Disclaimer: See chapter 1

A/N: Big thanks to everyone who's review - we're over fifty now! I seriously do appreciate every review I get, so thanks :D

I apologize in advance for how long this chapter is :P

Amazingly, I have nothing else to say tonight, so here you go!

As we traveled over the next couple weeks, our moods began to shift. Most of us, likely for our own separate reasons, were becoming increasingly apprehensive about arriving at Evanna's cave, and it was starting to show. The exception was Vancha, who, to the contrary, seemed entirely indifferent; he appeared to be happy to travel with us again, and joked around as much as ever. Mr. Crepsley was becoming less tolerant of this. Had Vancha not been a Prince, I was sure Mr. Crepsley would have grumbled aloud more than he was. Judging by the way his face turned red and his hands clenched in and out of fists, I felt that a couple times he had lost his patience to the point of wanting to hit Vancha. Whether he was on edge because of our proximity to Evanna or because of whatever it was he and Arra had been discussing, I didn't know, but I would have guessed the latter, if not a mix of the two. Arra too seemed a bit off, but in a different way than Mr. Crepsley. Rather than getting irritated easily, she seemed distant, as though there was a constant nagging about something somewhere in her mind, and it was obstructing her perception of what was going on around her. She barely spoke to anyone but Mr. Crepsley, hardly ate, and spent hours each day trying to fall asleep - several times I had watched her toss and turn from side to side for hours before she finally seemed to get comfortable and relax enough to fall into what always seemed to be a restless sleep.

Whatever it was that had Arra and Mr. Crepsley so fidgety, it was killing me that I didn't know; it was of course out of the question that I ask one of them. During daylight hours when we were looking for food far away from the vampires, I had filled Harkat in, and between the two of us we couldn't come up with a way to find out what they had been talking about. We tried to keep our ears peeled when they were speaking in hushed voices, or when one had a particularly worried look on their face, but it was to no avail - they seemed to be aware of the fact that we were listening and never said anything noteworthy. We brainstormed as to what it could be, but neither of us came up with anything half credible. Each idea seemed more far-fetched than the next, and after a week-and-a-half of taking wild stabs whenever they were out of earshot, we decided to hang it up and sit it out till reaching Evanna's. Then, at least, it seemed that we would all get some answers.

"We should be there any night now," Mr. Crepsley said late one night as we worked on starting a fire.

"Really?" I said, perking up. It was what I had been waiting to hear for months. "What d'you mean 'any night'? Don't you know where it is?"

"I know exactly where it is," he bristled. "However, I am not sure how long it will take us to reach it from here. I usually flit, and it is hard to judge the distances when walking at a normal speed, but I would expect we could be at her cave as early as tomorrow."

I grinned at Harkat, who was sitting up straighter than before, his jagged smile looking like one of the cracks in the rock surrounding us. We hadn't been flitting at all, yet another thing I found odd, to say the least.

"Aye," Vancha agreed. "If I remember, her cave is just over some of these hills."

I was hardly jumping to call the rocky mounds in front of us hills, nor did it seem likely that we would be able to cross them in a night, but the prospect of being so near brightened my mood considerably.

"We should eat now and sleep soon so we can get an early start tomorrow," Mr. Crepsley said, then groaned and chucked the stick that had been in his hands away. "If I can ever get this bloody fire started. Darren, please go and find some dry wood, this is not lighting."

"There'll be dry one's closer to the rocks," Arra said. She slid off the tree stump she had been sitting on and motioned for me to follow her. "I'll help you."

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Mr. Crepsley watching her closely as she led the way forward. He didn't look away until we were out of sight, though I would bet that if I could have seen him, he would still have been watching our general direction. After walking for several minutes, we passed many trees, but all were green and very much alive. Contrary to what Arra had thought, it seemed that the further away we got from our campsite, the more supple the nature was. Though I could see the mountains drawing nearer, it was as though we were entering marshy lands.

Another several minutes passed before Arra stopped and sighed. "Let's look over there," she said, pointing to a very dark area of the forest, that even in the light of the full moon above was pitch black. "Probably gets no sunlight, so I'd bet there's a dead tree or something we can burn."

Unfortunately, the lack of light made it hard for us to see well enough to find any wood. I kicked absentmindedly at some rocks on the ground while I waited for my eyes to adjust, which they did after several seconds. I looked around, and, my eyes falling onto a small, dead log, smiled. I kicked one final rock out of my way as I went to pick it up. Before I could take two steps, Arra's hand shot out and grabbed my shoulder. Her voice was urgent, "Don't move!"

