Shaking the mountain to it's core (Mika, Crepsley and Lilith)

Mika did not like Desmond Tiny.

It was not a secret and everyone, from the lowest of the vampire to Mr Tiny himself, knew it. So it was with a certain amount of reluctance that Mika accepted the decision of his fellow Vampire Princes to meet with the man when he entered the mountain. Thankfully Mr Tiny had sent one of his little familiars over before hand to tell them that it was only going to be a flying visit to drop someone off.

Apparently Mr Tiny had been up to his old tricks again as there were rumors abound that the person he was escorting was in fact another of his 'children'. Unlike a lot of his fellow vampires, Mika didn't put a lot of faith in what Mr Tiny did. To be fair it was painfully obvious that what Tiny did, he did for his own pleasure and his own reasons.

But still, he would be his usual polite and cordial self with both of the new guests to the mountain. He would also do so alone as he had waved away the idea of bring guards and warriors with him to meet Tiny at the entrance. If Tiny put his mind and powers to it he could kill off all the vampires with just a few new creations so Mika wasn't worried about trying to act tougher than he was. Besides, Mika was a warrior of great renown and skill. He hardly needed guards for a simply meeting at the door.

Lilith was excited to get to the mountain, it had been a long journey and she was truly tired, but more than that, she was finally going to meet Larten Crepsley, the man that she had been designed to be with, or so Mr. Tiny had told her. She wanted to make sure that she looked the best that she could for him, and, she had worn her best dress in order to do so, it was a long sleeved crushed black velvet dress that reached her knees, but it clung to her body.

Hardly able to contain her excitement as she walked beside Mr. Tiny, all he did was chuckle deeply and pat her on the back, it seemed that he didnt mind her being this excited to leave him. Although she was one of his creations, she didn't feel a deep bond between them like she thought that she would have done if she really came from a part of himself, she wasn't one of his children, at least not in her eyes anyway. Her brothers and sisters were so much older than herself, she couldn't be could she?

As Mr. Tiny reached the door, the guards stood straight up and saluted him, before admitting him and Lilith herself into the chamber just behind the door.

The smell of blood hit her, and she bit her lip softly, wow it smelt so good, although, when she looked around and saw it being served in tankards she wrinkled her nose, she liked to drink from the vein instead of from stupid cups, it was much more refined. Not only was there the smell of blood, but her nose was assaulted with beer, meat and sweat...it made her reel slightly.

"Well well well if it isn't Prince Mika Ver Leth." Mr Tiny cooed as he approached the vampire standing waiting to greet them, of course she had been told about the Vampire Princes, she respected them above all others, apart from her love Larten, she would go against the vampire princes for him and all their fury.

"As I said I am just here for a swift visit, to make sure that you treat my precious little blossom well in my absence, I am leaving her in your care after all. Lilith wont you come here?" he asked, turning his head to look at her.

Immediately Lilith stepped shyly forwards and smiled at the Vampire Prince Mika; "Pleased to meet you Sire." she greeted in a soft tone "I thank you for allowing me to stay in your mountain."

Larten Crepsley was making his was to the mountain because he had heard that Mr Tiny was to be there for a short period of time and he was to pass along a message to the... man? Was Mr Tiny a man? Honestly Crepsley had no idea and his curiosity really wasn't in it. As he neared the entrance to the mountain he smelt the very odd scent that was his target and arrived just in time to see Tiny gently pushing a young woman towards Mika. She was an incredibly attractive woman but Crepsley shook his head slightly and handed Mr Tiny a letter he had been carrying,

"Mr Tiny, I have an urgent letter for you." he told Desmond, "It's from your son. Apparently he needs you to go and talk to the vampanese about something. I'm not sure about the details, I assume they're in the letter."

He then turned to the breathtakingly beautiful woman that Mika was in the middle of talking to. Having never liked, or respected, Mika very much, he moved closer to the conversation to attract the attention of the woman,

"Why hello there." he greeted her, taking her hand and kissing the back of it delicately, "I must say it's rare that we vampires ever see someone of your level of beauty even with our long lives..."

Lilith was in the middle of looking around the hall again, as it seemed that Mika wasn't one of the most talkative enigmatic characters that she could have come across, however, when she heard someone else approaching in the somewhat empty entrance hall to vampire mountain she wondered who it was going to be, maybe another of the princes? The other princes held no interest to her, because they were either old, or ugly, and so, she wasn't that bothered about meeting them.

However, when she saw that it was Larten Crepsley who was coming her way Lilith blushed softly, or rather paled, because that was her blush as it was in her new form.

