"Scar, do you smell any danger?" I asked Scar. Scar growled, and pounced into a bush. I waited patiently, and minutes later she came back with a vole clamped between her jaws. I looked at the bloody mess with grimace; I still hate disgusting bloody things.
"I don't want that, you can eat it for all I care." In a blink of an eye, Scar gulped the vole down in one bite. Months had passed after I found scar, now it's about autumn, the leaves all turning golden brown and falling off. It's been a year since I first came upon this mountain. Scar was no longer a kitten; she was as tall as my waist, sleek and powerful like any other leopard. I don't know how, but I'm starting to believe that if you spend a lot of time with something you'll be like that thing. I feel more cat-like now, I feel very balanced, and I can balance at the tip of a stake without feeling shaky or off balanced. I can also squeeze myself between things, like Scar can, and I can hide in the shadows and proceed like air. I glance into any puddle, and now I'm all muscles, and my pupils thinner than any ordinary vampire's. I was no looker, still covered in scars and scabs. My hair is now halfway to my waist, and I can adapt to almost anything. Sure, I'm still terrified by heights, but I'm accustomed to jumping from branch to branch without scratching myself or moving a leaf at all. We were jumping from rock to rock, trying to find the entrance to that Vampire Headquarter thing. I groaned rocks weren't my favorite element; they're always so hard and cold. But still, I have a feeling that the headquarters were somewhere near those rocks, so with a little run, I threw myself at the rocks by my side. Let me tell you why I did a little run, tit was a cliff that I was standing on, and we have to jump to the other side in order to get to the rocks. I sort of slipped halfway; I had to spread myself out, creating scratches along my thighs.
"Ow! I hate those rocks, they're just a useless obstacle for me," I told Scar, but she leaped from rock to rock like an expert. I sighed, and rubbed my hands together as they were getting sweaty. I could feel the cool wind blowing on my hair and face, carrying sand and dirt from the ground. Climbing up, I followed after Scar step after step. There was some kind of caved in part, because Scar was sitting there, growling at me impatiently as I skidded from a rock to another, trying hard not to look down and slip at the same time. The rocks always pressed into my hands, creating little scratches that itch like hell at night. Climbing also tire my fingers quickly, unlike on trees, which I prefer a lot more. Trees won't tumble or fall suddenly, there's always a little noise telling you when to jump, but on rocks it's a whole different business. Rocks would tumble at the lightest step, and some would even fall when you so much as raise your voice! Scar gave another growl, glancing at the pile of rocks.
"Scar, be patient, I'm coming you know," I snapped, and leaped next to Scar. "Scar, what's your…problem…?" I never really finished my sentence, for as soon as I walked near Scar, I found a sword's blade pressed against my throat.
-Later
The person who was holding a sword to my throat pushed me forwards, through a set of ancient doors, and into a hall. I figured out what I was trying to figure, Vampire Castle wasn't on the mountain, it was underground, under the whole mountain! So that's why I hadn't been able to find an entrance.
"This is not exactly what I think of a good welcome, you know," I snapped to the guard, "If this is where I think it is, gosh, you guys are really weird."
"Be quiet, you're not supposed to talk unless you are at the trials!" The guard snapped. I rolled my eyes, what trials? This is so stupid! A group of green uniform clad people were trying to harness Scar while she snapped at them, baring her fangs.
"If you don't watch out, she'll bite your fingers off, she's pretty harmless you know," I told them, laughing darkly. My guard twisted my wrists and tied this piece of rag that tasted like soggy rats through my mouth so that I couldn't talk. How rude were those people? I tried to kick him, but I couldn't without making the blade sink into my throat, which I do not want.
"Ump, Ar, Gram," I grunted, but he just kept pushing me roughly until we were outside this pair of huge doors. I think it was a pair of doors, because the guard had his grimy hands in front of my eyes. He pushed me in, then let go of my eyes. I was facing four people sitting on what seemed like stone thrones: this really old guy with flowing white hair, a man with long raven black hair and sharp eyes, a bald guy with arrow tattoos running all over his body, and the fourth was…Darren!
"Ump!" I tried to shout, but the guard knocked me roughly. "Oomph you reap."
"What is it, Rugen," the bald man said impatiently, we're having a discussion, you know."
"I found this one outside, and along with her a leopard. No human can befriend a leopard, yet she is neither vampire nor vampaneze," The guard named Rugen said.
"Untie her mouth," The man in black commanded, and Rugen pulled the rag between my mouth away. I spat out the rotten fibers of it which tasted like rats, and tried to get rid of the smell. After I got rid of most of the stench, I started my…well, shouting.
