Chapter one has come to a close. The legacy of Darren Shan has come to an end. But of course, a story cannot end on chapter one. The page has turned, and chapter two has started. A new legacy begins now.

/CDF/

Hi. My name's Isabelle Jones. I'm a half vampire. Don't freak out, please! Just, don't. I wasn't always a half vampire, I was born normal like any of you. Here, I'll just explain everything from the beginning. It all started at school...

"Isabelle! Pay attention while you're in class!" Mr. Rogers exclaimed, glaring over at the girl reading in the back of the room. That was me.

I looked up from my book, glancing at the board before locking eyes with Mr. Rogers. He was my algebra teacher, and let me tell you, he was bad. He yelled every chance he got, and criticized everyone for every little thing, especially me.

"Can you answer the question on the board, Miss Jones? I assume you know how, considering you're blatantly ignoring my teachings." Mr. Rogers gestured to the board with his ruler. No, he didn't actually hit any of us with the ruler, he just carried it for intimidation.

After reading the problem over on the board, I sighed and answered. "It's twenty four, Mr. Rogers."

I had learned all of these things last year, at my old school. I transferred a lot.

The boy next to me smiled and laughed quietly at the surprised look Mr. Rogers got on his face.

"Nice one, Izzy." He said, nudging me with his elbow.

I smiled back. That was Dmitri Crusnic. He was the only person who bothered to be friends with me. I've known him since we were both seven, and whenever I got transferred, he begged his parents to transfer with me. He was really funny, and he liked the same books I did. We both had a thing for the supernatural; vampires, ghosts, everything.

I shrugged a bit, still smiling. "It wasn't hard. We learned this last year, remember?"

"Not at all." Dmitri said with that crooked smile of his.

"Enough talking!" Mr. Rogers shouted, smacking the board with his ruler.

Dmitri rolled his eyes, turning his attention half heartedly back to the board.

The day ticked by slowly, but eventually the bell leading to freedom rang. The eighth graders gathered their things and left the school hurriedly, talking excitedly about the weekend ahead. Oh yeah, it was Friday...I had forgotten.

"Hey, Izzy!" Dmitri exclaimed, rushing towards my locker. "You wanna stay at my place this weekend? I just called my mom to ask, she's totally fine with it."

I blinked in surprise, thinking for a few moments. I was sure my dad wouldn't mind me leaving the house for the weekend..he probably wouldn't even notice.

"Sure, I'd love to." I said with a smile. I hoisted my backpack over my shoulder and followed Dmitri outside.

"I'll just stop at my house quickly for my things, I'll be right over." I added as we walked towards Dmitri's house. We only lived about a block and a half apart.

"Alright. Just, be careful." Dmitri warned.

I nodded, continuing to walk while he headed into his house. Dmitri was the only person in the world to know my little, ah, secret. He was pretty protective because of it.

Soon enough, I was walking up the driveway of my house. I slipped inside through the garage door, hoping my dad was either asleep or didn't hear me. When everything continued to be quiet after I was inside, I deemed myself safe and headed to my room. I locked my door, just in case, and set my backpack down. I dug around in my closet for my travel bag, and filled it with a few pairs of clothes and pajamas. I wondered if there was anything else I would need, but then I shook my head and zipped my bag closed.

"Dmitri and his parents will take care of me." I told myself, picking my bag up and slowly unlocking and opening my bedroom door.

I quickly made my way towards the front door, but was stopped when a large hand wrapped around my arm. I froze.

"Where d'you think yur goin'?" My dad slurred. Oh no..he was drunk. Everything was worse when he was drunk.

"I-I was just going to a friends-"

"That Dmitri boy?"

"Y-yes."

My dad didn't say anything for a minute or two, then he just let go of my arm.

"Fine. Go."

I blinked in confusion, but didn't think twice about leaving the house.

"He must've drank too much..he wasn't in the mood to hurt me today.." I murmured to myself, walking down the street to Dmitri's.

He was sitting on his front steps, reading a book on spirits. I smiled slightly, walking up the small pathway to his front door.

"Hey, Dmitri." I greeted.

He looked up from his book and stood up, gently grabbing my free hand.

"Are you okay? Did he do anything?"

I shook my head. "No, he didn't, I'm okay. Thank you."

Dmitri looked me over and nodded slightly.

"Okay. Good."

His bright smile returned a moment later.

"Well, come in, my mom just baked some cookies."

"Chocolate chip?" I asked teasingly.

"You know it."

We both laughed and walked into his house. I walked upstairs to his room, setting my bag down on the floor and glancing around. His room was covered with lots of things people would consider creepy. He had posters of vampires and werewolves, numerous books on spiders, snakes, and bugs, and he had lifelike figurines of various things. His favorites were his Dracula and his giant Black Widow. Then I noticed there was something off on his wall. He had a new poster. I gently pulled it off the wall and read it over.

Cirque du Freak!

For one week only

Come see the Twisting Twins, Sive and Seersa, Gertha Teeth, Rhemus Twobellies, The Bearded Lady, The Snake Boy, Hans Hands, Alexander Ribs, the Wolf Man,

And Mr. Crepsley with his preforming spider, Madam Octa!

I stared down at the poster in amazement and shock. "Cirque du Freak..Circus of Freaks."

Dmitri suddenly walked into his room, looking at me with a smile.

"I see you found the flyer." He said. "What do you think?"

"It's a freak show."

"Yeah."

"And..no way, did you buy tickets?!" I asked in surprise.

Dmitri laughed and pulled two tickets out of his pocket. "I can't keep anything from you, can I?"

And so, the two of us made a plan to sneak out that night. Dmitri would lock his door, hanging a note on the outside that read 'Do Not Disturb'. Then, we would build the fort we always put together when I stayed over. Inside, we would lay a few piles of clothes and cover them with blankets, to make it look like it was Dmitri and I. We would sneak out of his window, since it had an emergency fire ladder hanging outside of it.

And that's exactly what we did.

"Are you sure this is the right place..?" I asked when we reached the address. It was a large abandoned building, I think it might've been an opera house or something.

"I'm positive." Dmitri said, walking up to the front door. "You're not scared, are you?"

"Of course not!" I defended, crossing my arms.

Dmitri chuckled and pushed the door open, walking inside. It looked just as run down as it did on the outside. He looked around, confused.

"Uh, hello? We've got tickets!" He called out.

"Ah. Hello there, young ones. You are here for the Cirque?" A voice asked from behind us.

I whipped around, and gazed up at the tallest man I'd ever seen. I froze when our eyes locked, but the man just smiled gently down at me.

"You are here for the Cirque, correct?" The man asked us again.

Dmitri nodded weakly, holding the two tickets out in a shaky hand. The man nodded and grabbed the small pieces of paper, not even looking at them before he snapped, and they vanished.

"I am Mr. Tall, the ringmaster. The Cirque is right through that door." The man gestured to a door to our left.

Dmitri and I glanced at each other before walking through the door. In front of us stood a large stage, brightly lit. There were also many rows of chairs, most of them empty.

"Hey, there's empty spots in the front!" Dmitri exclaimed, grabbing my hand and pulling me towards the stage.

We both sat down, gazing up at the stage in a mix of fear and anticipation. There were about thirty other people there with us, most of them way older than us. I heard excited whispers and murmurs float through the air, but they stopped almost instantly when Mr. Tall walked onstage.

"Ladies and gentleman, I welcome you, to the Cirque du Freak!"

The show had begun.