Hunters of the Dusk by Darren Shan Read Free Book Online Page A

“Were we not at war, there would have been time for adventure. Most Princes wander the world for decades before settling down to royal duty. Your timing was unfortunate.”
    “Still, I can’t complain,” I said cheerfully. “I’m free now.”
    Harkat stirred up the fire and edged closer toward us. He hadn’t said a lot since leaving Vampire Mountain, but now he lowered his mask and spoke. “I loved Vampire Mountain. It felt like home. I never felt so at ease before, even when I . . . was with the Cirque Du Freak. When this is over, if I have . . . the choice, I’ll return.”
    “There is vampire blood in you,” Mr. Crepsley said. He was joking, but Harkat took him seriously.
    “There might be,” he said. “I’ve often wondered if I was a vampire in . . . my previous life. That might explain why I was sent to Vampire Mountain . . . and why I fitted in so well. It could also explain the stakes . . . in my dreams.”
    Harkat’s dreams often involved stakes. The ground would give way in his nightmares and he’d fall into a pit of stakes, or be chased by shadow men who carried stakes and drove them through his heart.
    “Any fresh clues as to who you might have been?” I asked. “Did meeting Mr. Tiny jog your memory?”
    Harkat shook his chunky, neckless head. “No further insights,” he sighed.
    “Why did Mr. Tiny not tell you the truth about yourself if it was time for you to learn?” Mr. Crepsley asked.
    “I don’t think it’s as . . . simple as that,” Harkat said. “I have to earn the truth. It’s part of the . . . deal we made.”
    “Wouldn’t it be weird if Harkat
had
been a vampire?” I remarked. “What if he’d been a Prince — would he still be able to open the doors of the Hall of Princes?”
    “I don’t think I was a Prince.” Harkat chuckled, the corners of his wide mouth lifting in a gaping smile.
    “Hey,” I said, “if
I
can become a Prince, anyone can.”
    “True,” Mr. Crepsley muttered, then ducked swiftly as I tossed a leg of deer at him.
    Once clear of the mountains, we headed southeast and soon reached the edge of civilization. It was strange to see electric lights, cars, and planes again. I felt as though I’d been living in the past and had stepped out of a time machine.
    “It’s so noisy,” I commented one night as we passed through a busy town. We’d entered it to draw blood from humans, slicing them in their sleep with our nails, taking a small amount of blood, closing the cuts with Mr. Crepsley’s healing spit, and leaving them oblivious to the fact that they’d been fed on. “So much music and laughter and shouting.” My ears were ringing from the noise.
    “Humans always chatter like monkeys,” Mr. Crepsley said. “It is their way.”
    I used to object when he said things like that, but not any more. When I became Mr. Crepsley’s assistant, I’d clung to the hope of returning to my old life. I’d dreamed of regaining my humanity and going home to my family and friends. No longer. My years in Vampire Mountain had rid me of my human desires. I was a creature of the night now — and content to be so.
    The itching was getting worse. Before leaving town, I found a pharmacy and bought several anti-itching powders and lotions, which I rubbed into my flesh. The powders and lotions brought no relief. Nothing stopped the itching, and I scratched myself irritably as we journeyed to the cave of Lady Evanna.
    Mr. Crepsley wouldn’t say much about the woman we were going to meet, where she lived, whether she was a vampire or human, and why we were going to see her.
    “You should tell me these things,” I grumbled one morning as we made camp. “What if something happens to you? How would Harkat and me find her?”
    Mr. Crepsley stroked the long scar running down the left side of his face — after all our years together, I still didn’t know how he got it — and nodded thoughtfully. “You are right. I will draw a map before nightfall.”
    “And tell us