"Interesting," crooned a voice in the darkness. The great stone chambers only light came from a few naked burning flames which lined the walls. Shadows fell across the thrones situated at the head of the hall so that the nearest one's occupant was masked in the darkness. His sigh echoed around the vacant room, filled with unhappiness, impatience and something else. Harkat Mulds could not detect the third emotion in his current master's sigh. It sounded similar to grief or perhaps annoyance. He shuffled a little closer as the figure's index figure curved and beckoned him. Only his hand was visible in the sparse, fading glow thrown from the candles. The fist was suddenly clenched and Harkat made sure he avoided it in case the chair's inhabitant threw one of his common fits of anger which were becoming more frequent lately.
"She saw you?" said the figure. His voice was low and curious. Harkat nodded and stepped back, suddenly afraid of the boy.
"But she doesn't suspect you are following her?" Harkat shook his head hurriedly. He had made sure that the young half-Vampaneze did not know he was around. He had been very careful about following her, keeping only to the shadows.
"Good," said the voice again. The chair creaked as the boy sitting in it shifted his weight. His fist unclenched and rested on the gold armrest. He laughed softly, a chilling sound which sent shivers down Harkat's spine.
"Well done Harkat," said the boy, pleased with his servant's work, "you can go back to the freak show now and follow her exactly as I've told you." The figure's red eyes followed the little monster as it retreated down the length of the hall, into the shadows.
"Light the fireplaces before you leave," he called after it and suddenly the room was filled with light as an unseen hand held a match to wood at the far end of the hall. Harkat bowed to his temporary master as he closed the door to the chamber behind him.
Steve Leonard's face glowed orange in the warm glow of the fire. He settled himself in the chair at the top end of the great hall and frowned. So Rose had met Darren at last. The latest news of her brought to him by his spy at the Cirque troubled him. He had no reason to suspect that the information was false; after all, he had promised his informer that his true identity would be revealed to him if his complied and he knew Harkat was desperate to find out who he was in his previous life. Steve laughed at the idea of Harkat believing him. Even if he had known, he wouldn't have told him.
No, he was concerned that Rose's opinion of the Vampires might change after meeting Darren. While she had been with him, Steve had worked hard to show her that Vampires were evil and cunning however he knew that if Darren was as 'goody two shoes' as he was while he was human, Rose might start to doubt his word. Fortunately, that old creep Crepsley seemed to be doing a good job of turning her against the Vampires all by himself. With any luck, Steve thought Rose would probably get rid of Crepsley for him if he continued to annoy her. Tapping his foot impatiently, Steve wondered why he was even bothering to spy on Rose. He told himself he defiantly did not care for her, especially after their last argument, but still he found himself using Mr Tiny's Little People to tail her.
Steve made an irritated noise and stood up. He could not erase the stupid girl's face from his mind! At odd times during the day, her name would pop into his head and he would often find himself questioning what she was doing and if she was alright. At night was worse. Thoughts would swim around his head, not letting him rest and every time he closed his eyes, he could picture her face behind his lids.
Pacing the length of the room, Steve became determined to rid the girl from his mind. Around him, the candles began to wear down until the flame was balancing on only a stub of wick and the fire in the fireplace ran out of wood. Unaffected by his loss of sleep, Steve sat up the length of the night, plotting and scheming over ways to dispose of Rose. Several times during the long night, Steve battled with his conscious, each time letting his anger win. A small, quiet part of him wanted to keep Rose all to himself but his memory reminded him that he had already tried that, and failed. Another part of him wished Rose would return to him out of her own will but Steve knew than now she had met Darren, her opinion of Vampires was more than likely to change and she'd turn against him too – just like everybody else. Like a mad-man, Steve paced the hall several times clutching his head or his heart and trying to come to a conclusion. He had never known himself to be so undecided and confused. He knew he was usually rash and impulsive – two qualities ,which Kooky Kersey often took pleasure in telling him, made him a bad influence so why was he taking so long to decide what to do about Rose. A small part of Steve's conscious already knew why, but he tried to block it out by replacing the nagging feeling in his heart with feelings of rage and annoyance. Steve hated how one person could have such utter control over him and not even care. The girl literally left him feeling light headed and infatuated and she wasn't even here! Steve pounded the stone wall with his fist as he thought of Rose laughing and joking with a bunch of freaks.
"I'm going to make her pay," he told the wall as he rested his forehead against it. Closing his eyes, another image of Rose's smiling face appeared causing Steve to cry aloud in frustration and pain before he finally fell to the floor in an attempt to rest.