The Tale of a Vampiress

Chapter 10:

I must have been in the sewer tunnels for an hour or two when I heard quiet voices in the distance, I walked quickly to where the voices were coming from. They were getting louder as I was drawing nearer, there were far more than a few Vampaneze talking, it sounded like they had quite a party going on. I wanted to withdraw whilst I still could but something told me to keep going, a voice inside me was telling me to go ahead with my plan so I continued to go down the tunnel, I came up against a blocked tunnel that I couldn't pass, I retraced my steps and followed the tunnel opposite to the one that I had just gone down. I marked another arrow on the wall before I continued following the new tunnel.

I could hear the voices of several Vampaneze arguing about something, their voices were much clearer than they had been before, as a result I approached with caution not knowing what to expect. When I got to the end of the tunnel I came upon a temporary door, at least that is what it looked like, I kicked it down with a well placed roundhouse kick and it fell down onto the stone floor. I drew my sword and held it up defensively, I had walked into a room (well it was a tunnel that had been altered to look like a room) and it was full of Vampaneze. They were sitting around playing cards, drinking and arguing over some nonsense, when they saw me they all leapt to their feet and drew their own weapons on me. They had knives and swords too, I had walked into a deathtrap, there were maybe ten or twelve Vampaneze and I was alone, this was when I realised just how big of a mistake I had made by going after the Vampaneze on my own.

"What are you doing in our lair?" one of the Vampaneze asked me.

"The local TV news recently ran a story that some sewer plant workers had found a Roman treasure trove down here. I'm interested in archaeology so I decided to check it out for myself. I was hoping to find some valuable artifacts, my plan was to donate them to a museum." I had to think on my feet and this was the best story I could come up with.

"All of the sewers in this city lead to us and our lairs. You're outnumbered and we hate trespassers don't we lads?" the Vampaneze sneered and then he cackled like an evil clown.

"I'm sorry, I was looking for this Roman treasure and that's it," I reiterated, "I didn't mean any harm, I'm Anna by the way."

"I'm Rob and that over there is Steve. He's the deputy troupe leader." Rob replied.

"Can I ask what you are doing down here?" I was trying to act as clueless as possible, "Are you searching for the treasure too?"

"No, we're not. Roman treasure doesn't interest us at all. We live down here, these old sewer tunnels are our home until our leader decides otherwise." Rob stated, then the other Vampaneze came over to me and introduced themselves, I shook their hands out of politeness but inside I was gearing up to fight them all.

"Wait, hold on just one moment. I can smell vampire blood." Steve called out from across the room.

"What do you mean by that?" I asked, I was still acting as human as I could whilst planning how to get myself out of this mess.

"I mean to say that I know your secret, I can spot a vampiress from a mile away. You can't hide it from us, I knew what you were the moment you entered this place." Steve answered, then he stood up and drew his sword on me, I was now in very real danger.

"Please don't hurt me, I mean you no harm. My best friend Sarah is Jared's girlfriend, y'all know who Jared is right?" I asked with slight sarcasm in my voice, I was playing for time until Larten arrived.

"Kill her Steve, slash her throat open!" an unknown Vampaneze said, then the Vampaneze started cheering and jeering, they were gearing up for combat. I drew my sword and jumped backwards out of range. I was absolutely petrified.

"Why do you want to kill me? I'm Sarah's best friend and you accept her so why not me?" I hoped that one of them would give me a straight answer.

"She's been tested, she's one of us. She survived the Coffin of Fire so we know that she's one of us but you are not." Steve answered, then he too held his blade up defensively.

"Sarah has vampire blood in her veins, you can't blood her or you'll both go mad and die. Our blood is toxic to you and your blood is toxic to us," I explained, "in fact Sarah and I share the same mentor, she and I are the assistants of Larten Crepsley, he is known as the Scourge of the Vampaneze for a reason."

