Darren Shan, the newly turned half-vampire, and his mentor, Mr. Crepsly, hunt for their dinner at the beginning of the second book: fresh blood. But Darren professes that he will never lower himself to the ways of an animal, that he will never drink human blood, and so he passes up this meal.
They had been traveling for two months about cities and towns, living in hotels. Darren has a run in with other kids during a game of hockey. With his newfound strength, he accidentally breaks the legs off of one of his competitors. This brings Darren to the realization that he cannot have any "true" friends, due to his powers, which depresses him very much.
It is decided that they should rejoin the Cirque du Freak, so that Darren may become friends with people who can understand him. They arrive at the Cirque, after Mr. Crepsly locates Mr. Tall's "aura," as he calls it. Darren doesn't find anything as scary, and finds that Mr. Tall and Mr. Crepsly are good friends.
Darren is paired with the snake-boy, named Evra Von, and they become fast friends, while Darren helps him out around the camp. It's not long before they meet a local boy peering in on the Cirque, and after a couple practical jokes, he becomes a good friend too. His name is Sam Uley, is younger than both of the other boys, and is very intellectual, though something of a know-it-all. Sam shows an interest in joining the show, but he lets it drop.
A few days later, a group of a dozen people arrive. They are all dressed in hooded darker blue robes, and quite short. Later, Evra describes the time he saw one of these "Little People’s hoods slip, talking about a gray, stitched up face with big green globes as eyes.
A man, with white hair, and wearing a bright yellow suit and boots is leading them. At the mere sight of this man, Evra freezes up out of fear. He tells Darren that the man's name is Mr. Tiny. Mr. Desmond Tiny, also known as Mr. Destiny. Darren soon finds out what Evra feels, because he meets Mr. Tiny in Mr. Tall's trailer, observing that He was evil: "Not just bad or nasty, but pure demonic evil." Mr. Tiny doles out the responsibility of feeding the Little People, requiring daily hunting for the two boys.
Sam takes Darren and Evra down to one of his favorite hangouts: an old train depot. There they run into an Eco-Warrior named RV (short for Reggie Veggie), who preaches environmental problems to Darren and his friends.
Soon, Mr. Tall decides that the show has been idle for too long, and announces a performance, producing two extra tickets for Darren, to give to Sam and RV. Darren ends up performing with Mr. Crepsly, helping him with Madam Octa, and thinks about pretending to slip up, to kill the vampire who blooded him.
Afterward, Darren finds out that the act was a test to see if he could be trusted, which makes him more upset. He is now greatly feeling the effects of the lack of human blood in his system, feeling sick and tired, but still refusing to drink human blood.
While playing around at the train depot, Darren slips because of his drowsiness from rafters and falls, saved at the last minute by Sam, to whom Darren now owes his life.
RV comes around again, upset by the treatment of some members of the Cirque, namely the wolf-man, and informs Darren that he will be around to "investigate." While hunting for the Little People, Darren is caught stealing a sheep form a local farm by RV, who yells at Darren and threatens calling the police and health department. Darren puts on an act to scare RV, and it works as RV runs off.
Darren returns to camp and informs Mr. Tall of RV's intentions, and the ringmaster reacts by announcing that the Cirque will move on by dawn, so as to escape the health inspectors.
But at that final night's performance, Darren hears a sound, and when looking for the source, finds RV trying to free the wolf-man from his cage. Darren tries to stop him, but RV yells, causing the wolf-man to bite both of his forearms off. The eco-warrior runs off screaming about his hands, while the wolf-man escapes, Darren unable to stop him.
Darren realizes when chasing after him, that the wolf-man is hunting down Sam. He follows them to the train depot, where the boys meet up and make a break for safety. It fails, and Sam gets dragged to the ground and killed, Darren knocked unconscious and unable to help him friend. Darren awakes to Cirque members arriving to his rescue, but Sam dying quickly, He is finally convinced to preserve Sam's spirit by drinking his blood.
As the book closes, the Cirque du Freak moves on toward their next destination.
CONTINUE TO BOOK III => TUNNELS OF BLOOD
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