Darren returned to Evra's tent after a busy day. It had been a very good day. There had been very much attention for the show. Mr Crepsley had allowed Darren to do a great deal of the act again and he had done so with everything he had. Before the show, as always there had been the usual chores to do too. When Evra came in, Darren turned on his side into his hammock. He doubted Evra would buy it but he really wasn't up for a talk or a tickle fight or something. It had been a tough day and the next evening Mr Crepsley would await him for another training session. He better used all the time he could spare to sleep. Or at least to rest.

He noticed Evra walking around the tent, doing stuff and just when he thought he wouldn't bother to look at him, he heard Evra's steps coming nearer to his part of the tent. He kept silent.

"Darren?"

Darren frowned at the slightly worried undertone in his friends voice. He considered it a bit harsh to ignore Evra since he took it his friend knew he was awake. He turned around.

"Hey there." he said with a sheepish smile.

"Hello. Did I wake you?"

"No. " Darren sat up. "Just resting."

Evra smiled. "I take it you are not up to helping me, then?"

"Helping?"

Evra waved towards the cushons where his snake had apparently curled up. "I have the feeling she hasn't been completly well and I'd liked to give her a nice bath."

Darren sighed. He had helped more than once with bathing that snake. He was used to touching it and the animal seemed to have accepted him but he felt more like sleeping for the moment. Maybe Mr Crepsley's blood was beginning to take his toll on him. He sneaked a short look through the tent entrance and saw that it wouldn't be long before dawn.

"I take it it can't wait a couple of hours?"

Evra followed Darren's gaze to the tent entrance and smiled again. "Never mind. I'll manage."

Darren felt guilty to let his friend down. He turned around again to not have to watch his friend doing all the work on his own. It didn't take long for sleep to claim him but he was disturbed out of his slumber by the sound of someone coughing. He opened his eyes, feeling irritated. He looked at Evra and the snake, but it had sounded too human to have come from the possibly ill animal. Evra was looking at the tent entrance again and their eyes met.

The coughing was followed by a curse. Both boys looked up at the voice which spoke next: "No, Harkat. I will not have Darren to know."

However hoarse, Darren recognised the voice of his mentor.

"Really Larten, grow up." came the voice of Truska. Darren could practically see the face of his mentor when the vampire groaned. "Having her knowing is the very last thing I need."

"I heard that, Larten." Truska said. "You think Darren wont know when he hears you coughing like that? On this moment he's like, I dont know, three feet away?"

Larten growled. "He's still under the impression vampires don't get ill easily. All I need is a good day of sleep and some blood. Besides, Darren must be asleep by now."

Darren could imagine Truska's sceptical look. She cared about Mr Crepsley very dearly. If he had gotten ill in some way, she wouldn't be off his back before he was well again. And judging that cough of his, he wasn't exactly well now.

Darren turned to Evra who was still onto washing his snake. When Crepsley started to cough again he turned to Darren. Darren had to supress the urge to run outside, the uneasy feeling in his stomach growing.

"Larten, please." Truska sounded sincerely worried now. "You should really take care of that."

Harkat added something in agreement that Darren and Evra couldn't understand.

"All right. You are right." Mr Crepsley finally gave in. "I have no choice anyway if I want this to be over for Darren learns."

"Now we're talking. Harkat and I will cover for you. And I am sure Evra will take care of Darren."

"Don't count on it." Mr Crepsley mumbled, but the hoarseness of his voice destroyed any impact the words could possibly have.

"Indeed, you better don't." Darren muttered, looking dangerously at Evra.

The snakeboy lifted his arms in the air. "Leave me out of it."

Darren huffed. He was not letting Mr Crepsley to shut him out. He could understand his mentor didn't want everyone to know and fussing around when he was ill. At least, he had his reputation to be the strong and unmovable vampire he gave the general appearance to be. Darren smiled inwardly. Afyter all, he would act the same way, if he was ill. But as assistant, it was to him to correct his master when he act wrongly. And Mr Crepsley should concentrate on doing whatever he deemed best to get better and instead of hiding his condition.

As if he had read Darren's thoughts, Evra stated: "He probably just caught a cold or something."

Darren looked at him and Evra again made a gesture of surrender. "Could be."

"Vampires don't catch colds."

"And who says that? Writers of vampire books? How should they know? In their eyes, you vampires are just an invention of fantasy. And to make their villains, or heroes, more impressive, they make them invulnerable. Didn't Crepsley tell you your race is quite different from what humans make of it?"

"Mr Crepsley told me himself. " Darren said stubbornly.

"He wants being a vampire to seem better than it is."

Darren glared at him.

"I'm sorry Darren. But let us look at it objectively. Crepsley knows you are still angry at him for turning you into a vampire. No, don't deny it. You are. Even if you do not longer want to kill him for it. He's not stupid. And as difficult as it is for you to believe, he's not a cruel, unsensitive being without a conscience."

Darren wanted to interrupt Evra but his friend lifted his hand. "Let me finish this, please. You were, and still are angry with him . And unhappy."

"Tell me something I don't know."

"And so he wants to spare you, in his own way. Maybe he wants to let you believe that as a half-vampire, you are stronger and your body has a much stronger resistance than it had when completely human."

"I am. However, at this moment I might be happier with a chance to die rather sooner than later, not one to survival."

"That's not true and you know it.

Evra was right. He knew it. He had started to accept and even like his life as a vampire, in spite he still missed his family. But he loved being at the Cirque and being around his friends. And even more so for having Mr Crepsley around. Hearing him to be ill disturbed him and not only because he had thought vampires didn't get ill.

"I'm sure it will not come as far as that, Darren." Evra said softly. "You heard what Crepsley said. A day of sleep and a portion of bood and before you know it, he will be torturing you again on training."

Darren laughed. He would give much to skip a training but even on his dying day, Crepsley wouldn't stop for a moment.

Evra had returned to his snake, who he started to dry and Darren hadn't been surprised if he had started to sing a lullaby for it. If he did, however, Darren didn't hear it anymore.

To be continued - I hope you had a nice time reading. Please, review. Thank you! :)