Disclaimer: Are these actually necessary? Or did someone just add one to their story way back in fanfiction's history and other people thought it looked all official and legal? Because if they're going to get us for copyright infringement, I don't think a few notes at the beginning of our story is gonna hold up as a defense in court. Just saying =)

A/N: So, remember when I said this was going to be a two-shot? Haha, just kidding, make that three chapters. *Sigh*...


-THREE WEEKS LATER-

Larten's POV

I had lost my best friend. Gavner was dead, I was sure of that. And it hurt. But not knowing what happened to Darren, that was worse. I was told to believe - and, in some strange way, wanted to believe - that he was dead; when Kurda reported that Darren's trail led into the stream that ran out of the mountain, everyone was convinced that he wouldn't have made it. And they were right, it was entirely unlikely that he could have survived the currents alone, not to mention the weather if he had ever made it out. But somewhere deep in my heart I felt that he was alive and needed my help. Maybe I was an old fool who's heart had been captured by a child, and maybe tricking myself into believing he was alive was just the beginning of the process of coping with the loss. Whatever the case, not knowing one way or another for sure was killing me inside, and that was why I found myself at the door of Arra's room late one afternoon after hours of trying to fall asleep.

After I had knocked, my foot nervously tapped against the ground as I waited for the door to swing open, and my hands were twitching against my legs. When Arra finally appeared, squinting and yawning, I stepped into her room before she could ask me inside or even acknowledge who I was. Collapsing into the nearest chair, my face fell into my hands as my shoulders began to rattle with uneven, anxiety-ridden breaths. I heard the scrape of another chair being pulled up next to me, and seconds later I felt a hand on my right arm. Arra gave it a comforting squeeze and said softly, "Darren?"

I didn't bother to nod my head, she knew. Arra had suspicions of her own. She suspected that Kurda had enticed Darren to escape, something I was quite sure of myself. But when Kurda had forbidden her from searching the tunnels under the stream, she leapt to the conclusion that he was hiding something and that there was more to this than we had originally thought. I did not believe that; the idea that Kurda had had only her safety in mind didn't make any sense to the perpetually cynical Arra. When I had asked if she truly thought he would have done something to Darren or Gavner she said no, yet she still wouldn't allow herself to trust him. But her unwillingness to believe that Darren had simply wandered off, fallen into the stream, and died was the exact reason I had come to her room.

"I cannot go on not knowing," I said finally, my voice hoarse. "He was...is...like a son to me. I need something, some closure, or even any indication of what happened."

Arra shifted next to me, her hand making soothing circles on my back. "His blood led to the stream," she said softly. "And I know Kurda didn't find anything when he traced his blood trail, but the chances are that he was seriously injured before falling in. No one has survived the journey down the stream, and if Darren was injured..." she sighed. "If Gavner was alive, there might have been a chance, but he must have fallen in trying to save Darren, which would explain why we can't find his body either." Her hand stopped on my shoulder. "I'm sorry, Larten. I miss the boy too. I liked him; I cared about him. But you need to accept the truth."

"Perhaps all the pieces point to him being," I swallowed, "gone. But I cannot rest without knowing for sure. If he is alive, he will need our help." And with that I stood, wiping at the damp corners of my eyes. "I am going to look for him."

Arra stared up at me for a second, her brow furrowed. Then she nodded. "All right," she said heavily. "Where are we going first?"


Arra's POV

Efforts had already been made to find Gavner's body and Darren in the mountain, and so we started outside, beginning at the stream Darren had fallen into. Larten and I had asked around for help - the more of us there were, the greater the odds of finding something. Kurda immediately agreed and offered to bring his apprentices, two large Generals with a knack for waving swords like drunken pirates. An old friend of Seba's, named Oswyn, also offered to join us. With six flasks of blood, six blankets, and many warm layers of clothes each we left the mountain just after sundown. We began our thorough search closest to the water and worked outwards, away from it. I doubted that we would be out for more than a few days; we traveled faster than a weak, injured half-vampire could, and could go a considerable distance each night. I knew that if we found no body now, it was gone forever.

