"Would you, who has not seen three centuries, dare to tell me, who measures time in continental drifts, about the mechanisms of fate?" Mr Tiny asked menacingly. He clicked his fingers again and the cracks spread. Chunks of the ceiling crumbled inwards. "A thousand vampaneze couldn't chip the walls of this Hall, yet I, by clicking my fingers, can bring it tumbling down." He lifted his fingers to click them again.
"No!" Mika shouted. "I apologize! I didn't mean to offend you!"
Mr Tiny lowered his hand. "Think of this before crossing me again, Mika Ver Leth," he growled, then nodded at the Little People he'd brought with him, who headed for the doors of the Hall. "They'll patch the roof up before we leave," Mr Tiny said. "But next time you anger me, I'll reduce this Hall to rubble, leaving you and your precious Stone of Blood to the whim of the vampaneze."
Blowing dust off his heart-shaped watch, Mr Tiny beamed around the Hall again. "I take it we're decided three it shall be?"
"Three," Paris agreed.
"Three," Mika muttered bleakly.
"As I said, non-vampires may indeed,must play a part, but for the next year no vampire should seek out any of the hunters, unless for reasons which have nothing to do with the search for the Vampaneze Lord. Alone they must stand and alone they must succeed or fail."
With that, he brought the meeting to a close. Dismissing Paris and Mika with an arrogant wave of his hand, he beckoned Mr Crepsley and me forward, and grinned at us as he lay back on my throne. He kicked off one of his wellies while he was talking. He wasn't wearing socks, and I was shocked to see he had no toes his feet were webbed at the ends, with six tiny claws jutting out like a cat's.
"Frightened, Master Shan?" he asked, eyes twinkling mischievously.
"Yes," I said, "but I'm proud to be able to help."
"What if youaren't any help?" he jeered. "What if you fail and damn the vampires to extinction?"
I shrugged. "What comes, we take," I said, echoing a saying which was common among the creatures of the night.
Mr Tiny's smile faded. "I preferred you when you were less clever," he grumbled, then looked to Mr Crepsley. "What about you? Scared by the weight of your responsibilities?"
"Yes," Mr Crepsley answered.
"Think you might break beneath it?"
"I might," Mr Crepsley said evenly.
Mr Tiny pulled a face. "You two are no fun. It's impossible to get a rise out of you. Harkat!" he bellowed. Harkat approached automatically. "What do you think of this? Does the fate of the vampires bother you?"
"Yes," Harkat replied. "It does."
"You care for them?" Harkat nodded. "Hmmm." Mr Tiny rubbed his watch, which glowed briefly, then touched the left side of Harkat's head. Harkat gasped and fell to his knees. "You've been having nightmares," Mr Tiny noted, fingers still at Harkat's temple.
"Yes!" Harkat groaned.
"You want them to stop?"
"Yes."
Mr Tiny let go of Harkat, who cried out, then gritted his sharp teeth and stood up straight. Small green tears of pain trickled from the corners of his eyes.
"It's time for you to learn the truth about yourself," Mr Tiny said. "If you come with me, I'll reveal it and the nightmares will stop. If you don't, they'll continue and worsen, and within a year you'll be a screaming wreck."
Harkat trembled at that, but didn't rush to Mr Tiny's side. "If I wait," he said, "will I have another chance to learn the truth?"
"Yes," Mr Tiny said, "but you'll suffer much in the meantime, and I can't guarantee your safety. If you die before learning who you really are, your soul will be lost forever."
Harkat frowned uncertainly. "I have a feeling," he mumbled. "Something whispers to me" he touched the left side of his chest " here. I feel that I should go with Darren and Larten."
"If you do, it will improve their chances of defeating the Vampaneze Lord," Mr Tiny said. "Your participation isn't instrumental, but it could be important."
"Harkat," I said softly, "you don't owe us. You've already saved my life twice. Go with Mr Tiny and learn the truth about yourself."
Harkat frowned. "I think that if I leave you to learn the truth, the person I was won't like what I've done." The Little Person spent a few more difficult seconds brooding about it, then squared up to Mr Tiny. "I'll go with them. Right or wrong, I feel my place is with the vampires. All else must wait."
"So be it," Mr Tiny sniffed. "If you survive, our paths will cross again. If not " His smile was withering.
