him.”
“Oh.” I stared at Gavner Purl. He didn’t look like a killer, but then again, there were all those scars…
“It’s a boring job most of the time,” Gavner said. “I’m more like a village policeman than a soldier. I never did like the term ‘Vampire Generals’. Far too pompous.”
“It is not just evil vampires that Generals clamp down on,” Mr Crepsley said. “It is also their business to crack down on foolish or weak vampires.” He sighed. “I have been expecting this visit. Shall we retire to my tent, Gavner, to discuss the matter?”
“You’ve been expecting me?” Gavner looked startled.
“Word was bound to leak out sooner or later,” Mr Crepsley said. “I have made no attempt to hide the boy or suppress the truth. Note that please: I will use it during my trial, when I am called upon to defend myself.”
“Trial? Truth? The boy?” Gavner was bewildered. Glancing down at my hands, he spotted the vampire marks on my fingertips and his jaw dropped. “The boy’s a vampire?” he shrieked.
“Of course.” Mr Crepsley frowned. “But surely you knew.”
“I knew nothing of the sort!” Gavner protested. He looked into my eyes and concentrated hard. “The blood is weak in him,” he mused aloud. “He is only a half-vampire.”
“Naturally,” Mr Crepsley said. “It is not our custom to make full-vampires of our assistants.”
“Nor to make assistants of children!” Gavner Purl snapped, sounding more authoritative than he had before. “What were you thinking?” he asked Mr Crepsley. “A boy! When did this happen? Why haven’t you informed anybody?”
“It has been nearly a year and a half since I blooded Darren,” Mr Crepsley said. “Why I did it is a long story. As for why I have not yet told anyone, that is simpler to answer: you are the first of our kind we have encountered. I would have taken him to the next Council if I had not run into a General beforehand. Now that will not be necessary.”
“It bloody well will be!” Gavner snorted.
“Why?” Mr Crepsley asked. “You can judge my actions and pass verdict.”
“Me? Judge you?” Gavner laughed. “No thanks. I’ll leave you to the Council. The last thing I need is to get involved in something like this.”
“Excuse me,” I said again, “but what’s this all about? Why are you talking about being judged? And who or what are the Council?”
“I shall tell you later,” Mr Crepsley said, waving my questions aside. He studied Gavner curiously. “If you are not here about the boy, why have you come? I thought I made it clear when last we met that I wanted no more to do with the Generals.”
“You made it crystal clear,” Gavner agreed. “Maybe I’m just here to discuss old times.”
Mr Crepsley smiled cynically. “After seventeen years of leaving me to my own devices? I think not, Gavner.”
The Vampire General coughed discreetly. “There is trouble brewing. Nothing to do with the Generals,” he added quickly. “This is personal. I’ve come because I feel there’s something you should know.” He paused.
“Go on,” Mr Crepsley urged him.
Gavner looked at me and cleared his throat. “I have no objections to speaking in front of Darren,” he said, “but you seemed anxious to steer him clear of certain areas when we were discussing our past a while ago. What I have to tell you may not be for his ears.”
“Darren,” Mr Crepsley said immediately, “Gavner and I shall continue our discussion in my quarters, alone. Please find Mr Tall and tell him I shall be unable to perform tonight.”
I wasn’t happy – I wanted to hear what Gavner had to say: he was the first vampire I’d met apart from Mr Crepsley – but from his stern expression, I knew his mind was made up. I turned to leave.
“And Darren,” Mr Crepsley called me back. “I know you are curious by nature, but I warn you: do not attempt to eavesdrop. I shall take a dim view of it if you do.”
“What do you think I am?” I said. “You treat me like—”
“Darren!” he snapped. “No eavesdropping!”
I nodded glumly. “All right.”
“Cheer up,” Gavner Purl said as I walked away dejectedly. “I’ll tell you all about it, as soon as Larten’s back is turned.”
As Mr Crepsley spun round, with fire in his eyes, the Vampire General quickly raised his hands and laughed. “Only joking!”
CHAPTER THREE
I DECIDED to do the act with Madam Octa – Mr Crepsley’s spider – by myself. I was well able to handle her. Besides, it was fun to take over from Mr Crepsley. I’d been on stage with him loads of times, but always as his sidekick.
I went on after Hans Hands – a man who could run a hundred metres on his hands in less than eight seconds – and had great fun. The audience cheered me off, and later I sold loads of candy spiders to clamouring customers.
I hung out with Evra after the show. I told him about Gavner Purl and asked what he knew about Vampire Generals.
“Not much,” he said. “I know they exist but I’ve never met one.”
“What about the Council?” I asked.
“I think that’s a huge meeting they have every ten or fifteen years,” he said. “A big conference where they gather and discuss things.”
That was all he could tell me.
A few hours before dawn, while Evra was tending to his snake, Gavner Purl appeared from Mr Crepsley’s van – the vampire preferred to sleep in the basements of buildings, but there had been no suitable rooms in the old mill – and asked me to walk with him a while.
The Vampire General walked slowly, rubbing the scars on his face, much as Mr Crepsley often did when thinking.
“Do you enjoy being a half-vampire, Darren?” he asked.
“Not really,” I answered honestly. “I’ve got used to it, but I was happier as a human.”
He nodded. “You know that you will age at only a fifth of the human rate? You’ve resigned yourself to a long childhood? It doesn’t bother you?”
“It bothers me,” I said. “I used to look forward to growing up. It bugs me that it’s going to take so long. But there’s nothing I can do about it. I’m stuck, amn’t I?”
“Yes,” he sighed. “That’s the problem with blooding a person: there’s no way to take the vampire blood back. It’s why we don’t blood children: we only want people who know what they’re getting into, who wish to abandon their humanity. Larten shouldn’t have blooded you. It was a mistake.”
“Is that why he was talking about being judged?” I asked.
Gavner nodded. “He’ll have to account for his error,” he said. “He’ll have to convince the Generals and Princes that what he did won’t harm them. If he can’t…” Gavner looked grim.
“Will he be killed?” I asked softly.
Gavner smiled. “I doubt it. Larten is widely respected. His wrists will be slapped but I don’t think anybody will look for his head.”
“Why didn’t you judge him?” I asked.
“All Generals