Cirque Du Freak The Vampire's Assistant by Darren Shan Read Free Book Online

darkness and stood by my cage for a long time, watching me. He didn't say a word. Neither did I.

    "The circus owner came. He didn't know who Mr. Tall was, but thought he might be a rich man, interested in buying me. He gave him his price and stood back, waiting for an answer.

    "Mr. Tall didn't say anything for a few minutes. Then his left hand grabbed the circus owner by the neck. He squeezed once and that was the end of him. He fell to the floor, dead. Mr. Tall opened the door to my cage and said, 'Let's go, Evra. I think Mr. Tali's able to read minds, which is how he knew my name."

    Evra was quiet after that. He had a faraway look in his eyes.

    "Do you want to see something amazing?" he finally said, snapping out of his thoughtful mood.

    "Sure," I said.

    He turned to face me, then stuck out his tongue and pushed it up over his lip and right up his nose!

    "Ewww! Gross!" I yelled delightedly.

    He pulled the tongue back and grinned. "I've got the longest tongue in the world," he said. "If my nose were big enough, I could poke my tongue all the way to the top, down my throat, and back out my mouth again."

    "You couldn't!" I laughed.

    "Probably not." He giggled. "But it's still pretty impressive." He stuck his tongue out again and this time licked around his nostrils, one after the other. It was revolting but hilarious.

    "That's the most disgusting thing I've ever seen." I laughed.

    "I bet you wish you could do it," Evra said.

    "I wouldn't, even if I could," I lied. "Don't you get snot all over your tongue?"

    "I don't have any snot," Evra said.

    "What? No snot?"

    "It's true," he said. "My nose is different from yours. There's no snot or dirt or hairs. My nostrils are the cleanest part of my whole body."

    "What does it taste like?" I asked.

    "Lick my snake's belly and you'll find out," he replied. "It's the same taste as that."

    I laughed and said I wasn't that interested!

    Later, when Mr. Crepsley asked me what I'd done all day, I told him: "I made a friend."

CHAPTER 10
    We'd been with the cirque two days and nights. I spent my days helping Evra and my nights with Mr. Crepsley, learning about vampires. I was going to bed earlier than I had been, though I rarely hit the sack before one or two in the morning.

    Evra and I were tight friends. He was older than me, but he was shy - probably because of his abusive childhood - so we made a good team.

    As the third day rolled by, I was gazing around the small groups of vans and cars and tents, feeling like I'd been part of the scene for years.

    I was starting to suffer from the effects of going for too long without drinking human blood. I wasn't as strong as I had been, and couldn't move as quickly as I could before. My eyesight had dulled, and so had my hearing and sense of smell. I was a lot stronger and quicker than I'd been as a human, but I could feel my powers slipping a little more every day.

    I didn't care. I'd rather lose some strength than drink from a human.

    I was relaxing with Evra on the edge of the campsite that afternoon when we spotted a figure in the bushes.

    "Who's that?" I asked.

    "A kid from a nearby village," Evra said. "I've seen him hanging around before."

    I watched the boy in the bushes. He was trying hard not to be seen, but to someone with my powers - fading though they were - he was as obvious as an elephant. I was curious to know what he was doing, so I turned to Evra and said, "Let's have fun."

    "What do you mean?" he asked.

    "Lean in and I'll tell you."

    I whispered my plan in his ear. He grinned and nodded, then stood and pretended to yawn.

    "I'm leaving, Darren," he said. "See you later."

    "See you, Evra," I replied loudly. I waited until he was gone, then stood and walked back to the camp myself.

    When I was out of sight of the boy in the bushes, I went back, using the vans and tents to hide my movements. I walked about a hundred yards to the left, then crept forward until I could see the boy and sneaked toward