Hunters of the Dusk (12 page)

“His pain is nothing to what
you
will feel,” someone said, and looking up I saw a figure of shadows, elusive and dark, hovering close by.

“Who are you?” I gasped, forgetting for a moment about the Stone.

“I am the Lord of the Crimson Night,” he replied mockingly.

“The Lord of the Vampaneze?” I asked.

“Of them and all others,” the shadow man jeered. “I have been waiting for you, Prince of the Damned. Now I have you — and I won’t let go!” The shadow man darted forward, his fingers ten long claws of dark menace. Red eyes glowed in the black pit that was his face. For a terrifying moment I thought he was going to grab and devour me. Then a tiny voice — Evanna’s — whispered, “It’s just a dream. He can’t hurt you, not yet, not if you focus on the Stone.”

Shutting my eyes within the dream, I ignored the charge of the shadow man and concentrated on the pulsing Stone of Blood. There was a hissing scream and I felt as though a wave of frothing madness had broken over me. Then the nightmare faded and I was back in the real world.

“You can open your eyes now,” Evanna said. My eyes snapped open. I let go of Harkat and wiped my hands over my face, reacting as though I’d been touched by something dirty. “You did well,” Evanna congratulated me.

“That . . .
thing,
” I gasped. “What was it?”

“The Lord of Destruction,” she said. “The Master of Shadows. The would-be ruler of the eternal night.”

“He was so powerful, so evil.”

She nodded. “He will be.”

“Will be?”
I echoed.

“What you saw was a shade of the future. The Lord of the Shadows has not yet come into his own, but he will, eventually. This cannot be avoided, and you should not worry about it. All that matters for the time being is that your friend will sleep untroubled now.”

I glanced down at Harkat, who was resting peacefully. “He’s OK?”

“He will be, for a time,” Evanna said. “The nightmares will return, and when they do he’ll have to face his past and learn who he was, or succumb to madness. But for now he can sleep soundly, unafraid.”

She headed back to her tree.

“Evanna,” I stopped her with a soft call. “This Lord of the Shadows . . . There was something familiar about him. I couldn’t make out his face, but I felt I knew him.”

“So you should,” she whispered in reply. She hesitated, wondering how much to tell me. “What I say now is between you and me,” she warned. “It must go no further. You can tell no one, not even Larten or Vancha.”

“I won’t,” I promised.

Keeping her back to me, she said, “The future is dark, Darren. There are two paths, and both are winding and troubled, paved with the souls of the dead. In one of the possible futures, the Vampaneze Lord has become the Master of Shadows and ruler of the dark. In the other . . .”

She paused, and her head tilted backward, as though she was staring up at the sky for an answer. “In the other, the Lord of the Shadows is
you.
”

And she departed, leaving me confused and shaken, wishing that Harkat’s moans hadn’t woken me up.

A couple of nights later, we met up with the Cirque Du Freak.

Mr. Tall and his band of magical performers were playing outside a small village, in an abandoned church. The show was ending when we arrived, so we slipped inside and watched the finale from the back. Sive and Seersa — the twisting twins — were onstage, twirling around each other and performing incredible acrobatic stunts. Mr. Tall came on after them, dressed in a dark suit, with his usual red hat and gloves, and said the show was over. People began to leave, many muttering about the weak finish, when two snakes slid down from the rafters, sending waves of fear rippling through the crowd.

I grinned when I saw the snakes. This was how most of the shows ended. People were tricked into thinking the show was over, then the snakes appeared and gave the crowd one last scare. Before the serpents could do any damage, Evra Von — their master — would step in and calm them down.

Sure enough, as the snakes were about to slither onto the floor, Evra stepped forward. But he wasn’t alone — there was a small child with him, who went to one of the snakes and controlled it as Evra controlled the other. The kid was a new addition. I assumed Mr. Tall had picked him up on his travels.

After Evra and the boy had wrapped the snakes around themselves, Mr. Tall came on again and said the show was over for real. We kept to the shadows while the crowd streamed past, chattering with excitement. Then, as Evra and the child unwound and brushed themselves down, I moved. “Evra Von!” I roared.

