Half term, which means it's the return of the chapters. Now, when I get a laptop, hopefully this year, I'll be update a lot more regularly, which might mean a chapter or two maybe every month. So, stay hopeful!

By the way, this has nothing to do with Darren Shan, but:

I NEED MORE PEOPLE AT THE FARTEMIT OWL FORUM! READ AND VISIT!


Chapter 6. – The Coffin of Fire

There was a stunned silence. Everyone was shocked at the sudden death of their former leader. Nothing was left of him; not even ashes.

No one expected anyone else to step forward. And so, when Simon Dendyt stood up and walked towards the Coffin, even Mr. Tiny looked startled. But only for a moment. Then the meddler's sneer returned to his face. Giving one glance to wards Mr. Tiny, he stepped into the Coffin. Mr. Tiny fixed the lid in place, and stepped back.

Once again, the Coffin burst into flames. And once again, terrible screams of anguish were heard, just barely, over the sounds of the flames. Some bowed their heads, while others just let their jaws hang loose in shock, as the flames died down, the lid popped off, and no one was inside.

Mr. Tiny began to snigger, looking at all the Vampaneze who were in the Hall. But his eyes lingered the most on Steve, who in return glared at the small man icily. Twiddling his heart-shaped watch, he spoke once more. 'Do I have to kill every single one of you here, at this moment? Come on, somebody must think they can lead the Vampaneze to victory!'

'But the Vampaneze have already won!' cried Kurda. 'We captured Vampire Mountain! We've got the Vampires on the run! We've…'

'But you lost the Stone of Blood!' said Mr. Tiny menacingly, cutting Kurda off from his little speech. 'And let me tell you who it was: Darren Shan, the little half-vampire, newly elected Vampire Prince because he retrieved the Stone of Blood and also for his actions on the battlefield. Pah! Pathetic!' He looked around the Hall once more. 'If no one volunteers, I'll have to start choosing people at random, and believe me, you won't like that. Well?'

Silence filled the Hall once more. No one dared move, but yet they knew they had to, otherwise Mr. Tiny would pick them off one by one, leaving not enough Vampaneze to guard the Mountain. On the other hand, even if they did individually volunteer, they didn't know how quickly this Lord would be found, and so may lose too many Vampaneze anyway. Kurda stood motionless, pondering the options, when someone stepped into the centre.

Steve Leopard.

At any other time, someone would have laughed, but not in these circumstances. Everyone was silent as Steve stepped down and approached Mr. Tiny, who had stopped sneering. He looked at Steve now with an almost fatherly look, which was surprising when you considered how immensely cruel the man was. If we knew what he had done in his unnaturally long life, it would be almost impossible to imagine a fatherly look in the man's eyes.

Steve didn't even glance at the small man as he stepped into the coffin, then lay there, expecting the lid to close. Mr. Tiny chuckled lightly as he closed the lid, and the flames sprang up. But instead of the sound of flames and screaming, there was silence. Total and utter silence. Mr. Tiny's face was illuminated with a disturbing blue colour from the flames, while his heart-shaped watch glowed a bright crimson.

Soon, the flames died down, and smoke seethed through the gaps. Everyone expected the lid to pop off, just as it had last time, leaving nothing behind. Some had begun to pray to the gods for protection when they stepped up, when the lid suddenly flew off, and with a massive crack it fell in splinters at the other end of the Hall. And, out of the smoking coffin, stepped out someone none of them had ever expected to see ever again.

Steve Leopard, unharmed and well.


Did you like that? R&R!