"Christo… you're an idiot," I said simply.
"Why?" Christo asked, shocked.
"Who's stupid idea was it to blood you as a half-vampaneze?" I asked, they'd only just broken the news to me and I think I'd taken it pretty well so far.
"Mine I guess, but…" Christo said uncomfortably.
"But what? God Christo, you always had to copy what I did! I can't escape from you!" I tutted.
"I didn't copy you, I'm half-vampaneze and you're half-vampire… plus I was blooded before you anyway," Christo said irritably.
"How long have you been a half-vampaneze?" I asked, I was getting more and more wound up now.
"Since just after mum… died," Christo said, choosing his words carefully, "Jasper told me you knew about that. I've been a half-vampaneze for almost three years now."
"What? Oh this is great! This is perfect!" I said, throwing my arms up in the air despairingly, a habit that I had caught off of Sparcalo. "I'll be in my room!"
I emerged half an hour later when I heard Jasper yelling.
"Get off of me! Help!"
I ran downstairs to find Christo sat on top of Jasper, pinning him to the ground.
"What's going on?" I demanded.
"Give me a hand Sis," Christo panted, struggling to keep Jasper on the floor.
"What with?" I asked.
"Just pass me that mug," Christo said desperately. I passed him a mug full of blood that had been sitting on the coffee table and watched as he held Jasper's nose, forced his mouth open and started to pour the liquid down Jasper's throat. Jasper coughed and spluttered, trying to spit it out but Christo was too quick and shut his mouth again so he had to swallow. When Christo was sure that Jasper had swallowed he got off of him and Jasper struggled to his feet, gagging.
"What was all that about?" I asked.
"He hasn't drunk blood for a week, he needed it, I have to force-feed him," Christo explained. Jasper turned pale and ran for the bathroom, we could hear him retching over the toilet.
"Is there any point if he's just going to throw it up again?" I said.
"His body has already taken what it needs out of the blood before it comes back up anyway." Christo explained. The phone started to ring.
"I've got it!" Kealan yelled from the kitchen and there was a bang as he collided with something in his haste to get to the phone. "It's for you!" he yelled.
"For who?" Christo yelled back.
"For Ember!" Kealan bellowed. I rolled my eyes and went to see who wanted me.
"Hello?" I asked as I picked up the phone.
"Ember it's Georgia, there's an emergency, we've lost Finch," Georgia said, sounding worried.
"What do you mean you've lost him?" I sighed.
"His brother doesn't know where he is, he didn't come home from school and he hasn't phoned me at all, it's not like him," Georgia explained.
"He's probably at J.J.'s house, maybe he got carried away and forgot to call," I suggested.
"J.J.'s with me, he hasn't seen him either, you've got to help us look for him!" Georgia sounded desperate.
"Of course I will, he was supposed to be coming over to mine but what with everything at school we didn't get round to it," I said.
"What happened?" Georgia asked, "You completely freaked out in Textiles, we thought you were having like a nervous breakdown."
"It doesn't matter, I'll tell you all when we find Finch, I'm on my way round now," I said quickly and put the phone down.
It was getting late and the air was cold, the only light was provided by the street lamps and the shop windows. I'd been searching for almost an hour and a half but had found no sign of Finch, neither had Georgia or J.J. My heart suddenly leapt as I heard a familiar voice coming from round the corner.
"Please, just another half an hour!" it begged.
"I'm sorry young man but we have to close," a female voice said sternly and then I heard Finch cursing loudly. I rounded the corner and saw him stood outside the library doors with his bag slung over his shoulder and a stack of books tucked under one arm.
"Finch?" I asked gently, walking over to him. He was in a bit of a state, there was something definitely wrong.
"Ember?" he asked, whipping round to face me.
"What are you doing?" I asked, smiling, "You've had us all really worried."
"Stay away from me Ember!" Finch snapped, backing away until he was pressed against the library doors.
"What's wrong?" I asked, the smile fading from my lips.
"I just don't want you near me," Finch said quietly.
"If it's about Textiles I'm sorry, it was an accident, I was having a bad day and I was stressed." I sighed.