"Be that as it may anyone who survives the Coffin of Fire is destined to be a Vampaneze troupe leader, Des Tiny has said that Sarah can be blooded by us with no ill effects, she's supposed to be one of us." Steve replied as he and I started to circle one another, this was it. This was my first real test of courage and skills with a sword. I made a couple of strikes, but Steve was too quick for me, he dodged my attacks and then he attacked me, his sword connected with my flesh, it left a nasty gash that bled a lot. I cried out in pain, however I had to finish what I started. I faught on, I dodged as well as I could and a couple of my lunges hit their mark, Steve was bleeding too and yet neither of us wanted to quit. I knew very well that the fight wouldn't be over until one of us was dead or on the ground dying. The other Vampaneze were still jeering and shouting support for their deputy leader Steve, I was on my own in an almost hopeless situation.

I genuinely thought I was going to die, I would die a warrior's death, however I'd still die nevertheless. I had already made my peace with the Gods of the Vampires long before I entered the sewer tunnels, I knew that I would enter Paradise as a young warrior if I died, that gave me a little bit of comfort. At least I would die on my feet which was a noble way for any vampire to die. I faught on for as long as I could, I was losing blood but my adrenaline kept me going, my sword made its mark on Steve and he too was badly wounded. I thought to myself: if I die then I'll take my opponent with me too. I continued to fight and battle with Steve, we were both exhausted and bleeding, neither of us would surrender to the other one, it was not the vampire way and any Vampaneze who showed cowardice would be killed by their own troupe members. I begged the Gods of the Vampires to have mercy on me and to let me die without suffering too much, I couldn't fight any longer. I was exhausted, wounded and weak. I had faught bravely but to no avail, Steve was too strong for me...

I was about to surrender when a voice inside my head told me not to give up, this voice renewed my sense of determination to win this fight. Steve had blood on his hand which made his weapon slippery, as a result he dropped his sword, it slipped from his grip, at that precise moment I struck him in the chest with my own weapon. I used all my remaining strength to make that one final strike, Steve collapsed on the ground, he was bleeding out all over the place. The other Vampaneze rushed to his side, however it was too late, Steve died then and there on the ground in a pool of his own blood. I had won...

I was alive but I was also wounded and bleeding, when I looked at my wound I saw how deep it was. I knew that if I didn't get urgent medical help I'd die from bloodloss, as for the remaining Vampaneze they all turned on me, they couldn't believe that I was still alive and standing up.

"Come on then if you think you can do better, I'll kill you all!" I said provokingly to the Vampaneze called Rob who I had spoken to first. Rob snarled at me like an animal before he and the others turned tail and ran. They were afraid of me...

I exited the tunnels and I came up through a manhole cover, I was back in the city centre. I was still bleeding. The hotel was too far to go back to so I hobbled around slowly whilst trying to find a hospital or a medical centre. Luckily I found one and it was open, I limped into the A&E department, I was still keeping the pressure on my wound by holding my hand over it to minimise the bloodloss.

"I need urgent medical attention, I've been stabbed." I said with a sense of urgency in my voice to the lady who was sitting at the reception desk.

"Code yellow, I repeat code yellow. All available trauma doctors report to reception immediately." the receptionist announced via the hospital's internal tannoy system.

"I'm so weak, I can't stand up any longer." I murmured as I collapsed to the ground and then everything went black...

When I came around I was on a ward in a bed, I saw a patch over the area where my wound had been and I had IV lines attached to my hands. I sat up slowly, I felt weak but no pain came from my wound. I figured that they must have given me some morphine so they could stitch me up and prevent my wound from getting infected.

"Hello, is anybody there?" I called out, my bed was behind curtains. A nurse opened the curtains and came over to me.

"How are you feeling?" the nurse asked.

"I'm feeling weak and tired, is my boyfriend here?" I queried.

"No, nobody is here to see you. We need to fill in all of your personal details before we can contact anybody," the nurse said as she took out a form and a pen. "I need to know your name, date of birth, home address, next of kin details and your medical history."

"My name is Anna, I was born on the eighteenth of November nineteen eighty five. I have no home address, I'm staying at the Ridgeway River Hotel with my boyfriend. My next of kin is my boyfriend Larten Crepsley, my medical history is pretty good, but I was bitten by a deadly spider earlier this year. I survived it, however my immune system was weakened by the poison." I explained in detail to the nurse who wrote everything down on her forms.

