Note: Mentioning of genderbent Annie. Just mentioning. :D
Hop on to the story, people!
"Revenge. Revenge. Revenge."
These were the words that came from my mouth the second I woke up the next morning, snapping awake from the dream I had that included Mr. Crepsley in it. I groaned, cursing to myself that why would I even dreamed about Mr. Crepsley, and then I spent a whole hour trying to forget that me and Mr. Crepsley were kissing passionately in a lot of random places in my dream, like, inside Mr. Crepsley's coffin, in a lake, on the stage of the Cirque Du Freak.. Yeah you get the point.
"Shush, Darren. I'm trying to sleep." Mr. Crepsley groaned from the inside of his coffin, in which I gave a hard kick at it as a response.
"You're lucky I didn't guide sunlight into your coffin, Crepsley." I cursed, before rolling up and folding my blanket.
"Manners, Darren." I guessed Mr. Crepsley had doze off to sleep after this, and I've decided to let him get his precious sleep, since he's weak and needs to sleep during the day. Hmph.
I went over to Evra's tent to put back my stuff, and to greet my best friend and his snake.
"Hi, Evra!" I said cheerfully, putting up my best smile. Evra smiled and greeted me with his flashiest smile too. I sat down beside him, and making sure that no one else from outside the tent is listening, I told Evra about what happened last night with Mr. Crepsley.
"So... Did your bottom still hurts?" Evra asked, and I smacked him in the head.
"That's not the main point!" I shouted, and then Evra laughed as he rubbed his head, "Okay, okay. I got it. You're trying to say that Mr. Crepsley likes you, Darry?"
I blushed furiously. And then I quickly shook my head.
"Don't deny it, Darren." Evra said, looking me straight in the eye, "I know you have feelings for him, although he probably is a 200-year old vampire."
"But he's not that old!" I protested, and Evra ignored that protest and continued saying, "You're always in denial, Darren." Slowly, Evra creeps closer to me. I backed away and eventually he forced me to lean on the tent's rough material as support.
"And do you know what they say about girls in denial?" Evra asked. I shook my head, looking at Evra who's only centimeters away from my face. "They say that if a girl's in denial, that means she's in love."
"No way!" I shouted and pushed Evra away, my cheeks reddening. "There's no way that I'm in love with... with..."
"Darren and Mr. Crepsley, sitting on a tree." Evra started to sang, and before I could stop him, he ran out from the tent and began to sing around the camp site, "K-I-S-S-I-N-G!"
"Stop it, Evra!" I howled as I chased around the camp, shouting at him to cover what he's singing aloud.
So, in short, we created chaos.
And everybody seemed to make fun of it, except the Little People.
They wants us to get breakfast for them, but we're busy chasing each other to actually care about their request. But then we stopped for a while after they stopped bothering us and got back to check on Evra's snake, in fear that the Little People might ate them, before hurried off to find sacks of meat for their breakfast. Then we continued to chase each other around the camp. I admit, this miniskirt that I'm wearing can be a little bit exposing if I take off at a fast speed, but I couldn't care less. I need to keep running and shouting to cover Evra's singing.
It's not that I hate it, but I don't want everybody to know that I'm in love with my own mentor. They might think that I turned into his assistant just to have more contact with him. I'm afraid that other people will make false assumptions.
So here I am, chasing Evra around, until the both of us are stopped by Mr. Tall and his amazing speed.
"What do you think you're doing?" Mr. Tall loomed over us, and that reminded me of the character Anton Ego from the movie Ratatouille. I chuckled nervously, before backing away a few steps, trying to get a distance advantage, then I could run away with my half-vampire speed. But Mr. Tall seemed to notice that, as he quickly reappeared behind me and caught me by the hem of my shirt.
"You're not going anywhere, Miss Darren." He then looked at Evra, "You too, Evra."
He then carried me, with Evra walking in small steps behind me as he walked into his tent. I never liked the feeling of his tent. It feels creepy. Mr. Tall put me down, and started to question us.
