Hi guys! So I know that it's been a really long times since I actually posted anything, like seven months, and I can't apologize enough for that. I could say that I didn't have much time or that life got in the way or some other excuse like that but I still should have tried to post something before now. Again I apologize sincerely and I hope that you'll continue with my as we follow Amber, Vancha, Larten, and the rest on their journey. I would also like to thank the people that have liked and followed my story from the beginning. You guys mean so much to me and I wouldn't be doing what I'm doing without your love and support, as well as your patience. Thank you again for everything. I'm going to be posting a few chapters to, hopefully, make up for some of the lost time. So without further ado, the disclaimer:

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

Chapter 37

Larten was making his way to a small town, having finally caught Amber's scent, and he quickened his already flitting pace. Her scent was fading quickly so he had to move fast or risk losing it all together. He had to force himself to slow down when he retched the town. He couldn't risk attracting attention to himself, which was hard to do seeing as he was literally covered head to toe in red so he kind of stuck out anywhere he went, so he forced himself to walk at a normal pace while trying to find Amber's scent in a very crowed place. Larten had a great sense of smell, even by vampire standards, but this was difficult even for him.

Larten was half way through town when he realized someone was tailing him. He sighed; did they really have to go through this whenever they met? Acting like he hadn't noticed anything, Larten made his way down a narrow ally, hiding in the shadows as he waited for the person following to enter. It was time to give this man, as the humans put it, a taste of his own medicine. He seemed to become one with the shadows as he waited and after a few moments, someone entered the ally. He walked right past Larten and looked around in confusion.

Larten waited for him to start moving again before silently falling into step behind him. Larten smirked to himself, this was very amusing, and at the prefect time he grabbed the man who proceeded to scream and spin around. Unfortunately, he spun too fast and wound up landing on his backside.

"That wasn't funny!" he shouted at the vampire, his face turning bright red with embarrassment. "That wasn't funny at all!"

"Actually I thought it was rather enjoyable and I now understand why you try to do it," he said with a satisfied smirk.

"Of course you thought it was enjoyable," the man muttered as he picked himself up off the ground. "Why did you even do that in the first place?"

"I was just demonstrating the proper way to stealthily approach an unsuspecting target," Larten said as he started to walk back down the ally. "Besides, you really need to learn how to control that breathing of yours, it gives you away every time Gavner."

Gavner muttered darkly to himself as he followed Larten back out onto the main street.

"Why'd you call me anyway?" he asked after a few minutes of silence. "It's rare for you to call on anyone, least of all me, for anything."

Larten didn't say anything and Gavner was afraid he wasn't going to answer at all. Larten wasn't exactly the most forthcoming when it came to sharing information. Larten sighed.

"I need your help," he finally said, catching Gavner completely off guard.

"This must be really important," Gavner said raising an eyebrow in surprise. "You rarely ever ask anyone for help."

"The truth is that I cannot handle this particular situation on my own any longer," Larten said reluctantly.

"You're really starting to worry me," Gavner said with a shaky laugh. The Larten he knew and admired never sounded this unsure about anything before and that really worried him. Gavner was so preoccupied with his thoughts that he didn't notice an obstacle in his path until he walked face first into it. "Charna's guts!" he swore.

It was at that moment that he truly knew Larten was preoccupied with whatever was troubling him, he hadn't even noticed Gavner had walked into a large pole. This was a truly serious matter indeed.

"Larten, I can't help if I know nothing about the situation," he said rubbing his nose as they retched the outskirts of town.

Larten sighed, he'd been debating how much he should tell Gavner. He knew there were some things he couldn't say, like the true relationship between Amber and Vancha, but he wasn't sure how much he could leave out either. In the end he decided it was better to tell him everything.

Gavner looked at Larten, his eyes wide in disbelief and horror. Larten had told Gavner everything, with the exclusion of Vancha being Amber's father, even Larten didn't understand that completely. The two vampires had stopped in a small niche in the trees while Larten explained. It had been a good thing they had stopped too because Gavner's knees had given out on him the more Larten told his dark and twisted tale. If anyone else had told him such a story, Gavner would have told them off for saying that little Amber had turned into something so horrific.

