Chapter 37 – (New Options)
It didn't take Mr. Crepsley long to catch up to me. "What are you planning Darren?" He asked as we turned the last corner to the new game hall. "I am going to tell Duncan to find Emma and make her go home." I burst through the door and gave Zak and Seba the fright of their lives Zak even swung the pickaxe he had in his hand at me thinking they were under attack but when he realised it was me he stopped mid swing. "What the bloody hell are you playing at, I could of planted this right into your brain you idiot!" Zak balled at me but I didn't have time to listen or argue back.
"What is going on Larten?" Seba asked in a hushed voice and Mr. Crepsley told him the story. Zak walked over to hear what was going on as I watched the doors for any moment. We had been there half an hour and still no sign of Duncan. My mind started racing but just as I was about to go look for him myself, the door opened, and the guild I sent to find him was standing there alone. "I'm sorry but he has already left the mountain to help carry one of their wounded up the slopes."
I cursed to myself which is something I never did; I didn't like swearing it was the one thing I would never change about myself. "Do you have any idea what exit he used?" I asked in a panic.
"No. He just kind of up and left with no warning, he only told the cook where he was off to just in case anyone asked." I again cursed to myself.
"Darren if we just wait for them to arrive we can warn them ourselves we still have 2 and a half hours before this so called chose has to be made and even if they still take an hour and a half to get here we will still have an hour to warn them." Mr. Crepsley placed his hand on my shoulder "It was a good effort but not everything goes to plan especially when Mr. Tiny is involved, we should wait up in the halls of princes we still have to unpack." Mr Crepsley tried to lead me away but I wouldn't move.
"I do not want to have to make all of these choses, it is not fair." I whimpered quietly trying in vain to fight back tears.
"I know it is not fair, and I wish I could take this burden from you but the Gods are…"
"THE GODS ARE CRULE!" I yelled at the top of my voice not caring anymore if my tears flowed. "Why pick on me, why not someone else. If I have been doing this for the past 20 life times do they not think I have done enough already?" I looked at Mr. Crepsley wishing he could give me the answers I wanted but I know only the Gods could answer me and I knew the Gods didn't talk, so defeated I just looked down at the floor.
I heard Seba and Zak walk up to me and I felt them place their hands on my back. "The Gods may have some big plan for you Darren, but you do not have to face this alone." Seba smiled to me.
"Ye you have us, we have a bond the Gods themselves envoy." Zak smiled tapping my back.
"But you do not have to make these choses. I do not want to choose who can live or die I am not a God I am just one insignificant vampire within a sea of hundreds." I wiped away my tears but still kept my gaze on the floor, and then I felt Mr. Crepsley's long arms wind around me and hugging me tightly holding my head close to his chest so I could hear his heartbeat. I held onto him tightly grabbing handfuls of his cloak and hid my tearful face against him as he rubbed my head like he had so many times before when I was new to this dark world.
"Then look for a third option or a fourth, or take no action at all do not let what Mr. Tiny says rule you." I smiled against Mr. Crepsley's chest and remembered all the times Mr. Crepsley and I had been separated, I always made a chose to stay or run after him even if I didn't think that was an option at the time, I let instinct take over and I made those choses myself. Maybe Mr. Tiny didn't have as much to play in this as I thought. If he wanted us separated he has already had a handful of chances he could have taken but we are still together. Maybe the gods aren't so cruel, maybe they are the ones pushing me back to Mr. Crepsley even after he attacked me I hold no resentment at all. I looked up and smiled to everyone. "I know what I am going to do." Everyone looked at me and I just smiled. "I am going to go and unpack."
We all headed up to the hall of princes and I was shown to my room, Zak was allowed to come with me and was told he could visit when he wanted and so could Seba. Seba decided he would help Mr. Crepsley unpack and Zak would help me.
We both stood motionless in the doorway of my room. "YOU HAVE A WINDOW!" Zak shouted it was quite funny to think that having a window would be such a big deal, but the only way we thought you could see the outside world was to leave the mountain but now we could just stand in my warm room and watch the world go by. After we got over the shock we looked around, it looked like any other bed cell apart from the window of course; we were both a little disappointed.
"To be honest I was expecting something a little more… grander." Zak confessed as he dusted off a stone shelf and filled it with all of my books I had collected over the years. Most of them I managed to acquire due to a traveling salesman who came to the mountain once every year when the summer came. He was human and was never allowed in the mountain but he would stay at the base and sell his wears there. He was a really nice guy he would sometimes bring me brand new books from the cities and would always have brand new red cloths for myself, Mr. Crepsley and Seba. We would trade food and blankets with him as we didn't have money.
