HEYYYY GUYS! I don't own any of the characters of The Saga of Darren Shan/Cirque du Freak. This is my first shot at a fan fic story so please rate and review and stick around for the ride! I'm super excited to see where this story goes, and I hope you are too! Now without further ado, I give you the first part to my epic tale of twisted destiny...
I can't let him die without knowing the truth. It's the least I can do, since it's my fault that he's facing execution. I have to tell him who I really am, and most importantly, I need him to know how sorry I am for not saving him. Isn't that the right thing to do? Tell the truth? At this point, I don't really know what the right thing is anymore.
The walk from the room I was staying in to the prison cells should've only taken me about ten minutes, but today it felt like an eternity. Almost every Vampire in the Mountain lined the halls to the prison, eagerly awaiting the execution to take place. Whispers bounced back and forth through the cavern wall as the members of the clan made their distaste for my actions very apparent.
"What is she doing?" One said.
"She's the only one going to visit him," said another.
"He's a traitor!" Many tried to warn me, crying out as if their appeals could possibly stop me from what I was about to do. It was clear by their words that they couldn't believe that anyone would even want to speak to the traitor; and although there was no rule against visiting the convicted, just the mere thought of anyone wanting to do so was completely incomprehensible.
The faces of those around me passed by in a blur as I quickened my pace the rest of the way to the prison. There wasn't much time left. Any minute, the execution process would begin and my chance to reveal the truth would be lost forever.
Disregarding the whispers and murmuring around me, I focused only on the prison door straight ahead of me, now just within my sights. Every desperate stride was harder to complete than the last, and eyes peered down on me every step of the way.
Don't worry about them, I thought. Just think of him. You're almost there.
My hollow words of encouragement did little to relieve the guilt engulfing my body, reminding me of what I had done; hurting worse than my dry expanding of my lungs or the aching in my legs. Sooner or later I knew I would pitifully collapse, surely embarrassing myself in front of nearly the entire Vampire clan.
Before I could give more thought to my feeble state, strong arms suddenly reached out from the line against the wall, wrapping around me. I halted in my steps, stumbling as the arms pulled me from my dash to the door; like a shepherd's crook pulling a bad actor off the stage.
In one quick motion I tried to break free of the grasp, only focusing on the path ahead of me. The figure must have anticipated my fleeting, because again hands reached out to stop me, this time snatching onto my wrist. Infuriated and forced to face the hinderance, I turned to meet my temporary captor. However, the rage disappeared just quickly as it came after I saw who was holding me back.
"Amber," my captor said firmly with brown eyes full of desperation. "You do not have to do this."
I stared at him, unsure of what to say. My words choked in my throat, and I feared that tears would start flowing if I didn't start running again.
"Amber," he repeated, this time pleading for me to listen. He had a grip on both of my shoulders now, his face only inches from mine. I looked up at him again, and saw that his pompadour of orange hair was unruly and disheveled, unlike his usual proper manner. His features were darkened by the dim lighting in the cave, and it made the long scar dividing the flesh on the left side of his face look especially prominent.
I studied his expression. Were those tears in his eyes too? It was hard to tell in the torchlight.
Taking a deep breath, I tried to center my thoughts and stop my fists from shaking. My whole body shuddered with tremors, and besides my heavy breathing, the only other noise in the hall was the flickering of the torches hung on the walls.
Silently praying that my voice would hold, I summoned all of my courage and tried to look as bold as possible to those watching me.
"Mr. Crepsley I have to do this," I replied, locking eye contact. I tried to loosen his hold on me as I spoke, but it was no use. He was strong, even for a vampire. It was clear that I needed to try a different approach.
"Larten..." He looked at me confused as the syllables left my lips. I hoped it made him realize how serious this was, because I had never called him by his first name before.
"Larten, you don't understand. This isn't up for debate. Please, I promise it'll be okay. Just trust me. I won't do anything stupid. I just have to see him. I have to talk to him one last time..." my voice trailed off, and I hung my head, breaking our gaze.
It would be so easy for Mr. Crepsley to prevent me from going any further. He's about a foot taller than me, and five times as strong. I'd stand no chance against him in a fight, and besides, I hope it wouldn't have to come to that.
He fixated on me for a few seconds, like he was still trying to understand why visiting a man about to face death was so important. Time was wasting away, and we both knew it.
released his hold on me and sighed. "Very well. I can see that you will not change your mind. I only ask that you -"
I sprinted once again down the hall, Mr. Crepsley's words lost behind me. This time I made it all the way to the doorway without any further obsticales. Before heading inside, I stopped and glanced back. Mr. Crepsley had yet to move from his stance and was now watching intently along with rest of the bystanders. Our eyes met, and he nodded, placing his right fist over his heart; the vampire symbol for luck. I repeated the gesture back, then once again faced the door. Feeling every eye in the room on me, I strode into the prison, ready to expose my identity to the inmate locked inside.
The prison of Vampire Mountain was larger than I had anticipated. Ten bared cells were set on each side of the wall, poorly lit by a single torch positioned by the door. It was undeniably a prison, besides the lack of cobwebs, skulls, and rusty cell bars I had expected to see. Instead, I found that the dungeon was extremely well kept, with little dust, and walls carved out just as carefully as any other cavern in the mountain.
"Shocked to see it so clean?" A soft voice called behind me, causing me to jump. I spun around, turning to the direction the voice had come. Recognizing the tone, I cautiously approached the source.
"Kurda?" I inquired into the darkness, slowly inching forward.