"Both of you still haven't answered my first question." Mr. Tall said, his fingers crossed in front of him after he had lazily set himself down on his chair, making us look small and guilty. We stood in silence, and I cast a quick glance at Evra, trying to get him to not say the truth. But his eyes never met mine, as he is busy taking deep breaths to ease his nervousness.
"Actually, Mr. Tall..." Evra starts to talk after a few moments of awkward silence, I'm afraid that he will tell Mr. Tall the whole truth, and I quickly clamped Evra's mouth shut with my hand before he could say anything more.
I could feel Evra's breath tingling on my palm, and the constant flick of his snakey tongue on my skin. I giggled, but my hand remain clasped on his mouth. Evra then began to make random motions using his tongue around my palm, making me giggle more, finally letting go of my hand from his mouth, but he continued licking my hand, and we began to forgot about Mr. Tall's existence in the stuffy tent.
A loud snap brings us back to reality. Mr. Tall is looking angrier than ever.
"Are you guys even listening to me?" Mr. Tall asked in a quiet tone, but me and Evra are experienced enough to know that Mr. Tall is really angry now.
"Evra. The truth. If you may."
"Please, Evra, no." I begged lightly under my breath, looking at Evra with the best puppy face I could come up with.
"I'm sorry, Darren." Evra muttered, and took another deep breath, before began to tell the whole truth.
"Actually, I'm just.. teasing Darren." Evra said, and I was quite shocked by his summarizing skills. But Mr. Tall looks like he doesn't appreciate that short of an answer.
"What kind of a tease, actually, to make Darren run around the camp and shouting at you and waking the dead up with your voices?" Mr. Tall asked, and leaned back further in his chair, expecting a detailed answer from Evra. Evra curled his fingers up in a fist and alternatively relaxing them after balling them up to sooth his nervousness.
"It's just.. I'm just teasing about Mr. Crepsley and Darren. About how they are gonna have wonderful kids while sitting on the tree kissing each other and.. and..." Evra stuttered, trying to continue his sentence with ease. But that's not going to go smoothly, because now I'm getting mad of Evra for selling me out! And what's with the 'having kids' part? He didn't even said that! ARGH!
"Evra Von." I gritted my teeth against each other and glared at him, hoping that somehow vampire fangs could just grow from my mouth in an attempt to scare Evra. "I'm going to kill you."
"Now, now. Killing without a reason is not prohibited, Darren."
I spun my head around upon listening to that deep voice, and to my embarrassment, I saw Mr. Crepsley standing there, a smug smile plastered on his face, a usual sight when he's trying to correct me or point out my mistakes. He yawned as he approached Mr. Tall, scratching his scar on the left side of his face. I hope it starts bleeding, then Mr. Crepsley won't even try and scratch at it again, because this little routine of him always make my heart skip a beat. Hormones. They are strange, isn't it? And mine's not even a normal human girl hormone.. I have half-vampire hormones inside me, for God's sake.
I watched Mr. Crepsley stopped beside me, staring lazily straight into Mr. Tall's eyes.
"What happened? I heard from Truska that you had taken away my assistant." Mr. Crepsley asked, and Mr. Tall stared back at him with bored eyes.
"They have been running around camp, shouting like mad monkeys. Don't you hear it? Or is your coffin soundproof?" Mr. Tall retorted, and Mr. Crepsley let out a chuckle.
"My assistant had just taken her fair share of human blood yesterday, Hibernius. It's normal if she's running about like a rabbit." Mr. Crepsley said, a proud smile on his face. I bit down my anger, bits of flashback of the night before rushing back into my mind. How could he feed me human blood under such... romantic circumstances?
"Finally." Mr. Tall said, sighing to himself, "Must had taken you some effort, Larten."
"You bet." Mr. Crepsley said, looking at me, and I looked away from his gaze. "And I think my assistant prefers to feed using my method."
"No, I did not!" I shouted, glaring back at Mr. Crepsley, to find that he's looking at me with those eyes. The ones he used to look at me before he "feed" me those blood. I hid my blush, but trying my best to not look away.
