Disclaimer: I am not Darren Shan. I do not claim to BE Darren Shan. This is merely a fanfiction.
Chapter 1
IT WAS late and night when I heard the tapping, and thought it nothing more than an owl trying to attack its reflection in my window. I groaned and rolled over to check the time. 12:30am. I groaned again and heard the tapping once more.
"Stupid owls." I mumbled, getting up and moving over to my window in the dark. I fiddled with the latch for a few seconds and when I finally had it unlocked I pulled the window up fast.
"Go away you bloo-" But it wasn't an owl that had been tapping at my window. It was a friend of mine. A vampire friend of mine. Oklin Doggart. I moved away from the window so he could get in and sat down on my bed, bringing my pink snoopy sheets up to cover my legs. "What are you doing here at 12:30? I thought you were an owl."
Oklin laughed at my sleepy voice and my eyes refused to stay open for more than a minute. "Hoot! No, I came here for a reason."
"And that is?" Usually I wasn't as blunt around my Vampire General friend as I was now. But that was because I was still half asleep.
"How would you like to come on a trip with me?"
My eyes literally shot open and fixed on Oklin. I regarded this question suspiciously and he laughed. "Are you serious? I've been asking that for nearly 8 years."
"I know. And now you've finished your schooling, and gone around the world. I figured…" He looked down at his feet, purposefully avoiding eye contact.
"I'd love to!" Even though I was still half asleep I would never pass up an opportunity like this. And that look could always draw me into doing things I otherwise wouldn't do.
"Great! We leave now." Oklin stood up, went over to the window and looked back at me. "Coming or not?"
I was slow to react, but as soon as it sunk in I tried to jump off the bed and hit the floor, I'd forgotten about the blankets. "Wait a second." I grabbed a pen and paper and wrote a quick scrawled note to my parents saying I was going traveling with a friend. I'd finished school when I was 16, and they generally always let me do what I want. After the note had been stuck on my door, I put on some jeans and a proper shirt, my favorite pair of Converse and grabbed a warm jacket. "Now I'm ready."
"That was more than a second."
"Sorry. I meant 5 minutes." We both laughed and I climbed down the guttering next to my window after Oklin had jumped out. Once on the ground I thought it safe to ask the question I'd had sine said we were going, "So, where are we going?" I didn't get a response straight away, but after a few seconds he turned around and grinned. I got the feeling this was going to be one of the most exciting, dangerous, interesting and memorable trip of my life.
So Oklin and I began the trek to the place only he knew about and I followed obediently without complaining once. We'd been walking for only a few hours when I started skipping and he looked at me like I'd pulled a rabbit out of my shirt.
"How long until we get there?" I asked.
"About two, maybe three months."
I stopped skipping and looked at him. "Two or three months? That's a long time."
"387 years is longer." He said.
"True. Will you ever make me a vampire?"
"Maybe when you're older." Oklin smiled.
I laughed and started walking next him. "Am I allowed to know where we're going?"
"Of course, I'd just rather keep it a secret."
"Ok! Don't tell me! I like secrets."
Oklin looked down at me and I smiled broadly. "Hop on my back, we'll flit until morning."
He bent down and I climbed on, hanging my arms loosely around his neck and holding on with my legs. He started running at first - because flitting isn't an instant thing- and when he got up to flitting speed he appeared to vanish to any human who might have been watching. I was still feeling rather tired, and ended up falling asleep on his back, not even waking up when he put me in a coffin once we'd reached a way station.
I woke up later than afternoon, just before sunset, and saw Oklin standing at the end of my coffin watching me and I got out, careful to lift my feet over the edge so I didn't trip.
"Are we going now?" I asked sleepily, yawning as I said it.
"Soon. Sunset is almost here."
I started to stretch and twist my joins out of their rigid sleepy state. Oklin moved over near the door and watched the sun slowly setting.
"Are you looking forward to the trip?" He asked me after watching the sun for a few minutes. I was in a yoga position and had my legs over my head, but I still managed to look up at him and smile, and then groaned as my position collapsed.
"Of course I am! Travelling to lands unknown with mystery shrouding my way," I stood up and walked over to him. "Why? Having second thoughts about inviting me?"
He looked down at me and smiled softly. "No. I wouldn't have asked anyone else." He rubbed my hair and I pulled away from him smiling. The sun had set low enough now that he went outside and started walking again. I followed, close on his heels.
