Read Online Brothers to the Death (The Saga of Larten Crepsley) by Darren Shan - Free Book Online Page B

regard for the consequences of his actions. The green-haired Sire March only sniffed and said, “You can’t argue with success.”
    Once Larten was free to focus on his own affairs, he met up with Gavner and the pair set off in pursuit of Randel Chayne. They scoured the cities of Europe, asking after him, searching for other vampaneze who might know where he was. They came across five of the purple-skinned bloodsuckers over the next few years. Each denied knowledge of Randel’s whereabouts, and Larten believed them—when they were blooded, every vampaneze swore an oath never to lie. They would be driven out in disgrace by their colleagues if they broke that vow, even if it was to a vampire.
    He knew it was irrational, but Larten hated every vampaneze now. He blamed them for Randel’s existence. If they hadn’t broken away from the clan, there would never have been a Randel Chayne, or anyinhuman monster like him. Alicia would be alive. Wester’s family wouldn’t have been killed. Tanish Eul might have never cut himself off from the clan. Larten came to believe that Wester had been right all along—the world
would
be better off without the purple scum, and Larten hoped to rid the planet of more than just a few of them.
    But Randel was the one Larten hated most. If he fought with every vampaneze he met, he would be killed sooner rather than later—you couldn’t cheat the odds indefinitely. Since he didn’t want to die without avenging Alicia’s murder, he held his tongue when in the presence of those he despised. He treated them with respect and asked politely about Randel Chayne. He said that he wished to challenge Randel because he had heard noble things about him. He gave no hint of his real reason for wanting to face the killer.
    Four of the vampaneze responded with cool respect to his inquiries and let him go about his business without interfering. Only one objected and told him he had no right to answers. That vampaneze had been young and headstrong. He was eager to kill a vampire and thought Larten was the perfect place to start.
    He misjudged horribly. Their duel was a one-sidedcontest and Larten killed the vampaneze, barely having to stretch himself. He didn’t celebrate the killing, but he did sleep with a sneering smile for a few nights afterwards.
    As the years turned, Larten realized he might as well be a blind man casting stones into the sea in the hope of hitting a fish. If Randel Chayne didn’t want to be found, there was no way of finding him. Like those of the clan, the vampaneze could dwell in the darkest shadows of the night for centuries on end, hidden from the eyes of even the most keenly sighted.
    He had hoped that other vampaneze would lead him to Randel, but the vagabonds had no spiritual homeland. They didn’t gather for Council. There were no leaders keeping track of their movements. It was possible for one of them to go decades without bumping into another of his kind.
    “We have to draw him out,” Larten said to Gavner one dark and frosty night as they huddled over a fragile fire in a graveyard. They’d been discussing the matter in depth, both having reached the conclusion that they were on a fool’s errand.
    “How?” Gavner asked.
    “
War
,” Larten said heavily, and when their eyesmet, Gavner saw that Larten hated more strongly than he ever could. In that moment he knew he didn’t want to follow where Larten intended to lead. He also understood that Larten didn’t want to go in that direction either. But he would. Because, unlike Gavner, he was willing to let himself become one of the truly damned if that was what it took.
    Larten set off in search of Wester that night. Gavner didn’t travel with him. There had been no argument. He told Larten that he’d team up with him again if either of them got a sniff of Randel Chayne, but he didn’t want to be part of the General’s new, tyrannical quest. Larten had accepted his assistant’s decision with a curt nod. He might