Full sum: It takes place in book 10, and instead of going with Hartkat, Darren decides to stay with Debbie and Alice and make the trek to Vampire Mountain. Not really any spoilers even if you're not up to 10 yet. :D They've been traveling for about a month, and Darren, like, really, needs human blood. He lost those human blood bottles he mentioned in book 10 that he was taking with him along the way. The effects keep getting worse and worse, and of course being the gentleman he is he has to ask Debbie if he can drink her blood, feeling he would be un comfortable asking Alice because he doesn't know her as well. Debbie kindly accepts, but what will she think that morning she wakes up and it's all done and over, knowing what Darren had just did to her last night while she slept? Wow, long sum for a two-shot!

Hello all! Cirque du freak is currently my all-time favorite series so I just had to write a two-shot about it. Yes, this is a two-shot, but I may eventually write a sequal one-shot or alternative outcome. They all might be a little OOC, sorry! Darren Shan is not mine. (Alright that sounds weird.) The Darren Shan saga is not mine. (Better.) Enjoy! :D

The wind whipped against my face, flushed and wet. I lifted my hand up to feel my cheek, which had a numb and damp feeling. I imagined it looked red and splotchy. My feet slapped against the snow covered ground with even, continuous thumps. The cold after noon air was all around, causing chills throughout my body and my teeth to chatter.

Gradually I stopped trying to keep up with Darren; it was physically impossible. I was already nearly a mile behind. I stopped running, slowing down to match Alice's pace.

We walked endlessly, wondering when we would finally find Darren waiting for us.

"We're slowing him down so much." I mumbled, kicking a clump of bad snow across the bumpy hills in the land. "If it weren't for us he'd have already gotten there weeks ago."

Alice sighed from beside me. "What can you say Debbie? He's a half vampire. He's restless. Going slow and waiting for us is hard for him, he's got to be moving, that kid."

"Don't call him a kid!" I looked at her. "He may only seem around sixteen physically, but that's because he's a half-vampire, you know it! In reality, he was born two years before me! If he stayed human all his life, at the moment he would be two years older than me! Mentally he's quite an adult." I said curtly. It bothered me very much how young he looked, and it was kinda a touchy subject.

"Okay, sheesh." Alice rolled her eyes to the sky. "I know."

"I'm so excited." I mumbled. "We've been at this for a while now. How long have we been traveling?" I spoke softly, changing the subject in a sudden casual way.

"A few months at least." Alice sniffed, looking up at the blue yet cloud covered sky. "It's so strange here; I hope Darren knows what he's doing."

"He does."

After a few minutes of silence Alice and I approached this tiny clearing, where Darren was waiting for us.

"We're staying here for the night." He said, grinning. "I've got some meat for you guys to eat for dinner also."

Behind him I saw the body of a large, fat deer, dead and completely drained of its blood. It was rich in meat though, it had probably been a spoiled thing.

"Thanks." Alice said, while I tried, but failed, to suppress a shudder.

"I know it's cold." Darren said. "I'm freezing up here, too." He rubbed my arms harshly. "No jacket's warm enough for this weather."

"Of course, that's coming from you, the boy walking around in bear feet." I replied, motioning to his un protected, bloody, and scarred feet.

I'd sounded pretty normal if you ask me, even though I'd shuddered for a different reason. I've known that Darren was a half-vampire for a while now, and I was perfectly used to such a concept. It was only that frankly, he drank blood. Human blood for the matter. That's why I shuddered, because Darren drank blood, such as from this deer. Now I knew he was no vampaneze, but all the same it still made me un comfortable.

I stared at the white, ghostly deer. I knew that after he found our camp for the night and while he was waiting for us he'd caught it and… drank its blood. The thing was drained. I wondered why he was drinking animal blood if he needed human blood, but obviously I was too scared to ask.

Darren placed huge servings of meat in front of Alice and I, which Alice had cooked, although not nearly enough, from the fire I'd worked up. He got a much smaller share of food, since he didn't really need it.

"Eat up." He said.

"So." Alice began open-mouthed as she chewed. "Darren. How come you've been… faltering?"

"Faltering?" I asked confused, looking at her quizzically. "What?"

I glanced over at Darren, wondering what Alice was saying, and he looked… ashamed?

Alice turned to me, amused. "Looks like someone isn't that observant."

"I just-" Alice cut me off.

"Fortunate for you Debbie, I pay attention. I've noticed over the past few days that Darren has been traveling very slow compared to before, eating and drinking much more than usual and leaning against things. He's been having this dizzy look." She turned to Darren. "Care to explain?"

Darren shrugged, eyeing Alice and I, particularly me. "No reason really, other than what you already know. We've been traveling for months, and this raw meat really isn't enough to keep someone going."

"Yeah." I frowned at him. "For Alice and I maybe, but you're a different story."

"It looks like Alice is imagining things." He said to Alice.

"I rather doubt that." Alice eyed him suspiciously, her jaw jutting out. Then she turned to me. "You'll see."

I grinned, trying to end the conversation. "Of course I will." I moved away from my spot next to Alice and went to the other side where I could sit by Darren, the warm air of the fire beating against my body. "Of course."

