Chap 3 is uppppppp! :D Im seriously wondering if i'll get this done in time for Christmas... I've got 2 Christmas fics i'm trying to focus my energy on, and i'm trying to block out everything else until Christmas is over! Thanks to my loyal reviewers! Loveeee you all

Peridot Tears: PT!!!! I MISSED YOU! *tackles* Thanks sooo much, heres your update!!

vampires-pen: THEY WOULDN'T DARE!! If they did, i'd steal their Cheezburgers!!!! :P

Elenafromthewoods: Another beautiful long review! Aww Glad you're feeling better! Hehe, A Christmas Carol is a pretty sweet story, my class did it for a play in grade 8 (i was a homeless person :( but it was fun! But maybe not as fun as the Vampire version! OH NO I SCREWED UP MR C'S LINE! If anyone catches me using a contraction, make sure to correct me :D

KiteJump: Glad to make you happy ;) Mika is be a perfect scrooge without even trying xD

"Pssst, Mika, you're line is: "Bah Humbug!"" Darren whispered encouragingly.

"Bah Humbug." Mika grunted before going back to sleep.

"Christmas a humbug, uncle? You don't mean that, I am sure?" said Arrow in the role of Fred.

"I do, Merry Christmas! What right have you to be merry? What reason have you to be merry? You're poor enough." Mika/Scrooge read boredly after Darren poked him again.

"Come, then. What right have you to be dismal? What reason have you to be morose? You're rich enough." Arrow/Fred replied.

"Mika, it's your line." Darren sighed.

Mika opened his eyes and looked at his script, then up at Darren.

"No. I refuse to say Bah Humbug again."

Darren was not suprised. Mika had been the least cooperatvive out of everyone about the gang's newest project. No one had exactly been cooperative, but Mika was the worst. It was too bad, because when he did say his lines, he was a perfect Scrooge.

"Okay guys. I guess that wasn't bad for a first read-through."

"You call that a read-through, Darren?" Mr Crepsley snapped. "We did not even get through the first page! Show some control, for once!"

"It was our first try! Mika was prefectly in character. Anyway, now we're going to-"

"Pick costumes?"

"Take a coffee break?"

"Make...Christmas cookies?"

"Go back to sleep?"

"No, no, later, and no. Right now we're going to start building the set, and after we get a good start on that, we're going to start on decorating the Mountain!" Darren announced.

"Um, you mean the decorate Hall of Princes?"

"No, I mean the whole Mountain!"

Someone threw picture frame at Darren's head and he had to run to get some ice for his rapidly swelling bruise, so the rest of the gang did get their coffee break after all.

***

It took Darren a full two hours to round the rest of the gang up from their break. When he finally suceeded in dragging Mika and Arrow away from the Air Hockey table, he led them back down to the Hall of Princes. He opened the doors wide and they began to file inside...

And then...

They stopped.

"Oh my..." Larten gasped softly.

Kurda made a noise between a shriek, a sob, and a whimper.

Mika and Arrow swore at the same time.

Seba began to sputter in fury, the only comprehensible word was "Abomination."

Paris moaned like a dying cow.

Harkat stared into the hall for a long time. Then he looked up at Darren.

"We have to build a set and a stage! What did you think we were going to make it out of?" Darren defended desperately.

Lying in the Hall of Princes was a HUGE pile of assorted pieces of wood, many cans of colourful paint, and all sorts of ladders and power tools.

"So this is what the stage is going to look like. The directions are right here." Darren said, taping a large How-To poster to the wall. "You'll need 50 four-by-fours, 28 two-by-fours, about seven boxes of nails, and everyone will need a hammer," (he glanced at Kurda, who was running his fingers through Mika's hair, Seba, who was lying on his back singing "Lalala I cannot hear you!" and back at Kurda, who was being punched by Mika.) "Well...maybe not everyone. But I think I can trust you all with paintbrushes...maybe. We'll see how it goes. Let's go!" he finished triumphantly, punching the air.

Harkat repeated the gesture grinning. Mika glared. Darren sighed. Life in Vampire Mountain was never boring, but it could get really repetitive.

"I call the hammer with the pink handle!" said Kurda excitedly as he rummaged in the tool box.

"I call most potentially deadly hammer." said Mika, glancing at Kurda. Darren swatted his shoulder and tried to look stern.

"What? I said potentially!"

"What are you going to name your hammer, Mika? Mine's gonna be Estelle." Kurda sighed happily.

"I'm gonna call mine Mika."

"Oooh that's a good-WAIT A MINUITE! That's YOUR name!"

To Darren's relief, construction was going slightly better at the other end of the room, where Larten, Paris, and Arrow had managed to produce part of the right corner of the stage.

"That looks great!" Darren said as charismatically as he could.

"Doesn't it?" said Arrow. "Now we're almost done, right?"

"Umm...just keep following the directions and you'll figure it out!" Darren said as he backed away carefully.

"According to this poster..." Arrow re-read the directions. "We have...a lot more to do!" he sighed miserably and picked up his hammer.

Darren examined Seba and Harkat''s workmanship. He noticed a slight mistake.

"Um, guys? You're supposed to paint the wood after the stage is put together."

Harkat's face slowly became one huge frown.

"I'm sorry...Darren!" he moaned. "I didn't...mean to!"

"It's ok. I know you didn't mean to." said Darren gently, hugging the distraught Little Person. "Here, I have a better job for you."

Harkat looked slightly happier and picked up his paintbrush hopefully.

"Ok, see those big, flat pieces of wood over there? Paint up the front to look like these." Darren pulled a picture out of his pocket of some old-fashioned houses. "That'll be the backdrop of the play!"

"Yay!" Harkat scampered off to retrieve the backdrop pieces.

Darren checked back in with Mika and Kurda. To his suprise, they had been fairly productive. They had constructed about a quarter of the surface of the stage by nailing a bunch of two-by-fours together. But how much weight it could support was the next question...

By suppertime, almost half the stage had been constructed, and Darren was pleasantly suprised. He was often suprised, but it had beena while since he had been pleasantly so. Everyone had been twice as cooperative about the building than the acting. Darren wondered if he would have a stage without a play on Christmas Eve... And the stage was just the beginning. Dances had to be choreographed, music had to be selected, lines had to be memorised, and props had to be found! Not to mention the entire Mountain had to be tastefully decorated...and there also had to be some time left to enjoy the season... The biggest Christmas lover in the mountain began to wish the season was already over.

I dont think this was one of my better chapters. I rushed it a little, but I wanna get this done in time for Christmas!!!

Keep on reviewing, lovees!!!!!

*Roxyyyyyy