"I'll contact the hotel and I'll tell them to give a message to your boyfriend. What is your room number?" the nurse asked me.

"I'm in room number two hundred and fourteen on the second floor." I replied.

"Very well, I'll get a message to your boyfriend as soon as I can. I'll tell him what's happened and then I'll let him in to visit you. You must stay here for at least a week, for it'll be that long until you've healed up properly." the nurse explained. She was right because a stab wound would normally take a while to heal, at least it would do for a human. As I was a half blooded vampiress I hoped that my wound would heal quicker, I understood that vampires had healing abilities and that was due to our blood.

Over the next couple of hours several doctors came to check on me, they made sure that my wound patch was secured in the right place and they checked my vital signs. I asked for food and drink so they sent my order down to the kitchens, sitting up in bed was painful because of where my wound was, however I couldn't eat or drink whilst laying down so I had to put up with it. I had just finished my dinner of roast beef and all the trimmings when the nurse who I had spoken to previously came to see me.

"I have contacted the hotel, they've sent a message up to your room. Apparently when your boyfriend heard what had happened he left immediately and he's on his way here. When he arrives I'll let you know." the nurse stated.

"Thank you, the dinner was lovely by the way," I handed her the tray with my empty plate on it. "it was just what I needed." I finished my drink and I picked up the book which the nurse had brought for me to read. It was an English classic novel, I remembered reading it at school in my English lessons. It wasn't a bad story either, I was just getting to the part where the eldest daughter turns down a proposal of marriage when I heard Larten's voice, at least I think I heard his voice anyway. A few moments later the nurse came back with Larten walking right behind her, he had changed into a shirt and trousers rather than wearing his usual red suit and cloak. I think he was trying to look human, but I didn't care, I just wanted to see him.

"Anna darling, are you OK?" Larten queried as soon as he saw me. He had a look of genuine concern on his face.

"I'm recovering, the stab wound was deep and I lost quite a bit of blood. Larten, they had to give me a transfusion." I hoped that the blood transfusion wouldn't weaken or water down the vampiric blood that was already in my body.

"Who attacked you?" he sounded seriously worried now.

"It was one-on-one combat with one of the you know whats, I killed him and the rest ran like the cowards they are." I whispered quietly in his ear.

"Those evil bastards, I will make them pay for this," he whispered back, although his voice was quiet he was furious, "those scumbags will regret ever meeting you when I am finished with them, I promise you."

"I would expect nothing less from you, you vowed to protect me after all." I hoped that Larten would be true to his word and defend me.

"I did say that and I will protect you. I will not leave your side now until you are fully healed." he took my hand in his and pulled the visitors' chair closer to the bed.

"What about Sarah?" I had to know what was going to happen to my former best friend.

"She can rot as far as I am concerned Anna, if what those scum said about her is true then I will kill her myself as a traitor." he replied confidently.

"All I need to do now is rest and heal up. I have to stay here for a week according to the nurse I've spoken to." I wanted to be out of the hospital as soon as possible.

"You have accelerated healing powers, you will heal quicker than a human would Anna." when it came to vampires and their vampiric abilities Larten knew practically everything there was to know.

"That's what I thought," I whispered, "being a vampire has its advantages after all."

"Yes, it does have some perks. We age much slower and we heal faster than humans do," Larten kept his voice low so that the nurse wouldn't hear what we were saying. "just so you know the human blood that they transfused into you will already have been assimilated by the vampiric blood cells which you have got inside you, that will never be reversed either."

"I'm not sure I understand Larten." I was a little bit confused by the whole thing.

"Blood has cells in it, yes?" his question was a simple one.

"Yes, blood contains both red and white blood cells." I answered immediately.

"When vampire blood mixes with human blood the vampiric blood cells merge with the human blood cells, the human blood cells then turn into vampiric blood cells. If you are only a half vampire then there is not enough vampire blood inside your veins to change all of your cells at once, this is due to the fact that the human body makes new cells constantly. Does that make sense to you?" after listening to Larten's information I understood more about vampiric blood than I had done beforehand, I didn't feel confused any longer either thanks to his explanation.

