A.N. Yay finally the moment I, and I hope others, have been waiting for... the drunk vampires of the mountain. Now then so as not to keep many waiting and seeing as how no one reads these dang author's notes anyways. On to the disclaimer.

Disclaimer: Cirque du Freak in all of its glory doesn't belong to me.

Chapter 44

It wasn't long before Darren and Mr. Crepsley found themselves within the hall full of high spirits and cheer, as the barrels of ale found themselves around the hall. Darren was able to quickly locate Dorene and Mia, who were both enjoying themselves and practically drowning themselves in the alcohol. Darren stared at Mia almost forgetting that she was around the same age as he and Evra but still didn't seem to show her true age.

Mentor and student quickly found seats next to their friends amid the chaos and quickly became emerged in the cheer themselves. Vanez and those he was training weren't so lucky at the blind vampire listened to those in the hall speak with loud voices and sometimes hear a chant or drunken song play down through the halls.

Back with the drunken vampires Dorene was finishing her second barrel and then looked up at Darren a drunken blush covering her face. She listened as Darren Sang About How He Was The Prince Of Ale and waited till he was finished singing before tugging at his sleeve.

Darren looked to Dorene with unfocused eyes and smiled.

"Da... Darren I haves somein' to... to tell ya." Dorene said as Darren fell back onto his seat, casting an unclear gaze over to Mia seeing, yet not understanding that she was downing another barrel as she took on different animal characteristics. He turned back to Dorene the motion sending a feeling of being dizzy to his unclear head.

Dorene leaned to Darren's ear and whispered. "Sorry, I... I didn tell ya tha i met Shtev." Darren's unclear head didn't process what she said and simply patted her on the back a little to hard.

"S'all righ, no ned to apollagiz." A small smile came to Dorene's lips as she leaned in to Darren's chest unaware of her own actions.

Harkat watched as the two continued drinking and then turned to Mia or at least where he thought the silent female was, but she wasn't there. Harkat turned back to Darren and Dorene seeing the two of them laughing and then Dorene seemed to fall forward planting a kiss on Darren's cheek, the other vampires in the hall didn't even seem to notice and Harkat decided to go and look for Mia.

...

"Ugh" Darren groan as he pulled himself up off of the floor. Next to him Dorene still lay passed out from all the drinking prior and no amount of shaking would wake her. Darren looked around, slowly , the motion alone sending a sense of motion sickness and dizziness with it. Darren noticed Harkat approaching and slowly got to his feet and stood, leaning heavily against the wall that was conveniently next to him.

"Morning Darren." Harkat said with a sharp tooth smile as he stopped before his friend. Darren's greeting consisted of a groan and a weak smile as the room around him began to twist and his vision swam. Harkat again smiled and grabbed a hold of Darren's arm.

"Come on... Seba told me... a secret to get... rid of a hang... over." With unsteady feet Darren followed behind Harkat not even able to comprehend that they were heading for the hall of Perta van Grall.

Darren only realized once Harkat had pushed the teen into the frigid cold waterfall. The two emerged from under the natural water and after getting dressed set out to find, Mia, Mr. Crepsley and Dorene. They had passed Mr. Crepsley in one of the corridors and Darren was able to see what Paris had meant by Gorilla. He and Harkat left, while holding in their laughter and continued their search; stepping over many unconscious vampires and navigating their way back to the main hall where most of the drinking took place.

Stepping over seemingly dead bodies and maneuvering their way through the hall Darren and Harkat scanned the area for any signs of their two friends. Where they sat the night before Harkat saw the passed out figure of Dorene. He legs caught on the bench keeping her lower half off of the floor, while her head was laying on the stone ground facing towards the caverns ceiling, eyes closed. As the two of them neared their friend Darren couldn't help but notice the drunken blush that still lightly colored the girls face.

Darren knelt down by her head and lightly shook her shoulders, not really sure of what else to do. Dorene let out a small groan and the wearily opened her eyes against the lights in the cavern.

"Darren?"

Darren lightly laughed as he helped Dorene up and sat on the bench next to her as she placed her head on the table. She let out another groan as she mumbled into the table.

"Ugh what the hell did we do last night."

Darren looked to Harkat who only gave a sharp toothed, knowing smile. Darren not really wanting to know what caused Harkat to smile like that decided to change the subject.

"Has anyone seen Mia?" Dorene didn't even look up as she mumbled about being passed out and not even able to remember the majority of the night before. Darren then looked to Harkat who simply shrugged.

"I went to find... her last... night... but couldn't." Harkat explained in his broken speech. Darren turned to the hall of passed out drunks trying to find some kind of hidden clue that could lead him to Mia, but he turned back to Dorene, still with no idea where the shape shifter could be.

He stood up and after helping Dorene to her feet the three set off to find Mia. As they were looking the sounds of newly blooded vampires being trained echoed through the halls. Darren, curious at how training was progressing decided to lead the group in that direction.

Upon entering the Cavern which the blind Vanez used for training, Darren watched as the blind Vampire flipped one of the newly blooded to the ground. Not wanting to surprise Vanez Darren called out.

"What Vanez, no breaks?" Vanez turned in Darren's direction and sat down, Darren and the other two of his group joined the veteran vampire. Vanez sighed.

"Heh breaks? I'm hard pressed as it is to train this group and at this rate they won't even be close to ready to fight." Darren could do nothing but nod his head in agreement. Then he turned to the vampires who were sprawled out across the floor.

"Hey you wouldn't happen to have seen my friend have you?" Darren called out to the vampires, they turned and almost seemed at a loss for words, when the young vampire prince called out to them. One of the braver ones decided to answer.

"You mean the one with the tail?" Darren nodded, then the vampire continued. "I think I saw her come back this way last night, think she might've went outside."

Darren nodded, helped Dorene up to her unsteady feet, then the three went off again to find Mia. During their trek to the exit Harkat went into a type of daze and went off ahead, not really explaining what came over him. Darren finally saw the robed back of his friend as he saw the exit before him.

Stepping out into the fresh, autumn air he stretched his arms out to the brisk wind that blew past him, it felt like forever since he stepped out of the mountain, in all actuality six years was a long time to spend within a mountain.

Darren looked around him and just as he started thinking about the wolves and tried to figure out how they might be faring, he caught something in the corner of his eye. When Darren turned fully, he saw the shape of an unconscious woman, leaned up against some rocks, he would've thought she was a complete stranger were it not for the long, light, mud brown hair, and the tail that flicked against the ground occasionally.

"Mia?" Darren called out as he looked back to Harkat, seeing Harkat stare off in the distance he turned back to his friend still trying to figure out the major change in her appearance.

Her hair that had been growing over that past years had grown longer then its original length and the shirt that once hung loosely on her frame clung to her figure, the pants that she hand been wearing appeared more as a pair of Capris. Letting go of Dorene, who had almost completely regained her balance, Darren walked over to Mia and nudged her, stopping once she showed a sign of waking up.

Turning bleary, unfocused eye to Darren, Mia smiled, but almost instantly the smile fell and she turned to where Harkat stood. Darren turned as watched just as the Little Person disappeared over the edge. Darren ran over to the edge and raced after his friend, stopping dead in his tracks at what he saw.

"Well hello, I assume this is the welcoming committee." said the grinning Desmond Tiny

A.N. So yeah new chapter right at the end a little glimpse of Mia's true age I will show it more in the next chapter, I just thought that this was a good place to stop

Until Next time Peace, Love, and Virtual Hugs.