Chapter 7
I did not have to wait long for Darren. Two days after he ran from me, he was back. I heard his quick footsteps from a mile away. This town was so quiet that I could here that far! I was waiting for him just inside the door.
"I heard you coming. You lasted longer in the world of humans than I thought." I said.
"I sucked blood from one of my best friends," he told me angrily, "and I almost bit my younger sister."
"You escaped lightly," I said coolly. "Many vampires kill someone close to them before realizing they are doomed."
"There's no way back, is there? No magic potion to make me human again or keep me from attacking people?" he asked sadly.
"The only thing that can stop you now is the good old stake through the heart." I told him. "Very well. I don't like it, but I guess I've got no other choice. I'm yours. I won't run away again. Do with me as you wish." he sighed. I felt a little sorry for him, but nodded at him.
"You probably will not believe this," I started, "but I know what you are going through and I feel sorry for you." I shook my head. "But that is neither here nor there. We have work to do and cannot afford to waste time. Come, Darren Shan," I said, taking his small hand in mine. "We have much to do before you can assume your rightful place as my assistant." I started leading him out.
"Like what?" he asked, innocently.
"First of all, we have to kill you!" I said with a grin.
I let Darren have a last weekend to himself and his family. I, meanwhile, was preparing to leave the hell hole I'd been leaving in for the past few weeks. I also kept an eye on Darren to make sure he did not get hurt before he officially becomes my assistant. It would not do good to have him die before he even left this town.
I noticed he went a lot of places during his last weekend. Libraries, museums, that kind of thing. He spent a lot of time with his friends and family. I felt sorry for the boy. I was making him leave the people he loved. But that does not matter. He was mine to deal with now. Why did I even take him on as my assistant? I swore I would never do such a thing!
On the night we were to "kill him", I slipped into his room and shut the closet door after I stepped in. I was listening to him talking to his parents downstairs. He was telling them how much he loved them and saying good night. They said good night back and waited until they thought he was up the stairs. In reality he just waited around the edge of the doorway and listened to them talking.
"What do you think brought that on?" Darren's mother asked.
"Kids," his father snorted. "Who knows how their minds work?"
"There's something up. He's been acting oddly for some time now." Hmm, perceptive.
"Maybe he's got a girlfriend." Darren's father suggested. I nearly laughed out loud at that! How wrong you are Mr. Shan! How wrong you are!
"Maybe..."
I heard Darren's soft footsteps coming up the stairs. He paused before entering his room. Once he closed the door, I stepped out of the closet. I had some things to say about having to stay in his closet!
"It is stuffy in there," I whined. "I feel sorry for Madam Octa, having had to spend so much time in—"
Darren cut me off. "Shut up." he said.
"No need to be rude," I said, affronted. "I was merely making a comment." Darren's back was turned to me, so I couldn't see his emotions.
"Well don't," he sounded angry. "You might not think much of this place but I do. This has been my home, my room, my closet, ever since I can remember. And I'm never going to see it again after tonight. This is my last little while here. So don't bad-mouth it, all right?"
"I am sorry," I told him. Darren looked around the room one last time then sighed. He pulled a bag out from under his bed and handed it to me. "What is this?" I asked, curious.
"Some personal stuff, my diary. A picture of my family. A couple of other things. Nothing that will be missed. Will you watch it for me?"
"Yes," I said simply.
"But only if you promise not to look through it," he said warningly.
"Vampires have no secrets from each other," I told him. Then I looked up at his face and shrugged. "I will not open it," I promised.
"All right," he said, relieved. Maybe I would look through it, just to see what he had. But no, that would be rude and be breaking my promise. "Do you have the potion?" Darren asked. I nodded, took the little bottle out of my coat pocket, then handed it to him. He looked at the contents and swirled it around a little.
I moved behind him and placed my hands and his slender neck. Darren shivered a little.
"You're sure this will work?" he asked, nervous. I had not told him how dangerous this could be, but I did not feel the need to worry him with such things. If he died, it would not matter to much. Or that is what I told myself, anyway.
"Trust me," I assured him.
"I always thought a broken neck meant people couldn't walk or move." he told me. Most people thought that, but it was not completely true.
"No, the bones of the neck do not matter. Paralysis only happens if the spinal cord—a long nerve running down the middle of the neck—breaks. I will be careful not to damage it" I told him.
"Won't the doctors think it's strange?" he asked.
"They will not check, the potion will slow your heart down so much, they will be sure you are dead. They will find the broken neck and put two and two together. If you were older, they might go ahead with an autopsy. But no doctor likes cutting a child open.
