Hey, guys. This is my first DSS story (well, non-crossover), and I hope you like it. I randomly came up with the idea whilst eating pizza. Basically, it follows the same timeline as the books; up to and including Darren's final fight with Steve, DesTiny's revelations, and both Darren and Steve's deaths. Evanna does save Darren though, and they fight back against the true enemy: destiny.
Anyhow, I've been giving a bit much away here, I'll continue with the story. Review please! Even anonymous reviews are always great to receive! Oh and if anyone wants to randomly flame me in a review; just know this: flaming is NOT trolling, it is a childish act of attention seeking and insulting. I am pro at trolling. Flame all you want if you want to be troll'd to hell. Ahem, anyhow, here's the disclaimer and I'll be on with the story.
Disclaimer: I own nothing, except the laptop I'm writing this on. All credits for characters and places, etc go to Darren Shan, and whatever the hell company publishes his books.
P.S. This is always gonna be in Darren PoV unless I say otherwise, and is rated T for paranoia.
Explanations
The lake of souls was horrible. No, scratch that. It was torture. My thoughts kept going back to the want to kill myself, before I realised I didn't have a body to kill. Damn destiny for being my father and screwing up my life. I wasn't even going to call him Mr. Tiny any more, he didn't deserve a title; even if it was only Mr. He shall be known as destiny to me now. He doesn't even deserve a capital letter.
I was lucky. I felt like I had been in the lake for an eternity, and I was on the brink of insanity. But then I felt hands on me. I was thinking 'Wait, hands? I didn't have a body! How?', and then I checked and it was a miracle! Someone had fished me out of the lake, like when Harkat fished out Kurda, his former self. However, something felt different about myself now. I was pondering this when I saw my saviour.
"Evanna!" I cried, I felt differently about her since I found out she was my half-sister. And by the look in her eyes, I could tell she felt the same way.
"Darren! Wait, you're not struggling to speak or anything! Hmm..." said Evanna, before she trailed off in thought. Them the most amazing thing happened. I was concentrating hard, my gaze fixed on her, trying to see what she was thinking. Then I heard it, it was like her voice in my head. Hmmm...I wonder...my suspicions may have been correct!
"Evanna, what? What suspicions?" I said aloud, before I could stop myself.
"You can read my thoughts? That's great! It seems my suspicions ARE correct," she said with a smile, "I believe our father when he, ahem, *created* you, unwittingly passed on a few powers, although they have lain dormant. Right up until you died, and I brought you back again. Interesting...it seems the lake of souls may have been a trigger to release your potential. Unless..."
Normally, I would struggle to comprehend this, but it seemed, among these powers was a greater intelligence.
"That's it!" She said. "The powers of the lord of the shadows! They were dormant until you killed Steve!"
"But I don't feel any uncontrollable urge of evil or anything," I said, panicking, "I don't want to be the stupid 'lord of the shadows'! That's why I purposefully made sure I died aswell as Steve!"
"Do not worry, Darren. I believe your act of self-sacrifice has eliminated the bad side of you. In killing yourself originally, you finished off the lord of the shadows once and for all, so to speak. But it is very interesting and a good thing that his powers have stayed with your good side."
"Oh, good. So I'm definitely cured of my evil side?"
"Yup."
"And I've got powers like you now?"
"Well, not quite like me. For example, from what I saw and what our father told me, your powers are very limited compared to mine and our father's. You cannot see into the future or do many of the things I can, but that also means you are not bound by the rules we are. You have powers such as greater intelligence, enhanced telepathy including mind-reading, and limited magical abilities such as teleportation and possibly changing appearance. However, that is the extent of your powers."
"I still have awesome ones," I said, grinning childishly.
"Yup. But mine are more awesome," she said, with a glint in her eye as if she was enjoying this. She'd never known her other brother, Hibernius Tall, who is now dead, and she didn't find out that me and Steve were also her brothers till the same time as us. And I could tell from her thoughts that although she didn't generally take sides and didn't mind the vampaneze, she, like me, had a deep loathing of Steve, and although he was our brother, we were glad he was gone.
She also shared my view of loathing our father. He is a manipulative bastard, what more can be said? He basically controlled my life, making it a living hell.
"So, I can have my life back now," I said with a smile.
"Yup," replied Evanna, "but our dad doesn't know I saved you. I'm bending the rules we're held by as it is, but no more than he did. He'd probably find some way to kill us both if he found out."
"Thanks, sis," I said, teasingly. She scowled, but then smiled.
"Don't mention it, little bro," she replied, as teasingly. This was a new side of her I'd never seen of before. It reminded me of my human sister, Annie, when we were younger. And with a pang I remembered Annie, and her son, Darius. I wondered how they were doing. Hell, I wondered how the war of the scars was doing! However, I'd ask about it later. First, I had some more important information to gather.
"Soo, I take it I'm still a half-vampire?"
"Yup, although maybe not for long."
"And what's that supposed to mean?"
"Well, when you died, you were in the middle of the purge. That has not changed. And this is your second bout, you are likely to turn this time. Although it is not definite." And that made me think about my human girlfriend, Debbie, and our relationship. We had met when we were teenagers, and then met up again many years later. However, she was now an adult, in her early thirties, and I was that age too, although aging at 1/5th of the human rate as we half-vampires do, I looked like a teenager still.
She didn't want to progress further in our relationship until I was an adult. Or at least, had the body of an adult. The purge makes you, instead of aging at a slowed rate, age at an accelerated rate. So, soon, by the end of this bout of the purge, I'll be a true adult! I was elated at the thought. Then I came to a realisation.