"Now it does yes. Science was never my strong point, but I understand what you've just told me Larten." I was always willing to learn more about vampirism, it wasn't always easy to understand, however Larten did his best to teach me everything he knew about it.

"That is good to hear Anna, I am pleased that I have managed to educate you a little bit about the effects that vampire blood has on the human bloodstream." after he'd taught me a bit more information about vampiric blood he kissed me, I'd missed his kisses so much.

"If only I could hold you in my arms I would do so." he sighed.

"It's OK Larten, as long as you're here that's the only thing that matters to me." he kissed me again and we talked softly to one another about all kinds of things. When we were alone together like this we were just like any other regular couple, it was only when we were in the privacy of our hotel room or trailers that our vampirism came out. Larten was as good as his word and he stayed with me throughout the night, I slept and he stayed awake. We were both nocturnal, but it is hard to sleep during the day in a hospital so I had to alter my sleeping patterns.

"Your boyfriend is very attentive." one of the doctors said to me when she came to check my patch and see if the dressing over the stitches needed changing.

"I know, he's very loyal and loving." I concurred with the doctor.

"You are healing remarkably well considering how bad your wound was." the doctor remarked.

"That's good to hear," I commented, "I do need to eat though."

"I'll get one of the nurses to bring you today's menu, your boyfriend can go to our visitors' restaurant if he wishes to do so." the doctor replied as she filled in my charts.

"He won't leave my side, he hates being away from me when I'm ill or injured." I explained to her.

"Aww, that's sweet of him, anyway I have other patients to visit so I'll leave you to rest. The nurse will be along with the menu shortly." the doctor said as she left my bedside. Larten woke up shortly after the doctor had left, he found it hard to stay awake in the daytime.

"What time is it?" Larten enquired, he didn't wear a watch for some reason.

"It is about five in the evening I think Larten, they're serving dinner in the restaurant and in here too. The nurse will be here with the menu soon so I can choose what I want." I yawned and sat up in bed, I was looking forward to having my dinner.

"I should go and eat, I have not eaten for a while." I wasn't sure if Larten was referring to food or blood.

"The visitors' restaurant is open, you can eat in there." I hoped that Larten would not be away from me for too long.

"No, I meant that I have not eaten." he gave me a knowing look. I then knew that he was referring to blood and not to actual food.

"Oh, I haven't either actually." the truth was that I hadn't drunk blood for over a week, I was in need of some.

"Shall I bring you something back Anna?" he stood up and prepared to leave the ward.

"Yes please, I'd like that. Don't be long though, I hate being away from you Larten." I hoped that he wouldn't be gone for too long, Larten was usually pretty quick when it came to feeding, he kissed me and vanished in a blur. I ate my meal alone, I had a curry as I hadn't had one in ages. I enjoyed it too, it wasn't too spicy, but it was tasty. When Larten returned to the hospital he gave me a small flask that felt warm when I held it.

"Drink this Anna, it will make you feel better." I took Larten's advice and drunk from the flask without any hesitation. I felt better after drinking his gift, I was in need of a feed and Larten had provided fresh blood for me. After I had finished drinking the contents of the flask Larten kissed me, it was a deep kiss. Kissing me was Larten's way of controlling his lust and I loved it when he kissed me like this. It felt so good to have his lips on mine again, I couldn't wait to get out of the hospital and back to our hotel room bed. Whilst we were in our hotel room we could mate from dawn until sunset if we chose to.

After I had my stitches removed the doctor went to check my wound except there was no wound, I only had a scar and marks from where the stitches had been. The doctor couldn't understand how I had healed so quickly, he put it down to me being young and healthy.

"Look at my scar Larten, I am no longer perfect." I complained.

"I have many more scars than you do Anna, consider yourself lucky that yours are minor in comparison to mine." Larten was right as usual.

"I agree with you Larten, my scars are minimal and nothing to worry about." the scar looked kinda cool actually, it was proof that I'd killed my first enemy and lived to tell the tale.

