Birth of a Killer (The Saga of Larten Crepsley) Reprint edition

Before Cirque Du Freak... Before the war with the vampaneze... Before he was a vampire... Larten Crepsley was a boy.

As a child laborer many centuries ago, Larten Crepsley did his job well and without complaint, until the day the foreman killed his cousin as an example to the other children.

In that moment, young Larten flew into a rage that the foreman wouldn't survive. Forced to live on the run, Larten now sleeps in crypts and eats cobwebs to get by. And when a vampire named Seba offers him protection and training as a vampire's assistant, Larten agrees. This is his story.