Darren Shan (Series)

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Darren Shan is a book series of children's and youth literature by Darren Shan . The story extends over 18 years and is about a child who, through certain mishaps, becomes a half-vampire at a young age .

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Darren Shan is actually a completely normal child. He lives with his sister Annie and their parents in a well-protected home. At school he is considered a very good football player and is hoping for a future football career. His friends are Tommy Jones, Alan Morris and Steve Leonard. Steve is seen by everyone as a "wild child" and is feared as a thug at school. He has been nicknamed "Steve Leopard" for a long time. Darren and Steve have been best friends since kindergarten. Darren has had a particular fondness for spiders since he was nine years old, and this preference will later become his undoing.

The midnight circus

One day Alan shows up with a flyer announcing a freak show , the Cirque du Freak . So the four friends decide to visit them. Steve offers to get the tickets. He succeeds, but only receives two tickets. It is clear to the children that Steve can keep a card. So they decide to draw the second one. As luck would have it, Darren wins the second card. The following Friday Darren and Steve go out to see the freak show in an old theater. Darren and Steve notice two small creatures in blue robes that hide their faces. At first the two children are enthusiastic about the show, but then Larten Crepsley enters their lives: While Darren is enthusiastic about his deadly spider Madame Octa , Steve recognizes the vampire Vur Horston in the artist.

After the performance, Darren secretly watches Steve ask the vampire to make him one himself. Mr. Crepsley then tests Steve's blood and rejects it with the words that he is thoroughly evil. Steve swears to become a vampire hunter and hunt him down later.

Darren steals Madame Octa a few days later and takes her home. There he plays with her every day and teaches her new tricks. One day Steve comes to visit and Darren shows him the spider. When they try a trick with the spider, Darren's sister Annie stupidly comes into the room. So the spider bites Steve in the neck and he falls into a death-like state. Steve is now in the hospital and the doctors are puzzling what kind of illness it could be. Since Steve is about to die, Darren decides to visit the vampire Crepsley in the old theater and persuade him to save Steve. But Darren has one condition: he has to leave his normal life behind and work as an assistant to the vampire Mr. Crepsley. There is only one catch for Darren - it has to make him a half-vampire.

Larten Crepsley taps Darren by exchanging their blood with each other using their fingertips, making him a half-vampire. Both now go to the hospital. There the vampire can just save Steve with the antidote. Steve wakes up briefly and sees both the vampire and his friend Darren standing in front of his bed. He gives a brief shock and then falls into a long, deep sleep. Now Crepsley and Darren are surprised by the night nurse. The vampire stuns them with his breath and Darren piles up. Arriving home, Darren notices a few changes: He is now stronger than his classmates and his fingernails are particularly hard.

About two weeks later, Steve can go back to school. But he now has certain suspicions about Darren and the vampire. When Alan Morris opens his knee in the schoolyard, Darren jumps over and begins to suck blood from the wound. Steve now knows that Darren is a half-vampire. In the bathroom that evening, he meets his little sister Annie, who is getting ready for a bath. Darren begins to hypnotize Annie in order to bite her and drink her blood.

Darren is appalled by himself and sadly realizes that he could now become a danger to humans if he would not join the vampire. So he goes back to the theater, where the vampire Crepsley is already waiting for him. Darren and the vampire Crepsley now decide to leave town. So both pretend Darren's death and on the evening of the funeral, when everyone is already away from the cemetery, Larten Crepsley digs up Darren. Darren covers his feet while the vampire digs up the grave again. He is surprised by Steve Leonard, who has watched Darren for a long time and now wants to stake him. Steve is still Darren's friend at this point and so he cannot kill him. He cuts a cross on the back of his hand with a knife and swears by his blood to Darren to hunt and kill this and the vampire.

The friends of the night

Darren Shan has been a half-vampire for two months and wanders aimlessly through the country with his master, the vampire Larten Crepsley. To the chagrin of the vampire Crepsley, Darren refuses to drink human blood.

Darren and the vampire can't stand each other very much at this point, which they also regularly let each other feel. So Darren only calls the vampire "Mr. Crepsley ”and misses his family and old friends. Both finally agree to rejoin the Cirque du Freak and drive with the artists through the different countries. In this way Darren should find new friends again.

Arriving at the Freak Show, Darren meets some people who will prove to be important for his later life. There he meets the snake boy Evra Von and Sam Grest, a boy from the neighborhood. Sam really wants to join the freak show and Evra and Darren try to talk him out of it. Darren also befriends the owner of the Freak Show, Hibernius Riesig, a gigantic person. Because of his height, everyone just calls him "Master Huge".

A little later the friends also get to know the environmental activist RV - the abbreviation for "Reggie Veggie" - who is later to play a tragic role in Darren's life. Everything in Darren's life is now running smoothly until the mysterious Salvatore Schick shows up with his little fellows in the camp. He prefers to be addressed as Master Schick Sal , loves to drink the blood of babies and to cause worldwide catastrophes. Darren quickly realizes that this man is wicked through and through. One of the little guys - they are the mysterious creatures with blue coats - pulls a leg and later becomes one of Darren's best friends. Salvatore Schick puts the little guys in the care of Evra Von and Darren Shan. Both are now responsible for the care of the eerie creatures. Evra told Darren that the little guys eat anything ... people too!

Evra has known of this fact since one day he discovered the bones of an artist who had disappeared in the camp among the leftovers of the little guys.