"You survived the fight Anna and you have healed up well. It is not like your wound got infected and gave you gangrene, gangrene probably would have killed you," he declared in his monotone voice, "I do not even want to think about such a thing." I was lucky that Steve's sword hadn't been covered in poison, the Vampaneze had used poisoned blades in the past so I'd gotten off lightly, also Steve was dead and that meant we had one less Vampaneze to worry about.

"I still don't know how I survived Larten, if Steve hadn't have dropped his weapon he would have killed me, the blood made his weapon slippery." he listened intently to the information I gave him about the fight I'd been in.

"Maybe it was destiny." he remarked with a tiny smirk.

"Or maybe the luck of the vampires was with me during the fight Larten, that is far more likely." I had always believed in luck, although like most things I knew that it'd run out at some point in time.

"Yes, that is possible. Did you make your peace with the Gods of the Vampires Anna?" he sounded serious now, maybe making my peace with the Gods of the Vampires was important after all.

"Of course I did, I asked them for a noble death and for it to be quick. As it turned out I was the one left standing on my feet looking down at my victim." I hadn't enjoyed killing Steve, but looking back on the fight I could see that it had been a necessary thing to do.

"You have made your first kill, there will be many more to make I assure you. You have shown those scum that you are a force to be reckoned with, they will not be so willing to challenge you in the future." Larten confirmed.

"I hope that I won't have to fight for a long time, I didn't enjoy it at all. I was so scared, the only thing that kept me going was my adrenaline," my adrenaline had been flowing even before I started the fight. "I was determined to show those bastards what I'm made of, I'm no pushover after all."

"That is the same for all of us, even I myself have been scared at the prospect of fighting a formidable force. I have made many kills as you know, however none of them were in cold blood, I kill only when I have no other choices." I knew that Larten was not a killer by nature, he just didn't have it in him to be evil. I could sympothise with him because nobody enjoys killing, even if it is a life or death situation killing is always the last resort, or at least it should be.

"Everybody kills when they are in the midst of battle Larten, if they do not kill their enemies then they end up being killed, it is called survival." I didn't want Larten to feel bad for slaughtering Vampaneze, he'd only done what every other vampire would do if they were in that situation.

"Yes, that is correct." he agreed.

"I can't wait to get out of here Larten," I was bored rigid and being stuck in a hospital bed was no fun at all.

"When you are able to leave this establishment we shall return to the Cirque Du Freak," he replied, "do you wish to go back to the Cirque Du Freak Anna?

"Yes, that sounds good Larten. What are we going to do about Sarah?" I felt confused because Sarah had been my best friend, now she was my enemy, but despite all that she'd done I couldn't bring myself to kill her.

"I have told you before Anna, Sarah can rot as far as I am concerned, I will kill her myself if our paths cross in the future. She is a traitor and you were correct in your assessment of her character." Larten hated traitors as much as he hated liars and I didn't blame him for feeling like that at all.

"I was shocked when I found out what she'd done. Sarah saved my life, however she has now joined up with our mortal enemies." I let out a sigh of sadness because I'd lost my best friend and instead I'd gained an enemy, an enemy I never expected to have. "Larten, one of the Vampaneze told me that Sarah is destined to be their leader. I know that someday me and her shall meet again, but next time it will be on the battlefield. One of us will survive, the other will die."

"This sounds like the work of Mr Tiny to me Anna, he truly is evil. If there is one person who deserves to die apart from the Vampaneze then it is him." I hadn't heard Larten call anybody evil before, nor had he ever said that an individual deserved to die until now.

"Larten, who is Mr Tiny?" I knew nothing about him other than that his Little People helped us out at the Cirque Du Freak.

"He is an evil time travelling sorceror, he meddles with the very fabric of existance. Mr Tiny creates his Little People from the souls of the dead, it is beyond bizarre. He also admits to being a cannibal and he drinks the blood of babies." he remarked, even the mere thought of Mr Tiny made me shudder. I hoped that I would never cross paths with him.

"Eugh, yuk. He sounds like a nasty piece of work." I couldn't think of another way to describe him.