"Well this room hasn't been used in years from what the guild said; I bet Mr. Crepsley's room is much grander." I had to admit I did want to see his room just to see the difference but I knew he had to sort through all of Paris's stuff and I knew it would be emotional for the both of them so we just left them to it.
"Where is your coffin?" Zak asked scanning around the room trying to find it.
"Oh I have to be brought up a new one; the one in my old room was there when I first moved in so I left it there for the next person." I explained.
"Oh… but I thought Mr. Crepsley had his brought up to this room?" Zak asked puzzled.
"That coffin is his; he brought it from an undertaker about 100 years ago if I remember the story correctly."
"You can do that?" Zak asked shocked.
"Yes as far as I am aware anyone can." I said puzzled as to why he was so curious about it. "Why do you want one of your own?"
"Yeeee… The one I have now is falling apart and it gives me splinters." Zak huffed
"Well then just swap it for the one I use to have, mine was fine and I've had it for years, no one will mind." I laughed as I saw the happy look in his eyes. We continued to unpack just having a general chit chat when 2 guilds knocked on my door and placed a new fancy looking coffin in my room. It had a 'D' in the middle of the lid being held in the mouth of a spider carved into it.
"Sire Larten asked it to be made for you a month ago and it has just been finished." The guilds took their leave and left me and Zak to stare at the new coffin. It was made of oak wood as far as I could tell and it was lightly varnished, the inside looked huge and was padded and I even had 2 pillows.
"I want one." Zak said as he ran his hand over the carved lid. "Why a spider?" Zak asked and it dawned on me Zak had never met Madam Octa nor seen what I could do with her. "Hold on a second." I left my room and knocked on Mr. Crepsley's door.
"Yes." Came the voice of a very annoyed Mr. Crepsley. I opened the door slowly and almost bowled over, the room was full from floor to ceiling with books. "Darren, are you unpacked already?" Mr. Crepsley asked peeking over a pile of books he was behind.
"Erm no not yet I just can to ask if I could borrow Madam Octa to show Zak, he has never seen her." I picked up a book from the nearest pile 'The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe.' "I remember Paris getting me to read this in one of our lessons." I happily laughed at the memory and put the book back.
"You can keep it if you like, I am sure Paris would not mind; besides I do not think I will get around to reading it." Mr. Crepsley said as he fought his way free of the books to fetch Madam Octa from her usual hiding place under his coffin. "Oh and of course thank you for the coffin, it has just arrived." I smiled happily.
"I am glad you like it, I thought you might be more comfortable in one of your own." He smiled back and handed me Madam Octa's cage and patted me on the head. Sometimes it felt that I would always be a child to Mr. Crepsley but I didn't mind, he treated me like an adult most of the time but in privet it is like we would revert back to when I was first blooded and had to have my hand held everywhere we went. After he had finished ruffling my hair he placed 'The Raven' on top of the cage and I headed back to my room.
When I walked back into my room I noticed Zak thumbing through my old diary. "I can't believe you use to keep one of these." He laughed and put it back down on the pile. "I think my sisters use to have them but I never did, it always seemed a girly thing." He laughed at me cheekily and continued placing my books on the shelves.
"It helped me through the time I was first blooded." I explained as I put Madam Octa's cadge on the desk and handed him my new book to place on the shelf. "Anyway this is Madam Octa." I announced as I threw back the silk cover of her cage.
"OH MY GOD! KILL IT!" Zak screamed and went to swipe at the cage with my new book. I managed to move her cage out of the way and waited for Zak to calm down. "She is Mr. Crepsley's spider do you really want to try and kill her?" I ask knowing he wouldn't try it again fearing Mr. Crepsley would kill him.
"So you have a spider on your coffin because Mr. Crepsley's pet?" He asked slowly getting closer and closer to the cage getting a better look.
"She is not a pet, if you think of her as a pet she will kill you. She is a performer." I smiled as I made Madam Octa stand on her front legs and perform a hand stand. Zak smiled but I could tell he was still a little scared of her.
"Where did she come from?" Zak asked as he watched her roll around her cage like a ball.
"I am not sure; she has been with Mr. Crepsley longer then I have. It is because of her Mr. Crepsley and I first met." I could look back now and smile which I was glad about.