"Damn," Gavner finally managed to say, his face paler than normal. "I can't even begin to imagine what's going through her head right now. But whatever it is…" he couldn't even complete his thought. He wasn't sure what he was supposed to think right now.

"She does not seem to be in control of herself when she is enraged," he said thinking back to how she had reacted when she realized not only what she had done, but that he had been there a few times. Except for the last time, he thought. She did not seem to understand what she had done, where she was, or even who I was. "We need to get moving," he said startling Gavner. "We are wasting time."

"You're the one who stopped in the first place," Gavner muttered, but he climbed to his feet anyway.

Larten ignored him, they had lingered too long and Amber's scent was faded to almost nothing, if they didn't move now, tracking her would be impossible.

They walked in silence for a few hours after that, until they came to a crossroad of almost unnoticeable paths. It was here that Larten hesitated, unsure where to go from here.

"Something wrong?" Gavner asked.

"I have been following Amber's scent for some time but it seems to end here," Larten said. "There is nothing covering up the scent, it just stops here, making it almost impossible to know where she went from here."

"So what are we going to do?"

Larten was on the verge of saying he didn't know, something he hated saying, but a flash of movement caught his attention. "Did you see that?" he asked nonchalantly getting the feeling that they were supposed to follow it.

"See what?" Gavner asked in complete confusion.

"It is nothing," Larten said heading in the direction the movement originated from. "We go this way."

About half an hour later, they came upon a building that was low to the ground and the same color as the surrounding area. Larten got the feeling that if they hadn't been lead right to it they would have missed it entirely.

"How do you know this is what we've been looking for?" Gavner asked.

Larten didn't answer as they slipped into a narrow corridor, one just wide enough for the two of them, this was mostly because of Gavner's burly build. They made their way through the building, being sure to keep an eye out for any kind of traps or anything that would make their presence known.

"Doesn't it seem a little too quit to you?" Gavner asked. "If this is truly where they're operating from then shouldn't there be some sort of noise."

Just as the words left his mouth, a loud shrill alarm tore through the air. Larten shot a look at Gavner that clearly said what he had thought of Gavners statement. Gavner gave him an apologetic look as a group of men ran down the hall to their left, shouting orders to each other over the alarm as they ran, completely oblivious to the two vampires. Larten and Gavner shared a look and carefully followed them to a room that was full of carnage and blood. Larten ignored the bodies that littered the ground but all Gavner could do was stare.

"Did Amber do this?" he asked shakily, but before Larten could answer, gun shots rang out and the two followed them to a shattered out window, one that at one point had had incredibly thick glass, and paused as the scene on the other side unfolded before them.

Amber was on her knees, and even though she was trying to stop it, Larten could still see the blood that was flowing from a serious wound in her stomach.

"How?" she said through a cough. "How are you…still alive?"

"You're not the only person with secrets," Mitch sneered as he walked towards her. "I must admit though, that was a pretty close call. If you had kicked any harder, I'm sure you would've killed me. I guess it's a good thing you kick like a girl."

Gavner and Larten jumped through the window and it was at that moment that Mitch seem to be aware of them for the first time, though for all Larten knew Mitch could have known that they were there all along.

"I was beginning to wonder when you'd show yourself," Mitch said, turning to Larten. "Here to save the day are you?"

Larten didn't say anything as his gazed behind Mitch to Amber, who had completely collapsed on the floor, and from Amber to chained figure of Vancha before finally settling back on Mitch. Gavner started to inch forward but Mitch aimed his gun at him. "I wouldn't move another step if I were you," he said with a bored tone. "Just because I'm not looking at you doesn't mean I can't, or won't, put a bullet between your eyes."

"What do we do now?" Gavner asked telepathically.

"I am working on it," Larten answered but he was unable to think of anything.