Darren is getting weaker and weaker because he steadfastly refuses to drink human blood and thus lose his humanity. His guardian Larten Crepsley warns him of the fact that he could die as a result. When Sam Grest and Darren play in an old train station and chase each other over the roof beams of an old parking hall, Darren becomes dizzy in the middle of the run and he falls into the depths. But reflexively he can hold on to a roof beam and Sam saves him by pulling Darren up. Darren then assures his friend Sam that he will fulfill his every wish. Immediately this brings the conversation to the Cirque de Freak. Sam Grest now proposes a blood brotherhood to Darren and both cut one finger with broken glass. Just before they both exchange their blood, Darren remembers that his vampire blood would not be safe for Sam. So in the end he refuses.

Darren now has the idea to invite RV and Sam to a performance by Cirque du Freak. The owner Hibernius Riesig is not enthusiastic about this idea. He can see into the future and therefore already knew that this would lead to new problems again. Still, he gives Darren two tickets. Sam loves everything about the freak show. The environmental activist RV is shaken after the visit. What horrifies him most is that the spider Madame Octa kills a goat on stage. That's why RV begins to watch the freak show and its goings-on. He also contacts the farmers in the area and finds out that animals have been disappearing for some time. RV associates this disappearance with the Cirque du Freak.

A short time later, RV surprises his friend Darren when he kills an adult sheep. RV is now threatening to report the cattle theft to the police. Hibernius Riesig had already suspected this and so everyone decided to leave the area the next morning. But in the evening Darren catches RV trying to open the cage of the wolf man, one of the most dangerous creatures on the whole freak show. During an argument between the two of them, the Wolf Man attacks RV and bites off both arms below the elbow. RV runs screaming into the next forest. Darren expects the Wolfman to pounce on him, but to his relief he walks behind one of the wagons.

Darren now wants to go back to the big top when he trips over a backpack. This belongs to Sam Grest and Darren now knows that his friend's life is in acute danger. In the distance he hears the wolf man howling and decides to help his friend. At the old train station he finds Sam and both are surprised by the wolf man. In a scuffle, the wolfman knocks Darren out and after a short chase he manages to catch Sam Grest. He now begins to eat this alive.

Darren and the rushing Larten Crepsley manage to overwhelm the Wolfman, but Sam Grest is already dying. The vampire reminds Darren that vampires generally record the memories of those whose blood they drink.

So it happens that Darren Shan drinks the blood of a person after all, the blood of his friend Sam. Sam is buried by them and Darren has to live with having taken someone's life.

The dark city

Darren Shan took a liking to life at Cirque de Freak. He now enjoys living with the artists. He even accepted that as a half-vampire he had to drink human blood regularly. Larten Crepsley and he can now really get along well and Darren has accepted the vampire as a teacher.

One day the head vampire Gavner Purl comes to the camp to visit his friend Larten Crespey. The latter then notes that he had already expected a visit from a "superior", since he could not hide Darren forever. Gavner Purl now recognizes a half-vampire in Darren and is angry with his friend Larten because the vampires are forbidden to tap into such young assistants. Both retire to Crepsley's quarters for a long chat. When Larten Crespley and Gavner Purl join the others hours later, Crespley is visibly thoughtful. Gavner Purl tells Darren on a walk that Larten Crepsley was once an influential chief vampire who was about to be appointed vampire prince and that he will soon be leaving the freak show. A short time later, Purl leaves the freak show to return to the "mountain of vampires".

The next morning Darren and the vampire Crepsley also leave. You are moving to a city where mysterious murders have been going on for some time. They are accompanied by the snake boy Evra Von, who is supposed to take care of Darren during the day. Darren happened to meet Debbie Schierling in this town just before Christmas. The two of them do a lot together and he falls in love with Debbie. Darren suspects, through a TV show, Larten Crepsley to be the wanted killer. Evra Von and Darren watch the vampire regularly on his evening tours from now on. You decide to kill the vampire immediately, if he really is the killer. One evening Darren Larten Crepsley was attacked in an old slaughterhouse because he wanted to save someone's life. But then Darren learns that Crepsley is not the killer, but a red-faced creature who has vampire-like abilities. Now Larten Crepsley Darren confesses that he lived in this town as a person. He also tells Darren for the first time about the red-faced relatives of the vampires, the vampyrs : They separated from the vampires around 600 years ago and had become their own race. Unlike the vampires, vampires kill each of their victims. Murlough, the red-faced creature from the butcher's shop, was a crazy representative of the vampyre in town.

On his escape, Murlough succeeds in kidnapping the snake boy Evra Von and kidnapping him in his underground hiding place. A few days later Darren managed to get captured by a trick. In hiding he suggests a deal to Murlough: In exchange for Evra's release, he would hand over his girlfriend Debbie to him. Murlough enthusiastically agrees, especially since, like all vampires (and vampires), he cannot tolerate snake blood. Crepsley succeeds in killing Murlough in Debbie's nursery. However, this means they have to watch out for the vampyrs who would avenge the murder. So they make Murlough's corpse disappear and go back to Cirque du Freak with Evra Von.

The mountain of vampires

Every 12 years the great council of vampires takes place in the mountain of vampires . Larten Crepsley decides to introduce Darren to the council. Shortly before departure, the dreaded Meister Schick appears in the camp. He insists that two little guys accompany them to the mountain of vampires. One of them is Lefty , the limping little guy. The little guys don't actually have a name, but Evra Von and Darren gave the limping man this name because they can clearly distinguish him from the others.

