DISCLAIMER: I own nothing in this story.
A/N: Please review and read! Oh well other way round but you get the point. :D Thanks xx
SUMMARY: Arra never told anyone her secret. The secret she held close to her heart. When Larten finds out, he takes her to visit her hometown but in the dark corners of America nothing is ever as it seems. The people of America are dropping like flies and each victim as a scar on their leg and three scratches on their face. Can Larten and Arra stop the murderers before her town falls for good? Before the Darren Shan books, LartenxArra
TITLE: Homecoming
Chapter 1- Journal
"Arra? Arra are you in here?" Mr Crepsley asked, spotting her journal on the hammock and scanning the interior of the cavern. Ambling over, still weary of the whereabouts of Arra, he turned the page and began to read the scrawled text. "It still haunts me even now… the sick mind of which he was horribly graced with…" Mr Crepsley read bits aloud and when his mate arrived at the doorway.
"Larten." Her question came out more like a statement and after he had thawed from the shock of terror, he threw her journal to one side and smiled.
"I was looking for you and when I could not find you, I waited here for you." His voice held a questioning tone throughout and sounded like he was asking himself a question.
"You should have come and found me then. What is it?" She glanced down at the empty space where her journal used to inhabit then glanced back up at Larten. "I see you found my journal." Her words were low and held an air of confusion.
"Yes, Arra why would you leave that be?" Mr Crepsley asked insistently, raising an eyebrow.
"You were not there, it is difficult and I wish I could explain it but…" Crepsley let a feeble smile wipe onto his face, swiping a hand down her cheek, he urged her to continue. "But it's hard. I cannot let my past return because it hurts too much." Arra was American; she was born and raised by her parents. Her parents argued a lot. Her father denied he had a daughter because he found it shameful to father her. He always wanted a son and because she had never been shown that love she needed, she had grown up feeling hollow feelings, feeling pain differing from lust. Her life was ruthless, she worked day and night for hours on end and when she did finally return home, her father was not there and her mother was in floods of tears on the kitchen floor screaming for her father's return. Life was meaningless, pointless and cruel. This was what Arra Sails had learnt when she was seven. This is what her dad had showed her, told her, taught her. He manipulated her mind and when she grew up she resented that fact the most. It happened everyday and by the young age of thirteen she was used to it. She told her it would all be fine but deep down inside she knew it wouldn't. Her mother past away when she was at the age of seventeen and so she ran away, escaped her malicious life for a better one. She was found by a vampire after five years when she was twenty two alone in the rain with tears streaming down her eyes. She hated her life but she never admitted it. She didn't want reality to catch up with her.
"Is that the last you saw of America?" He asked, running a hand down her arm.
"Yes, I never went back, I could never face it. After what happened back when I was Seventeen I could never return." Her mother didn't pass away peacefully, she was murdered, brutally murdered and that was a secret she had never told anyone. "After what my father did I never forgave him. I never got that childhood I dreamed of but that is all in the past now Larten, we must forget."
"No Arra, you cannot forget because you cannot keep bottling your feelings up. Tell me what happened." His words laced with emotion and pity for Arra Sails, her tears scared him the most. She never cried, she was always the tough one who everyone could rely on and showing emotion was a deadly sin according to her. "Please, tell me."
"It was dark, I heard a scream from my mother's room and the darkness blurred my vision intensely but I didn't give up. When I pushed open the door, I saw a shadowy figure above her body, her lifeless body and it was horrible I should have stopped it. I could have stopped it." Her voice was strained and each word tangled with pain as she spoke. Sliding his arms around her, he sighed and held her close to him. "When his face was revealed in the moonlight I was almost sick. His teeth dripped with blood and I knew instantly from the way he looked at me with pure disgust that it was my dad. There was something different about him though, his eyes were red, sickly, bloody red and his hair and nails were too. His skin a pale colour of purple and looking back on it I was confused. I was confused as hell but now I know the truth Larten, my father betrayed me. He hunted humans for food, he was a Vampaneze."
"I am sorry Arra but you need to go back, you need to fight this nightmare or it will haunt you forever. I have heard you scream at night when you cannot get the memories out of your mind and I can help you but we must return to America." She let two confused tears tumble down her cheeks and nodded.
"You are quite right. I want to face this dead on and I will battle my fear." She buried her head in his chest and let more tears fall, in floods they dampened his shirt and he pulled her closer.
"You will be fine, I am here for you. You are quite safe now, we will set out tomorrow." His words were calming but she knew in the innermost part of her heart she would not be okay. When they crossed that border into America she would break down and the memories would flood her mind once more. She knew she needed him more than anything if they were to win this battle.
To Be Continued…
A/N: Please review my first chapter and I'll update ASAP.
