Cirque Du Freak - Tunnels Of Blood Part 18

Keeping the hand flat, rough nails jutting out like five sharp blades, he drove it into Murlough's stomach.

And when I say into, I mean into!

Murlough gasped and went deathly still. The knife dropped from his hand and he gazed down. Mr. Crepsley's hand had disappeared into the flesh of the vampaneze's belly, all the way up to his forearm. He left the hand there a second, then yanked back sharply, bringing guts and a torrent of dark blood with it.

Murlough groaned and collapsed to his knees, almost squashing the goat in the process, then toppled to the floor, where he rolled over onto his back and tried closing the hole in his stomach with spit he'd quickly licked onto the palms of his hands.

But the hole was too wide. The vampaneze's healing spit was useless. There was nothing he could do to seal the flesh or stop his precious blood from pumping out. He was finished.

Mr. Crepsley stepped back from the dying vampaneze, picked up one of the bedsheets, and wiped his hand on it. His face was expressionless. He appeared neither pleased nor saddened by what he had done.

After a couple of seconds, Murlough realized his situation was hopeless.

Flopping over onto his belly, his eyes settled on me, and he began crawling toward me, gritting his teeth against the pain.

"Mr. Crepsley?" I said shakily.

Mr. Crepsley studied the crawling vampaneze, then shook his head. "Do not worry. He can do you no harm." But, taking no chances, he walked over, freed me, and stood by my side, ready to strike again if needed.

It was a long, agonized crawl for the vampaneze. I almost felt sorry for him, but had only to think of Evra strung up and what he'd planned to do to Debbie to remind myself that he deserved everything he'd gotten.

He paused more than once, and I thought he was going to die midway, but he was determined to have his final say. He fought on, even though he must have known he was accelerating the moment of his death.

He collapsed on his face at my feet and breathed heavily into the carpet. Blood was gushing out of his mouth, and I knew the end was almost upon him. He raised a trembling finger and crooked it, beckoning me to lean down.

I glanced questioningly at Mr. Crepsley.

The vampire shrugged. "He is harmless now. It is up to you."

I decided to see what the dying vampaneze had to say. I bent down and leaned close to his mouth. He had only seconds left.

His red eyes rolled directionlessly in their sockets. Then, with a huge effort, they fixed on me, and his lips split into one last leer. He raised his head as high as he could and whispered something that I couldn't hear.

"I didn't catch that," I told him. "You'll have to speak up." I jammed my ear closer to his mouth.

Murlough licked his lips, clearing some blood and making s.p.a.ce for air. Then, with his final breath, he got out the words that seemed so important to him.

"Cluh-cluh-clever buh-buh-buh-boy, hmmm?" He gurgled, then smiled blankly and fell forward.

He was dead.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX.

We bundled murlough's body into a large black plastic bag. We'd drop him off later in the tunnels of blood he'd loved so much. As fitting a burial place as any for him.

We stuck the goat in a bag, too, but made a couple of air holes in it. We'd expected Murlough to kill the goat, which I'd stolen earlier from the children's section of the city zoo. Mr. Crepsley wanted to take it back to the Cirque Du Freak - it would make a nice snack for Evra's snake or the Little People - but I persuaded him to set it free.

Next we cleaned up the mess. Murlough had shed a lot of blood, all of which had to be mopped up. We didn't want the Hemlocks to find it and start asking questions. We worked quickly, but it took a couple of hours.

With the cleaning finished, we climbed up to the attic and brought down the sleeping bodies of Jessie, Donna, and Debbie and laid them in their respective beds.

The entire night had been planned. The wine I brought for dinner? I drugged it when I was in the kitchen. I added one of Mr. Crepsley's potions to the wine, a tasteless little concoction that knocked everybody out within ten minutes. They'd be asleep for several more hours yet, and wake with sore heads, but otherwise no ill effects.

I smiled as I wondered what they'd think when they woke in bed, fully dressed, with no memories of the previous night. It would be a mystery, one they'd never solve.

It hadn't been a perfect plan. Lots of things could have gone wrong. For starters, there was no guarantee that Murlough would find me when I had my "fight" with Mr. Crepsley and stormed off on my own, and no guarantee that he wouldn't kill me instantly if he did.