I froze in my tracks, tensing and looking wide-eyed out into the trees for danger, my ears peeled for an attacker. When I saw and heard nothing, I glanced back at her, frowning. "What?" I mouthed.

Barely moving, she jerked her thumb not in the direction of the trees surrounding us, or anywhere else an enemy would be attacking from, but instead the ground near my feet. I slowly turned my eyes down, and when I saw what she was gesturing to nearly laughed with relief. It was a frog. Granted it was an unusually large and oddly marked frog, but never-the-less, it was very nonthreatening.

"You kicked it," Arra muttered under her breath, barely moving.

"So? It's just a dumb f-"

Before my brain could register what was happening, Arra yanked me backwards, there was a snapping noise, and an insanely long tongue missed my leg by a hair. I stumbled back from the force Arra had pulled me with, kept on my feet only by her iron grip still on my shoulder. I yelped in surprise, then glared at her for startling me. "What's the matter with it?" I snapped; I still couldn't see why she was so worried about a frog.

"Poisonous," she said simply. "I've heard about these frogs, they belong to Lady Evanna. She breeds them. One lick and you're dead."

I frowned. "She breeds...?" I began, but decided it was not the time for questions. "Then," I said, trying not to move anything but my lips, "let's get out of here!"

She shook her head, "They're guards. I think it'd chase us."

"Can't we flit?"

"Couldn't get started fast enough."

"Well," I said, trying to keep my voice steady though I was starting to get irritated with her lack of ideas, "maybe you should kill it."

"I could," she nodded fairly. "But somehow I don't think that would go over very well with Evanna."

I was about to interrupt and say that, to hell with Evanna, I didn't want to be killed by something slimy and green, but before I could, an unfamiliar voice from behind us said, "No, it wouldn't go over well at all."

I didn't want to take my eyes off the poisonous frog to see who it was, but almost as suddenly and unexpectedly as the voice had spoken, the frog gave a deep croak, used it's stubby feet to turn a half-turn away from us, and hopped out of sight. I spun around, and my eyes popped open at the strange-looking person behind us. I could tell from her voice that it was a woman, but it was the weirdest, least-womanly looking woman I had ever seen. She was short, much shorter than me or Arra, thick, and extremely hairy. She put Truska, the bearded lady from the Cirque du Freak, to shame. Even more bizarre than her hair and size were her clothes, if you could call them that. Instead of a shirt or pants, or anything resembling normal clothing, she was dressed entirely in thick ropes. If I hadn't been scared stiff I would have laughed. The woman gave us a very twisted smile, revealing crooked, yellow teeth . Her eyes passed over to me and she chuckled.

"You look surprised, Darren Shan," she said, and I gave a start when she said my name.

Perhaps because she wasn't about to have a heart attack like I was sure I would, Arra was able to put the pieces together faster than I was. "Lady Evanna," she said, and it was something between a question and an acknowledgement. The woman nodded, and my mind started to slowly wrap around what was going on. Finally, I realized that Evanna had spoked to me.

"I..."I started, feeling like I needed to answer. "I was startled."

"No matter," she shrugged. "It is good to see you at long last." Her eyes came to rest on Arra, and she added, "Both of you. Did my frog scare you?"

"Not really," Arra said, clearing her throat. "We wanted to be cautious, that was all."

Evanna nodded. "You should have been," she commented, lifting a thick shoulder in a shrug. "It doesn't always pay to be fearless."

Arra blinked. Somehow I had a feeling this was not going to be a lasting friendship. Not having anything to say in response, Arra said, "I've heard much about you, I'm glad I finally have a chance to meet you." The words had no sooner left her mouth than Evanna started to giggle. "What?" Arra asked, taken aback.

"It's a very long explanation," Evanna said, waving her off lightly, "one which I will get into at another point in time when I have all the hunters together. Larten, Vancha, and Harkat are behind you." It wasn't a question, she knew she was right. "You would have made it to my home eventually on your own, but I was growing impatient and decided to come find you myself. I figured you would be here ages ago."

"We had some setbacks," Arra explained. "We haven't been flitting."

"I knew you wouldn't be," Evanna said. "But still, I've seen human children travel faster than you five."

