Idiot

It had been good catching up with Seba and the other vampires I had known over the years. I had to say, although life with the Cirque was enjoyable, I had very much missed my old life with the clan. Every five minutes or so though, Darren would enter my mind. I could not help but wonder where Kurda had dragged him off to. I was hoping he had not shown him the Hall of Death. Just the sight had scarred me when I had first come, metaphorically of course. I could only imagine what it would do to someone as young as Darren.

I had found Harkat, and not long after, we had left the Hall of Osca Velm to find the Halls of Sport. I was not looking for game myself, I just had a good feeling in my gut that Arra- err, a friend I had not seen in a long time would be there.

As we walked, I could not help but notice that Harkat seemed much more relaxed here. If you had just met him then, you would have figured this had been his home for hundreds of years. Maybe he had been a vampire in his previous life…

I looked back to the Hall in front of me. As we reached the Halls of Sport, my eyes widened. Every vampire in the mountain seemed to be there! The door was crowded and everyone seemed to be trying to get inside. I looked at Harkat and he looked at me. I could tell we were both curious as well. We made our way in.

It was hard to get through the crowd and we made very little progress, but as we slowly made our way through, we could see that everyone was focused on the bars. I only took a small glance before another vampire nearly knocked me over, pushing past me. He said a small apology and continued past.

"What's going on?" I heard someone, who I assumed had just come, say.

"Some idiot challenged Arra to the bars! He's refusing to give up!" another replied.

I face palmed, knowing without a doubt who they were talking about. I suddenly could not look at the bars. I instead looked at Harkat, who was watching the bars in awe, through my fingers.

"Harkat, please tell me that is not our idiot." I exhaled.

"I can't… say that… Mr. Crepsley…" he replied without looking away from the bars. I sighed again.

I could not look no matter how much I wanted to. While all the other vampires gasped and cheered, my eyes remained underneath my hand. I finally managed to uncover and move them after a few minutes.

I really wish I had picked a better time to do so.

The second my eyes had reached their destination, Darren was knocked off of the bars. He was nearly at the very top as well. Forgetting about Harkat, I ran towards the giant tower. It was hard to get through all of the vampires, but I slowly made my way there. I knew the chances were slim, but I was praying that somebody had caught Darren, or he had grabbed onto one of the bottom bars at the last second. I could not bear for anything bad to happen to him. He was much too valuable to me. He was the closest thing I had ever had to a son. In fact, he practically was my son.

I got through the crowd just in time to see Darren walking over to Arra with Kurda and Vanez helping him. I breathed an enormous sigh of relief.

Darren held out his hand to Arra. "Come… shake!" I nearly laughed. That was what all this had been for? When I thought about it though, Darren did seem like the type to do something like this.

"One good fight doesn't make you a warrior." Arra replied. My heart rate sped up at the sound of her voice. I was confused. I could not still have feelings for her… could I?

"Shake!" Darren demanded.

"And if I don't?"

"I'll get back up on the bars… and fight till you do!" Darren sighed.

Please shake his hand, Arra. I begged in my head, knowing Darren was serious.

Arra sighed. Either she respected Darren or took pity on him… no she definitely had to have done it out of respect, because she then stood up and shook his hand. Kurda and Vanez just stood there in shock.

"Power to you, Darren Shan" she said.

"Power." Was all Darren could say, before he passed out, leaning on her. She seemed disturbed at first, but soon smiled sympathetically at the young boy. As everybody started clapping, I took it as my cue to take Darren back. I walked over to Arra.

"I will take him off of your hands." I said, gently lifting Darren into my arms.

Arra smiled, letting me take him. "Good to see you again, Larten. Is he the assistant I've heard about?" she asked. I nodded.

"He had better get some rest." She said.

I nodded again and smiled. "It is good to see you again, Arra." I walked back into the crowd of clapping vampires, carrying Darren with me, just as Harkat had found me once again.

We walked through the crowd of vampires, who were now making a path for us to cross through. When we finally made it out of the Hall, Harkat laughed.

"I have to… admit, Darren… was strong on… those bars, but… he kind of… was an… idiot." I looked down at Darren. His head was on my shoulder, nearly covering his black eye. I chuckled, thinking of all the times Darren had done something stupid. I did not care though. He was still a son to me.

Yes it was true; Darren was an idiot, but he was my idiot.