"I'll feed you some more tonight. Now I would like to have some peaceful sleep. Goodnight, Darren." Mr. Crepsley pulled me closer and gave me a light kiss on my forehead, giving Mr. Tall a swing of his palm as a sign of goodbye, before disappearing from Mr. Tall's tent. I blushed furiously, my emotions now caught up in a hurricane. Sweet, for Mr. Crepsley's kiss; anger, because how could he kiss me in front of Evra and Mr. Tall? And lastly, nervousness and excitement because of the fact that he's gonna "feed" me tonight.
Oh wait. Why am I feeling excited about that? Cancel that thought.
Mr. Tall's awkward cough brings me back to reality. Both Evra and Mr. Tall are looking at me with strange expressions on their faces. Evra is trying hard to not laugh in my face, and Mr. Tall is just trying not to care.
"Then, I guess that the both of you can be dismissed?" Mr. Tall said, a rare smile surfacing on his face. I quickly exited the tent with Evra.
"Bwahahahahaha~!" Evra laughed out loud the second he got out from Mr. Tall's tent. "Both of you... You're dating Mr. Crepsley now?" Looking at my frustrated face, Evra laughed even harder.
"Good night, Darren~" Evra repeated Mr. Crepsley's words, and even blew a kiss at my direction. I swatted the kiss off, and stomped away furiously. Stupid Mr. Crepsley! Now I'm gonna get teased by Evra all day! Worse if he spreads the word to the whole camp!
Therefore, I spent my morning and early evenings wandering about by myself, plotting a revenge against Evra and Mr. Crepsley. But plans for Evra's revenge is cancelled when the snake boy comes to me and apologized for his teasing. I forgive him, because best friends don't keep grudges from each other. We then used the remaining afternoon to help around the camp, enjoying our time together before night falls in.
After dinner, me and Evra sat on a long tree log just outside our tent.
"It's night already, Darren." Evra said, rubbing his full tummy, "Don't you wanna go and check on Mr. Crepsley if he's awake?"
"He can wake up by himself, thank you." I retorted, and let out a huge sigh, "I... am just afraid to see him."
"You're nervous?" Evra asked, and I nodded glumly.
"Well, you don't need to worry about anything, Darren." Evra said, patting me on my back, "Mr. Crepsley loves you and you love him back. Things will work out between you guys." He then stood up from his seat, heading inside his tent, "It's time, Darren. Don't try and hide your feelings. It'll get worse over time."
"Thanks a lot, love professor." I said sarcastically, and Evra just laughed it off before entering his tent. I stood up from the log, and walked slowly towards Mr. Crepsley's tent.
Mr. Crepsley is already up by the time I entered his tent. He is busy combing his hair, and smiled at me through his reflection on the mirror.
"Good morning, Darren." He said cheerfully, "Go and check up on Madam Octa. Help me feed her, if you can." I grumbled as I run over Mr. Crepsley's bag, and found a few rotting bugs inside a small bag. Thank God there are still some backup insects for Madam Octa. I emptied over the contents into Madam Octa's cage, and watched as the spider ate whatever I gave her.
"Tonight is a fine night." Mr. Crepsley declared so after he is done with his grooming. "Where do you want to go tonight, Darren?" I am feeling a bit tired from all the activity earlier this morning, so I just shook my head without thinking. "Okay, then. We'll just walk around camp, and see what we could come up for the night." Mr. Crepsley grabbed my hand and stepped outside into the cold wind, walking by my side while never letting go of my hand even for a while. I want to pull my hand away from his, but the warmth of his hand is what I need right now in this particularly cold night. Plus the scars on his fingertips felt nice when they accidentally rubbed against mine.
"You're cold, aren't you?" Mr. Crepsley voiced out, and I shot up my head in shock. Now he can even read minds like Mr. Tall too? "Well, judging from the way you clamp your hand on mine, as if hanging on to dear life, and the light shivering of your body suggested that you're feeling chilly." He stopped for a while for dramatic effects, I guess, before continued saying, "Even a stupid vampire could figure that out."
