A/N: Here is Chapter 3. When we last left Darrin he was traveling to the Land of Lost Souls to find Dana's parents. How hard can it be to find two dead people? Let's find out…

Chapter Three

One Month Later

I glared down at the map Raven had packed away for me. I pressed the red marker held in my hand to the paper and placed an X over another chamber displayed on the map. I sighed and closed my eyes leaning back against the rough stone wall of the cave I had found. I had been searching this cursed place of a month now. Half of my time was gone and I still had not found the inner chamber. I opened my eyes and stared into the fire I had made. My whole body was aching along with my head. Going into this task, I was filled with this unwavering hope that I would find Dana's parents and return within a week. When a week had passed I started to doubt myself. Could I really find her parents? Did I make the right choice when I asked her to marry me? I knew that my family would become involved and that I would have to prove myself worthy to have such a wonderful woman like Dana in my life.

A sudden wind blew through the cave, the flames from the fire almost diminishing from the powerful gust of air. I shivered slightly and pulled out the thick blanket tucked away in my bag. I let out a sigh when the wind finally stopped and my fire was still blazing. I slumped against the wall of the cave weakly, a wave of exhaustion settling over me. I could feel my eyelids start to droop and I fought against the comforting hand of sleep. Despite all my efforts my eyes closed and I began to fall into a world of dreamless sleep.

X X X

I awoke to a chorus of hushed voices echoing in my cave. I scanned my eyes through my surrounds my hand inching towards one of the small daggers I had brought with me. My fire had died down, the burning embers casting an eerie glow providing enough light for me to see by. I spotted three small figures at the mouth of the cave. My eyes narrowed as I relaxed my body giving off the impression of sleep.

"You all are being too loud," a young male voice scolded. "He almost woke up."

"What is he?" a high pitched female voice asked in fear.

"Yeah," another female voice echoed, "and why is he all the way down here?"

"Well he isn't dead," the male voice answered. The sound of small footsteps reached my ears and I could see one of the figures cautiously approaching me through my narrowed eyes. "Yeah his chest is moving and I think I can hear his heartbeat."

"That doesn't tell us why he's here," one of the female voices snapped.

"Maybe if you ask him yourself you wouldn't have to ask each other questions you can't answer," I told them with a smirk opening my eyes fully.

Crouched on the other side of my fire was a small boy. His eyes were wide as he looked at me, fear shining in the dark gray orbs. Two young girls were standing behind him with the same fearful expression. I gave them all a warm smile and gestured for them to come forward. The girls looked at each other hesitantly and then back at the boy. His chest swelled up as he sucked in a deep breath before crawling closer to me. His skin was ghostly pale and glowed in the dim firelight. His dark hair fell to his shoulders limply and it looked like he hadn't had a good meal in quite some time. The girls were in similar conditions but seemed to be a bit more well-fed than the boy.

"What's your name?" the boy asked warily his eyes darting to the weapons laid out beside me.

"Darrin Cobalt," I replied, "what's yours?"

"It's Lucian," he said simply. "Those two are Lydia and Holly."

The two girls raised a timid hand in gesture before quickly dropping their hands to their side. I smiled at them and waved at them. Lucian's brows knitted together as he gave me a once over. He stood up and skinny legs and walked towards me till he was right by my side. I looked up at him from my sitting position and quirked a brow. He leaned down till his face was inches from mine. His gray eyes looked deep into mine. He looked down quickly at the map I had left out before falling asleep.

"Where are you trying to go?" he asked gently picking up the paper.

"The inner chamber," I replied with a sigh. "I've been looking for it for a month now and I have to get there before another month is gone."

"Why?" Lydia asked stepping a bit closer to me and Lucian.

"If I don't find this chamber then someone I care about deeply will be in big trouble," I told her with a frown.

"Who's that?" Holly asked excitedly coming to stand by Lucian.

"Her name is Dana," I told her softly. "I want to marry her but in order to do so I have to find her parents and bring them before my father."

"What happens if you don't find them before a month is out?" Lucian asked taking his eyes off of my map for a moment.

