A/N: -Sigh- I finally got my books from the UK. Book 10, 11, and 12. It feels weird to go back and come up with a new ending after reading one so… deep. I don't want to tell anyone what happens, and I'll try my hardest not to let anything slip in coming chapters. Oh, also, sorry this chapter arrived so late, I have three stories I'm juggling at the moment, one for my English class, this one, and one for my reader's guild at school, which I have to get both done by Tuesday, how much fun is that? Um… I won't answer the reviews separately, thanks to those who like the story, but I'm going to repeat myself: To those of you who are reading my story and not reviewing, I'm glad you are taking interest in a story I've been taking out of my time to write, and I'm glad that you're schedules are so packed you can't even spend three or four minutes to comment. Ok, I'm done for now, enjoy the story (I'll try to make this chapter extra long because of all those who were waiting SOOO long) And you know what? My computer just quit on me so I had to write this AGAIN!

Annie Shan woke up the next morning with a throbbing in her head, had everything last night been real? Was that Darren? Did I remember to pack extra underpants? Then she remembered, she was starting work at the Cirque today. No, really? Did I pack extra panties?

She shook away the sleepiness from her head and looked at the clock. '7:30' it said, "Oh crap! Oh crap! Oh Crap!" She yelled, jumping out of bed and into the bathroom, brushing her teeth and her hair at the same time. In three seconds flat she was out of the bathroom and into her closet, closing what was left to wear, "not this…" she muttered to herself, "or this, ugh! Can't have Darren thinking I'm a whore! Not this… Ah! This!" she grabbed the top and the jeans and pulled them on.

Right as she was opening the door, she heard some one tiredly say behind her, "Where are you going so early in the morning?" Annie jumped and turned around, oh it was only Claire, she forgot about what she was going to say to her roommate, 'Hey Claire! I'm going to join the circus, make sure to call my parents!' That wouldn't have worked very well.

"Oh, morning Claire," she said, slightly waving, "Um…. Did I forget to tell you?" she strained her brain for an excuse, "I can't believe I forgot to tell you, my mom and dad asked me to come and move back in with them, so I agreed and-"

"… then wanted you to come back home after they kicked you out?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Um…. Yeah! Isn't it the weirdest thing? Well, bye!" She ran out the door and bolted down the hallway, she really didn't want to answer any questions.

When she got down the street, she stopped and caught her breathe, making sure all her belongings were still intact. Once she was ready, she started to walk down the street towards the old theater, in the daytime, the theater looked less creepy but more, pitiful. You could see the tearing wallpaper and the broken windows. The Cirque must use that advantage at night, when she was first there, she was scared to death of it. It was also much easier to get around to the back in the daytime, she easily tracked her way through the garbage cans and walked over to Mr. Tall's office.

"Good morning Annie," a voice said as the door opened and she jumped back. That was the second time he's done that to her!

"Good morning Mr. Tall, am I late?" she asked, putting her bag on the ground.

"Early actually, I'll bring you to your tent, you don't mind sleeping in the same tent as one of the performers, do you?"

"Of course not, who am I staying with?" Annie asked, excited she was staying with one of the actors.

Mr. Tall stood in front of a tent and called in, "Truska?"

"Yes?" said a sweet voice from behind the tent…. door (? No idea what you call them, opening maybe?) Annie remembered the name, Truska was the name of the bearded lady in the show. Truska opened the tent.

"Mr. Tall, is this my new roommate?" Truska asked, walking out. Her accent was very thick and you could tell English wasn't her first language.

"Truska, meet Annie Shan, Annie, Truska" Mr. Tall said, backing up and Annie put out her hand.

She looked strangely at Annie for a second, before taking her hand, "Hello, come I will show you your hammock," Truska finally said.

After Annie unpacked, she was called over to start making breakfast, she was amazed to how many people worked at the Cirque. She looked around then started passing out plates.

-With Darren-

Darren sat up in his hammock, staring at the wall, thinking about what happened the night before, "Darren?" he heard from behind him.

