Professor Crepsley

Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own Cirque du Freak, it belongs to Darren Shan. Darren Shan is the most swagalicious author in the world, I owe my life to the guy!

He… ok, to the story.

He sat back down at his desk and waited for his second and last class of the day as he thought some more. It was a bit unsettling that one of his students drew his face to such an extent, but maybe she was just an art major taking this as one of her minors? Deciding just to shrug it off and prepare himself for class, he took another drink of his disgustingly cold coffee and knew a trip to Starbucks was desperately needed. Slamming down the mug on his desk with a thunk, he stood up and erased what was on the board. As he finished erasing the last word, the bell rang and his second class of students walked in. At the head of the crowd was Mika Ver Leth, as usual dressed in all black and looking as if he belonged at a funeral and not a college campus. As the students behind him complained that he was walking too slowly, he suddenly looked behind him and shot them a glare that silenced all. Larten sneered at this. Mika was definitely something else. "Class, please sit down. We have much to discuss."

After dragging out the lesson as long as he possibly could, he discovered that there were still about five minutes full of empty nothing. Well, he thought, I guess I'll just do what I did with the other class. "Well, it seems I have under planned for this lesson. Since we have five minutes left of class, feel free to ask me any questions you'd like." As was the case in the last class, almost all hands went up. "Mr. Ver Leth?" Larten asked, seeing his favorite student's hand go up.

"What was the best birthday present you have ever received?" Mika said, in his usual somber tone. Larten pondered this, because there were about a decade of birthdays that he could actually remember. During these, he had never expected much, but there was one gift he had wanted all year and had unexpectedly received from his mother about a year back.

"Actually, the most enjoyable of gifts I have received in my lifetime was a CD." Larten said, once again sitting on the ledge of his desk.

"What kind of music?" Mika asked.

"A Calvin Harris CD." Larten said, feeling slightly embarrassed. The room erupted in several guffaws and a few fangirl-like squees.

"Miss Hemlock?"

"What languages do you know?" Debbie asked, the girlfriend of Darren Shan. Debbie Hemlock was a nice girl, even if she was too outgoing for her own good.

"Well, I know Japanese, Welsh, Dutch, French, and some Mandarin." Larten said, ticking each language off on his fingers as he spoke.

"Mister Von?"

"Combien de femmes avez-vous eu une relation avec?" Evra Von said, speaking French to an unsuspecting Crepsley.

"Honnêtement, je suis sorti avec un. Je suppose que je n'ai tout jamais eu le temps." Larten replied simply, having answered that same question before.

"Mister Tiny?" Larten said reluctantly. Desmond Tiny gave everyone the creeps. Just the way he strut around campus with a watch that looked way too much like a human heart was enough to give anyone the creeps, right?

"Have you ever killed anything?" Desmond asked, the malevolence dripping from his voice.

"Of course I have, bugs here and there." The professor said, thankful it wasn't any worse than it was. Then, the bell rang, and Mika stayed behind, scribbling something on a piece of paper. He sat like that for several minutes, and Larten didn't notice until he had already packed up and was on his way out. He caught sight of the lingering student and walked up behind him, hoping to tell him that it was time to go. As he walked over to him, he was able to see that Mika was drawing a picture of the professor as well. Quickly retreating to his desk before being seen, he knew that Mika and Annie must have worked on this thing together, but it was best that at least Mika didn't know that he knew, if that makes any sense. One thing was for sure, it was time for Larten to go.

"Mister Ver Leth." Larten said.

"Hm?" Mika said, looking up from his drawing.

"Class ended ten minutes ago. I suggest you leave now." Larten said, nearing his way to the door. Mika sprang up at an inhumane speed and made his way to the door, stopping Professor Crepsley in the corridor.

"Professor!" Mika said, running to Larten.

"Yes, what is it, Mister Ver Leth?" Larten said, not expecting to be stopped in the corridor.

"Well, I was wondering if you believed in vampires," Mika said, an evil sort of gleam in his eyes. "You seemed to know a lot about them in class."

"Oh, well I know my stuff." Larten said, visibly ignoring the subject. "I must go, remember your project!" Larten said as he walked out of the building and to the parking lot.

"Phew, that was a close one." Larten said as he entered his car.

Larten drove his car to the nearest Starbucks, paring in the nearest spot to the establishment and entering. Once inside, he studied the multiple choices and decided upon the Bold Pick of the Day and a slice of pumpkin cake. After he paid for the goodies, he sat down and absent-mindedly sipped at his cup and thought about his day. His secret... it had almost been exposed... He had never told anyone about that fateful day years and years ago, and he planned on never telling... but that was all before Seba died... Seba had explained as much of the thing as he could, kept him half human... But when would his other half take over, the half that could very well end him? Just then, the sound of bells hitting against the glass door as someone entered snapped him out of his thoughts. His neck snapped up as he looked to see that Annie, Mika, and Arra Sails, a fellow professor, had entered.

"Shoot." Larten whispered under his breath. The trio of suspicious people neared the counter, having a very hushed conversation. As they ordered, Larten tried to find away to get out of the door without them noticing. How awkward would it be for them to see him there? He sipped at his coffee and cursed himself for being such a slave to the bean. Cramming the rest of the cake into his mouth, he scooped up is coffee and started his mad dash to the door. Pushing the door open, he realized he forgot about the bell... The door was shoved open as he realized this, the bell clanging wildly. He kept his face turned, but knew if they even looked in his direction, they'd know it was him just by his orange hair.

