Book three starts with half-vampire Darren Shan and his vampire mentor Mr. Crepsly, continuing their life with the traveling Cirque du Freak. Mr. Crepsly meets an old acquaintance, Gavner Purl, a Vampire General, who passes on distressing information to Mr. Crepsly, the details of which are kept hidden from Darren.
Darren, Evra Von, Darren’s half-snake, half-boy friend, and Mr. Crepsly all depart from the Cirque du Freak, supposedly to pursue the subject of Gavner Purl’s news, and head for a big city. They arrive at the hotel, and Darren enjoys relaxing like he used to as a human again. Mr. Crepsly goes out every night, coming back in the morning without saying a word. A routine develops, until Darren, while out shopping, meets a beautiful girl named Debbie Hemlock. She lives across from Darren’s hotel, so she has seen him before. The couple hits it off, and goes on a movie date, which ends in Darren meeting Debbie’s parents, Jesse and Donna, who are very nice.
Darren returns from his date to find Evra frozen on the couch. A news program is on, showing a story on six corpses, found in a warehouse, all drained of their blood. Darren assumes the worst: that the cold-hearted killer is none other than his mentor, Mr. Crepsly. Evra, however, is not so quick to judge, maintaining that it may be someone else, or that the killing was justified.
To find out the truth, Darren and Evra begin trailing Mr. Crepsly when he goes out at night, following him wherever he goes. Only after a long time of seeming to walk in circles, does Mr. Crepsly zoom in on his target: “the fat man.” This man becomes the object of Mr. Crepsly’s trailing for many nights. One night, as the fat man goes to work at the slaughterhouse where he is employed, Mr. Crepsly follows him in. Darren and Evra spring into action, and Darren enters the building as well, keeping up with his mentor.
Darren still refuses to believe that his mentor is the killer, but as Mr. Crepsly raises a knife, to stab the fat man, Darren lashes out, determined to stop him. Darren is surprised when another form falls from the ceiling instead, and Darren looks into the eyes of a plump man with bright red eyes, skin and hair. Mr. Crepsly, very upset with the red man’s escape, yells profusely at Darren, telling him that the red man was the murderer.
Darren now learns about the vampaneze, a race that split from the vampires years ago, who believe in fully draining the humans they feed on, instead of just taking little bits. They are thought evil by most, but Mr. Crepsly seems to have a liberal view on the issue, only seeing them as having different beliefs. The vampaneze at the slaughterhouse though, named Murlough, is insane. That is why he kills so much, and why Mr. Crepsly is hunting him.
As they return to the hotel, feeling defeated at the escape of Murlough, they realize that Evra is gone from the roof. Murlough has kidnapped him. The next day, Darren is greeted by the vampaneze from the underside of a sewer grate. They discuss deals to make, involving trading Mr. Crepsly for Evra, but Darren refuses, remembering his mutual promise to Mr. Crepsly about trust. Murlough ends in threatening to eat Evra on Christmas Day, only a few days off, if Darren does not bring Mr. Crepsly to him. Darren says to Mr. Crepsly later that he has a plan.
It’s now Christmas Eve, and Darren is at the Hemlock’s to help decorate the house. He has a good time and they drink wine together.
Later the same night, Darren and Mr. Crepsly are down in the sewage tunnels, searching for Murlough. They’re relying on flashlights for sight and only have the two between them. Suddenly, they get into an argument when Darren drops and breaks his flashlight. The other one becomes broken as well as they fall into darkness. Still mad at his teacher, Darren goes off on his own, in the pitch black, to find Evra, and is separated from Mr. Crepsly.
Unsurprisingly, Darren is found by Murlough and wakes up later to find that he’s been trapped just as Evra has. Here, Darren speaks with Murlough and reveals his trap: Darren is a half-vampire, and since Murlough has kidnapped him, he has violated the treaty of the vampires and the vampaneze. The Vampire Generals are now allowed to find him and kill him. In order to avoid this, Darren offers up Debbie as a meal for Murlough, in trade for Evra’s being set free. At this, Evra becomes upset, but Darren ignores him.
So Darren leads Murlough up to Debbie’s house and into her room, where Murlough smells her blood and pounces on the body in the bed. Except the body in Debbie’s bed is a goat, and as Murlough realizes this, Mr. Crepsly jumps out of the closet and fights to the death with Murlough, coming out on top and killing the insane vampaneze.
CONTINUE TO BOOK IV => VAMPIRE MOUNTAIN
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