"And then you get sent to the head and half an hour later he's found unconscious with his office window smashed in," Finch mumbled.
"That was nothing to do with me," I lied. I took a step forward.
"Stay where you are, I don't want you near me!" Finch shrieked.
"I told you that was nothing to do with me, I didn't even know about it!" I said desperately.
"Shut up! Stop lying! You're always lying!" Finch yelled.
"I'm not lying! Please believe me!" I begged, "You're my best friend!"
"Stop with the act already Ember, I know what you are, I've always known I just didn't want to believe it but after today it was obvious, I did some research and I know now that it's true for sure," Finch growled.
"What's true?" I asked quietly, dreading the answer.
"You're a vampire," Finch whispered.
"What a load of rubbish, vampires aren't real," I said quickly.
"Come on Ember! The scars, the athletic speed, remember sports day? Then there was the thing in Textiles today Ember, you're too strong to be a regular kid, you're too strong to even be human, and you're not!" Finch insisted.
"I don't have to listen to this!" I cried and turned to walk away only to be stopped by someone blocking my way.
"Christo!" I exclaimed, surprised.
"You're busted Sis," Christo shrugged.
"Go away!" I hissed.
"Surely you can't leave him there if he knows," Christo said disapprovingly.
"I can't do anything about it," I whispered.
"I can though," Christo said and without warning he raced past me and grabbed Finch who didn't have a clue what to do, Christo was too fast and Finch didn't have time to react. I turned quickly to see Finch struggling against Christo who had one arm round his neck and the other clamped over his mouth. Finch dropped the books that he had under his arm and his face turned deadly pale, I'd never seen anyone so scared.
"What are you doing!" I cried.
"I'm hungry, this way we kill two birds with one stone," Christo laughed.
"No!" I screamed but Christo had already sliced a vein in Finch's neck and began to suck the wound dry. Finch wriggled desperately, there were frightened tears streaming down his face.
"Stop it!" I shrieked but Christo ignored me and carried on drinking. Finch was breathing faster than I'd ever seen anyone breathe before and I could hear his muffled screams under Christo's hand. "Christo stop!" I cried, the tears streaming down my face, my brother was killing my best friend. Again Christo ignored me, I made a quick decision and ran at him, knocking him over. Finch collapsed to the ground and I wrestled with Christo for a while.
"Stop it you'll waste him!" Christo whined.
"I told you to stop and you didn't!" I screamed, "He's my best friend!"
"He was your best friend," Christo corrected with a sigh.
"You didn't kill him," I whispered, trying to convince myself more than anything. I stood up and looked at Finch's body, which was lying on the ground, it was very still. "You didn't kill him," I said again. Christo stood up and wandered over to the body, he knelt down in front of it and lifted Finch's head, ready to drink again.
"Leave him alone!" I snapped.
"There's no point in wasting good blood," Christo reasoned.
"You monster!" I spat," You don't have any respect for life, to you humans are just things, just animals put there for your leisure aren't they!" I said accusingly. Christo didn't say anything, just stared at me. I went over to Finch and knelt next to him beside Christo, I put my hand on his chest expecting to feel nothing but then I felt a heartbeat. It was slow and distant but it was there, Finch was alive!
"You didn't kill him," I said quietly, "He's not dead!"
"Not yet, but he doesn't have long," Christo shrugged.
"We need to call an ambulance," I insisted and took my mobile phone out of my pocket.
"I'm not calling a damn ambulance!" Christo said as if the idea was crazy.
"We have to," I replied.
"No way," Christo snatched my phone from me.
"Give it back!" I cried, "He'll die!"
"Let him die, it doesn't matter," Christo sighed.
"I hate you, you make me sick," I cried, hardly believing what I was hearing, "You're not my brother!"
"Who'd want to be the brother of a pathetic little Borth like you?" Christo snapped, loosing his cool.
"Take that back, how dare you!" I snarled.
"I wouldn't say anything that wasn't true, that Kurda was a Borth and deserved everything he got and you're a Borth as well, any Vampaneze who lived as shamefully as you did would be got rid of!" Christo growled.
