The Vampire’s Assistant. Darren Shan
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Название: The Vampire’s Assistant
Автор: Darren Shan
Издательство: HarperCollins
Жанр: Детская проза
isbn: 9780007435289
isbn:
THE VAMPIRE’S ASSISTANT
THE SAGA OF DARREN SHAN
BOOK 2
THE VAMPIRE’S ASSISTANT
THE SAGA OF DARREN SHAN
BOOK 2
Madam Octa’s on the Web… and so is Darren Shan!
For all things freaky, check out the official
Darren Shan website at www.darrenshan.com
For:
Granny and Grandad – tough old fogeys
OBEs (Order of the Bloody Entrails) to:
Caroline ‘tracker’ Paul
Paul ‘the pillager’ Litherland
Heads off to:
Biddy ‘Jekyll’ and Liam ‘Hyde’
Gillie ‘grave robber’ Russell
The hideously creepy HarperCollins gang
and
Emma and Chris (from ‘Ghouls Are Us’)
Contents
Introduction
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter Thirty-Four
Other Books in the Series The Saga of Darren Shan
Copyright
About the Publisher
INTRODUCTION
MY NAME’S Darren Shan. I’m a half-vampire.
I wasn’t born that way. I used to be ordinary. I lived at home with my parents and younger sister, Annie. I enjoyed school and had lots of friends.
I liked reading horror stories and watching scary movies. When a freak show came to town, my best mate, Steve Leopard, got tickets and we went. It was great, really spooky and weird. A super night out.
But the weirdest part came after the show. Steve recognized one of the characters from the show … he’d seen a drawing of him in an old book and knew he was — a vampire. He stuck around after the show and asked the vampire to turn him into one, too! Mr Crepsley – the vampire – would have, but he found out Steve’s blood was evil, and that was the end of that.
Or it would have been the end, except I stuck around, too, to see what Steve was up to.
I wanted nothing to do with vampires, but I’d always loved spiders – I used to keep them as pets – and Mr Crepsley had a poisonous performing spider, Madam Octa, which could do all sorts of great tricks. I stole her and left a note for the vampire, saying I’d tell people about him if he came after me.
To cut a long story short, Madam Octa bit Steve and he ended up in hospital. He would have died, so I went to Mr Crepsley and asked him to save Steve. He agreed, but in return I had to become a half-vampire and travel with him as his assistant!
I ran away after he’d turned me into a half-vampire (by pumping part of his own horrible blood into me) and saved Steve, but then I realized I was hungry for blood, and was afraid I’d do something terrible (like bite my sister) if I stayed at home.
So Mr Crepsley helped me fake my death. I was buried alive and then, in the dead of night, with no one around, he dug me up and we set off together. My days as a human were over. My nights as a vampire’s assistant had begun.
CHAPTER ONE
IT WAS a dry, warm night, and Stanley Collins had decided to walk home after the Scouts’ meeting. It wasn’t a long walk – less than two kilometres – and though the night was dark, he knew every step of the way as surely as he knew how to tie a reef knot.
Stanley was a Scout Master. He loved the Scouts. He’d been one when he was a boy, and kept in contact when he grew up. He’d turned his three sons into first-rate Scouts and, now that they’d grown up and left home, he was helping the local kids.
Stanley walked quickly to keep warm. He was only wearing shorts and a T-shirt, and even though it was a nice night, his arms and legs were soon covered in goosebumps. He didn’t mind. His wife would have a lovely СКАЧАТЬ