Almost squeeing when he kissed the back of her hand, Lilith smiled softly, her fangs were poking out from underneath her lips as she looked at him, he was even more handsome than she had imagined that he would do, and more than that, he seemed to think that she was pretty as well! Oh how happy that made her, that the man she was made to love approved of her appearance!

"Hello to you too." she greeted breathlessly, before she pulled herself together "I'm pleased to meet you, I am Lilith Starling, but, most people just call me Starling. I have heard a lot about you and your adventures Mr. Crepsley, they should be even more fascinating if I was to hear you tell them."

Mika had to admit that he was rather taken aback by her appearance. She was, in a single word, attractive. The problem was that Mika wasn't sure he could accurately describe her beauty in less than at least a thousand words. She was staggering in her beauty. She was breath-taking to be perfectly honest so perhaps that was the reason why he felt his throat run dry when she greeted him. Gods even her voice was light and angelic. Instead of actually managing words he just smiled slightly and nodded to her. He didn't trust himself not to squeak when he spoke to be perfectly honest with himself.

Hearing the commotion, Mika turned to face the newcomer before his eyes narrowed slightly. Larten Crepsley. If there was another creature who wound him up more than this Vampire then he had not met them in his 250 years of life. Here was a vampire who spent most of his time with a travelling circus of misfits and yet still thought to cling onto the prestige that he had somehow gained through a few skirmishes with the Vampanese and a few adventures that had been blown way out of proportion.

If there was a more over-rated Vampire in existence he had not met them yet.

He gritted his teeth a little bit when Crepsley kissed the back of her hand. She was already blushing and smiling at him. And right now, just looking at that smile being given to someone else, Mika knew that he wanted to be able to make her smile like that at him. But first he would have to actually introduce himself and to do that he would have to neutralize Crepsley. Smiling a little bit, Mika wrapped an arm around Crepsley's shoulder and chuckled a little bit,

"Yes Crepsley, I'm sure she'd love to hear some of your stories first hand. How about the spanish one?" he teased the man, watching as Crepsley blushed and looked away for a second. Chuckling a little bit, Mika extended a hand and kissed the back of Lilith's hand just as Crepsley had done, "Forgive me for not introducing myself to you properly when you first greeted me. I am afraid that life in a mountain, surrounded by stuffy warriors and princes, had left me ill-prepared to properly greet someone of your beauty."

Starling smiled happily when she heard that there were indeed stories that she hadn't had the chance to hear yet, and she was about to ask about them but she heard Mr. Tiny coughing softly, she turned her attention to him and he patted her on the shoulder, it meant that he was probably going to leave now, and she was more than happy to be left in the care of her love, and Prince Mika, who seemed to be kind and pleasant if not a little bit distracted.

"I am going to bid you all adeiu now, you behave." he chuckled wickedly at Starling, before ruffling her hair and waving jauntily at the other vampires, before turning on his heel and leaving the hall in a rather prompt fashion. It was strange how he had left so fast, but then again lots of the things he did were strange, and didnt dwell on it too much.

Returning her gaze to the two vampires in front of her she smiled again when Mika kissed her hand and called her beautiful, it didn't have the same effect as it did when her love called her it, but it was still flattering though, she was glad that she hadn't lost her looks in the process that she had been made to undergo by Mr. Tiny. It would have completely depressed her had she done.

"Don't fret about it Prince Mika." she answered with a small smile on her lips "I understand that sometimes one can be distracted especially when Mr. Tiny is nearby, I sometimes find myself getting distracted from what I am supposed to be doing as well. But really, it must speak very ill of the female vampires if you are floored by a simple smile from myself." she teased.

Dropping her hand from his own she stood with her suitcase at her feet and hummed softly; "Uhm...can I put my things in my room?" Starling asked with a gentle smile.

Crepsley was one step away from tearing Mika's god damned head off!

He knew that if word got out about the 'Spanish Incident' then his reputation was going to be shot all to hell. He had been young at the time and he and Mika had been sent to a part of Spain to observe the comings and goings of several important vampanese at the time. All had been going well even if Mika and Crepsley had really not gotten along. But after a particularly mean prank, during which Crepsley had replaced most of Mika's clothes with codpieces, they had gone out drinking to try and put the pranks behind them.

Of course he now knew that Mika was not someone who let things go on unbalanced in the books as it were, he liked to have everything equal. And since Crepsley had hit the future prince with a prank, Mika had done the same to him. He remembered getting incredibly drunk and actually hitting on a nun. The best part was that the nun was really into it! He had told Mika that he was going to spend the night with the nun but Mika had talked him into one final drink.

