Okay so this is what I think should have happened had the film gone on a bit. Remember, this is a fanfic about the FILM. It isn't true to the books because, truth be told, I haven't had time to read them :/ (I will one day) Mr Crepsley's mates' names are made up - I'm not even sure he has any...
Anyway, Mr Tiny - EAT DUST
There was a reverberating crack followed by a shriek of anger. Mr Crepsley threw a Vampaneze's decapitated head across the floor, it's face still frozen in a state of shock, successfully bowling over a couple of Vampaneze like skittles. He flitted and dodged his captors and lunged at the party holding Darren. Steve met him halfway and tackled him around the waist, knocking him to the floor.
Steve, being the younger of the two by centuries was stronger and faster and was therefore able to place the vampire in a headlock, tightening his grip until the man chocked and spluttered. However Mr Crepsley, being older and apparently wiser, had been in similar situations before and had learnt by experience and knew how to overthrow the boy. He turned onto his side, successfully gaining leverage and hooked Steve's hip with his leg and pushed his opponent's head away. Steve fought back, teeth bared and gnashed and growled but Mr Crepsley managed to swing him round and pin his arms up behind his back.
"Try anything and I'll break your arm," he snarled into his ear. Steve just grunted.
"Let Darren and the others go or your Vampaneze lord dies!" cried Mr Crepsley, brandishing a dagger. The Vampaneze laughed.
"Well, it seems we have reached a stalemate gentlemen," said Mr Tiny.
Meanwhile Rose, Rebecca and, after he'd been pushed, persuaded and pulled, Evra crept into the room unnoticed. All eyes were on the lords. Rose led the trio to a clearing in the crowd. She gasped when she saw Darren, surrounded by Vampaneze, across the room from Mr Crepsley who was holding a knife to Steve's bare throat. Neither boy looked particularly worried. Each had complete faith in their side. Rose grimaced. Both Steve and Darren were within reach...if only they'd look in her direction! She crept forward, hoping to catch someone's eye. Unfortunately, she did.
"No!" cried Rebecca and Evra in unison but it was too late. Mr Tiny had spotted the girl out of the corner of his eye and grabbed her collar.
"Ah, leverage," he grinned, his piggy eyes gleaming. He pulled Rose around to face the hall and cupped a hand under her chin, forcing her to look the others in their eyes. Steve struggled to be free of Mr Crepsley's constraints but the old vampire held him back, whispering urgently into his ear. Mr Tiny smiled to see the young Vampaneze so distressed.
"Is this the part where you say if I hurt her, you'll kill me?" he said.
"No," Steve said, "If you hurt Rose, she'll kill you."
Mr Tiny laughed causing Steve to writhe even harder. Ignoring Mr Crepsley's snarls, Steve paused to think for a moment. Mr Tiny wasn't one to gloat. If he wanted you dead, you never even heard about it. So why was he using Rose as a bargaining tool? It was as if someone had found the light switch in the dark that had occupied Steve's state of mind only a moment ago. He suddenly understood. Mr Tiny didn't want him dead, he wanted him angry. The man had always understood that Steve's uncontrollable anger was the key to his inhuman strength and power.
"Let her go Mr Tiny," he said at last, "you don't need to provoke me. I can kill this lot on my own." Mr Tiny's expression flickered as he sought to understand the boy's words.
"Oh? Oh...oh, I see. You think I'm somehow..." he flailed his hands wildly, seeking the right word, "encouraging you? Quite the contrary. I seek only to maintain a state of organized chaos. I plan to hand Rose to the Vampaneze, Steve, to see what happens next of course." Rose struggled in his vice like grip as he edged toward the hungry crowd.
"No! Wait! Don't!" shouted Steve as the first clawed hands stretched toward the girl. "What about the battle? The war? The revolution?"
"Tut tut son, haven't you caught on yet? Well, probably not, after all, how aware are the pawns that they are moves away from being knocked off the board? You're just one of many but you, admittedly, you did make it all the way up the board." Mr Crepsley snorted and tightened his grip on the deflating Steve. The vampire had never really got on with any game much more complex than darts. Chess especially had always annoyed him. He hated the way the pawns made their way blindly across the border to slaughter their counter parts whilst the Royalty hid at the back.
