Darren Shan - Cirque Du Freak 03 - Tunnels Of Blood

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TUNNELS OF BLOOD
Cirque Du Freak Book 3
By
Darren Shan
CONTENTS
Prologue
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
Cirque Du Freak
Tunnels of Blood
My name is Darren Shan. I'm a half-vampire. I used to be human, until I stole a vampire's spider. After
that, my life changed forever. Mr. Crepsley—the vampire—forced me to become his assistant, and I
joined a circus full of weird performers called the Cirque Du Freak.
Now Darren, the vampire's assistant, gets a taste of the city when he leaves the Cirque Du Freak with
Evra the snake-boy and Mr. Crepsley. When corpses are discovered—corpses drained of
blood—Darren and Evra are compelled to hunt down whatever foul creature is committing such
horrendous acts. Then beneath the streets, evil stalks Darren and Evra, and all clues point to Mr.
Crepsley. Can they escape, or are they doomed to perish in the tunnels of blood?
This is Darren's story.
Rave reviews for:
Tunnels of Blood
"A perfect book for reluctant middle school readers. For those fans ofBuffy andAngel , here is another
book to satisfy their vampiric tastes."
—Voya
"Described in stomach-churning detail, the story is compulsively readable. But it's not for the squeamish."
—School Library Journal
"TheCirque Du Freak series approaches vampires from a new perspective, completely rewriting some
of the ground rules with regards to powers, strengths and weaknesses, giving them [a] fresh feel."
—Science Fiction Chronicle
Book 3
Cirque Du Freak
THE SAGA OF DARREN SHAN
Tunnels of Blood by Darren Shan
LITTLE, BROWN AND COMPANY
New York An AOL Time Warner Company
Copyright © 2002 by Darren Shan
First U.S. Paperback Edition
The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or
dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.
First published in Great Britain by Collins in 2000
Tunnels of blood / by Darren Shan.
(The saga of Darren Shan ; bk. 3) Sequel to: The vampire's assistant.
Summary: Darren, Evra, and Mr. Crepsley leave the Cirque Du Freak and get a taste of the city, but
when corpses drained of blood are discovered, Darren and Evra must confront a dangerous creature of
the night.
ISBN 0-316-60763-0 (he) /ISBN 0-316-60608-1 (pb)
Printed in the United States of America
Also in the CIRQUE DU FREAK series:
Cirque Du Freak(Book 1)
The Vampire's Assistant(Book 2)
Vampire Mountain(Book 4)
Trials of Death(Book 5)The Vampire Prince (Book 6)
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")
PROLOGUE
The smell of blood is sickening. Hundreds of carcasses hang from silver hooks, stiff, shiny with frosty
blood. I know they're just animals — cows, pigs, sheep — but I keep thinking they're human.
I take a careful step forward. Powerful overhead lights mean it's bright as day. I have to tread carefully.
Hide behind the dead animals. Move slowly. The floor's slippery with water and blood, which makes
progress even trickier.
Ahead, I spot him… the vampire… Mr. Crepsley. He's moving as quietly as I am, eyes focused on the
fat man a little way ahead.
The fat man. He's why I'm here in this ice-cold slaughterhouse. He's the human Mr. Crepsley intends to
kill. He's the man I have to save.
The fat man pauses and checks one of the hanging slabs of meat. His cheeks are chubby and red. He's
wearing clear plastic gloves. He pats the dead animal — the squeaky noise of the hook as the carcass
swings puts my teeth on edge — then begins whistling. He starts to walk again. Mr. Crepsley follows. So
do I.
Evra is somewhere far behind. I left him outside. No point in both of us risking our lives.
I pick up speed, moving slowly closer. Neither knows I'm here. If everything works out as planned, they
won't know, not until Mr. Crepsley makes his move. Not until I'm forced to act.
The fat man stops again. Bends to examine something. I take a quick step back, afraid he'll spot me, but
then I see Mr. Crepsley closing in. Damn! No time to hide. If this is the moment he's chosen to attack, I
have to get nearer.
I spring forward several feet, risking being heard. Luckily Mr. Crepsley is entirely focused on the fat
man.
I'm only three or four feet behind the vampire now. I bring up the long butcher's knife that I've been
holding down by my side. My eyes are glued to Mr. Crepsley. I won't act until he does — I'll give him
every chance to prove my terrible suspicions wrong — but the second I see him tensing to spring…
I take a firmer grip on the knife. I've been practicing my swipe all day. I know the exact point I want to
hit. One quick cut across Mr. Crepsley's throat and that'll be that. No more vampire. One more carcass
to add to the pile.