"Professor Crepsley!" he heard Annie say. But that had no effect on him. He continued his mad dash all the way to his car. He opened the door and shoved the key into the ignition, turning it and starting up the car as Annie alerted the others of the sighting. But he had already pulled away in his beaten-up laser blue Volkswagen beetle. The car was his father's given to him five years ago as a sort of in-college gift. Also, his father had retired that year and decided to buy a new car. Larten giggled nervously at this memory. Not even his parents knew about his transformation...

The college professor's mind was full of these thoughts as he drove back to his apartment. If only Seba hadn't been killed off... The night Seba died was the night Larten underwent his transformation those fateful ten years ago... Good thing he had gone through puberty early, for he looked mostly the same, only aging two years as ten went by. It wasn't the best existence ever...

When Larten went to college, he was sixteen, having skipped a few grades in his lifetime. He looked like the other students, however, having undergone puberty early. He decided that he would stay in the dorms, and the money his parents had saved up for him plus the scholarships he had applied for and received allowed him a comfortable college life, and he was fortunate enough not to have a roommate. He did have a Seba, however. One day, Larten been writing a term paper, and he heard a bump outside his window. It was nighttime, and since Larten had no irrational fears like that of the night, he went over to check. After finding an old man with scraggly nails clinging to the side of his building, he realized that a rational fear would be that of an old man with scraggly hair, clinging to the side of a building!

"Sir?" Larten said in a shaky voice.

"May I please come in?" The man said in a rough, yet gentle voice, as if he were getting over a cold at the time.

"Uh... Sure...?" Larten said, opening the window as wide as it would go.

"Step aside."

"Uh..." Larten slid over to where his textbooks were, and waited for something to happen. Then, a figure flew through the window, swiflty shutting it behind him.

"Thank you." The man said, sitting down in Larten's bed, across from where Larten was standing.

"Uh... Sir? What the heck are you doing here?" Larten asked, his sense coming back to him.

"You invited me in." The man said simply, removing an apple from his cloak. The orange haired young man sat at his desk, taking a moment to really see the man. He wore a dark red cloak, dark red top hat, sandals, a vest, long-sleeved shirt, and simple black pants. He had graying hair, and a small beard. Larten felt drawn to him in a strange way. One could say he felt their destinies were intertwined...

Larten stared at the apple, realizing he had missed lunch and dinner due to the paper, making him even hungrier than usual after his daily routine of skipping breakfast. The man looked at the apple, then told Larten his name: Seba Nile.

"My name's Larten Crepsley." the boy said, not taking his eye off the apple. Seba took notice of this, and used his nails to split the apple in half, handing the larger half to Larten.

"Huh? Oh, thanks." he said, wolfing the sweet fruit down in seconds.

"Here." Seba said, handing the rest of the apple to the boy.

"Thanks!" he said, once again taking the apple and gulping it down in seconds. He made a mental note to go to the store the next day and not stay in his dorm all day working on his paper. Larten looked at his bed to see that Seba was there, looking intently at Larten.

"Larten, do you know about vampires?" Seba said, seemingly out of nowhere.

"Well, yeah, we all do." Larten said, a bit taken aback by his question.

"Do you believe in them?" Seba asked. Again, the boy was taken aback. Larten believed in all sorts of things, there was a reason he immersed himself in his studies the way he did. He feared rejection. In his schooldays, he never grew out of believing in the tooth fairy or Santa Claus, vampire or fairies. Now, he knew Santa and those things weren't real, but who was to say that vampires and werewolves and fairies weren't?

"Yes, I do." Larten said, focusing on Seba.

"Well, it may interest you that I am one, and I need to stay here for a while..." Seba said.

"Um, what?!" Larten yelled.

And so, Seba moved in with Larten and the education of a lifetime happened within Dorm 3's Room 405 at Cirque College.

After time, Larten got used to Seba and let him explain the ways of the vampires, enjoying the tales of far away Vampire Generals, Princes, all hidden within Vampire Mountain, the base for all things Vampire. Seba taught him the ways and existence of the vampaneze, and how to hate the vampaneze. Usually, vampaneze traveled along with Circuses, not able to fit in due to their purple skin. Not many vampires could read, and since they couldn't come out during the day, they worked as bartenders and mafias. This was a little knows fact about vampires; they were often the source of gang violence, hiring humans during the day to take the heat, literally.

Seba was also the reason Larten never went to parties. There was much to learn about vampires, and Larten was all too eager to learn. They continued their heavenly lives until the vampaneze showed up. The vampaneze, the ones who killed Larten's friend, his teacher, Seba Nile. But there was one thing the vampaneze didn't know. Before Seba died, he made a half-vampire. He blooded Larten Crepsley as a half-vampire, to forever remain half until the purge came, transforming him into a lone creature of the night.

A/N: Oooookayyy. SO. What do ya think? Too much? Too little? Like? Dislike? TELL ME PLEASE PEOPLES I KNOW YOU CAN SEE THIS! xD Wow that was pushy.