"We took a slight detour early on," Arra told her defensively, "and lost about a week there."

"Oh?" Evanna cocked her head; it seemed Arra had finally told her something she didn't already know.

"When we ran into Vancha," she continued, "he said he had been tipped off about a large number of killings in a city and he had been going to investigate. We agreed to accompany him."

"Tipped off by Desmond Tiny," Evanna said, and once again, she was merely thinking out loud, not asking whether or not she was correct. Arra and I nodded, and I wondered vaguely how she could have known that, as well as knowing that we wouldn't be flitting. "I would assume that you did not run into the culprits?"

"Actually, we did," I said.

Evanna's eyes, one green, one brown, flashed back-and-forth from me to Arra. "Did you kill them? Arra shook her head, opening her mouth to explain, but Evanna cut in before she could begin. "Come with me," she said, immediately turning away from us and starting to walk. "I want you all at my cave before sunrise." Then, more to herself than either of us, added in a mumble, "He is becoming more desperate than I thought."

Arra and I exchanged confused glances, but quickly followed Evanna.

"Um," I said, jogging to keep up with her. "Mr. Crepsley said your cave was over one of those mountains."

"Yes, well, it's hard for anyone to pinpoint exactly where it is, even if they've been there before," she said. "But of course, once you've been shown the way..." Her voice trailed off and she put her hands out as if displaying something, and all at once, it was like my eyes had opened for the first time and I was looking at an entirely different part of the forest. What had been the dark patch Arra and I had been standing in was now an open clearing. A small, still pond was several feet in front of us, and just beyond it was an arched opening in the side of a rocky face - Evanna's cave. I glanced at Arra, and I could tell by the way her eyes, turned a blue-ish green by the moss and grass surrounding us, stared wonderingly out that she too had just noticed our surroundings. I became aware of a deep croaking, and looked at the edges of the pond. At first, I thought I was seeing the frog that had startled me and Arra, but then, as my eyes took in the rest, I gasped; there was not one, not ten, but hundreds - if not thousands - of similar frogs covering the forest floor, each croaking and crammed in next to one another, carpeting the ground more than the moss. "Mind you don't step on the frogs," Evanna cautioned us, and Arra and I looked immediately down at our feet. "Follow me," Evanna said. Watching our step, Arra and I stepped around the frogs and behind Evanna. Several times, I had to freeze, with one foot mid-step, to avoid a moving frog. Finally, they began to clear as Evanna led us to the mouth of the cave, and when we entered, they stayed outside. "Come in and sit down," Evanna instructed us.

My eyes bugged out of my head when I looked around; this certainly was not like the inside of any cave I had ever been in. It wasn't just furnished like a house, it was decorated like a lavish palace - albeit an extremely bizarre, unconventional one It contained all the ordinary furnishings, like sofas and chairs and tables, and then some other strange items that I didn't recognize. Then again, I wasn't surprised to see out-of-the-ordinary objects in the home of a woman who wore ropes.

"Sit, sit," Evanna said again, hurriedly, but not rudely. I looked sideways at Arra, who had chosen to sit on very large purple chair, and was looking around at the room with a look resembling amusement on her face. I spotted a fairly normal-looking cushion next to her and sat down, shuffling slightly as I turned to find Evanna. I craned my neck looking for her, but it was as if she had disappeared without warning.

"Where did she -?" I started to ask, but Arra only shrugged.

"I sat down, and when I looked up she was gone," she said, her eyes still traveling around the room.

I edged a little closer to her, starting to feel uneasy. "It's like she was expecting us," I said, my voice hushed.

"Of course she was expecting us," Arra said. "She's probably been expecting us for a bloody century."

"Where d'you think she went?"

"I'm not sure," she murmured. "Though, I imagine she went to get Larten, Vancha, and Harkat. She seems to want to talk to us together."

I tried to brainstorm any possible reason we could be here, any reason she or Mr. Tiny would want us here. "Everyone talks about her having magical abilities, I wonder if she can see into the future," I said. "Maybe she can tell us what'll happen with the Vampaneze Lord. Like, if we can kill him or not."

"I doubt it," Arra said. "Even if she could see exactly what lies in the future, I don't think she would - or could - tell us. But maybe she can answer our questions."

"What questions?" I asked curiously.

"Many questions," she said with finality, and sunk wearily down in her chair. "And hopefully we can get at least one answer."