On the way to the mountain of the vampires they meet Gavner Purl, who joins them. The group is also joined by a pack of wolves, who mainly make friends with Darren. Darren names the pack leader Blitz and his cheeky boy the name Rudi . One day Darren is attacked by a bear. Darren can kill the bear, but it turns out that he has poisoned himself with vampire blood. The vampires go in search of the vampire and come across a vampire grave devastated by bears.

Worried, the vampires set off on their way to the council. Although the little guys never talked, Lefty now introduces himself to Darren and his friends as Harkat Mulds . Harkat told them to deliver a message to the Vampire Council of Schicks: "The night of the Lord of the Vampyre is at hand."

Arriving in the mountain of vampires, Darren makes the acquaintance of Kurda Smahlt, a very young chief vampire who is about to be appointed prince. Kurda has a fervent desire to reunite vampires and vampires and has been meeting with the latter for a long time. But Darren also makes the acquaintance of Seba Nile, the 700-year-old quartermaster of the mountain. Seba was once the mentor of Larten Crepsley and immediately takes Darren into his heart. Kurda Smahlt takes Darren on a sightseeing tour of the Mountain of Vampires. In a remote area, the two of them meet a special and mysterious race of people who call the vampires the “keepers of the blood”. The Guardians' job is to burn deceased vampires. As a reward for this they demand the entrails and the brain of the deceased vampire, which they consume. In return for living in Vampire Mountain, the Guardians give their blood to the vampires.

During a vampire celebration, Darren takes part in a stick fight on planks: his opponent is the previously undefeated vampire Arra Sails. Darren later learns that she was once Larten Crepsley's mate. That evening he also befriends the one-eyed Vanez Blane, the chief competition overseer and instructor of the future head vampires.

When Darren Shan is officially introduced to the vampire prince Paris Skyle, the oldest living vampire, Mika Ver Lerth and arrowhead, who is over 800 years old, they are not particularly enthusiastic about Darren's young age. In agreement with Larten Crepsley and Darren, the princes decide to put them to the test at the “inauguration exams” - which are actually only intended for future chief vampires. Should Darren pass these tests, then the vampires would approve of Crepsley's decision and recognize Darren as a vampire.

But Kurda Smahlt advised Darren too late that failure or failure of the exams would mean his death or immediate execution.

The trials of darkness

Darren now has the “initiation exams” ahead of him and is being prepared for them by his friends Vanez Blane and Arra Sails. At the exams it is planned that a vampire prince is always present.

Darren's first test is to escape from a water maze - a stone maze that slowly overflows with water. In addition, Darren has to drag a boulder with him. The “needle path” is the second test. Darren has to cross a stalactite cave there , which consists of brittle stalagmites and stalactites . The third test takes place in the “Flammenhalle”, where Darren has to avoid various bursts of fire from the floor in a room. He passes all these tests, albeit with the most severe burns. The fourth test that Darren has to undergo are the “mad boars”. In this test Darren has to face two boars that have been contaminated with vampire blood and driven crazy. Bad health from the last exam, Darren manages to kill one of the boars. The other is so hard on Darren that he threatens to lose the exam. Then the little guy Harkat Mulds intervenes and saves Darren's life by killing the second boar.

With Harkat's intervention, Darren has officially failed the exams and his execution is imminent. The princes withdraw for a consultation, in which the question is whether there is a possibility under current vampire law to save Darren's life. While the vampire lords are discussing Darren's fate, Kurda Smahlt appears in Darren's bedroom. He persuades him to flee the mountain and thus escape his fate. Kurda even offers himself to Darren as a guide to take him outside through the underground passages. In agony, Darren agrees. On the way, the chief vampire Gavner Purl joins them, who followed them furiously. Kurda can persuade his friend to let Darren escape and says that he would reveal himself to be his escape helper even after his election as prince.

In a side cave, the three friends meet a horde of vampires who have sneaked in there: Darren is sent away by Kurda and Gavner and both chief vampires take up the fight with the intruders. Darren sneaks back, however, and is horrified to see Kurda Smahlt kill Gavner Purl and greet the leader of the vampyre as an old friend. Darren now realizes that the vampires are in the mountain of vampires at Kurda's behest and want to kill the vampire princes after Kurda's appointment.

When he is discovered, Kurda and the vampires pursue Darren through the underground caves. But it finally plunges into an underground river and drifts outside over a waterfall.

The prince of the vampires

Darren Shan managed to escape from the mountain of vampires. It's winter now.

Badly injured, Darren flees into the woods and meets the wolf pack that had accompanied him to the mountain of vampires at the time. Darren is accepted into the pack and nursed back to health. One evening Darren observes a search party of the vampires, which consists of Larten Crepsley, Arra Sails and the traitor Kurda Smahlt, as well as two other vampires.

Darren decides to return to the mountain of vampires and warn the vampires about Kurda. With the help of two young wolves and an old she-wolf, Darren gets back into the mountain and can meet with Seba Nile: he tells him everything he knows about Kurda and the vampires. Darren and Seba are now working out a plan to prevent Kurda's appointment as prince and to expose his betrayal.

That same evening Darren hides in the prince's hall and waits for the princes to begin the ceremony. When Kurda is about to be appointed prince, Darren blows it up. Kurda immediately confesses his betrayal and the murder of his friend Gavner Purl. He and his helpers are then arrested and taken away.

