"We all make mistakes, gorgeous," Vancha interrupted, popping up beside us. "And yours was not making an honest vampire of me when you had the chance!" He wrapped his arms around Truska and kissed her. She laughed when he let go and waved a finger at him.

"Naughty!" she giggled.

"You two know each other, I take it," I commented dryly.

"Oh, yes," Vancha leered. "We're old friends. Many's the night we went skinny-dipping together in oceans deep and blue, eh, Truska?"

"Vancha," she tutted. "You promised not of that to mention!"

"So I did," he chuckled, then began talking with her in her native tongue. They sounded like a pair of seals barking at each other.

Evra introduced me to Merla, who was very pleasant and pretty. He made her show me her detachable ears. I agreed that they were fabulous, but I declined her offer to let me have a go throwing them.

Mr. Crepsley was as pleased to be back as I was. As a dutiful vampire, he'd devoted most of his life to the Generals and their cause, but I suspect his heart lay secretly with the Cirque Du Freak. He loved to perform and I think he missed being on the stage. Many people asked him if he was back to stay, and expressed disappointment when he said he wasn't. He made light of it, but I think he was genuinely touched by their interest and would have stayed if he could.

There were Little People with the Cirque Du Freak, as usual, but Harkat kept away from them. I tried getting him involved in conversation with others, but people felt nervous around him — they weren't accustomed to a Little Person who could talk. He spent most of the night alone, or in a corner with Shancus, who was fascinated by him and kept asking impolite questions (most to do with whether he was a man or a woman — in fact, like all the Little People, he was neither).

Evanna was known by many people at the Cirque Du Freak, although very few of them had met her before — their parents, grandparents or great-grandparents had told them about her. She spent a few hours mingling and catching up on the past — she had an impressive memory for names and faces — then said her farewells for the night and departed with Mr. Tall, to discuss matters strange, portentous and arcane (or else to chat about frogs and magic tricks!).

We retired with the coming of the dawn. We bid goodnight to those still awake, then Evra guided us to our tents. Mr. Tall had kept Mr. Crepsley's coffin ready for him and the vampire climbed into it with a look of sheer contentment — vampires love their coffins in a way no human can ever understand.

Harkat and me strung up a couple of hammocks and slept in a tent next to Evra and Merla's. Evanna moved into a van adjoining Mr. Tall's. And Vancha… Well, when we met him that evening, he swore blind he'd stayed with Truska, and bragged about what a hit he was with the ladies. But by all the leaves and grass stuck to his hair and animal hides, I think it more likely he passed the day by himself under a bush!

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

HARKAT AND me got up an hour or so before sunset and walked around the camp with Evra and Shancus. I was chuffed that Evra had named his first-born after me and promised to send the boy birthday presents in future, if I could. He wanted me to give him a spider — Evra had told him all about Madam Octa — but I had no intention of sending him one of the poisonous arachnids from Vampire Mountain — I knew from painful experience the trouble a tarantula could cause!

The Cirque Du Freak was much the same as ever. A few new acts had joined, and one or two had parted company with the show, but mostly it was as it had been. Though the circus hadn't changed, I had. I sensed that after a while, as we strolled from one caravan or tent to another, pausing to chat with the performers and stagehands. When I lived at the Cirque, I was young — in appearance at least — and people treated me as a child. They didn't any more. While I didn't look that much older, there must have been something different about me, because they no longer spoke down to me.

Although I'd been acting as an adult for years, this was the first time I really thought about how much I'd changed and how I could never return to the lighter days of my youth. Mr. Crepsley had been telling me for ages — usually when I complained about how slowly I was maturing — that a night would come when I'd wish I could be young again. Now I realized he was right. My childhood had been a long, drawn-out affair, but within a year or two the purge would rid me of both my human blood and youth, and after that there could be no going back.

"You look pensive," Evra noted.

"I'm thinking about how much things have changed," I sighed. "You married and with kids. Me with worries of my own. Life used to be much simpler."

"It always is for the young," Evra agreed. "I keep telling Shancus that, but he doesn't believe me, any more than we did when we were growing up."

"We're getting old, Evra."

"No we aren't," he said. "We're getting older. It'll be decades before I hit old age — centuries for you."

That was true, but I couldn't shake the feeling that I'd somehow grown ancient overnight. For more than twenty-five years I'd lived and thought as a child — Darren Shan, the boy Prince! — but now I didn't feel I was a child any longer.

Mr. Crepsley tracked us down as we were devouring hot sausages around a camp fire. Truska had cooked them and was handing them out. The vampire took one, thanked her, and swallowed it in two quick bites. "Savoury," he said, licking his lips, then turned to me with a gleam in his eye. "Would you care to take to the stage tonight? Hibernius has said we may perform."

"What would we do?" I asked. "We don't have Madam Octa any longer."

"I can perform magic tricks, as I did when I first joined the Cirque Du Freak, and you can be my assistant. With our vampiric speed and strength, we can pull off some truly remarkable conjuring feats."

"I dunno," I said. "It's been a long time. I might get stage fright."

"Nonsense. You are doing it. I will not take no for an answer."

"If you put it that way…" I grinned.

"You will need some grooming if we are to present ourselves to the public," Mr. Crepsley said, eyeing me critically. "A haircut and manicure are in order."

"I take care of that," Truska said. "I also am having Darren's old pirate costume. I could fix up it to fit him again."

"You've still got that old thing?" I asked, remembering how cool I'd felt when Truska kitted me out as a pirate not long after I'd joined the Cirque Du Freak. I had to leave the fancy clothes behind when I left to travel to Vampire Mountain.

"I am a good holder-on to things," she smiled. "I fetch it and measure you. The suit might not be ready this tonight, but tomorrow I have it in shape. Come to me an hour now from, for measuring."

Vancha was jealous when he heard we were going to be performing. "What about me?" he grumbled. "I know a bit of magic. Why can't I go on too?"

Mr. Crepsley stared at the green-haired Prince, with his bare feet, muddy legs and arms, his animal hides and shurikens. He sniffed the air — Vancha had showered in rainfall about six nights earlier, but hadn't washed since — and crinkled his nose. "You are not the essence of presentability, Sire," he remarked carefully.

"What's wrong with me?" Vancha asked, looking down, seeing nothing amiss.

"One must be elegant when one takes to the stage," Mr. Crepsley said. "You lack a certain je ne sais quoi."

"I don't know about that," I said. "I think there's a perfect part for him in the show."

"There!" Vancha beamed. "The boy has a keen eye."

"He could go on at the start, with the Wolf Man," I said, only barely managing to keep a straight face. "We could pretend they were brothers."