Hi everyone! I'm so sorry that I haven't posted anything in a really, really long time. I've had everything from computer and internet problems, to problems at school, to holidays, to more computer problems, to being really sick. I wanted to post a really long chapter to make up for the lack of posting but this was all I could come up with. Sorry. But enough babbling from me, you're all here to read what I came up with so without further delay:

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters in this story, except for the OCs. The others belong to Darren Shan, the true master of horror.

Chapter 36

How much time had passed since Vancha had been captured? It was impossible to tell anymore. He had stopped trying to remember after a while. What was the point anyway? For all he knew it could only have been a few days. That was what he was afraid of the most. He knew humans would come up with inventive ways to destroy and torture each other, how many wars had he lived through and seen that verified this statement?

The door to his cell opened but he didn't look up to see who it was. Only one person, or would humans call something like him the satin himself, came to "visit" him.

"You've been coming around more and more often," Vancha said. "Does that mean you're starting to like me?"

"Don't flatter yourself," Mitch sneered. "You're about to become very useful to me."

"Lucky me," Vancha said sarcastically. "And here I thought I was just a decoration for this boring room."

Mitch ignored the comment and made a gesture. Two humans entered the room and unlocked Vancha's chains.

"Are you letting me go?" he asked skeptically raising an eyebrow.

"And deprive myself of the fun I'm about to have?" Mitch asked as he stabbed Vancha with a needle of poison. "No. It's just time to bait the trap."

Vancha's vision blurred and soon everything turned dark.

The next time Vancha opened his eyes, he didn't know where he was or why he was in so much pain. Vancha groaned and tried to move, only to find that his arms were chained to the wall and that he was a couple of inches above the ground.

"What the hell?" he wondered as he strained against the chains.

"Having fun are we" Mitch asked, causing Vancha to stop and look at him. "I hope you realize just how pointless your attempts are. You're nowhere near as strong as you think you are, and defiantly nowhere near enough to free yourself."

Vancha had to keep himself from growling out loud. He didn't want Mitch to know how much this situation bothered and annoyed him. He was a Prince after all, a strong Prince at that, and he couldn't believe that he had been put into such a weak state for so long. It was also humiliating that when he was given blood it was so watered down it was barely even drinkable, something that sapped him of his dwindling strength even more.

"It infuriates you, doesn't it?" Mitch asked taking a step closer. "To think that someone like me can do something like this to something like you, and there's nothing you can do about it."

"I preferred it when you glared at me from the safety of a doorframe," Vancha spat. "At least then you weren't as annoying as you clearly are now."

A sharp pain ignited across his torso and Vancha's eyes widened at the sudden pain.

"Not so clever now are you?" Mitch smirked turning a knife over in his hands. "But then again, that never really was a strong suit for you was it?" He quickly slashed Vancha a few more times, waiting for him to cry out. "Let's just see how long it'll take before you break."

Vancha lasted much longer than Mitch had thought possible. Hour after hour passed and Vancha had yet to give in. Mitch, however, was beginning to tire so he called others in to continue while he rested. It wasn't long after that that Vancha's body finally gave out on him.

"Finally," one of the men said. "Could that have taken any longer?"

"You never know," the other said. "The next time might be even longer."

But he was wrong. The more this occurred, the less Vancha seemed to be able to withstand.

It won't be long now, Mitch thought. Soon he'll break beyond repair and when he does, I'll make sure that infernal girl is here to watch. A smile slid across his face. This was more fun than he ever had thought possible. Soon.

A door somewhere close by opened but Mitch, his smile instantly wiped from his face, barely looked to see who had entered until one of his men stopped right next to him.

"Keagan has told me to tell you that he has the girl in his possession and that he awaits your orders regarding what to do with her," the man said.

"Tell him to put her in the cell," Mitch said as he watched the other two continue to slice at Vancha, who had long since lost consciousness.

The man bowed and ran out of the room.

Things are going exactly according to plan, he thought as he got up and told the men to stop. Now all he had to do was wait for the girl to awaken and he could show her the fruits of his labor. His smile reappeared. This is going to be so much fun.

Vancha cracked an eye open and carefully took a look around the room. His body was so weak, he knew he wouldn't be awake for long. The room was empty, at least as far as he could see, but there was no telling when someone would enter again. He already knew that the stupid glass on the far side of the room was one-way glass and he knew that there was a chance that someone was watching him, he hated that feeling. He wished the glass would shatter and take Mitch out along with it.

Almost as soon as the thought crossed his mind, the glass shattered and Mitch came flying into the room and a piercing siren filled the air. Vancha almost laughed at the irony, but any happiness in him was instantly fled away when he saw who stepped through the shattered remains of the glass. As overjoyed as he was to see his assistant, his daughter, he could almost see the dark aura that surrounded her. Vancha closed his eye and willed his body to be completely relaxed as the thoughts started racing through his mind. What had happened to her? Had Mitch done something to her? What had happened to his shy, sweet little girl while he had been here? And where was Larten, why wasn't he with her?

He could feel her presence, her concern mixed with the overpowering aura, as she approached and he sensed her stop in front of him and he sensed her start to reach up.

"Freeze!" someone shouted. Vancha half opened an eye again and saw her glanced over her shoulder, completely missing his eye. The room was now filled with humans, who had guns aimed right at her back.

Vancha heard her laugh, a dark laugh that was completely devoid of any trace of the life that usually that flowed through from her, a laugh that sent chills through his very being. Before any of them could react, she run over to them, grabbing one of them by the throat and lifting him off the ground, laughing as he thrashed in her grip. Vancha couldn't believe what he was seeing, there was no way… before he could even complete the thought, she crushed the man's throat and threw him away like he was less than nothing to her. His mind couldn't process what he was seeing and he was to the point of being glad when his vision started to fade and he lost consciousness as Amber, covered in the blood of the men she had just slaughtered, started making her way back towards him, a twisted, warped smile on her face.