Darren thought of nothing in particular as he prepared the rabbit he had caught. While the rabbit cooked over the small fire he made he looked around at the small, forgotten chapel he and his master were dwelling in. Mr. Crepsley was sleeping in the shadows behind the altar. The sun was setting outside, shining a dim red light through the thin stained-glass windows. Darren enjoyed following the colorful patterns that stretched across the floors and walls of the chapel. The sun would be down completely within the hour and Darren knew that Mr. Crepsley would wake as the sunlight shifted to moonlight. The orange-haired vampire rarely ever slept in and was often awake within minutes of the sun going down.
Darren had taken longer than a vampire's assistant should have hunting down the rabbit, but he did it none the less. Since he couldn't hear any scurrying animals do in bushes and trees, he had to rely primarily on sight to spot and take down such a small creature. He managed to see this rabbit by chance. He was walking through another part of the park when he saw the briefest movement from the corner of his eye. He turned just in time to see the rabbit disappear behind a tree. Darren crept over to the tree, being cautious not to make noise like Mr. Crepsley taught him and pounced. He made quick work of the squirming rabbit and brought it back to the church to skin and cook.
As Darren was taking the rabbit off the flame, Mr. Crepsley emerged from behind the altar. He walked over slowly, yawning and scratching his scar. It was a familiar habit of his. Darren looked over and smiled.
"Good evening," Mr. Crepsley signed.
Darren nodded in return, already cutting the rabbit and replied with his free hand, "Did you sleep well?"
"Yes, thank you," Mr. Crepsley signed as he sat across from Darren.
Darren finished cutting the rabbit and handed it to Mr. Crepsley on one of his collapsible plates. Darren didn't know where Mr. Crepsley had gotten his collection of collapsible plates, cups, and pots and pans. He had asked one day, but Mr. Crepsley didn't know enough sign language to give him a proper answer. Darren could interpret that they were gifts but couldn't tell from where or who gave it to him.
It had been just over a year since they had first met in those woods. In that time, Mr. Crepsley had learned a lot more sign language and could communicate most things with Darren. He was still learning, but he was learning faster than Darren had expected, despite the minor speed bump he discovered not long after they met. Darren was trying to ask Mr. Crepsley about vampires and had to finger spell. That's when it came out that Mr. Crepsley didn't know how to read or write.
They managed to figure it out with Darren sketching things in his journal and using some miming, but after a few months Mr. Crepsley knew enough signs that he could describe the word he wanted to say with other words. It was difficult at times, but Darren was touched and appreciative that he was working so hard to learn.
The pair sat and ate. When they were finished and Darren began packing everything back up, Mr Crepsley signed,
"So, we can communicate very well now. Do you agree?"
Darren nodded.
"I am curious how you wound up in that forest before I found you."
Darren sat back down next to him. He replied, "It's kind of a long story."
Mr. Crepsley shrugged. "We have time."
Darren explained, "When I was growing up I had an uncle who used to visit a lot. He was pretty cool. He used to bring me gifts whenever he came and he would play with me and take me to the park…but he never learned sign language. None of my family did. My parents sent me to a school for deaf kids and that's where I learned to sign, but when I was home I had no way of talking to my parents since they never learned. Then my dad left my mom. I don't know what happened, but I saw them fight a lot, but I they were talking so fast I couldn't read their lips. He left and then it was just me and my mom. When I was 7 my uncle stopped coming around. I didn't see him again until 3 years later, after my mom died. She had been sick and was in the hospital for a while. After she died, my uncle came back and took me in. I was really happy when I saw him again, but something was different about him. I didn't know why, but he just didn't seem the same as he was.
"He moved me out of my town and we just traveled a lot. I noticed so many strange things about him. We only went out at night. Every month or so he would disappear for a few hours and come back in a really good mood. He didn't seem to have a job or anything. I had so many questions, but there was no way for me to ask them, so I didn't. I just followed. One day he took my hands and used his finger nails to cut my fingertips then his. He pressed them together. I didn't know what he was doing, but I didn't fight him, even when it started to hurt. He finally let me go and licked our fingers, then we continued traveling like we were for a month or two, until we were in that forest. He brought into the middle of the forest and I read his lips when he said, 'Stay here. I'll be right back.' So I did. I waited. And waited. I sat there all night and most of the next day, but he didn't come back. Eventually, I got up and started walking. I found a tree to sleep under and that's when you found me."
Darren didn't know at point in his story he started to cry, but by the end of it, tears were steadily streaming down his cheeks.
Mr. Crepsley looked at the boy with a solemn, if not sympathetic expression. "Your uncle seemed different because he was a vampire."
"I know that now," Darren signed. He wiped his eyes with the palms of his hands.
"He turned you into a half vampire when he exchanged blood with you," Mr. Crepsley continued. "I just do not understand why."
Darren only shrugged. "He didn't say anything. He just did it."