"What of our search?" Mr Crepsley asked. "You mentioned Lady Evanna. Do we start with her?"
"If you wish," Mr Tiny said. "I can't and won't direct you, but that's whereI would start. After that, follow your heart. Forget about the quest and go where you feel you belong. Fate will direct you as it pleases."
That was the end of our conversation. Mr Tiny slipped away without a farewell, taking his Little People (they'd completed their repair work while he was talking), no doubt anxious to make that fatal volcano of his the next day.
Vampire Mountain was in uproar that night. Mr Tiny's visit and prophecy were debated and dissected at length. The vampires agreed that Mr Crepsley and me had to leave on our own, to link up with the third hunter whoever he might be but were divided as to what the rest of them should do. Some thought that since the clan's future rested with three lone hunters, they should forget the war with the vampaneze, since it no longer seemed to serve any purpose. Most disagreed and said it would be crazy to stop fighting.
Mr Crepsley led Harkat and me from the Hall shortly before dawn, leaving the arguing Princes and Generals behind, saying we needed to get a good day's rest. It was hard to sleep with Mr Tiny's words echoing round my brain, but I managed to squeeze in a few hours.
We woke about three hours before sunset, ate a short meal and packed our meagre belongings (I took a spare set of clothes, some bottles of blood, and my diary). We said private goodbyes to Vanez and Seba the old quartermaster was especially sad to see us go then met Paris Skyle at the gate leading out of the Halls. He told us Mika was staying on to assist with the night-to-night running of the war. He looked very poorly as I shook his hand, and I had a feeling that he hadn't many years left if our search kept us away from Vampire Mountain for a long period, this might be the last time I saw him.
"I'll miss you, Paris," I said, hugging him roughly after we'd shaken hands.
"I will miss you too, young Prince," he said, then squeezed me tight and hissed in my ear: "Find and kill him, Darren. There is a cold chill in my bones, and it is not the chill of old age. Mr Tiny has spoken the truth if the Vampaneze Lord comes into his full powers, I am sure we all shall perish."
"I'll find him," I vowed, locking gazes with the ancient Prince. "And if the chance falls to me to kill him, my aim will be true."
"Then may the luck of the vampires be with you," he said.
I joined Mr Crepsley and Harkat. We saluted to those who'd gathered to see us off, then faced down the tunnels and set off. We moved quickly and surely, and within two hours had left the mountain and were jogging over open ground, beneath a clear night sky.
Our hunt for the Lord of the Vampaneze had begun!
CHAPTER EIGHT
IT WASgreat to be back on the road. We might be walking into the heart of an inferno, and our companions would suffer immeasurably if we failed, but those were worries for the future. In those first few weeks all I could think about was how refreshing it was to stretch my legs and breathe clean air, not caged in with dozens of sweaty, smelly vampires.
I was in high spirits as we cut a path through the mountains by night. Harkat was very quiet and spent a lot of time mulling over what Mr Tiny had said. Mr Crepsley seemed as glum as ever, though I knew that underneath the gloomy facade he was as pleased to be out in the open as I was.
We struck a firm pace and kept to it, covering many kilometres over the course of each night, sleeping deeply by day beneath trees and bushes, or in caves. The cold was fierce when we set off, but as we wound our way down through the mountain range, the biting chill lessened. By the time we reached the lowlands we were as comfortable as a human would have been on a blustery autumn day.
We carried spare bottles of human blood, and fed on wild animals. It had been a long time since I hunted, and I was rusty to begin with, but I soon got back into the swing of it.
"This is the life, isn't it?" I noted one morning as we chewed on the roasted carcass of a deer. We didn't light a fire most days we ate our meat raw but it was nice to relax around a mound of blazing logs every once in a while.
"It is," Mr Crepsley agreed.
"I wish we could go on like this forever."
The vampire smiled. "You are not in a hurry to return to Vampire Mountain?"
I pulled a face. "Being a Prince is a great honour, but it's not much fun."
"You have had a rough initiation," he said sympathetically. "Were we not at war, there would have been time for adventure. Most Princes wander the world for decades before settling down to royal duty. Your timing was unfortunate."
"Still, I can't complain," I said cheerfully. "I'm free now."
