Disclaimer: I'm not Darren Shan, and I do not own the characters; this is an original story playing off of the Cirque du Freak series.

Author's Note: This is my first story ever posted here - I hope you enjoy it! Comments and advice welcomed!

The Fourth Hunter

I was laying on my cot when Harkat rushed in with the news. I was happy to see that his stitched face wasn't terribly gloomy.

"Arra is going to be all right," he said, and I sat up, grinning. "I just heard from Seba…who was just with Vanez."

"And Vanez…?" I asked tentatively.

Harkat shook his head. "Nobody knows yet, but they…suspect that he will be entirely blind."

I sighed and got to my feet. "Is Mr. Crepsley still with Arra."

"Yes," Harkat nodded, "They're in her room, they moved…her there."

"I'm going to go talk to them," I said.

I headed through the tunnels to Arra's cell. I had been there only once before, when Vanez had brought me there to ask for her help on one of my trials.

I knocked lightly on the door, which opened almost immediately after, revealing a thoroughly exhausted looking Mr. Crepsley.

"Ah, Darren," he said putting a hand on my shoulder and leading me into Arra's room. "I am glad you are here."

"How are you?" I asked, and he shrugged.

"How's she?"

He gave a small smile, "She will pull through, I never doubted she would."

I peered into the room and saw Arra sleeping in her coffin on her side. I couldn't see the wound, but her shirt was pushed up over her stomach, which had allowed some of her blood to stain the side of the coffin. The sight of the coffin covered in blood with Arra in it made me uneasy and I turned away.

"The medics were able to heal her internal wounds," Mr. Crepsley said, taking a seat on a chair next to her coffin and gesturing for me to sit next to him. "I am to stay with her and apply spit to her stomach every now and then to heal the existing damage."

"I'm glad she's going to be okay," I said.

"And so you should be," replied Mr. Crepsley. "Even as they were moving her here, she was insistent upon making it clear that your life should be spared."

"Well, I didn't just mean because of that," I said, and it was the truth; my verdict was the last thing on my mind. Then I grinned, "But that's a good reason too."

Mr. Crepsley smiled and patted my knee, "We will be sure that you are excused. You have been very courageous and shown much character by returning and have proven to be an asset to the clan by your quick thinking. You have made me very proud indeed, Darren."

I turned my head away so he wouldn't see the tears in my eyes and choked, "Thanks."

Once my eyes had dried, I looked up again and saw him looking tenderly at Arra, who had turned, revealing the gaping wound in her stomach. I gasped. Though it looked much better than it had mere hours ago after her fight with Glalda the sight of it caused my stomach to roil. It had gotten larger, stretching from the original wound down to her lower stomach, and I wondered how far it went under the waist of her pants.

"Why is it so big?" I asked, my voice shaking.

"The medic needed to cut it wider to heal her damaged internal organs," Mr. Crepsley said stiffly. "I was too concerned for her life at the time to ask why they cut such a large incision. Needless to say repairing internal organs and cutting through one's skin is no painless feet, and by the time they had stitched her up and I was able to get her to stop shaking, the medic was gone, presumably treating another injured vampire."

I pressed a hand to my mouth feeling nauseous, not at the sight of blood (I was a half-vampire of after all), but at the memories that came with it. I remembered the young vampanze I had killed and immediately felt as though I was going to be sick. I thought of Gavner, who had been killed in much the same way, Vanez, who would never again see the moon. Hate boiled up inside of me for Kurda.

"When's Kurda's trial?" I asked Mr. Crepsley.

His lips pursed and he replied stiffly, "Midnight."

I nodded. "What about Gavner's cremation? Will we get a chance to say…to say…" But I couldn't choke them out between the tears I only then realized were streaming down my face.

"Yes," Mr. Crepsley said softly, putting an arm around my and letting me cry into his shoulder. "Tomorrow will be the cremation of our fallen comrades."

I sniffed and wiped at my eyes.

"How are you feeling?" he asked, gripping my shoulders and moving me out in front of him so he could study my face. "You do not look well."