Mr. Crepsley looked down, pensive. His initial thoughts were right: Darren had no idea what he was when he found him because this maker had no way of informing him. But why turn him in the first place? And why turn him to just abandon him? Nothing Darren's uncle did correlated with vampire ideals. Mr. Crepsley had so many more questions, but Darren would no know the answers. They all had to do with what his uncle was thinking and why. Mr. Crepsley did know one thing: if the princes found out that not only had Darren's uncle turned a child in to a vampire but did not educate him on what being a vampire meant, and abandoned him, the man would be put to death on the spot.
Mr. Crepsley asked, "What was your uncle's name?"
Darren finger spelled, "M-A-R-K S-H-A-N."
Mr. Crepsley nodded. He did not know anyone by that name, but someone must. The next Council was in 2 years. Mr. Crepsley knew that he would need to present Darren to the Princes at that time. He was unsure what the Princes would choose to do about Darren. He doubted they would charge him for the crimes of his maker, but this was an odd case. Because he was deaf, they may wish to test him in order to be sure he would make a decent addition to the clan. Mr. Crepsley worried what that would entail.
"What's wrong?" Darren asked when Mr. Crepsley didn't say anything.
Mr. Crepsley thought carefully before responding, "Vampires have rules they need to follow. We are not freelance creatures to do as we please. We have leaders and those leaders make laws that must be very strictly adhered to. Changing a child into a vampire breaks one of those laws, so does changing someone who does not know what they are becoming. By vampire law, you should not exist."
Darren cocked his head to the side. "What does that mean for me?"
Mr. Crepsley answered, "I will have to present you to The Princes at the next council in two years' time."
"And…?" Darren looked nervous and his hands lingered in place after he signed.
"They will decide what becomes of you," Mr. Crepsley signed simply. He added, "I doubt they will kill you; none of this is your fault, but they will want to hold your maker responsible."
Darren shifted where he was sitting. "But I don't know where he is. I don't even know if he is alive. Something could have happened to him and that's why he didn't come back for me."
Mr. Crepsley said, "They will try to find him if he is alive. There are not many ways a vampire can hide from the Princes."
Mr. Crepsley proceeded to explain to Darren what the Stone of Blood was and vampires' methods of locating each other mentally.
When Mr. Crepsley felt satisfied that they had talked enough, he and Darren packed up their few belongings and left the chapel, leaving no sign they were ever there.
Mr. Crepsley did not lead him around aimlessly as Darren's uncle had. He still seemed to wander, without a set destination in mind, but each step he took seemed to be as sure footed as if he did. He exuded a self-confidence that Mark never had, and Darren admired that about Mr. Crepsley.
As they traveled, Darren learned more about vampires and their way of life. Mr. Crepsley explained how vampires valued honor and self-image, how they could not have or bear children, and the hierarchy of Princes to Generals, to Guards, to average vampires. There was so much information, Darren found it hard to take it all in, but Mr. Crepsley was patient and answered all his questions.
The hardest part was learning how to hunt and fight. Mr. Crepsley said that learning both was essential to being a vampire. Not being able to hear gave a Darren a significant disadvantage, but Mr. Crepsley did not seem to go any easier on Darren because of it. Training with him was hard, tiring, and often ended with Darren falling on his ass, but Darren enjoyed it. He was surprised how much he enjoyed the hard standards vampires lived by. Mostly, Darren liked studying under Mr. Crepsley. He was kind and was the only person that had ever tried to learn sign language for him. They spent much of their time talking while they walked.
Darren learned that Mr. Crepsley was a very private person but seemed to enjoy asking questions and learning about Darren. Darren told him about his parents and his school. Darren explained that for the first few years that Darren was growing up, his parents didn't even realize that he was deaf. When they did, they didn't know how to handle it. They tried sending him to a normal school, but Darren couldn't keep up and fell behind. He also got picked on all the time. He got teased and harassed every day. That was also the only time Darren was forced to speak. He had to give speeches and read aloud in class along with all the other kids and his classmates would mock and mimic how odd his voice sounded.
"I couldn't help it," Darren had told Mr. Crepsley one day. "I had no idea what my voice sounded like, but I could tell it didn't sound normal because I got teased for it. That's why I never like to speak out loud."
It wasn't until Darren came home covered in bruises and a bloody nose that his parents decided to move and send him to a school for deaf kids, but he didn't know sign language so he still was behind and had to be held back until he understood enough to do any of the assignments. By the time that happened, Darren was over a year behind anyone else his age. Because everyone in his classes were younger than him, and even though the bullying for the most part had stopped, he still had a hard time making friends.
"Even at a school where everyone was like me I was still the odd one out," Darren had said. "I hated school so much."
They spent very little time in large towns or cities. Mr. Crepsley said that vampires tended to remain reserved from humans and interacted with them only when necessary.
"Vampires leave human life behind when they turn," Mr. Crepsley explained. "So, they do not miss or crave it during their vampire life."
Two years went by very quickly and before Darren knew it, Mr. Crepsley was telling him to pack his bags for Vampire Mountain.
