A/N: Thank you to Wolf seeker for reviewing! I'm surprised I had time to update today... Geez, I have been EXTREMELY busy lately! Well anyway, enjoy chapter three where something kinda cool happens... The story has been a little slow in chapter one and two, but this is where the semi-awesomeness leading up to the real awesomeness starts... Okay!
Disclaimer: I do not, nor have I, nor will I ever, own the amazing Cirque Du Freak series. That series is the property of Darren Shan. But this fan fiction is MINE!:P But yours to enjoy! And hopefully review...?
Chapter Three
"Darren! Where are you?" Mr. Crepsley calls to me through the darkness of the woods. There is a lot of worry in his voice.
"Mr. Crepsley, I'm over here!" I direct him towards where I am sitting, on a branch of an odd-looking tree. A worried looking Mr. Crepsley flits towards me and skids to a sudden halt as he approaches me.
"Darren," he wheezes, hunched over and out of breath. "Do you feel it? The new soul?" I glare at him, a confused expression on my face even though I know what he is talking about. "When someone we know that was close to us comes to Paradise we can feel it. There's a soul coming, and I have a very bad feeling about it."
"Yeah, I felt weird this morning, like something was going to go horribly wrong. Is that what happened to you?" I ask him as I jump off of the limb. He nods. "Is it bad if you get that feeling when a soul comes? What does it mean?"
"It means an enemy is coming! Or, at least, that is what I presume," Mr. Crepsley states, finally catching his breath.
"An enemy?" I repeat, unsure that my mentor is correct. "What enemy is this?"
Mr. Crepsley starts pacing. "Think, Darren. Who is our greatest enemy? Someone we both hate, who vowed to torture us."
I pause and think. "Bat broth?" I use as a reply because both me and Mr. Crepsley hate bat broth. Apparently, bat broth hates Mr. Crepsley too!
Mr. Crepsley chuckles dryly and rolls his eyes. "Yes, Darren. Bat broth," he says sarcastically. Then, the gears start turning in my head. I think of the one person who I hate, who hates me and who vowed to kill me and Mr. Crepsley and succeeded to do just that. I remember the person who I have known almost my whole life. My best friend who had turned into a hideous monster – Steve Leonard.
I say the name out loud to myself in realization, just loud enough for Mr. Crepsley to hear too. Mr. Crepsley nods his head and takes a seat on a rock. "I believe it is Steve."
"It can't be!" I yell defiantly. "He died then went to the Lake of Souls, just like he was supposed to. He can't be here!" Steve being in Paradise has to be a dream. No, a nightmare.
"I have to go meet him!" Mr. Crepsley says to himself. I overhear him. "You have to stay here, Master Shan. Just until I break his scrawny little neck!"
"Mr. Crepsley, that will be no use. Steve's already dead. He can't die now," I remind him calmly.
"So you want to deprive me of the thrill that comes with breaking someone's neck?" he asks solemnly. "That is rude. I will just snap his neck then flit away as quick as possible," he says as he starts to open a portal to the blank, white space I was in when I first came to Paradise.
"No, Mr. Crepsley, stop. You're wasting your time." He starts to argue back and continue to walk off but I won't let him. He becomes more and more frustrated and starts to yell.
"Leave me alone! Let me find him!" he yells firmly. I start to object again but as if to answer Mr. Crepsley's wishes, a portal opens up and a young, disheveled figure staggers out and falls to his knees.
There in front of me, kneels my sworn enemy, Steve Leonard. I stare at him wide-eyed and shocked. I haven't seen him in two years. Why couldn't it stay that way? He doesn't seem like the same Steve I knew all these years. His white-blonde hair is messy atop his head and his shabby clothes are tattered and torn. Among sadness, fear and pain is a look of confusion. He pauses to look at me and puts all of his confusion behind him as he shivers and begins to speak.
"I... I'm really s-s-sorry," his voice falters and gets high-pitched and tears fill his pair of icy-blue, sorrowful eyes as he stands up and looks at me in the eyes. Me and Steve are now face-to-face and Mr. Crepsley is standing about five feet away from us, not showing any signs of wanting to strangle Steve anymore after seeing him like this, sad and disheveled.
