A/N: ... No excuse is good enough... I am sorry... I got stuck... and... and... *hangs head in shame* no excuses... BUT HERE IT IS! NEW CHAPTER, PLEASE DON'T HATE ME! They have finally arrived at the mountain! Now the plot can really take off and issues can commence! Also, actual CDF characters show up here! So, yay! Hopefully, this will all make up for the fact I am terrible at updating... DX Special thanks go out to Rebarbative, AmyMilo and Jason for reviewing! *gives Jason bat broth* I'd have given it to you in PM but you are on anon! And of course super huge thanks go to Rebabrative for betaing, even though she is super crazy busy! *insert diamond here for Rebarbative* (B/N *insert diamond here*)

Disclaimer: DX I STILL DON'T OWN DARREN SHAN!


Climbing up the mountain and finding an entrance was difficult –I nearly fell four times! Dad was definitely right. I needed training. I was relieved when we finally found the way inside. I followed Dad through the winding tunnels and caves. As the light from outside gradually disappeared the farther we went, I noticed weird glowing green stuff on the walls. "Dad, what is all this on the walls?"

"Luminous lichen, it's it a lot of the tunnels and caves here. We are lucky for it. We would need a lot more torches without it!"

I nodded, understanding. Luminous lichen, huh? Never would have guessed.

The tunnels were impossible to keep track of –up, down, narrow, wide. I had no idea how my dad knew where he was going. I didn't even bother asking.

Eventually, we arrived in a cave with a large door blocking the tunnel. Dad went and knocked on it and soon in was opening to reveal several green clad guards. The main one took a good look at us and spoke, "Address your selves to the gate." His voice was gruff and commanding.

"I am Mason Skyle, come to seek council," My Dad stated calmly. The guard then squared his gaze to me.

"And you?"

I followed my dad's model. "I'm Saphire Skyle, come to seek council." My voice came out surer then I felt.

The guard turned back to my dad, "Mason Skyle is recognized by the gate," and once again to me, "But she is not." He proceeded to point his weapon, a sword, at me. I instinctively put my hands up and took a few steps back, showing I meant no harm. The guard didn't budge.

"She is my daughter and assistant, a half vampire."

"Your daughter? What a quaint thing to call her. Do you vouch for her?"

"I call her what she is, and yes, I do." The guard shakes his head but stops pointing his sword at me.

"Saphire Skyle is recognized by the gate. The Halls are open to you. Enter and fare well."

Another guard led us to a small gathering hall and left promptly after whispering something to another vampire.

"Well they sure know how to welcome people!" I stated, slightly miffed.

"It's a precautionary measure."

"Like they need it? We are in the middle of nowhere, deep inside a mountain! Why do you need guards?"

"We have enemies who would love to see us dead, and although they don't ever come here, if they ever decide to, the gates provide extra defense. It is also a good way to collect names of those who are in the mountain."

I felt stupid for asking.

I took a good look around the cavern. The walls were blackened with soot and grime and had baskets filled with shoes hanging from them. It smelt of smoke, which was probably because there was indeed smoke coming from a large open fire that lit the room. A large black stone sat on one of the walls with hundreds –maybe more! – of names carved into it. The man the guard had whispered to when we arrived in the odd room was now carving our names on it.

"This is the Hall of Osca Velm," said my father, "the welcome hall, it's named after a deceased hero of the clan. Many of the halls here are."

I nodded at him in understanding. So, even vampires had celebrities.

We sat down at a roughly carved table with large animal bones for the legs. A bulky man –uh vampire– came around carrying barrels of water, wine, and blood. My dad laughed when I asked where the cups were. He explained to me that there weren't any at the mountain and I had to drink from the barrel. It was impossibly hard! In the end, to get a drink, I also had to end up soaked.

I grumbled as I tried ringing most of the water out of my shirt. "Stupid freaking medieval glassware…" I heard my dad snort and narrowed my eyes at him. "Don't even say a word." He abides and only chuckles as another vampire came around with barrels of bread and raw and cooked meat. There weren't any plates or utensils either so we had to eat the meat on the table with our hands, biting chunks off. Broth was also put in front of us; the bowls seemed to have been carved of animal skulls. I tried not to think about it too hard.

In the dim light I spotted something odd sticking out of my bowl. "Dad, what's this broth made of?"

He looked up at me and said nonchalantly, "Bat." I felt my stomach seize and I pushed the bowl away.

"I think I'll pass."

"Try it, it's good."

I shook my head, "I highly doubt it." He shrugged in response and went back to his bowl of flying rodent soup.

"Your loss, but you better not be planning to skip on every weird sounding food, because that's all there is here." I nodded and ate my bread, which was hard and stale, but bat-less nonetheless.

While we were eating, another group arrived. It contained four people: two men, a boy, and a small grey thing dressed in blue robes.

What on earth is that?

One of the vampires was tall and lanky with a weird orange crop of hair and a large scar down the side of his face. The other was burly with brown hair and scruffy looking stubble. The boy had messy black hair and bright green eyes, he seemed just a year or so younger than me. He was dirty from the trip but besides that he seemed cute. The short grey thing wearing the blue robes had the hood down, showing his face. It was stitched together and had large round green eyes perched on the top of the mass of grey and stitches. It also wore some type of mask over its mouth.

The group of four sat at a table on the other side of the cavern. A tall, elderly man, dressed all in red, strode over. The man with the orange hair stood up and greeted the man cheerfully. His voice carried and caught the attention of my Dad. When he looked over to see the group a smile spread across his face.

