The Zeiterion Theater was dead lonely as Darren approached, stepping up to the glass door. As he leaned in to look into the lobby, the door gave a little. It was unlocked. Darren pushed it open with a finger.

Darren was by the credenza where he hid. The coffin was gone.

"Hello?" Darren called.

Darren came up from below and crosses. He parted the curtains and came out on the stage. He stopped short, seeing in the center of the stage -Crepsley's coffin. After a moment, Darren stepped up. He gripped the lid, slid it back. He looked inside to see -Madam Octa perched on the side, staring back at him!

Darren stumbled back. The coffin lid slammed to the stage as Darren lost his footing, landing on his butt. And then -applause. One pair of hands created a hollow echo.

Crepsley sat alone in the middle of the theater. Clapping. And then he was gone! Only to reappear over Darren, offering a hand up. Darren scrambled to his feet. A beat.

"What have you come for this time?" Crepsley asked.

Darren pulled out a crucifix, holding it in Crepsley's face. The vampire took it, looked it over. It had no effect.

"Crosses don't hurt you?" Darren said incredulously.

"Why should they?" Crepsley asked.

"Because... you're evil." Darren said.

"Am I? Are vampire bats evil when they drink the blood of cows?" Crepsley asked.

"That's different. Bats are animals."

"So am I. So are you. Our appetites don't make us evil." Crepsley sighed. "Why are you here?"

"Your spider bit my friend Steve." Darren said, painfully.

Crepsley shrugged, tossing Darren back his crucifix.

"He's dying."

"Yes, well, boys who play with things they do not understand can hardly complain if -" Crepsley started.

"You have to help him!" Darren cried.

"The antidote to her poison is rare. Expensive. Why should someone as evil as I am waste it on Steve?" Crepsley asked.

"I'll pay you back. If it takes 50 years. Whatever it costs." Darren pleaded.

"Money doesn't interest me." Crepsley said.

"There's something you want. That's why you're here waiting for me." Darren said. "Right?"

Crepsley was surprised and pleased by Darren's intuitiveness.

"I already have what I want." Crepsley beckoned to the curtain.

Kuri walked out, her hand joined with the red headed assistant from the show. There was something different about her.

She had a tattoo of a moon on her forehead, like the assistant!

"Kuri, you're a—-"

"Vampyre." Crepsley finished. "She came to me as soon as she could. Did you not notice at the show, how she was dying? Of course you didn't. And she would have died, if not for me. Exactly like your friend Steve."

Darren hung his head. "I know. I KNOW, ok?! Kuri, I-I'm sorry, I—"

Kuri held up a hand, and shook her head. Sadly, she pulled her sister back into the shadows. Darren reached out as if to stop her, but then his hand fell to his said.

Helpless. He was helpless. How he wished he was strong, like a…

"Vampire. Would you not like to become one? You would be strong, perhaps enough so this never happens again. So you never fail the ones you love with your weakness."

Darren shook his head. "I'll never be like you."

"Like Kuri, you mean?" Crepsley said craftily. "She may be from a different clan, but she is still like me. A blood drinker. But enough argument. Yes or no."

"No."

"Then your friend dies. And you never see Kuri again. You will be alone, with blood on your hands."

Darren struggled with the decision. "I will never forgive you for this. I'll get my revenge. You can never trust me."

"I never desired, nor expected your trust. Yes or no? Life or death? Love or loneliness?

"There has to be another way."

"There is not. This is your destiny. Make your choice." Crepsley snapped, getting impatient.

Thoughts rushed, then stopped. Darren looked in Kuri's eyes from across the stage. He finally just nodded.

Crepsley raised his right hand. The nails were not especially long, but they looked thick and sharp.

Crepsley took Darren's hand, jabbed at his forefinger, drew blood. He dabbed off a drop, smells it, then tasted it.

Kuri hissed. Reiko, her sister, held her back.

"You have good blood." Crepsley said, ignoring the girls.

Crepsley lifted his own left hand. He pressed the nails of his right into the fleshy tips of his left hand fingers. Then he used the left nails to mark the right fingers in the same way. Blood dripped down all ten fingers.

It was Reiko's turn to hiss.

"Lift your hands." Crepsley ordered.

Darren did as he was told. Crepsley dug all ten nails into all ten of Darren's fingertips. Darren jerked back in pain.

"Get used to pain. More lies ahead."

He motioned to his hands. Darren raised them, fingers spread. Crepsley pressed his fingertips to Darren's. Blood brothers. As their eyes lock, Darren frownd at an alien sensation

"The blood flows into your left arm and out of your right. Do you feel it? Getting near your heart?"

Darren nodded, shivering.

"Almost there."

A force arced through Darren's body. He screamed, falling down. Caught by Kuri.

Kuri glared at Crepsley. "It would have been so simple for me to just Imprint him!"

Crepsley gave her an impish grin. "I do not wish for him to be one of your human subjugates. Darren is a vampire. That is his Destiny."

Kuri hissed at him, then fussed over Darren.

Crepsley turned away, starting to lick the blood from his fingertips. Trying to block out Darren's soft whimpering. Trying to block out any sympathy he felt.

"Darren." Crepsley addressed him. "The world will start to slow down. You'll become a witness of time." Crepsley glared at him. "Your friend's time is running out." He pulled Darren to his feet, out of Kuri's clinging grip.

But not before she hissed in his ear. "RUN."