How long as it been? I've been so busy lately! Well here it is.

Disclaimer: I don't own Cirque Du Freak/Sega of Darren Shan. Sorry wish I did but stuff just don't happen like that...yeah...

Read...enjoy...review...

I woke up to the sound of clanking metal and the smell of something cooking. " Another fight?" I wheezed.

" No not exactly," Mr. Crepsley said.

Vancha and Darren were in the dirt, Darren with his sword, Vancha without any weapons. " Are they trying to prove something?" I said rubbing my eyes.

" It would appear so," Mr. Crepsley said.

Darren charged with his sword, Vancha dodged the blow bringing the palm of his hand up swiping the blade out of Darren's hands. A move I'd remember learning at the training grounds.

Bored I stood and stretched. " I'm going to find a river" I said.

" Need company?" Vancha called. " I wash your back, you wash mine."

I heard Mr. Crepsley and Darren growl.

" Rain check you that one," I said. " I'm only going wash my face and brush my teeth, nothing major."

" The more so with company," Vancha said. I ignored his comment and continued to walk, stopping only when the air about me rushed and hands found my wrists.

I reacted immediately turning against the tide of my attacker. Only to realize almost instantly by smell that it was Vancha. " Never lower your guard," he said. " The same thing happened before, your enemy could be anywhere, anyone."

" Shelo training all over again," I said brining the heel of my foot back catching him in the ankle, then leaning all my weight on the side I attempted to bring him down heavily. He fell, still holding on to me. I loomed my weight on one side trying again to bring him down, only succeeding to knock myself down. He laughed.

" Good job," he said extending his hands for me to take.

" Obviously not good enough," I said taking his hands and standing, dusting off my pants in the process.

" You're taking this surprisingly well," Darren said.

" What do you expect me to do, fill my pockets full of stones and throw myself in the river. I can't waste the rest of this day mad at Vancha. Besides I will get him on his back one day."

Vancha purred. " I think I might like that prospect."

I mentally slapped myself for not noticing the context of my own sentence.

" Do not stray to far away," Mr. Crepsley warned. I turned.

" Don't worry the faerie's don't want me," I said. "I'm going about two hundred feet away. You call I come."

I went off just like I said I would and handled my business there. I was just about to start tussling with my hair when the rattling of the bushes startled me. I turned ready to attack ready to defend myself.

" Do not become alarmed," someone said. I did the opposite.

" Show yourselves," I said.

" Have you forgotten me?"

" That voice…I know…that voice…"

The person moved themselves into my view. He was tall broad, and pale, with black hair that was cut close to his head. He wore a black shirt that hugged the fleshy muscles of his chest and torso. A pungent stench settled in the air.

My heart skipped a beat, and before I knew it I was ready to make a dip back for the camp. His voice stopped me again.

" I do not want to hurt you Anna…"

" Is isn't right you're supposed to be dead, I saw it myself…I drank your blood…your heartbeat stopped right under my palm…"

He stepped closer, I moved back in the direction of camp. " Say my name," he said. " I must hear it, since that day I was brought back I've wanted to see you for so long."

I continued to move back, not looking where I was going, not caring where I ended up just as long as it was away from this memory, this thing I thought I'd let go of.

" Say it…" he said a little louder this time. I clamped my mouth shut. He came forward, I moved back, my hands touched the trunk of a tree. " Why are you crying, does it pain you that much to see me again?"

He hand came out to embrace my cheek.

" Don't," I whimpered.

" Say it…" he said again. He touched my face, familiar fingertips brushing across my eyebrows, nose, and lips.

" Your not him," I said.

He pulled back slightly. " I am."

" That's not poss…"

" I've come back for you. I've been writhing since that night." He said in the tone of voice I recognized, there was so much hope, so much longing. It filled me with left over feelings, unwanted regrets.

" Blaremore killed you."

" Yes I know," he said. " But I'm back now…"

" Robert" I said touching his face, his shoulders, his arms. His skin was cold to the touch.

