Here we go again. hope you're well, and enjoy this. Comfyhobo
Disclaimer: I do not own the Saga of Darren Shan.
"Something is troubling you." Eve stated. We were walking through the centre of my hometown, and the stars shone dully though a thin layer of cloud. The area about 50 yards in front of us disappeared into a thick mist.
I nodded. I still hadn't told Eve I was a vampire, and I wasn't planning to. So I couldn't tell her the truth.
"I broke up with Debbie." That was the farthest statement from a lie I could give her. Eve's eyes snapped to my face.
"The one you mentioned that first night?" I nodded again. "I did not know you were still together." She admitted shyly. "What happened?"
I thought for a few moments, trying to form the right words.
"Things have changed too much. I just wish things could go back to normal, the way they were before. But they can't. I belong here now, and Debbie doesn't." I doubted she wouldn't read the double meaning in my words.
"With the Cirque?"
I smiled and nodded. I thought about how Eve would react if I told her I Debbie was a grown up, and I was trapped in this teenagers body, when in fact, I should be older than her. That Debbie can live the normal human life that she deserves, and staying with a teenage half-vampire who will, no matter what happens, play a part in the fall of humanity isn't what I'd call 'normal'.
Easy conversation stopped, and I went back to focusing on the real reason I was upset. I was probably just butching up the idea in my head to make it more of a mess than it really was, but I thought I loved Eve. As in, IN love with her.
But was that a bad thing?
On one hand, no. She was the best thing in my life at the moment, what with Mr. Crepsley dead, breaking up with Debbie, constant arguments with Harkat, and the entire fate of man-kind resting on my shoulders. I was pretty sure that if I wasn't focusing on Eve all day, and talking with her all night, that I would have nothing to dwell on but the pressure under which I was speedily reaching breaking point.
On the other hand, yes, it was very bad. I'd set myself up again. Years ago, when Mr. Crepsley and I fought Murlough, Debbie was used to get at me. Murlough threatened to kill her, and we used her as bait. Admittedly, it wasn't ACTUALLY her, but still. A few years later, in the Trial of Retribution, R.V. had captured Debbie and threatened to kill her if I killed Steve. If Debbie hadn't been there, I would've killed Steve, Mr. Crepsley mightn't have died and this whole mess with the Lord of the Shadows would be long finished.
And it would happen again. I would be forced to watch from a distance as someone I loved grew old while I stayed young, aging one year for every 5 she did. And with the purge hitting home hard, even slower. It hurt to tell Debbie to go home. I knew it was for her own good, but I loved her. And I loved Eve too. Some other human my age. Physically, anyway.
Eve deserved everything Debbie deserved, and I intended to let her have it. I knew it was selfish to ever see Eve again, but I didn't care about anything anyone could do about it. I told myself that day that that would be the last night I saw Eve. I would let her forget about me, but I wouldn't forget about her. I would watch from a more than safe distance, just to see how she was doing. I wanted to watch her find someone and have a family and be happy. She couldn't do that with me around.
So I promised myself. If I couldn't keep a promise to myself, what could I do?
"I'm sorry about you and Debbie." Eve said softly, breaking me out of my reverie. We had walked on to the top of a hill over looking the town, the street lights dotted the slopes beyond, barely visible through the fog that was clearing gradually.
Eve stretched her hand across the few inches between us and locked just one of her fingers with one of mine.
I stared at our hands. My pale skin shone slightly against the darkness of the night. Eve was wearing black leather gloves, and the material was cold against my fingers.
She was staring at the horizon stretching ahead of us. From the top of this hill, with the trees behind us, it felt like the whole world had been laid down at our feet. Nothing could harm us up here, not while we were together.
She shivered slightly, and for the first time that night I felt the cold breeze blow against my skin. The grass below our feet was crunchy with ice, and even my vampiric warmth gave way to the bitterness of the night. Goosebumps were raised on my arms and neck, and I was usually toasty on the coldest of nights.
But Eve wasn't a vampire.
"You must be freezing." I stared at her, concern glowing in my eyes.
Eve shook her head. "I'm fine."
If I didn't know she was lying, I would've believed her. I reached up to the only skin she had showing and ran one finger down her cheek.
"Char- Holy shit!" I exclaimed. "You're like ice!"
"I am fine, honestly. I am used to it." Eve insisted.
Obviously, I didn't listen to her. I unzipped my thick coat and wrapped it around her hastily. With me still in it.
So, there we stood, wearing one coat between us.
She laughed softly, I joined in. Our laughter grew in volume and reverberated off our cold surroundings. I wrapped my arms around her waist to pull her closer to me and gently pressed my cheek against hers. The cold shocked me at first. We stood there, untouchable by time.
"Thank you." Eve whispered in my ear.
I smiled against her soft skin. "I'm just warming you up. I don't want you to get hyperthermia. It's what any decent person would do."
"Then this world is a tad short on decency."
I squeezed her gently. "What do you mean?"
There was a short pause, then a sigh.
"I have not been hugged since I was eight, when my mum got killed."
Again countless questions whizzed through my head.
"What happened to your dad?"
I winced as I realized that was probably the most offensive one I'd thought of.
She didn't say anything.
I opened my mouth to tell her not to answer, but she interrupted.
"Who do you think killed her?" I felt the pain in her voice as the rhetorical question stung my mind. "He used to beat me up a lot."
"What kind of a father would do that?"
I winced. I hadn't meant to say that out loud.
She pulled away from me.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean-"
"Forget about it." She took one of my hands and I noticed she had taken her gloves off. She slowly pushed our hands together so that they were in the same position as when Mr. Crepsley had blooded me. The darkness of the night faded to black and was replaced by the darkness of a cellar, underneath an old, abandoned theatre. Eve wasn't there anymore, instead, in her place, stood a man not belonging to this world anymore. He had a crop of red hair around his pale face. His eyes were younger than I remembered, and his voice was happier than the memory I had of that night - the night the nightmares began. The night I became a half vampire.
Mr. Crepsley's scar was stronger in appearance, and the room was empty apart from a coffin and the poisonous spider's cage.
"It is time I told you, Darren, sometimes…" Mr. Crepsley's voice was not his own, but that of a young woman's.
Eve reappeared, and so did the dull stars and the night that hovered over my home town.
"…Things are not as they seem."
She stared unseeing at out adjoining hands for a few seconds, then whispered an accusatory word that sent shivers down my spine:
"Vampire."
