Darren stared at the red flashing numbers of the clock. It was 10:47 on December 24th. For the past three days Demy and Mr. Crepsley both had been searching non stop, but now it all seemed useless. They would never find Evra in those miles of tunnels. He would be dead in less than two hours, his only friend his age.

With a sigh Darren rolled out of bed and onto the floor. He lay there for a minute before getting up to stare out of the dark window. There were a few cars on the street, but no people. The city seemed eerily quiet as he opened to window and climbed out onto the fire escape. But the slight, chilling wind that blew through the night felt good on his face.

For a few minutes he stared at the cars as they would go by, until he saw a person. This person had on a white suit that shone out against the black of the night. His bright red hair also shone, though not as brightly.

It was Murlough.

Darren stared as the plump blood sucker dashed through the streets, only stopping near a man hole. Darren's eyes widened and he started to climb down the rickety metal stairs.

By the time his feet touched the ground Murlough was already below ground. Darren rushed to the man hole, and strained to lift the cover. With a gulp and the last instant, Darren climbed down into the teeming darkness.

The black was so whole it felt alive, like it was craning to eat him. The only way Darren had any clue where Murlough was heading was the wet sound his feet made in the dirty water. Trying to be as silent as he could make his clumsy foot steps sound, Darren fell into step behind the mad man.

The half vampire quickly lost track of time in the darkness. He became used to the way his and the vampireze's kept a steady rhythm. So when Murlough stopped Darren almost forgot to stop as well, almost revealing himself. The sound of metal scraping metal rang through the tunnels, and light shone into the damp hall walls. Almost as soon as the light shined in, it was snuffed out as Murlough closed the door.

Quickly realizing his stupidity Darren slid down on the tunnel wall. He had found where Murlough was, but he had no way to even attempt to tell Demy. Sighing he took the small flash light out of his pocket and turned it on. The light scared off some rats.

Rats?

Rats!

It was said that rats were one of the few creatures, along with wolves and bats, which seemed to have an affinity for vampires. So Mr. Crepsley's long rants where he had tried to get any little tidbit of information about the vampire culture to stick in his brain had worked after all!

Cautiously Darren out stretched his hand, and started to mentally will one of the rats to come to him. At first the rats kept going about their business, until one of the smaller ones started to scurry over to him. It went up his arm and stopped on his shoulder for a second, before jumping down into his lap. Darren reached down and gently picked up the rodent. It didn't even squirm or bite, just stared at him.

"Well, hello Rat. Umm, I need you to go get Demy God for me. She's another person in the tunnels. Just lead her here, ok?"

Darren then put the rat down on the floor, and in ran off.

After what felt like fore ever the same rat ran back into his lap. The rat looked up at him, its long tail flicking back and forth.

"Don't look so happy, you didn't bring any one with you."

"Who didn't bring any one with them?"

Darren looked up and saw the characteristic flipping upwards dark blue hair and silver gray eyes of Demy God. She smiled at him and point at the rat. "The thing kept biting me until I followed it. I would keep it, since it seems to think it's self as your familiar. So why did you call. And why are you out of bed?"

Darren picked up the rat and put him in his breast pocket. "I saw Murlough out my window, he's behind the door."

Demy smiled and ruffled Darren's hair, before opening the door fully in one swift motion. In the small cave like bubble Murlough was standing, kicking a hanging upside down and tied up Evra lazily with one foot. He stopped when he saw them and smiled.

"Well, you showed up with out a moment to spar, I congratulate you!"

Demy just smirked and held up her hand, quickly shooting out a yellow bolt of electricity at the mad blood sucker. His red hair stood on end, his purple skin started to smoke and his white suit gained a blackened and burned hole.

"Untie Evra." Demy said dully and she walked over to make sure Murlough was dead.

Darren stood still for a second, before rushing to help his friend.

As soon as the snake boy was down, Darren started to wake him, and when he had woken he glomped Darren so hard he almost couldn't breathe. Evra started to cry about thinking he would never see Darren, or Mr. Tall, or his snake again. Demy was collecting blood into various flasks, the fact she had so many on her made Darren a little dizzy. After she was done she straightened up she put a hand on the shoulder of each boy.

"Let's go get some breaky, ok?"

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"Remind me why we are doing this."

"To cheer up the children Larten."

"Ok, then why must I do it too?"

"Because you should."

"But I'm not even anything close to catholic, and you're what ever they called the Greek's religion."

"Just shut up and sing, they're opening the door."

Darren and Evra just shook their heads as the bickering adults suddenly burst into a verse of jingle bells. Demy had suggested going caroling just for kicks before they left the city. The first few houses were fun, before Mr. Crepsley had started to whine. It did help the two children forget about what had happened, but it didn't help prepare them for what was to come.