Disclaimer: Darren Shan owns The Saga of Darren Shan/Cirque du Freak, not me. I know, can you believe it?

A/N: So, this was going to be a contest entry back for 'Rain', and then I realized it had nothing to do with rain, and it was incredibly long, so I decided to post it separately because I kind of liked it. We all know what happened to Darren after he escaped from Kurda, but this is my version of what happened with the vampires during the time that Darren was recovering with the wolves.

Larten's POV

I had fought my toughest battle yet for him. I had tried to reason, I pleaded, I begged. Kurda, Gavner, and Vanez argued from every angle to save Darren, and even sticklers like Arra and Seba had tried to bend the rules and make them give him just one more chance. But the Princes weren't breaking. They wouldn't. After an hour, the fight was knocked out of me, and when Kurda excused himself to go check on Darren, I collapsed back into my seat, burying my face in my hands and letting out a long sigh. I was not sure whether or not I would be able to face Darren if - when - the bad verdict reached him. Would I stand in the hall and watch as my assistant, my friend, the closest thing I'd ever had to son, was gouged with stakes? I had seen plenty of friends put to death before, for reasons I both agreed and disagreed with, but looking back, none of that would be as painful as seeing Darren's small body strapped into a cage and...

Gavner stood up next to me and muttered something about going to talk to Kurda, and I slumped back again, watching numbly as Paris and a handful of our eldest vampires tried to find some rule to save him. Vanez and Arra still added the occasional plea for his life, to give him another chance, but I couldn't fight any more. It was a long-lost battle and to argue his fate would do nothing more than make it worse. Seba sighed from somewhere behind me, knowing as well as I did that Darren's execution may as well have been declared a final verdict.

The debating carried on for several more minutes to the point that seemingly every defense had been brought up and shot down. All other chatter had faded away, and only the Princes murmured amongst themselves. I had no idea what they could possibly be discussing, their decision was clear. Then, Mika Ver Leth got to his feet to address the hall. It was plain by the look in his coal-black eyes what the verdict was, and even though I had seen it coming, his grim stare burned a hole through my chest. "I'm sorry," Arra said softly, returning to her seat beside me and placing a hand on my back.

That was when Kurda Smahlt re-entered the hall.

Kurda's POV

"Permission to speak, Sires?" I asked breathlessly, my heart pounding in my chest, echoing through my head. I hoped to the Vampire Gods none of them could see the horror of what I had done in my eyes, and that no one would notice that I had changed into a new shirt, the other having been drenched in Gavner's blood.

"Permission granted, Kurda Smahlt," Paris said; no one seemed keen to deliver the bad verdict.

"Darren has vanished."

The words crashed through the hall like the break of a wave on the face of a cliff. There was a split-second's pause in which every vampire stared at me, dumbstruck by such an announcement, then all hell broke loose. My heart was still thumping, but I could no longer hear its ragged beats against the roars of surprise and anger throughout the hall. I could just barely make out Larten, in the front row, his palms pressed to his eyes. Mika folded his arms across his chest, an angrily triumphant and smug look on his face, as if he had expected such a despicable crime of the boy.

"Order!" Arrow shouted, and the outraged vampires slowly quieted themselves. "Kurda," he motioned for me to join them on the podium. "Tell us what happened."

"Nothing happened," I said. Usually, when I was forced to lie, I was smooth and cool about it, but now, after killing Gavner and almost certainly sending Darren to his death, I sounded a little shaky. I only hoped that it would be written off as astonishment at what Darren had done. "I got to his cell and only Harkat Mulds was there. When he wouldn't tell me where Darren had gone, I did a quick check of the surrounding tunnels and found nothing."

"What about Gavner Purl?" Arrow asked, slumping heavily back into his throne. "He left several minutes after you did and hasn't returned."

Pause. Blink. "No." I clamped my jaw to keep my face from twitching guiltily. Once I was sure I had all my composure back, I continued, "Though, I would assume he made the same discovery I did and is most likely still looking for Darren."

"No," Larten said suddenly, standing for the first time since I had entered the hall. "No. I cannot find a mental signal to him." I felt myself cringe, but everyone was too focused on Larten to notice. Larten shook his head, his voice dropping to a hoarse whisper. "Something is wrong. There is only one reason why I would no longer be able to locate him." No one spoke now as the realization set it. It was one thing for a scared little boy to flee execution, it was another for a General to suddenly vanish...no, not vanish, die. They all knew it as well as I did now - Gavner Purl was dead. The muttering broke out again, everyone trying to connect the pieces, figure out how Darren's disappearance and Gavner's death tied in to one another. Larten had resumed his seat, paler than usual, his hands shaking, whether because of the loss of his best friend or the disgrace of his assistant, I couldn't tell. Probably both.

The Princes called once again for order, and again the vampires complied. They called nine of the sharpest Generals to the podium and motioned for them, and me, to move in to hear what they were saying. "Search the Mountain," Paris said. "Darren could not have gotten far, and Gavner's death is disturbing. Someone killed him, and whoever it was must still be in the Mountain. Find whatever you can."