"Does everyone think I'm dead? And what of the war of the scars?"
"Yes, everyone thinks you are dead. However, they will be pleasantly surprised when you return, especially Miss Hemlock, who I believe cried for a week after your death. Sadly, the war still rages on, although there are campaigners for peace on each side. Namely Gannen Harst and Vancha March."
"What! But Vancha hated them, why? And Gannen was all for war!"
"It seems you do not remember correctly. Gannen hated his job, the only reason Ganned protected Steve instead of killing him was because our father told him it meant doom for the vampaneze if he didn't, and you know what he's like. And Vancha, like yourself and I, did not despise the vampaneze. He despised our brother and father. He may be one of our few allies in the war against the true enemy. Presuming you join me of course."
"And who is this true enemy?" I asked, albeit simply out of politeness, as I knew by reading her thoughts.
"The true enemy is destiny."
"A war against destiny, eh? Fighting our father? I'm in!"
"I thought you might, well, knew you would say that."
"So, how do we kill him then?"
"We do not. We merely defeat him. I don't know if it is possible to kill him, and quite frankly, I wouldn't want to try." The vampire side of me wanted to go after him anyway, but the new, intelligent side of me realised this is a battle of brains not brawn. "We beat him at his own game."
"And how do you propose we do that?"
"He strives to create war, we strive to prevent, and end it. I already have a plan for this current war of the scars," she said, gesturing to her stomach as she spoke.
"You're pregnant! You chose someone! But isn't that favouring one side more than the other; isn't the child supposed to lead his or her side to victory?"
"Yes, Darren, just like you were supposed to become the lord of the shadows. Your act of self-sacrifice inspired me. I realised that the way to beat destiny is to think outside the box. Feel." As she said that last bit, she gestured to her stomach, presumably meaning for me to feel the baby. What I felt was not one, but two babies.
"Twins!" I exclaimed, "but how does that help? Won't that just give one side an EVEN STRONGER chance of victory? Unless..."
"Yes, Darren, you are correct in thinking that one is born to a vampire, one to a vampaneze. Namely Vancha and Gannen. What is more, I've allowed the bloods to mix; each child will be part vampire, part vampaneze, and part me."
"That's an amazing plan, Evanna! Brilliant! Although, that's got me thinking, will I, with my new powers, be able to father children?"
"Yes, Darren, I believe so."
"Wow. Would they be vampires? Would they have any powers?"
"I do not know. And it also depends on the mother." I was pondering this for a while, before I asked when we were going to go back to vampire mountain. Evanna said we had to stay here for a day, but we would be safe. The dragons wouldn't harm us, the children of destiny. We had to stay because she had used up most of her power getting here, and would need all of it to get back, especially with me.
I felt honoured, so naturally I agreed when she said she wanted to stay for a day to 'recharge her batteries'; normally, it wouldn't take such an amount of power to teleport. However, we were currently in the far distant future, not just in a different place.
The next morning, well, sunset, morning to vampires, we were having a discussion before we left for Vampire Mountain, in the present.
"Do you have the power to fast-forward the effects of the purge?" I asked, out of the blue, when my haywire senses started driving me crazy again.
"Yes, I do," she said, smiling, "if that is what you want, I will do it."
"Really? Thanks. I hate it when my senses are haywire like this, and I want to hurry up and become a full vampire."
"I also do have the power to end it, and keep you a half-vampire a little longer. Would you prefer to give up your daytime roaming hours, to full vampirism?"
"Yes, I think it is time. I've waited long enough," I said, grinning.
"Ok then, if you're sure. Remember, there is no going back."
"I know." As soon as said this, she started muttering some sort of incantation. I had never seen her do this before, this must be a different kind of magic. There was a sensation of light burning, and it was as though days of my life went by in a matter of seconds. Then, finally, she was finished. I admired myself now, my senses weren't haywire anymore, and I looked like a 19-20 year old. I had a muscly body, with plenty of scars.
I looked in a mirror that Evanna held up for me, and I saw I had stubble on my chin and face. However, I was still recognizable as me, at least to anyone who knew me. 'Debbie's gonna love this new me' I caught myself thinking. And by the smirk on my half-sister's face, I could tell she had read my thoughts.
"Wipe that smirk of your face, and am I a full vampire now?"
"What do YOU think?" It was at that moment that she made a small cut on my leg. Catching on to her intentions, I spat into my hand, and rubbed my saliva onto the wound. It healed up pretty much instantly. "Interesting, your lord of the shadows powers also seem to have enhanced your vampiric powers."
We chatted a little more for a while, before we went to vampire mountain. Evanna 'teleported' us a few minutes' walk from the gates. As we approached, there was a smile on Evanna's face.
"The war of the scars is almost over," she said.
"Yes, but the war against the true enemy has only just begun," I replied.
"That's my bro!"
"Evanna!" I said, trying to sound annoyed, but failed dismally. I also attempted a scowl, but in reality I loved to mess around like that. It reminded me of my human days. What a sight we must have been, me, grinning from ear to ear, and Evanna, still uncharacteristically (or not so much as I had found out recently) chuckling to herself, as we went through the gates.
We were greeted by a familiar site, and my happiness was indescribable.
So, guys, whaddya think? Go ahead and click that review button, you know you want to! I couldn't be bothered to do a prologue, like I usually do, for this story, as they usually turn out crappy and make people not want to read the story! Anhow, this was kinda boring to write, but fun to come up with the ideas for! However, next chapter IS gonna be fun to write.
Watch out in your alerts for "The True Enemy – Chapter Two – Reunions", coming soon to a website near you!