Kurda and his two assistants, Cyrus and Ambrose, were on edge, and Kurda was the jumpiest of the lot. I could tell he felt guilty for pulling rank on me; in the past three weeks, he had come to me with numerous apologies, none of which I accepted. Kurda Smahlt never gave an order in his life, and so for him to forbid me from going to search for Darren meant he was up to something. Anyone I voiced this opinion to told me I was being paranoid, and that I should just accept that maybe, somehow, he didn't want me to be drowned in the slight chance of the stream collapsing into the mountain. I was forced to let the matter drop, but that didn't mean that I wouldn't be watching him.

For the most part, we found the snow to be clean and untouched, except for the occasional tracks of a small animal. As it got later into the night we had to light torches, which meant the search slowed. But after several hours, we'd traveled quite a distance and still found nothing. After agreeing to take out first rest, I leaned against a tree and took a sip of blood, as did everyone except Larten. He instead crouched down and began to dig a hole in the snow. I saw Kurda frown and go over it him, and I immediately went to hear what was being said.

"What is it?" Kurda asked Larten. "Did you find something?"

I could have sworn that out of the corner of my eye I saw both Cyrus and Ambrose's hands glide down to their weapons at this.

"It is nothing," Larten said miserably, but he continued to dig. Stopping suddenly, he cursed quietly under his breath and turned to the rest of the search party. "It is not likely that we will be able to rely on tracks," he announced. "The night of Darren's escape, it rained, correct?" We nodded. "Under this top layer of snow, there is a layer of ice."

"What does that mean?" Kurda asked.

"It means it's snowed since," I explained, understanding Larten's point. "If it was raining the night Darren escaped, it would have become the layer of ice, and would be on top of any prints he or anyone else would have made in the snow."

"And anything on the top layer of snow would be after the fact," Larten nodded dismally. "There is no point in trying to pick up a trail, we will have to look behind every tree and boulder in the area to try and find him."

Or what was left of him, I felt guilty for thinking. Larten was in denial. I had hoped coming out to look for Darren would help him to accept his assistant as dead; I wished as much as he did that Darren was all right, that he could have been given a second chance at his trial and there would be hope for him in the future, but I had learned one too many times that the longer you denied loss, the more painful it was to come to terms with.

We searched for the remainder of the night without rest. The longer time went on, the more desperate the look in Larten's eyes became. It hurt to see him so upset, and I wished more than anything that I could make Darren magically appear. All I could do was look as hard as Larten was and hope that by some miracle we found...something.

We took shelter under some pine trees that day, and at sundown we were back to the search. As we began to cross into lower altitudes, the layers of snow became thinner and we found ourselves stumbling over the underbrush and rocks hidden beneath it. A couple times I had to grab onto a tree to keep from tripping and sliding down the slopes, and once I had to grab Larten's wrist to keep him from falling into a partially-covered rabbit hole.

As the hours wore on, my feet began to numb and I began to grow less attentive to the many ruts. At one point, I thought I might have seen some sort of movement from behind a tree, and so I turned quickly to move towards it, not noticing a hidden rock. The side of my foot caught on the edge of it and I tumbled backwards. I flung my hands out, expecting to hit the ground, but instead collided with one of Kurda's apprentices. Ambrose was large enough to stop us both from falling, and I turned turned to thank him. Rather than the slightly irritated face of someone who I'd just fallen into, I found myself inches away from a swiftly drawing sword. His eyes were wide, as if he'd been startled, and he tried to put his sword back before it got far from his belt, but I was too quick for him. I shot a hand out and twisted his wrist, snatching the weapon away. I narrowed my eyes at him.

"Sorry," he said gruffly, extending a hand to get his sword back from me. "Got startled."

"What are you so jumpy about?" I asked, withholding the sword.

"You surprised me, that's all," he snapped. "Now I'd like my sword back, if you please."

"What had you so on edge that you'll draw a sword if someone bumps into you?" I asked, pulling it away from him again. Cyrus, Kurda's other apprentice, had come up beside him now, his jaw set, eyes fixed on me. "Why did you even bring swords? Both of you are –."

"Is there a problem?"

I turned to see Kurda, and a little behind him, Larten and Oswyn, both with their eyebrows raised, standing behind me.

