"No," he said. "We're on our own." His narrow eyes narrowed even further as he mulled it over. "How about this? We track him every night when he leaves, see where he goes and what he gets up to. If we find out he's the killer, and that these are ordinary humans, then we kill him."

"You'd do that?" I asked.

Evra nodded. "I've never killed before," he said quietly, "and I hate the thought of it. But if Mr. Crepsley is murdering without good cause, I'll help you kill him.

I'd rather leave it to someone else, but since there isn't anybody..."

His face was serious, and I knew I could rely on him.

"But we have to be sure," Evra warned me. "If there's even a glimmer of doubt, we can't do it."

"Agreed," I said.

"And it has to be a joint decision," Evra added.

"You have to promise you won't kill him without my approval."

"Okay."

"I'm serious," he told me. "If I think Mr. Crepsley is innocent, and you go after him, I'll do everything I can to stop you. Even if it means..." He left the threat unfinished.

"Don't worry," I said. "This isn't something I'm looking forward to. I've grown used to Mr. Crepsley. The last thing I want to do is kill him."

I was telling the truth. I'd love it if my suspicions turned out to be wrong. But I had an awful feeling they wouldn't.

"I hope we're mistaken about this," Evra said. "Saying we'll kill him is easy, but doing it would be a lot harder. He's not the kind to just lie there and do nothing while being attacked."

"We'll worry about that later," I said. "For the moment, let's turn the sound back up. If we're lucky, the police will solve the case and it'll be nothing more than a crazy human who's seen one too many Dracula movies."

I sat down beside Evra, and we spent the rest of night watching the news, rarely speaking, waiting for the vampire - the killer? - to return.

CHAPTER ELEVEN.

Shadowing Mr. Crepsley wasn't easy. The first night we lost him after a couple of minutes: he shot up a fire escape and by the time we got to the top he was nowhere to be seen. We wandered around the city for a few hours, hoping to stumble upon him, but saw neither hide nor hair of him for the rest of the night.

We learned from that experience. While Mr. Crepsley slept the next day, I went and bought a couple of cell phones. Evra and me tested them out before dusk, and they worked pretty well.

That night, when Mr. Crepsley headed for the rooftops, Evra stuck to the ground. He couldn't move as fast as me. By myself, I was able to keep track of the vampire and pa.s.s the information to Evra, who followed on the ground.

Even alone, it was difficult to keep up. Mr. Crepsley could move a lot quicker than me. Fortunately, he had no idea I was after him, so he didn't go as fast as he could, since he didn't think he had any need to.

I kept him in sight for three hours that night before losing him when he slipped down to street level and took a couple of turns that I missed. The next night I stuck with him until dawn. It varied after that: some nights I'd lose him within an hour; others I'd be on his tail until morning.

He didn't do much while I was following him. Sometimes he'd stop in one place for a long time above crowds of people and observe them silently (picking out his next victim?). Other times he roamed without stopping. His routes were unpredictable: he might go the same way two or three nights in a row, or try entirely new directions every night. It was impossible to antic.i.p.ate his moves.

Evra was exhausted at the end of each night - I kept forgetting he wasn't as powerful as me - but he never complained. I said he could stay in for a few nights if he wanted, but he shook his head and insisted on coming with me.

Maybe he thought I'd kill Mr. Crepsley if he wasn't around.

Maybe he was right.

No fresh bodies had been discovered since news of the six in the building broke. It had been confirmed that all the bodies had been drained of their blood, and that they were ordinary humans: two men and four women. All were young - the oldest was twenty-seven - and from different parts of the city.

Evra's disappointment was evident when he heard the victims were normal people - it would have made life much easier if they'd been vampires.

"Would doctors be able to tell the difference between a human and a vampire?" he asked.

"Of course," I replied.

"How?"

"Different kind of blood," I said.

"But they were drained of blood," he reminded me.

"Their cells wouldn't be the same. Atoms act strangely in vampires - that's why they can't be photographed. And they'd have extra-tough nails and teeth. The doctors would know, Evra."

I was trying to keep an open mind. Mr. Crepsley hadn't killed anyone while we'd been following him, which was a good sign. On the other hand, maybe he was waiting for the fuss to die down before striking again - at the moment, if somebody was late home from school or work, alarm bells rang immediately.

Or perhaps he had killed. Maybe he knew we were following him and was only killing when he was cer-tain he'd lost us. That was unlikely, but I didn't rule it out completely. Mr. Crepsley could be crafty when he wanted. I wouldn't have put anything past him.

Although I was sleeping through most of the days - in order to stay awake at night - I made a point of waking a couple of hours before sunset to spend some time with Debbie. Usually I went over to her house and we sat upstairs in her bedroom and played music and talked - I was always trying to conserve energy for the night chase ahead - but sometimes we'd go for a walk or hit the stores.

I was determined not to let Mr. Crepsley ruin my friendship with Debbie. I loved being with her. She was my first girlfriend. I knew we'd have to break up sooner rather than later - I hadn't forgotten what I was - but I wouldn't do anything to shorten our time together. I'd given up my nights to pursue Mr.

Crepsley. I wasn't going to give up my days, too.

"How come you don't come around after dark anymore?" she asked one Sat.u.r.day as we came out of a matinee. I'd woken up earlier than usual so that I could spend the day with her.

