"Did you find him?" Arra asked worriedly, a heavy black duffle coat wrapped tightly around her body to cover her fancy red festival suit.

"Not yet. I followed his trail to the river and then," Wester stated, tugging at his hair worriedly. This was perhaps the longest that he had been without his brother since the two had first met all those years ago. The notion that he had lost his brother made him feel physically sick. Mika hadn't died, there had been no reason to flee. Larten had been angry, yes, but no one was dead. Why would he run?

"This is all your fault!" Wester spat.

"Mine?" Darren yelped, looking up at the distressed vampire, "What did I do?"

"You yelled at him!" Wester shouted, "You scared him off! It's your fault he's out there alone!"

"Me? It's not my fault! Look what he did to Mika! You can't just let him get away with that, Even if we're brothers there are rules and that was not cool," Darren growled with risen lips, baring his fangs at Wester defensively.

"'Not cool'? Where the Hell do you even come from! You know nothing!"

Darren shoved Wester hard, "I know right from wrong and that's something that hasn't changed for a millennium!"

"Silence!" Arra shouted furiously, breaking up the fight, "He left his coat so we know he is unarmed. Take a deep smell and try and track his trail before sunrise. If we haven't found him by then then we telecommunicate to Seba. Agreed?"

When both men nodded sullenly, Arra threw Larten's coat at them, the hidden dagger he'd had in the breast pocket now in Arra's hands. She threw it around confidently as Darren and Wester took a deep sniff.

"Now, we meet at the Inn on Main street at six am sharp, wither we find him or not. Argeed?" Arra was glad both men saw everything her way, particularly as they split off into opposite directions.

Larten was infamously renowned for his tracking abilities. He was cunning and witty, more than capable of setting up dud trails if he didn't want to be found. What's more was that Larten was one of the fastest vampires for hundreds of miles. His speed rivalled that of Vancha March, another fast vampire who, like Larten, was a decent tracker.

Looking up at the night sky, Arra sighed. Behind her she could hear Mika making demands for Larten's head on a stick. Vanez was attempting to defuse Mika's fury; no one was dead thus no crime had been committed. There were others who wanted to see Larten Crepsley brought forward for his cowardice in fleeing the site. That was perhaps the greatest disrespect a vampire could commit and it would be a reflection on Seba's good name.

"Crepsley, you fool," Arra hissed under her breath before flitting away.

A few hours later…

Darren ran his hand through his wet hair, sitting down on the bedside table. He looked up at Wester, the brother in bits. Arra was yet to return though there was another few minutes left until the agreed meeting time.

Sat in the Inn, hoping someone had found him, Darren's heart was sinking.

"So you followed his trail out to the north of the city?" Wester said with an obvious strain in his voice.

"Aye," Darren nodded, "It went on but I doubled back to come here."

"Arra has probably found him," Wester said with a soft smile, "That's why she isn't back just yet. The two are probably mating,"

"I genuinely hope so," Darren laughed weakly, shaking his head, "I can't believe how much I want them to be having sex right now. I don't think I've wanted anything more in my life," he chuckled before looking to attention as Arra came into the room, alone and unflustered.

"His trail led me South. It stopped off at a whore house. I went inside but he definitely wasn't there," she shrugged, "How did you both get on?"

"Darren followed him to the north of the city and I lost his trail by the river," Wester sighed, shaking his head, "Which means,"

"Which means he doesn't want us to find him," Darren concluded.

An awful silence befell the three, each thinking along similar lines.

"You'll just have to leave him," Arra shrugged, "If he doesn't feel like speaking to you guys then," she shrugged a final time, holding Larten's jacket tightly over her arm.

Darren cursed mentally at the notion of leaving Larten to his own devices. The soul reason Darren was in that century in the first place was to locate Larten and alter the future. How could he do that if the bastard had run away? For all Darren knew, he'd failed already.

Grimacing, Darren gripped his head as it began to throb dully. This was hopeless, a waste of time. Darren just didn't know how to alter the future. He had known such precious little about his mentor when he'd been Larten's assistant and now he regretted heavily his lack of interest. Now, Darren cursed himself for not voicing his thoughts and curiosities about his mentor.

"Vampires have no secrets,"

Larten's words back in the beginning echoed around in Darren's head. He only wished he'd asked more questions, gotten to know the vampire before-

A shudder ran through Darren as he quickly closed the memory book, not wanting to think down that path again. He looked up at Wester and asked, "Where will you be heading now?"

"I'll probably head to Seba. I don't like travelling alone," Wester mused, scratching his slight stubble.

"So you'll be heading towards the Mountain?" Arra asked. When Wester nodded, she cracked her knuckles. "I shall walk with you then." Luckily, Wester merely nodded in response, unphased by Arra's presence. "What of you, Shan? Will you come with us to the Mountain?"

Darren looked up at Arra and frowned. His heart wanted to go to the Mountain, to see Seba in his early years, meet Paris and Vancha all over again. Carve a name for himself as a free roaming adult vampire and not as a boy assistant.

But shouldn't he follow Larten?

No. Larten didn't want to be followed and Darren didn't want to follow him.

"Yes, I think I will. It's been too long since I was last there. It'll be…interesting,"

Elsewhere…

Whistling to the wind, Larten drifted down the Thames River on a piece of discarded drift wood he'd found lying in the streets as he'd run away. The water was stinking, raw sewage sloshing around beside him, further soaking his suit trousers and shirt as the wood dipped slightly into the river under Larten's weight.

Not that the vampire cared, casually laying on his back and staring up at the coming dawn. The biggest smile of his vampire life was plastered on his face, along with muck from the river which he'd smudged into his skin as he swept back his hair with dirty hands. Never had Larten experienced this level of freedom, even as a boy he'd never dream of sailing down the river of his childhood to a strange destination somewhere downstream.

He wished Vur was here though. Wester was a laugh but Larten missed that dependency Vur always had on Larten. In a childish sense it always made Larten feel more important than he truly was; like his mistakes would be disastrous but also would bring great pride if he made correct decisions.

Wester had his own mind and looked to Larten as a dear friend, a brother, but not an older brother.

Darren however…

Larten sensed something peculiar about the boy. There were traits in Darren which reminded Larten of himself; sarcasm, Wester would call it, but Larten felt that there was more to it. He had a pull to the young man.

By Gods, he hoped he wasn't turning homosexual.

A murderer, a thief, a thug and one of those homosexuals? Gods, Seba would just love that!

If it wasn't for his longing to have Arra, Larten would have put serious thought into the motion. He wanted Darren but not for anything other than to…to…to-

Gods, he didn't know. Lock him in a cage, feed him crackers and call him Polly?

Nothing had been making sense since Darren appeared and it was hurting Larten's head with the constant numbing pain of uncertainty.

Dismissing thoughts of Darren and his strange need to be with him, Larten began singing.

That infuriating boy with his infuriating song that he'd sing or whistle whenever the group were walking. Wester started singing it too and, on those drunken nights that Larten would require being carried home, he would also join in.

"I would like to hold my little hand. How we will run we will, how we will crawl we will. I would like to hold my little hand. How we will run we will, how we will crawl. Send me on my way. Send me on my way!"

So the group have split up! Dun dun dun!