Long seconds slip by. I don't dare look to see what the fat man is studying. Is he ever going to rise?
Then it happens. The fat man struggles to his feet. Mr. Crepsley hisses. He gets ready to lunge. I position
the knife and steady my nerves. The fat man's on his feet now. He hears something. Looks up at the
ceiling — wrong way, idiot! — as Mr. Crepsley leaps. As the vampire jumps, so do I, screeching loudly,
slashing at him with the knife, determined to kill…
CHAPTER ONE
One month earlier…
My name's Darren Shan. I'm a half-vampire.
I usedto be human, until I stole a vampire's spider. After that, my life changed forever. Mr. Crepsley —
the vampire — forced me to become his assistant, and I joined a circus full of weird performers called
the Cirque Du Freak.
Adapting was hard. Drinking blood was harder, and for a long time I wouldn't do it. Eventually I did, to
save the memories of a dying friend (vampires can store a person's memories if they drain all their blood).
I didn't enjoy it — the following few weeks were horrible, and I was plagued by nightmares — but after
that first blood-red drink there could be no going back. I accepted my role as a vampire's assistant and
learned to make the best of it.
Over the course of the next year, Mr. Crepsley taught me how to hunt and drink without being caught;
how to take just enough blood to survive; how to hide my vampire identity when mixing with others. And
in time I put my human fears behind me and became a true creature of the night.
A couple of girls stood watching Cormac Limbs with serious expressions. He was stretching his arms
and legs, rolling his neck around, loosening his muscles. Then, winking at the girls, he put the middle three
fingers of his right hand between his teeth and bit them off.
The girls screamed and fled. Cormac chuckled and wriggled the new fingers that were growing out of his
hand.
I laughed. You got used to stuff like that when you worked in the Cirque Du Freak. The traveling show
was full of incredible people, freaks of nature with cool and sometimes frightening powers.
Apart from Cormac Limbs, the performers included Rhamus Twobellies, capable of eating a full-grown
elephant or an army tank; Gertha Teeth, who could bite through steel; the wolf-man — half man, half
wolf, who'd killed my friend Sam Grest; Truska, a beautiful and mysterious woman who could grow a
beard at will; and Mr. Tall, who could move as fast as lightning and seemed to be able to read people's
minds. Mr. Tall owned and managed the Cirque Du Freak.
We were performing in a small town, camped behind an old mill inside which the show was staged every
night. It was a run-down junkyard, but I was used to that type of venue. We could have played the
grandest theaters in the world and slept in luxurious hotel rooms — the Cirque made a ton of money —
but it was safer to keep a low profile and stick to places where the police and other officials rarely
wandered.
My appearance hadn't changed much since leaving home with Mr. Crepsley almost a year and a half
before. Because I was a half-vampire, I aged at only a fifth the rate of humans, which meant that though
eighteen months had passed, my body was only three or four months older.
Although I wasn't very different on the outside, inside I was an entirely new person. I was stronger than
any boy my age, able to run faster, leap farther, and dig my extra-strong nails into brick walls. My
hearing, eyesight, and sense of smell had improved vastly.
Since I wasn't a full vampire, there was lots of stuff I couldn't do yet. For example, Mr. Crepsley could
run at a superquick speed, which he called flitting. He could breathe out a gas that knocked people
unconscious. And he could communicate telepathically with vampires and a few others, such as Mr. Tall.
I wouldn't be able to do those things until I became a full vampire. I didn't lose any sleep over it, because
being a half-vampire had its bonuses: I didn't have to drink much human blood and — better yet — I
could move around during the day.
It was daytime when I was exploring a garbage dump with Evra, the snake-boy, looking for food for the
Little People — weird, small creatures who wore blue hooded capes and never spoke. Nobody —
except maybe Mr. Tall — knew who or what they were, where they came from, or why they traveled
with the Cirque. Their master was a creepy man called Mr. Tiny (he liked to eatchildren!) , but we didn't
see much of him at the Cirque.
"Found a dead dog," Evra shouted, holding it above his head. "It smells a little. Do you think they'll
mind?"
I sniffed the air — Evra was a long way off, but I could smell the dog from here as well as a human
could up close — and shook my head. "It'll be fine," I said. The Little People ate just about anything we
brought.