"Now, are you totally clear on what is going to happen and how you must act?"
"Yes," he replied.
"There must be no mistakes, if you make just one slip our plans will fall apart." I warned him.
"I'm not a fool! I know what to do!" he nearly yelled at me.
"Then do it," I dared him. He downed the potion angrily. He grimaced and shuddered. His limbs stiffened and seized up. His teeth chattered.
It took around ten minutes for the full effects to take place. After it was finished with its work, Darren was not moving and was hardly breathing at all. I felt his pulse to make sure it was undetectable, then said, "I am going to snap the neck now." I twisted his head to one side very quickly. There was a sickening snap, then Darren's head was lolling around on his shoulders. "There, that should do it. Now I am going to throw you out of the window.
I carried his limp body over to the open window. I stood with him in my arms for a moment, then said quickly, "I have to throw you hard enough to make it look genuine. You might break some bones in the fall. They will start hurting when the potion wears off after a few days but I will fix them up later on. Here we go!" Then I threw him out the window. I watched him sail threw the night and land with a heavy thud! on his back.
I watched at the window until one of the neighbors spotted him. When the neighbor went yelling to the door of the house, I slipped out of the window and passed Darren. I flitted back to the old theater and got my things all together. Now I would have to hunt up a shovel to dig Darren out of his grave with.
I watched the newspapers for the next few days. I saw Darren's obituary appear a few days afterwards. It said he died of a fall from his window in which he broke his neck. Good, no one suspected anything. That was perfect.
I stayed up one day and covered myself in clothes from head to foot. That day I watched as they put Darren's body into a coffin, hauled him into a hearse, and drove him to the graveyard. I did not stay for too long, because I was beginning to get rather uncomfortable, but I did stay long enough to see them lower him into the ground. Then I left to get ready for tonight.
I had everything packed and ready to go. I knew there was a spare shovel in the graveyard's little shack that was filled with gardening tools. Darren's backpack was sitting next to the pile of my things.
I had very quickly looked through it to see what he had, but I did not look in detail at anything in particular. I definitely stayed away from his diary. I did not want to know what he thought about me at the moment, so I left it. He only had a few things. A picture, his diary, some spare underwear, that sort of thing.
Before I knew it—though I know exactly what time it is all the time—it was time to leave the old theater and go dig Darren up. I took his backpack in my hand, swung my stuff on my back, then flitted to the graveyard. I did not want to leave him in there for too long, he might run out of air once his lungs start working again.
Once at the graveyard I put my stuff down, slung Darren's backpack on a nearby grave marker, and started digging the newly overturned earth. I glanced briefly at the headstone. I could not read most of what it said, but I could make out some of it. It said:
DARREN SHAN
MARCH 1, 1987-OCTOBER 30, 2000
That was all I could make out. Partly because of my illiteracy, partly because of the darkness. I continued digging. I made quick work of it. The earth had hardly settled from when they had buried him this morning, so it was easy to dig through. Within fifteen minutes I had reached his coffin. It was kind of eerie, actually. The coffin was a very dark brown, so it was hard to see with the background of even darker dirt.
I rapped my knuckles three times on the wood, then started unscrewing the bolts. It was easy. They were not on as tight as they could be if they had really wanted them tight.
When I pulled the coffin lid open, Darren sat up, coughing, and took in a long, deep breath. His black suit looked pretty good on him, actually. He was staring at the sky like it was the first time he'd seen it in years.
"How are you feeling?" I asked him.
"Dead tired," he answered. I smiled with him at his little joke.
"Stand up so I can examine you," I told him. He winced and groaned when he stood up. I ran my fingers slowly up his back a few times, then moved to his front. I noted when he winced. No broken bones. That was good. "You were lucky. No broken bones. Just a bit of bruising, which will die down after a couple of days."
I clambered out of the grave and held out a hand to help Darren up. He took it and I pulled him up. He was standing stiffly. "I feel like a pincushion that's been squashed," he whined.
"It will take a few days for the aftereffects to pass. But do not worry: you are in good shape. We are lucky they buried you today. If they had waited another day to put you under, you would be feeling much worse."
I jumped back into the grave and shut the coffin. I pulled myself up and grabbed the shovel and started putting all the earth back into the hole.
"Do you want help?" Darren offered.
"No. You would slow me down. Go for a stroll and walk some of the stiffness out of your bones. I will call when I am ready to move on." I ordered him.
"Did you bring my bag?" he asked. I nodded my head at the headstone I had hung his backpack on. He grabbed it and checked inside quickly, then set off walking. He looked around a little bit while he shook his limbs to get the stiffness out.
