Darren ran. He had to. The news wasn't possible, it couldn't be true.
He was promised that this couldn't happen to vampires.
That's why there were only one or two females in the clan.
As he tore through the streets of a town that he couldn't remember the name to, he started to wonder how he could have been so stupid, giving her one last gift on Christmas
Eve before Mr Crepsley, Evra and himself had left the city years before. After killing the vampaneze that had plagued the city he wanted to leave without hurting her more,
without destroying what remained. After Darren had finished decorating the house for Christmas he went into Debbie's room, to say goodbye for good. She was drugged asleep
and he knew that should last until he was long gone from her life. But when she began to stir and wake up as he was leaving, he wanted, against his better judgement, to say
goodbye to the only person that he had ever liked, ever loved.
She begged him not to leave, and she persuaded him with her lips.
And then her body.
They gave each other fully to one another. It wasn't planned. Darren convinced himself, vampires can't have children, so why use protection.
Looking back, he knew this was a stupid way of thinking when he thought of what had happened. Stupid teenage instincts took over again.
He couldn't think, let alone remember that tiny detail that would have prevented all this from happening.
Debbie Hemlock, the most breathtakingly beautiful girl Darren had set his eyes on. The girl that he had met on that fateful cold day, so close to Christmas,
had carried his child for 9 months. Without knowing the dangers, without knowing what the father of this illegitimate was. She had carried the child, given
birth and trained to be a teacher, with only the help of her almost unwilling parents.