Evra whirled around, startled. “Who’s there?” I didn’t answer, but walked forward briskly. His eyes widened with astonished delight.
“Darren!”
he yelled, and threw his arms around me. I hugged him tightly, ignoring the feel of his slippery scales, delighted to see him after so many years. “Where have you been?” he cried when we let go of one another. There were tears of happiness in his eyes — mine were wet too.

“Vampire Mountain,” I said lightly. “How about you?”

“All over the world.” He studied me curiously. “You’ve grown.”

“Only recently. And not as much as you.” Evra was a man now. He was only a few years older than me, and we’d looked much the same age when I first joined the Cirque Du Freak, but now he could have passed for my father.

“Good evening, Evra Von,” Mr. Crepsley said, stepping forward to shake hands.

“Larten,” Evra nodded. “It’s been a long time. I’m glad to see you.”

Mr. Crepsley stood to one side and introduced our companions. “I would like you to meet Vancha March, Lady Evanna, and Harkat Mulds, whom I believe you already know.”

“Hello,” Vancha grunted. “Greetings,” Evanna smiled.

“Hi, Evra,” Harkat said.

Evra blinked. “It spoke!” he gasped.

“Harkat speaks a lot these nights,” I said, grinning. “It has a name?”

“It has,” Harkat said. “And ‘it’ would like very much . . . to be called ‘he’.”

Evra didn’t know what to say. When I’d lived with him, we’d spent a lot of our time gathering food for the Little People, and never once had one of them said a word. We thought they couldn’t speak. Now here I was with a Little Person — the limping one, whom we’d nicknamed Lefty — acting as if his being able to talk was no big deal.

“Welcome back to the Cirque Du Freak, Darren,” somebody said, and looking up I found myself face to belly button with Mr. Tall. I’d forgotten how quickly and silently the owner of the Cirque could move.

“Mr. Tall,” I replied, nodding politely (he didn’t like to shake hands).

He greeted the others by name, including Harkat. When Harkat returned the greeting, Mr. Tall didn’t look in the least surprised. “Would you care to eat?” he asked us.

“That would be delightful,” Evanna answered. “And I would have a word or two with you afterward, Hibernius. There are things we must discuss.”

“Yes,” he agreed without batting an eyelid. “There are.”

As we filed out of the church, I fell in step with Evra to discuss old times. He was carrying his snake over his shoulders. The boy who’d performed with Evra caught up with us as we exited, dragging the other snake behind him like a toy. “Darren,” Evra said, “I’d like you to meet Shancus.”

“Hello, Shancus,” I said, shaking the boy’s hand. “’Lo,” he replied. He had the same yellow and green hair, narrow eyes, and multicolored scales as Evra. “Are you the Darren Shan I was named after?” he asked.

I glanced sideways at Evra. “Am I?”

“Yes.” He laughed. “Shancus was my first-born. I thought it would be —”

“First-born?”
I interrupted. “He’s
yours?
You’re his
father?
”

“I certainly hope so,” Evra said, grinning.

“But he’s so big! So old!”

Shancus beamed proudly at the remark.

“He’ll be five soon,” Evra said. “He’s large for his age. I started him out in the act a couple of months ago. He’s a natural.”

This was weird! Of course, Evra was old enough to be married with kids, and there was no reason for me to be surprised by the news — but it seemed like only a few months since we’d been hanging out together as teenagers, wondering what life would be like when we grew up.

“You’ve got other children?” I asked.

“A couple,” he said. “Urcha — three — and Lilia, who’ll be two next month.”

“Are they all snake-children?”

“Urcha isn’t. He’s upset — he wants scales too — but we try to make him feel as loved and extraordinary as the others.”

“
‘We’
being . . . ?”

“Me and Merla. You don’t know her. She joined the show shortly after you left — ours was a whirlwind romance. She can detach her ears and use them as mini-boomerangs. You’ll like her.”

Laughing, I said I was sure I would, then followed Evra and Shancus after the others, to dinner.

It was wonderful to be back with the Cirque Du Freak. I’d been edgy and moody for the last week and a half, thinking about what Evanna had said, but my fears faded within an hour of returning to the circus. I met many old friends — Hans Hands, Rhamus Twobellies, Sive and Seersa, Cormac Limbs, and Gertha Teeth. I also saw the Wolf Man, but he wasn’t quite as welcome a sight as the others, and I kept clear of him as much as possible.