I had a fox and a few rats in my bag. I felt bad about killing the rats — rats are friendly with vampires
and usually come up to us like tame pets if we call them — but work is work. We all have to do things
we don't like in life.
There were a bunch of Little People with the Cirque — twenty of them — and one was hunting with
Evra and me. He'd been with the Cirque since soon after me and Mr. Crepsley joined. I could tell him
apart from the others because he had a limp in his left leg. Evra and me had taken to calling him Lefty.
"Hey, Lefty!" I shouted. "How's it going?" The small figure in the blue hooded cape didn't answer — he
never did — but he patted his stomach, which was the sign we needed more food.
"Lefty says to keep going," I told Evra.
"Figures," he sighed.
As I prowled for another rat, I spotted a small silver cross in the garbage. I picked it up and brushed off
the dirt. Studying the cross, I smiled. To think I used to believe vampires were terrified of crosses! Most
of that stuff in old movies and books is crap. Crosses, holy water, garlic: none of those matter to
vampires. We can cross running water. We don't have to be invited into a house before entering. We
cast shadows and reflections (though a full vampire can't be photographed — something to do with
bouncing atoms). We can't change shape or fly.
A stake through the heart will kill a vampire. But so will a well-placed bullet, or fire, or a heavy falling
object. We're harder to kill than humans, but we aren't immortal. Far from it.
I placed the cross on the ground and stood back. Focusing my will, I tried making it jump into my left
hand. I stared hard for all of a minute, then clicked the fingers of my right hand.
Nothing happened.
I tried again but still couldn't do it. I'd been trying for months, with no success. Mr. Crepsley made it
look simple — one click of his fingers and an object would be in his hand, even if it was several feet
away — but I hadn't been able to copy him.
I was getting along pretty well with Mr. Crepsley. He wasn't such a bad guy. We weren't friends, but I'd
accepted him as a teacher and no longer hated him like I did when he first turned me into a half-vampire.
I put the cross in my pocket and proceeded with the hunt. After a while I found a half-starved cat in the
remains of an old microwave oven. It was after rats, too.
The cat hissed at me and the hair on its neck raised. I pretended to turn my back on it, then spun
quickly, grabbed it by the neck, and twisted. It gave a strangled little cry and then went limp. I stuck it in
the bag and went to see how Evra was doing.
I didn't enjoy killing animals, but hunting was part of my nature. Anyway, I had no sympathy for cats.
The blood of cats is poisonous to vampires. Drinking from one wouldn't have killed me, but it would have
made me sick. And cats are hunters, too. The way I saw it, the less cats there were, the more rats there'd
be.
That night, back in camp, I tried moving the cross with my mind again. I'd finished my jobs for the day,
and the show wouldn't be starting for another couple of hours, so I had lots of time to kill.
It was a cold late-November night. There hadn't been any snow yet, but it was threatening. I was
dressed in my colorful pirate costume: a light green shirt, dark purple pants, a gold-and-blue jacket, a red
satin cloth around my waist, a brown hat with a feather in it, and soft shoes with toes that curled in on
themselves.
I wandered away from the vans and tents and found a secluded spot around the side of the old mill.
I stuck the cross on a piece of wood in front of me, took a deep breath, concentrated on the cross, and
willed it into the palm of my outstretched hand.
No good.
I shuffled closer, so my hand was only inches away from the cross.
"I command you to move," I said, clicking my fingers. "I order you to move." Click. "Move." Click. "
Move!"
I shouted this last word louder than I meant to and stomped my foot in anger.
"What are you doing?" a familiar voice asked behind me.
Looking up, I saw Mr. Crepsley emerging out of the shadows.
"Nothing," I said, trying to hide the cross.
"What is that?" he asked. His eyes missed nothing.
"Just a cross I found while Evra and me were hunting," I said, holding it out.
"What were you doing with it?" Mr. Crepsley asked suspiciously.
"Trying to make it move," I said, deciding it was time to ask the vampire about his magic secrets. "How
do you do it?"
A smile spread across his face, causing the long scar that ran down the left side to crinkle. "So that is
what has been bothering you." He chuckled. He stretched out a hand and clicked his ringers, causing me
to blink. Next thing I knew, the cross was inhis hand.
"How's it done?" I asked. "Can only full vampires do it?"
"I will demonstrate again. Watch closely this time."
Replacing the cross on the piece of wood, he stood back and clicked his fingers. Once again it
disappeared and turned up in his hand. "Did you see?"