"You are right Anna. Mr Tiny is not a very nice man, I have never seen him show any kindness or compassion, in fact he loves to see people suffer, he gets a lot of pleasure from seeing them in pain. Even I am able to show mercy when it is necessary to do so, I am not completely heartless and I do actually have feelings, I just choose not to show them very often. Mr Tiny has a daughter named Evanna and she wears clothing made from ropes. Lady Evanna is a powerful witch, she also tries to prevent her father from causing too much damage and she is the only one who can carry the child of a vampire." I was surprised to hear Larten mentioning children, it wasn't his favourite conversation topic.

"What exactly do you mean by that Larten? Are you saying that I'm infertile?" we had been having a lot of unprotected sex for a while and I was surprised to discover that I wasn't pregnant already, I had done a couple of pregnancy tests just to be sure because I'd missed my period, both of them had been negative results. I had meant to speak to Larten about it, however I hadn't had the opportunity to do so because of what Sarah had done.

"Yes, I am afraid so. All vampires are barren Anna, we cannot carry or sire children of our own." I didn't quite know how to react to this news, I hadn't planned on having children straight away, however I thought that eventually Larten and I may have started to think about having a family.

"You never told me that vampires cannot have children Larten, I had hoped to start a family with you at some point in the future." I tried to control my emotions, however I did cry a little bit when I found out about my infertility.

"This is the reason why we blood humans, seeing as we cannot increase our Clan numbers by procreation we have to use assimilation, it is the only way," he replied, "I am sorry Anna, I should have explained this to you before I blooded you. I thought you knew, had I known that you were unaware of these facts then I would have told you much sooner."

"I accept your apology, nothing can be done to alter my blood now so there is no use in dwelling upon it." a few tears flowed down my cheeks because I would never be able to have a family of my own.

"I am not very fond of children Anna, they are noisy and messy. I much prefer the company of sophisticated adult Clan members," he stated plainly, "besides being a vampire is a hard life to live, it is not meant for children and most children would not survive very long, even if they were blooded. For those of us who are already vampires we make the most of it, individuals who wish to join us are given the facts, after they are made aware of what vampirism actually involves it is up to them, only the individual in question can decide whether they still wish to be blooded or not. Naturally we are not allowed to blood anybody by forceful or violent methods, nor can we blood individuals now who are under seventeen years old at the time of blooding. This law was not in force when I first blooded Prince Darren, however after we had a sudden influx of young vampiresses joining us we had to put measures in place. These poor young ladies had been unwittingly blooded by a rogue vampire, they had been knocked out first so they had no idea what had happened to them until they were brought to Vampire Mountain, they were also left without mentors so some of the Generals had to step up and take them on as their assistants, it caused no end of problems for the Vampire Princes. As a result the law was changed and strong punishments are given out to those who blood underage humans." I listened to Larten speaking for ages, it felt as though he was giving me a lecture on vampire law and the vampire way of life. Was this another one of his lessons? I paid attention because I wanted to learn as much as I could about the Clan I belonged to.

"Being a vampire isn't so bad Larten, I quite like it actually. My favourite thing is when I am able to dive into the sea, I hold my breath and swim underwater because I like to see all of the different fish. I tend to stay underwater for far longer than humans do too. I also love it when you flit with me on your back and I can feel the wind blowing through my hair," I let out a happy sigh, "flitting is so much fun." we spent a long time talking to each other, I loved getting to know him. As Larten had lived for so long he was very knowledgable when it came to history. He had also met a few famous people such as Charles Dickens and Charlie Chaplin, to me they were historical figures, however they had lived and died during Larten's lifetime.

"Exactly how old are you Larten?" I was curious, he must have been well over a hundred at least.

"I am almost two hundred in human years, but I have the body of a forty year old. I have probably met people in person that you have learnt about in your school classroom." he answered.

"That is probably true, history was my favourite subject at school. Who is the most interesting person that you've met?" I wanted to understand Larten's background, he had come from an age where people were clearly separated by their social classes and women couldn't vote.

"I have met Queen Victoria, I provided her with some assistance and she thanked me personally. I had dinner with Marie Curie once too, they were both lovely ladies Anna. I even met Winston Churchill when I was walking through London one evening." Larten's revelations had made me so envious of him, why couldn't it have been me who met all these famous historical figures?