"How can a spider make 2 vampires meet?" Zak asked eyeing me oddly. I had only ever gone into brief detail about how we meet but I thought now was a good time as any to tell him the full story. I sat down on the chair and took Madam Octa out of her cage and let her relax in my hands. "When I was human, my best friend at the time Steve and I got tickets to go to the cirque du freak. I have always been fascinated in spiders since I was a child so when I first saw Madam Octa doing tricks and running around the stage I just knew I needed to own her. So after the show I stole her."
"Seriously you stole from a vampire. Are you crazy?" Zak asked in horror.
"I did not really know 100% he was a vampire. Steve had said something about seeing Mr. Crepsley in one of his vampire books so I went back to steal her in the middle of the day." Zak started laughing.
"Did you really think that would help you going in the day?" he continued to laugh and held his sides in pain.
"Of cause I did, I was human and believe only what I had been told by Steve and what I had seen in comic books." We both laughed at how silly it was looking back on it, knowing what we know now it was pretty funny. "Well anyway I stole her and started practising everything was good and I thought I had gotten away with stealing her without any consequences… Then it all went horribly wrong when I showed Steve that I had her and I showed him what I could do." I walked over to the window and stared out into the wide snow covered land. "While I was in the middle of a trick my sister came into the room and screamed breaking my link with Madam Octa and she bit Steve. He was taken to the hospital but they couldn't do anything for him, so I decided to go back to where I stole Madam Octa praying Mr. Crepsley would be able to help." I stopped and looked over to Zak to see him completely taken by my story, he signalled for me to continue and I slightly smiled to myself, he was like a child at story time.
"Well the rest is easy to guess, I am here am I not." I laughed knowing Zak wanted me to go into complete detail.
"Oh come on that's not fair you can't start a story and then just cut it off at the end like that." He pouted and pleaded with me to tell him the complete tail.
"Fine, fine well he did have a cure but it had a very high price attached to it. In order to save my friend I had to give up my life and become his assistant and live in the night and shadows as he did. I clearly accepted but after he gave Steve the antidote I tried to run away from him and live life as a normal human." I looked down at the scars on my fingertips they had become so apart of me; I had forgotten what my finger use to look like without them.
"So how did you end up back with Mr. Crepsley if you ran away from him? Did he come and take you away?" Zak asked confused and a little concerned I couldn't help but giggle at the thought of Mr. Crepsley flinging me over his shoulder and kidnapping me.
"No, he stayed around and just watched me waiting for me to come to him, and in the end I did, one night while I was running a bath for my sister I almost bit her. It was then that I realised that I could not stay with my family because I was no longer human." I smiled at him showing I had no regrets and in truth I didn't. I loved being a vampire and I loved everyone I had met. Zak was about to ask me another question but he was cut off by a knock at my door.
"I am sorry to intrude but I do believe Seba is looking for you Zak." Mr. Crepsley said as he opened the door smiling. Zak got up and dusted himself off, "Oh… I wonder what's up. I guess I should go check, I'll see you later Daz." He thanked Mr. Crepsley who had held the door open for him, waved his goodbyes and left. I turned to put the rest of my books onto my new shelf but could feel something was not quite right with Mr. Crepsley. "I can tell you know?" I said without looking at him.
"Pardon? I do not quite…" Mr. Crepsley looked down at a book he had in his hands which I hadn't really noticed.
"What is wrong?" I asked as I organised my books on the shelf.
"Is it that obvious?" Mr. Crepsley asked as he walked over to give me a hand never putting his book down. He knew I would arrange my books in size order so he didn't have to worry about trying to remember the alphabet or reading the titles.
"No you have always been a very hard vampire to read but I have been at your side for many years now, I would not be a very good assistant if I could not slightly read your mood by now." I was about to place another book onto my shelf when Mr. Crepsley grabbed my wrist to stop me with his free hand. I looked at him about to ask what was wrong when I noticed a small stream of tears running down his cheek and the book in his hand.
"Mr. Crepsley what is wrong? It is unlike you to be like this?" I dropped the books I was holding and grabbed the hand he was holding my wrist with; with my free hand.
"It worries me how fast you are growing and it saddens me how much of your life I have missed." He held his book up to his chest slightly hugging it.
"What has brought this on?" I looked down to the book but I couldn't see a title. "What is the book about?" I asked as I reached out to look. It appeared to be a diary but it couldn't have been one of mine and I already knew Mr. Crepsley couldn't write. Mr. Crepsley didn't object as I started flicking through it.
Dear Larten,
I made this during your time away from the mountain for all those dark years. I knew not being able to see Darren grow with your own eyes would be hard on you, so I have left details of his studies, how he is going on good and bad days, I have also drawn a variety of pictures of him at different stages throughout those years. I have left this for you to look over when you are ready to. When I started this book I was unsure you would ever return to read it but Darren never stopped believing you would return.