"But here's some advice, boy. Don't put your trust in revolutions. They always come around again. That's why they're called revolutions." Steve, now thoroughly chastened, looked imploringly at Rose. She looked back, helpless and pitying.
"And so that's it? You sat back and controlled a bloodthirsty, revenge centered army through whispers and rumors and false promises?" shouted Mr Crepsley.
"Oh no, not my army, Larten. I wouldn't dream of ordering anyone around. This is entirely your fight," said Mr Tiny, "Besides, I never get personally involved, people could get hurt."
"They already have!" shouted Darren. Mr Tiny looked around, apparently having forgotten he was still there, and chortled.
"A few more shouldn't matter then..." growled Steve in a low voice. Whilst the majority of the room looked puzzled, Mr Tiny looked impressed. In his eyes, the boy was still desperately clinging onto the hope that he could regain some power, preparing again to fight. Rose closed her eyes when she noticed how Steve's hand had moved to find Mr Crepsley's forgotten dagger which was hanging limply in the vampire's loose grip. Mr Tiny noticed too, and smiled.
"Don't do anything rash, boy," he warned in cheerful tones, hoping against hope that he would. He delighted even more in the fact that Mr Crepsley hadn't noticed where the entire room seemed to be staring with bated breath. Steve muttered something incomprehensible and made a grab for the dagger. It slipped easily from the vampire's surprised grasp. Steve turned to face the old man and stuck the knife into his shoulder. Mr Crepsley hissed in pain as blood seeped from the gash. The Vampaneze's cheers drowned out the Freak's cries.
"Well do-" began Mr Tiny. He had raised his hands to applaud the move when the grin on his chubby face froze. Rose tilted her head to the right to see the dagger's blade protruding from his heaving chest. She had felt the rush of air whoosh past her ear. Steve had turned so quickly, many had failed to see him aim and hurl the knife at the fat man, missing Rose by inches. Blood gushed from the wound in his heart as the demon pushed Rose aside and took a shaky step toward Steve. Mr Tiny smiled at no one in particular and then he seemed to fall back as wisps of grey smoke enveloped his body. And then suddenly, he was gone.
Darren shook himself free from the stunned Vampaneze and ran towards Mr Crepsley. The vampire was being supported by Harkat and several freaks who slowly lowered him to the ground.
"I'm fine, I'm fine," he muttered, embarrassed by the attention, "It's just a flesh wound."
"How could you?" screamed Darren over his shoulder. Steve looked affronted.
"What? I didn't kill him!"
"You tried to! You stabbed him!"
"I didn't," said Steve defensively. Seeing Darren's incredulous expression, he appealed to Rose who was swaying beside him. "I didn't Rose, honestly. I just needed to distract Mr... Him." Rose, looking very pale, nodded and wet her lips.
"Yeah, I believe you," she said hoarsely.
"See," said Steve to Darren. Mr Crepsley managed to push the freaks away long enough to give Steve a dirty look.
"And you couldn't think of anything else?" he said sarcastically. Steve shrugged. By now the Vampaneze had figured out that the fight had ceased and although they didn't fully comprehend why, the fact that both lords were still alive was enough to anger them. They advanced.
"You killed him!" screeched an attractive Vampaneze, wringing her hands in distress, "Ze Vampaneze lord stabbed meester Tiny! He stabbed him! Xavier, do somezing!" An irate man was pushed forward.
"Celeste do not be so dramatic," he scolded, "the boy only penetrated one of the demon's hearts."
"One?" said Steve.
"Demon?" said Rose. Mr Crepsley struggled to his feet. A damp cloth had been wrapped around his shoulder as a crude bandage and he was supporting himself on Loaf Head's head.
"You were aware he was a demon?" said Mr Crepsley, "what else did you know?" Xavier rolled his red eyes.
"We knew it was all a game to him, yes. But it was real to us. We've always wanted this fight Larten, so have your kind. We allowed the demon to...how do you say...stay for the ride."
"But he was using you! He was using all of us!"
"To an extent, I agree, but we also used him too. He was useful when it came to finding us a lord although his way was a lot more...showy."
"Always liked a show," said a booming voice from the back. Xavier and Mr Crepsley looked up sharply from their conversation to see Mr Tall towering elegantly above the crowd.
"Mr Crepsley," he thundered in tones that were not unfamiliar to primary school teachers worldwide, "how dare you lead a group of the Cirque's inhabitants into this lair unprotected and only give me half the information!"