Drunk beyond belief, and probably slightly drugged from the last drink, Mika had made it to the nunnery before Crepsley and had dressed a donkey up in the nun's habit and left it in the right room. Larten, incredibly drunk, had seen the habit and assumed it was the nun. The short version of the rest of the story was that Larten hadn't realised until he was entirely undressed and the nun had finally arrived at her room, leading to him being chased through the streets, naked, by nuns who were crying out for his death due to bestiality.

So yeah, it was a fair bet to say that Crepsley disliked Mika intensely. He grinned falsely at Mr Tiny and noticed Mika doing the same. Neither of them could stand the man. Crepsley smirked a little bit,

"Yeah don't mind Mika here, he's always gotten a bit tongue tied at times." he teased his 'friend', "But he has a good excuse this time. You truly are an extraordinary beauty."

When she asked if she could put her things in her room he smiled and picked up her suitcase with a smile,

"Of course, let me help you with your bag." he told her before leading her towards the main mountain. He paused when he realised that Mika wasn't following. It took him another few steps before he realised why. He groaned a little bit and called out, "Come on then Mika... show us where her room is."

Starling smiled softly when she heard that both men were enthrawlled by her beauty, she had thought that she had grown more beautiful after undertaking that process, more than that in fact, she had grown into the woman she had always hoped she was going to look like, the woman that all of the products had promised her she was going to be if she used them, but never actually did.

"You two seem like you know each other well." she commented, looking between the two men "Have you spent a lot of time together?"

Of course, she was interested, if Mika was friends with her love she would be able to get insights as to what he liked, what clothes she should wear, what scents she should wear and spray on herself. She hoped however that he wouldn't then tell Larten about what she felt for him, it would embarrass her far too much if he did! She couldn't imagine her not being the one to tell him!

When Larten picked up her bag she smiled shyly; "Well thank you Mr. Crepsley, how gentlemanly of you, although it's not really that heavy I could have easily carried it."

Pausing and waiting for Mika to follow them, she smiled happily and looked around the halls as they passed through them;

"You have a beautiful mountain." Starling commented "Although I bet it can be dull staying here all the time Prince Mika, I would much rather travel with the Cirque like you do Mr. Crepsley. I hope you dont mind," she blushed, it would sound odd if someone started spurting out random facts about you when you have never met them before "Mr. Tall and Mr. Tiny have told me a few things."

When she asked if they had spent a lot of time together Mika groaned a little bit and he heard Larten do exactly the same. Oh had they known each other long? Just since... forever! They had been blooded in the same year and went through their time at the mountain together too. For gods sake they had been paired up with each other for almost every single paired mission that either of them had been assigned. And neither Mika nor Larten knew why, it was like the old princes had just liked watching them explode at each other,

"You could say that. Better term for it is that we know every little dirty secret each other has ever had..." he muttered with a little chuckle, "Every time we got sent out on a partnered mission we got sent together... by my count I've spent a total of 25 years in this guy's company. It shows in the stress lines on me I know."

He was a little bit disappointed to see that even though she was looking at him when he spoke, her eyes kept darting back to Larten. Gods she was probably going to ask him loads of questions about the man. Of course that meant he could paint Crepsley in the true light. True to his eyes at least. He chuckled a little bit when Crepsley tried to rush her away from him before he realized he didn't know where her room was. Smirking a little bit at Crepsley, Mika smiled brightly at Lilith,

"Why thank you Starling, I must say that although it was intimidating at first, it really has grown on me." he admitted with a small smile before chuckling a little bit, "Yes it must be quiet interesting... do you still share a trailer with the bearded woman then Crepsley? We all heard stories of such a lovely couple, even all the way back here!"

Starling was really happy to hear that the two men had spent a lot of time together, that meant that she would have someone to talk to when they had a lovers spat, which inevitably in the time they were going to spend together they would have, this she accepted. Although, she would do everything she could to make sure that she stopped this from happening, she wanted to make him so very happy with her and not argue at all!

"I wasn't going to say anything but..." she teased softly "Although I bet you two have had good times together, or at least times you wont forget. I'm sort of jealous, I haven't had anybody like that, maybe I'll become friends with the person they pair me up with." Starling mused tapping her finger on her chin as she hummed quietly, it was a good thought indeed.

The mountain was beautifully carved, and in many places where she thought it would have been cold it was actually quite warm in the air, which was good, even though the temperature didn't really effect her, Starling much preferred being in a warm room to one where it was cold, she didn't need to be any colder than she was already after all.

