Birth of a Killer by Darren Shan Read Free Book Online Page B

going?” Larten asked. He felt panic at the thought of being left alone in the crypt.It wasn’t fear of the dead but fear that Seba might not return.
    “I must hunt,” Seba said.
    “For blood?”
    “No. I drank last night. A vampire only needs to drink a couple of times a week. Less, in fact, but we prefer to drink small amounts often rather than large amounts rarely. We can control our urges more easily that way. I go to find food now—like all creatures, we need to eat.”
    “You’ll come back?” Larten asked, trying not to sound desperate.
    “This is my room for the night,” Seba said evenly. “If I did not care to share it with you, I would ask you to leave. Only a fool puts himself out of his own home.”
    Larten smiled and shivered. “Could you start a fire before you go?”
    “No.” Seba squatted by the boy. “We light fires on occasion, but we do not rely on them. A vampire must be willing to endure discomfort. If you wish to be my assistant, you will need to accept that. You can take off your damp clothes, but ask no more of me than that.”
    “Wait a minute,” Larten snapped. “Who said anything about me being your assistant? I don’t want to become a vampire.”
    “Really?” Seba purred. “Then answer me this—where else will you go? Who will accept one of the damned, other than a family of the cursed? Where will a creature of darkness hide if not in the shadows of the night?”
    “
Damned?
” Larten echoed faintly. “I thought you said I wasn’t…”
    “I use the term poetically,” Seba said. “In human terms, any killer is one of the damned. But vampires learned long ago that we could find nobility in the depths of damnation.”
    Seba rose smoothly and surveyed the boy from a height. “I will not force you. It does not work that way. Each person must choose freely, although not all of those who yearn to join are accepted.
    “If you wish to chance the waters of vampirism, it will be many years before you can be blooded. First you will serve as my human assistant, travel with me, hunt for me, guard me by day, learn from me by night. In time, if you serve well, we can talk about blooding. We do not take anyone under our wing unless both parties are entirely sure that this is what the apprentice wants from life.
    “But you must make your first decision tonight,” Seba concluded. “If you wish to learn more about our ways, stay. If you think your path lies elsewhere,move on. I will be gone some hours. If you are here when I return, so be it.”
    He turned to leave, then paused and, without looking back, said, “You do not have to be alone. The world never inflicts loneliness upon us. That is something we choose or reject by ourselves.”
    With that, the ancient vampire slipped away.
    Larten stared at the doorway long after Seba had departed, thinking of all he had been told. The day had seemed to stretch on forever, and he was almost too tired to focus. But he forced himself to concentrate. He could tell that this was a moment of destiny. If he made the wrong choice, he would regret it, probably sooner rather than later.
    Seba had said that Larten would have years in which to choose. He wouldn’t be blooded until both of them were sure that this was the right thing for him. But Larten knew in his heart that the choice he made tonight would be binding. If he turned his back on humanity now, it would be forever.
    Larten considered his future, thinking with wonder of all the things he would see and learn as a vampire’s assistant, thinking with fear of all that he would leave behind. At first he worried about his other options. If he rejected the vampire, where would he go? How would he survive?
    But as he thought on it more, he realized that didn’t matter. This was all about choosing or not choosing one particular path. He needed to decide if this was the way for him. If it wasn’t, he should leave the crypt immediately. Better not to start down a wrong path at all than head