Harkat stirred up the fire and edged closer towards us. He hadn't said a lot since leaving Vampire Mountain, but now he lowered his mask and spoke. "I loved Vampire Mountain. It felt like home. I never felt so at ease before, even when I was with the Cirque Du Freak. When this is over, if I have the choice, I'll return."
"There is vampire blood in you," Mr Crepsley said. He was joking, but Harkat took the statement seriously.
"There might be," he said. "I've often wondered if I was a vampire in my previous life. That might explain why I was sent to Vampire Mountain and why I fitted in so well. It could also explain the stakes in my dreams."
Harkat's dreams often involved stakes. The ground would give way in his nightmares and he'd fall into a pit of stakes, or be chased by shadow men who carried stakes and drove them through his heart.
"Any fresh clues as to who you might have been?" I asked. "Did meeting Mr Tiny jog your memory?"
Harkat shook his chunky, neckless head. "No further insights," he sighed.
"Why did Mr Tiny not tell you the truth about yourself if it was time for you to learn?" Mr Crepsley asked.
"I don't think it's as simple as that," Harkat said. "I have to earn the truth. It's part of the deal we made."
"Wouldn't it be weird if Harkathad been a vampire?" I remarked. "What if he'd been a Prince would he still be able to open the doors of the Hall of Princes?"
"I don't think I was a Prince," Harkat chuckled, the corners of his wide mouth lifting in a gaping smile.
"Hey," I said, "ifI can become a Prince, anyone can."
"True," Mr Crepsley muttered, then ducked swiftly as I tossed a leg of deer at him.
Once clear of the mountains, we headed south-east and soon reached the outskirts of civilization. It was strange to see electric lights, cars and planes again. I felt as though I'd been living in the past and had stepped out of a time machine.
"It's so noisy," I commented one night as we passed through a busy town. We'd entered it to draw blood from humans, slicing them in their sleep with our nails, taking a small amount of blood, closing the cuts with Mr Crepsley's healing spit, leaving them oblivious to the fact that they'd been fed upon. "So much music and laughter and shouting." My ears were ringing from the noise.
"Humans always chatter like monkeys," Mr Crepsley said. "It is their way."
I used to object when he said things like that, but not any more. When I became Mr Crepsley's assistant, I'd clung to the hope of returning to my old life. I'd dreamt of regaining my humanity and going home to my family and friends. No longer. My years in Vampire Mountain had rid me of my human desires. I was a creature of the night now and content to be so.
The itching was getting worse. Before leaving town, I found a pharmacy and bought several anti-itching powders and lotions, which I rubbed into my flesh. The powders and lotions brought no relief. Nothing stopped the itching, and I scratched myself irritably as we journeyed to the cave of Lady Evanna.
Mr Crepsley wouldn't say much about the woman we were going to meet, where she lived, whether she was a vampire or human, and why we were going to see her.
"You should tell me these things," I grumbled one morning as we made camp. "What if something happens to you? How would Harkat and me find her?"
Mr Crepsley stroked the long scar running down the left side of his face after all our years together, I still didn't know how he got it and nodded thoughtfully. "You are right. I will draw a map before nightfall."
"And tell us who she is?"
He hesitated. "That is harder to explain. It might be best coming from her own lips. Evanna tells different people different things. She might not object to you knowing the truth but then again, she might."
"Is she an inventor?" I pressed. Mr Crepsley owned a collection of pots and pans which folded up into tiny bundles, making them easier to carry. He'd told me that Evanna had made them.
"She sometimes invents," he said. "She is a woman of many talents. Much of her time is spent breeding frogs."
"Excuse me?" I blinked.
"It is her hobby. Some people breed horses, dogs or cats. Evanna breeds frogs."
"How can she breed frogs?" I snorted sceptically.
"You will find out." Then he leant forward and tapped my knee. "Whatever you say, do not call her a witch."
"Why would I call her a witch?" I asked.
"Because she is one sort of."
"We're going to meet awitch !" Harkat snapped worriedly.
"That troubles you?" Mr Crepsley asked.
"Sometimes in my dreams there's a witch. I've never seen her face not clearly and I'm not sure if she's good or bad. There are times when I run to her for help, and times when I run away, afraid."
"You haven't mentioned that before," I said.
