Author's Note: When Truska speaks, I'm making it in italics and using a different barrier to isolate it from other text just to keep up the appearance that she's speaking her native tongue and nobody but Mikey understands her. Just a little forewarning. C:
Review response time! :D
—Spot'sGalFrom1899 : Ohmygosh, that was fast! I literally died when I saw your review. Thank you so, so much for sticking with me for so long and for still digging this story! You have no idea how much it meant to me to get such great feedback so quickly. Thank you sososososososososo much. C:
—Nikochan23: If it weren't for you, this would still be dead! So thank you for saving it c: &That's an interesting theory… c; But you see, she's the protagonist, so we have to make her get attached to both guys before anything bad can happen to either one. C: I think I have a general idea of where this story is going to be going, but I'm not entirely sure. But for right now, everything is headed in a direction that I think you'll fancy c:
—JinxedRonny: Oh, yay! I'm glad that you thought I did it well. He's such a great character, and I'm having such a hard time balancing his evil and his hurt and his wit all together. &&I agree… Love triangles are WAY overdone. I don't know how original this one will be… But I guess you'll let me know! C:
And now, on with the show!
Michaela was awoken from her nightmare by loud shouts. She curled up further into her blankets, sure that it had been part of her dream. When it became clear that the screams were coming from outside her tent rather than her own imagination, she jolted upright. What the fuck was going on? She had just opened the flap of her tent to walk outside when she was shoved backwards. "Hey!" she shouted as her back hit her hammock.
There were a few buzzing and clicking noises before Michaela was able to actually tune into what Truska was saying. Whereas the first time she'd heard it she didn't even register the difference in languages, she now had to focus in to decipher the meaning behind her speech. In her sleep-induced haze, Michaela was only able to pick up on the last few words— Stay here.
"What's going on?" Michaela demanded with a scared edge to her voice. The screaming had intensified rather than silenced, and she could feel herself getting more and more apprehensive. The Cirque was supposed to have a show tonight, and Truska, of all people, should be in the tent performing. "Truska, what's happening?"
[Mr. Crepsley told me to keep you here,] Truska responded in an angry shout. She glared down at the younger girl and added, [It isn't safe for you.]
"If it isn't safe for me, it isn't safe for him, either!" Michaela argued, knowing the weakness of her statement even before it was uttered. Mr. Crepsley was a freaking vampire. He was immune to a plethora of things that would harm her.
[Calm down. This will be handled shortly. ] Truska moved her arm so that it was no longer restraining Michaela, but didn't go far in case she decided to make a move.
"Yeah, but—" Her argument was cut off by a long howl that she recognized as being the Wolfman's. Her eyes widened and she jolted to her feet. "He's out?"
[Calm down,] Truska repeated sharply. There was a high-pitched yelp from outside, and then all was silent. There were no screams, howling… Neither person in the tent could hear even the slightest whisper. Slowly, noise began returning. Everyone was coming back to the campgrounds, with the crisis behind them.
"Now can I go? Please?" Michaela pleaded. She locked eyes with Truska who, after a grudging moment, nodded her consent.
Michaela burst out of her tent, only to see that just about everyone from the Cirque was roaming around. She weaved her way in and out of people heading towards their tents to the outskirts of the campground. She watched the horizon for a while, waiting to see any signs of residual activity, when she felt a tap on her shoulder. She whirled around and was barely able to recognize Evra's face before he pulled her into a hug. "I didn't know where you were! I thought maybe the Wolfman…" His sentence trailed off as he pulled away from the embrace and grinned down at her. "Where's Darren?"
"What do you mean, where's—" Michaela's sentence dropped right alongside her heart. She stared up at Evra's ever-fading smile and said, "Truska wouldn't let me leave the tent! I thought he would be with you."
"I haven't seen him yet," Evra responded, his lips having completed their one-eighty into a frown. He glanced around before suggesting, "Maybe we should go find Mr. Crepsley…"
Michaela nodded her head numbly. She couldn't even begin to fathom the possibility that Darren might not be okay. He was already weak as hell from refusing to drink blood for so long… He wouldn't have the strength to handle the Wolfman normally, let alone now. What if he'd been there when he escaped? What if he—
"Michaela." Evra grabbed her arm and, with it, her attention. He wore a desperate expression as he pleaded urgently, "Let's go find them."
"What happened?" she asked softly as she walked at his side. His hand was still wrapped around her arm, right below her elbow and right above where the worst of her self-harm had taken place once upon a time.