The vampire lords work with Darren on a plan to destroy the vampires in the mountain. Darren has the idea to surprise them with the numerous spiders represented in the mountain and to attack them with small vampire troops. After bloody fights, in which Darren also kills a very young vampire, the vampires are victorious. The 30 or so vampires are all killed, but the losses are also high for the vampires: Arra Sails is killed and Vanez Blane loses the second eye, so that he is now completely blind. Darren is appalled by the cruelty of the war and begins to understand Kurda.

After the battle against the vampires, Kurda's trial begins: He confesses that he led the vampires into the mountain and planned the murder of the princes because he wanted to prevent a war between the vampires and vampyres. According to Kurda, a war would be completely pointless, since the prince of the vampires appeared about half a year ago. But not all vampires are on his side, so Kurda was able to quickly win allies from the vampyre camp.

Darren Shan is now appointed vampire prince instead of Kurda and thus subsequently spared his execution. When Kurda is finally dishonorably executed as a traitor, Darren weeps for his friend.

The Prophecies of Darkness

Darren has been a half-vampire for 14 years and was named Vampire Lord six years ago. Larten Crepsley, the vampire who tapped Darren back then, acts as his guardian and advisor. Both are now very close friends, and Crepsley's influence on the Mount of Vampires is almost as great as that of a prince.

For six years the "war of scars" - named after the scars on the fingertips, on which both vampires and vampyres can be recognized - the cruel war of annihilation between the vampires and their related vampyres has been raging. Salvatore Schick, a mysterious schemer, had once prophesied that the vampires, under the leadership of their lord, could wipe out the sex of the vampires and become the most important creatures of the night themselves. So they begin to recruit people for their fight against the vampires. These are called vampets and have been trained in the fighting style of the vampyre. The vampets are allowed to use firearms, which are considered dishonorable by vampires and vampyrs.

Darren's friend Harkat Mulds has been suffering from severe nightmares for some time , in which dragons, shadow men and an unreal landscape play a role. One night Salvatore Schick appears in the mountain of the vampires and reveals to them that a defeat of the vampires can be averted: three vampires are allowed to kill the lord of the vampires. One of these vampires is Larten Crepsley, the other Darren Shan. The third vampire would join them on their journey. Schick offers Harkat to rid him of his nightmares. He just has to come with him. Harkat decides against it and accompanies his friends, especially since Salvatore Schick affirms that this would increase the chances of the vampires. Schick advises the vampires to start the search for the lord of the vampires with his daughter Lady Evanna, a witch .

The vampires and Harkat leave. But during the hike the first stage of "purification" breaks out at Darren, in which the vampire blood in Darren slowly transforms his human blood. In the end, Darren would be a full-fledged vampire. Darren looked like a 15-year-old teenager at the time .

While in town, Darren notices a man in a shop who apparently recognizes him as a vampire. The friends leave town and quickly notice that they are being followed by three or four people. They pretend to be sleeping in a thick forest and are attacked by humans. Then the third vampire prince, Vancha March, appears and helps them in the fight against humans. These later turn out to be vampets.

Together the vampires and Harkat set off again to find Lady Evanna. One lunchtime, Darren Vancha surprised how he got ready to go for a walk in the blazing midday sun. Vancha March explains to him that he is waging a campaign against the sun and that he has been regularly exposed to the sun's rays for 100 years.

Once at Evanna's, the friends decide to join the Cirque du Freak. Lady Evanna agrees to come with them. Evanna tells Darren and his friends her life story. She mentions that she is the daughter of Salvatore Schicks and that she still has a twin brother, who is thought to be missing. She is also closely related to the vampires and vampyres and is the only one of them who can have children naturally. Their descendants would become the most powerful bloodsuckers in the world, since they could also exist during the day. Therefore, Evanna has been ensnared by the vampire and vampire clans for centuries to father children with them. But she has not yet decided which clan she would prefer and is one of the neutrals in the war of vampires and vampires. Evanna tells Darren and his friends that the vampires have a total of four chances to kill the lord of the vampires.

On her way to Cirque du Freak, Evanna alleviates Harkat's nightmares and illegally tells Darren that one day he too could be the "Lord of Shadows" born out of the war between vampires and vampyres. At Cirque du Freak, Darren meets his old childhood friend Evra Von, who is now a multiple father. Later there is a longer conversation between Evanna and Master Riesig. Darren follows her when she leaves the camp in the evening. Nearby, she meets a small horde of vampyres accompanied by a servant. Darren gets his friends and together they attack the vampires. A large vampire tries to escape with the servant, when Vancha takes up the chase. In the end, he can confront both, but is horrified to discover that the vampire is his brother Gannen Harst. So Vancha lets his brother and the servant escape.

When they return to their camp, Vancha tells March Darren that his name was once Vancha Harst and that he was a half-vampire. However, Paris Skyle tapped him again and thereby converted his vampire blood. But converting vampire blood into vampire blood was very dangerous for both of them and could have meant death. The friends now discuss Gannen's escape with the servant. Then Harkat Mulds realized that it was not a servant, but the disguised Lord of the Vampyre who had fled with Gannen Harst. The vampires have missed their first chance at killing the Vampyr Lord. March then sets off to the mountain of the vampires to prepare them for the new situation and the remaining hunters leave again without a fixed target.