"I don't know," I said looking to the dying embers of my fire. "It won't be good though. Plus she's going to have my babies soon and I want to make sure they can be brought into this world."

"You're gonna be a daddy?" Lydia asked in childlike wonder.

"Yes," I chuckled giving her a brief smile.

Lucian looked up at me and folded the map up gently. He handed it to me and looked over at the girls. They looked back at him and a silent conversation ensued between the three of them. I watched with mild amusement before Lucian smiled in triumph. His eyes were bright when he turned back to face me, his small hands gripping the sleeve of my shirt.

"I can show you the way," he told me excitedly.

"You can?" I asked in a mix of hope and disbelief.

"Yeah," he replied nodding his head vigorously. "We live down here you know. I can take you to the inner chamber. It's not that far from where we are now."

I stood to my feet quickly forcing Lucian to crane his head back to look up at me. Lydia and Holly shrunk back in mild fear as I stood to my full height. Lucian beamed up at me as he started to gather my things and toss them into my bag. I stopped him from touching the weapons as I decked myself out in them. He watched as I slid the straps for the bow, quiver, and broadsword over my head and across my chest. I attached the belt with the dirk dangling from it and slipped the daggers into their sheaths. I looked over to see Lucian whispering something to the girls. Holly was crying silently and Lydia's face held an expression of concern. Lucian hugged them both tightly before rushing to my side.

"Alright," he said puffing out his chest, "follow me and stay close."

He quickly darted to the mouth of the cave and looked over his shoulder at me. I couldn't help but smirk as I jogged to keep up with him. Soon I was running after Lucian as he led me down twisting winding tunnels and passageways. My heart hammered in my chest and my breath came out in quick bursts. Lucian looked over his shoulder at me and threw his head back in laughter. He looked back ahead of him and charged towards a rough stone wall. I watched with wide eyes as he ran up the wall, using the rough stones up the wall as hand and foot holds. I took a deep breath as I sped up and followed him upwards. At the top was small opening.

"All we have to do is crawl through here and then we'll find the entrance to the inner chamber," Lucian told me with a bright smile.

"Think I'll fit?" I asked eyeing the small tunnel entrance.

"I've seen things bigger than you crawl through here," he replied rolling his eyes. "You'll be just fine."

I was about to ask him what kind of things he had seen but he slipped into the tunnel on his hands and knees. I shook my head and let out a long sigh before dropping to the ground and followed after the boy. It was an incredibly tight squeeze for me but I was able to crawl through the pitch black tunnel. Lucian would stop on occasion to make sure I was still behind him before continuing to shuffle on his hands and knees. We traveled this way for hours until a bright light emanated from the tunnel's exit. Lucian let out a small laugh before crawling faster.

"Lucian wait," I called after him trying to catch up. "You said that creatures crawl through here. There may be one on the other side."

"And what do you propose we do?" he asked his small form allowing him to turn and face me.

"Can you squeeze behind me?" I asked him.

He nodded and I pressed myself as close to the tunnel wall as possible. Lucian managed to push his small body behind me and I led us towards the exit. Once I poked my head out I saw we were in a huge cavern. I saw that the floor gently sloped downward and led to a path leading further down to where I had no clue. I looked quickly around sensing for any creatures that may be lurking in the shadows. I crawled out of the tunnel and stood to my feet, stretching out my cramped muscles. Lucian shuffled out and smiled brightly up at me.

"All we have to do is go down that path and we'll find the inner chamber," he told me pointing down the path. "That's where all the souls of the dead live. I don't know if vampires go here when they die though.

"I never told you I was a vampire," I said trying to hide my surprise.

"You didn't have to," Lucian responded with a chuckle. "Your eyes told me everything I needed to know. I'm a lot smarter than I look."

"So you can recognize a vampire by their eyes," I mused aloud, "how though?"

"Well," Lucian said staring off in thought, "vampire eyes kinda look like gemstones. They're a lot shinier and brighter than humans. They really look like someone stuck ruby or an onyx stone in someone's face."

"You really are a lot smarter than you look," I said ruffling his hair.