Now that I was closer I could see the purple and green marks on his skin, indications where his flesh seemed to have sunk in close to the bones of his face. Like a corpse ready to be placed into the ground.

" How?" I managed to sigh.

" Desmond Tiny," he said. " I am dead Anna, or at least my body is…he brought me back."

I suddenly felt disgusted and pulled back. " Why would he do something like that!" I said. " Why would…"

Robert smiled. His mouth was black, stitches shown on the underside of his lips, yet his teeth all of his teeth were still in tack. " I'm a Zombie," he said in the amusing tone that was all Robert. " Well I can still speak, but I think that's only because my voice box hasn't rotted yet."

I didn't reply. The tears kept coming, I held my head. Go away…this is not funny…stop this vision…

" I'm not a vision Anna," he said.

I said all of that out loud…

" I don't believe any of this, Robert is dead. You are not him…you stole his body and are pretending to be him, I will not accept…"

" I steal the living energy from everything I come in contact with. Usually as small as I choose. Plants, animals, humans, vampires, Vampaneze. Some life forces are stronger than others, but they all help me live Anna, they all keep my body in the form that it is in now. It is me Anna. I was stuck in the lake, but he pulled me out, placed me in my body before it had time to rot." He lifted his shirt letting me see the marking of flesh, where he was stabbed. " I couldn't help you then, I did not know what was going on, I couldn't protect you, but that's all over now."

" You can't be…"

He grabbed my arms. " Look at me Anna. Look into my eyes, I'm still here I'm still Robert."

I glanced over for a second, glanced into his almost black eyes, rimmed with the dull blue color of the dead. " Its too much to take in," I said.

" You took a small part of me," he said grabbed my hand and placing it on his neck. I felt the punctures I had made when I drained him dry. " I can feel myself in you, I know you know it's me."

" I was so scared," I mumbled.

" I know," he said hugging me. I pushed my face into his shoulder, trying to find that familiar scent that was Robert beneath the smell of formaldehyde and faint death, it was there, hardly but there.

" I have to go," he said letting me go. I fell back against the tree unable to hold myself up. " I will show myself again to you, to your friends again in time. There is so much I have to tell you."

I didn't reply, I kept my head turned and eyes closed so I couldn't see his departure, leaving me to wonder if he ever really was there in the first place, or if he was just a figment of my imagination a sick vision I had thought up. I must have fell asleep while I was there, because before I knew any better I was being shaken.

I blinked open one eye stiff with the salt from my tears. Mr. Crepsley and Harkat were kneeled in front of me. Mr. Crepsley's brow curled. " I smell death," he said.

I opened both eyes then. " So it wasn't a dream…" I said. " He really was…"

Mr. Crepsley grabbed my arms then bringing me forward he pressed his nose into my shirt. " Unnatural death,"

" Maybe it's me," Harkat said. Mr. Crepsley shook his head.

" Who was here?" He demanded shaking me. " Was it Desmond?"

" I don't…"

" Harkat go and tell the others we have found her," Mr. Crepsley commanded Harkat.

" It was Robert," I said. " I don't like it, all these buried feelings coming back out again. I…" Mr. Crepsley shook me. My teeth rattled in my skull.

" Why do you not listen?"

" I don't…what? Why are you getting on me, I did what you said. I…"

" If you were hurt…" his voice started to rise, I touched his face then leaning forward I kissed him gently. He started to deepen the kiss when I pulled back.

" But I'm not," I said. He didn't look convinced or the least bit less angry.

Vancha, Darren and Harkat came then running from the direction of camp. Darren did not look happy either.

" Didn't we tell you to stay-" Darren started.

" Robert, Robert was here. He was dead but alive…like a zombie or something…he said Desmond Tiny brought him back and that…he had to go but he would come back…"

" That is not possible," Darren exclaimed.

" Anything is possible when its dealing with that snake Desmond Tiny," Vancha said.

" He was there," I said.

" I thought…he could only make little…people."