Soon he was just beyond my sight range, but I did not worry too much about it. He would be able to see fine. I heard a little bit of noise, then an "oof!" from Darren. I think he fell over or something.
After that I thought I heard voices, but that could not be right! No one was around here but Darren and I! I was pretty sure I heard my name a few times. Not just Larten Crepsley, but also Vur Horston.
I let the voices go on for a minute or two, then I could not take it anymore! "Darren, where are you? Darren?" I could not see him anywhere!
"I'm fine!" he called back.
"Where are you?"
"Over here!" He stood up so I could see him. "My legs were weak, so I lay down for a minute."
"Are you all right?" I asked.
"I'm fine," he said again. "I'll rest a little longer, then try them again. Give me a shout when you're ready." He sat down again. I had seen the shine of someone's light hair before I looked away again.
Distantly I heard Darren say, "Why did you come here, Steve?" My eyes nearly bugged out of my eye sockets! Steve! What was that psychopath doing here? I listened in on their conversation and learned that Steve had come here to kill me and Darren. Ha! As if he would be able to get anywhere close! I could pull Darren on my back and flit off faster than he could blink!
When Darren came back he did not say anything about Steve. I could tell he was trying to protect his friend, but that does not mean it was a smart idea!
I was smoothing over the earth mound when he stopped by me. He watched me work. Darren looked like he was thinking over something very seriously.
I looked up at him and frowned. "Are you sure you are all right? You seem very uptight." I said, concerned.
"So would you if you'd spent the day in a coffin," he said back. He was evading answering my question, that was obvious. I did not care at the moment. Soon we would be far away from this place.
I still laughed at his ridiculous comment though. "Master Shan, I have spent more time in coffins than many of the truly dead!" I whacked the earth one more time then splintered the shovel to pieces. I tossed the useless pieces away then asked, "Is the stiffness wearing off?"
"It's better than it was. I wouldn't like to fake my death too often, though." he said, twisting his waist and arms.
"No," I agreed. "Well, hopefully it will not be necessary again. It is a dangerous stunt. Many things can go wrong."
He stared at me angrily. "You told me I'd be safe."
"I lied. The potion sometimes drives its patients too far toward death and they never recover. And I could not be sure they would not perform and autopsy on you. And...Do you want to hear all this?" I was smiling like the Cheshire Cat.
"No. I don't." Darren growled. Then he took a swing at me. I dodged his arm easily enough, and laughed as I did it. "You told me it was safe! You lied!"
"I had to, there was no other way." I explained.
"What if I'd died?" he yelled.
I shrugged nonchalantly. "I would be down one assistant. No great loss. I am sure I could have found another." No need to tell him that I probably would never take on another assistant. I do not even know why I took Darren on!
"You...you...Oh!" He kicked at the ground angrily. He looked mad now!
"Are you ready to go?" I asked.
"Give me a minute." He had cooled off a little, but not much. Darren climbed up on one of the taller tombstones and looked out at the town. He looked sad. He took everything in as if it were made of gold.
"You will grow used to leaving after a time." I said sadly. I stood behind him a ways back. "Vampires are always saying good-bye. We never stop anywhere very long. We are forever picking up our roots and moving on to new pastures. It is our way."
"Is the first time the hardest?"
"Yes," I said, nodding. "But it never gets easy."
"How long before I get used to it?" he asked innocently.
"Maybe a few decades, maybe longer." I guessed.
"Can't we ever make friends? Can't we ever have homes or wives or families?"
"No, never."
"Does it get lonely?" Question after question! This might get irritating.
"Terribly so," I admitted. Vampires cannot have children, we can take mates for a time however. Those are not the same as wives or husbands, but it was close.
Darren nodded slowly. "Okay, I'm ready." He grabbed his bag and brushed some dirt off of it.
"You may ride on my back if you wish."
"No, thank you." he said politely. "Maybe later but I'd rather walk the stiffness out of my legs first." Good choice.
"Very well."
He rubbed his stomach and it growled loudly. "I haven't eaten since Sunday. I'm hungry." He informed me.
"Me too," I admitted. I took his tiny hand in my and grinned devilishly at him. "Let us go eat."
He took a long breath and nodded nervously. Then he gave my hand a tight squeeze and turned away from the graveyard. Side by side we walked from the graveyard...
...into the night.
Longest chapter YET! And longest chapter in the ENTIRE STORY. Cause this is the last chapter...Yeah...I actually had fun writing this. I hope you had fun reading it...meh.
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