"What about Jasper?" I asked quietly.
"Jasper will get what's coming to him eventually," Christo said and then turned on his heel and walked off, leaving me with Finch who was slowly bleeding to death. I spat on my fingers and rubbed it into the cut on Finch's neck but I was only half-vampire and my spit didn't have the healing properties that full- vampire spit has.
"Help!" I yelled, I didn't want to leave Finch but he needed help and quickly. "Help!"
I waited five minutes but nobody came, it was too late, people didn't like to walk the streets at night. I had to make a decision right there and then, I couldn't take him to hospital, the next one was fourteen miles away and I didn't have my phone to call an ambulance. But I couldn't carry him back to Kealan's either, it was too far for me to carry him and I didn't know whether it was safe to move him, plus Christo would be there.
Ten minutes had passed, I was desperate now, I needed to do something quickly or Finch would die. That's when I was helped by the last person I ever expected. I didn't know who it was at first, a man just rushed towards me without saying a word, he made no sound as he moved, it was creepy. He knelt next to me beside Finch's body, checked his pulse and then took a mobile phone out of the pocket of the black jeans he was wearing. He dialled the number and asked for an ambulance, I watched him in silence. He finished the call and put the mobile phone back into his pocket.
"The ambulance is on it's way," he said, I recognised his face but his voice didn't ring any bells.
"Thank you," I said quietly.
"You don't know who I am do you?" the man asked, smiling.
"I don't think so," I replied.
"I'll give you a clue, you know who I am but you don't know me," the man said, I didn't like this game.
"Are you some kind of celebrity?" I asked, grasping at anything, I was sure I'd seen his face before but where?
"No, not quite, not yet," the man said.
"Then who?" I asked.
"I'll see if you're intelligent enough to work it out for yourself Ember, if you're not then I won't be needing you," the man said, his eyes were gleaming, he was enjoying this.
"Were you a teacher at my old school?" I guessed.
"No, I taught you but teaching wasn't my profession," the man laughed.
"What did you teach me?" I asked, intrigued.
"Ah, that would be telling, but lets just say without the knowledge I gave you, you wouldn't be what you are today," the man said mysteriously. I thought for a moment, studying the mans face closely, dark hair and dark eyes, a pale face, I made the features younger, the image not so rugged and I had him pinned. I couldn't believe it was him, it was really him, I'd finally met him. Then I stopped, remembering what he'd said to me last time we had chatted and I stood up and started to back away.
"Clever girl, you know who I am now, don't you?" Steve said, smiling. I nodded wordlessly and continued to back away.
"Don't worry, I've changed," Steve said, I stopped backing away but didn't come any closer, there was something about him I didn't trust. "Actually you'd be surprised how much I have changed." Steve added and held up his hands, palms towards me. He had a long scar running down each finger, I'd never been so relieved to see the mark of the vampires. I sighed and took a few steps towards him.
"Surely not," I breathed, smiling.
"I know, amazing isn't it?" Steve grinned.
"You were following me," I said, he must have been.
"Ever since I got your last e-mail, I know about Kealan, I know about Jasper, I know about Christo, I know about your human friends, I know about your school, I checked up on you Ember."
"Why?" I asked.
"Because we're so similar, we want the same thing," Steve replied.
"What is that exactly?"
"Remember when we last talked and I said that I hated vampires because two of them had ruined my life? Well one of them was once my best friend, he betrayed me, he took what I wanted out of spite and now I want revenge, he's a half-vampire, I think you have the displeasure of knowing him," Steve said.
"Darren Shan," I muttered. Steve screwed up his face and then spat on the ground.
"I hate even hearing his foul name!" he growled.
"I know how you feel, he killed every friend that I had ever had before I met Kealan, unless you count Jasper. He betrayed another of his friends to the vampire clan calling him a traitor and a murderer and the vampires killed him and his followers, they were like my family," I sighed.
"He ruins things doesn't he?" Steve said quietly.
"I'll ruin him, I'll make him wish he had never lived," I hissed.