Feeling annoyed by Mr. Crepsley's keen observations, I snapped away his hand, and I howled at him, "You don't have to say that! I'm not even cold! You don't need to care about..." A sneeze escaped me before I could even finish speaking. Mr. Crepsley chuckled heartily as he took off his cape and wrapped it around me.
"You're my only assistant, how could I not care about you, Darren?" After securing the cape behind me, successfully blocking away most of the wind, there are still parts of Mr. Crepsley's cape grazing the floor. Mr. Crepsley muttered something about not damaging his cape, before he scooped me up in his arms, bridal style. I yelped, and struggled to break free from Mr. Crepsley's arms.
"Since you're out cold today, I guess we'll just spend our night today in our tent, shall we?" I hastily nodded as I finally grabbed onto Mr. Crepsley's neck for support. Circling my arms around his neck, I got into a position in which his hands are on the underside of my thigh and the small of my back. I wriggled about nervously in his arms, as Mr. Crepsley's fingertips rubbed and even made small circular motions on my thigh when he noticed me wincing upon his touch.
"Stop it." I managed to hiss under my breath, loud enough for Mr. Crepsley to hear it.
"Hmm?" Mr. Crepsley looked at me with those innocent eyes of his, and I hold back the urge to slap his face hard.
Mr. Crepsley set me down on the floor when we're inside the tent. He grabbed an oil lamp and lighted it using a match, before shoving it towards my direction. I cupped my hands around the lamp, careful to not touch it, feeling the warmth radiating from the lamp. "Feel better?" Mr. Crepsley asked, and I nodded, staring straight into the small, and yet gentle orange flame. Mr. Crepsley took a seat beside me.
"Can we at least do something to pass the night?" Mr. Crepsley asked.
"If you have somewhere to go and something to do, then just go ahead." I said, not bothering to look at Mr. Crepsley. Is he trying to tell me that I am the cause of his boredom? "Don't make me feel like I'm holding you back to have fun."
"Fun?" Mr. Crepsley said, cocking his head aside in a confusing manner, "But there's no fun without you, Darren."
I pondered over Mr. Crepsley's words. "But why? You are able to enjoy your time before you keep me as your assistant. Why couldn't you just do it again? Seriously, Mr. Crepsley. Don't say it as if I'm an important person to you."
"But you are." Mr. Crepsley said in a gentle tone, and I feel myself blushing again. I hope that the small light from the oil lamp won't give my blush away. "You are my only assistant, of course you're important."
I grunted and let out a disappointed sigh. Am I really hoping that Mr. Crepsley will see me as somebody more than just an assistant?
I raised my right hand and gave myself a light slap across my cheek.
"What are you doing, Darren?" Mr. Crepsley asked, startled by the sudden voice my slap makes. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine." I said, feeling sad all of a sudden. What if I'm stuck as his assistant forever? I really hoped that we could be more than friends. Lovers, maybe. I bit my lower lip, stopping myself from crying out.
"You know.. I have not felt the feelings of love for a lot of years." Mr. Crepsley said, sighing as he stared into the lamp as well, "Yes, most of the time I travel with the Cirque Du Freak, but sometimes I go out on trips, you know, to meet other people other than the Cirque's performers. And I learnt it the hard way that we, vampires aren't allowed to love normal humans. We age slower than them, we're physically stronger than them, and the most important part, they may end up as our food if we're not careful enough."
I listened at Mr. Crepsley's words, before asking, "You mean you drank your... ex-girlfriend's blood before?"
"Almost." Mr. Crepsley said, a gloom look cast itself on his face. "Luckily I'm able to snap out from my desire. Or else there's no guarantee to her life." I remembered the moment when I tried to suck my little brother, Antoine's blood.
"Yeah. It's scary to feed on people you care the most." I muttered in agreement, and Mr. Crepsley turned to look at me.
"Back to the main point. You, Miss Darren Shan, you made me feel what it's like to fall in love over again." Mr. Crepsley said, and I caught myself staring at him stupidly.