Hearing, that there might have been something going on between Larten and that ugly troll of a woman Truska, made Starling's blood boil. Quite by accident she felt her anger beginning to alter her appearance, most notably her eyes, luckily she managed to get them under control before anyone could seriously draw attention to them.

"Oh really?" she asked through gritted teeth "I don't see why he would do, an infeminine article such as that, sharing a trailer with her would truly knock me sick. Wouldn't it you?" Starling stated, a rather sweet smile on her lips, even though her words were stinging and harsh.

(Her eyes: http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_-jo2ZCYhKaY/S2MYs9A1FeI/AAAAAAAAFWw/xBnU5G1DJ08/s1600/Scary_Eyes_Wallpapers_22+(wallpapersbay.blogspot.com)+(darkwallz.blogspot.com).jpg )

Crepsley agreed with Mika on this subject and that alone was rather strange. But it was true, they had been around each other for hundreds of years and in that time they had gotten to know each other quite well. Sometimes they were almost friends but most of the time people generally acknowledged them to be rivals with each other. Right now it seemed like Mika was trying to compete with him for Lilith's affections. Silly Mika! One of the stories about Crepsley was not over-exaggerated and that was his skills and way with the ladies of the world,

"We've had some good times together, the law of averages pretty much made sure of that. Even being around this bastard meant that, over 25 years, there were times that were... dare I say it? Fun?" he smirked a little bit when Mika discretely flipped him off before smiling a little bit, "Well here's to hoping that they'll pair us up... such a shame that princes can't be partnered up with people isn't it Mika?"

Although he preferred the life of the circus, Crepsley had to admit that every now and then he loved coming back to the mountain. It was his first real home even though the circus was his current home. He chuckled a little bit as they made their way through it. Honestly, the place hadn't changed since he'd last been here over six years ago,

"I love you decorating tastes Mika..." he teased the prince, "I mean seriously, would it kill you to use a colour that wasn't black or grey?"

When he glanced at Lilith he jumped a little bit in surprise. Mika looked ready to make fun of him for it before he looked and had exactly the same reaction. Her eyes were changing into black pits that seemed to have no end. Although she was able to pull them back under control after a few seconds, the damage was pretty much done and Crepsley resolved never to anger the woman again,

"Oh don't worry about Truska, we broke up last year. I decided it was going to be hard for me to be with someone who could grow a much better beard than I can." he assured her in a soothing tone of voice, "I share my cabin with no one at the moment don't worry."

Starling hummed happily when she heard that she might actually get partnered up with Larten, she didn't think she would she was a lot younger than him after all, only a couple of months old in terms of vampires, if she even was to be considered a proper vampire. Although she thought she was better than vampires in a lot of ways, for one, she would never age, she would always stay as beautiful as she was now, and most importantly she could have children.

But she'd keep that to herself for the time being.

"Well I would like that very much but I would think I would be paired with someone younger, so that we can both learn together, maybe the Princes would be very very nice and make an exception?" she asked with large puppy dog eyes at Mika in especially, she wanted to be partnered with Larten very much after all, so she could be with her love all the time.

Laughing softly she couldn't help but agree and she grinned at Larten;

"Well as nice as the halls are, I would agree with you, some colour would be nice around here, but I am sure that the rooms themselves aren't as drab and dreary as the outer halls." Starling stated with a little smile on her lips, if her room was, she would certainly change that with some of the things she had brought with her on her little journey.

Pouting softly she placed her finger on her lips, it would appear that she was too late in hiding her eyes from the boys, they had jumped when they had seen them and that made her pout, were they scared of her when she got angry? She hoped not because she wasn't even that angry at that moment in time, she just allowed her jealousy to get the best of her, and it wouldn't happen again lightly she resolved.

"Oh I know." she laughed softly "Otherwise she would have been dead a looooong time ago." Starling joked, and walked ahead of the two boys to take a further look down the corridor, very happy that she was now sure there was nobody on the horizon but her for her love, and if there was, she'd kill them. Nobody would be with him now but her.

Mika scowled slightly at the idea of Lilith getting paired up with Larten. As a Vampire prince part of his job was to choose people to go on paired missions. And as long as he lived Larten Crepsley and Lilith Starling were not going on a mission together. Besides it wasn't anything other than a little daydream for Lilith right now anyway. Larten had moved away from the Vampires, joined up with the circus rather than serving his brother and sisters with honor. Although he was famous and well respected by some, the vast majority of Vampires considered Larten to be a bit of a traitor. Mika smiled a little bit, pretending to be sad,

"Unfortunately you are correct my dear. Older vampires cannot work with younger ones unless they are the ones who have blooded them." he 'regretfully' informed her before smirking lightly at Crepsley, "Of course it wouldn't help. Dear old Larten has all but given up his membership as part of the clan haven't you old boy? Something about wanting to spread your seed was it?"