Arra's POV

The Princes left Kurda in charge of designating which areas of the mountain were search by which Generals. Once we made it out of the Hall of Princes, he pulled a map out of his belt and immediately began pointing each person in a certain direction, pairing up some Generals for the larger tunnel, caves and caverns, and sending some out on their own. He finished his commands by sending me to the areas near the mountain's east entrance and informing us that he would be checking some tunnels under the river that only he knew well.

And then came the twitch. That subtle, flickering, annoying twitch in the corner of his mouth that he had had since childhood that only I seemed to be observant enough to pick up on. My eyes narrowed as he rolled his map back up, his fingers quivering just enough for me to see. I nonchalantly slid my left hand - my right was still in a sling from the Festival of the Undead - into my coat to be sure I had a dagger. As the Generals began to depart for the search, I stepped forward, calling, "Wait."

Kurda raised his eyebrows slightly - it wasn't my place to undermine the instructions of one about to become a Prince, but Kurda wasn't one for standing up to anyone, especially me. "New plan," I announced. "Yeba," I pointed at the burliest vampire of the group. "You take the east entrance. Rofford doesn't need help to cover the south end." I stared directly at Kurda, who was intentionally not facing me. "I'll go with Kurda. There are lots of small off-shoots in the tunnels under the stream, right?" I didn't wait for him to answer. "Darren could be hiding in one, and only I will be able to fit through them."

He didn't say anything at first, then shook his head. "You know the east entrance better than - "

"Everyone knows the east tunnels," I interrupted him. "If you want to find Darren, I should come with you."

Twitch. "Fine," he said coldly. "If that's what you want, then on your head be it." Twitch again.

I raised one shoulder, "Let's go."

And I followed him out of the hall, my fingers once again feeling for my knife. Once we were out of earshot of the others, he asked, "Why did you want to come with me? Usually you make every effort to avoid me." I glared at him, but didn't answer; he was up to something, and sneaks didn't deserve answers. "What," he asked again, "you don't trust me, Arra?"

"No, I don't," I growled, rounding on him. "Something's up, I can tell."

He kept walking. "Nothing is 'up'," he said. "I am merely concerned about Darren and Gavner and am focusing on finding them."

"That's bullshit," I told him bluntly. "You had something to do with Darren's disappearance, I know you did." Twitch twitch twitch. "Did you tell him to run, did you tell him to be a spineless coward and flee from our ways?"

"So you would have him put to death? He was only a boy, Arra. A little boy."

"Of course he was a boy, every man was a boy at one bloody point," I snapped, not letting myself forget that he failed to answer my question. "That doesn't mean he should be treated with any less respect." My voice lowered and I sighed, "I didn't want to see him die and you know it."

"But you just said..." Kurda started.

"Don't twist my words, I wasn't talking about Darren in the first place. I was talking about you. You are a man. You know right from wrong. You should be wiser." When he ignored me, I grabbed him by the shoulder and yanked him back. "So answer my question," I snarled. "Did you tell him to run?"

"I would never force Darren to do anything he didn't want to do," he said quietly. "Because I care about him. And I'm starting to think I'm the only one who does."

"That's not true," I told him, releasing his shoulder with a look of disgust. "Larten cares about him. I care about him. Gavner...cared." I swallowed when the words left my mouth.

"Gavner," Kurda repeated, walking faster, making it hard for me to keep up and impossible to see his face. "He was a good man."

"One of the best," I agreed quietly. "Even in death, may he be triumphent."

Kurda's POV

We were quiet now, Arra too absorbed in thoughts of our dead friend, I feeling sick with guilt. It was only going to get worse; we were going down the same path I had with Gavner and Darren - I would be a fool to think she wouldn't sense the vampaneze. But she had insisted on coming with me because she didn't trust me, just as Gavner had insisted on taking this way out. I didn't want to have to kill Gavner, I don't want to have to kill her, but in both cases, their lives would have to be given if my plan was going to work. It didn't ease the self-disgust I was feeling.

"I wish I knew what happened to him," she said softly.

"Surprised you're not blaming me," I sneered in spite of myself.

"No," she shook her head and stopped, staring me right in the face, and for the first time in decades there was something resembling respect in her grey eyes when she spoke to me. "You wouldn't. He was our friend."

I felt my stomach clench and I quickened my pace, trying to avoid looking at her. "He was a good friend," I agreed.

We had reached the Hall of Final Voyage now, and Arra had immediately noticed the blood. "Over there!" she called, sprinting ahead and leaping over the harsh stream to the other bank. Sure as anything, Darren's blood - maybe a bit of Gavner's that had spilled onto him as well - made a perfect trail to the water's edge, stopping right at the point where he had fallen in. I quickly followed it with my eyes all the way to the exit of the cavern and knew that it led back to Gavner's body and the vampaneze.

Arra wasn't bothering to track the blood path yet; she was crouched on the bank, examining the small pool of blood that had accumulated where Darren had paused before jumping. She ran her fingers into it and slowly raised them to her mouth. She spat into the water and wiped at her lips, turning to me, her eyes full of concern.