He could have gagged me when he caught me, in which case I would have been unable to convince him that he ought to let me live. Or he might have disregarded my warning about the Vampire Generals - what I said was true, but the trouble was, Murlough was crazy. There was no telling how a crazy vampaneze would act. He might have laughed at the threat of the Generals and sliced me up anyway.

Convincing him to swap Evra for Debbie was always going to be the trickiest part. For it to work, I'd had to deliver a perfect performance. If I'd come straight out and made the offer, Murlough might have been suspicious and not walked into the trap. If he'd been in full control of his senses, I don't think he would have fallen for it, regardless of my performance, so on that score his insanity worked in our favor.

And, of course, there was the killing of him to account for. Murlough could have beaten Mr. Crepsley. If he had, all six of us would have died: Mr. Crepsley, me and Evra, Debbie, Donna, and Jesse.

It had been a dangerous gamble - and unfair to the Hemlocks, who knew nothing of their role in the deadly game - but sometimes you have to take chances. Was it wise to risk five lives for the sake of one? Probably not. But it was human. If I'd learned one thing from my encounter with the crazy vampaneze, it was that even the undead could be human. We had to be - without a touch of humanity, we'd be like Murlough, nothing more than bloodthirsty monsters of the night.

I tucked Debbie in under the fresh covers. There was a tiny scar near her left ankle, where Mr. Crepsley had drawn blood earlier. He'd needed the blood to smear on the goat, in order to mislead Murlough's sense of smell.

I looked up at the vampire. "You did well tonight," I said quietly. "Thanks."

He smiled. "I did what had to be done. It was your plan. I should be the one offering the thanks, were it not for the fact that you got in the way when I first had him in my sights. In my eyes, that makes us even, so neither need thank the other."

"What will happen when the vampaneze find out we killed him?" I asked. "Will they come after us?"

Mr. Crepsley sighed. "With luck, they will not find the body. If they do, I hope they will be unable to trace him to us."

"But if they do?" I pressed him for an answer.

"Then they will hunt us to the ends of the Earth," he said. "And they will kill us.

We would not stand a chance. They would come in their dozens and the Generals would not a.s.sist us."

"Oh," I said. "I wish I hadn't asked."

"Would you rather I'd lied?"

I shook my head. "No. No more lies." I smiled. "But I think it'll be for the best if we don't tell Evra. What he doesn't know can't worry him. Besides, he's mad enough at me as it is. He thought I was really going to trade Debbie's life for his.

He's furious."

"He will calm down when the facts are explained," Mr. Crepsley said confidently. "Now - shall we go and get him?"

I hesitated and looked down at Debbie. "Can I have a couple of minutes to myself?" I asked.

"Of course," Mr. Crepsley said. "But do not delay: dawn approaches and I do not wish to spend tomorrow trapped in those G.o.dforsaken tunnels. I will be downstairs." He departed.

I checked my watch. Nearly four in the morning. That meant this was the twenty-fifth of December. Christmas Day.

I worked quickly. I placed the bare Christmas tree to one side of Debbie's bed, opened the box of decorations, and covered the tree with glittering b.a.l.l.s, tiny figures, streams of tinsel, and twinkling lights. When I finished, I turned Debbie so that she was facing toward the tree. It would be the first thing she'd see when she opened her eyes in the morning.

I felt bad about leaving without saying good-bye. This way, I hoped to make it up to her. When she woke and saw the tree, she'd know I hadn't slipped away thoughtlessly. She'd know I'd been thinking of her, and hopefully wouldn't hold my sudden disappearance against me.

I stood over her a few seconds, studying her face. This would almost certainly be the last time I'd ever see her. She looked so sweet, lying there asleep. I was tempted to find a camera and take a photo, but I didn't need to - this was one picture I'd always be able to remember in perfect detail. It would join those of my parents, my sister, Sam - cherished faces that would never fade in the mental galleries of my memory.

Leaning forward, I kissed her forehead and brushed a stray lock of hair out of her eyes. "Merry Christmas, Debbie," I said quietly, then turned and left - and went to rescue Evra.