Pouting a little bit when they started to make fun of the mountain, his home, he turned to them, sticking his tongue out in a display of childishness that earned gasps from passing Vampires,

"Oh I'm sorry, is my mountain palace and hidden fortress not as good as your hidden mountain fortress and palace?" he teased them back before sticking his tongue out again, "Besides, only the outer rooms are black and grey. Apparently it's imposing. Personally I think it's because the prince who originally commissioned it just so happened to be color blind."

The eyes, while a bit scary, were not as off-putting to Mika as he could tell they were to Crepsley. His dear old friend Larten had had a few nasty run ins with creatures of Tiny's making with the same eyes but they had been, worst of all, rats. On Lilith all they did was make her look even more striking. He smiled a little bit,

"I have to say that I like your eyes in both their forms." he told her with a light smirk, "You have beautiful soft eyes now... but you also have the hard eyes of a hunter and a warrior. They speak very highly of you my dear for eyes are the windows of the soul."

Starling couldn't help but feel a little bit deflated when Mika told her that she was right, she didn't want to be but she had thought it was best to be realistic about all of this before she actually went and started investing hopes in it, if she had done that and then not been able to do what it was she had been thinking about, she would have not been a very happy bunny with the vampire princes, especially Mika.

Alas, it seemed it was not to be from the outset, oh well, she would be here for her love anyway, wherever he might be, she would follow him to the ends of the earth and back if he but only gave her the word. Even if he didn't she might still go anyway, after all, if the man she was made for didn't want her...who would?

"Spread your seed?" she asked, her voice took on a little dangerous tone before she smiled again and clapped her hands "Oh yes thats right you blooded little Darren Shan, where is he? I have been so eager to meet him, someone so close to my age becoming a vampire, I am sure we will be able to talk about many things you wouldn't have a clue about!" Starling stated happily.

Listening to Mika she grinned, she supposed he was right, she didn't have a mountain fortress, and so she couldn't really comment although she did smirk a little bit;

"Well it's not really yours is it." Starling smirked lightly, turning her head back to fix him with a teasing stare.

When Mika said that he liked her eyes in both of their forms, Starling stopped and turned to face him, did he really mean it? She asked herself. Could he really like her when her eyes were at their worst...most people including Larten it seemed were scared by them, offended at the least and wanted them to return to normal as soon as vampirically possible.

"Y-you do?" she asked softly "Well...well thank you Prince Mika, I'm glad that someone seems to be able to look at them without flinching."

Starling lowered her gaze and almost sniffled, the man she loved had all but jumped when she had turned her expression to that, did he not think that she looked lovely in all forms too, he was supposed to, he should be in love with her after all! Mr. Tiny had told her he would be.

"Are we almost there yet?" she asked with a small sigh.

Crepsley couldn't help but glare at Mika when he told her that he wouldn't be able to be paired up with her. Of course all of the reasons that he used were valid and true so he couldn't just call them bullshit. He wished that he could go and be her partner on missions for the princes but it was not to be. To be honest he couldn't really say that Mika was bloking him in regards to being close to her. All he had done was list the reasons why he couldn't be partnered with her, even if he was a little bit smug about it. Of course it would do Mika no good, Princes couldn't be selected either.

Crepsley was immediately beginning to feel a little bit nervous when she asked about him 'spreading his seed' so to speak. It was actually innocent despite the name. When she actually connected to the right conclusion he breathed out in relief,

"Yeah little Darren... I left him back at the circus for now. He's still coming to grips with having to drink human blood." he explained with a little sigh before smirking, "When he's feeding right I'll bring him along don't you worry."

Larten merely chuckled when Lilith called Mika on the fact that the mountain wasn't really his. Of course it might as well have been considering he was the Prince who held all of the clan's military power. The other princes remained in power because Mika wanted them to.

When Mika explained that he liked both forms of her eyes Crepsley blinked a little bit and thought about it. The only reason he had jumped had been that he had not been expecting such a change. It seemed to have affected her mood too. Gently, he reached out and gently placed a hand on her shoulder as he gave her a reassuring smile,

"Your eyes are very beautiful." Larten agreed with a faint smirk, "Although more than a little bit surprising."

When she asked if they were almost there, Mika led them into her rooms, which were painted a navy blue. He smirked,

"Least it's not black."