The allies of the night

In Larten Crepsley's hometown, numerous mysterious murders take place again . So Mr. Crepsley, Darren Shan and Harkat Mulds decide to go there to solve the murders. They suspect vampires, the apostate relatives of the vampires, as murderers.

They live in a hotel under the name "Horston" and go out night after night to protect the citizens of the city. But then unforeseen problems arise in the form of Mr. Blaws: He is an official of the education authority and wants to know why "Darren Horston" does not go to school. Darren and Larten are surprised, especially since Mr. Blaws has complete registration papers and résumés. After an examination, both agree that these are perfect fakes, but are not allowed to give each other away. So Darren, officially at the age of 15, decides to go to school again. On the first day of school at “Mahler”, Darren's new school, he meets his childhood sweetheart Debbie Schierling, who is now a teacher and teaches Darren's class in English . She is amazed that Darren still looks so young, even though they are about the same age. Darren tells her something about an illness that makes him age more slowly.

It quickly becomes apparent that Darren is behind in all subjects. So Debbie gives him tutoring. After a tutoring session, Darren is attacked on the way to the hotel by an ominous vampire who has a silver and gold hook instead of his forearms. The vampire reminds him of someone, but Darren cannot recognize him exactly because of his masked face and cannot classify his voice either. During the scuffle that followed, Darren is suddenly supported by a gray-haired, athletic man who soon turns out to be Steve Leonard. Steve tells Darren that he has now forgiven him and Larten Crepsley and that he no longer hates the vampires either. Instead of being a vampire, he has become a vampire hunter and has already eliminated six of them. Steve advises Darren to call his friend Debbie and warn them that he has seen vampires in the area.

Debbie reluctantly follows Darren's suggestion to move temporarily. Then she found out the next day that her neighbors had been cruelly killed. And when a few days later some of Darren's classmates are murdered, Steve, Darren and Harkat Mulds decide to take up the fight against the vampires. Darren invites Debbie to Steve's lair and tells her the whole truth about himself and the murders. Debbie decides to support Darren and his friends. A little later, Larten Crepsley and Vancha March join the small group. Then it turns out that the vampire Crepsley still distrusts Steve Leonard and accuses him of being thoroughly evil. But Darren can change his mind with Harkat's help.

Every night the allies set out in search of the hook-arm vampire. One night Harkat discovers this. Steve shoots him with an arrow rifle and wounds the vampire in the leg. Together they pursue the injured person. When the vampire disappears into the sewer , Darren and his friends follow him. But in what appears to be a new part of the sewer system, Darren and his friends are suddenly surrounded by nine vampyrs and 14 vampets. Darren identifies the leader as the brother of his friend Vancha: Gannen Harst.

Darren now has the opportunity to take a closer look at the armless vampire. And suddenly he recognizes the former environmental activist RV. This has since been picked up and tapped by the vampyrs. As a half-vampire, RV interprets his name as "Righteous Vampire". When asked who came up with this trap, Steve Leonard explains that it was him and proudly reveals himself to be an ally of the vampires.

Steve takes Darren's girlfriend Debbie hostage . When Steve hands Debbie over to RV, Darren's friends manage to take Steve and one of the vampets hostage. Since Gannen Harst could defeat the vampires without any problems, but fears great losses in the process, he offers the vampires a head start of 15 minutes, since he assumes that he can kill them more easily in the tunnels. The escape through the sewer system begins.

The flames of doom

Darren Shan and his friends Larten Crepsley, Vancha March and Harkat Mulds - a little guy created by the mighty schemer Salvatore Schick - have, after their successful escape through the sewers, with their hostages Steve Leonard, an ally of the vampires, and a vampete named Mark Ryter, a human vampyre mercenary , in Steve's lair . While Vancha the Vampet in the next room tortures and consequently kill, the friends discuss. Steve Leonard now admits to being a half-vampire like RV. Steve also tells Darren and his friends that it was he who forged school records and enrolled Darren in school. Suddenly they notice that the house is surrounded by police officers and special task forces.

Darren and his friends decide to flee. You jump out of a window on the fifth floor. However, the vampire Larten Crepsley sprains his foot. Vancha March succeeds in kidnapping the Commissioner Alice Burgess and breaking away with her. Darren Shan, Larten Crepsley and Harkat Mulds allow themselves to be arrested, especially as the sunrise is approaching, which could destroy Larten Crepsley outdoors.

Darren, Larten Crepsley and Harkat are locked in solitary cells, while Steve comes to the infirmary. During an interrogation, which is also conducted by police officer Morgan James, Steve Leonard breaks out of prison and kills two people. Then Morgan agrees to knock down Darren and let Darren escape. Darren knocks Morgan out and takes a closer look at his head. In doing so, he discovers a large "V" tattooed in the scalp above the ears ... the symbol of the vampets. Darren can also free his friends via the ventilation system and they escape. However, the police quickly go into pursuit. The fugitives are faced with new problems: it is impossible for the vampire Larten Crepsley to be exposed to the sun for long as that would mean his death. Darren decides to get sunscreen at a nearby department store . There he sees his picture on a television set, combined with the message that he should belong to a criminal murder organization called "The Vampires". Because of this TV report, he is recognized by some people. This means that the vampires not only have to flee from the police, but also from a murder-addicted mob . Steve's plan includes torturing Larten Crepsley, and so he has the vampets block all entrances to the sewer system until sunset. Finally, Darren, Larten and Harkat can hide in an old silo .