Harkat's smile was shaky. "With all the dragons, stakes and shadow men what's one little witch?"
The mention of dragons reminded me of something he'd said when we met Mr Tiny. He'd called him 'the dragon master'. I asked Harkat about this but he couldn't remember saying it. "Although," he mused, "I sometimes see Mr Tiny in my dreams, riding the backs of dragons. Once he tore the brain out of one and tossed it at me. I reached to catch it but woke before I could."
We thought about that image a long time. Vampires place a lot of importance on dreams. Many believe that dreams act as links to the past or future, and that much can be learnt from them. But Harkat's dreams didn't seem to have any bearing on reality, and in the end Mr Crepsley and me dismissed them, rolled over and slept. Harkat didn't he stayed awake, green eyes glowing faintly, putting off sleep as long as he could, avoiding the dragons, stakes, witches and other perils of his troubled nightmares.
CHAPTER NINE
ONE DUSKI awoke with a feeling of absolute comfort. As I stared up at a red, darkening sky, I tried putting my finger on why I felt so good. Then I realized the itching had stopped. I lay still a few minutes, afraid it would return if I moved, but when I finally got to my feet, there wasn't the slightest prickling sensation. Grinning, I headed for a small pond we'd camped by, to wet my throat.
I lowered my face into the cool, clear water of the pond and drank deeply. As I was rising, I noticed an unfamiliar face in the reflecting surface of the water a long-haired, bearded man. It was directly in front of me, which meant he must be standing right behind me but I hadn't heard anyone approach.
Swivelling swiftly, my hand shot to the sword which I'd brought from Vampire Mountain. I had it halfway out of its scabbard before stopping, confused.
There was no one there.
I looked around for the shabby, bearded man, but he was nowhere to be seen. There were no nearby trees or rocks he could have ducked behind, and not even a vampire could have moved quickly enough to disappear so swiftly.
I turned back towards the pond and looked into the water again. There he was! As clear and hairy as before, scowling up at me.
I gave a yelp and jumped back from the water's edge. Was the bearded manin the pond? If so, how was he breathing?
Stepping forward, I locked gazes with the hairy man he looked like a caveman for the third time and smiled. He smiled back. "Hello," I said. His lips moved when mine did, but silently. "My name's Darren Shan." Again his lips moved in time with mine. I was getting annoyed was he mocking me? when realization struck it wasme !
I could see my eyes and the shape of my mouth now that I looked closely, and the small triangular scar just above my right eye, which had become as much a part of me as my nose or ears. It was my face, no doubt about that but where had all the hair come from?
I felt around my chin and discovered a thick bushy beard. Running my right hand over my head which should have been smooth I was stunned to feel long, thick locks of hair. My thumb, which stuck out at an angle, caught in several of the strands, and I winced as I tugged it free, pulling some hair out with it.
What in Khledon Lurt's name had happened to me?
I checked further. Ripping off my T-shirt revealed a chest and stomach covered in hair. Huge balls of hair had also formed under my armpits and over my shoulders. I was hairy all over!
"Charna's guts!" I roared, then ran to wake my friends.
Mr Crepsley and Harkat were breaking camp when I rushed up, panting and shouting. The vampire took one look at my hairy figure, whipped out a knife and roared at me to stop. Harkat stepped up beside him, a grim expression on his face. As I halted, gasping for breath, I saw they didn't recognize me. Raising my hands to show they were empty, I croaked, "Don't attack! It's me!"
Mr Crepsley's eyes widened. "Darren!"
"It can't be," Harkat growled. "This is an impostor."
"No!" I moaned. "I woke up, went to the pond to drink, and found found " I shook my hairy arms at them.
Mr Crepsley stepped forward, sheathed his knife, and studied my face incredulously. Then he groaned. "Thepurge !" he muttered.
"Thewhat ?" I shouted.
"Sit down, Darren," Mr Crepsley said seriously. "We have a lot of talking to do. Harkat go fill our canteens and fix a new fire."
When Mr Crepsley had gathered his thoughts, he explained to Harkat and me what was happening. "You know that half-vampires become full-vampires when more vampire blood is pumped into them. What we have never discussed since I did not anticipate it so soon is the other way in which one's blood can turn.
