But what if he is not the Darren I know and love?

The same body yes, but his mind and soul could be warped with evil beyond comprehension.

I myself feel at the brink of insanity.

I have no-one.

No true family. The ones I loved are dead, stolen from me.

Death stalks me, lashing out but missing, his scythe penetrating the people who love me most, who protect me.

I am home, in my town, but no place is a home for me any longer.

The edge of reason escapes my grasp constantly.

I need an explanation, a scapegoat if you will, and I feel only one person holds the true answer.

Steve. Steve Leonard.

I arrived at Steve's house early in the morning and knocked on the door. Steve opened it and gasped when he saw me.

"Annie? What the hell are you doing here?"

"Thanks for the effusive welcome."

"Sorry... It's just last thing I heard you were missing."

"Cut the wishy-washy crap. The Spider, The Cirque du Freak, tell me everything. Now."

Steve had told me everything. Larten Crepsley A.K.A. Vur Horston was a Vampire. I laughed long and hard. Steve's face had grown very red and he looked quite angry, but he calmed himself and raised his hands in a gentle surrender sign. I saw ten scars on his fingertips but didn't bother to enquire.

"So Darren has followed this Crepsley guy and is training to be a ‚Vampire'?" I asked mockingly.

"Yes. He cheated me out of the position." Steve said with a scowl on his face.

Something came to my attention.

"Where's your Mum?"

"What? Oh. She's... asleep."

"OK. I've gotta go."

"Where exactly?"

"I'm gonna hit the road again. And I have something else to do too."

"You wanna find Crepsley?"

"Well not now. But soon yeah."

Steve took a book off the shelf and opened it to a page. He turned to a photocopier in the corner and quickly made a copy.

"Here."

"Oh, thanks."

There was a picture of a tall man. He had a long scar running down his face. The Eiffel tower was behind him as he stood with a pretty woman in a long dress.

"I gotta go. See you later."

"OK." He said. "Bye."

I walked swiftly across the layer of fallen leaves.

The sombre mood seemed to sharpen my senses. It was night-time. I laughed a mirthless, cold laugh. The stuff of horror movies. But I was scared no longer. I looked over the graves.

The Shans

Husband, Wife and Son

Reunited in Heaven

I was not at the funeral. I had run away, too busy thinking of Darren and my obsession to worry about the death of my parents. I feel as if I missed my chance to grieve. I had not cried for them. Not once.

A single snowflake fell lazily from the sky, and fluttered onto the ground, then disappeared.

"The first snow of winter." A voice said from behind me.

I whirled around. It was a very short man. He wore a yellow suit and wellington boots.

"Well you're certainly prepared." I said, pointing at his boots.

He ignored the jibe.

"You know," he began, "people are very like snowflakes."

I can't deny I was intrigued. "Go on."

"Each one is an individual. Each choses it's own path to fall to the ground. They spiral around rather aimlessly. Sometimes they are taken before their time." He said, reaching for one in the air and grabbing it inbetween his thumb and forefinger."Then again, the wind may blow them off course, sending them on a detour, or a new destiny that awaits them."

"But snowflakes aren't people." I said bluntly, cutting short his speech.

"Maybe not, but you both have a destiny. The snowflake's destiny is to fall and melt, a human's may be different, but they both still die in the end. Think on that Anna Shan. I leave you to your business."

I looked down at the grave again, by the time I looked up the man was gone. I looked down once more.

A tear slid down my cheek.