Vampire Blood Trilogy

Chapter Three (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Four (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Five (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Six (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Seven (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Eight (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Nine (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Ten (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Eleven (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Twelve (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Thirteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Fourteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Fifteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Sixteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Seventeen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Eighteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Nineteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Twenty (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Twenty-One (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Twenty-Two (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Twenty-Three (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Twenty-Four (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Twenty-Five (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Twenty-Six (#litres_trial_promo)

Keep Reading (#litres_trial_promo)

About the Author (#litres_trial_promo)

Also by Darren Shan (#litres_trial_promo)

About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo)

DARREN SHAN

CIRQUE DU FREAK (#ulink_0921a6e1-df25-527c-936a-feab6bd3c91b)

THE SAGA OF DARREN SHAN

BOOK 1

This freakish show could never have gone public but for

the efforts of my hard-working laboratory assistants:

Biddy & Liam – ‘The Gruesome Twosome’

‘Diabolical’ Domenica de Rosa

‘Growling’ Gillie Russell

Emma ‘The Exterminator’ Schlesinger

and

‘Lord of the Crimson Night’ – Christopher Little

Thanks are also due to my feasting companions:

the Horrible Creatures of HarperCollins. And the ghoulish

pupils of Askeaton Primary School (and others) who served as

willing guinea pigs and braved nightmares to make this book

as tight, dark and chilling as possible.

INTRODUCTION (#ulink_03386833-4734-56cf-8652-c6fefda36164)

I’VE ALWAYS been fascinated by spiders. I used to collect them when I was younger. I’d spend hours rooting through the dusty old shed at the bottom of our garden, hunting the cobwebs for lurking eight-legged predators. When I found one, I’d bring it in and let it loose in my bedroom.

It used to drive my mum mad!

Usually, the spider would slip away after no more than a day or two, never to be seen again, but sometimes they hung around longer. I had one who made a cobweb above my bed and stood sentry for almost a month. Going to sleep, I used to imagine the spider creeping down, crawling into my mouth, sliding down my throat and laying loads of eggs in my belly. The baby spiders would hatch after a while and eat me alive, from the inside out.

I loved being scared when I was little.