"Get in line," Steve muttered, "I'm planning his downfall, you're quite welcome to watch. Before your e-mail I didn't have a clue where I would find him, it would have taken me a long time to track him down but now thanks to you I know where he is. I've been able to fill in the blanks of what he's been up to since I last saw him until the present day, his stay with the freak show, his trip to Vampire Mountain, his promotion," Steve said.
"Promotion? What promotion?" I asked.
"I take it you didn't know they made him a vampire prince," Steve sighed.
"What!" I screamed, "No! They can't do that! That was supposed to have been Kurda's job, that promotion was meant for Kurda! Shan wasn't even a general, he was just a little weasel runt!"
"Calm down," Steve said but there was no authority in his voice.
"I can't calm down, my bloods boiling, I hope for his sake that I never get within ten miles of him or there'll be nothing left of him except his eyes! I'll make him watch while I carve his body into little pieces and feed them to a wolf because thanks to him I no longer have a dog!" I shrieked.
"I'm liking you more and more," Steve giggled. That was when we heard the sirens in the distance announcing the arrival of the ambulance, Steve looked worried.
"I need to go," he said quickly. "Before nosy paramedics start asking me questions."
"I understand," I replied.
"I'll come and get you tomorrow," Steve told me.
"I'm at school tomorrow," I said.
"So, I'll pull you out, how about half twelve?" Steve smiled.
" Call it twelve so I miss maths and you're on," I replied, returning the smile. Steve bowed his head and then turned on his heel and walked quickly away.
When I had made sure that Finch was safely on his way to hospital I sat down to think, I didn't want to return home. I was terrified I'd end up doing something I'd regret to Christo, he was my brother and I loved him but he wasn't quite as I'd remembered, pain and sorrow had given him a startling new makeover. I made my way to the beach and sat for a long time on the sand, waiting for the sun to come up. When it finally did I ran home and climbed through the window to get my school uniform and a bottle of blood, with that I went and stood outside the school gates for a long time. I was actually dreading going into school, for one thing I'd have to face Mr. Brian and try and explain to him what had happened the previous day. For another thing I didn't know how much Georgia and J.J. knew about what had happened to Finch, it could be quite awkward. The good thing was, thanks to Steve I was only having to do less than half a day. I didn't know how he was going to pull it off, the security at my school is pretty tight and Steve wasn't the most trustworthy looking guy on the planet as it was. In fact I wasn't sure if I yet trusted him completely, I somehow felt like he wanted me to be a little brush stroke on a very big picture and I wasn't quite sure why he'd singled me out. I've always been quite good at guessing how people are feeling and what they are thinking and to me, from my first impressions, it seemed that Steve was forever plotting. Forever searching, forever trying to figure out if he pulled one thread how would it effect him in the long run. It was an admirable quality, it's clever and smart to be such a deep thinker and plan so far ahead but it's also dangerous because people like that can be up to anything. They can do anything and you wouldn't find out until it came up to you, waved and then shot you with a machine gun. And it would only be in those last few seconds as you took your last breaths that you'd figure it out, and of course, by then, it's too late, you've already gone.
I didn't spot Georgia or J.J. until just as the bell for the end of registration sounded. I had double science first and had to make my way over to the lab block, which was just behind the office corridor. The office corridor was where all the teacher's offices were and also where main reception was, that was when I saw Georgia and J.J. with Finch's older brother. They were talking in hushed voices to Mrs. Harnick, the lady who worked in the reception area. I wandered over to them.
"Mark! Mark! How's Finch?" I asked, quickly.
"Alive, thank Christ," Mark said, turning to face me.
"Has he said anything?" I said. J.J. and Georgia looked uncomfortable and Mark pretended he hadn't heard the question.
"You had better get to class Ember," Mrs. Harnick said, sounding stern but she smiled gently.
"You two go with her, I'll sort it out here," Mark said and Georgia, J.J. and me all headed for the lab block together. I was walking quite fast, trying to get to class quickly before awkward questions were asked. I still hadn't figured out what I was going to tell them yet.
