Drink human blood? Disgusting! But if Darren Shan wants to stay alive, he's got no other choice.

Darren just wants to be normal; he wants to have friends, get along with his parents and basically fit in. Life was pretty normal until he attended a freak show with his best friend Steve. Steve got himself mixed up with a vampire, and when he was involved in a near-fatal accident, Darren became a half-vampire to save him.

THE VAMPIRE'S ASSISTANT (the second installment of the CIRQUE DU FREAK series) begins with Darren and his vampire mentor Mr. Crepsley returning to the freak show. Under the tutelage of the older blood-sucker, Darren has to learn the ropes of being undead. Even though he can get along on animal blood for a while, he can't last forever. Mr. Crepsley tries to reassure Darren that drinking the blood of dying humans will help preserve their personalities, but Darren's not convinced.

Darren begins to forge bonds of friendship with some of the denizens of the freak show like Evra, the snake-boy, as well as with Sam, a local non-freak who longs for what he sees as the exciting circus life. But not everyone who lives near the Cirque Du Freak camp thinks it's so great. One man named R.V. finds out that Darren and his companion, Evra, have been engaging in activities that aren't exactly supported by R.V.'s group, Nature's Opposing Protectors. R.V.'s ignorance about life at the Cirque leads to tragedy and forces Darren to make some difficult decisions.

What does fate have in store for the CIRQUE DU FREAK troop and Darren in particular? You'll learn some surprising things about vampires, as this book takes you through Darren Shan's vampire training at bloody, breakneck speed.