Slawter

Slawter
Darren Shan

More chills and thrills in Darren Shan’s horrifying Demonata series. Let the Slawter commence…“Never trust fairy tales. There are no happy endings. There's always something new around the corner. You can overcome major obstacles, face great danger, look evil in the eye and live to tell the tale – but that's not the end. As long as you're breathing, your story's still going…”Nightmares haunt the dreams of Dervish Grady since his return from the Demonata universe, but Grubbs takes care of his uncle as they both try to continue a normal, demon-free existence. When a legendary cult director calls in Dervish as consultant for a new horror movie, it seems a perfect excuse for a break from routine and a chance for some fun.But being on the set of a town called Slawter stirs up more than memories for Grubbs and his friend Bill-E.

Lights, camera, SLAWTER… on the web at

www.darrenshan.com

First assistant director:

Bas “lurhmann”

hair by:

“figaro” Brian

screenwriting muse:

Lynda “minder” Lewis

spliced together by:

Stella “stargate” Paskins

a Christopher Little studios production

Contents

PART ONE: VISITORS

Life as We Know It

Pray at Him

Lambikins

Monsters Galore

Don’t Go Down the Cellar

PART TWO: LIGHTS… CAMERA… DEMONS!

Film Folk

The Laughing Stock

Missing

D

Fresh Meat

Kidnap

PART THREE: THE LABORATORY

Disciples

PART FOUR: DEMONS-A-GO-GO

Wakey Wakey

Assembly Call

The Real Stars of the Show

The Chase

Battle

Bitter Sweet

A Little Chat

Other Books by Darren Shan

Credits

Copyright

About the Publisher

PART ONE

LIFE AS WE KNOW IT

→ “My eyes! They stabbed out my eyes!”

I shoot awake. Start to struggle up from my bed. An arm hits the side of my head. Knocks me down. A man screams, “My eyes! Who took my eyes?”

“Dervish!” I roar, rolling off the bed, landing beside the feet of my frantic uncle. “It’s only a dream! Wake up!”

“My eyes!” Dervish yells again. I can see his face now, illuminated by a three-quarters full moon. Eyes wide open, but seeing nothing. Fear scribbled into every line of his features. He lifts his right foot. Brings it down towards my head — hard. I make like a turtle and only just avoid having my nose smashed.

“You took them!” he hisses, sensing my presence, fear turning to hate. He bends and grabs my throat. His fingers tighten. Dervish is thin, doesn’t look like much, but his appearance is deceptive. He could crush my throat, easy.

I swipe at his hand, yanking my neck away at the same time. Break free. Scrabble backwards. Halted by the bed. Dervish lunges after me. I kick at his head, both feet. No time to worry about hurting him. Connect firmly. Drive him back. He grunts, shakes his head, loses focus.

“Dervish!” I shout. “It’s me, Grubbs! Wake up! It’s only a nightmare! You have to stop before you–”