"Is this how you usually treat people who want to find the vampire headquarters? Because if it is, you vampire princes really have a weird sense of humor. It is not funny to keep someone's mouth tied with a rat tasting rag before asking them what their business is!" I snapped, "And you better let Scar go, she'll rip someone's throat out if you keep pulling her that way!"
"Who are you, what are you doing here?" Darren asked me. I fought the urge to roll my eyes; Darren looked so stupid up there. For some reason, he still looked like a fourteen year old, and now he looks like a kid playing daddy.
"Yeah, like you totally don't recognize me, Darren," I snapped, "You either have bad eye sight or a lousy memory. It's not like I changed that much!"
"Darren, do you know this person?" The bald guy asked seriously. Darren shook his head.
"What the heck," I yelled, "Call Mr. Crepsley then, he'll recognize me. I can't believe how dimwitted you still are, Darren. Jeez, I wasn't even gone for a long time! Yeah, like you ever jumped in the river after me when I rescued you from that bear! Ask Gavner then, he'll know me. Or you can call Evra, or perhaps Mr. Tall!"
"She's barking mad," The old man said, shaking his head.
"I'm not, you old man, Darren knows me!" I screamed at him as the guard pulled me away, "Darren, you have to remember me. Or did you lose your memory? Don't you still remember Sam Gret, and Jans? I can't believe you forgot Jans, Jans was such a good friend!"
"Evan?" Darren asked, suddenly sitting up straight, "Evangeline Cho?"
"Took you long enough, no prizes for you," I grimaced, when Rugen stopped cold and the other princes froze. "I thought that bear had knocked the sense out of you!"
Now, I'm still at the hall of the princes, what ever they call this weird hall. Except now it is not only me and the princes and Darren, there were also Mr. Crepsley and this old man.
"It's surprising how you survived the river," Mr. Crepsley said, shaking his head after I finished telling my story.
"I did it," Darren reminded him.
"After you had all those practices from the trials," the old man (who I had learned to be Seba Nile) said, and Darren grimaced.
"Like either of you ever came looking for me," I snapped, "and where's Gavner? Don't tell me that he thinks I'm just some fantasy character or something for him?" Mika, the black clad prince, shook his head grimly.
"Gavner died in the battle of the scars, or should I say he was killed by Kurda Smahlt," he said grimly.
"I'm sorry to hear that, but I think it'll take me like fifty years to ever forgive you guys," I sniffed, "I knew that you guys thought of me as your personal on the spot maid, but I never knew that I was nothing to you. I was just a livestock you had to bring along!"
"We did, but Mr. Crepsley said that it would be too dangerous too look for you, and you might be already dead," Darren said.
"Yeah, like saving Evra wasn't so dangerous, we just went to the nursery and took him from his evil kindergarten teacher," I said sarcastically, "Yes, I totally understood that."
"What I don't understand is why you're here, you obviously know Darren and Mr. Crepsley, but who's your mentor?" Paris (the very old prince) asked me. I crossed my arms, didn't they tell them anything? Or were they too embarrassed that they actually blooded a girl? I traced the leg of my chair and winced; I had just noticed that the furniture here were all either made from wood, stone or the bones of some large animal!
"Mr. Crepsley is my mentor, he also blooded me. Didn't he tell you anything?" I asked them. The princes, minus Darren, exchanged dark glances.
"Larten, is this girl telling the truth?" Mika Ver Leth asked, "Did you really blood her, and did not tell us about it?" Mr. Crepsley bowed his head, giving me a clear view of his muddy neck. Icky, does anyone here bathes or showers at all? Sure, I bet I smell like some horse behind, but I've thought that Vampire Mountain would have some kind of bathroom or something.
"Yes," Mr. Crepsley said, as if admitting that he had crashed into someone's car or stole a kid's lollipop, "I did blood her. I blooded her when I blooded Darren, because she also found out."
"And you didn't tell us?" Arrow said quietly. The other princes looked mad, but he was silent and calm, scratching at his long tattoos. The tattoos gave me the shivers; I have no idea why someone would ever get a tattoo.
"I…she fell into the river, sire, I did not think that she would survive. Even if she did, I thought that she would go back to being a human, much less come and find us. She had always hated our vampire ways." Mr. Crepsley finally said quietly, fumbling with his red robe. I traced the small X on my palm, not noticing what I was doing. There were stalactites hanging from the roofs, I wonder if one of them would fall suddenly. They surely don't look stable, and those sharp tips would certainly kill someone who's unexpectedly under a falling stalactite.
"Uh, sorry to interrupt your prince business, but where is Scar? She'll certainly tear someone's throat out if you keep pulling her like that, you know. She's not a tame leopard." I had to bite down on my lower lip to stop myself from laughing, the princes all twitched as if a normal vampire's not supposed to talk with them like that!