I say nothing as I am completely speechless. Steve continues. "After Desmond Tiny told us we are brothers and that he is our father, I didn't want to kill you. I had the chance, but I just couldn't bring myself to kill you," he says this not only to remind me or maybe to make me feel bad, but also to inform Mr. Crepsley.
"You lied to me so I would kill you, so you could save the universe from the Lord of the Shadows. Out of anger and self-pity, I killed you. I killed my one true friend and my brother. And I can't even begin to forgive myself. Not unless you forgive me," Steve stares into my eyes willing me to speak. But I won't. I could, but I don't feel like it. I want to make him suffer after what he has done to me, to Mr. Crepsley and to the rest of the world.
Steve continues to ramble on. "I thought I would die and go straight to Paradise, but I didn't. I took a detour straight to the Lake of Souls. For a long time I kept thinking, 'Finally, those idiots Creepy Crepsley and Shan are DEAD!'" Mr. Crepsley huffs and rolls his eyes at this remark, "but then, after a lot of thinking and driving myself insane in the Lake of Souls, I couldn't help but realize the truth. I was wrong. I had always been wrong. But you... You've only done good things for everyone else. You even sacrificed yourself to save the world." Tears start pouring from his eyes and rolling down his face – Steve is crying. But I don't feel sorry for him one bit. Neither does Mr. Crepsley. After all, he killed the two of us.
Steve continues to talk, still blubbering like a baby, "I was driving myself crazy wanting to apologize to you. I hated myself, and I still hate myself for everything I said, did or thought of doing or saying. My life revolved around getting back at you two – killing you. And now that I have, I regret it completely."
After a long silence, Mr. Crepsley finally spoke up, "Steve," he says this name harshly, "I understand that you are apologizing, and I am not completely sure your apologies are sincere or not, but the last time we let you into our lives, you killed us," he raises an eyebrow at Steve. "But I want to know one thing, Steve. How did you – the most vicious, horrible, idiotic, evil monster of them all – escape the Lake of Souls?" he says it like this to get a reaction out of Steve, to test him.
Steve's face reddens and he clenches his fists in anger. He looks at Mr. Crepsley as if he wants to bite his head off, stuff it with garlic and toss it in a river.
I know Steve better than he thinks. He has never regretted anything he has ever done to anyone to hurt them. I don't know what to believe now. He seems to be sincere, but he's probably lying. I have known him long enough to say he is an amazing liar. How do you think he got through middle school? He could easily fool someone to could get what he wanted from them, no matter what it is. But what could he want from us?
"Mr. Crepsley," I whisper to him and I put a hand on his shoulder, "I think we should give Steve some time to rest before we interrogate him any more. He seems pretty shaken up." Mr. Crepsley sighs then nods in agreement.
I step forward until I am right in front of Steve. He is afraid to look me in the eye now, so he looks down and makes a pile of dirt with his foot nervously. I can't blame him, me and Crepsley are a pretty intimidating pair, especially given the circumstances. "I can't trust you Steve. I just can't." At that moment, I could see in Steve's eyes, true sadness.
In Mr. Crepsley's quarters, we sit before the great fireplace. Mr. Crepsley speaks up. "So, Steve. How did you find your way out of the Lake of Souls?" he brings the question up again as he crosses his legs and sips his coffee solemnly.
Steve pauses for a moment to think. Like a lot of people that get fished out of the Lake, he has a hard time remembering some events that happened before he died. Being in the Lake may have damaged his mind. But his hesitation could also be a sign that he is feeding us false information and lies.
"Evana released me," he finally says after his long hesitation. "She said she was trying to learn how to make Little People and stuff like that, but instead of doing that she decided to send me straight to Paradise so you could apologize to me."
"Excuse me? Me, apologize to you?" I huff.
Steve nods. "She told me that you told her you wanted to see me again so you could apologize and try to become friends with me again."
"You're lying!" I accuse him and jump up out of my seat in the cozy leather chair to the left of the fireplace. "That is the stupidest lie I have ever heard! Especially then, I hated you more! I'm starting to warm up to you and you start filling my head with lies!"
