Disclaimer: I do not own any books, chapters, or anything from Cirque Du Freak, or the Darren Shan saga. that all belongs to the one and only Darren Shan himself!
Chapter One: Guilt Ridden
The Lake of Souls – my everlasting home. The neighbors surrounding me scream for help and plead for freedom. I, however, remain silent and mournful. I know what I have done to deserve this, and I regret every lasting minute of it. My mind wanders aimlessly around through my pasts, my memories. I can barely recall my reasons of how and why I've turned into such a hateful, cruel man. The only thing I remember was that I turned that way through revenge. I no longer kept track of the years – maybe that's what happens in the Lake of Souls. A day – no, a second – would feel like an eternity.
Guilt crept into my mind as I thought about my last meeting with Darren. He won the final battle, but had let me go to give me a chance to kill him – and I took the chance. I have killed millions of innocent people just to destroy him. He had done nothing of the same sort; all he was trying to do was save me from the path I had already succumbed to. In order to save the world, he found a way to kill the both of us. Now he's in Paradise, and I'm here in this lake, rotting away to nothingness. I thought increasingly about the last battle I had with him, when I suddenly realized why I had even considered killing him – he TRICKED me! The reason why he told me that he really did want to become a vampire instead was to ensure the fact that we would both die and there would be no Lord of Shadows! "That intelligent bastard." I muttered to myself. Then again, Darren had always been the smarter, logical one between the two of us. That's not surprising.
Like wax melting from a lit candle, guilt filled up in my head as I thought increasingly about Darren, and thinking of him caused me to think about Annie and Darius – how I had hurt them, used them, and shattered their lives like meaningless glass. My head burned with shame and guilt as I thought of them – what could've been my family, had I not stepped through into the path of revenge and hate. I could've had a happy loving marriage with Annie – growing old and still dear and loving to her like in those old dusty classical movies. I'd be taking Darius to his soccer games, cheering him on until my throat grew sore, driving his friends to the movies, and teasing him about his crushes on girls. However, none of that happened. Why? I became a childish idiot, planning revenge on someone who was forced to sacrifice his mortal human life just to save a screwed – up life like mine.
My eyes squeezed shut, trying to negate the tears that were already dribbling down. "If I had one more chance, just one, to redeem myself in any way, then I would grab at that chance in an instant!" I silently wished. Suddenly, the Lake started sloshing everywhere. A blinding light came through the Lake, and I felt like I was being lifted out. Yes lifted – as if someone had thrust his or her hand in and pulled me out – not being fished out by a net. 'What's going on?' I thought. "I have a mission for u, o sinned one." A voice whispered…