"Yeah, there is," I said angrily. "Your henchmen - " I shot them a menacing glare, "are acting very strange. Why bring war weapons while searching for a little boy?"

Kurda didn't answer immediately. "You have a problem with it?"

"When they're drawing their weapons on me, damn right I do," I snapped.

He reached his hand out and took the sword back from my unwillingly loosened grip. Handing it back to Ambrose, he gave me a disdainful look. "Perhaps they were afraid of encountering danger along the way. In this day and age, maybe they have the right idea. At any rate, it's not your place to tell them what they can and can't have with them. We're all here for the same reason, Arra - to find Darren."

I pursed my lips as Kurda and his two assistants started off again, Oswyn eventually following them, all stepping carefully around the ruts on their way down the steep ledges of the mountain.

"They're up to something," I hissed to Larten as we followed after them. "Kurda and those thugs. They've been acting oddly since we left the mountain."

Larten sighed. "Perhaps they are on edge for other reasons. Their mentor is being invested as a Prince in two nights. Do not worry about them right now."

"But-" I began.

"Arra," he interrupted impatiently. "Please, can we just look for Darren?"

I exhaled. He was upset about his assistant, of course he was oblivious to the suspicious actions of our companions. I wanted to continue, wanted him to see that Kurda was guilty of something, but the truth was he probably wouldn't hear it anyway, he was too distracted. "All right," I said, trying to keep the sourness out of my voice. "Fine."


Kurda's POV

As soon as the others were out of earshot, I rounded on my apprentices. "What were you thinking?" I whispered furiously. "I told you not to call attention to yourselves!"

"She startled me," Cyrus explained defensively. "I'm a little on edge - can you blame me?" When I continued to frown at him, he added, "Won't happen again."

"I hope not," I said, taking the snap out of my voice. "Arra has been suspicious of me for weeks, and she's going to be watching us more closely now that she suspects you two as well." I sighed, looking at my assistants. Both were helping my cause, but neither believed strongly enough in it to play the role as innocent Darren-searcher credibly. "There is no need to be on edge," I reminded them. "We are doing this for the good of the vampire clan. We're doing the right thing."

Both of them nodded slightly then slowed their pace, dropping to the back of the pack, their hands still twitching nervously above their weapons. I ran a hand through my hair as I watched them exchange looks, knowing their thoughts as clearly as if I could read through their skulls - if they were doing the right thing, why were my orders to kill all if we found Darren?

Once again, a night of searching came to the end with no signs of Darren, and once again we were off first thing the following night. At this point, I knew our search couldn't be drawn on much longer. It was three nights until my investiture and we would have to be back at the mountain the night before the ceremonies began. That meant that this would be the last night we could possibly be out if we were to make it back in time. I wanted to relax and tell myself that we hadn't found Darren yet and we wouldn't. I could somewhat accept that, but my looming investiture - more specifically, the thought that my plan would be put into action - was bringing me more stress than anything else. I had meticulously worked out every wrinkle. I had confidence that, barring any unforeseen appearances by Darren, everything would go as it needed to. I had made sure of that. It was telling myself that I was doing the right thing that was becoming harder as it approached. I had been so sure a month ago, but the minute I had stuck the blade into Gavner's innocent stomach, doubts had begun to swirl in my head. The doubts, along with the guilt at murdering my friend, haunted me constantly. They gave me horrible dreams and kept me up during the day, but worse yet they invaded my mind during the night to the point that I almost feared Larten or Arra would read the look on my face. Every now and then, the image of Gavner's startled face as I stabbed him, or the thought that I would likely have to see that same expression on the faces of other friends, would spring into my mind, and I would stop mid-sentence. Usually I could shake the feelings quickly, but as time wore on, I became more and more easily distracted by these thoughts.

"We should take a rest," I suggested to Larten. We had been searching without a break for nearly three quarters of the night. "Wearing ourselves to exhaustion isn't going to make this search any easier."

"You are right," he nodded, though he didn't seen particularly keen on the idea of halting the search, if only temporarily.

I took a seat on a fallen, snow-covered tree, and immediately my apprentices sat next to me. I gave them a discrete warning look and they edged away, trying to look more natural. Sighing, I looked around the clearing, but stopped almost as soon as I had started, frowning. A whiff of something strange had caught my nose. I sat up straighter, sniffing the air, trying to hone in on the smell.