"Come, I want you to meet some people." Dad said to me while standing.

I walked with him across the hall to the talking men. The boy looked up first looking at me with those green eyes of his. When the brown haired man spotted us he smiled and said, "Mason? Charna's guts!"

The other two men looked up, the elderly red-clad one stating, "First Larten and now you! This will be quite a council." His eyes fell to me and grew wide, "By the black blood of Harnon Oan, is this who I think it is? By gods, I swore you were making the entire thing up." I felt odd under his scrutiny, I noticed the others staring at me to.

Oh great! Now I'm the Harry freaking Potter of the vampire world!

"Seba Nile, meet my daughter, Saphire." I waved sheepishly at them.

"Um, hey?" I rocked back and forth nervously on my feet.

"Saphire this is Seba Nile," the old guy, "Larten Crepsely," Carrot Head, "and Gavner Purl," Mr. Scruffy Stubble, "I am not sure who their companions are."

Carrot Head or Larten said, "The boy is my assistant, Darren Shan. The other is Harkat Mulds, a little person of Desmond Tiny."

My dad shook his head in amazement, "An assistant so young? A little person! I don't know which to question first!"

Larten shrugs, "Well as far as the boy goes, it was a lapse in judgment and the Princes will not approve. The little person has a message for the Princes' and quite a grave one at that." I frowned at what he said about the boy –or well Darren. It didn't seem like the nicest thing to say. I mean a lapse in judgment? He seemed OK to me.

I sat down next to Darren while my dad chattered away with the other vampires. "Hey," I said smiling.

"Hi," he responded. "I'm Darren."

"Yeah, I'm Saphire. Call me Saph."

"I thought I would be the only kid here."

"Same, my dad says vampires aren't supposed to blood children."

"Yeah, Mr. Crepsley told me the same thing. Guess they didn't really care. So why do you call him Dad? I mean, I only call Mr. Crepsley my dad when we are around humans."

I frowned at him. Would I have to explain this to everyone? "Because he really is my dad, I was born not blooded. Yay for being a genetic glitch." I rolled my eyes.

"Seriously?" He blinked dumbly. "Well that's...interesting?"

I raised an eyebrow at him, wondering where he was going with this.

"Not bad interesting!" He threw out quickly. "I just didn't expect it, that's all." He smiled at me and I returned it half-heartedly. I probably had many a similar reaction ahead.

"Don't worry about it."

Darren and I laughed along as the nostalgic vampires told stories. I learned Seba was Mr. Crepsley's mentor. Seba told an interesting –and embarrassing!– story about when Larten was his assistant. The entire group was in stitches while Larten grumbled embarrassedly.

Eventually Darren drifted off into a light doze. Watching him nap made me realize how tired I was too. Mr. Crepsley leaned over and shook Darren awake.

"The boy is tired," Seba noted.

"He has never made the journey before," Mr. Crepsley said. "He is not accustomed to such hardship."

I can certainly relate with that!

"Come," said Seba standing. "I will find rooms for you. He is not the only one who needs rest. We will talk more tomorrow."

I stood and stretched, happy and exhausted and ready to get to bed. As quartermaster Seba was in charge of the basic upkeep of the mountain, including making sure there were enough rooms for the occupants.

Both Darren and I walked beside Seba as he pointed out the different halls and their names and uses. I tried my best to absorb the names and information but most of it went in one ear and out the other. The look on Darren's face told me he was having the same amount of difficulty and me.

"It will take a while to adjust," Seba said, noticing our confusion. "For the first few nights you may feel lost. But in time you will grow accustomed to the place."

Seba asked if we wanted one big room between us, or if we'd rather have separate quarters.

"Separate," Mr. Crepsley immediately replied. "I had enough of Gavner's snoring on the trail."

"Charming!" Gavner huffed.

"Harkat and me don't mind doubling, do we?"

"That's fine… by me," Harkat agreed.

Seba looked to me and my dad. Dad opened his mouth to speak but before he said anything I said, "Separate, if Dad doesn't mind too much."

Dad closes his mouth and nods. "That's fine." I felt a little bad, but after such a long trip, a room and some time to myself would be nice.

Seba showed us our rooms, they were well lit and warm, the atmosphere comfortable. I was surprised to find there were coffins. "Vampires actually sleep in those!?" I asked Seba.

He laughed and nodded. "If you want something else instead, you may have a hammock." I shook my head and respectfully declined. I figured I might as well try. Who knew! Maybe coffins were comfortable!

Darren took up on Seba's offer for a hammock. Just as Seba turned to leave Mr. Crepsley had Darren get someone called Madame Octa. I quickly found out it was a spider! She was big and colorful. Seba was in awe of it and even let it out of its cage, despite Darren's warning of her being dangerous. Seba was at ease with the spider – I learned later from Darren he was talking to her through telepathy! – but I chose to admire from afar.

After an offer and decline of Seba taking the spider as his own, we all went our separate ways to our rooms. I hugged my Dad goodnight before sitting down on the top of my coffin and looking around the door-less room. I wanted to unpack but sleep was beckoning and it was too welcome to resist.

Pushing my bag aside, I opened the lid to my coffin and laid down inside. It was plush, soft, and comfortable. After closing the lid, I drifted gratefully off to sleep.


A/N: Okay, there you have it guys! Review if you please! You'll get bat broth!