"You are warming up to him?" Mr. Crepsley asks me with slight worry in his voice. I shake my head no, despite what I said. The truth is I'm not, it just sounded like the right thing to say.
"I am not lying, Darren. I swear! Evana must have been the one lying." I am about to throw a rude comeback at him but Mr. Crepsley interrupts me before I could say anything else.
"Let us go for a walk shall we?"
Luckily, to get to the garden we don't need to travel down the mountain; we can just open a portal. If we needed to hike down the mountain, it could take several weeks to get down there without being able to flit. We might be dead, but we still respect the laws of the vampires.
As we walk around the garden, many vampires and (the very few) vampaneze stare at Steve coldly. Mr. Crepsley must have done his job in spreading the word of how evil Steve was (or is, we don't know for sure yet) well. Mr. Crepsley pauses and looks around as if thinking about something. "Steve, you find a vacant hut and make yourself comfortable. Darren, follow me back to the mountain," Mr. Crepsley says as he opens up a portal back to the mountain.
I follow him through the portal, then around twisting corridors and into his cell. When we reach his room I sit is the same leather chair I did earlier as it's my favorite one in his room. I always liked being in his room. Every room Mr. Crepsley has ever stayed in looked really nice.
The vampire sat in the chair opposite from me. "I was thinking," he started, "if we give Steve what he always wanted, maybe he will become a better person."
"Uh... I'm not following."
He groans. "If we give him something he really wanted, then he will become... less evil."
"You just said the same thing, but rephrased it," I sigh, still confused.
Mr. Crepsley sighs. "Why did Steve end up hating us and wanting to kill us?"
"Because you wouldn't make him a vampire. You made me a vampire instead and Steve thought I was betraying him."
"Precisely!" Mr. Crepsley exclaims and snaps his fingers. "He hated us because he wanted to be a vampire and I did not turn him into one. So, let us make him happy and turn him into a vampire."
"Crepsley!" I yell back. "Have you lost your mind? Listen to yourself! You're the man who wanted to break his neck."
"Just hear me out," Mr. Crepsley argued. "He may have changed. We cannot be sure he did, and of course I do not and I will not under any circumstances ever trust him, but if we do this for him he will no longer have a reason to be mad at us."
"That's the craziest thing I have ever heard," I shake my head. "So crazy it just might work!"
After a good night's sleep and a quick breakfast, we are ready to go through with our plan. But I can see a problem. When I re-blooded Darius, we both had very horrible seizures that lasted for long periods of time and it was very painful. And Darius was only half Vampaneze. So is Steve, but if either me or Crepsley do it we will still be in a lot of pain. We need to find another way.
I bring the problem up with Mr. Crepsley. He seems to have thought of it already. "I have a plan," he says. "It is difficult to explain, but what I can tell you is, is it will be practically painless for the both of us."
"I like that idea already!" I exclaim happily. "But how do we know he will be able to even feel the pain? I haven't gotten hurt since I have been here so I wouldn't know."
"Me neither." After a short pause, Mr. Crepsley slaps me in the face with the back of his hand. I fall out of my seat, clutching the spot on my face where he had hit me. "Did you feel that?" he asks me with a smirk.
"Yes!" I practically squeal at him. "Never do that again!"
Mr. Crepsley laughs. "I cannot promise anything."
"Mr. Crepsley, that really hurt!" I complain. "Promise never to do it again!"
"Do not be such a baby."
Mr. Crepsley and I come to Steve's hut and I knock on the door. The door opens just a crack and when I see Steve I smile and wave at him, but Mr. Crepsley stays solemn and just stands there. When Steve sees me, he swings the door open all the way.
"Hello, Mr. Crepsley. Good morning, Master Shan," Steve greets us.
"Never call me that, or I will kill you," I threaten him as I step inside his hut and take a seat on his couch, uninvited and being a bit rude. Mr. Crepsley does the same as me.
"So what brings you guys here?" Steve asks us with a big smile, being completely friendly as if he thinks we are all just a bunch of friends.
"We have an offer for you," Mr. Crepsley states. Steve stays silent, almost scared to find out what it is. "When you were a boy, all you wanted was for me – or any other vampire – to turn you into a vampire, correct?" Mr. Crepsley asks.
