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On the night of the twenty-second of December, Mr Crepsleya short break, resting et sore after hours of concentration - when Evra rabbedforward, just in tihterhouse He wrestled open aand quickly slipped inside

"This is it!" Ioff

"Wait a sec," Evra said "I’ with you"

"No!" I snapped "We discussed this You promised -?

"I won’t co to sit over here worrying hterhouse"

There was no ti quickly, I ran Evra hurried after me as fast as he could

I paused at the openand listened carefully for sounds of the va from the exertion of the run I cli room filled with pipes The floor was covered in dust, in which Mr Crepsley’s footprints were clearly visible We traced the prints to a door, which opened onto a tiled corridor The dust that Mr Crepsley’s feet had picked up crossing the room now marked his path across the tiles

We followed the dusty trail along the corridor and down a flight of stairs We were in a quiet part of the slaughterhouse - the workers were grouped near the other end - but we ht at this delicate stage of the garew fainter by the step, I worried about losing the vampire I didn’t want to have to search blindly around the slaughterhouse for him, so I quickened my pace Evra did, too

As we turned a corner, I saw a familiar red cape and pro Evra with ," then cautiously peered around the corner to see what Mr Crepsley was up to

The vaainst one of the walls I saw nobody else, but I could hear footsteps approaching

The fatthrough so He stopped at a large autorinding noise, it opened

The fatthe clipboard on a hook on the wall, then entered I heard him press a button on the other side The door stopped, creaked, and caone up

Mr Crepsley darted forward as the door was closing and slid underneath

"Go back up to the rooan to complain "Just do it!" I snapped "He’d spot you here on his way back if you stayed Go up and wait I’ll track you down if I’m able to stop him If not" I found his hands and squeezed hard "It’s been nice knowing you, Evra Von"

"Be careful, Darren," Evra said, and I could see the fear in his eyes Not fear for himself Fear for me "Good luck"

"I don’t need luck," I said bravely and pulled outhis hands another squeeze, I fled down the corridor and threw ht behindme in with the fat man and the va on steel hooks froerated, to keep the ani I knew the bodies were only those of ani they were huht, so I had to move very carefully: a stray shadow could mean the end of me The floor was slippery - water? blood? - so I had to watch where I put low around the carcasses, a result of the bright light and blood You wouldn’t want to be a vegetarian in a place like this!

After a few seconds of seeing nothing but dead animals, I spotted Mr Crepsley and the fat man I fell in behind the two and kept pace with them

The fat man stopped and checked one of the carcasses Hecold, because he blew into his hands to warave the dead ani it - the hook creaked creepily as the carcass swung back and forth - and began to whistle the sa again

I was closing the gap between et left too far behind - when all of a sudden the fat round I stopped and began to move backward, afraid he’d spotup on the crouching human

I swore underneathattention, he would have heardon the man ahead