Disclaimer: I don't own Darren or Mr. Crepsley (they belong to Darren Shan), nor do I own Faith (she belongs to ... whoever wrote for Buffy).

It couldn't be. Not after all this time. I took in his appearance – there was no mistaking it. He had the same messy dirty blonde hair, the same grey-blue eyes. I couldn't believe it. "Aries?"

He grinned and let go of me, his arms dropping to his sides. It'd been almost 10 years since the last time I saw him. He'd changed so much since then. His skin had paled to an almost ivory color, and he was obviously much stronger. There was no mistaking what he'd become. It almost made me sad that he'd been changed. I smiled sadly. "When did it happen, Aries?"

His expression hardened, but relaxed a bit when he looked out towards the street. "A few months ago," he murmured. The serious face melted away and he looked back up at me. "But that's not important now. How've you been!" he asked excitedly.

I narrowed my eyes. How could he change the subject like that! "Nuh-uh. I'm not saying a word until you tell me what happened."

He arched an eyebrow. "Why do you want to know?"

"You're my friend!" I frowned, "Well… at least… you used to be. But that's not the point. I care about you enough to know why you… you…"

"Died?"

"For lack of a better word…yes. So come on. Tell me why you died."

He didn't move; just stared at me. My eyes narrowed, again. "You're telling me."

"Or what?" he laughed.

"Or…or…" I sighed, "Just tell me. Please?"

He gazed down at me for awhile. It was kind of getting uncomfortable – for me, at least – kind of awkward. But then, he smirked and shook his head slightly. "Fine."

He sighed and watched the sidewalk as it slid smoothly beneath him. I waited for a minute or two. I had to know why and how this happened. Don't ask me why, I just needed to know.

"After you moved away," he started, "my family and I moved back to Baton Rouge. It was fine for awhile, but then… my parents started to fight. It wasn't anything to serious; just the regular stuff that parents fight about, I guess. And it never really got any worse. It was just constant; every day, usually about the same things. I guess it just got to be too much for my mom, after awhile.

"A few months after I turned eight, my parents split up. My bastard of a father had been sleeping around with his secretary. He took the house, the car, and most of the money. My mom, my sister and I had hardly anything left.

"So, my mom decided that we could live in motels with the money we had, she'd take on three jobs to support us, and we'd stay in school for as long as we could. It was a fairly good idea. Although my sister's and my grades suffered a little bit with mom's absence, we got enough money and found a cheap trailer park somewhere near New Orleans about a year later. We bought this shabby looking trailer; it was the best our limited money could buy.

"It was pretty rough from then on. After a couple of years my mom got depressed. She started buying booze with a little bit of the money she got from her paychecks. She'd drink a lot, never caring if my sister or I saw her drunk. After awhile, the alcohol wasn't enough for her. She started buying drugs, almost anything she could get her hands on, to try to ease away the sadness. Needless to say, a lot of the money went away. It got to the point where I had to drop out of school. That was enough for me. School, ironically, was one of the best places I could be at that time. I didn't have to deal with mom, or our lack of money and food. When I was at school, I could forget about all the problems going on for a few hours a day. I'd study for as long as I could at home and did my homework as perfect as I could, just so I wouldn't have to walk out of the room I shared with my sister and see the wreck mom had become."

Aries frowned slightly, his eyebrows hardly moving at all. His voice had quieted by then.

"After five years I'd had enough." His voice was barely above a whisper. "I remember being so ready for everything to end…" His eyes darted to mine. After a moment, they shifted back to the pavement. He sighed. "So, one night I left. I wasn't really sure what I was going to do with myself. I wanted to kill myself so badly, but I was afraid to go through with it. I knew I couldn't go back to that hell hole. There was nothing for me there anymore. Then I figured I should just walk around for awhile, give myself a chance to cool off before I went and did anything rash.

"When I finally did calm down, I was far away from home. Somehow I'd managed to walk to the French quarter. I decided that I could try to find a room for the night. Not sure what I was thinking; what sort of motel is going to let some kid who has no money at all use one of their rooms? So, obviously, I hadn't found a place to stay. I'd gotten really hungry after a couple hours. It got to a point where my stomach had started to actually burn in hunger. But I was way more exhausted than hungry, so I decided to stay under the balcony of one of the hotels I'd tried to get a room in. It was then that he found me."

