Okay, this is a sad story with a sad ending. It has absolutly no relation what-so-ever with my other story, 'Rosie'. This sort of just hit me sometime last weekend and i thought it was sweet after i finished it.

Hope you like. Please review.

Disclaimer: Own Cirque du Freak, I do not.

"But I don't wanna drink blood," Darren exclaimed.

Larten Crepsley sighed, "Do not be foolish! You will never survive unless you drink human blood!"

They were walking through the streets of the city, looking for someone for Mr. Crepsley to feed off of.

"I'll deal with that when I do," Darren mumbled.

Mr. Crepsley stopped walking and took his assistant roughly by the arm, "Listen to me, Master Shan. I have seen stubborn vampire die from starvation. Their senses deflate and they suffer great pain. It is far worse then normal human anorexia because you are a vampire."

Darren turned away from his mentor and muttered, "I don't care."

Mr. Crepsley shoved Darren and muttered, "You are the most idiotic boy I--" he stopped as a sharp smell swooped up his nostrils. It smelt like something was burning with a mixture of dirt and blood. But not human blood.

Vampire blood.

"What?" Darren snapped, but went silent when his mentor gave him a serious look.

"Do you smell it?" Mr. Crepsley asked.

Darren took a deep breath, "It…sorta smells like you…only dirtier."

Mr. Crepsley nodded, "A vampire must be injured nearby. Let us go and find him." He walked at a brisk pace, Darren having to jog to keep up with him.

Mr. Crepsley followed his node, not even watching where he was going. Darren had to pull him out of the middle of the street as a fast moving truck came towards him. The truck did not slow down as it passed and Darren flashed it the bird.

Darren turned to his teacher, wondering why he didn't scold him for ungentlemanly like manners, only to find him standing at the edge of an alley way, his face cast completely in shadow.

Darren could smell the dirt and blood a lot stronger now and he walked to Mr. Crepsley's side. The young half-vampire's eyes widened at the sight.

In the deepest, darkest corner of the alley was a quivering bundle of holey blankets. With his heightened senses, Darren was able to make out the form of a very small body. Sobs sometimes reached his ears and the bundle shifted slightly.

Slowly, Mr. Crepsley walked to the bundle. Darren stayed where he was, frozen on the spot.

When Mr. Crepsley lightly touched the trembling bundle, it jumped and a terrified cry erupted from beneath the blanket.

"Shh," Mr. Crepsley soothed, still touching the top of the bundle, "I am not here to hurt you. I am here to help."

Thin arms from under the blanket came to the surface. The arms were stick thin and blistering red. They removed the top of the blanket, revealing whomever was hiding.

'A girl?' Mr. Crepsley thought, 'A small child.' For she looked no older then 13.

Not only were her arms blistered, but her fingertips were crusted with blood. She shoulders were bare, indicating that she was most likely naked under the blanket. Her eyes were darkly shadowed, but red rimmed where her eyelashes began. Her lips were cracked and white and her hair was a mop atop her head.

Mr. Crepsley took off his overcoat and wrapped it around the naked girl. She flinched away from his touch, but realized she was much too weak to do anything about it.

"Can you walk?" Mr. Crepsley asked.

She looked up at him and squinted, as though the very moon was painful to stare at. She moved a little and tried to stand, but fell over. Mr. Crepsley caught her before she fell on her face.

"I suppose not," he grunted. Slowly, he picked her up. She gasped in pain when the coat brushed her burnt arms. She continued to shake in the mans' arms, until she began to relax and her small hands clenched the front of his shirt.

Mr. Crepsley looked at his student who was watching the whole situation with sad eyes.

"I have to get her to our hotel room, that is the safest place for me to treat her," he said.

"Couldn't you just take her to the hospital?" Darren asked quietly.

"Master Shan," Mr. Crepsley said sadly, "She is a vampire."

With that, he flitted off. He managed to scale the wall of the hotel and landed through the window on the balls of his feet. He set the girl on one of the beds and fetched a cool cloth. He cleaned her face of dirt and blood and healed the wounds on her fingertips.

Larten shook his head, "Who did this to you?"

Somehow, she shrugged. And spoke, "I-I d-don't kn-kn-know." She said. Her voice was dry and dusty

"Have you had any blood at all?" he asked, rubbing spit on her badly burned arms.

She shook her head, "N-no."

He reached into his vest pocket for a vile of blood, but a cold, red hand touched his shakily. He looked at her.

She was smiling slightly, the corners of her mouth pulled up just a little. She shook her head and whispered, "It's…too…late."

"No," he said firmly, taking out the vile.

Her cold hand reached up and touched his face. Her thumb traced the outline of his cheekbone and her other fingers brushed his earlobe. Looking into her eyes, Mr. Crepsley could see the pain. She did not want to continue. She did not even want this.

Mr. Crepsley put the vile of blood on the bedside table and touched the hand on his face. He shook his head, "Please, do not do this," he begged quietly. He could see the life leave her eyes.

"It's too late," she mouthed, no longer strong enough to even speak.

She closed her eyes and her hand went limp in Larten's hand. She let out one final shuddering breath and went still.

"No!" Mr. Crepsley yelled. He started pumping her chest up and down, trying to get her body to breathe again. He blew air into her slightly parted, chapped lips and pumped her chest again. He thought, 'She is too young. Too young.'

He repeated these thoughts over and over as he tried to return the dead to life.

Someone touched his shoulder and he turned sharply, raising his hand.

His assistant, Darren Shan, looked up at his mentor with frightened eyes. Mr. Crepsley stared at his student menacingly before dropping his arm and turning back to the lifeless form on the bed he knelt next to.

"M-Mr. Crepsley?" Darren said, afraid to touch the older man.

"Do you see why you must drink blood, Darren? Not only for your sake, but for mine as well. I-I never wish to see you in the state she was in. She begged for death." Mr. Crepsley looked at his student.

Darren stared at his mentor for a moment. Then, slowly, he reached for the vile of blood on the bedside table. He opened the top, took one more look at the dead vampire, and downed the whole vile in one sip.

*Sob* (i am such a sap.)