"When the restoring of some of the halls took place, I insisted that every room be kept just as nicely as the rest. Including this place," the voice said.
After only a few steps, a shape formed from the darkness, materializing out of the cave shadows. I gasped aloud when I saw him and he chuckled lightly.
"I guess it's only fitting that I'm the one that gets to be here now" he smiled, stepping fully into my view. "Hello, Amber. I didn't expect to see you again."
A hot tear streamed down my cheek and my throat clenched. "Neither did I," I croaked, taking in his full appearance. He looked the same...but different. Absent of his usual blue robes, he only had on dark pants, ripped and reduced to tatters. His slender chest was exposed and covered in the blood of a snake- the sign of a traitor.
All over his arms were cuts and gashes, some of them still bleeding. Reaching a hand out, I tenderly brushed a fallen piece of his long blonde hair from a patch of raised pink skin on his shoulder. The man known as Kurda grimaced at the touch, face twisting in pain.
"What did they do to you," I whispered in disbelief, saying it more as a statement than a question.
He gently pulled my hand away from his shoulder, and held it tightly with both of his large hands. Aside from the chains on his wrists, he was free from the binds of a cell.
"You're not...locked up?" I asked, puzzled. As the perpetrator of one of the worst crimes in vampire history, I thought that Kurda would be severely imprisoned. But here he was, free to roam around the room as he pleased.
"It's crazy, isn't it? They strip me of my dignity, spit in my face, and yet still manage to trust that I won't try to escape," Kurda replied, an ocean of sadness storming behind his blue eyes.
"You do know how to escape, don't you?" I asked.
"Yes."
"But you're not going to?"
He shook his head, letting go of my hands to sit criss-crossed on the floor. He motioned in front of him, indicating me to sit as well. I moved closer to him, until our knees were touching. I could see his face better and his fair complexion, though marred with thin red scratches, still shone brightly in the torch's glow. I hadn't noticed before, but his hair, usually pulled back into a long ponytail, now fell freely to his waist. Blonde strands framed his bruised face, shielding the three tiny scars beneath his left eye. Unable to stare at one place for very long before feeling uncomfortable, I kept shifting my gaze. Every cut, yellowing bruise, and piece of pink blistered flesh had all been because of me, and just the thought made me shiver.
Kurda had been on the verge of becoming a Vampire Prince before his sentence, a title only given to those highly esteemed amongst the clan. He should be sitting on his thrown right now with the other three princes; not waiting in a jail cell for his death.
Sensing my discomfort, he once again reached out to clasp my hands. We sat in silence for a minute, content in each other's company. I knew I had to tell him the truth, but I didn't want to ruin our last moments together. Not yet, at least.
"You would've been an amazing prince," I said, trying my hardest to hold back tears. Kurda traced delicately along the ten white scars on my fingertips with his own, the marks that separate our kind from humans.
"And you," he said, "Will be a remarkable vampire."
"Please, don't say that," I whimpered, feeling guilt penetrate my soul once again. "You're making this so hard for me."
"It's hard for me too."
It was now or never. I let go of his hands, stood up, and faced away from him.
"Kurda," I started, steadying my voice. "Have you ever heard of that saying, "If someone gave you a book about your life, would you read it till the end?""
"Yes," he answered, "but what does this have to do with anything?"
"I read yours," I blurted, before thinking.
"You...what?"
"I read yours," I repeated, this time looking straight at his bewildered expression. "Before I became a vampire, I was an avid teenage reader. And, well," I gulped between words, "my favorite book was the one about your life, Mr. Crepsley's, and everyone in this Mountain."
"I don't understand," he said, rising to stand. I could tell it was painful for him by the grimace and groan of his words, loud, and seeming to echo off the walls.
But no. That's not what was echoing. The noise was getting louder now, coming closer to us. Before I could say anything else , two men filed into the room, seizing Kurda on either side.
"I don't want you to see me die Amber," he called out, as they pinned his arms behind his back. "I don't want you to remember me like that. Remember that I cared deeply for you, and-"
"Stop! Stop! Please," I begged the men, blocking their entrance to the doorway. But it was no use, one of them easily swatted me to the side, without breaking their march to the door. In seconds they would be out of the prison, and out into the long hallway where the rest of the vampire clan awaited. Time had run out. I had to think fast.
"Darren published his diary!" I screamed. "In ten years from now, he'll go back in time and change the past, bringing his diary with him. When he grows up as a normal human, he'll find the diary, and publish it. Revealing the truth about what happened."
Shock registered on Kurda's face, as he tried to twist away from the men to hear the rest of what I was saying.
"But how! How is that possible?!" He cried, taking a blow in his ribs from one of the men. They commenced dragging him to the door, and I rushed behind them.
"Mr. Tiny. And Evanna."
Kurda didn't respond. The men were brutally tying a gag around his throat, muffling what he was trying to say. He must think I've completely lost my mind.
I called out to him one last time anyway, hoping he'd understand.
"I read the book, Kurda. I read it, and I knew this was going to happen to you. I knew this whole time, and I didn't do anything about it. I had a second chance to save you, and I let it go to waste." I was sobbing now, unable to control the rushing tears. "I betrayed you. This is all my fault, this is all my fault..."
I stood frozen in my place, unable to look away as Kurda was dragged down the hall. The crowd lined up to follow the procession, hissing and booing, many of them reaching out to add their own scratches to his exposed skin.
Even after the cavern had emptied out, I remained where I was. I couldn't cry. I couldn't move. I couldn't do anything, besides think about the horrific event that just took place.