Birth of a Killer

Plot Overview
''This is Prequel to The Saga of Darren Shan and discusses Mr. Crepsley's life before he became a vampire. ''

The Story begins with a brief introduction to Larten's family, who live in the 19th century in an unknown location. Larten's family is described as very crowded and poor. He has several brothers and sisters who all sleep in one room and share one bathroom. Larten also lives with his cousin Vur Horston whose parents have passed away. Out of all his many siblings, Larten shares a strong bond with his cousin Vur.

Both Larten and Vur work at a silk worm factory. The factory's foreman, Traz is a ruthless tyrant who abuses his young employed children. He dyes their heads in different colors corresponding to the position they work in order to make it easier to know which child belonged where. Larten's hair is dyed orange since he is a cocooner. In The Sage of Darren Shan, his hair is orange because the dye seeped into his system. His cousin Vur works by his side as well, and is particularly resented by Traz the foreman for being to quick witted.

As Vur, and Larten continue to do there job Traz is scanning the isles looking for the tiniest flaws. He approaches Vur, and sees the water he is dunking the cocoons in is not hot enough. Traz verbally lashes out on Vur and calls him "A disgrace to the Memory of his Mother." Vur questions if he new his mother and Traz reveals that she use to work and the inn. Vur denies any of this claiming his mother was a seamstress. Traz then reveals that he had "met with her" several times, implying something else that drives Vur crazy. A graphic fight breaks out between them, in where Vur is drowned and severly hurt. All in all, he is dead

Larten is traumatized by the death of his cousin, it drives Larten into a Mad frenzy and he ends up stabbing the foreman and thus killing him. Shocked by the murder that has happened at his hands Larten runs away never to be seen by his family ever again.

He lands up in a graveyard, in where he meets Seba nile who takes him in as his assistant. The book follows Larten's adventures and Seba Niles assistant and his struggles into becoming a vampire.

Characters
Spoilers**

Princes

 * Lare Shmet - Oldest Prince, Looked like he could be 1000 years old
 * Azis Bendetta
 * Osca Velm - Recently deceased, alive during Council before Larten's first
 * Paris Skyle - Old friend of Seba's and one of the prices when darren was there
 * Chok Yamada - Youngest of all five princes

Others

 * Seba Nile - An old and Wise Vampire, turned down Paris' offer to become a Prince
 * Larten Crepsley - Seba Nile's Assistant
 * Wester Flack - Seba Nile's Assistant
 * Mika Ver Leth - Lare Shmet's Assistant
 * Tanish Eul - A more reserved Vampire, took to gambling and partying rather than fighting and working. Cubs Leader
 * Yebba - Huge Vampire follower of Tanish and the Cubs, enjoys wrestling.
 * Vancha March - A young Traditionalist Vampire and friend of Seba Nile. He's just over a hundred years old.
 * Staffen Irve - Challenged and humiliated Larten on the first night of Larten's first ever Festival of the Undead.

Vampire's Long Dead (Mentioned as Hall's or old sayings)

 * Khledon Lurt
 * Perta Vin-Grahl - Traditionalist Vampire, fought hard when the Vampaneze split from The Clan, could not accept the unstable peace after the fighting between the two. Lead his followers to a sound death in ice rather than hurting the Clan.
 * Stahrvos Glen
 * Charna

Vampaneze

 * Murlough - Killed all of Wester's family after Wester's father had killed one of his Vampaneze friends. Let Larten survive with Wester.

Other Characters

 * Desmond Tiny - Destiny in a nutshell
 * Vur Horston - Larten's human cousin, killed by Trazz
 * Trazz - A cruel foreman where Larten and Vur worked, killed by Larten after Trazz had killed Vur.

Trivia

 * We might have seen Arra Sails in the book too. When Larten is limping out of the hall on the first night of the Festival of the Undead, there's a female Vampire with a long staff, who asks him to duel with her. It's possible that she is Arra, since her favourite game was the battle with staves on the wooden bar, and we don't know how much older she is than Larten if she is older.
 * Staffen Irve was the Vampire General at the beginning of Hunters of Dusk, who reported about the War of Scars to Darren and Paris Skyle.
 * Yebba was the Vampire who won the howling contest in Trials of Death.
 * When Larten returns to his hometown with Seba and Wester, he sees that the silk factory had been closed, and an abattoir opened in it's place. It is very likely that it is the same abattoir as the one in Tunnels of Blood
 * A reference is made to the Demonata series when Larten asks Seba if demons are real, to which Seba answers, "Well, in five hundred years, I have not seen any.".