approached my curtains and drew them shut before taking off his hat. He sighed with relief. "The coat and hat helped a bit but I would have been reduced to ashes had you not let me in. for that I thank you, Darren. You were always considerate."

"Do I know you?" I asked him. I'll admit was sizing him up. After all, I had just let an extremely sketchy man into my house.

The man stared at me sadly. "Oh… right. Lady Evanna did not give you those memories back like she did for the rest of us. For you, none of it ever happened."

"What are you talking about!?" I demanded, slowly losing it.

"Darren, buddy, is everything all right in there?" Steve appeared in the doorway. The man's eyes narrowed.

"Ah, Steve Leonard. You are doing well I see."

Steve now wore the same puzzled glance I did. Then recollection crossed his face and his skin was reduced to pallor. "Horston?! Vur Horston?! The vampire!?"

At this, a baffled look crossed the man's face. But it quickly vanished.

"Ah. That is right." said the man. "You would remember me from the cirque."

"But… That was years and years ago!" gasped Steve. "What the hell are you doing here now!?"

"I want nothing with you," said the man with an icy tone. "I have come to speak with Darren."

At that, I stared hard at the man. Vur Horston… Cirque Du Freak… Vampire… Could this be him? Was he really real?

"Mr. Crepsley?" I asked tentatively. I felt weird calling him Mr. Crepsley since we were both adults… But it felt much more natural than calling him Larten.

He stared at me sadly. "You only know that from your journals, do you not? You do not remember really. How could you remember something that, in fact, never came to be?"

I couldn't take my eyes off Mr. Crepsley. Did I really care so much about this man in another lifetime? I had written so much about him in my diary. This was the man who had once pumped his own contagious blood into my veins and transformed me into a vampire. I looked at my fingertips, half expecting to see puncture marks. Nothing but clean flesh. It hurt though. Why couldn't I remember Mr. Crepsley?

"You said Evanna… the sorceress… gave you the memories," I said. "What do you mean?"

"She found us. Those you knew… She implanted our memories from another lifetime back into us. She told us that she would give you… and Steve Leonard your memories once you were ready. I do not know when that will be."

"WILL YOU GUYS HOLD ON!"

Mr. Crepsley and I whipped around to face Steve. His eyes smoldered dangerously but he seemed more scared and confused than angry. "Are you implying that Darren's stories are all true? You guys are crazy! I would never do the horrid things I did in those books in really life!"

"You would not now," corrected Mr. Crepsley bitterly. "Darren averted your fate so that you would become a different person. He messed with the laws of time and created a new outcome."

Steve trembled. For a second, I thought he would lose it. But then he turned to me. "That's why you weren't surprised… When I finally did tell you why I had stayed behind at Cirque Du Freak all those years ago."

"I always wondered if there was something true about those old diaries I found." I admitted. "When you told me about what went on between you and Mr. Crepsley that night, it only strengthened my suspicions."

"So, all that stuff in your novels. Actually happened? I-I'm evil? I killed people? I hurt you… bad." Steve looked like he was going to hurl all over the floor.

I put my hand on his shoulder. "Forget about it, Steve. That was another lifetime. You aren't that person anymore."

"But I'm capable of being him," mumbled Steve miserably.

I glanced at Mr. Crepsley. "I don't know how I feel about seeing you again, Mr. Crepsley. I mean, it sounds like you were important to me. But I don't think you came here so we could all pile on Steve. Why are you here?"

Mr. Crepsley removed his hat. "It is rather complicated. The Cirque du Freak has run into some trouble. Lady Evanna and Mr. Tall have told us that they cannot help as much as they want to because of restrictions but they did say that to solve this certain problem, you and Steve must 're-enter the story'. So Evanna sent me to collect you two. However, we must do this all behind the back of Mr. Tiny."

Just as I was going to unleash a torrent of questions, my front door creaked open. "Mr. Crepsley? Are you here already?" asked a voice. Then the door opened all the way and I found myself face-to-face with a rather unusual bunch.

The first one I have to mention was a man in a hooded sweatshirt. But, of course the hood wasn't the weird part. Underneath the hood, I could see that he had tiny scales that were glimmering and emerald-colored like some kind of exotic snake. He wet his lips with a reptilian forked-tongue. From what I had read in my journals, this had to be Evra Von, the snake-man.

The figure beside him was exceedingly short. He also wore a hood but when he removed it, I could see that his skin was dull and gray and held together by patchwork. He had some sort of oxygen device on his mouth, but when he slid it to the side, I could see tiny rows of teeth. This could be none other than Harkat Mulds, the little person.

The last person wasn't even a man. She was a woman a little younger than me with dark hair and amazing eyes. Was she Debbie or Arra? I stared at her hard, remembering how Arra and Debbie were described in my journals. After noticing her casual posture and lack of weapons at her side, I felt convinced that this woman was Debbie Hemlock.

"Evra? Harkat? Debbie?" I tried nervously.

"What?" they asked in unison.

I laughed and punched the air. "Yes! I got it right!"

Debbie laughed but I could tell she was a bit… depressed. "What's wrong?" I asked her.

"Darren… I don't want you to guess. I want you to know so badly," she told me. "Because… I did love you at some point. When I remembered… I sought out Evra, Mr. Crepsley, and Cirque Du Freak because I wanted to find you."

I frowned. "I know, Debbie. I'm sorry. I really am. But I can't help it when what we had ever really existed."

Her eyes drooped a little but, nevertheless, she pulled me into a hug. We stood there for a minute. Then I felt her body go stiff. "Steve," she said, numbly. "Steve Leonard!"

Harkat and Evra both gasped as if suddenly realizing that Steve was standing right there. "What," asked Evra evenly, "exactly is he doing here?"

"Uh, having lunch?" Steve offered a little too sardonically. I could feel trepidation fill Debbie.

"It's okay! Steve's fine! He's not going to hurt you! " I guaranteed them.

"That's what you… said last time," grumbled Harkat. "That time in Mr. Crepley's old town…You vouched for him then he tried to kill us… and you."

However, the last person I expected to speak on Steve's behalf did so. "As much as I despised Steve," said Mr. Crepsley, "this is a different alternate life. Besides, I truly do not think Evanna would tell us to take Steve Leonard with us if she knew he would harm us."

"I suppose… you're right," said Harkat "But as long as those… sequences from our… alternate life are still… fresh in my head… it will take some getting used to."

"Cannot argue with that," said Mr. Crepsley.

"So," growled Steve with irritation. "What is this oh-so-urgent problem that you need Darren and me for?"

Mr. Crepsley, Debbie, Harkat, and Evra all shared a long glance. "I feel that it is best if we have Evra explain on the way," said Mr. Crepsley.

I sighed. "I'll get my keys."