" I don't understand it either Harkat," I said. " I like to think this was all a figment of my imagination, a vision maybe."

Vancha sniffed my shirt, then huffed. " I wouldn't put it past that slippery snake of a man." Vancha looked at me. " If what you say is true then your friend will reveal himself to us again in time, but until then we must keep moving."

" How can you be so calm about this?" I exclaimed visibly shaking now. I could smell him everywhere. " Did you not hear anything I just said?"

Vancha didn't hesitate to answer. " I have seen a lot of things, he said. Nothing fazes me anymore, especially when it comes to Desmond Tiny. He can make ghost into little people, hell he might have even created Vampires, reanimating the dead is just another skill to add to his sack of dirty tricks."

" But why Robert?"

" Getting worked up about it does not help any," Vancha said.

" How would you feel if that was someone you loved?"

" Like I said," he repeated, " there is no use getting worked up over it."

I stood up then, looming over all of them, glaring at Vancha. " Go walk in the sun," I exclaimed without thinking. Then standing up I walked in the opposite direction, my mind already someplace else.

" So he's a past lover," Vancha said. Larten nodded, although lover was a bit extreme, more like boyfriend. But Vancha had no eye for small changes in details like that. " I can see why she would be angry, but the fact still remains."

" It could have been a vision." Darren suggested. Larten turned to the boy.

" I will speak to her. We must make it too Evanna's by next night, her emotional conflict will slow us down."

" Your right!" Came her voice from behind them. A moment later the carcasses of three rabbits and a grass snake hit the ground at their feet. Larten glanced up at Anna, at her sweat covered face, her short hair was slicked back, her jaw set. " Getting worked up over it is not helping at all. We need to be on our way to Lady Evanna's so she can help us figure out what the fuck is going on." She peered at Vancha ginning the entire time.

" Oh and by the way the snake is for you."

Thirty Minutes Earlier

I was still worried about what I saw, what I felt. Even after I went hunting, feeling the strong need to release some built up tension, the poor bunnies where just in my way at the time, the snake was already dead so I just picked it up too.

If Robert was really back from the dead, there wasn't much I could do besides wait for him to reveal himself again. There was so much I had to explain to him, so much I had to say. I could tell by the way he held me in the woods, looked at me, that even in death his feelings were the same. Mine were not, or at least I did not want them to be.

I loved Mr. Crepsley now, I always had. He knew it, I knew it. Even if our relationship hadn't gone much further than a few passionate kisses and half-done buttons. Robert dead or alive or whatever he was wouldn't change that, but I still wanted to see him again. There was no wrong in that.

Tension.

I was still tense. Drawing my staff from its perch on my back I proceeded to practice by swinging it just as Arra and Todd had taught me. Fighting an invisible enemy, parrying, weaving, striking a blow. I felt my shoulders tighten my back arch. It felt good, and I felt ready to face the world again.

I came back to camp bearing the kill to find them standing around talking.

"So he's a past lover," Vancha said. " I can see why she would be angry, but the fact still remains."

" It could have been a vision." Darren suggested. Mr. Crepsley turned to him. From where I was standing he looked tired and far older than he was.

" I will speak to her. We must make it too Evanna's by next night, her emotional conflict will slow us down." Mr. Crepsley said.

Hearing enough I stepped up " Your right!" I said throwing the carcasses of the rabbits and a grass snake at their feet. " Getting worked up over it is not helping at all. We need to be on our way to Lady Evanna's so she can help us figure out what the fuck is going on." I glanced at Vancha suddenly feeling brave. " Oh and by the way the snake is for you."

He bellowed that that, tipping backwards onto his back to hold his belly. " She's a fierce one, Larten!" He exclaimed to my dismay. " If you don't take her I will."

" Glad you like the gift," I said . " Not saying I like you or anything."

" Anna," Mr. Crepsley scolded.

Vancha hopped up. " I think I am going to follow up on your earlier suggestion," he said.

" You mean go walk in the sun?"

