First Bites

by Darren Shan

  “Do you mean ghosts?”

  “No. Vampires are…” Seba considered his words.

  “Hold on,” Larten said, a memory sparking somewhere inside his head. “You’re not a bloodsucker, are you?”

  “Now you have it,” Seba beamed.

  “I remember Vur telling me…” What? Larten only had a dim recollection. Vur had told lots of tales. It was something about creatures who drank blood and lived forever.

  “There are many legends about vampires,” Seba said. “Most are unreliable. We do drink blood to survive, but we are not killers. We do no harm to those from whom we feed.”

  “A monster who doesn’t kill?” Larten was skeptical.

  “Not monsters,” Seba corrected him. “Just people with extraordinary powers. Or weaknesses, depending on how one looks at it.” Seba uncrossed his legs and stretched. “I cannot recall my exact age, but I am more than five hundred years old.”

  Larten grinned—he thought it was a joke. Then he saw Seba’s expression, and his smile faded.

  “All vampires start life as humans,” Seba continued. “We turn from the path of humanity when another vampire bloods us.” He held up his hands, and Larten saw small scars at the tip of each finger. “My master cut my fingertips, then his own, and pumped his blood into me. That is how I became a vampire.”

  “Why did he do it?” Larten asked.

  “I wanted him to.” Seba explained that vampires aged at one-tenth the rate of humans, meaning they could live for several hundred years. He told Larten of their great strength and speed, the codes of honor by which they lived. He explained about the hardships, the way humans feared and hunted them, how sunlight killed them after a few hours, their inability to have children.

  Larten listened, entranced. Like most of his friends, he believed fully in a world of ghosts and magic, demons and witches. But this was the first time he had been exposed to the reality of that world, and it was far different than he’d imagined.

  Seba told Larten some of the many myths about vampires. Crosses were meant to frighten them. Holy water could burn them. You had to drive a stake through a vampire’s heart, then cut off his head and bury him at the center of a crossroads to stop him from rising again. They could change shape and turn into bats or rats.

  “All rot!” Seba snorted. “The hysterical rantings of superstitious fools.”

  Larten had heard some of the tales before, but in relation to other monsters. He asked Seba if they were also real—demons, witches, and the rest.

  “Ghosts, yes,” Seba said seriously. “And witches. As for demons and the like… well, in five hundred years, I have not seen any.”

  He told Larten how he had been blooded as a child, and spoke of some of the countries he’d visited and a few of the famous people he’d met. Larten didn’t recognize most of the names, but he didn’t admit that, not wanting to appear ignorant.

  Finally, when Seba felt the boy had learned enough about the world of vampires for one night, he reversed the question. “And you?” he asked gently. “Why are you here, so far from home and other humans?”

  Larten’s first instinct was to make up a story–he didn’t want to confess to his terrible crime–but Seba had been honest with him, and Larten didn’t want to lie in return.

  “I killed a man,” Larten said hollowly, then told Seba the whole sorry tale. He cried while telling it. This was the first chance he’d had to think about what he’d lost—not just his best friend but his parents, his brothers and sisters, his entire way of life. But he didn’t let the tears overwhelm him. He kept talking, even when it hurt to speak.

  Seba nodded slowly when Larten had finished. “From what you say, that wretch of a man deserved to be killed. Aye, and long before you struck the fatal blow. But murder always hurts. It is right that we grieve when we kill. If we did not feel pain, we would kill more freely, and what would the world be like then?”

  “I’m evil,” Larten moaned. “I’m going to hell when I die, or somewhere worse.”

  “A place worse than hell?” Seba smiled grimly. “That would be a bad place indeed! But I do not think your soul is damned.”

  “I stabbed Traz to death,” Larten said, wiping tears from his cheeks.

  “In the heat of the moment,” Seba reminded him. “After he had slain your innocent friend. That is not the act of a vicious beast.”

  “You don’t think it was wrong?” Larten whispered.