"Yes," Steve answers shakily, still a bit scared. Mr. Crepsley smiles and cocks his head to the side and raises an eyebrow, then gives a small smile. "You mean–," Steve realizes what Mr. Crepsley is offering and he smiles brightly. Mr. Crepsley nods his head.
"Well, if you are going to go through with this, then I suggest we get it over with now," Mr. Crepsley says with a sigh. Steve nods, nervous because he knows what will happen to him and how much pain there will be.
Mr. Crepsley uses his nail to make a small cut in Steve's forearm. Mr. Crepsley makes a cut on his own arm and then... Sucks his own blood into his mouth, but doesn't swallow it. Like he did when he gave Steve the antidote for Madame Octa's venom all those years ago in the hospital, he spits the blood into Steve's cut, releasing the blood into Steve's bloodstream. Steve screams out in agony and falls to the floor shaking as the vampire cells fought the Vampaneze cells, just as I did when I re-blooded Darius.
There is no telling how long this will last. But it's boring for me and Mr. Crepsley just to stand here in Steve's hut and watch him trembling on the floor, so hopefully if the luck of the vampires is with us, it won't last for too much longer.
Steve's seizure has been lasting for over twenty minutes. There is nothing we can do now but hope and wait. As Steve stops shaking, he stands up, points at Mr. Crepsley and mumbles something unintelligible and hard to understand to him, then he falls backward, unconscious.
For hours, me and Mr. Crepsley sit on the couch watching Steve silently. Then, much to our relief, Steve stirs then sits up easily, despite the terrible pain he has in his head from when he bumped it when he fell. He looks a lot less purple, so that must be a sign that it worked (Vampaneze have a natural purple pigment). He also looks very unhealthy, but that's all part of the transformation.
"How are you feeling?" Mr. Crepsley asks the pathetic man and kneels by his side. Suddenly and before Steve could respond, Mr. Crepsley gouges his arm with a sharp, pointed nail and tastes the blood. "That is vampire blood. There is not any trace of Vampaneze blood left," he says to me as he wipes Steve's blood on the carpet.
"So, what do you want to do now, Steve?" I ask. A brief pause.
"Apologize."
We go through the portal to human Heaven because Steve wants to apologize to Shancus. Mr. Crepsley doesn't object, but I don't think it's that good of an idea. I think about when Steve killed Shancus. (I can only imagine what Evra will do if he ever sees Steve again!) I don't know how well little Shancus remembers his death, but I don't want him to think about it. But Steve insists on apologizing.
When Shancus sees Steve, he runs way and hides behind a bush. I follow him to his mediocre hideout and I try to coax him out of hiding. "It's okay," I assure him. "Come on out, he doesn't bite."
He follows me, but he is still unsure about Steve. Steve comes up to us and starts to try to talk to Shancus. "Hi. I just wanted to say that I am extremely sorry for–," Shancus picks up a rock and throws it at Steve's face, leaving a really bad cut and a bruise. Steve's face turns red in anger and he clenches his fists, probably wanting to hit Shancus back. But he holds back and walks away.
"I told you it was a bad idea!" I mock him as I we sit in his hut and Steve tends to the cut, using his "super-spit".
After that, Steve went around apologizing to all the people he could find that he killed or did something bad to and was able to gain a bit of trust back. But I can't trust him. I never can.
A/N: GASP! Okay, we all know that Darren doesn't like Steve anymore, since he killed him! But what will happen later? Dun dun DUUUH! I promise I WILL update as much as possible and will finish writing this fan fiction eventually! It's hard sometimes! I have already written to around chapter six or seven, so when that comes on to fan fictions, and I don't update for like a week, that's your cue to give me advice! Okay, this A/N is too long for my taste, and I have things to do, places to go and people to torment, (- Quote from Desmond Tiny... yes, I hate him, but I just LOVE this quote!) so I shall return evntually with another chapter! (Probably by tomorrow! Or if I get bored, later today.)
Mr. Crepsley: She is off to write some more!
Me: Yeah, what he said!
Mr. Crepsley: And if she has made any mistakes in this fan fiction with grammar and things like that, do not blame her, blame her randomly appearing stupidity! And her age... 13-ish...
Stay awesome!