"Miss…Cho, your leopard's being handled by an authority group right now…" Seba said, slightly nervous. I could smell his nervousness, and I could read his emotions, which all said that he was nervous.
"What kind of authority?" I asked him suspiciously. He doesn't mean taking her to be chained in a cage or something, does he?
"Let's say…" Seba started, but a green clad guard stepped inside.
"La' Vigne (I got this name from the first one. Kurda's apprentice is called Cyrus, which reminded me of Miley Cyrus, so I named this guard after Avril Lavigne), do you have any business? This is a Prince's Council, you know," Mika snapped. God, he really can look freaky when he wanted to, that Mika. I swear that I've never seen anyone sterner or freakier. Seriously, it was like he was some kind of gothic person without the multiple piercings. Even if he's dressed in a pink tutu with fairy wings and did his hear in pigtails, you would still feel like you should respect him. I wouldn't want to be alone with him in the same room, or even in the same hall.
"It is about Master Nile's instructions, sire," La' Vigne said rapidly. I could tell that he is scared of this Mika too. "We did his orders, and now its skin hangs in the Hall of Stahrvos Glen, sire. Here's its head." Whose head are they talking about? Perhaps some kind of vampire traitor or something?
"Darren, what are they talking about?" I whispered.
"I thought that you're supposed to call me sire, Evan," Darren whispered back. I rolled my eyes, even as a prince, this boy wasn't much mature as he had been when I last saw him.
"Good gracious…you're so ignorant, and you didn't change at all!" I snapped softly, so that the others wouldn't hear our conversation.
"I'm not supposed to. You, on the other hand, look as if you're someone else. Are you sure that you're not someone else? Perhaps you're the mysterious Tally Youngblood Evan told me about?" Oh my frikking god, he actually believed that Tally Youngblood was a real person...
"Darren, Tally Youngblood is a fictional character from a book! Like Harry Potter, she's not real! And I'm Evan, can't you tell?"
"We…we bought you its head," La' Vigne said, and with a shaking hand, he drew out a platter. I froze, my limbs shaking a hundred times harder than an 8.3 earthquake, because on the bloodstained platter, surrounded by pins, was the head of Scar!
"Scar!" I screamed, "Why did you kill her?"
"She was a danger to both us and her clan," Seba said, but he was uncertain of it, I could tell. "She had skills far more advanced than any other leopard, and she's already taken down three vampires with her."
"Three vampires, you say? We wasted three perfectly good vampires on that beast?" Arrow growled.
"We didn't know what she was capable of, sire," Seba said quickly, "We thought that she was just a normal leopard."
"No, she's not wild!" I shrieked, sliding my hand slowly to the grip of the handy pistol I keep in my pocket. It had been Ebony's, and I haven't used it yet except to shatter that bear's skull. My long, rough fingernails dug into the flesh of my palm, and the pain screamed wildly into my head. I shouldn't have done that, once I've bled a drop of blood, the battle lust in me would never go away without a fight. And with anger on its side, I'm fighting a losing battle.
"Girl that beast you bought here was dangerous and you knew that. Did you intend to harm us?" Paris asked. He was calm, but I could read his face as clear as I can read a book. He suspects me of being something I'm not, and he doesn't trust me at all.
"She's not dangerous," I whispered slowly, "You pulled her and attacked her, that's why she took three of your pathetic men with her!" The demon side of me was taking over of my body, growing stronger and stronger. Yet I welcomed it a bit, its wild movements soothing my jumping nerves.
"Girl, look at me!" Mika commanded.
"No I won't," I said in a soft tone, "You'll only try to get truth out of me. I'm not stupid, you know." La' Vigne swung his blade at me, but I saw it coming. After seconds I've saw him, I knew that he wasn't afraid of Mika. He was afraid of me, the wild girl who suddenly appeared and called herself Mr. Crepsley's apprentice. His blade would have caught me by the throat, but as I had kept watch of him with the corner of my eye, it wasn't much of a shock. I dodged it pretty easily, drew out the pistol and shot him twice at his skull. Of course, my aim was never perfect, but coincidentally it connected with his eyeballs and shattered them into bloody pulps.
"MY EYES!" La' Vigne screamed as Arrow ran to steady him and the rest of the people in the room drew their swords and pointed them at me.
"You're no vampire, vampires can't use mortal weapons," Mika hissed.
"Well I didn't know that, Mr. Crepsley always took us on trains and buses," I snapped, "he never told me anything!"
"Don't lie, girl, I know Larten very well," Paris said, "Just tell the truth."