In the evening the three friends enter the sewer system, where they meet Vancha March and Alice Burgess a little later. By then Vancha had told the inspector everything about the fight between the vampires and the vampires. Even if she doesn't believe a word, she makes herself available as a short-term ally. In a newly created room, the vampires encounter a new trap by Steve Leonard: In the middle of the room there is a deep pit with sharpened wooden stakes. The pit can only be overcome with a rope. The vampires with Steve and RV appear at the other end. Steve and RV taunt Darren and his friends. Gannen Harst now suggests that Darren should fight Steve and the Lord of the Vampyres for Debbie Hemlock. Should Darren win the fight, everyone would be free.

All of a sudden, Vancha March attacks the vampires who ignited the pit with gasoline. In the general confusion, Larten Crepsley finally succeeds apparently in killing the lord of the vampires. Steve Leonard, however, throws him into the burning pit, which results in his death. But Steve does not want to kill Darren immediately: In revenge, he wants to see Darren suffer and so Steve confides his greatest secret to Darren: The Lord of the Vampyres is none other than Steve Leonard himself.

But before Darren can reveal this news to his friends, Gannen Harst stuns him with his breath. Darren faints for hours . Later, on their way back, they meet the witch Evanna, who wants to say goodbye to her boyfriend Larten Crepsley. Darren and Harkat Mulds decide to rejoin the Cirque du Freak. Debbie Schierling and Alice Burgess try to resume their old lives. But Alice receives a mysterious piece of paper from Evanna, which she is only allowed to read when she and Debbie are sure about their future.

The lake of souls

Harkat Mulds and Darren Shan have rejoined the freak show, the Cirque du Freak. But Harkat's nightmares have become so bad that he can hardly sleep.

One day, former inspector Alice Burgess and Darren's childhood sweetheart Debbie Schierling turn up in the camp. They ask Darren and Harkat to accompany them to the mountain of the vampires. After the past events, both could no longer find their way in their civil professions and therefore decided to get the permission of the vampire princes for human auxiliary troops in the fight against the vampyres. They found out the current location of the Cirque du Freak from the mysterious note that Alice Burgess had received from the witch Evanna.

Contrary to expectations, Salvatore Schick shows up to free Harkat Mulds from his nightmares. To do this, Harkat has to find out who he was before he died. Harkat wants Darren to accompany Debbie and Alice. But Darren decides against it and accompanies Harkat and Salvatore Schick through a magical gateway into another, unreal world.

In this world, Schick tells the two of them that they have to fight a panther and then go to a lake, the mysterious “lake of souls”. There Harkat Mulds would find out who he was before he died. After this speech, Salvatore Schick disappears and leaves the two of them to their fate.

Harkat Mulds and Darren are now on their dangerous journey to the lake of souls. In a jungle they meet a panther that the two can only defeat with cunning and trickery. After their victory over the Panther, Harkat and Darren find clues from Salvatore Schicks that point to Harkat's possible origins. At a lake where both have to outsmart the world's largest toad, Harkat and Darren meet Lady Evanna. The daughter of Schicks accompanies them a little and also helps them build a raft from an old shipwreck that they find on the bank on the bank of a large lake.

On the crossing to the other bank, Harkat and Darren are attacked by a huge dragon . The two only survived this attack by accident.

On the other bank, the two meet Spits Abrams, a former pirate . There seems to be a mystery surrounding Spits . But he agrees to accompany them. All three head to the "Temple of the Grotesque". Once there, they observe how the “Kulashka” (a race of people resembling the “guardians of blood”) sacrifice a boy to a snake-like monster.

Darren and Harkat later sneak into the temple and steal some bottles of snake venom there. After killing some kulashkas, Spit Abrams accidentally sets off an explosion . Harkat, Darren and Spits break into the ground and discover an underground passage. At the end of the corridor you come across a door behind which there is a fully furnished room. They spend the night there to set off for the lake of souls the next morning. After a short walk they reach it.

When they arrive at the lake of souls, they find out that it serves as a camp for the dragons. With the help of the explosive snake venom they can drive the dragons away for a short time. Now it turns out that Spits Abrams was not only a pirate, but above all a cannibal in his previous life , but a burst of fire from a dragon kills Spits. Harkat then fishes his former soul out of the lake ... so he finally faces the vampire traitor Kurda Smahlt and now remembers everything.

Suddenly Salvatore Schick appears out of nowhere and gives Harkat and Kurda the choice of final death or life, because since Harkat Mulds and Kurda Smahlt share a soul, one of them is doomed to die . Kurda decides of his own free will to give Harkat life and thereby accepts his final death.

Harkat Mulds and Darren return to their time and Harkat tells his friend about his suspicion that they were both not in the past but in the future. The unreal landscape and the dragons were the result of the "War of Scars", the war between vampires and vampires.

The Lord of Shadows

Darren Shan suffers from nightmares: He sees himself as the only survivor of the "War of Scars" and either his former best friend Steve Leonard or himself as the "Lord of the Shadows".

The Cirque du Freak, with whom Darren and his friends roam, is visiting a larger city. Next they want to return to Darren's hometown after 18 years and Hibernius Riesig, the owner of the Freak Show, recommends Darren not to come. This is torn back and forth, but he decides to go with us.

