Be careful who you trust.Even a supposedly close friend might be capable of betraying you. I found that out the hard way. My name's Darren Shan. I'm a half-vampire. I was blooded when I was very young, and for eight years I toured the world with the Cirque Du Freak - a traveling circus of magically gifted performers. Then my mentor - Larten Crepsley - said I had to be presented to the Vampire Princes. Most of the Princes and Vampire Generals gather in the remote Vampire Mountain once every twelve years, for the Council of Vampires. After a long, tiring trek to the mountain with Mr. Crepsley, Harkat Mulds (a Little Person who'd been brought back from the dead by a powerful man called Mr. Tiny), Gavner Purl (a General), and four wolves (including a male I called Streak and a cub I nicknamed Rudi), I faced the Princes, who said I had to prove myself worthy of joining the ranks of the undead. They gave me a series of harsh tests known as the Trials of Initiation. If I passed all five tests, I'd be accepted as one of them. If I failed, I'd be killed. I passed the first three Trials, but the fourth ended disastrously - I would have been gouged to death by a wild boar if not for Harkat, who leapt into the pit and killed the boar. The