I knew it was absolutely no use to ask Arra what her questions were - after all, I would be hearing them soon anyway - and so we sat in silence until we heard the voices from outside. We both got to our feet when Evanna stepped in, closely followed by Harkat, Vancha, and Mr. Crepsley. Mr. Crepsley met my gaze, and I had a feeling he was trying to nonverbally communicate the message not to say anything stupid.

Arra wasn't the only one who had questions; I could tell right off the bat the Mr. Crepsley was itching get to business, but Evanna, despite having been so anxious earlier, wouldn't hear of it.

"Not until you've all eaten and rested. I've got a lot to say, and I'm not going to repeat it because someone drifted off," she said. From there, she led us into another portion of her cave, where stood a long dining table, already adorned with food. This time, I didn't ask, or even wonder, how she had timed it just right. I sat down opposite her and tucked in, happy to be eating off of something other than a rock or a leaf.

Evanna spent a long time catching up with Vancha and Mr. Crepsley, both of whom seemed at ease speaking with her. I didn't know why they had been so weird about her before, she seemed perfectly nice to me - eccentric, yes, but mean, no. The longer we sat at the table, the more comfortable I started to feel, and soon I was confident enough to say more than a few words when she turned to me.

"Darren Shan, the young vampire Prince," she said, and I smiled. "I've wanted to meet you for a very, very long time. I knew you'd end up here eventually."

I nodded. "So...you're a witch?"

Vancha groaned and banged his forehead onto the table. I looked away from Evanna for a split second, and when I looked back, I stumbled off my chair in fright. It was as though she had shot up to twice her prior size, and a certain inexplicable rumble seemed to be emanating from her. "What did you call me?" she boomed.

"N...nothing!" I said quickly, scurrying backwards into Mr. Crepsley, who had the palms of his hand pressed to his eyes.

"Who told you I was a witch?" she barked, and her voice made the dishes and bowls rattle.

"We specifically told him not to call you a witch," Mr. Crepsley said, shaking his head disgustedly at me. I grimaced apologetically.

Evanna whipped her head around at me, and I let out an involuntary whimper. "Sorry," I said. "I didn't...they didn't...sorry."

There were several tense moments in which we all stared at her fuming face, and I swore I could almost see steam billowing out of her ears. Then, after what felt like the longest few minutes of my life, she seemed to deflate back to her earlier size. She righted her chair - which had knocked over when she had jumped to her feet - and sat; Arra, to her right, slid a few inches away from her. "I have many abilities," Evanna said, and her voice sounded surprisingly calm for someone who had just exploded, almost literally. "Abilities beyond what any vampire, or human, or any other creature on earth could dream of possessing." She gave Vancha and Mr. Crepsley scornful looks, and added, "Witches wave sticks and brew green, goopy potions to curse adversaries; I need none of that tomfoolery."

I was glad that she hadn't turned me into a toad (although, in case she could read minds, I pushed that idea out of my head - it seemed very witch-like), but my tongue was still tied from her explosion a minute ago, and so all I could do was nod stupidly.

"If you don't...mind me asking," Harkat said delicately, as though he was speaking to a gun-wielding psychopath, "why do you have...those abilities? Who exactly are...you?"

Evanna smiled and so did I; it was the question that had been on my mind since we had left Vampire Mountain what seemed like years ago, and I was finally going to hear an answer. "Then you haven't been told yet? Excellent," she said. "I rather enjoy telling the story myself." Mr. Crepsley gave me an "I-told-you-so" look, which Evanna smirked at. "Larten's learned the hard way that I like to tell my own stories," she added.

"I have, Lady," he nodded.

"Well," she said, getting to her feet and sighing. "Leave everything on the table and come with me. Harkat, the answer to your question is a long story, and I have many hours of other explanations, so we may as well make ourselves comfortable and get to it." Evanna picked her chair up with ease and started off to a jagged rock door on the other side of the room. No one asked why she was bringing the chair with her. Instead, we all stood, leaving whatever food we hadn't finished on our plates, hunger suddenly becoming unimportant. Evanna led us into yet another room, and this one looked as though it had been made for the exact purpose of telling long and confusing stories. Then I remembered that Evanna probably saw that this was going to happen eons ago, and so maybe that was exactly why it was constructed as such. There were five comfy, squishy chairs, set up near each other, all seeming to point in the direction of one chair, which, not surprising, Evanna slid into. She had placed the dining chair in the same fashion (we were six, and there had only been five chairs when we entered), but when I went to sit on it, she shook her head.