Darren grinned along with me, and eventually Alice started laughing too, a surprise because I was usually used to her serious, no-joking-matter mood.

For about 45 minutes we ate, laughed and joked and all, and sat by the fire. The warmth felt really good against the frigid, cold night. Every once in a while I huffed into my hands, cupped around my face. Darren saw my technique and tried to too.

"Aaaahhh." A compulsory shudder ran through him. "That felt nice."

"And warm, right?" I asked him.

"Yeah, really warm."

At the other end of the fire Alice slowly stood up. "I'm packing it in."

"Goodnight." I watched as she slowly walked across the cavern. Her legs were clearly stiff from all the traveling and walking we'd done today.

"When are we gonna reach another one of those thingies?" I asked Darren through a yawn, referring to the underground rest stop things we came across every once in a while. They came with human blood according to Darren, and a big coffin, I'd seen with my own eyes. Darren said he wasn't using the coffins, he was against them.

"Soon. Which reminds me..." He said, quickly adding a short "Goodnight!" to Alice, who was cuddled up in the corner of the snow covered cavern, where it was warmest. He put out the fire, and I thought I heard him mumble something like, "Be right back." Then he slipped away into the cold, freezing night.

I considered asking him where he was going, but I knew he would be back eventually.

The dark, chilling space coursed within me as I cuddled up myself near Alice. Blackness ran through my system as I stared into empty darkness.

"Goodnight Debbie." Alice's muffled voice came from somewhere to my left.

"Goodnight." I murmured.

I lay there for a while, listening to the sounds of nature from just a few feet away, and feeling the cold blasts of wind slap against me. Minutes passed by, it'd been forever, where was he?

Finally Darren came back, and saw that Alice was asleep.

"Hey." He whispered, sitting down by me. "Can I ask you a favor?"

"Sure." I muttered, without moving or opening my eyes.

"Mind coming outside?" he asked feebly, twiddling with his hair.

"Are you kidding me?" I opened my eyes and glared at him.

"Well it important. Debbie please just come. The faster we can get this over with then, right?"

"Fine." I followed him outside, wrapping my arms around myself. We were outside our camp for the night, the silent word stretched out in front of us, calm, snowy, and serene. "Yes?" I asked him, hopping on my feet to keep warm.

"Well…" He blushed, looking down at himself. "Before you asked me when the next 'thingy' was. Well you reminded me about it, and just now I left and ran to find it. I went really fast, and finally reached it.-"

"You found it!" I interrupted him. "Why don't we go there?"

He shook his head. "Too far away for you guys to reach it before drop-dead-from-lack-of-sleep-time. Besides, we're already set up here. But we'll make it there sometime around 11:30 am tomorrow. Tomorrow can be our relaxing day. Starting at 11:30 we can just lounge and catch ourselves up with ourselves."

"That doesn't make sense."

"It does to me." Darren said, smiling briefly. "Anyway, I found the next rest stop and looked inside to see if it had everything."

"Yes, you were gone a long time, almost an hour." I said; this explained why.

"Yeah," He said as he began walking around to warm up his legs. "Well I reached it and there were the coffin's where they always are. But no blood." He looked at me funnily, blushing crazily.

"What?" I asked. I was beginning to feel all squirmish. "No human blood?"

"Nope." He shook his head, popping his mouth at the 'p.' "So, anyway, let me just finish without interruptions." He looked embarrassed, his face cherry red. "I know we've passed about four rest stops alreadybut all the human blood was gone in each one of them."

Gone? What did he mean gone? If, for some strange reason all the blood was missing, how would he get the human blood he needed? My mind reeled as I suddenly realized where he was going…

"That is strange itself, but probably just some other vampire has been traveling also and got to each rest stop before us. And, er, I just checked in the rest stop we'll reach tomorrow, and the blood was gone in that one also. Since it was, I have no other choice because I lost the blood bottles with human blood I took here myself in the beginning of the trip. So, um, basically I know you a lot better than Alice, and so I'm more comfortable asking you. Um, remember when Alice asked me about why I'm faltering?"

"Yeah."

"Well that's because I haven't had any human blood for a long time, and if I got too long without it, I'll die."

"Darren! I don't want that!" My legs felt weak as I shook, Darren could never die.

"Whenever I have to drink someone's blood that I know I always ask out of politeness."

"Uh-huh." I nodded weakly.

"Debbie, do you think, I can maybe, uh, drink your blood?"

There we go. This is the first half of my two-shot. Originally it was a one-shot but I decided that if I kept it a one-shot it would be too long. So two shots. Was when Darren asked Debbie outside too long? I know in book 10 when he asks Evanna and it's really fast. Anyway I believe all three characters were at least a bit OOC, so sorry about that. I don't have a beta for this, so maybe you can review and help me with my horrible grammar and writing skills and stuff. Tell me if this sounds like a good idea please. I believe this is the FIRST Darren/Debbie fic, because there are no fics under Debbie's character. Lastly, my biggest concern is that it's confusing, so please tell me what's confusing and how I can fix it. Maybe this can get beta'd through reviews. Anyway please review, it will make my day and I'll give you a shout out in part two! Please vote in my poll and review!