Once in Darren's hometown, the circus people celebrate the eighth birthday of Shancus, Evras' eldest son. Shancus Von was named after Darren Shan by his father and is a young snake. Shancus describes Darren himself as his "godfather" and Darren likes to take on this role. Darren promises to give Shancus something for his birthday every year from now on.

Darren learns through newspapers that his childhood best friends, Tommy Jones and Alan Morris, have had careers: Tom Jones turned professional footballer and is now considered the best goalkeeper in the country. In turn, Alan Morris is a recognized scientist working on genetic engineering .

A little later, Darren decides to go to his old parents' house. There he pretends to be a distant relative of the Shan family and learns from a neighbor that his parents moved to the coast years ago and that his sister Annie would live in the house alone with her son. Afterwards he watches Annie in the garden with a child who he assumes is her son.

A few days later, a child turns up in the camp: It is the silent Darius, who Harkat Mulds suspects that he knows more about the Freak Show than he admits. Darren also notices that Darius has an unlikely fear of him ... even if Darius covers up this fear well. Darren invites the boy to a performance. In the evening Harkat and Darren wait for Darius. This does not appear, but problems arise for Darren in the form of his school friend Tom Jones, who recognizes him. So Darren tells him that he has a strange illness and that he was only faking his death. Darren learns from Tom that he is still in regular contact with Steve Leonard. Tom invites Darren to an important soccer game and mentions that he has something important to tell Darren about Steve.

At the end of the soccer game Darren has to watch vampets, human assistants of the enemy vampyrs, wreak a bloodbath in the stadium. One of the first victims is Darren's friend Tom Jones. Darren takes up the chase as he can identify two of the perpetrators as James Morgan and half-vampire RV. He catches up with them on a dark side street, but realizes that he has walked blindly into a trap: Steve Leonard and Darius are already waiting for him. Steve now reveals to Darren that Darius is his son and Darren seriously injures Darren in the shoulder with an arrow rifle. After a violent scuffle, Darren escapes and is finally found by two homeless people who take him to the mysterious "shadow ladies".

In the shelter of the homeless, Darren is introduced to the ladies ... and recognizes in them the former inspector Alice and his childhood sweetheart Debbie. Alice and Debbie have set up a human auxiliary force of vampires with the consent of the other vampire lords, which is called "vampirites" and consists of homeless people. Alice and Debbie nurse Darren to health when the second phase of purification begins and Darren notices that his days as a half-vampire are numbered. He now looks much more grown up and Debbie gives him to understand that she loves him.

Finally, Darren's fellow Prince Vancha March joins this strange group. Together they discuss how to proceed against Steve Leonard and his vampires. The friends decide to return to Cirque du Freak and use the warehouse, which is located in an old stadium , as a base for the fight against the vampires. Once there, Darren asks Hibernius Riesig to look into the future. He wants to make sure that he is not destined for the mysterious "Lord of the Shadows". Reluctantly, he agrees and goes into the future. When he is back in the present, he explains to Darren that it is entirely possible that he will become the "Lord of the Shadows". In that case he would later kill his friends and destroy humanity.

Darren is appalled by his possible future. But Hibernius Riesig has also seen in the near future that he will be killed by the vampyrs and decides to give up his previous neutrality and actively participate in the fight against the vampyres.

A little later, Steve Leonard and his vampires attack the Cirque du Freak. They manage to kidnap Shancus Von and the vampet James Morgan shoots Hibernius Riesig in front of his circus wagon . Suddenly the mysterious Salvatore Schick and his daughter Lady Evanna appear. As he dies, Hibernius Riesig admits that he is the lost son of Meister Schicks. While Salvatore Schick and Evanna each mourn Hibernius Riesig in their own way, Darren, his allies and Evra Von pursue the fugitives. They manage to capture Steve's son Darius and only with difficulty Debbie can stop her friend Darren from killing Darius in a blind rage. Vancha March recognizes a half-vampire in Darius and he proudly declares that it was his own father who made him one.

Steve holed up in the very old theater where the Cirque du Freak once hosted and where this story began. Steve is waiting for Darren and after some insults he proposes to swap hostages: Darius for Shancus. Steve reminds Darren of a game they used to play: You never dare!
"I bet you never dare do that," says Steve and breaks the snake boy's neck. Now his two companions start to doubt the meaning of the war of scars. Especially RV is slowly starting to break away from Steve. He now realizes that his friend is thoroughly evil and gradually takes on human traits again. Steve Leonard's bodyguard Gannen Harst also follows him hesitantly from this point on, rather he only protects him because of his position as ruler of the vampires. After the murder of Shancus, Darren Steve's son tries to cut out the heart with a dagger when Steve suddenly asks Darius for his mother's name. Darius, who now also recognizes evil in his father, calls the name crying: Annie Shan - Darius is Darren's nephew.

The sons of destiny

After the Lord of the Vampyres, Steve Leonard, killed Shancus Von, he and his vampyres, their human assistants (the vampets), and himself withdrew. They left Steve's son Darius with Darren and his friends. While Darren's childhood friend Evra is mourning his eldest son, Darren and his allies are discussing how to proceed. Vancha March points out to Darren a serious problem that Darren's nephew Darius would soon have: Darius had become a half-vampire through his father and would soon develop an insatiable thirst for human blood. He was doomed to be a murderer.

