by Darren Shan
“Wait a minute,” Larten snapped. “Who said anything about me being your assistant? I don’t want to become a vampire.”
“Really?” Seba purred. “Then answer me this—where else will you go? Who will accept one of the damned, other than a family of the cursed? Where will a creature of darkness hide if not in the shadows of the night?”
“Damned?” Larten echoed faintly. “I thought you said I wasn’t…”
“I use the term poetically,” Seba said. “In human terms, any killer is one of the damned. But vampires learned long ago that we could find nobility in the depths of damnation.”
Seba rose smoothly and surveyed the boy from a height. “I will not force you. It does not work that way. Each person must choose freely, although not all of those who yearn to join are accepted.
“If you wish to chance the waters of vampirism, it will be many years before you can be blooded. First you will serve as my human assistant, travel with me, hunt for me, guard me by day, learn from me by night. In time, if you serve well, we can talk about blooding. We do not take anyone under our wing unless both parties are entirely sure that this is what the apprentice wants from life.
“But you must make your first decision tonight,” Seba concluded. “If you wish to learn more about our ways, stay. If you think your path lies elsewhere, move on. I will be gone some hours. If you are here when I return, so be it.”
He turned to leave, then paused and, without looking back, said, “You do not have to be alone. The world never inflicts loneliness upon us. That is something we choose or reject by ourselves.”
With that, the ancient vampire slipped away.
Larten stared at the doorway long after Seba had departed, thinking of all he had been told. The day had seemed to stretch on forever, and he was almost too tired to focus. But he forced himself to concentrate. He could tell that this was a moment of destiny. If he made the wrong choice, he would regret it, probably sooner rather than later.
Seba had said that Larten would have years in which to choose. He wouldn’t be blooded until both of them were sure that this was the right thing for him. But Larten knew in his heart that the choice he made tonight would be binding. If he turned his back on humanity now, it would be forever.
Larten considered his future, thinking with wonder of all the things he would see and learn as a vampire’s assistant, thinking with fear of all that he would leave behind. At first he worried about his other options. If he rejected the vampire, where would he go? How would he survive?
But as he thought on it more, he realized that didn’t matter. This was all about choosing or not choosing one particular path. He needed to decide if this was the way for him. If it wasn’t, he should leave the crypt immediately. Better not to start down a wrong path at all than head down it in the hope of making a detour when something better came along.
Larten wrestled with the problem some more before ultimately deciding that he should go with what his heart was telling him. When he was satisfied with his choice, Larten shrugged off his clothes and sat in the darkness. His teeth chattered and he shivered wildly, but after a few minutes he figured that wasn’t the way a vampire’s assistant should behave. Straightening his back, he fought off the shakes and goose bumps and sat to attention, steady and calm, patiently waiting for Seba–his master–to return.
Part Two
“Ladies and gentlemen—observe!”
Chapter Eight
The wildcat sensed danger, looked around suspiciously, and hissed. When there was no response, it lowered its head and tore into the remains of the rat on which it had been feasting. The wildcat was a loner. Unlike ordinary cats, its kind had nothing to do with humans, preferring the open hunt of the countryside to the wretched scavenge of a town or village.
As the animal feasted, a shadowy figure moved up behind it. The predator slid along quietly, creeping ever closer.
The wildcat’s sense of danger kicked in again, and it whirled. But it had reacted too late. The figure leapt and tackled the cat, grabbing it by the neck and twisting its head. As the doomed creature yelped and thrashed, its attacker pinned its neck with a knee, then jammed two hands into the beast’s mouth. The wildcat tried to chew the fingers, but it was in a hopeless situation. It resisted for a few seconds. Then its jaw and snout were torn apart, and it was all over.
Larten Crepsley knelt beside his kill and wiped his hands clean on the grass. He regarded the wildcat with grim satisfaction. Vampires could not drink the blood of cats, but once fully bled and cooked, the carcass would provide a fine meal. Larten might struggle with the tough meat, but Seba’s sharp teeth would tear through it easily.
