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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 hed "I always could hear you co 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 ht I’ll surprise you We’ll see how srace" Mr Crepsley chuckled

Mr Crepsley cocked an eyebrow at me, ah I’d figured out our lives weren’t in danger

"Shahtened the boy"

"See 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 ide, 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 slanced down at his fingertips and spotted ten scars that I realized he was a vampire That’s how most vah 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, did you?"

"No," I answered honestly

"There!" he booratulations," Mr Crepsley said dryly "If you are ever called upon to sneak into a nursery, you should have no problerimaced "I see ti as ever How long has it been? Fourteen years? Fifteen?"

"Seventeen next February," Mr Crepsley answered proht Seventeen years and as sour as ever" He nudged ruled

"I could never get a positive word out of hiht I had to share a coffin with him once for four whole est four months of my life"

"You shared a coffin?" I asked in awe

"Had to," he said "We were being hunted We had to stick together I wouldn’t do it again, though I’d rather face the sun and burn"

"You were not the only one with cause for co nearly drove , and I could tell he was having a hard ti hunted?" I asked

"Never lared at his ex-partner

Gavner o, Larten," he said "I didn’t realize it was classified information"

"The boy is not interested in the past," Mr Crepsley said firmly (I most certainly was!) "You are on my soil, Gavner Purl I would ask you to respect ave in with a nod of his head "So, Darren," he said, "what do you do at the Cirque Du Freak?"

"Odd jobs," I told hiather food for the Little People and help the perforet ready for -?

"The Little People still travel with the Cirque?" Gavner interrupted

"More of them than ever," Mr Crepsley answered "There are twenty with us at the lance but said no more about it I could tell Gavner was troubled by the way his scars knit together into a fierce-looking frown

"How goes it with the Generals?" Mr Crepsley enquired

"Usual old routine," Gavner said

"Gavner is a Vampire General," Mr Crepsley told me That sparked my interest I’d heard of the Vampire Generals, but nobody had told me exactly who or what they were

"Excuse me," I said, "but what’s a Vampire General? What do they do?"

"We keep an eye on scoundrels like this," Gavner laughed, nudging Mr Crepsley "We make sure they’re not up to mischief"