"I think they went...this way." Harkat said, running with Debbie and Alice in tow.
The battle at the stadium had ended. There were many deaths on both sides, but tears would have to wait. They needed to find out who won. The Lord of the Vampaneze or the Vampire Princes.
The trio stopped when they reached the mouth of a bridge. There were four people waiting for them. Lady Evanna came to meet them, her face grim. Her father, Mr. Tiny, was standing a little ways behind her, looking into the dark water below. Behind him was two men, lying in a puddle of blood.
Alice ran to the wounded vampire on the ground, Vancha. He was unconscious, but alive. She cut her wrist with a knife on her belt and fed him directly from the vain. When the blood touched his lips, he opened his eyes. Seeing who it was, he closed his eyes and drank.
"What happened to him?" Alice asked Evanna, still looking down at the green haired prince.
"Vancha and Gannen were both wounded in battle, their wounds are not fatal." Evanna said, looking at the two brothers.
"Where is Darren?" Harkat asked Mr. Tiny.
Mr. Tiny laughed as he turned to face the little person, it was a spine tingling laugh. The temperature around them seemed to drop.
"Where is he?" Debbie whispered, tears running down her blood soaked face.
"Dead." He said with a mad smile. It brought him joy to see the woman cry. "They are both dead."
Debbie sank to the ground with a moan. Alice blinked back tears as she helped Vancha sit up. Harkat looked at Evanna, hoping she would correct her father. She looked down at her feet.
Everyone sat frozen, listening to Mr. Tiny laughing like a madman. After the laughing ended, silence followed. They listened to the sound of the water.
"How can they both be dead? How is that possible? We were told that one would survive." Vancha said, looking at Evanna.
She looked at her father. He smiled bitterly at the wounded vampire.
"Go ahead and tell them Evanna. Tell them all the bloody details. I am going to the Lake of Souls. I want to make sure those brats are there, and I want to make sure they suffer until the end of time." Mr. Tiny said. And with that, he turned around and walked away into the darkness.
Everyone looked at Evanna.
"Perhaps we should go back and join the Cirque. We can tend to everyone's wounds…"
"No." Vancha said. "We want answers."
"That is no way to talk to me, Vancha. But I understand your need for the truth. We must tend to you and your brother's injuries. Once you are taken care of, I well tell you everything you want to know."
"Very well." The prince said, looking at his unconscious brother, and then at the witch.
About three hours later, everyone was gathered in a tent on the outskirts of town. Evanna had managed to get rid of the police officers, and the vampaneze and vampets had fled. The remaining Cirque members tended to their wounded and prepared to dispose of their dead. Some of the freaks already left to go their own way, not wanting to continue now that Mr. Tall is gone.
A search party for Darren's body was also on effect. No one bothered to look for Steve's.
Debbie and Alice, both showered and patched up, were tending to Vancha's stab wounds. Gannen was sitting in the corner, not talking, reflecting the night's events. Harkat walked through the tent's opening. The others looked up at him.
"Evra and I….found him." He said. He had green tears in his eyes.
Debbie covered her face and sobbed. Alice put her arm around her.
"Thank you, Harkat. Any word of what is to be done with his body?" Vancha asked, sounding tired.
"We are going to put his body...in his grave. The one he was...in when he faked his death." Harkat said gruffly.
Everyone was silent for while. The only sounds came from Debbie.
After a while, Evanna came back into the tent. Everyone looked up when she entered.
"I have returned from the Lake of Souls. Darren and Steve are both there. But don't fret," she said to the outraged Harkat, "I have a plan. I will save his soul. That is all I am going to say about the issue right now." she paused. "You all deserve an explanation."
"Like hell we do." Alice muttered, not taking her eyes off the wounds she was cleaning.
Evanna smiled.
"I don't know where to start. The timeline is messy. I guess it started when my father got board. There was too much peace in the world. No major wars. No publicized deaths. He wanted to change that.
"He came up with the idea of creating the Lord of the Shadows. A dictator of the world. Everyone would be wiped out. A man feared more than anyone else. No one would be able to stop him. The waist world you traveled to, Harkat, was indeed the future. That was the world that was controlled by the Lord of the Shadows."
"Was?" Vancha asked.
"Don't interrupt, Vancha. Let me finish." Evanna snapped.
"Sorry, my lady." Vancha said, bowing his head.
"As I was saying, it was foretold that whoever won tonight's battle would not only decide the fate of the clans, but the face of the world. Whoever won tonights battle, would become the Lord of the Shadows."
Every gasped.
"Darren could never do something like that." Debbie whispered.
"Yes he could." Harkat murmured "You saw him after Evra's son was murdered. He has been growing darker ever since Mr. Crepsley died. He fought it, but it was always there."
Everyone looked at Evanna. She looked like she was about to cry, but she kept her composure and continued her story.
"The final battle took place. Steve received the deathly blow from rub it in his face that he lost, my father told them a secret. A secret even I did not know. Both Darren and Steve are sons of my father. They are my half-brothers."
No one moved and no one spoke. It was Evanna who broke the silence.
"It destroyed Steve to be disowned by our father. He gave up. But Darren did not. He did not want to become the Lord of the Shadows. He taunted Steve, and Steve stabbed him. They fell into the river, and…" She could not go on. They knew the rest.
Everyone was silent for a long time.