"Yeah Evra?" he asked, looking over his shoulder at the snake man.

"I'm going to go get some breakfast, you coming?"

"Nah, go on without me, I need to wait for Vancha to come back," Darren said, when they first got there, Vancha had taken off to Vampire Mountain to inform the other princes what had happened, so Vancha was expected to be back today. (Short, I know, but I've nothing more to write from Darren's side)

-With Annie-

Annie held two plates in each hand, offering them to those around, then she noticed the snake man from the show, and running around him at his knees were two…. Snake children? Along with the scaly children, there was also one regular child. Annie walked over and offered the snake man some breakfast.

"Thanks," he said, grabbing three and giving them to the kids, then taking one for himself, "I'm Evra by the way."

She shook his hands, happy to be free of the plates, "I'm Annie," she said back.

He raised his eyebrow then smiled, "I remember you!" she was taken aback when he said this, then she calmed down when he said the next thing, "-You were the girl in the audience yesterday, the one my snake was going after. Sorry about that by the way."

She shook her head, "No problem," she said, looking down at the kids.

"Hey, can you do me a favor," she nodded her head, "Can go bring my roommate some breakfast? He's a bit… out of it this morning" Annie smiled and nodded. Evra pointed to his tent and went off with his children as Annie grabbed another plate.

"Hello? Anyone here?" she said, slowly walking into the tent, there was no one there, "Anyone -" She was cut off by the sound of talking behind the tent. She raised an eyebrow and snuck out of the tent, peeking over to where the noise was coming from, "I'm sorry sire, but Vancha could not come back from Vampire mountain," what? Vancha? Vampire Mountain? And what was with all this 'Sire' crap?

"Why?" said another voice desperately, she recognized the voice, but didn't know why.

"Since the death of Paris, there were only 2 princes at the mountain, but the law enforces that we must have three at all time," the first voice replied. What? Princes?

"But what about the hunt?" the second voice asked.

"Vancha and the other princes are figuring that out as we speak, but before they come to a deal, Vancha is stuck there."

"Oh, thank you," the second voice said again.

Annie was totally confused. Sire? Princes? Vampire Mountain? But before she could figure anything out, a couch came behind her, signaling they were there. Annie jumped up and turned around, face to face with one of the small people (A/N: Yes, I know it's Little People, but she doesn't know that, she sees just some small monster thing) in the blue hoods. It was very creepy, they had giant green eyes and stitched together, gray faces, "What do you…think you're doing" the creature asked.

"I….um, heard voices, and I wanted to see… who's they were, I was asked… to bring Evra's roommate some breakfast," Annie replied, pointing a thumb to the tent.

The monster raised where an eyebrow would be, if he had one, then shook his head, "Darren's been out-of-it, let me take this to him," before Annie could object the creature took the plate and went back into the tent.

"But-" Annie finally said, but he was long gone. She blinked and looked back over at where 'Darren' was, he was long gone too, "Damn…."she mumbled, walking back to the camp.

-With Darren-

Darren scowled, laying on his hammock, staring at the ceiling, "What are we suppose to do now?" he asked to Harkat when Darren heard him enter.

"Eat your breakfast, you haven't…eaten in days." Harkat said, shoving the plate in his face. (A/N: If you want to know, everything else below in this chapter I had to write twice because my computer is a sped… just a little fun fact)

Darren looked down at his food, sighing, "Yeah… I guess you're right, it's just that, without Vancha, who's going to make sure I don't mess up like I did last night. I mean…" he said between bites of bacon, "You should have seen it, I was just standing there on Main Street, just standing there! And then TOMMY caught me, what if he recognized me? Then what?"

"It was just… bad luck." Harkat said, trying to assure Darren, "I'm sure you won't see anyone else you used to know."

Darren forced a smile and looked up from his plate, "Thanks… but what would really cheer me up right now is some more eggs." Harkat smiled back, that was his accomplishment for the day, getting Darren out of the tent.

