Shan, Darren - Cirque Du Freak 02 - The Vampire's Assistant

Hans laughed pleasantly. "Half-vampires are nothing new. If I had a silver dollar for every half-vampire I'd seen, I'd have …" He scrunched up his face and thought. "Twenty-nine silver dollars. Butyoung half-vampires are a different story. I never saw or heard of a guy your age living it up among the ranks of the walking dead. Tell me: Have the Vampire Generals been around to inspect you yet?"

"Who are the Vampire Generals?" I asked.

"They're —"

"Hans!" a lady washing clothes barked. He stopped speaking and looked around guiltily. "Do you think Larten would enjoy hearing you spreading tales?" she snapped.

Hans made a face. "Sorry," he said. "It's the morning air. I'm not used to it. It makes me say things I shouldn't."

I wanted him to explain about the Vampire Generals, but I guess it would have been impolite to ask.

Truska checked the sausages, pulled a couple off the stick, and handed them out. She smiled when she came to me, and said something in a strange, foreign language.

Evra laughed. "She wants to know if you like sausages or if you're a vegetarian."

"That's a good one!" Hans chuckled. "A vampire vegetarian!"

"You speak her language?" I asked Evra.

"Yes," he said proudly. "I'm still learning — it's the hardest language I've ever tried to learn — but I'm the only one in the camp who knows what she's saying. I'm excellent at languages," he bragged.

"What language is it?" I asked.

"I don't know," he said, frowning. "She won't tell me."

That sounded weird, but I didn't want to say anything to offend him. Instead, I took one of the sausages and smiled thanks. I bit into it and had to drop it immediately; it was piping hot! Evra laughed and handed me a glass of water. I drank until my mouth was back to normal, then blew on the sausage to cool it down.

We sat with Hans and Truska and the others for a while, chatting and eating and soaking up the morning sun. The grass was wet with dew, but none of us minded. Evra introduced me to everyone in the group. There were too many names for me to remember at once, so I just smiled and shook hands.

Mr. Tall soon appeared. One minute he wasn't there, the next he was standing behind Evra, warming his hands over the fire.

"You're up early, Master Shan," Mr. Tall remarked.

"I couldn't sleep," I told him. "I was too —" I looked over at Evra and smiled "— wound-up."

"I hope it will not affect your ability to work," Mr. Tall said.

"I'll be fine," I said. "I'm ready to work."

"You're sure?"

"I'm sure."

"That's what I like to hear." He pulled out a large notebook and flipped through the pages. "Let's see what we can find for you to do today," he said. "Tell me: Are you a good cook?"

"I can cook stew. Mr. Crepsley taught me."

"Have you ever cooked for thirty or forty humans?"

"No."

"Too bad. Maybe you'll learn." He flipped through another couple of pages. "Can you sew?"

"No."

"Have you washed clothes before?"

"By hand?"

"Yes."

"No."

"Hmmm." He flipped some more, then snapped the book shut. "Okay," he said, "until we find a more permanent position for you, stick with Evra and help him with his chores. Does that sound fair?"

"I'd like that," I said.

"You don't mind, Evra?" he asked the snake-boy.

"Not at all," Evra replied.

"Very well. It's settled. Evra will be in charge of you until further notice. Do what he says. When your colleague-in-blood arises," — he meant Mr. Crepsley — "you're free to spend the night with him if he so desires. We'll see how you do, then make a decision on how best to utilize your talents."

"Thank you," I said.

"My pleasure," he replied.

I expected him to suddenly vanish then, but instead he turned and walked away slowly, whistling, enjoying the sunshine.

"Well, Darren," Evra said, sticking a scaly arm around my shoulders, "looks like you and I are partners now. How do you feel about that?"

"I feel good … partner."

"Cool!" He slapped my shoulder and gulped down the last of his sausage. "Then let's get going."

"What do we do first?" I asked.

"What we'll be doing first every morning," Evra said. "Milking the poison from the fangs of my snake."

"Oh," I said. "Is it dangerous?"

"Only if she bites before we finish," Evra said, then laughed at my expression and pushed me ahead of him to the tent.

CHAPTER NINE

Evra did the milking himself — to my great relief — then we brought the snake outside and laid her on the grass. We grabbed buckets of water and scrubbed her down with really soft sponges.

After that, we had to feed the wolf-man. His cage was near the back of the campsite. He roared when he saw us coming. He looked as angry and dangerous as he had that night I went to see the Cirque with Steve. He shook the bars and lunged at us if we got too close — which we didn't!

"Why is he so vicious?" I asked, tossing him a large chunk of raw meat, which he grabbed in midair and bit into.

"Because he's a real wolf-man," Evra said. "He's not just somebody very hairy. He's half human, half wolf."

"Isn't it cruel to keep him chained up?" I asked, throwing him another slice of meat.