"I... I mean, huh?" I fumbled over my words, and Mr. Crepsley just chuckled and continued speaking, "I know, although you may think that we have this age gap, but I'm not that old as you think. Maybe it's just this scar that makes me look like an old hag.." He began to scratch at his scar, as if wanting the scar to disappear to make him look younger. I chuckled at Mr. Crepsley's actions.
"Just so you know, I love you."
Now this is a real shocker.
The both of us sat in awkward silence after Mr. Crepsley had said the seven words.
"Of course, I'm not forcing you to accept me." Mr. Crepsley explained, "If you refuse, I'll just blow some knockout gas on you and clear your memories for this night. And then we can go back in being master and apprentice again. No hard feelings."
"Do you think I would want that?" I said, "All the time you're looking out for me, taking care of me, teaching me the ways of a vampire. Now you're even helping me to forget about me feelings for you. Do you seriously think that I'll let you do what you want now?" And without waiting for an answer from Mr. Crepsley, I moved towards him and kissed the scar on his face. "I love you too, Mr. Crepsley."
Mr. Crepsley looked taken aback for a while, before letting out an attractive smile, "Don't call me 'Mr' Crepsley, then. It makes me sound older. Try calling me Crepsley or Larten. Or 'darling.' "
"What is with you and your age issues, Crepsley? And I will never call you 'darling', just so you know." I said, and punched jokingly on Mr. Crepsley's chest. He pulled my hand in a swift motion, making me fall into his embrace. He blew away the fire in the oil lamp, and the both of us sank into complete darkness.
"You're not cold now, are you?" Mr. Crepsley asked, and I can feel the slight vibration of his chest when he speaks.
"Nope. Not a bit." I smiled, "You're already warm enough for me."
"Good." He then picked me up, into his arms, and then I felt that I'm lying on something really soft and comfortable after he had put me down.
"Get some rest." With a goodnight kiss to go with that, I slowly drifted off into sleep.
The next morning, I woke up to probably the most prettiest sight I've ever seen. Multi-colored roses ranging from red, blue, white, yellow, pink, orange and purple lay around me. And then I realized that I'm sleeping in Mr. Crepsley's coffin, as the owner of the coffin is slumped on a chair with a paper clutched in his hand, obviously asleep. I got up from the coffin and took out the paper from his hands, and began to read over the contents.
Red roses represents romantic love and enduring passion, matching my feelings when I found my love for you.
Blue roses convey inner feelings of love at first sight, which I think is pretty obvious between me and you.
White roses brings a message of loyalty and says "I am worthy of you", which is the message I've been trying to tell you the whole time.
Yellow roses represents warmth, gladness and affection. You gave me these every day in my life.
Pink roses symbolizes gentility, femininity, elegance and refinement, as it suits each and every of your good quality.
Orange roses brings the meaning of enthusiasm. That's the main reason why I choose you to be my assistant.
Purple roses represents desire, and what I desire now is you.
A single drop of tear of happiness rolled out from my eye.
"You idiot."
"Yeah, I am." Mr. Crepsley said, and smiled warmly at me as he snapped awake from his sleep. "Like those roses?"
I nodded happily, but then I realized that there's a problem.
"It's morning now, right? How are you going to sleep in your coffin with those roses?" I asked, and Mr. Crepsley scooped off all the roses and tied them in a pretty bouquet within a few seconds.
"Here." He handed the bouquet to me, a cheeky smile on his face.
"Can you stop being so charming?" I said, and nudged him towards the direction of his coffin, "Quick, Mr. Crepsley. The sun is going to shone into the tent pretty soon."
"What's with the 'Mr'?" Mr. Crepsley asked, and I just shrugged while answered, "Old habits die hard."
"Well, see you in the night, then. Good night, Darren."
"Good night, darling."
I don't wanna know how long it took me to finish this..
And it's even longer than the original story... WHAT AM I DOING I CAN'T EVEN...
Well anyway.. This story is officially finished :)
I'll make more mini fanfics based on scenes from the book... if I have the time and inspiration. :D
Until then. I hope you enjoyed this!
Have a nice day! XD
~Velonica Sushi