As they walked out of the tent, they were met with the usual hustle of The Cirque, "I guess breakfast is over…" Darren said, surveying the view, "Hey, do you think that I'll have to help get food for the other Little People?" He asked, not sure what would do to help out, like all the others.

Harkat shrugged, "I think only Evra's kids have been doing that, but you know this town, maybe you could help." He was right, they weren't in the country anymore and stray animals were harder to come by.

Darren smiled and looked back at Harkat, "Thanks." And then he was off to find the kids. The most logical place to find food for the Little People was in the old theatre. There were probably lot's of rats around there somewhere.

An hour later, him and the kids were done, he was right, there were lots of rats in the basement. The hard part was GETTING to the basement. He had gone first, and do to that, he was now covered in scratches and scrapes from the old theatre, that place was like a death trap… but it was a good thing the audience didn't realize that. He needed to go to Truska's tent and see if she could sew him some new clothes. The reasons why were obvious, he was trying to be unnoticed, but that was somewhat impossible when it looks like you just got out of the lion's cage at the zoo… Speaking of being noticed, when he first went in the front entrance of the theatre he saw a couple of people on the street staring at him, but no one recognized him, that or they thought they were going insane, seeing a dead person, looking older then the way he looked the day he died.

Anyway, as he walked to Truska's tent, he thought again to the Tommy experience, promising himself he wouldn't run into anyone else he knew. He was standing at the entrance of Truska's tent now, about to call her name, but then heard a voice from inside, but before he could think about it…

BAM

He was plowed down by someone coming through the doorway.

-From Annie's View-

Annie gathered up her stuff and stuffed all of it in her pockets, "Thank you for assisting in repairing the costumes." Truska said as she waved goodbye.

Annie waved back, "You're welcome, but thank YOU for teaching me how to sew." She turned to leave, and right as she went through the doorway…

BAM!

She totally plowed through someone on the other side and made them, along with herself, fall, "Oh god, I'm sorry, I didn't see you there!" she said, standing up and swinging the hair from her face, "Are you-" she stopped in mid sentence, "-okay?"

Right on the ground, a person looked up at her, both of them shocked at the other, "Da-Darren? Is that you?" She asked, almost falling to the ground again. So many things were going through her mind, Is that really Darren? But- but he's suppose to be dead, no… it can't be…

"Damn…" the person muttered, rubbing his forehead. He got up, they were both the same height. Then, after sighing again, he looked her straight in the eyes and said sadly, "Hey Annie… it's been awhile, how's it going?" Was the only thing he could say.

And Annie stared at him, mouth open, and did the only logical thing a normal person would do…
…She fainted…

-Darren-

"Oh crap… oh crap… oh crap," Darren said, pacing around his tent, Annie just beginning to stir in the hammock he placed her in when she fainted, "God… what am I suppose to do!" He thought about it… 'Hey Annie! Sorry I've been gone for so long! I've been trying to kill Steve Leopard, by the way, I'm a vampire! So, have you been doing good in school?' He mentally slapped himself, "No…" he muttered, "This is a serious issue. This is not good… NOT GOOD!" He growled but was interrupted by a small couch. He turned to see Annie, trying to sit up in the hammock.

"Ug… what happened?" she said, rubbing her head and looking around the room with only one eye open, but her eye stopped on Darren, then she opened the other one, he was staring back, "Darren?" She asked, still a bit woozy.

"Um…. Hello Annie…" Darren said, not sure how she was going to react.
She got up, still in awe, and walked over to him, poking at his arm, "So you are alive…"

He looked away, "Well… more or less, but-"

But he was interrupted by the look in her eyes, her eyebrows stitched together as she did something he wasn't expecting… she slapped him across the face.

(A/N: Done with the chapter. I hope you like it. I promise I'll update again it at MOST 2 weeks. More suggestions are welcome, again, Review please, I want to know what you think about how this chapter went (I'm a bit rusty) but besides the fact it could have been longer, I liked it…)