  “Of course it was wrong,” Seba said. “You took a life that was not yours to take, and that should haunt you far into the future. But virtually all people do wrong at some point. The truly evil are those who willingly follow the path of violence when they find themselves on it. You have a choice now. You can embrace the darkness within you and become a monster. Or you can reject it and try to lead a good life from this night on.”

  “What if I can’t?” Larten croaked. “What if I enjoyed killing him?”

  “Did you?” Seba asked.

  Larten shook his head crookedly, then sighed and nodded. “I felt powerful. He was bigger than me, and he’d hurt me–all of us–so much. Part of me wanted to kill him. After I’d stabbed him, I leaned forward to poke out his eyes. I wanted to torture him, even though he was dead.”

  “But you restrained yourself?” Seba pressed.

  “Aye. But it was hard.”

  Seba pursed his lips, impressed by the boy’s honesty. “Vampires have a way of testing people,” he said. “We do it before we blood humans. Great power must only be given to those responsible enough to deal with it. If we blooded the weak or craven, they would wreak havoc on mankind.

  “We can taste evil in a person’s blood,” Seba went on. “It has a sweet tang. It should be vile and bitter, but evil often comes wrapped in sweetness. The test is not foolproof. We sometimes make mistakes. But in most cases it is accurate. I can test you if you wish.”

  Larten wasn’t sure he wanted to be tested. If the result went against him…

  “I will do you no harm,” Seba promised. “If your blood is not to my liking, I will go my own way tomorrow and leave you be. Vampires do not judge humans or meddle in their affairs.”

  Larten gulped, then nodded hesitantly. He was afraid of what the vampire might reveal, but he’d rather know the truth about himself than live with uncertainty.

  “This will hurt slightly,” Seba said, taking the boy’s arm. Using one of his sharp nails, he made a small cut just above Larten’s elbow. As Larten winced, Seba put his mouth over the cut and sucked. For a worried second Larten thought he’d been tricked, that the vampire planned to drain him dry. But then Seba released him and swirled the blood around his mouth.

  “Well?” Larten asked as Seba swallowed and narrowed his eyes.

  “An interesting vintage,” Seba joked, but Larten knew nothing about wine, so he only stared at the vampire blankly. Seba licked his lips. “You have mixed blood.”

  Larten grew cold. “Does that mean I’m evil?”

  “No,” Seba said. “There is an underlying sweetness, but it is not overwhelming. I would say you are strong-willed, easily enraged, perhaps bent towards violence more than most, prepared to do bad things if provoked. Of course, we already knew that, given how you acted today. But I do not think the evil strain is dominant. You will need to tread cautiously through life and guard your emotions carefully if you wish to master them. But in my opinion, you can choose good.”

  Larten was relieved but troubled. After today’s violent explosion, he wasn’t sure he could make those good choices. He recalled the way he had licked his lips, the disappointment that the dark part of him had felt when he stopped short of stabbing out Traz’s eyes.

  “I will leave you now,” Seba said, rising.

  “Where are you going?” Larten asked. He felt panic at the thought of being left alone in the crypt. It wasn’t fear of the dead but fear that Seba might not return.

  “I must hunt,” Seba said.

  “For blood?”

&nbs
p; “No. I drank last night. A vampire only needs to drink a couple of times a week. Less, in fact, but we prefer to drink small amounts often rather than large amounts rarely. We can control our urges more easily that way. I go to find food now—like all creatures, we need to eat.”

  “You’ll come back?” Larten asked, trying not to sound desperate.

  “This is my room for the night,” Seba said evenly. “If I did not care to share it with you, I would ask you to leave. Only a fool puts himself out of his own home.”

  Larten smiled and shivered. “Could you start a fire before you go?”

  “No.” Seba squatted by the boy. “We light fires on occasion, but we do not rely on them. A vampire must be willing to endure discomfort. If you wish to be my assistant, you will need to accept that. You can take off your damp clothes, but ask no more of me than that.”

  “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 young 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.