Darren Shan - Sons of Destiny (Cirque Du Freak, Book 12)

Text Copyright 2004 by Darren Shan

Cover art Copyright 2007 by Don Bishop

All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Little, Brown and Company

Hachette Book Group, USA

237 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Visit our Web site at www.HachetteBookGroupUSA.com.

First eBook Edition: September 2007

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.

ISBN: 978-0-316-04183-6

Rave reviews for the CIRQUE DU FREAK series

Over 1.5 million copies sold!

A New York Times Bestselling Series

Fast-paced and compelling, full of satisfying macabre touchesCirque Du Freak explores the powerful fascination of the dangerous and unnatural and also, movingly, the obligations of friendship.

J. K. Rowling

The Saga of Darren Shan is poised to capture a wide audience of series horror readers. Publishers Weekly

Gross-out horror fans will devour it and clamor for the next in the series. Kirkus

Chockful of wonderfully inventive details.

Booklist

Shan creates heart-pounding, page-turning action that will keep readers reading. School Library Journal

For those fans of Buffy and Angel, here is another book to satisfy their vampiric tastes. VOYA

Cirque du Freak (Book 1)

The Vampires Assistant (Book 2)

Tunnels of Blood (Book 3)

Vampire Mountain (Book 4)

Trials of Death (Book 5)

The Vampire Prince (Book 6)

Hunters of the Dusk (Book 7)

Allies of the Night (Book 8)

Killers of the Dawn (Book 9)

The Lake of Souls (Book 10)

Lord of the Shadows (Book 11)

For:

Bas, Biddy, and Liammy three pillars

OBEs(Order of the Bloody Entrails) to:

Lucky Aleta Moriarty

A and BoBangkoks best banshees Emily Lilliputian Chuang Jennifer Stacey Abbots

Saga Editors:Domenica De Rosa, Gillie Russell, Zo Clarke, and Julia Bruceyou done good, girls!!!

Bloody Brilliant Buccaneers: The Christopher Little Cutthroats

And an extra special thank-you to all of my Shansters, especially those who have kept me company on Shanville. Even in death may you all be triumphant!

I F MY LIFE WAS a fairy tale and I was writing a book about it, Id start with, Once upon a time there were two boys called Darren and Steve. But my lifes a horror story, so if I were to write about it, Id have to begin with something like this instead:

Evil has a name Steve Leopard.

He was born Steve Leonard, but to his friends (yes he had friends once!) he was always Steve Leopard. He was never happy at home, didnt have a dad, didnt like his mom. He dreamed of power and glory. He yearned for strength and respect, and time in which to enjoy it. He wanted to be a vampire.

His chance came when he spotted a creature of the night, Larten Crepsley, performing in the wondrous magical show, the Cirque Du Freak. He asked Mr. Crepsley to blood him. The vampire refused he said Steve had bad blood. Steve hated him for that and vowed to track him down and kill him when he grew up.

Some years later, as Steve was preparing for his life as a vampire hunter, he learned about the purple-skinned, red-eyed vampaneze. In legends, vampires are wicked killers who suck humans dry. Thats hysterical garbage they only take small amounts of blood when they feed, causing no harm. But the vampaneze are different. They broke away from the vampire clan six hundred years ago. They live by laws of their own. They believe its shameful to drink from a human without killing. They always murder when they feed. Steves sort of people!

Steve went in search of the vampaneze, certain theyd accept him. He probably thought they were as twisted as he was. But he got it wrong. Although the vampaneze were killers, they werent inherently evil. They didnt torture humans, and they tried not to interfere with vampires. They went about their business quietly and calmly, keeping a lower-than-low profile.

I dont know this for sure, but Im guessing the vampaneze rejected Steve, just like Mr. Crepsley did. The vampaneze live by even stricter, more traditional rules than vampires. I cant see them accepting a human into their ranks if they knew he was going to turn out bad.

But Steve found a way in, thanks to that eternal agent of chaos Desmond Tiny. Most just call him Mr. Tiny, but if you shorten his first name and put it with his last name, you get Mr. Destiny. Hes the most powerful person in the world, immortal as far as anyone knows, a meddler of the highest order. He gave the vampaneze a present many centuries earlier, a coffin that filled with fire whenever a person lay within it, burning them to ashes within seconds. But he said that one night someone would lie in the coffin and emerge unharmed. That person would be the Lord of the Vampaneze and had to be obeyed by every member of the clan. If they accepted this Lord, theyd gain more power than theyd ever imagined. Otherwise theyd be destroyed.

The promise of such power proved too much for Steve to ignore. He decided to take the test. He probably figured he had nothing to lose. He entered the coffin, the flames engulfed him, and a minute later he stepped out unburned. Suddenly, everything changed. He had an army of vampaneze at his command, willing to give their lives for him and do anything he asked. He no longer had to settle for killing Mr. Crepsley he could wipe out the entire vampire clan!

But Mr. Tiny didnt want the vampaneze to crush the vampires too easily. He thrives on suffering and conflict. A quick, assured victory wouldnt provide him with enough entertainment. So he gave the vampires a get-out clause. Three of them had the ability to kill the Vampaneze Lord before he came fully into his powers. Theyd have four chances. If they were successful and killed him, the vampires would win the War of the Scars (thats what the battle between the vampires and vampaneze was known as). If they failed, two would die during the hunt, while the third would survive to witness the downfall of the clan.

Mr. Crepsley was one of the hunters. A Vampire Prince, Vancha March, was another. The last was also a Prince, the youngest ever, a half-vampire called Darren Shan and thats where I come in.

I was Steves best friend when we were kids. We went to the Cirque Du Freak together, and through Steve I learned of the existence of vampires and was sucked into their world. I was blooded by Mr. Crepsley and served as his assistant. Under his guidance I studied the ways of vampires and traveled to Vampire Mountain. There I undertook my Trials of Initiation and failed. Fearing death, I fled, but during my escape I uncovered a plot to destroy the clan. Later I exposed it, and as a reward I was not only accepted into the fold, but made a Vampire Prince.

After six years in Vampire Mountain, Mr. Tiny set me on the trail of the Lord of the Vampaneze, along with Mr. Crepsley and Vancha. One of Mr. Tinys Little People traveled with us. His name was Harkat Mulds. Little People are grey-skinned, stitched-together, short, with large green eyes, no nose, and ears sewn beneath the flesh of their heads. Theyre created from the remains of dead people. Harkat didnt know who he used to be, but we later found out he was Kurda Smahlt in his previous life the vampire whod betrayed the clan in the hope of preventing the War of the Scars.