"Hey what's your hurry to get to science?" Georgia asked. I shrugged.
"I like science," I replied, which wasn't a complete lie.
"With Mr. Ovo? Are you crazy?" J.J. asked.
"Mr. Ovo's nice enough," I said defensively.
"He's a murderer," Georgia said matter-of-factly.
"No he's not," I snorted, I was glad we hadn't launched into a conversation about Finch so I wanted to keep this going.
"Yes he is, everyone knows he is," J.J. said, grinning, he was about to tell a gory story, I knew it. "Before he became a teacher he used to slit people's stomachs open and take out all their organs, he used to keep all the blood in bottles in his fridge and then sell them to sicko's and joke shop owners, apparently he made a bomb. Then he got caught and had to run away from the police and he went undercover as a science teacher."
"You're mad," I laughed.
"Of course I am," J.J. replied and bowed.
"Look, if we don't get going Mr. Ovo's going to kill us!" Georgia sighed and we all started to walk quickly again.
It turned out that Mr. Ovo didn't kill us, in fact he didn't say a word as we walked into the classroom while he was on a rant about forensic science. His was one of the rare classes that was silent apart from the teacher's voice. He had a way of teaching that gripped you, even if you weren't a great lover of the subject you couldn't help but get drawn in to what he was saying. He always appeared to know more about individuals than he let on, like he was able to read minds. For example: I can remember one lesson when Finch was down because Mark had threatened to send him back to his parents once again, Mr. Ovo handed back our quiz results and smiled at Finch as he handed him his.
"Let your brother see the report I'm writing for you and Scotland will seem like a long, long way of buddy," he had said quietly. Finch stared at him open-mouthed, he'd only ever told Georgia, J.J. and me about living with his brother.
"He's psychic," Finch whispered to us.
"Don't be stupid, he's a teacher, he got the info from your file," Georgia said dismissing the idea.
"Just seems a bit of a coincidence that he should say that today though," Finch mumbled.
I got lost in what Mr. Ovo was saying about how slowly fat burns, everything else was pushed right to the back of my mind until there was a knock on the classroom door.
"I wonder who that could be, let's open the magic door and find out," Mr. Ovo said in the way of a tots TV presenter. We all laughed.
"Oi! Come in or get lost!" Mr. Ovo yelled. Mr. Brian walked in and Mr. Ovo turned scarlet, I don't think he'd meant to tell the head teacher to get lost!
"Err… J.J. you shouldn't shout at the door like that, it's rude," he said, quickly and smiled innocently at Mr. Brian.
"Sorry for disturbing your class Mr. Ovo," Mr. Brian said, formally.
"No problem, what can I do you for Mr. B?" Mr. Ovo said, brightly.
"Could I take Ember Jenkins for a moment?" he asked. I gulped and silently begged for Mr. Ovo to say no.
"Of course, is this about the you-know-what that happened yesterday?" Mr. Ovo asked, obviously intrigued.
"Err… yes," Mr. Brian said, I don't think he liked Mr. Ovo much.
"Go on then Ember," Mr. Ovo said, he gave me a strange look as I walked past him. "And Ember?"
"Yes sir?" I asked.
"How's your cat?" he asked. I saw Mr. Brian frown.
"I don't have a cat sir," I replied.
"Dog?" Mr. Ovo said.
"Err… no sir," I mumbled, why was he asking me about animals?
"How about a chinchilla?"
"No sir, I don't have any pets," I said.
"Ah, well, that explains a lot," Mr. Ovo said, smiling. "Off you go then, behave, bye!" he called as I started out of the door with a confused looking Mr. Brian. Mr. Ovo waved and I waved back, then Mr. Ovo burst out laughing for no reason at all. He was absolutely barking mad!
Mr. Brian didn't even bother taking me to his off, he just walked a little way down the corridor and turned to face me.
"I need a description of the man that broke into my office yesterday and an account of what happened." He said.
"I didn't see his face, he was wearing a mask," I lied, "He smashed the window and broke in and then when he knocked you out Kealan… err… my dad and me ran away, he chased us but we shook him off."
