Beta'd by Hoshiko13

Just to explain, since I didn't last chapter: This takes place after book 2, before book 3. I'm currently not in possession of most of the Darren Shan Saga books, so bare with me and feel free to correct me on ANY details I miss in future chapters.

Now, let's cut the author talking, more story. \:


Chapter 1: Unease

Darren was wide awake as he peered through the dark of the tent he was currently residing in, legs dangling off the side of his hammock as he trained his attention on Evra, the sleeping snake-boy. Most of their possessions were packed away in the corner since the Cirque would continue moving in the morning.

He could make out a bit of the greenish-blonde hair covering his friend's head in the lighting, and his sensitive ears could pick up on the soft snores. He held back a snort at the thought of a snoring 'snake'. He made a mental note to tease Evra about it later.

At the moment, the half vampire couldn't stop thinking about where they were headed. When Mr. Tall had named their next location, there was talk amongst the Cirque's cast, about how that town was haunted.

Rumors quickly spread: A newer stage hand had heard that a strange ghost child with snow white hair and glowing green eyes was acting as a superhero and protected the citizens, a girl with a horn growing from her forehead pointed out how the town didn't take kindly to circus folk after an incident with one of the traveling circus' competition: The rumors quickly flew like that little kid Jekkus' knives.

If someone had brought up ghosts to Darren before the Cirque, he would have laughed and shaken his head, shooting down the thought. "Ghosts," a younger Shan would have said, "Aren't real. I'd rather be scared of the living than the dead."

But now Darren was among the ranks of the undead, a half vampire. If vampires, wolf-men, snake boys, and a variety of other freaks existed, what was stopping the existence of ghosts?

The sound of someone entering the tent broke Darren from his train of thought, the young boy startled out of his makeshift bed, face meeting the floor.

"I would think you might want to feed before we reach a more populated area," The intruder, an older man with a spot of bright orange red hair and red robes, spoke up. He was scratching lightly on the scar running down his cheek vertically as Darren sat up.

The boy rubbed his face, deciding nothing was broken as he replied, "That's fine, Mr. Crepsley…"

Now that he thought about it, Darren did feel thirsty.

(Divide here)

"-nny, wake up. Danny, Lancer's coming." Shaking accompanied the words as Danny woke up to purple eyes giving him a worried look.

He jumped up quickly, eyes wide as he looked around. It took him a moment to remember they were in English, and a moment too late to meet the eyes of the overweight teacher looking down at him with an angry expression. "Mister Fenton, miss Manson," Mr. Lancer started, and Danny swore he could see steam coming off of the teacher. "Would either of you care to explain the two of you talking in the middle of the reading of The Scarlet Letter? I understand neither of you care for classic literature, but it would be wise to at least pretend to have an ounce of interest. Detention, both of you."

Danny groaned, burying his face into his desk as Sam Manson, one of his two best- One of his only friends, pat him on the back. "It's alright Danny, it's not like this is your first detention." The goth gave him a small smile.

He looked up to her, rolling his eyes. "Yeah, but I got you in trouble now. If I had held off falling asleep until Math, this wouldn't have happened."

"You were up fighting ghosts last night, it's fine." The girl waved off, purple lips shifting into a frown. "So anything new on what Clockwork told you?"

The halfa shook his head, shrugging. "No. He told me that I would be leaving Amity, which has me worried about the ghost attacks and Vlad," He spat the name, obviously not a fan of the mayor. "I mean, what if Plasmius tries to kill Dad while I'm gone? Clockwork said I was free to check up on town whenever I want to and said he would warn me if anything was going to come up, but it still doesn't feel right…"

"Hero complex." His other friend with darker skin and a red beret, Tucker, coughed with an amused expression.

Danny glared at Tucker, knowing the techno geek was aware that word always annoyed him when it was associated with him. "Danny Phantom does not have a hero complex," He growled, gritting his teeth.

"Wow Danny, chill. I was kidding." Tucker raised his hands in defense, chuckling nervously. Danny wouldn't hit a guy with glasses, right?

The ghost boy's expression calmed down as he sat back. "I don't have a hero complex." He grumbled to himself quietly, if only to convince himself.

(Divide here)

By late noon, the circus had arrived and Darren was out in town to help hand out flyers, dressed in a hooded robe. A little person he had nicknamed Lefty had accompanied him. His current location was at the side of a food establishment called the Nasty Burger, a name choice that Darren found hilarious. Of all the names they could have picked, Nasty Burger didn't sound appetizing.

But he didn't complain, since teenagers and young adults were all gathered around, some occasionally taking a flyer. What Darren hadn't expected was a girl dressed the way he had assumed vampires might, with her black hair, purple lips and eyes (Contacts? Darren could only wonder.) and dark clothes. She walked up to him with a soured expression as she snatched a flyer from him. She was clearly enraged when she had finished reading, turning a glare on the robed boy.

Darren flinched as she jabbed a finger to his chest. "Hey wise-guy, I swear if any innocent people or ghosts are being harmed, caged, or controlled at this thing, I'll-"

"Woah, woah, the Cirque isn't anything like that." Darren protested. "The Cirque is our home, nobody's there against their will. We don't fit in anywhere else. Go to the show and see for yourself before you decide anything about the treatment we get." He felt uncomfortable, remembering R.V. and how he'd wanted to save the freaks. Maybe he shouldn't have told her that.

The vampire-like girl's expression softened slightly as she gave Darren room. "I… I'm sorry society doesn't accept you guys, then. You're all unique and should be respected as the individuals you are- Why can't they understand that and accept us for who we are?!"

One of her eyes started twitching, and Darren had to wonder if she was still talking about just the freaks. He decided to break the awkward silence. "Well, anyways, the Cirque du Freak is a little hard core, but you feel like someone who could handle it-"

"Sam, over here!"

Darren watched as two boys walked up to the girl he had been talking to. He blinked, watching as the dark-haired boy with blue eyes who had called for Sam gasped slightly, looking confused for a moment before his expression turned neutral. Something felt off about him to the half vampire, but he shrugged the feeling off as he offered the boy a flyer.

"No thanks, I've had bad experiences with circuses…"

"Danny," Sam frowned. "I was just thinking about going, are you sure you don't want to come? I mean, it can't be as bad as the Freak Show incident."

Danny had stopped looking back and forth nervously, rolling his eyes. "That's what you said about Circus Gothica."

"You know, he's got you there, Sam." The other boy chimed in.

"Shut up, Tucker. I bet you'd go see this circus even if poor, defenseless people were having their rights stripped to entertain the masses, all because they are different." Sam huffed.

Darren stayed quiet as Sam and Tucker got into a heated debate. Danny smacked his face with his palm. "Dude, I'm sorry. They're not always like this, I swear. Survey says they'll be at this for a while, though…"

Darren nodded, hood bobbing up and down with him. "It's alright," He chuckled. "I'm used to this…" the boy trailed off, a small pang in his chest as he recalled how he and his childhood friends used to argue all the time. Sometimes, it would be over the silliest topics, like socks.

He shook his head of the memories to avoid dwelling on Steve. It was in the past now, and Steve was no longer his best friend.

The boy blinked, realizing that the teens had already gone inside to get food, the goth and the geek clearly arguing with each other even as they found a table. The raven-haired boy was nowhere to be seen.

He wondered if he would regret giving them that flyer. Lefty tugged on Darren's cloak, silently reminding the half vampire that they still had more flyers to give out.