"Basically, if one remains a half-vampire for an extremely long period of time the average is forty years one's vampire cells eventually attack the human cells and convert them, resulting in full-vampirism. We call this the purge."
"You mean I've become a full-vampire?" I asked quietly, both intrigued and frightened by the notion. Intrigued because it would mean extra strength, the ability to flit and communicate telepathically. Frightened because it would also mean a total retreat from daylight and the world of humanity.
"Not yet," Mr Crepsley said. "The hair is simply the first stage. We shall shave it off presently, and though it will grow back, it will stop after a month or so. You will undergo other changes during that time you will grow, and experience headaches and sharp bursts of energy but these too will cease. At the end of the changes, your vampiric blood may have replaced your human blood entirely, but it probably will not, and you will return to normal for a few months or a couple of years. But sometime within the next few years, your bloodwill turn completely. You have entered the final stages of half-vampirism. There is no turning back."
We spent most of the rest of the night discussing the purge. Mr Crepsley said it was rare for a half-vampire to undergo the purge after less than twenty years, but it was probably linked to when I'd become a Vampire Prince more vampiric blood had been added to my veins during the ceremony, and that must have speeded up the process.
I recalled Seba studying me in the tunnels of Vampire Mountain, and told Mr Crepsley about it. "He must have known about the purge," I said. "Why didn't he warn me?"
"It was not his place," Mr Crepsley said. "As your mentor, I am responsible for informing you. I am sure he would have told me about it, so that I could have sat down with you and explained it, but there was no time Mr Tiny arrived and we had to leave the Mountain."
"You said Darren would grow during the purge," Harkat said. "How much?"
"There is no telling," Mr Crepsley said. "Potentially, he could mature to adulthood in the space of a few months but that is unlikely. He shall age afew years, but probably no more."
"You mean I'll finally hit my teens?" I asked.
"I would imagine so."
I thought about that for a while, then grinned. "Cool!"
But the purge was far from cool it was a curse! Shaving off all the hair was bad enough Mr Crepsley used a long, sharp blade, which scraped my skin raw but the changes my body was undergoing were much worse. Bones were lengthening and fusing. My nails and teeth grew I had to bite my nails and grind my teeth together while I walked at night to keep them in shape and my feet and hands got longer. Within weeks I was five centimetres taller, aching all over from growth pains.
My senses were in a state of disarray. Slight sounds were magnified the snapping of a twig was like a house collapsing. The dullest of smells set my nose tingling. My sense of taste deserted me completely. Everything tasted like cardboard. I began to understand what life must be like for Harkat and made a resolution never to tease him about his lack of taste buds again.
Even dim lights were blinding to my ultra-sensitive eye. The moon was like a fierce spotlight in the sky, and if I opened my eyes during the day, I might as well have been sticking two fiery pins into them the inside of my head would flare with a metallic pain.
"Is this what sunlight is like for full-vampires?" I asked Mr Crepsley one day, as I shivered beneath a thick blanket, eyes shut tight against the painful rays of the sun.
"Yes," he said. "That is why we avoid even short periods of exposure to daylight. The pain of sunburn is not especially great not for the first ten or fifteen minutes but the glare of the sun is instantly unbearable."
I suffered with immense headaches during the purge, a result of my out-of-control senses. There were times when I thought my head was going to explode, and I'd weep helplessly from the pain.
Mr Crepsley helped me fight the dizzying effects. He bound light strips of cloth across my eyes I could still see pretty well and stuffed balls of grass into my ears and up my nostrils. That was uncomfortable, and I felt ridiculous Harkat's howls of laughter didn't help but the headaches lessened.
Another side-effect was a fierce surge of energy. I felt as if I was operating on batteries. I had to run ahead of Mr Crepsley and Harkat at night, then double back to meet them, just to tire myself out. I exercised like crazy every time we stopped push-ups, pull-ups, sit-ups and usually woke long before Mr Crepsley, unable to sleep more than a couple of hours at a time. I climbed trees and cliffs, and swam across rivers and lakes, all in an effort to use up my unnatural store of energy. I'd have wrestled an elephant if I'd found one!
Finally, after six weeks, the turmoil ceased. I stopped growing. I didn't have to shave any more (though the hair on my head remained I was no longer bald!). I removed the cloth and grass balls, and my taste returned, although patchily to begin with.