Mitch laughed at them, clearly enjoying himself. "Do you honestly think the likes of you can beat me? I bested a Prince for God's sake. What can you possibly do to someone like me?"

"You did not 'best a Prince.'" Larten said. "You had no possibility of beating Vancha with honor so you attacked Amber, who could not even defend herself."

"Detail, details," Mitch said. "Either way Vancha was taken down and look at him now. Do you think your noble Prince is in any shape to do anything to me?"

"No but I can," said a voice behind Mitch and before Mitch could react Amber had jumped him and had locked him in a choke hold.

"Do you honestly think the likes of you can beat me? I bested a Prince for God's sake. What can you possibly do to someone like me?"

God Mitch is annoying, I thought as the world started to focus around me. I slowly pushed myself up onto my elbows, my body shaking from the exertion. I winced as the pain tore through me and I almost collapsed back onto the ground. I waited a few seconds before I forced myself up onto my knees. After a few more seconds I pushed myself off the ground, feeling like I was going to fall on my face at any moment. I took an unsteady step and forced myself to take another, noticing that Larten was here and that Gavner was with him. When had that happened I wondered, but now was not the time for that. Now I needed to act while Mitch was distracted.

"Do you think your noble Prince is in any shape to do anything to me?" Mitch demanded as I leaped at him.

"No but I can," I said before locking him in a choke hold. Mitch gagged and started flailing around, trying to break my hold, but I dug my nails into my arm to keep the hold in place. "Get Vancha," I yelled to Larten and Gavner. "GO!"

Mitch's face was getting red as they ran by and started picking the locks that held Vancha, but my limited strength was already starting to fade. I just need to hold on for a little longer, I told myself. I need to give them more time to get Vancha out of here.

There were a few clicks behind me and I glanced to see that they had gotten Vancha down and that Gavner was supporting him, but my relief was short lived when Mitch drove his elbow into my side, making me yell in pain and release my grip. My feet had barely touched the ground before Mitch kicked me, sending me flying away from him. I hit the ground hard, losing my breath, and almost my consciousness. I laid there, gasping for breath as Mitch walked over and grabbed me by my throat. He slammed me against a wall and I tried to fight against his grip but all I could do was paw at his hand.

Tears were filling my eyes but I could still see Larten, who was about to jump into the fight.

"If you even think about jumping in, I'll snap her neck here and now," Mitch said. Larten froze and gritted his teeth while Mitch gave him a demonic grin before turning his attention back to me, continuing in a voice so low only I could hear, "Do you know what I had to do in order to get my hands on you, do you? But that's all water under the bridge now, it's all worth it. Do you know why? It's because Im going to kill you. Mind you it won't be quick, no where's the fun in that?"

My hands slipped from his and I hung there like a doll, powerless to stop anything he would do to me. "I'll take my time, I'll take so long that you'll beg and plead with me to end your suffering," he continued. "But the more you beg, the more I'll take my time. You'll die hundreds of deaths before your brain quits. But don't worry, just because your brain stops, it doesn't mean that your body will stop." His grip tightened and I could feel myself starting to slip away when a voice called out to Mitch.

I could see the annoyance on his face as he relaxed his grip, but not by much. Keegan was standing on the far side of the room and just behind him was Caroline, who looked extremely pale. Mitch tisked. "Looks like today's your lucky day brat," he said letting me go completely. Before I could even take a breath again, Mitch sunk his fist into my stomach, right on top of the bullet wound, as hard as he could. I fell against him and he whispered, "Next time we meet will be the last. I will kill you and when I do, I'll leave your severed head and torn body for Vancha to find. Look forward to it."

He grabbed the front of my shirt and threw me away from him. I hit the ground and rolled a couple of time before coming to a stop. I could feel myself slipping away again as Larten retched me. All I could hear was a buzzing in my head and my body felt tingly but heavy at the same time. I knew that Larten was being as careful as he could when he picked me up but everything hurt so badly and I was grateful when the darkness finally consumed me.