" Yep," he stretched.

" You're a nutcase. And your going to follow him Darren? Watch him combust into flames."

" If you were paying attention before," Darren said. " You would know."

" Whatever," I said turning back towards Mr. Crepsley, who was now settling down for sleep. I started a fire and skinned the rabbit's then placed them above the fire, a nice meal for when they did get back. Harkat was already asleep standing up in his own little corner under the thick shroud of trees.

Watching the flames, how they bit at the flesh of the rabbits, reminded me of home, of my short life with my parents before they were killed. It was a tranquil kind of feeling the kind that left no real room for anger although the anger was there. I started to hum, the actual lyrics lost to me a long time ago but the tone still remaining.

It was only when I heard the faint shuffling of cloth did I stop. I turned, Mr. Crepsley was looking at me now, his tired, stern eyes set on my back. " You hungry?" I asked turning the rabbits. He didn't answer. Scooting back I settled beside him. " I'll sing you to sleep."

Opening my mouth I began the chorus of " Almond Tree," surprised I still remembered it from so long ago, from all those singing classes.

Temperance the dear old deer

Did not dare to bother anyone's ear

With her upright jaw and hair tightly pinned

Who'd have thought the sin to be within?

Bury me under the almond tree

If anything should happen to me

Late last June I heard a cry

I ran to see my younger sister die

The poisoned meat had cut deep inside

I cast my revenge on temperance tonight

Bury under the almond tree

If anything should happen to me

Bury under the almond tree

If anything should happen to me

I walked for months through rain and pour

No sign of temperance and her deathly paw

I start to think did I dream it all up

What revenge is this, it's my life now that been caught

Bury me under the almond tree

If anything should happen to me

Bury under the almond tree

If anything should happen to me

" Did that help?" I asked.

" Yes to keep me awake," he snapped. " Anna com-"

" Sing it again," Darren begged coming into view.

" That was quick," I said peering over at a very red Vancha.

" Please…" Darren continued.

Rolling my eyes I mocked irritation, then for the third time since I left my old life before I opened my mouth and sang.

Bury under the almond tree

If anything should happen to me

Hunger. Yes she was hungry, very hungry now. There was no denying that. It didn't matter that she'd already eaten, that her chambers were already covered in the bodies and blood of the dead.

" Kori," her voice was calm, yet it chimed like the bell of a church. Kori appeared from the shadows, bowing, his woman form changing to male as he neared the young woman. The young woman switched positions on the bed she was currently occupying, placing her head on the end so her hair stained the dark red floor below.

" You got blood everywhere again. Do you know how long it took me to wash your hair the last time. Is this all completely necessary?" Kori scolded.

" Yes," the young woman said without hesitation. " I want them."

" In due time," Kori said.

The young woman sat up. " Where is my King?"

" Out," Kori replied.

" He's never in," the young woman said turning to face the ceiling. " I want the brown haired one named Darren Shan he should be my new King, and the other one, Larten Crepsley he could be my…hum…my dog!" She laughed at the prospect the sound just as shrill as her voice. I see them in my visions, their so happy." She turned to face Kori at the doorway, her eyebrows creased. " Why aren't I happy like them?"

" Because of her."

" Yeah I totally forgot. I don't want her to be happy. We should go make her unhappy again. Oh I have an idea. Get my doll," she said her eyes glowing now with hate. Her teeth bared and hands curled.

" Which one?"

" The oldest one."

" Oh," Kori mocked surprise. " That one."

"The poisoned meat had cut deep inside

I cast my revenge on temperance tonight."

She sang standing up from the bed, her naked form covered by a thick layer of blood and guts. Yet the grin, told it all as she headed for the door.

I'm a dinosaur rawr!

So who's this mysterious " young woman?" and why does she want Darren and Mr. Crepsley so badly. And why did Desmond Tiny supposedly bring Robert back? So many questions.

Hoping I can find more time to update soon.

Until next time.

" Almond Tree" By Hannah Peel