"I told Rebecca to tell you," he whined, attempting to shift the blame. The giant sighed.
"Yes, and the poor girl didn't know where to look!" He turned to Rebecca and gave her a sympathetic nod which said: don't fret, it's him I'm annoyed at, not you. Rebecca shuffled her feet gratefully.
"How dare you!" the man repeated. Mr Crepsley opened his mouth to retort but another voice made him pause.
"How dare you!" echoed a male voice, "how dare you not invite us!" Gavner stepped forward, a flank of vampires behind him. The vampires and Vampaneze spat and hissed at each other. Mr Crepsley grinned to see faces he recognised. His own kind embraced him.
"Gavner! Carmella! Eli! What are you all doing here?"
"Mr Tall told us you planned to invade the Vampaneze. Frankly, we were offended you didn't think to invite us!"
"It wasn't planned," said Mr Crepsley, shaking his head, "I never intended to invade anyone. They took Darren - Darren Shan - and we came to retrieve him."
"Ah, Darren Shan? Our so called lord, eh? What a farce!" laughed one. Darren was relieved to see that the strong belief in the false prophecy only applied to the Vampaneze.
"So where's the other lord? Did you get rid of him?"
"I'm right behind you," growled Steve. The vampires turned together and crouched low ready to spring. There was about twenty of them.
"Wait, wait," said Mr Crepsley calmly, "the boy impaled Mr Tiny."
"Mr Tiny? That snake was here? Damn him! Now this all makes sense!"
"One of his games, no doubt," said a female vampire, shaking her head. Steve was beginning to feel that everyone knew the man was evil except him. He hated feeling so stupid.
"So you all knew?" he cried, "you knew he was just using me and you never said?" he accused the vampires and Mr Crepsley at first but realized that they wouldn't have told him because to them, he was the enemy. Then he turned to Xavier and the Vampaneze but to them, he was an outsider, brought in to act as a catalyst for war and so they wouldn't have told him. He turned to Darren, his enemy, who hadn't known either and wouldn't have told him anyway and then to Rose.
"I didn't know," she said quietly.
"But you suspected. You tried to tell me and I wouldn't listen."
"But I didn't know. I wasn't certain."
"No. You were right." Steve turned back to the vampires. He didn't like the smug way they were looking at him. He had been promised power, strength, immortality...but now Mr Tiny had gone and had taken his promises with him. He felt like he was playing poker with no cards, and the vampires had just called his bluff.
"All right, all right," he scowled, "so the prophecy...doesn't exist. Where do I fit in?" It was painful to say. He had spent nearly a year allying himself with the Vampaneze, forming a new identity, fitting in and now the Vampaneze didn't want him, even after he had done everything he could to become like them. If only his old mentor Murlough was here, he would have stuck up for him. Steve felt a lump in his throat as he thought of the dead Vampaneze.
"Well, it depends...do the Vampaneze still want to fight?" This question was directed at Xavier who had suddenly found himself spokesperson after the semi-death of Mr Tiny.
"We...we are...I think I need to hold a meeting first."
"Good idea," said Mr Crepsley sternly, "maybe have a serious think about who it is you are threatening." The newly allied freaks and vampires bristled with pride. Xavier looked nervous.
"However," he began, "the lord - that is to say the prophecy concerning the lords - appears to be obsolete. We have no further need for the boy." Steve felt the metaphorical knife twist in the wound in his back. Xavier threw him a sneer.
"There are always second chances available to those willing to change, but you, Xavier, you and your kind have no hope left. You are doomed to a life of unhappiness and dissatisfaction." Mr Tall unfolded his arms and beckoned the freaks. They fled to him, seeking comfort and safety. Mr Crepsley led the vampires through the crowds of disgraced Vampaneze toward the exit, pushing Darren in front.
"Come Rose," said the giant kindly. Rose raised her eyebrows. She was endlessly impressed by the ringmaster's ability to forgive and by the extent of his compassion and although Rose wasn't sure whether she wanted to return to the Cirque, she knew she didn't want to live with the Vampaneze. Probably best to get out of here first and think about it later, she thought. Rose turned to Steve and, taking his unprotesting hand, led him away from the Vampaneze and out of the lair, following the long line of freaks and vampires.