Lord of the Shadows by Darren Shan Page B

didn’t come — I told him about Steve and his gang, and about Steve being Darius’s father. Harkat’s round green eyes almost doubled in size when he heard that. I wanted him to leave and contact the Vampire Generals, but he refused. He said he had to stay to protect me, and wouldn’t go until I was fit again. I argued the point, but it was no good. He hadn’t left the room since then, except for the occasional bathroom break.
    Debbie spooned the last of the soup into my mouth, wiped around my lips with a napkin, and winked. She’d hardly changed in the two years we’d been apart. The same lush dark skin, beautiful brown eyes, full lips, and tightly cropped hair. But she was more physically developed than before. She was leaner, more muscular, and she moved with a fighter’s fluid grace. Her eyes were always alert. She was never totally at ease, ready to respond to any threat at an instant’s notice.
    The last time we’d met, Debbie and Alice had been on their way to Vampire Mountain. They were troubled by the rise of the vampaneze and shaven-headed vampets — they thought they’d turn on humanity next if they won the War of the Scars. They decided that the vampires should create their own human force to combat the threat of the gun-wielding vampets. They planned to offer their services to the Generals, and hoped to put together a small army to battle the vampets, leaving the vampires free to tackle the vampaneze.
    I didn’t think the Generals would accept their proposal. Vampires have always distanced themselves from humans, and I thought they’d reject Debbie and Alice automatically. But Debbie told me that Seba Nile — the quartermaster of Vampire Mountain, and an old friend of Mr. Crepsley’s and mine — had spoken on their behalf. He said times had changed and the Generals needed to change with them. Vampires and vampaneze had sworn an oath never to use missile-firing weapons, but the vampets hadn’t. Many vampires were being shot by the shaven-headed curs. Seba said something had to be done about it, and this was their chance to fight the vampets on level terms.
    As the oldest living vampire, Seba was greatly respected. Upon his recommendation Debbie and Alice were accepted, albeit with reluctance. For several months they’d trained in the vampire ways, mostly at the hands of my old task master, Vanez Blane. The blind vampire taught them to fight and think as creatures of the night. It wasn’t easy — the ever-wintry Vampire Mountain was a hard place to survive if you lacked the hot blood of the vampires — but they’d clung to each other for support and stuck with it, earning the admiration even of those Generals who’d greeted them with suspicion.
    Ideally they’d have trained for several years, learning the ways of vampire warfare. But time was precious. The vampets were growing in number, taking part in more and more battles, killing more and more vampires. Once Debbie and Alice had covered the basics, they set out with a small band of Generals to assemble a makeshift army. Debbie told me Seba and Vanez longed to come with them, for one last taste of adventure in the outside world. But they served the clan best on Vampire Mountain, so they stayed, loyal servants to the end.
    The door to my room opened and Alice stepped in. Alice Burgess used to be a police chief inspector and she looked even more warrior-like than Debbie. She was taller and broader, with more pronounced muscles. Her white hair was cut ultra-short, and though she was extremely light-skinned, there was nothing soft about her complexion. She looked as pale and deadly as a snowstorm.
    “The police are searching the neighborhood,” Alice said. “They’ll be here in an hour or less. Darren will have to hide again.”
    The building was old and had once been used as a church by a shady preacher. He’d created a couple of secret rooms, almost impossible to find. They were stuffy and uncomfortable, but safe. I’d stayed in one