Darren is growing weary of being the good kid. All his life he has been a good boy and done what he was told to do. He studies hard, does his homework, makes good grades, and helps out at home. His parents are proud; he has chosen the right path in life, the good choices that lead to college, a good job, and maybe one day a family of his own. Somehow, though, this life is a little too confined for Darren. The way of the straight and narrow starts to seem a little too narrow for him. When, in an event that appears to be fate or pure destiny, an invitation to the Cirque Du Freak falls into his path, he sees his opportunity to veer off the "right" path and take a detour of his own making, leading him to a circus of freaks and an unexpected life as The Vampire's Assistant.

Although Darren has more than likely always had his own inner desire to be the bad kid for once, he probably never would have had the guts to actually make any decisions that reflected these desires if it weren't for his bad-boy best friend Steve. Steve is constantly getting Darren into trouble to the point that Darren's parents forbid him from ever hanging out with Steve again. Darren makes the choice to hang out with Steve anyway, though, marking the beginning of the end of his life as the stereotypical good boy. He then goes further and ventures out with Steve, despite being grounded by his parents, and they head to the freak show everyone in town has warned them not to attend. This event is about to change both boys' lives forever.

The Cirque Du Freak is unlike any event either Darren or Steve has ever seen before. They encounter people with what seem to be supernatural abilities and features far above and beyond anything they could have imagined. There are people who can lose limbs and immediately grow them back again, people with no skin covering their insides, people with two stomachs, razor-sharp teeth, unusually tall bodies, unusually small bodies, and the star of the show, Larten Crepsley, a man Steve (who has a strange obsession with vampires) immediately recognizes as a real-life vampire. Mr. Crepsley also introduces into the show an enormous and very poisonous spider named Octa that Darren (who has a strange obsession with spiders) is immediately entranced by. Darren's fascination with Octa leads him to do yet another thing he would never have dreamed of doing before when he sneaks backstage after the performance and manages to steal her away from Mr. Crepsley.

With no place to safely hide Octa, Darren brings her to school with him. She is almost immediately discovered by Steve and very soon after escapes from her cage and is left running loose among the entire student body. In the process of trying to capture the spider again the unthinkable occurs and Octa bites Steve, leaving him on death's door and causing Darren to return to the very man he stole her from. After laying out the situation for Mr. Crepsley Darren learns that there is an antidote but it will come at a considerable cost. Mr. Crepsley will only give the antidote to Steve on the condition that Darren gives up his own life and becomes Mr. Crepsley's personal assistant as a half-vampire. Darren will never return to school or his family or the life of any normal kid. After a brief pause for thought Darren agrees. He will do anything to save his friend.

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