Your dear friend
Paris.
After reading the front page I was speechless, he wrote this about me, drew me and I knew nothing about it, he drew pictures of me when I first won on the bars against a fully blooded vampire 2 years after Mr. Crepsley left the mountain, he even wrote about the times I would sit in Mr. Crepsley's room for days and not leave because I was afraid they would move all of his stuff because they thought he was truly dead.
"Is this why you are so sad?" I asked looking up at him also feeling tears running down my cheek, saddened that Mr. Crepsley had get upset by the book. "I knew I had missed quite a lot of your life but it is only now I can truly see how much I have missed and how much going affected you." Mr. Crepsley looked down and I knew he was going to start on his speech about 'how could I forgive him after all he had done to me' and I was having none of it so I threw my arms around him and held him close. I had grown quite a lot so instead of my face being against his chest I could now rest my chin on his shoulder easily. I will still shorter than him but if I grew anymore I would end up being the same height if not taller then him.
"Please do not say what you are thinking. How many times do I need to tell you I have no regrets, I have no hard feelings towards you, I do not hate you and I have no intentions of leaving your side until the Gods pull us apart. I am happy and I am truly thankful to be here with you. I do not understand why you would think I would leave you, the years you missed were not your fault and every time something had come between us we have always found our way back together. So please, I beg you, please stop thinking I am going to leave or despise you because I do not." I felt him hold onto me tightly and for the first time in years I saw Mr. Crepsley weak and vulnerable and it killed me. He was always my pillar of strength and my heart was breaking seeing him this way. It reminded me of when Zak and I brought him back from being tortured he would wake up like this thinking being rescued was just a dream and he was still chained to the walls.
"I am sorry." Mr. Crepsley smiled at me and hugged me tightly again. "If I am honest I believe one day you will hate me because it is what I deserve…" I let go of him and sighed, didn't he just listen to anything I just said.
"Look just stop please. You do not deserve me to hate you, I use to and you know that but I have gone past that. I got to know you and I would not change anything even if I had the chance I would keep everything the same." I held his hands and fell to my knees. "Please; please; please just stop it. If I was going to leave do you think I would have followed you that night in the forest or came to find you when you had been gone for all those years and everyone thought you were dead." We had had this conversation so many times it had started to take its toll on me. I wanted it to stop; I wanted him to know 100% that I was going to be there no matter what he did so we never would have to have this conversation again EVER. I could feel Mr. Crepsley staring at me shocked, it was only now after all these years he realised how serious I was being and he smiled.
"Come on." He said pulling me off the ground and hugging me. "I am sorry for making you get this way." He wiped away the tears with his handkerchief. I laughed slightly and closed my eyes as he kissed me on the forehead and I knew from just that one action he now understood. After a while once we had calmed down I walked over to my coffin and kicked off my shoes.
"Are you planning on sleeping already?" Mr. Crepsley asked puzzled.
I just laughed "No of course not we will be having guests soon, It is just I have not tried it yet." I lay down and was pleasantly surprised at how comfortable it was. Mr. Crepsley walked over and looked in at me. "I remember when you would refuse to sleep in a coffin. You would rather sleep in a hammock then a coffin." He laughed and ruffled my hair as I propped myself up on my elbow.
"Well sleeping in a coffin was not very 'vampire' of me. Besides you use to sleep in a coffin." I lay back down and shuffled about seeing how much room I had to move around in while I was sleeping.
"What does me sleeping in one have to do with you changing your mind?" Mr. Crepsley asked as he shut the bottom half of the coffin covering my legs and sat on top of the lid. I blushed slightly I didn't really want to say I was hoping I could keep it my secret. "Well… When you were away for all those year… I kind of started… sleeping in yours…" I refused to look at him and started twiddling my thumbs. I just heard laughter and everything went dark. I lay there in my completely closed coffin and laughed to myself. Mr. Crepsley had a talent for stopping awkward moments for me.
"You better get out our guests should be here soon." I heard him say through the lid. My smile faded I had forgotten I would have to confront Emma tonight; I remained in my closed coffin hoping he would just leave me here.
"Come on Darren." He said softly as he slowly opened the lid. "I will be with you; you will be fine." He smiled at me and held out his hand to help me out.
"The guard has laid out some fresh cloths for you in my room." He said leaving my room and holding the door open for me to follow.
"Oh special treatment I see." I joked and quickly followed to get my new cloths.