"See what?" I was confused.
"One final time," he said. "Try not to blink."
I focused on the small silver piece. I heard his fingers clicking and — keeping my eyes wide open —
thought I saw the slightest blur darting between me and the cross.
When I turned to look at him, he was tossing the cross from hand to hand and smiling. "Figured me out
yet?" he asked.
I frowned. "I thought I saw… it looked like…" My face lit up. "You didn't move the cross!" I yelled
excitedly. "Youmoved!"
He beamed. "Not as dull as you appear," he complimented me in his usual sarcastic manner.
"Do it again," I said. This time I didn't look at the cross: I watched the vampire. I wasn't able to track his
movements — he was too fast — but I caught brief glimpses of him as he darted forward, snatched up
the cross, and leaped back.
"So you're not able to move things with your mind?" I asked.
"Of course not." He laughed.
"Then why the click of the fingers?"
"To distract the eye," he explained.
"Then it's a trick," I said. "It's got nothing to do with being a vampire."
He shrugged. "I could not move so fast if I were human, but yes, it is a trick. I dabbled with illusions
before I became a vampire, and I still like to practice."
"Could I learn to do it?" I asked.
"Maybe," he said. "You cannot move as fast as I can, but you could get away with it if the object was
close to hand. You would have to practice hard — but if you wish, I can teach you."
"I always wanted to be a magician," I said. "But… hold on…" I remembered a couple of occasions
when Mr. Crepsley had opened locks with a click of his fingers. "What about locks?" I asked.
"Those are different. You understand what static energy is?" My face was a blank. "Have you ever
brushed a comb through your hair and held it up to a thin sheet of paper?"
"Yeah!" I said. "The paper sticks to it."
"That is static energy," he explained. "When a vampire flits, a very strong static charge builds up. I have
learned to harness that charge. Thus I am able to force open any lock you care to mention."
I thought about that. "And the click of your fingers?" I asked.
"Old habits die hard." He smiled.
"But old vampires die easy!" a voice growled behind us, and before I knew what was happening,
someone had reached around the two of us and pressed a pair of razor-sharp knives to the soft flesh of
our throats!
CHAPTER TWO
I froze at the touch of the blade and the threatening voice, but Mr. Crepsley didn't even blink. He
pushed the knife gently away from his throat, then tossed the silver cross to me.
"Gavner, Gavner, Gavner." Mr. Crepsley sighed. "I always could hear you coming from half a mile
away."
"Not true!" the voice said resentfully, as the blade drew back from my throat. "You couldn't have heard."
"Why not?" Mr. Crepsley said. "Nobody in the world breathes as heavily as you. I could pick you out
blindfolded in a crowd of thousands."
"One night, Larten," the stranger muttered. "One night I'll surprise you. We'll see how smart you are
then."
"Upon that night I shall retire in disgrace." Mr. Crepsley chuckled.
Mr. Crepsley cocked an eyebrow at me, amused to see I was still stiff and half afraid, even though I'd
figured out our lives weren't in danger.
"Shame on you, Gavner Purl," Mr. Crepsley said. "You have frightened the boy."
"Seems all I'm good for." The stranger grunted. "Scaring children and little old ladies."
Turning slowly, I came face to face with the man called Gavner Purl. He wasn't very tall, but he was
wide, built like a wrestler. His face was a mass of scars and dark patches, and the rims around his eyes
were extremely black. His brown hair was cut short, and he was dressed in an ordinary pair of jeans and
a baggy white shirt. He had a broad smile and glittering yellow teeth.
It was only when I glanced down at his fingertips and spotted ten scars that I realized he was a vampire.
That's how most vampires are created: vampire blood is pumped into them through the soft flesh at the
ends of their fingers.
"Darren, this is Gavner Purl," Mr. Crepsley introduced us. "An old, trusted, rather clumsy friend.
Gavner, this is Darren Shan."
"Pleased to meet you," the vampire said, shaking my hand. "Youdidn't hear me coming, did you?"
摘要：

TUNNELSOFBLOODCirqueDuFreakBook3ByDarrenShanCONTENTSPrologueChapterOneChapterTwoChapterThreeChapterFourChapterFiveChapterSixChapterSevenChapterEightChapterNineChapterTenChapterElevenChapterTwelveChapterThirteenChapterFourteenChapterFifteenChapterSixteenChapterSeventeenChapterEighteenChapterNineteenC...

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