A bitter smile darkened Aries face. "Somehow he knew my name. He asked me if I was hungry, and when I said no, he brought me to one of the few restaurants that were still open. He bought me a meal and asked me why I was out on the streets. And me, being the idiot I was, told him everything."

Aries sighed and shook his head. "He got me a room in one of the better hotels nearby. I would've thanked him, but apparently I passed out before I could even get to the room; I don't remember ever actually going in the room.

"The next morning when I woke up, I wasn't in some hotel in New Orleans anymore. I was in a big mansion, but aside from that I had no idea where I was," he laughed suddenly, "I remember being really bored that day. The door to the room had been locked from the outside so there was no escaping for me."

His smile slowly dwindled and vanished from his face completely, leaving his face expressionless. "Then, he came back for me that night. The guy told me his name, and I immediately knew what he was. I begged him to change me; to take me away from the short life I hated so much. He'd refused at first, looking back on it; I guess he'd always meant to change me. He was probably just waiting for the right moment… Anyway, after I'd pestered him for awhile he made me a deal. He said that if I could hold up my end of the bargain, then he'd keep his word and make me like him. And, obviously, I did."

He looked at me and a smile crept across his face. "But enough about me, what've you been up to?"

I blinked. "A-Aries… I'm so sorry." Before I realized what I was doing, my arms had wrapped themselves around Aries and my head rested against his chest.

He froze, then, hesitantly, he hugged me back. "It… It's okay."

"Neesha?"

I looked to the side. "Darren?"

"Neesha?" I blinked, again. No way…

"Mr. Crepsley?" Aries asked, shocked.

"…Aries?"

Aries and I shared a glance then looked back to Darren and the man standing next to him. The man was clothed completely in dark red, making his skin look three times whiter than it probably was. A crop of orange hair sat on the top of his head and a long scar stretched down his left cheek to his lips, giving the illusion that his mouth stretched halfway up his face. Huh… he kind of looks like a candy cane…

The man stepped forward, curling his index finger under my chin. "My God," he murmured, "you've grown so much." He turned to Aries. "And you…"

"Larten, do you know them?" Darren asked incredulously. Uh-oh… looks like someone's been left in the dark.

"Not as much as I thought I did," he ripped his eyes away from Aries and turned back to Darren, "Why do you think I told you to follow her?"

I scowled. "You asked him to follow me? What, do you think I can't take care of myself?"

He turned to face me. "Well, you are hugging a vampire. That makes me think you could use a little help." He grinned. Charming; he looks like 'It'.

I rolled my eyes and pulled away from Aries. "We haven't seen each other in near 10 years, Larten. Give us a break," Aries said softly.

"Wait a second," Darren walked up to the three of us, "How do you know them?"

"I was friends with Neesha's parents, and I visited often in the first few years of Neesha's life," Larten said fondly.

I smiled sadly – Aries did, too. Things had been so much simpler before…

"It's getting late," I mumbled, "I should really go home." Larten nodded, and I said goodbye to Darren and Aries. I'd taken two steps when a hand grabbed my arm. "I'll be seeing you again, right?" Aries asked quietly. The other two were already halfway down the street.

"Of course," I laughed.

He grinned and let go of my arm. "See you around." I nodded and turned away, towards the direction of my house.

Faith wasn't there when I got home. Nadia was in the kitchen, trying to make macaroni and cheese without burning it. James, Faith's 11 year old son, was lounging on the couch, watching TV. I walked down the hall to the room Nadia and I shared. After I'd shut the door behind me, I leaned against the white wood, eyes shut. All I could think about was what had happened to Aries. I'd always be sorry for what happened to him. He didn't deserve it. I sighed. "And so it begins."

A/N: Well, that was icky. It's a filler chapter but still... bad. Much wierdness at the end, I think. Meh. Alrighty. I won't waste anymore of you're time.