With a heavy heart Darren decides to visit his sister Annie, Darius' mother, and prepare her for this problem. Arrived in his old parents' house, Darren reveals himself. Annie refuses to recognize Darren as a brother because her brother is dead. But when he mentions the spider Madame Octa and the fact that she bit Steve, Annie realizes that Darren is still alive because she hadn't told anyone about this shared secret. She then faints. Darren later suggests turning Darius into a half-vampire. In any case, this would not turn him into a murderer, since vampires, unlike vampyrs, have their drinking habits under control. In addition, Darius should be accepted and trained in the mountain of vampires.

Darren and Annie also tell each other their respective life stories. Annie reports how she became Steve Leonard's friend at the age of 15 and pregnant from him at 16. Only then would Steve have shown his true colors to her and left town forever. Darren now suspects that Steve Leonard intentionally impregnated his sister in order to later have a suitable means of pressure against Darren.

After the risky blood exchange, Darren and his friends learn from Annie that the police have surrounded the stadium where the Cirque du Freak is located. Darren suspects that Steve Leonard chose the stadium for the big showdown . Annie and Darius leave town that night. Annie tries to persuade Darren to come, but he refuses. Darren, weakened by the loss of blood, prepares to take on the battle for the future of humanity. A plan is worked out together with the vampirites, especially since the police officers have strict instructions to let everyone into the stadium.

Darren and his friends march into the stadium closed. There they find out that the vampyres and vampets have taken the artists hostage. Darren and Vancha quickly spot Steve Leonard, who is standing on a gallows. Evra's wife Marla can secretly tell Darren that the artists are now also helping them in the fight against the vampires.

There is a fight. Salvatore Schick and his daughter Evanna take part as a spectator. While Schick is happy about the bloodshed, Evanna mourns the dead. Darren and Vancha can put Steve and Gannen in a tunnel. Vancha is badly wounded and Gannen is killed. When Darren is able to overpower and fatally wound his former friend Steve, Salvatore Schick confronts the two of them with the fact that he is the biological father of the two and that with the victor Darren he will exert a world domination of horror.

Darren learns from Schick that he "accompanied" him all his life and was ultimately responsible for Darren being elected vampire prince. The same thing happened to Steve Leonard, only on the side of the Vampyre. When Steve hears this, he asks Master Schick to help him, since he is his son too. Salvatore Schick laughs at him and answers Steve that there is no place in his life for losers. Steve Leonard regrets for the first time the bad things he has done in his life.

Darren sees a solution that could thwart Salvatore's plans: When Steve awakens humanity for the first time, Darren insults him as an absolute failure and ensures that Steve stabs him to death in one last fit of anger. Fatally wounded, Darren falls into a stream with Steve and dies there.

Darren wakes up in the lake of souls after he died in a flowing body of water. According to the traditions of the undead, the soul of a vampire or that of a vampire cannot enter paradise if it dies in flowing water.

Darren takes refuge in his childhood memories so as not to go mad. Millennia later, his sister Lady Evanna and Little Guys pull him out of the lake. Evanna gives Darren to understand that he is the "Lord of the Dragons" and so they fly on the back of a dragon to Salvatore's fate. Evanna had persuaded her father to send Darren back in time as a Little Guy. As a price, she promised him to have a child. However, she left it open whether the child's father would be a vampire or a vampire. (What Salvatore Schick does not know, however, is that Evanna is already pregnant by March and Gannen and would have twins. This would mean another war between the vampire and vampire clan would fail and Salvatore Schick would be doomed to powerlessness, since both are now opposing Bloodlines are linked to Salvatore Schick via Evanna.)

In a cave, the reborn Darren is killed by Schick and turned into a little guy. As such, he is sent into the past. Evanna, however, illegally returns his diaries to him. Darren suddenly finds himself in the old theater where he and Steve first encountered Cirque du Freak. He and another Little Guy are now selling souvenirs to two children, young Darren Shan and his best friend Steve Leonard, during the break. After the show, Darren hides on the gallery and sees his childlike self sneaking up to watch Steve. Darren scares it almost to death and thus changes its own future. He overhears Steve Larten asks Crepsley if he can turn him into a vampire. And he gets his angry reaction when Crepsley refuses.

But Darren quickly realizes that he has to die in order for his younger self to continue to live. So he walks in Hibernius Riesig's office car. Although they do not know each other in this life, he recognizes him as a friend and promises Darren to send the diaries to his adult self in a few years.

Happy about this decision, Darren now retreats to the roof of a house and awaits the sunrise. When the sun rises, his body crumbles and Darren dies. On the way to vampire paradise, Darren sees all dead vampire friends who are eagerly awaiting him.

Trilogies

Welcome to the world of vampires (The Vampire Blood Triology)
The Vampires Rites Triology
The Blood of the Vampires (The War Triology)
The Vampire Destiny Triology

Manga

In Japan , the manga adaptation Darren Shan ( ダ レ ン ・ シ ャ ン , Daren Shan ) by Darren Shan (text) and Takahiro Arai (drawings) appeared in Shōgakukan's magazine Shōnen Sunday . The chapters were summarized in 12 anthologies between 2006 and 2009.

An English language localized version appears in the US with Yen Press under the title Cirque du Freak and in the UK with HarperCollins as The Saga of Darren Shan .

From January 2010 to January 2012, all volumes of the manga were published in German by Tokyopop under the title Darren Shan .

filming

In 2009, the first three volumes of the series were filmed under the title Midnight Circus - Welcome to the World of Vampires ( Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant ). Directed by Paul Weitz .

Web links