Larten Crepsley's Daughter

Later that night

The rest of the Cirque left for our campsite, but father insisted that he and I stay behind because we had business to take care of, I had a bad feeling about that. Evra and I still texted each other despite my father being against it; he believes vampires don't need cellphones.
I was sitting on the stage reading a book when Darren came walking through the theater doors. He looked as if he was walking to his execution. Just as I was about to ask what he was doing, my father appeared behind him. "So what have you come to steal from me this time? Thief!" I have never seen him this mad in my life. "Nothing." Darren said stammering. "My best friend Steve is in the hospital in a coma because of me. Do you have an antidote?" "I do, but I only have a few doses left. Why should I waste it on a psychopath?" "I'll never steal again. I don't steal things." I could hear the fear in Darren's voice. "Why?" Father asked amused. "Because it's wrong." "Well you've learned a valuable moral lesson. Now what did Mr. Tiny want?" Father demanded. "Mr. Tiny?" Darren asked in a shaky voice. "The fat man in the limousine." "He said something about souls and uh, destiny, and he knew where I lived." he said still shaking. My jaw dropped "You ran into Mr. Tiny?!" My father looked at him amused "Looks like you've just dug your own grave my larcenous friend. Mr. Tiny doesn't just take a random interest in people and the people he does take an interest in end up dead... or worse." "What's worse than dead?" Darren asked. "Oh, lots of things." my father studied Darren carefully. "He can travel to the other side and back. He can bring a dead person back to life. That's what's worse than being dead." I told him standing up from the stage. "Well said Lillian." "I'll tell you what, in exchange for the antidote I will turn you into a half-vampire and you will be my assistant. You will do chores for me and guard my coffin on the road. In return I'll keep Mr. Tiny away from you and I'll save your stupid friend Steve despite the fact that he threatened to kill me." "Father.." I was about to protest. He was in trouble for transforming me, but thankfully I passed the Trials of Death in order to stay in the clan. Darren would be a different story. "If I become a half-vampire, will I have to kill people?" Darren asked. "Interested huh? Vampires don't kill people they feed on. Vampaneze do. Big source of controversy. Time is wasting." The silence that followed was eerie. My father looked at Darren with an amused smile "Wanna become a vampire?" "I can't make that decision right now." Darren said backing away like a frightened animal. I couldn't blame him for being scared; he was just some one who was in the wrong place at the wrong time. "Do you want to go home to ask your mommy and daddy? Do they make all the decisions for good little boys like you?" how did he know that Darren's parents were controlling and overprotective?

Suddenly Darren's demeanor immediately changed and he looked determined and like he didn't want to be controlled anymore. "Okay fine, I'll do it. Now give me the antidote." "Right here." Father took it out of his coat pocket. "Thank you." Darren tried to take it from him. "Hold on, we got to transform you." Father put the antidote back in his pocket. Darren immediately put his hand up to his neck and Father just looked at him like he was crazy "I'm not going to bite you in the jugular I would kill you that way. Hold up your hands." I watched as my father transformed Darren into a half-vampire. I was scared for Darren, I didn't want him to go through what I went through.
After a while I saw Darren double over in pain, the vampire blood had got to his heart and he was now a half-vampire. "I feel cold." Darren said, he looked at his fingers. He had cuts on his fingers that were just like mine and they we're bleeding. "Lick your fingers, your spit will heal the cuts." Father told him and Darren did so. He watched in amazement as the cuts started to heal and he had scars on his fingers that were just like mine. "Whoa! Is that one of my powers? Do I have like super spit?" I laughed "Yes Darren, we have super spit." "It will take a few days for your other powers to come in." Father told him while he healed his own fingers. "Will I turn into a bat?" "No." Father answered rolling his eyes. He hated it when people would talk about vampire stereotypes. "Now get on my back, we're going to flit." "What? What about Lily?" "Just shut up and get on my back. Lily knows how to flit, she'll go ahead of us and we'll follow her." "See you in a few seconds." I said humorously and I flitted to the hospital with Darren and Father following me.

We reached the hospital in a millisecond and Darren was doubled over on the ground gasping for air. "Did you hold your breath?" I asked trying to help him up. He just looked up at me and my father still trying to regain air. "Didn't I tell you to hold your breath?" Father asked him with genuine concern. Darren looked up at him and shook his head. "Oh, sorry." he answered. "I'll climb up first and open the window so you and Darren can get through." "Good deal." Father approved. I dug my sharp nails into the brick wall and started to climb up the side of the building. I peered through the third window to the top and I saw Steve. I pried the window open and climbed inside. I bit my lip to keep from crying, he was unconscious and looked paler than a ghost, his lips were turning blue and his veins were turning black. He had a series of wires on his chest and a cannula in his nose to give him oxygen. "Darren!" I called in sadness. He and my father finally got through the window and they saw what caused my alarm. My father studied Steve carefully examining the spider bite on his face. "She really didn't like him." "She didn't, she called him an idiot." I told him. He chuckled "Octa is always brutally honest." "He looks horrible can you give him the antidote please." Darren looked frightened. "Alright." Father said taking the antidote out of his coat pocket; he stuck his thumbnail into Steve's arm, poured the contents of the vial into his mouth, swished, and spat it into the hole that he made in his arm. Darren looked disgusted, and I couldn't blame him. It was a weird procedure. We waited for a few moments in silence and then Steve took a deep breath and his breath returned to the rhythm of sleep. We had saved him.