"I'm afraid of the dark," I whimpered.

"Seriously," she said, pinching my arm.

"My dad doesn't like me going out at night," I lied. "He feels a little guilty, not being around during the day. He likes Evra and me to sit with him at night and tell him what we've been up to."

"I'm sure he wouldn't mind if you went out now and then," Debbie protested.

"He let you out the night of our first date, didn't he?"

I shook my head. "I snuck out," I said. "He went crazy when he found out.

Wouldn't speak to me for a week. That's why I haven't introduced you to him - he's still fuming."

"He sounds like a mean old man," Debbie said.

"He is." I sighed. "But what can I do? He's my dad. I have to stick by him."

I felt bad lying to her, but I could hardly tell her the truth. I smiled to myself when I imagined breaking the news: "That guy I say is my father? He's not. He's a vampire. Oh, and I think he's the one who killed those six people."

"What are you smiling at?" Debbie asked.

"Nothing," I said quickly, wiping the smile from my face.

It was a strange double life - normal boy by day, deadly vampire-tracker by night - but I was enjoying it. If it had been a year or so earlier, I would have been confused; I would have tossed and turned in my sleep, worrying about what the next night would bring; my eating habits might have been affected and I would have become depressed; I probably would have chosen to focus on one thing at a time, and stopped meeting Debbie.

Not now. My experiences with Mr. Crepsley and the Cirque Du Freak had changed me. I was able to handle two different roles. In fact, I liked the variation: tracking the vampire at night made me feel big and important - Darren Shan, protector of the sleeping city! - and seeing Debbie in the afternoons let me feel like a normal human boy. I had the best of both worlds.

That stopped when Mr. Crepsley zoomed in on the next victim - the fat man.

CHAPTER TWELVE.

I didn't realize at first that Mr. Crepsley was following someone. He was hovering above a busy shopping street, where he'd been for almost an hour, studying the shoppers. Then, without warning, he climbed to the top of the building he'd been clinging to and started across the roof.

I called Evra. He never called me, for fear the vampire would hear my phone.

"He's on the move again," I said quietly.

"About time," Evra grumbled. "I hate it when he stops. You don't know how cold it gets, standing still down here."

"Go get something to eat," I told him. "He's moving pretty slowly. I think you can take five or ten minutes off."

"Are you sure?" Evra asked.

"Yeah," I said. "I'll call you if anything happens."

"Okay," Evra said. "I'd love a hot dog and a cup of hot chocolate. You want me to pick something up for you?"

"No thanks," I said. "I'll keep in touch. See you soon." I hit the off switch and started after the vampire.

I didn't like eating stuff like hot dogs, burgers, or French fries while tracking Mr. Crepsley: his nose could easily detect such strong scents. I ate dry slices of bread - which produced almost no smell - to keep my hunger down. I had ordinary tap water in a bottle to drink.

After a couple of minutes I got curious. The other nights, he'd either stayed in one spot or wandered around without direction. He was moving with purpose this time.

I decided to get closer. It was dangerous, especially since he wasn't rushing - he was more likely to spot me - but I had to see what he was up to.

Closing the gap by a third - as near to him as I dared get - I saw that he was sticking his head out over the edge of the roof, keeping a watch on the street below.

Looking down at the well-lit street, I couldn't spot who he was after. It was only when he paused above a lamp that I noticed the fat man at the base, adjusting his shoelaces.

That was it! Mr. Crepsley was after the fat man! I knew by the way the vampire stared, waiting for him to tie his shoelaces and move on. When the fat man finally stood up and started walking again, sure enough, Mr. Crepsley followed.

Taking a few steps back, I called Evra.

"What's up?" he asked. I could hear him munching on his hot dog. There were voices in the background.

"Action," I said simply.

"Oh, h.e.l.l!" Evra gasped. I heard him dropping the hot dog and shuffling away from the people behind him, to a quieter spot. "Are you sure?" he asked.

"Positive," I said. "The prey has been sighted."

"Okay," Evra sighed. He sounded nervous. I didn't blame him - I was nervous, too. "Okay," he said again. "Give me your position."

I read out the name of the street. "But don't rush," I told him. "They're moving slowly. Stay a couple of streets back. I don't want Mr. Crepsley spotting you."

"I don't want him spotting me either!" Evra snorted. "Keep me up to date."

"Will do," I promised. Clicking off the phone, I started after the pursuing vampire.

He trailed the fat man to a large building, which the human disappeared into.

Mr. Crepsley waited half an hour, then slowly circled the building, checking on windows and doors. I trudged along behind, keeping my distance, ready to race after him if he entered.

He didn't. Instead, when he was through examining the place, he went to a nearby rooftop, from where he had a perfect view of all the entrances, and sat down to wait.

I told Evra what was happening.

"He's just sitting there?" Evra asked.

"Sitting and watching," I confirmed.

"What sort of place is it?"

I'd read the name on the walls while I was pa.s.sing them, and seen in a couple of the windows, but I could have told Evra what went on in the building just by the foul smell of animal blood in the air.

"It's a slaughterhouse," I whispered.

There was a long pause. Then: "Maybe he's just here for the animal blood,"

Evra suggested.

"No. He would have entered by now if that was the case. He didn't come for the animals. He came for the human."