Truska — who could grow a beard at will, then suck the hairs back inside her face — was there too, and delighted to see me. She greeted me in broken English. She hadn’t been able to speak the language six years ago, but Evra had been teaching her and she was making good progress. “It is hard,” she said as we mingled with the others in a large, run-down school that was serving as the Cirque’s base. “I not good at language. But Evra is patient and I slowly learning. I make mistakes still, but —”

“We all make mistakes, gorgeous,” Vancha interrupted, appearing beside us. “And yours was not making an honest vampire of me when you had the chance!” He wrapped his arms around Truska and kissed her. She laughed when he let go and waved a finger at him.

“Naughty!” she exclaimed, giggling.

“You two know each other, I take it,” I commented dryly.

“Oh, yes,” Vancha said, leering at her. “We’re old friends. Many’s the night we went skinny-dipping together in oceans deep and blue, eh, Truska?”

“Vancha,” she tutted. “You promised not of that to mention!”

“So I did.” He chuckled, then began talking with her in her native tongue. They sounded like a pair of seals barking at each other.

Evra introduced me to Merla, who was very pleasant and pretty. He made her show me her detachable ears. I agreed that they were fabulous, but I declined her offer to let me throw them.

Mr. Crepsley was as pleased to be back as I was. As a dutiful vampire, he’d devoted most of his life to the Generals and their cause, but I suspect his heart secretly lay with the Cirque Du Freak. He loved to perform and I think he missed being on the stage. Many people asked him if he was back to stay, and expressed disappointment when he said he wasn’t. He made light of it, but I think he was genuinely touched by their interest and would have stayed if he could.

There were Little People with the Cirque Du Freak, as usual, but Harkat kept away from them. I tried getting him involved in conversation with others, but people felt nervous around him — they weren’t used to a Little Person who could talk. He spent most of the night alone, or in a corner with Shancus, who was fascinated by him and kept asking impolite questions (most to do with whether he was a man or a woman — in fact, like all the Little People, he was neither).

Evanna was known by many people at the Cirque Du Freak; although very few of them had met her before, their parents, grandparents, or great-grandparents had told them about her. She spent a few hours mingling and catching up on the past — she had an impressive memory for names and faces — then said her farewells for the night and departed with Mr. Tall, to discuss matters strange, portentous, and arcane (or else to chat about frogs and magic tricks!).

We went to bed at dawn. We said goodnight to those still awake, then Evra guided us to our tents. Mr. Tall had kept Mr. Crepsley’s coffin ready for him and the vampire climbed into it with a look of sheer contentment — vampires love their coffins in a way no human can ever understand.

Harkat and me strung up a couple of hammocks and slept in a tent next to Evra and Merla’s. Evanna moved into a van next to Mr. Tall’s. And Vancha . . . Well, when we met him that evening, he swore blind he’d stayed with Truska, and bragged about what a hit he was with the ladies. But by all the leaves and grass stuck to his hair and animal hides, I think he passed the day by himself under a bush!

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

H
ARKAT AND ME GOT UP AN
hour or so before sunset and walked around the camp with Evra and Shancus. I was pleased that Evra had named his first-born after me and promised to send the boy birthday presents in the future, if I could. He wanted me to give him a spider — Evra had told him all about Madam Octa — but I had no intention of sending him one of the poisonous arachnids from Vampire Mountain — I knew from painful experience the trouble a tarantula could cause!

The Cirque Du Freak was much the same as ever. A few new acts had joined, and one or two had left the show, but mostly it was as it had been. Though the circus hadn’t changed,
I
had. I sensed that after a while, as we strolled from one caravan or tent to another, pausing to chat with the performers and stagehands. When I lived at the Cirque, I was young — in appearance at least — and people treated me as a child. They didn’t anymore. While I didn’t look that much older, there must have been something different about me, because they no longer spoke down to me.

Although I’d been acting as an adult for years, this was the first time I really thought about how much I’d changed and how I could never return to the lighter days of my youth. Mr. Crepsley had been telling me for a long time — usually when I complained about how slowly I was maturing — that a night would come when I’d wish I could be young again. Now I realized he was right. My childhood had been long and drawn out, but within a year or two the purge would rid me of both my human blood and youth, and after that there could be no going back.