Knocking the rat away, Larten hoisted the wildcat onto his shoulder. It was heavy, but he walked without a stagger, whistling as he made his way back to the ruined castle where his master was sleeping.
It had been nearly five years since Larten first spotted Seba on the wall of the crypt. Larten had grown by several inches, and although he hadn’t filled out much, he was muscular beneath his dull brown shirt. Most youths his age would have struggled with the wildcat, but Larten had carried heavier loads in his time, always without complaint.
It was a cloudy but mild evening. It would be dusk soon, and Seba would rise an hour or so later. The elderly vampire enjoyed sleeping in. He often remarked to Larten that when you’d lived for five hundred years, there was little in the world that seemed worth getting up early for.
They had made base in the ruins of an old castle three nights ago. Seba had not said why they were stopping here, many miles from the nearest village, and Larten hadn’t asked. He’d learned never to casually question the ways of his master. Seba had no time for lazy inquiries. He expected Larten to observe and learn, querying him only when an answer was worth seeking. Needless questions more often than not earned Larten a cuff around the ears.
Larten smiled as he scrambled over the rocky remains of one of the castle walls. Seba’s occasional blows were nowhere near as rough or unjust as Traz’s had been. The vampire could have knocked Larten’s head off with a single punch, so he was always wary of doing damage. He had never truly hurt the boy, merely stung him. Even Larten’s mother had hit harder than Seba Nile.
Seba was resting in what was once the main fireplace. The chimney had fallen in many years ago and created a sheltered niche. Larten had made his bed nearby, in the open, so that if anyone came, he could prevent the intruder from stumbling across the sleeping vampire.
Larten hung the corpse of the wildcat from a hook in a wall. He slit its throat and left it to bleed, then used bits of flint to start a fire. He and Seba often ate their meat raw, but a cat needed to be cooked or its blood would poison the vampire.
Larten had relished the last five years, even the cold, wet nights when he’d had to bite into the horrible flesh of a live rat. He’d never once regretted his decision to become Seba’s assistant. This was a hard life, but it was all he craved. He was still human, and many of the vampire ways were a mystery to him, but there was no question in his mind that this was his fate.
Though Seba was a thoughtful master, Larten’s education was by no means easy. Vampires’ assistants had a much harder time than their masters. Though Seba made allowances for his human aide, he was a superior creature of the night. He was stronger, faster, and more enduring than any human, and his assistant had to keep pace. If Seba marched all night, Larten wasn’t allowed to fall behind. If Seba wrestled a bear, Larten had to pitch in and help.
Many assistants perished horribly before they could be blooded. That was the vampire way—they only accepted the most resilient. If you failed, the clan was better off without you. Larten knew he could expect no sympathy if he came up short of his master’s expectations. Nor would he ask for any.
As the sun dropped, Larten slit the wildcat down the middle, then speared it on two spits and hung the meat over the fire. The smell was delicious, but he tried not to take pleasure from the scent. If Seba caught the you
ng man’s mouth watering, he’d probably toss the carcass aside and insist they hunt for raw meat.
As Larten tended the roasting cat, he hummed a song that Seba had taught him. It was an ancient melody, not of the vampires but from the human world of three hundred years ago. Larten would have liked to learn a few vampire tunes, but Seba said they were best kept for the Halls of Vampire Mountain.
Larten grew wistful as he thought about the legendary home of the clan. Seba hadn’t told him much about the mountain, but Larten had heard enough to fire his dreams. In his imagination it was a majestic place full of noble vampires. Great deeds were recounted there, lavish feasts were laid on for the Princes and Generals, and vampires had the opportunity to test themselves against their fellow night stalkers. There was little in the human world to really challenge a vampire, but in the caverns and tunnels of Vampire Mountain, you could truly find out what you were made of.
Larten stopped humming and kept his gaze on the roasting cat. He appeared to be listening to the crackle of the flames, but he was actually concentrating on very soft steps behind him.