I was about seven centimetres taller than I'd been when the purge hit me, and noticeably broader. The skin on my face had hardened, giving me a slightly older appearance I looked like a fifteen- or sixteen-year-old now.
Most importantly I was still a half-vampire. The purge hadn't eliminated my human blood cells. The downside of that was I'd have to undergo the discomfort of the purge again in the future. On the plus side I could continue to enjoy sunlight for the time being, before having to abandon it forever in favour of the night.
Although I was keen to become a full-vampire, I'd miss the daytime world. Once my blood turned, there was no going back. I accepted that, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't nervous. This way, I had months perhaps a year or two to prepare myself for the change.
I'd outgrown my clothes and shoes, so I had to stock up at a small human outpost (we were leaving civilization behind again). In an army surplus shop, I chose gear similar to my old stuff, adding a couple of purple shirts to my blue ones, and a dark green pair of trousers. As I was paying for the clothes, a tall, lean man entered. He was wearing a brown shirt, black trousers and a baseball cap. "I need supplies," he grunted at the man serving behind the counter, tossing a list at him.
"You'll need a licence for the guns," the shopkeeper said, running an eye over the scrap of paper.
"I've got one." The man was reaching into a shirt pocket when he caught sight of my hands and stiffened. I was holding my new clothes across my chest, and the scars on my fingertips where I'd been blooded by Mr Crepsley were clear.
The man relaxed instantly and turned away but I was sure he'd recognized the scars and knew what I was. Hurrying from the shop, I found Mr Crepsley and Harkat on the edge of town and told them what had happened.
"Was he nervous?" Mr Crepsley asked. "Did he follow when you left?"
"No. He just went stiff when he saw the marks, then acted as though he hadn't seen them. But he knew what the marks meant I'm certain of it."
Mr Crepsley rubbed his scar thoughtfully. "Humans who know the truth about vampire marks are uncommon, but some exist. In all probability he is an ordinary person who has simply heard tales of vampires and their fingertips."
"But hemight be a vampire hunter," I said quietly.
"Vampire hunters are rare but real." Mr Crepsley thoughtit over, then decided. "We will proceed as planned, but keep our eyes open, and you or Harkat will remain on watch by day. If an attack comes, we shall be ready." He smiled tightly and touched the handle of his knife. "And waiting."
CHAPTER TEN
BY DAWNwe knew we had a fight on our hands. We were being followed, not just by one person, but three or four. They'd picked up our trail a few kilometres outside the town and had been tracking us ever since. They moved with admirable stealth, and if we hadn't been anticipating trouble, we might not have known anything was amiss. But when a vampire is alert to danger, not even the most fleet-footed human can sneak up on him.
"What's the plan?" Harkat asked as we were making camp in the middle of a small forest, sheltered from the sun beneath the intertwining branches and leaves.
"They will wait for full daylight to attack," Mr Crepsley said, keeping his voice low. "We will act as though all is normal and pretend to sleep. When they come, we deal with them."
"Will you be OK in the sun?" I asked. Though we were sheltered where we were, a battle might draw us out of the shade.
"The rays will not harm me during the short time it will take to deal with this threat," Mr Crepsley replied. "And I will protect my eyes with cloth, as you did during your purge."
Making beds amid the moss and leaves on the ground, we wrapped ourselves in our cloaks and settled down. "Of course, they might just be curious," Harkat muttered. "They could simply want to see what a real-life vampire looks like."
"They move too keenly for that," Mr Crepsley disagreed. "They are here on business."
"I just remembered," I hissed. "The guy in the shop was buyingguns !"
"Most vampire hunters come properly armed," Mr Crepsley grunted. "Gone are the nights when the fools toted only a hammer and wooden stake."
There was no more talk after that. We lay still, eyes closed (except for Harkat, who covered his lidless eyes with his cloak), breathing evenly, feigning sleep.
Seconds passed slowly, taking an age to become minutes, and an eternity to become hours. It had been six years since my last taste of vicious combat. My limbs felt unnaturally cold, and stiff, icy snakes of fear coiled and uncoiled inside the walls of my stomach. I kept flexing my fingers beneath the folds of my cloak, never far from my sword, ready to draw.