"I thought as much," Mr. Brian sighed. "Are you alright?"
I was surprised by the question, Mr. Brian didn't seem the caring type but I think the break in had shocked him and he expected that it had one the same to me.
"It had me a bit rattled sir," I said, faking being shaken, "But I think I'm alright."
"Good girl, you'd best get back to class," Mr. Brian said and gave me a rare smile. He seemed to have forgotten why I was in his office the previous day and that suited me fine. I went back to science and the apparently messed up Mr. Ovo. Maybe he really was a psycho killer, he wasn't all there anyway!
At the end of the lesson we always played a game on the interactive whiteboard, it involved us splitting into two teams with a leader for each team. There was an open science question at the bottom of the board and when you pressed play objects and words started to fall from the top of the screen. The leader's of each team could control the little person at the bottom of the board and they had to collect all the words and objects related to the science question before they hit the bottom. Ten hits and the team leader lost. We played for five minutes at the end of every double lesson and so far my team was tragically loosing… by quite a lot.
"You need a good player, you're not doing to good," Mr. Ovo said to my team in a stage whisper. "Use someone with good reflexes this time!"
Several people put their hands up, I didn't bother, I preferred to watch but by the way Mr. Ovo looked at me I knew he wanted me to play today.
"Ember? I've heard you're quite fast, want a go?" he asked.
"Not particularly sir, I'm only fast on the racetrack," I said, quietly.
"Prove it," Mr. Ovo dared. I shook my head but I was forced to go up when he got the whole class chanting my name.
"Fine!" I snapped. If he wanted me to play, then I'd play. The problem was that I wasn't one for deliberately losing anything, I was very competitive, and with my vampire speed I didn't receive a single hit. Meanwhile Harry Gibson, reigning champion was thrashed within two minutes. My team cheered and Harry's team groaned.
"Very impressive," Mr. Ovo said, smiling. " In fact I don't think I've ever seen anybody do it so fast!"
The way he was looking at me made me feel uncomfortable and I was relieved when the bell for the end of the lesson sounded. I practically sprinted out of the classroom. Georgia caught up with me half way down the corridor so I slowed down.
"What's up with Mr. Ovo, have you upset him?" she asked.
"I don't think so," I replied.
"Maybe he heard about Finch and felt sorry for you," Georgia suggested.
"Yeah, that must be it," I replied but didn't really believe it.
I went to drama after break, Miss. Utherford was holding the first auditions for the school play the following day so she spent most of the lesson talking about what she wanted done if we were interested in joining in with the play. I hoped that Finch was back in school by tomorrow because he wanted to be in the play so much, he'd already worked out that if, no, when he got the lead role he was going to ask Miss. Utherford if he could bring his cat into school for the play and use him as a prop. If he was still in hospital he'd be missing his cat, it was amazing that Sebastien hadn't been with him when I cornered him the night before outside the library, it showed how worked up he must have been. We had finally started on some practical work in drama when Mrs. Harnick called me out of class.
"Your uncle has come to pick you up, he said you knew about it," she said. It took me a moment to work out what she meant but then I twigged that Steve must have been pretending to be a relative. I nodded and followed Mrs. Harnick to reception where Steve was waiting.
"Thanks," he said to her and then he put an arm round my shoulder and steered me out to the school gates.
"Don't say a word until I say it's ok," Steve hissed through gritted teeth, "There's a security camera hidden above the gate, it monitors the whole street outside so smile and act natural."
I did as I was told, surprised at the sudden news that we were being watched, the school gang would pay very well for this information, it was a good job I had good contacts within the group.
"We're ok now," Steve said eventually. He took his arm away from my shoulders and stopped.
"Where are we going now?" I asked.
"The apartment I'm staying in at the moment, it's a few towns away but a great location for what I'm doing," Steve said, smiling at me.
"Are you on your own?" I said.
"Never, I'm well protected," Steve grinned. "By the way, when you meet R.V. don't stare at his hands, keep your mouth shut," he added in an undertone. I wasn't sure what he meant but I nodded anyway.