IT WAS an age of deceit. Everyone was suspicious of everyone else - and with good reason! You never knew when a trusted ally would turn, bare his fangs and rip you to pieces. The vampires and vampaneze were at war the War of the Scars - and the result hinged upon finding and killing the Lord of the Vampaneze. If the vampires did that, victory would be theirs. Otherwise, the night would belong to their purple-skinned blood-cousins, who would drive the vampires to extinction. Three vampires were sent by Mr Desmond Tiny to hunt the Vampaneze Lord - Vancha March, Larten Crepsley and me, Darren Shan. I'm a half-vampire. Mr Tiny told us that other vampires couldn't assist us in our hunt, but non-vampires could. Thus, the only one to accompany us was a Little Person called Harkat Mulds, though a witch known as Lady Evanna also travelled with us for a short time during our quest. After unwittingly letting the Vampaneze Lord slip through our fingers in the first of four predicted encounters, we travelled to the city of Mr Crepsley's birth. We didn't expect to find the Lord of the Vampaneze there - we came to track down and stop a gang of vampaneze who were murdering humans. We attracted two more companions in the city - my ex-girlfriend, Debbie Hemlock, and Steve Leopard. Steve used