Lucian laughed and pushed my hand away. At the same time, a chilling shriek filled the cavern. We both froze and looked around trying to locate the source of the noise. We looked up as a dark shape descended from the air above us. A huge black creature swooped down its sharp claws glinting in the dim light. Large bat-like wings sprouted from its back and sent powerful gusts of wind down at us. I wrapped an arm around Lucian and pulled him back as the creature landed. Its glowing red eyes gleamed down at us as it parted its jaw to let out another terrible shriek. I pushed Lucian away from me and the creature and reached for my bow and an arrow. As I shot at the beast, I channeled my inner flame into the arrow making it burst into flame as it pierced the oversized bat thing.

It shrieked again and clawed at the still flaming arrow stuck in its chest. It stumbled back and hit the cavern wall hard. The ground quaked beneath my feet and I looked up to see rocks falling from the hidden cavern ceiling. The huge rocks crashed down and fell onto the beast. Its shrieked was cut short as it was buried. The resulting rock slide caused the entire cavern to shake. Lucian scrambled over to me and quickly pushed me down the path as more rocks fell around us. I hit the ground and rolled further down the path, covering my head as rocks still fell from the sky. By the time I was all over I slowly lifted my and looked through the thick clouds of dust and dirt that had been churned up. My heart dropped painfully when I was finally able to see through the thick clouds blurring my vision.

Lucian was lying motionless on the ground, his small body half buried by rocks. I quickly rushed to his side and began to carefully push the rocks off of him. He let out a weak moan as I pulled him the rest of the way out. He opened his eyes slowly as I cradled him in my arms. He had never looked so young and fragile as he did now, his small form crushed and bleeding. He managed to smile up at me and I tried to swallow pas the lump in my throat.

"Tell me about this girl you love so much," he requested in a weak voice.

"Her name is Dana," I whispered softly. "She has the prettiest green eyes you've ever seen. And her hair is this fiery red that looks so beautiful in the sunlight. And when she smiles it almost breaks your heart with its beauty."

"She sounds nice," he whispered back his eyes falling closed. "Does she have any talents?"

"She sings," I answered. "It sounds like the angels when she sings. And she can cook anything you want. Her food is the best I've ever tasted. And she's really good at gardening. She loves flowers. Her favorite is a sunflower."

"I've never seen a flower before," Lucian said a little sadly.

"You would love to see her garden. It's filled with them," I told him as a tear slid down my face.

"Maybe…one day I can," he said with a sigh. He slumped in my arms, whatever life he had left in him finally letting go. I choked on a sob as I gently shook him.

"Don't you die on me now," I begged as more tears fell down my cheeks. "Come on and open your eyes. Don't you dare die. You have to wake up. We're so close we can't stop now. Come one Lucian, wake up!"

I gave him one more hard shake before slumping over his lifeless body. I sat there over this small boy that I had just met and cried. My shoulders shook with each sob as the tears fell freely. This stupid little kid agreed to go this journey with me after just meeting me. He knew nothing about me other than I wanted and needed help to save someone I love. He didn't ask any questions, just jumped right into the thick of things. I stopped crying and wiped away the last of my tears.

I carefully moved Lucian's body to the side and pulled out one of my daggers. I began to plunge it into the hard, packed earth in front of me. Once I had it loosened up I began to dig my hands into the dirt digging a shallow hole with my hands and dagger. Once it was deep enough I carefully placed Lucian's body down into it and began to push the dirt back in. I tried not to look as slowly I covered his body with dirt. After I finished the job I grabbed one of the smaller rocks to mark his grave. I sat there feeling numb as I stared at the grave I had just made. Slowly, I stood on my feet and walked down the path towards my goal.

A/N: Poor Lucian :( so young and full of life. But he had to die for the sake of the story. Now on to happier things I have a little request from my faithful readers. As you all know Dana is having triplets…so I need some help with coming up with baby combinations. Now, one has to be a boy for purposes that I will reveal later. So here are your options:

A) 2 girls and a boy

B) All boys

I await your answer! Please review and you shall be given many praises and cookies!