He glanced down at her, noticing for the millionth time the disarray of scars on her arm, and took a deep breath. One day, he would get the courage to ask about them; but that day wasn't going to be today. He hated when her eyes would flood with pain, and she already looked like she was headed towards a breakdown. She always did. "I heard the Wolfman howling and figured he got out. I got up and saw Darren wasn't in his hammock, so I went to find Mr. Tall and he stopped the show and…" He caught her heightened sense of alarm and exclaimed a quick, "But it's quiet now! It's quiet and everybody is coming back. Darren and Mr. Crepsley will be, too."
She nodded slowly and continued walking next to him, moving slightly closer to his reptilian body for support. He glanced down and moved his arm so that it was draped around her shoulders comfortingly when, all of a sudden, Michaela stopped short. He gradually began to retract his arm and was halfway through an apology when he realized what the real problem was. Her eyes had landed on the wolfman's cage, and— more importantly— the trail of blood flowing from it.
"Do you want to follow it?" Evra asked softly. Her head once again bobbed up and down, so he stared down at the crimson-colored grass and lead her up the small hill it traveled. Michaela hesitated once they got to the edge of the woods, but found that they didn't have to venture very far into it before they found the source.
"My hands, man! My hands," a low voice croaked from the ground. Michaela looked up at Evra in a silent question of what to do, but he was already rushing to the figure's side.
"R.V.!" Evra cried, kneeling next to where the man had collapsed. "R.V., what happened?"
"Get away from me!" he shrieked, reaching over to push himself backwards. He stopped when his stumped arms hit the ground to howl in pain. "My hands!"
"R.V., what happened to you?" Evra asked softly, though it was blatantly obvious. To Michaela, at least. This smelly guy had had a midnight brush with a monster. More specifically, the Wolfman.
"Get away from me, man!" R.V. repeated, digging his heels into the soil to propel himself from the snake-boy. "You're one of them, man, you're evil!" He noticed Michaela standing over to the side and added a wary, "Who's that, man? Is she one of you? Did she come to finish me off?"
"One of who?" Evra stared at R.V.'s haggard face sadly as he added, "I'm not evil."
"Who's the chick, man?" R.V. shouted once again. He looked around for a weapon to defend himself before recalling that he had no hands to pick whatever he found up with. He gave up on escape or defense and gazed down at his bleeding stumps morosely. "My hands," he whimpered.
"Evra, who is that?" Michaela finally dared to ask, moving closer to the broken and disfigured man. She kneeled down next to Evra and added, "You know him?"
"He used to hang out with me and Sam and Dar—" R.V. began to howl at the mention of Darren, interrupting Evra's explanation.
He calmed down for a little while, just in time to say a belligerent, "He stole my hands, man!" He glared from Evra to Michaela's faces, daring one of them to argue. When Michaela opened her mouth to speak, he began howling again, cutting off her attempt.
The two teenagers stared blankly at each other, wondering what to do about this deranged lunatic. They had no idea how he hadn't died from blood loss yet; the fact that he was still awake and roaring was mind-boggling. Finally, Evra asked a quiet, "Should we go get Mr. Tall?"
"That won't be necessary," a smooth voice said from the shadows. All three of the people on the ground's eyes shot up to where the voice had come from, causing it to chuckle. "Don't be frightened." A man with what seemed to be red hair trailing down to his back stepped out into the moonlight and stared down at the trio emotionlessly. "I'm here to collect R.V.."
"Who are you?" R.V.'s teeth chattered as he spoke, whether from injury or fear was uncertain.
"I am Gannen Harst," the man stated calmly, as though the subject manner was of no interest to him. His facial expression did not change or falter as he addressed the newly-handicapped R.V. with a simple question: "Would you like to come and retrieve your hands?"
A/N: From this point on, I'm going to be making these chapters a lot more in-line with the actual stories. I'm re-reading the series, so I'm sure that'll give me ideas as well as keep me on par. However, as I stated in the beginning, there are a few details I'm changing so that they align with the movie. For example, I made Darren and Steve and everyone older, like they were in the movie rather than the books. And Murlough blooded Steve, rather than having Gannen do it later on. At first, the whole "mixing book and movie" thing was just an excuse to be inaccurate and lazy, but now some of that is actually working towards my benefit.
Once again, thank you all so much for sticking by me!
In addition; this is probably going to end a lot sooner than I'd originally planned. In the beginning I thought I'd keep this going until Darren and Mr. Crepsley went off to Vampire Mountain, but now that seems sooooo far away. So what I think I'll do is take us through the next book (when they go to New York) and end it after that.
A million "thank-you"s go to nikochan23 for helping me endlessly with this chapter. c: