Brothers to the Death (The Saga of Larten Crepsley) by Darren Shan Page A

all that I know. But I fear you’re too late. I was due to meet with him several years ago in Venice. Have you been there? It’s my favorite city. If only I could have been trapped there instead of this cesspit!
    “Anyway, Randel set a date and place. I got there early—he was always punctual, and I didn’t want to annoy him by arriving late. But although I waited for a month, there was no sign of him, and nobody’s seen him since. I hate to admit it, but I think Randel might be beyond your reach.”
    Larten gaped at the invalid. He had imagined many scenarios over the years since Alicia had been taken from him, but never this. He should have considered it—the vampaneze led harsh, testing lives, and many were cut down in their prime. But he’d never stopped to think that Randel Chayne might already be dead, that destiny may have conspired to rob him of his revenge.
    “Are you sure that he is dead?” Larten wheezed.
    “No,” Holly-Jane said. “But before my accident I met a few others who knew him. They all mentioned the fact that they hadn’t seen Randel lately. I’d be very surprised if he turned up alive.”
    Larten began to tremble. Arra tried to think of something to say but couldn’t find words that might offer any comfort. In the end Larten cleared his throat and asked Holly-Jane where Randel might have gone if he was alive, perhaps wounded like the female vampaneze.
    Holly-Jane listed a number of places that Randel had frequented—Paris was one of them—then beamed. “So, are you ready for the grand finale? I’d rather fight on the surface, beneath the light of the moon, but the crawl would exhaust me and I think we should act as if I have a glimmer of a chance.”
    Larten didn’t want to fight the one-legged vampaneze, but if he refused to duel, Holly-Jane would be disgraced. So he fought brutally and without mercy, treating the wounded warrior the same as any other opponent. Holly-Jane died with a smile on her lips and Larten truly meant it when he made the death’s touch sign over her corpse and said, “You were a credit to your clan.”
    After they’d buried Holly-Jane, Arra glanced at the subdued Larten and said, “What now?”
    Larten thought for a long time before answering. “We carry on as before. Randel might be alive. Until we have proof that he is dead, we continue.”
    “And if we never find proof?” Arra pressed.
    Larten shrugged. “I will continue searching for Randel Chayne until I find him or until I die.”
    “That sounds like a waste of time to me,” Arra sniffed.
    Larten smiled tightly. “Many would have saidthat Holly-Jane was wasting her time by clinging to life down here and suffering such indignities. But she died nobly in the end. Even if she had not, she would have been correct to stay true to her course, as I shall stay true to mine.”
    With that, he led Arra out of the cramped tomb and climbed back to the world of man and war, to pursue the trail of what he now feared was only the ghost of Randel Chayne.

Chapter
Twelve
    Larten searched doggedly for the next couple of years. He tried to act as if nothing had changed, but Arra knew that he was troubled. She hadn’t managed to get as close to him in their time together as she’d wished, and was sure they would part at the end of their term as mates. But she had come to understand him and could see that he was torn. He’d sworn himself to this path and was determined to see it through to the end. But at the same time he had the feeling that it was pointless. Nobody could be truly comfortable if they had to live with the possibility that they might be forced to chase shadows for hundreds of years.
    Arra tried on many occasions to reason with Larten, to convince him to abandon his mission. “You don’t have to give up entirely,” she argued. “You can still keep an ear and an eye open. If he resurfaces, head after him again. It’s unlikely that he’d kill Alicia to hurt you, then disappear from your life