Birth of a Killer

Birth of a Killer
Darren Shan

Following the massive success of the Demonata series, Darren Shan is back where it all started – telling the life story of the vampire Larten Crepsley. Spanning centuries and continents, taking in sea voyages, murder, war and love, this is the epic, bloodsoaked tale of a vampire who started out a nobody… and ended up changing the world forever.When Larten escapes the terrible workhouse in which he toils, he doesn’t know that he is running from an early death… into another kind of transformation. After meeting the mysterious vampire Seba Nile while sheltering for the night in a crypt, Larten finds himself drawn into the shadowy world of the vampire Clan. As he travels and learns, Larten finds himself enjoying the adventure he has always dreamed of, seeing a world beyond any he suspected in his poverty-stricken youth.But Larten begins to discover something else, too. Much like death, becoming a vampire is something you can’t come back from…

Darren Shan on the web is a treat wherever you come from…

www.darrenshan.com

For:

Pearse and Conall — children of the night!

OBEs (Order of the Bloody Entrails) to:

Rachel Clements — one year down, only a couple of hundred to go!!

Isobel Abulhoul and all of the Shantastic gang

in Dubai

Editorial Mentor:

Nick “the blood ninja” Lake

General Masterminds:

Christopher Little and his Princely clan

Contents

PART ONE

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

PART TWO

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

PART THREE

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

PART FOUR

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty-One

Chapter Twenty-Two

Chapter Twenty-Three

Chapter Twenty-Four

About the Author

Other Books by Darren Shan

Credits

Copyright

About the Publisher

PART ONE

“Are cobwebs a treat where you come from?”