"I wasn't quite sure how many of you to expect," she explained, gesturing to the chair. "I rounded down, but I must say, I'm glad I have an excuse to make someone sit on it. I could have gotten another nicer chair, but..." She shrugged pointed to the wooden one from the other room. "Vancha, sit."

He grinned - Vancha didn't like to use any human comforts, like chairs or beds. "Just for me," he said gleefully, flopping down and making the knobby legs wobble. "I'm flattered that you remembered my preferences."

"Preferences?" Evanna rolled her eyes. "I didn't bring it out especially for your stupid preferences. You're sitting on wood because you're a filthy slob!"

Vancha chuckled. "Tactful as ever, Evanna," he chided, and she made a face.

"Enough chatter," she grumbled. "We came in here to answer Harkat's question then move on to the real stuff. I haven't got all day.

"I'll try to keep my answer brief," she said, resting her feet on a footrest I could have sworn wasn't there thirty seconds ago. "As you all know, vampires were designed incapable of reproducing through any method other than blooding others. It's troubled many over the centuries, but none as much as a vampire named Corza Jarn. Nearly two milleniums ago, Corza and his mate, Sarfa, began searching for a way to have offspring of their own. Needless to say, the search for cures to the curse of bareness lasted for a long time, so long that Sarfa died. This was only an impetus for Corza to search harder, determined to finish what he and his mate had started. This led him to none other than Desmond Tiny."

At the mention of his name, Vancha made a loud, rude noise, which Evanna chose to ignore.

"At first, and by 'at first', I mean for well over a century, Desmond refused his pleas, scoffing at the now ancient vampire, telling him that his requests were futile. And then, one day he changed his mind. No one knows why. He agreed to mix Corza's blood with that of a pregnant wolf, and claimed that this would result in beings able to bear a vampire child. Amazingly, everything went as planned. When the cubs were born, two of the four were human in form - that is to say they took a human shape, they were in fact a strange mixture of vampire, wolf, and Tiny. Both grew quickly, and within a year, the male had left, and no one has seen hide nor hair of him since. The female left soon after, but sent Corza with a message to the vampires. He was to tell them of her story and her ability, but was also to say that she requested that none of them seek her out, because she was not ready for motherhood. It was four centuries before she was first seen by other vampires." She took a deep breath, sighed, looked at each of us in turn, then shrugged and added half-heartedly, "The end."

"What!" I said, jumping out of my armchair. "But...but...did they find her? Did she choose a mate? Who is she?"

Evanna blinked at me, then, without warning, her hand came up and slapped me on the ear.

"Ow! What the hell?" I shouted.

"With you as one of the deciders of the vampire's destiny, I fear for their future," Evanna grumbled, rolling her eyes. "The story was about me, Darren. Iam the one thought to be the only female possessing the ability to bear offspring of vampires."

"Wha -?" Mr. Crepsley began, but Evanna held a hand up.

"Don't interrupt," she said. "It'll only make this take longer. I know your questions, and I know the answers. I'm going to tell you all I plan to tonight, so listen closely."

She didn't need to say it twice. All eyes were fixed to her. "Harkat, the answer to your question of why I have special abilities: when Desmond Tiny mixed the blood of the wolf and Corza Jarn, there was a bit of himself. So, you might say that I am a daughter of Destiny. As he has powers beyond the grasp of the vampire mind, I do as well." She gave a very heavy sigh. "And this leads me to the next topic, the reason you all set out here in the first place. I had planned to give you this information over time, but I can see now that things are more urgent than I thought. Desmond Tiny is meddling, and it is time we put a stop to it."

So, I think I told some people that you'd get answers in this chapter - unfortunately, I've made what is called an 'accidental untruth' (I love that phrase, 'accidental untruth'. I could say it a million times…but I'll spare you :D). So sorry! I truly was planning to, but it started to get so long (it still is, but we're not even halfway through Evanna's stories, so I had to cut it) that I realized you'd all be drifting off before you get to the end, and so, lo and behold, I have cut it here. Many apologies! The good news is that I'll have the next chapter up soon, I promise (and this is not going to turn into another accidental untruth, I swear)! Look on the bright side; they made it to Evanna's! Only took, um, 14 chapters...

Oh, why yes, I would love it if you reviewed, thank you! :D