"I…I…" I gurgled, still unable to speak.

"Battles are never easy," he said quietly. "It is why I decided not to be a General anymore."

"It's terrible," I choked, pulling my knees to my chest.

Arra began to stir, and Mr. Crepsley and I both turned to face her as her eyes blinked open. She squinted at Mr. Crepsley then smiled as he warmly placed a hand on her shoulder. As her eyes came to rest on me, they bugged out of her head and her hand raised shakily out from the coffin. She reached her bloodied, quaking hand out closer and closer to me, until she tapped me on the knee. Then she sighed, smiled, and retracted her hand.

"You're so pale," she said hoarsely. "I thought…I was too late…and they had executed you. I thought you were a…ghost."

I smiled and reached out to touch her shoulder. "Not a ghost," I assured her. "How are you feeling?"

"Like I got stabbed… in the stomach," she croaked, rolling her eyes and wincing. She turned her gaze to Mr. Crepsley. "Thank you, Larten," she said, "for being with me… while the medics worked on…my stomach. It must have been…fun to watch."

"I have always said you were beautiful inside and out," Mr. Crepsley said with a smile as he reached out to take her hand, and despite the bad taste of the joke I chuckled.

"Darren," he said, "you should rest, it has been a long day for us all."

"So should you," I said pointedly. "I got a chance to rest the last few hours. Why don't you get some sleep and I'll wake you up when it's time to go to the hearing."

"I need to wait here with Arra," Mr. Crepsley said.

"No, you don't," Arra said. "I'll be fine, and Darren…can wait here if it will… help you sleep better. If…I need anything…he'll wake you. Go."

Mr. Crepsley considered her for a second with a doubtful look on his face. Rolling her eyes, Arra said, "As a General, and your…superior, I command that you go … now and sleep."

Mr. Crepsley smiled weakly and replied, "Yes, Arra, I will get some sleep. But I have to apply some saliva to your stomach first."

"Fair enough," she grumbled.

She winced as Mr. Crepsley rubbed spit into her wounds. He rolled down the waste of her pants to reveal the incision stretching all the way down to between her hipbones.

"How does it look?" Arra asked.

"Huge," I answered honestly, and she laughed as Mr. Crepsley shot me a menacing glare. "Why'd they cut it so much?"

"I'm no medic," Arra answered, pushing herself up by the sides of her coffin so she could get a look at her injury, "but this isn't the… first time I've been stabbed. I suspect they do it to ensure the other…organs aren't damaged."

"Oh," I said, feeling slightly better about her large wound. "That makes sense."

"It does," Mr. Crepsley agreed. "How many times have you been stabbed so deeply that they needed to repair internal damage? I do not remember you telling me about any of these occasions."

"Twice," she replied. "Once in a battle, and once… during the Festival of the…Undead more than twenty years ago. I seem to recall…a very drunken Mika Ver Leth betting…Gavner Purl that he could hit a…"

Her voice trailed off suddenly and she turned to Mr. Crepsley. "When are the cremations?" she asked softly. "I'd like to say goodbye."

"Tomorrow," Mr. Crepsley said stiffly, and then got to his feet. "And we all need to rest. Darren, would you mind if I sleep in your cell for now, it is closer."

"I don't care," I said numbly.

"Give me a moment with Arra," Mr. Crepsley said. I looked at him strangely for a seconded - he usually had no problem talking to anyone in front of me - then got up and headed for the door. When I shut it behind me, I intentionally left a crack open.

I was going to go to my room and ask Harkat if he wanted to sit with me and Arra, but curiosity overtook me. I tiptoed back to the door of Arra's room and put my ear to the crack. I could just barely see Mr. Crepsley, who was pacing back and forth beside Arra.

"…cannot do that, Arra!" Mr. Crepsley was saying. "You are in no condition to walk, let alone -."

"I won't let them kill him, Larten!" Arra's voice cut in firmly. "And if that means… I have to run away with him, I… swear to the vampire gods I will!"