“Will you be dining with us tonight, sir?” he called, without looking up from the fire or turning around.
Someone clapped. “Very good,” the stranger said, stepping forward out of the shadows. “You have a sharp ear.”
“For a human,” Larten murmured, and turned to greet the visitor. He’d known by the sounds that their guest was a vampire—he moved in the same quiet way Seba did when he was testing Larten’s senses. If a vampire wished to sneak up on a human, they could move so silently that detection was impossible. But this one had wanted to give Larten a chance.
The vampire was about Seba’s height but a little broader. He looked even older than Seba and had long white hair and a tight gray beard. He was missing his right ear. The flesh around the hole was a pale pink color.
“Your name?” the vampire asked, approaching the fire and warming his hands.
“Larten Crepsley. I serve Seba Nile.”
“Aye,” the vampire said. “I gathered that much. I’m Paris Skyle. Seba has told you about me?”
“No, sir.”
“Good. I don’t like being discussed behind my back.” The vampire winked, then ran a curious eye over the young man’s face. “Have you been with Seba long?”
“Close to five years,” Larten answered.
“Still a ways from being blooded, then?”
“Seba doesn’t say so, but I suspect that I am.”
Paris sniffed the fumes from the cat. “In answer to your first question, yes, I accept your offer of dinner. But in the future you should be more careful who you extend an invitation to. Never ask anyone to break bread with you unless you’re sure of their intent.”
“I knew you were a friend,” Larten said. “Seba has been waiting for you. He didn’t tell me, but I guessed.”
“He might have been waiting for an enemy,” Paris growled.
Larten shook his head. “You don’t smile when you’re waiting for an enemy.”
“Certain vampires do,” Paris disagreed, but he was prevented from arguing any further by the appearance of a yawning Seba Nile. Paris yelled a greeting when he saw Seba drift from his sleeping quarters, and the vampires gripped each other’s forearms, grinning widely.
Larten was excited–this was the first vampire he’d met since becoming Seba’s assistant–but he fought to keep his emotions to himself. If he smiled the way the pair of old friends were smiling, he would earn a cuff from Seba. So, maintaining a neutral expression, he stayed by the fire and focused on the roasting wildcat, acting as if that was his only concern in the world.
Chapter Nine
Seba and Paris ignored Larten for a long time, but he didn’t mind. He could tell they were old friends who had a lot to catch up on. He served them their meal and provided wine from a jug that he’d bought in the last town they’d visited. Then he settled back and listened as they swapped tales and discussed other vampires.
“I lost my ear at the last Council,” Paris told Seba. “I was surprised you were not there.”
“I broke my leg on the way,” Seba grunted, blushing slightly. “I had to hole up in a cave for five months. I fed on bats and the occasional stray goat. I thought my time had come, but I healed and was able to hobble out in the spring.”
“I thought you had a bit of a limp,” Paris laughed.
“Tell me more about your ear—you look strange without it.”
Paris shrugged. “I was wrestling. My opponent’s nails caught on my ear, and rather than take the time to free them, he ripped his hand away.”
“Painful?” Seba asked.
“Aye. But I bit a chunk out of his cheek in response. We forgave each other over a mug of ale later.”
Larten knew a bit about the Council. It was held every twelve years in Vampire Mountain, and vampires from all over the world made their way to it. Laws were passed there, tournaments were held, and friendships were forged or renewed.
While listening, Larten was stunned to learn that Paris Skyle was one of six Vampire Princes. There were three classes of vampire—thousands of normal bloodsuckers, hundreds of Generals, and, overseeing them all, the Princes. They held complete power. Their word was law.
Larten had pictured the Princes clad in fine costumes, like royalty in the stories he’d heard as a child. He’d assumed they traveled with servants and guards. But apart from a few extra wrinkles, Paris looked much like Seba. His clothes were worn and dusty from the road. He was barefoot. He carried no crown or scepter. And unless his retinue was hiding somewhere nearby, he was alone.
