He had an army of vampaneze at his command, willing to give their lives for him and do anything he asked. He entered the coffin, the flames engulfed him, and a minute later he stepped out unburnt. He probably figured he had nothing to lose. The promise of such power proved too much for Steve to ignore. If they accepted this Lord, they'd gain more power than they'd ever imagined.

That person would be the Lord of the Vampaneze and had to be obeyed by every member of the clan. But he said that one night someone would lie in the coffin and emerge unharmed. He gave the vampaneze a present many centuries earlier, a coffin which filled with fire whenever a person lay within it, burning them to ash within seconds. He's the most powerful person in the world, immortal as far as anyone knows, a meddler of the highest order. Most just call him Mr Tiny, but if you shorten his first name and put it with his surname, you get MrDestiny. I can't see them accepting a human into their ranks if they knew he was going to turn out bad.īut Steve found a way in, thanks to that eternal agent of chaos - Desmond Tiny. The vampaneze live by even stricter, more traditional rules than vampires. I don't know this for sure, but I'm guessing the vampaneze rejected Steve, just like Mr Crepsley did. They went about their business quietly and calmly, keeping a lower-than-low profile. They didn't torture humans and they tried not to interfere with vampires. Although the vampaneze were killers, they weren't inherently evil. He probably thought they were as twisted as he was. Steve went in search of the vampaneze, certain they'd accept him. In legends, vampires are wicked killers who suck humans dry.

Some years later, as Steve was preparing for his life as a vampire hunter, he learnt about the purple-skinned, red-eyed vampaneze. Steve hated him for that and vowed to track him down and kill him when he grew up. The vampire refused - he said Steve had bad blood. His chance came when he spotted a creature of the night, Larten Crepsley, performing in the wondrous magical show, the Cirque Du Freak. He yearned for strength and respect, and time in which to enjoy it. He was never happy at home, didn't have a dad, didn't like his mum. He was born Steve Leonard, but to his friends (yes - he had friends once!) he was always Steve Leopard. If my life was a fairy tale and I was writing a book about it, I'd start with, 'Once upon a time there were two boys called Darren and Steve.' But my life's a horror story, so if I were to write about it, I'd have to begin with something like this instead:

Cirque du freak sons of destiny