Tanish gulped and shook his head. “No,” he wheezed.
“You must,” Larten growled. “If you do not accept my challenge, you will die for certain. This way you have a chance.”
“I don’t have any chance,” Tanish jeered. “You’re a General at the height of your powers, while I’m a fat, faded fool. I’ve seen you in action, Quicksilver, and we both know you’re far too sharp for me. This is an execution, plain and simple. Kill me if you must, but don’t pretend that I ever had any real hope of protecting myself.”
“Only a coward would let himself be slaughtered like this,” Larten hissed.
“I never claimed to be anything else,” Tanish said softly.
Larten was disappointed, but not surprised. He had anticipated this and planned for it. Stepping forward, he pressed a nail to Tanish’s fleshy throat, pricked the skin, drew a few drops of blood… then moved aside and lowered his hand.
“Go,” Larten said. “Leave and never let me see you again.”
Tanish blinked, bewildered. “This is a trick,” he whispered.
“Go,” Larten repeated, firmly this time.
“What about Gavner? Will you–”
Larten raised a finger and pointed it at Tanish’s heart. The oversized vampire didn’t need any further warning. With a miserable last glance at the astonished, agonised Gavner Purl, he lurched away from his assistant and his old friend, sobbing with relief and sadness as he was swallowed by the shadows of the alley.
There was a long silence as Gavner watched his master, the closest thing he’d ever had to a father, stumble away in disgrace. The young man’s mind was spinning. He wanted to rush after Tanish and tell him he didn’t care about his sins, that he wanted to be his assistant – his son – forever. He took a shaky step forward, but was stopped by the vampire in the red clothes.
“Wait,” Larten said quietly.
That single word alerted Gavner to the danger. He realised that Tanish was right — his release was just a trick. Gavner opened his mouth to shout a warning, but before he could, there came a short, startled cry from the far end of the alley.
Then silence.
“What have you done?” Gavner cried.
“He was a killer,” Larten replied calmly. “The clan demands the death of those who kill without just cause. It was not in my power to set him free. Another was waiting to dispatch him. But at least he died thinking freedom was in his grasp. That was better than facing death honestly. Tanish never had much time for honesty.”
“You murdered him!” Gavner shouted, hands bunched into fists, eyes glittering with angry tears.
“I sent him to his death,” Larten said. “But I suppose from a certain point of view that is one and the same thing.”
“I’ll kill you,” Gavner wept. “If you don’t deal with me tonight, I’ll track you down and make you pay for what you did to Tanish. I don’t care how long it takes.”
“You will not have to wait,” Larten said. He retrieved the knife he had cast aside earlier and pressed it into Gavner’s hand. As Gavner stared with shock at the cold metal, the elder creature of the night said, “My name is Larten Crepsley. I am a vampire General. Tanish Eul was executed for good reason and I do not apologise for that.
“But I also slaughtered your real mother and father. In a moment of mad rage, I took their lives and left you an orphan. If you choose to take my life as payment for theirs, you will be within your rights and no vampire will hold it against you.
“Pass judgement on me, Gavner Purl, and let your hand rise or fall as destiny decides it must.”
With that, Larten knelt in the muddy filth of the Petrograd alley, offered his throat and calmly waited for the stunned, uncertain Gavner to spare his life or kill him as he saw fit.
To be continued…
Other titles by DARREN SHAN
THE SAGA OF DARREN SHAN
1 Cirque du Freak*
2 The Vampire’s Assistant*
3 Tunnels of Blood*
4 Vampire Mountain
5 Trials of Death
6 The Vampire Prince
7 Hunters of the Dusk
8 Allies of the Night
9 Killers of the Dawn
10 The Lake of Souls
11 Lord of the Shadows
12 Sons of Destiny
THE DEMONATA
1 Lord Loss*
2 Demon Thief*
3 Slawter*
4 Bec*
5 Blood Beast*
6 Demon Apocalypse*
7 Death’s Shadow
8 Wolf Island
9 Dark Calling
10 Hell’s Heroes
THE SAGA OF LARTEN CREPSLEY
1 Birth of a Killer
2 Ocean of Blood
THE THIN EXECUTIONER
(one-off novel)
* Also available on audio
Copyright
Darren Shan presides over the damned souls of the internet at: www.darrenshan.com
First published in hardback in Great Britain by HarperCollins Children’s Books 2011
HarperCollins Children’s Books is a division of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd
77-85 Fulham Palace Road, Hammersmith, London W6 8JB
Visit us at www.harpercollins.co.uk
PALACE OF THE DAMNED. Text copyright © Darren Shan 2011. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
ISBN 978-0-00-731591-8
Darren Shan reserves the right to be identified as the author of the work.
EPub Edition © AUGUST 2011 ISBN: 978-0-00-745542-3
About the Publisher
Australia
HarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty. Ltd.
Level 13, 201 Elizabeth Street
Sydney, NSW 2000, Australia
http://www.harpercollins.com.au/ebooks
Canada
HarperCollins Canada
2 Bloor Street East - 20th Floor
Toronto, ON, M4W, 1A8, Canada
http://www.harpercollins.ca
New Zealand
HarperCollins Publishers (New Zealand) Limited
P.O. Box 1
Auckland, New Zealand
http://www.harpercollins.co.nz
United Kingdom
HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.
77-85 Fulham Palace Road
London, W6 8JB, UK
http://www.harpercollins.co.uk
United States
HarperCollins Publishers Inc.
10 East 53rd Street
New York, NY 10022
http://www.harpercollins.com
Darren Shan, Palace of the Damned
(Series: The Saga Of Larten Crepsley # 3)
Thank you for reading books on BookFrom.Net Share this book with friends