And that was when I felt the tip of a knife on my back. I leapt off the fallen tree, my hands immediately flying to my sword...and found myself face-to-face with an incredulous looking Arra.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" she barked, putting her hands up - no knife.

"What did you do that for?" I snapped, breathing hard.

"What, tap you on the shoulder?" she asked. "I was going to ask you to move so I could sit down."

"It felt like a knife," I told her.

"Must have been my nails," she shrugged, then added, "Not my fault." She took a seat on the log where I had been seconds before and pulled her coat tighter. "I asked you to get up three times, didn't you hear me?"

"No," I admitted truthfully. "I was concentrating on something." I hesitated before adding, "That smell - do you know what it is?" It wasn't the smell of a half-vampire, or of a vampaneze, and so I couldn't see the harm in telling her.

She thought for a second. "I can't put my finger on it," she said, "but I smell it too. It's probably just an animal."

I nodded, breathing into my frost-stiffened fingers. Only now did I realize how cold it was out. Suddenly anxious to move on, I walked over to Larten. His hands were pressed together and his fingertips were tapping nervously against one another. "Think we'll find him?" I asked, stepping up beside Larten.

He sighed bitterly and shook his head. "Probably not. I am not willing to give up the search just yet, but if we find nothing tonight we should turn back.

"He could still be out here," I said, trying to sound positive and hopeful at the idea.

Larten laughed hollowly. "I do not think a full vampire could survive on his own in these conditions for more than a couple nights. I hoped we would find something, and still, we might, but if not tonight, there is your investiture to think of. You should not have left the mountain this near to it to begin with."

I snorted as though the day of my investiture, the day when everything I had worked so hard to set up would be put into motion, didn't matter to me. "Investiture be damned," I said. "If Darren is out here, I will find him."

Larten put a hand on my shoulder gratefully. "Thank you," he said, giving me a smile with more warmth than I'd received in many years - more than I deserved. "I appreciate that you cared for Darren and wish to find him." Then he looked down, "But your investiture is more important right now. The chances of us finding anything are slim as it is."

"Well, I'm not letting it drop," I grumbled. "As soon as the celebrations are over, I'll be back out looking for him." The hell I would.

Arra came over to us. "It's wolf," she said, facing me.

"What?" Larten frowned, confused.

"That smell," she said. "It's a wolf, maybe a couple of them. Probably pretty near here too. Which reminds me, I saw some wolf tracks a little while ago. They might have discovered his..." she paused, looking apologetically at Larten, "body and devoured it. We should go back and look."

"It is very doubtful that wolves would eat one with vampire blood," Larten said. "If they had, it would have driven them mad and we would be hearing their howling from miles away. We should move on, there is nothing here."

Arra and I nodded; Larten knew more than almost any other vampire about wolves. He motioned for us to follow him and started out of the clearing. I drifted to the back of the pack, letting my apprentices pass me as we followed Larten. Just as Cyrus disappeard into the thick woods, I thought I heard a rustling. I whipped my head around and looked towards it. There was a split second where I thought I might have seen something racing through the brush, making clumps of snow fall onto the ground. Squinting, I could see broken and bent branches deep in the bushes, almost as if something - or someone - and been sitting there for a while, watching us.

"Kurda?"

I blinked in surprise as Cyrus reappeared from the trees, his eyebrows raised questioningly. "What is it?" he asked. "Did you see something?"

I looked back and forth between him and the fallen mounds of snow. Finally, I shook my head. "Nothing," I told him. "Keep moving."

He raised his eyebrows at me suspiciously, then shrugged and continued walking. I gave one last look to the spot where I could have sworn I'd seen a bit of movement, then walked on. Maybe I would regret it later, maybe by some insane chance it was Darren, but even if I had seen him with my own two eyes I wondered if I would have had the heart to go after him. Coming to look for the boy with fear of his survival was one thing, killing the child was something I never wanted to have to do.


Thanks for reading, and if you reviewed the last chapter, thanks for that too! Let me know what you thought about this one, please. I'll try to get the final part up soon...ish :P