Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant has been adapted from the J. K. Rowling endorsed books by Darren Shan and is set to hit cinemas on 23 October 2009.

• The Vampire's Assistant and Other Tales from the Cirque Du Freak
• Cirque Du Freak #2: The Vampire's Assistant: Book 2 in the Saga of Darren Shan
• Cirque Du Freak: The Manga, Vol. 2: The Vampire's Assistant

Darren Shan is much like any other teenage boy. He goes to school, gets good grades, and everything is.....predictable. He's not sure he's cut out for the whole "college > job > family" routine though. Things soon start to get a little freaky when a travelling freak show comes to town.

Cirque du Freak is a circus that features fantastically grotesque and monstrous creatures, including a wolfman, a snakeboy and a bearded lady. Not to mention a vampire.

Darren and his friend Steve slip out after dark one Saturday night to see the Cirque du Freak at the theatre. Mr Tall greets them at the door and warns that "Each performer is unique. And none are harmless". This fact is amply demonstrated by a werewolf who bites off the hand of someone in the audience. It is here that they meet the mysterious Larten Crepsley. Larten's act in the show involves an extremely poisonous giant spider called Madame Octa whom he hypnotises with a flute to perform tricks. It turns out that Larten Crepsley is the Cirque du Freak's resident vampire and Steve recognises him from vampire books he has read. When the show is over, Steve arranges to meet Darren back at his place because he wants to talk to Larten, whose real name happens to be Vur Horston. Darren has other plans, though, and sneaks back upstairs to overhear Steve and Larten's conversation.

Steve requests that he join Larten as a vampire apprentice, but the vampire insists that he must test him first. Things don't go Steve's way when the tests reveal that he has "bad blood". Larten refuses to transform him. Naturally, Steve becomes angry, but at this point Darren decides to return home and so doesn't see how their scene plays out. When he gets home he can't stop thinking about Crepsley's spider. He is so obsessed with the spider that the next day he steals Madame Octa so that he can make it perform tricks too. He actually succeeds by playing his flute as Larten did.

Darren invites Steve over to show him the performing spider. Whilst Darren is playing the flute and the spider is on Steve, Darren's sister comes in and breaks the spell. The inevitable happens and the spider bites Steve. Steve becomes seriously ill, but when he is rushed to the hospital, the doctors declare that there is nothing they can do for him. In a last ditch attempt to save his friend, Darren visits Larten Crepsley to ask him for a cure. Larten agrees to give him the cure on one condition: that Darren becomes his assistant and half-vampire. Darren goes ahead with this and Steve starts to get better. He soon realises that Darren has become the vampire's assistant and feels angry and betrayed.

Crepsley stages Darren's death and he is duly buried. He later returns to dig Darren up, whereupon the vampire's assistant bids farewell to his hometown. Steve shows up and when Darren tells him everything that has happened, he causes an angry scene. Steve cuts a cross in the palm of his left hand and swears that he will kill Darren and Larten.

Vampire and assistant leave.

Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant adds another variation to the vampire profile and reuses the concept of vampires not being evil.

Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant - Trailer

Darren and Steve Buy Tickets

Steve Asks Crepsley to Turn Him Into A Vampire