TO BE CONTINUED....

The horror continues - For the next part in the chilling saga of Darren Shan, read on - VAMPIRE MOUNTAIN.

The bear meant to kill me - there was no doubt about that - and it would have, if it hadn't been for the wolf pup, who leaped courageously from the tree. It landed on top of the bear's head, momentarily blinding it.

The bear roared and swiped at it with a huge paw. The pup bit one of its ears, and the bear roared again, this time with pain. Then, shaking its head viciously from side to side, it sent the pup flying into a nearby bush.

The bear resumed its attack on me once it had gotten rid of the wolf pup, but in the time the pup had gained, I'd ducked around the tree and started running for the cave as fast as I could. The bear lurched after me, realized I was too fast for it, roared angrily, then turned on the young wolf once more.

I stopped when I heard the pup's frightened yapping. Looking over my shoulder, I saw the pup had made it back up the tree, the bark of which the bear was now ripping to pieces with its claws in an attempt to reach him. Although the pup was in no immediate danger, I knew that sooner or later he'd slip or the bear would shake him down, and that would be the end of him.

I paused no more than a second, deciding whether to run ahead to the safety of the cave or go back and risk my life trying to save the pup. Then I turned, picked up a rock and the thickest stick I could find, and sped back.

The bear let go of the tree when it saw me coming, dropped to its hind legs, and prepared to meet my challenge. It was a burly beast, maybe six feet high, with black fur, a white quarter-moon mark spread across its chest, and a whitish face.

Foam flecked its jaws, and its eyes were wild, like they were touched by insanity.

Maybe it had rabies!

I stopped several feet in front of the bear and whacked the ground with my stick. The bear snarled and advanced. I glanced up at the pup, hoping he'd have enough sense to slink down the tree and sprint to the cave, but he stayed where he was.

The bear swiped at me, but I ducked easily out of the way of its ma.s.sive paw.

Rearing up on its hind legs, it fell upon me, hoping to crush me with the weight of its huge body. I avoided the beast again, but it was a closer call this time. I knew that if this went on much longer, it would make contact in the end - fatal contact.

I was thrusting the end of the stick at the bear's face, aiming at its eyes, when the two she-wolves rushed onto the scene and threw themselves at the beast. They must have heard the pup's cry and come to investigate.

The bear howled as one of the wolves bit deep into its shoulder, while the other attached herself to its rear legs, tearing at them with her teeth and claws. The bear shook off one wolf and bent to deal with the other, and at that moment I darted in with my stick and jabbed at its left ear.

I must have hurt the beast, because it lost interest in the wolves and hurled itself at me once again. I ducked out of the way of its body, but one of its ma.s.sive forelegs connected with the side of my head and I fell to the ground, dazed. The bear rolled to its feet and headed toward me, scattering the wolves with quick swipes. I scrambled backward, but not fast enough. Suddenly, the bear was above me, its crescent-shaped mark looking bizarrely similar to the moon shining overhead.

It reared up on its hind legs again, roaring triumphantly. It had me exactly where it wanted. I slammed the stick against its stomach, then hurled the rock at it, but the bear took no notice of such small blows. Seething, it started to fall...

... Which was when the two Little People barreled into its back and knocked it off balance. They must have followed the wolves, and their timing couldn't have been better as far as I was concerned.

The bear must have thought the entire world was conspiring against it. Every time it had me in its sights, something new got in the way. Roaring as loud as it could at the Little People, it charged at them wildly. The one with the limp stepped out of its way, but the other got trapped beneath it.

The Little Person raised his short arms and jammed them against the bear's torso, trying to shove it to one side. He was strong, and for a second I thought he would succeed. But not even a vampire would have stood a chance against such a ma.s.sive enemy, and the bear came crashing down on top of the Little Person, driving him to the ground.

There was a horrible crunching sound, and as the bear got to its feet, I saw the Little Person lying in pieces, all b.l.o.o.d.y and broken, with bones jutting out of his body - he looked like a squashed porcupine. The huge animal lifted its head and roared ferociously at the sky, then fixed its hungry eyes on me. Dropping on all fours, the bear advanced...