"You have led an interesting life, I am sure that Seba Nile will have a few stories to tell me when I meet him." I smiled at the thought of it, I was thinking about the potential for embarrassment if Seba did in fact tell me a few stories of Larten's escapades.

"If you want to know some tales from my youth then I shall tell you them Anna, did I tell you that I found Gavner as a baby? I named him, saved him and raised him. He is like a brother to me and as such he and I have had many adventures." I noticed that he had gone ever so slightly pink at the thought of those adventures.

"Tell me about something funny that happened to you Larten." I was in need of a good laugh.

"OK, I shall tell you about one tale from my youth Anna, but it goes no further. If you tell anybody else about it I will not be pleased." his voice was stern now, it meant that he was serious.

"OK, I won't tell anybody Larten. What exactly happened?" I was intrigued now, I simply had to find out the whole story.

"One evening Gavner, myself and a couple of other Generals went to a tavern. We got very, very drunk and let me tell you that it takes a lot of alcohol to get a vampire drunk. As it happened in my youth I dabbled with slight of hand illusions and I earnt the name Quicksilver because of this fact. Gavner decided that he wanted some decent wine, I in my drunken state told him that Seba kept some good wine in his quarters. I offered to take a bottle or two and share it with Gavner. When we returned to the mountain drunk and loudly proclaiming our love for the tavern I staggered along the corridor, I was looking for the quarters that Seba slept in. Being drunk I went the wrong way and I ended up in the quarters of another vampire, instead of taking wine from Seba I ended up taking some bottles of whiskey. The whiskey bottle looked very similar to a wine bottle and I could not read the faded label. I am illiterate so I cannot read labels even if they are clearly written. I took what I thought was wine back to Gavner, we opened the bottles and downed them quickly before we realised what we had drunk. It set our mouths on fire as it was so strong and we threw up all over the floor. As if that was not bad enough the whiskey I had taken belonged to Prince Arrow, however he had not been Invested as a Prince at that point in time. Prince Arrow or just Arrow as he then was had been saving this whiskey, when he found out what had happened he was absolutely furious. Seba got a dressing down for having an out of control drunkard for an assistant, I got both barrels from the Princes and from Seba, Gavner also got a stern telling off from the Princes because of his behaviour. From that night to this I have never drunk that quantity of strong alcohol again because I have learnt my lesson." Larten was red faced by the end of the tale, in fact he looked rather ashamed of himself.

"Larten Crepsley you are such a rebel, you should know better than that." I started giggling because I had found the whole story hilarious.

"Yes, well that was a long time ago. I am not a rebel any longer. I am a much wiser man now than I was back then." he was still blushing and his throat had gone bright red.

"Aww, you've gone all red Larten." I smirked innocently.

"It is hot in here Anna, they must have bad circulation through the air vents." he stated as he tried to excuse his embarrassment.

"I liked that tale, please tell me another one Larten." I was practically begging him to tell me more stories as they were very entertaining to say the least.

"Maybe I should not tell you any more tales of my wild youth, I look back on them with shame Anna. I should not have done those things, but I have learnt from my mistakes." I noticed that Larten had gone back to acting with a much more reserved demeanour now.

"Oh go on Larten, that one was so funny. I won't say anything to anybody." I was hoping that he'd relent and tell me another story.

"Later on I shall tell you another story Anna, right now I need to cool down." I observed carefully as Larten did his usual vanishing in a blur trick, however I couldn't do it yet. After Larten had vanished I lay down in my bed and tried to sleep, the doctor had told me that I was to be released from the hospital the next day because I had healed up so well. The hospital had a shortage of beds and plenty of people were waiting for them as they were sick or injured. These people required hospital treatment, but with no free spaces on the ward the doctors couldn't do much for them. I was happy that I only had one more night in hospital, I couldn't wait to return to the Cirque Du Freak because I was missing Evra and my other friends that I had made whilst I was there too, however I would not have been so keen to return to the Cirque Du Freak if I had known at that point what was going to take place there...