Paris threw away a bone and nodded at Larten to serve up more of the wildcat. He certainly had a princely appetite—this was his third helping.
“What’s wrong with your hair?” Paris asked as Larten gave him the last chunk of cat. Though Larten’s hair had dulled slightly since his days in the factory, it was the same unnatural orange color it had been five years before.
“Dye,” Larten said self-consciously.
“You dye your hair orange?” Paris chortled.
“The dye seeped into his skin years ago,” Seba said. “There is nothing he can do about it.”
“Why in the name of the gods did you dye your hair in the first place?” Paris asked.
“It was not by choice,” Larten answered quietly. “I worked in a factory. This is how the foreman marked me.”
Paris studied the boy some more as he chewed. “It’s been a while since you took an assistant,” he said to Seba.
“It is a complicated process these nights,” Seba scowled. “I preferred it when you could snatch a baby from its cradle and no one cared. Now the Princes complain when we do that. They urge us to only take those who will not be missed by humans, and gods help you if you blood the wretch before he comes of age.”
“Times are changing,” Paris noted. “For the better, I feel. It’s good that people worry more about their young, that we cannot pick as freely as we once did.”
“Perhaps,” Seba said grudgingly. “But such cautious maneuverings are not for me. I have trained and blooded several fine vampires over the centuries. In terms of bolstering our ranks, I have done more than my fair share for the clan.”
Paris waved a hand at Larten. “Yet here you are with another apprentice.”
Seba smiled. “Master Crepsley was an unusual case. When you find a boy eating cobwebs in a crypt in the middle of the night… well, such a lad has already driven a wedge between himself and the human world. If I had not claimed him for the clan, some other vampire surely would have.”
“It sounds like an interesting tale,” Paris murmured. “I will ask you to tell it to me one night, Larten. In return I’ll tell you a few of mine if you’re interested.”
Seba laughed. “The lad does not know much about you, Paris, but in years to come, when he realizes what a treasure trove of stories you are, he will remind you of that promise. You may live to regret it.”
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“Nonsense,” Paris sniffed. “I never tire of discussing my great exploits.”
Talk moved on, and Larten was again forgotten. He had enjoyed being part of their conversation, even for a brief while, and looked forward to the time when he was considered worthy of full inclusion in talks between vampires as old and wise as these two.
Paris started to tell Seba of his recent adventures in a jungle. He seemed to have traveled to every country Larten had heard of, and many more besides. Larten was fascinated, but he excused himself and went in search of food to serve to the vampires later in the night. His duties had to come first.
Larten often hunted by himself. He hadn’t in the first few years, but Seba had trained him well, and now he was left to his own devices most nights. While he enjoyed hunting with Seba, he preferred the solitude of the solo chase. He’d never feared the dark as a child but had been wary of it. Now he’d grown to love it. Humans retired when the sun went down, leaving the world in the control of the creatures of the night.
Larten wandered freely, relishing the heady smells, the sounds of small animals rustling in the bushes, the cries of owls and bats. While his senses were nowhere near as sharp as Seba’s, he had learned to see, hear, and smell more than most humans ever did. He was aware of a different world unraveling around him, nature rolling its dice as it did every night, animals fighting, birthing, feeding, dying. There were a dozen dramas unfolding everywhere at once, in the bushes, in the trees, beneath the soil. Larten could only follow a few of them—he saw an owl swoop on two mating mice and carry them away, and watched a fox drink by a stream, studying the water as if admiring its reflection. But the snatches he caught put a smile on his face like no human tale of ghosts and gods ever had.
On a rough road he kept to the shadows as a caravan of people passed, no more than three or four feet away from where he stood. It pleased him that he could follow their progress without their knowing he was there. He could have boarded the caravan and stocked up on fruit, meat, and wine if he’d wished. But although he and his master sometimes stole when needs dictated, vampires were not natural thieves. They would rather hunt.