"Gavner's?" I asked, playing dumb.

She shook her head, "Still has a slightly human taste. Half-vampire - Darren."

"Do you think he fell?" I asked, kneeling next to her.

She gave me a contemptuous glare. "You tell me," she said. "Don't think that playing ignorant is going to make me believe you had nothing to do with this. You did. I know."

"What, you think I pushed him?" I said. "I would never push Darren to a certain death. If he had fallen in, and I had been here," my voice lowered as the words caught in my throat, "don't you think I would have at least tried to save him?"

Her lips were pursed, but after a second she nodded. "You would not have hurt him," she agreed. "I'm sorry, I know you wouldn't. Though," she added, "I still think you helped him escape."

"Hypothetically," I said, and she rolled her eyes, "if I had helped him escape, why would I allow him to fall into the stream and be carried out into the violent turbulence that means certain death?"

Arra stood up and stared down the trail of blood. "I don't think you would. But there is something more going on here, and following this trail might tell us what it is." She looked back down into the water, as if hoping that Darren would suddenly appear. While she was distracted, I couldn't help but think that this was my opportunity. One push and she would be in the stream. She would put up more of a fight than Darren had, but if I didn't help her, she would be swept away in a matter of seconds. She only had one good arm at the moment; the whole story would be very understandable. How easy it would be to explain: we had found the trail near the water, she crouched to examine the blood, lost her footing, and there was nothing I could do.

I stared at her back for several seconds until she turned around again, my hands never leaving my sides. I had made a self-vow to spare as many lives as possible while trying to carry out my plan, and promised myself that I wouldn't take the lives of friends. It was ironic, really - already I had lied to myself, just like I lied to the vampire clan. They could put me to death if they ever found out, and that would be the end of it...for them. But having lied to and betrayed myself...that guilt, I would always carry, maybe past my grave.

Maybe I'd have to break my promise to myself for a second time at some point, but right now, I didn't have to.

"Arra," I called her back. She had begun to follow the blood, which meant that sooner or later she would run into the vampaneze and learn my deep, dark secret. I jogged to catch up to her as she spun around, just feet from the hall's exit.

"What?" she asked impatiently.

"I don't think you should follow it," I told her.

"Why not?" she asked angrily, pushing past me. "Wouldn't it make sense that whatever injured him in the first place would be at the other end?"

"It's too risky," I said, holding her shoulder to keep her back. "That leads right under the stream; it could break through at any second and you'd be drowned in an instant. He may have only nicked himself on a rock, or the blood could have been from an existing injury. You'd be risking your life on a whim."

"On a whim?" she snapped. "You're the one who made him escape in the first place, now you don't want me to risk my life to see if I can find him?"

"I never said I helped him escape," I barked, frustrated. Couldn't she go along with me for once in her life? This was for her own good. "And no, I don't want you to. You barely know that tunnel anyway. Let me go, there's no reason for us to both -."

"Get off," she growled, knocking my hand off. "I promised Larten when I left the Hall of Princes that I'd do my best to find him."

She started off again, and now I knew it was my last chance. With every ounce of roughness I hated to use, I grabbed her right arm, the broken one, and yanked her back. She yelped in pain as she tried to fight me off, but I tightened my hold and dragged her away from the blood. "Arra," I said, my voice the most menacing I had ever heard it as she whimpered and tried to pull away. "You know I despise pulling rank, but tonight, I am telling you that I do not allow you to follow that trail." I released her, and she stumbled back into the wall, cradling the broken arm in the other one, gasping. "I will follow it - I and I alone know the way under the stream by heart, and only I will be able to get out fast enough if the tunnel begins to cave. I will follow the trail myself. You can check the adjacent tunnels, but I will not permit you, or any of the others, to risk your lives so stupidly."

She glared venomously at me for several long, drawn out seconds, still breathing hard while her right side quivered, and I felt bad for having grabbed her. I only hoped that it would enforce my point. Arra wasn't used to me telling her what to do - it was the first time in our century-and-a-half as friends (of some sort, anyway) that I had commanded her.

Her lips pressed into a thin, furious line. "I don't trust you," she hissed.

"Arra, I assure you," I told her, "if I find Darren, I will not harm him. I want what's best for him as much as you and Larten do."

"I don't think you know what's best for him," she spat.

"Maybe we have different opinions of that," I said honestly, "but right now, it doesn't matter. I will go and check those tunnels, and you will not." If there was one thing I was sure about, it was that Arra Sails was a staunch follower of the rules, and if a soon-to-be Prince gave her an order, she would follow it.

Without another word, Arra stormed out of the hall, her hair whipping behind her like angry serpents that wanted nothing more than to rip at my throat.

At least for now, I had spared the life of a friend. Maybe it was only to have her die later rather than sooner, but no one lived forever. Prolonging life as long as possible, wasn't that the point of it all?

Part II up soon (soon in me time, that is)! I hope you enjoyed it, please, PLEASE review to let me know what you thought. I'll give you virtual cookies :) Thanks for reading!