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THE DEATH of the ancient Prince should have coht hundred, the War of the Scars had taken its toll on hi when I left Vampire Mountain how poorly he looked - but I hadn’t expected hio this quickly, and the news knocked the wind out of me

As far as Mr Crepsley knew, the Prince had died of natural causes He wouldn’t be sure until he got to Vampire Mountain - vaes - but there’d been no hint of foul play in Mika’s o with hie affair, which almost every vampire in the world would attend - but Mr Crepsley asked me not to "One Prince must always remain absent fro happens to the others I know you were fond of Paris, but Mika, Arrow and Vancha knew hier than you It would be unfair to ask one of theive up their place"

I was disappointed, but bowed to his wishes - it would have been selfish of me to put myself before the elder Princes "Tell them to be careful," I warned him "I don’t want to be the only Prince left - if they all perished together, and I had to lead the clan by myself, it would be a disaster!"

"You can say that again," Harkat laughed, but there was no merriment in his voice "Can I come with you?" he asked Mr Crepsley "I’d like to pay my respects"

"I would rather you remained with Darren," Mr Crepsley said "I do not like the idea of leaving him on his own"

Harkat nodded iht I’ll stay"

"Thanks," I said softly

"Now," Mr Crepsley mused, "that leaves us with the question of whether you hold camp here or locate elsewhere"

"We’ll stay, of course," I said rather quickly

Morose as he was, the valih theas you kissed your teachers cheek"

"You were spying on eneral idea, was it not?" he replied I sputtered indignantly, but of course that had been the plan "You and Harkat should withdrahile I am away," Mr Crepsley continued "If you come under attack, you will be hard-pushed to defend yourselves"

"I’m ready to risk it if Harkat is," I said

Harkat shrugged "The thought of staying doesn’t frighten hed "But promise me you will abandon the search for the killers while I aer yourselves"

"You’ve no fear on that score," I told hi anto deal with - homework!"

Mr Crepsley wished us well, then hurried back to the hotel to gather his belongings and depart He was gone e got there, probably already at the edge of the city, getting ready to flit It felt lonely without him, and a little bit scary, but eren’t too worried He should only be gone a feeeks atin so short a tih With Mr Crepsley out of the city, the hunt for the vampaneze suspended, and the death count stable (nobody new had been killed recently), I was able to concentrate on school - which was just as well, given the amount of work I had to put into it

Debbie pulled sohten inary fire I’d been trapped in and said I’dmy father had been best friends with the headmaster of my old school Mr Chivers was decidedly unimpressed when he heard that, but Debbie convinced him not to take es and dropped back a couple of years inamidst a bunch of thirteen year olds, but at least I was able to follohat they were doing I still had Mr S now that he knew I hadn’t been faking ignorance, and spent a lot of ti lish, history and geography, but with the extra free periods I had instead of languages, I was able to focus on the even with the others inand coht me the basics of MD when I was a kid - he’d hoped I’d go into draughtsrew up - and I quickly picked up on what I’d missed To my surprise, I took to coers, which could speed about a keyboard faster than any human typist’s

I had to keep a close watch onit hard to make friends - my classmates were still suspicious of me - but I knew I could beco activities I could shine in any game - football, basketball, handball - and everyone likes a winner The temptation to show off, and earn a few friends in the process, was strong