"I AM telling the truth," I yelled at him, and the circle of blades pointed closer to me.
"Mr. Crepsley, Darren, you know who I am!" I pleaded.
"No, I do not know you," Mr. Crepsley said "the Evangeline I knew was plump and cheerful, and she would never shoot someone."
"No…you don't understand, those wolves killed Ebony and Birch! You underestimated them, Scar never killed anyone!"
"What is she talking about, Seba?" Mika snapped darkly.
"She's gone crazy," Seba said sadly, shaking his head.
"I'm not crazy! Oh yea, I may be a lot of things, but crazy isn't one of them! Ebony said that I have a spark of life!"
"It's off to the halls of death for her!" Darren finished.
"You're not going to kill me, are you? I just came here!" I yelled at them. Why aren't they seeing the truth? They knew the truth, but instead they cover up with lies.
"Poor girl, such a young soul wasted," Paris said, and I could sense him feeling a little bit sorry for me. "May she be triumphant even in death."
"Death isn't triumphant, living is being triumphant!" I shouted at him. These vampires are really weird; they actually think being dead is being triumphant! Is there something wrong with them? Judging by the sharp cold points of their blades pressed at my throat, I could tell that they are anything but stupid. If I was going to live, I should move fast, faster than they can flit. I scanned the room, which was almost a waste of time because the walls all looked solid and hard. Then, I saw it. A tiny bit of the wall was slightly cracked, as if someone had torn it apart then placed it back carefully. How can any of the princes not notice that? There they sit like kings (well, they ARE kind of royalty) with no guards, and they don't even know that this hall is not vampaneze proof. Anyone could get through that crack!
"I'm sorry to interrupt you guys, but I really have to go. I don't intend being some kind of sacrifice for your vampire god what his name," I told them, then ran towards the door.
They all went along with the plan, which was simple and easy. Of course they thought that I was aiming for the door, but when they were almost in front of me, I changed directions and fired two bullets at the Princes. By pure coincidence, both of them landed on old Paris Skyle. The others immediately separated into two groups, one to look after Paris and the other to catch me. Then, I realized that bring plans on paper to life isn't that simple. Mika was a lot faster and stronger than I had thought, and with two flying knives he narrowly missed my neck, cutting off large chunks of my hair. That was when I finally let the demon out. Everything's sharper now, I could hear their thoughts and their feelings, every tiny drop of sweat is as clear as a font twenty four word to me. I could calculate the fastest way to get out alive, the bloodiest way to fight them, and the evilest way to torture them.
Ebony was right; I'm not a girl anymore, so I should not act like one. I am not me anymore, I'm a new person…a new me…Hey, if I'm a new person, then I should have a new name. Now, I am…I don't know…I can't think of a new name. How about…Susan? No way…Susan's way too…too…old fashioned! It sounds like someone who would wear petticoats and prance around in long fluffy dresses. Tally is a nice choice, but it's too…unique. Sometimes being too unique isn't good at all. Yes, this is a good name. Selene Panzer would fit me perfectly.
I just grabbed it out of thin air, and it doesn't even mean anything to me, which was why it was perfect. It would never give me away;It is so unconnected to me.
Before, I was Evangeline Cho. Half-vampire, assistant of Larten Crepsley, the lost girl who gave everything up. Now, I am Selene Panzer, with a new start, without a drop of vampire blood in me. A new life.
DARREN'S POV:
When Paris fell, Arrow, Seba and Mr. Crepsley ran to grab him before he crashed to the floor. He wasn't dead, yet, I knew that he was out of the battle. There are only me and Mika now, me and the prince I liked least. We surrounded her, and Mika's knives were aimed for her throat, unavoidable to even the most talented vampires. Yet, with in-vampire speed, she moved out of the way. She seemed to be someone else, not a human, vampire or even a vampaneze. With alarming speed that no vampire could achieve even when flitting at top speed, she grabbed the knives out of Mika's hand and threw them into his leg, making him collapse. It wasn't a fatal wound, not even a serious wound, so I chased after her, taking Mika's remaining knife. I knew that there was no hope for me to catch her, but the luck of the vampires was on my side. I was never able to aim at a target, but this time it hit her arm. She flinched, but carried on running. I should have never forgotten to tell the princes about the hole in the hall of princes, for she pulled the rocks apart and jumped right through the hole, and smartly crammed more rocks into it, blocking my way. When I finally caught up, she was gone with nothing as much as a single hair behind. Looking above, I saw that she had left a message behind, a message written in blood with a beheaded guard lying on a stalactite: No one will ever catch me; no one will ever kill me. I am not a vampire, a human or a vampaneze.