"I promise you that I will not let any harm come to Darren," Mr. Crepsley said forcefully. He dropped his voice so low and he leaned forward over Arra so he could whisper right into her ear. I had to strain to hear him. "If it means I will have to leave with him and never return, I will, but you should not be worrying about this now!" His tone softened and he added, "Please. If it would make you feel better, I will bring you to his hearing and you can vouch for him."

"Maybe," Arra said quietly. "But he is a worthy vampire."

"I know he is," Mr. Crepsley. "I am very proud of him."

I smiled to myself out in the hall.

"Now, we should all take some time to sleep. I assume Darren would like to attend Kurda's trial, so I will send Harkat to stay with you while we are there."

"I'm fine," Arra said.

"I know," Mr. Crepsley said with a chuckle, and started for the door.

"Larten?" Arra called him back. "Do you remember what I said earlier, during the battle in the tunnel?"

I could see Mr. Crepsley's face split into a smile. "Yes," he said, kneeling down next to the coffin. He leaned his face over Arra's and gave her a gentle kiss. "Sleep well, my love," he said, putting a hand lovingly on her forehead.

I quickly retreated from the door, feeling very flushed. Seeing Mr. Crepsley so…in love…made me feel strangely different about him. I knew that he had been Arra's mate, but I never imagined them being like a couple, doing things normal couples did, like holding hands, or kissing, or…

I was almost glad that Mr. Crepsley tapped me on the shoulder and interrupted my thoughts.

"Are you sure you will be all right alone with Arra?" he asked.

"Of course!" I said, then grinned. "She can't beat me up too badly with a gaping hole in her stomach."

"You will come and get me if anything happens?"

"Yes," I said, clapping him on the back, "go sleep!"

"Thank you, Darren," he said, and surprised me with a warm, fatherly hug. "You will be all right," he whispered. "I promise I will not let them execute you."

"Thanks," I said, patting him on the back.

As I walked back into Arra's room, I couldn't help but feel that battle wasn't all bad; after all, it seemed to be bringing Arra and Mr. Crepsley together again.

I sat down next to Arra and put my feet up on the other chair.

"I saw you watching through… the door," she said.

"Oh," I said, shifting uncomfortably. "I…I just…"

"I don't care," she said, and her face was more amused than angry.

I didn't know Arra nearly as well as Mr. Crepsley, and though she had initially struck me as harsh, she had since become a good friend, often being warm and understanding to talk to, but not treating me like a child as Mr. Crepsley, Seba, and several others often did. I decided to ask her the question Mr. Crepsley had brushed off.

"Would you and Mr. Crepsley consider mating again?" I asked bluntly, and she smiled.

"To agree to mate with someone… is a commitment," Arra explained, sliding down in her coffin and closing her eyes. "Having an assistant, Larten has to make… decisions based on you already. Even asking him to consider… adding another person to… consider in his decision would be an imposition."

"Oh," I said, frowning. "So you two wouldn't mate again because of me?"

"To put it simply, yes."

I looked down at the ground feeling guilty.

"However," she continued, seeing the pained look on my face, "just because Larten and I may not agree to mate… again does not mean that we cannot have… feelings for each other, or have a relationship."

"Oh," I said, looking up into her smiling face. "Like, you can date each other?"

"If that's how you'd like to refer to it," she said., shrugging.

"So, Mr. Crepsley's your boyfriend?"

Arra laughed and ran a hand through her long, dark hair. "'Boyfriend' has a very immature,… human connotation."

"Well, whatever," I said, grinning. Thinking of Mr. Crepsley having a girlfriend made me giggle.

"You heard Larten," she said irritably, "You need to sleep too."

"I will," I said. "I'm also supposed to make sure you're all right."

"I'll be fine," she said, sinking deeper into her coffin. "But I'm tired. And my stomach burns."

"I can rub some spit on it if it hurts," I said. "It might make it feel better."

She shook her head. "No, I just need to sleep a little. Wake me before you go to the hearing."

"I will," I promised.

"Good day, Darren," she said, and slowly drifted off to sleep.

Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed it!