Zachariah Thomson has spent the past year getting used to the idea that his best friend, Charlie, and the lovely Luna are now vampires, like him. As they learn to cope with the changes this brings, a mysterious creature appears. Likened to the Beast of the Apocalypse, it begins to dismantle the network of support around Zack, who discovers he is more than just an orphaned vampire – he is the subject of an ancient prophecy that relates to the End of Days. As friends and enemies, old and new, throw his world into chaos, he is forced to re-examine what it means to be good at a time when it seems that only the strong and ruthless can survive. Grade 7 Up— This action-packed sequel to Night Runner (St. Martin's/Griffin, 2009) is filled with mystery and danger. Orphaned at a young age and having spent most of his youth in a mental institution, Zach Thomson gets the surprise of his life when he learns that he and those closest to him are vampires. Trying to survive and make sense of his predicament has definitely not been easy, especially when the Underground, a network of vampires, humans, and others that is supposed to protect vampires, is in a state of turmoil and disarray. Then a mysterious werewolflike creature launches an attack on vampires and is compared to the beast of the Apocalypse. Looking for answers and the means to stop it, Zach and his friend Charlie stumble upon an ancient prophecy that references the End of Days. As events begin to spin out of control, Zach realizes that he is the "chosen one" in the prophecy-possible destroyer or savior. With the support and courage of his friends, he must discover the path of righteousness at a time when he is surrounded by darkness and the unknown. The well-developed characters add dimension to the story line, and Zack's witty and sarcastic humor makes this a truly enjoyable read. Fans will be left anxiously waiting to sink their teeth in the next installment.— Donna Rosenblum, Floral Park Memorial High School, NY (c) Copyright 2011.  Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. “Full of surprising twists and clever turns that’ll have you on the edge of your seat!” ―Alyson Noel, #1 NYT Bestselling author of EVERMORE, on Night Runner Max Turner is the author of the young adult vampire novels Night Runner and End of Days . He is a high school science teacher and lives in Ottawa with his wife and children. End of Days By Max Turner St. Martin's Griffin Copyright © 2010 Max Turner All right reserved. ISBN: 9780312592523 --CHAPTER 1 BEING A TEEN VAMPIRE I'm told vampires are popular in books these days. I'm not surprised. The perks of infection are pretty sick. Awesome physical power. Highly tuned senses. The ability to recover from almost any injury. Good dental hygiene. A simple diet. And that immortality thing--very impressive on a résumé. My name is Daniel Zachariah Thomson and I'm living the dream. I have been for over nine years. Having said that--the first eight of them weren't what you might imagine. I was orphaned, living in a mental ward, and sick all the time from medications that would never cure me. Then I found out what I was, met a girl, fell in love, and died. For a while afterward, I'd say life was almost perfect. Then I discovered that every silver lining has a cloud. Does this sound like a complaint? I guess it does. But being a vampire isn't a free ticket to Boardwalk. Those perks I mentioned earlier come with a heavy price tag. If you don't believe me, just think of all the wonderful things you did growing up. How many of them were outside on a beautiful day? For a vampire, the UV index never drops below deep-fry, and they don't make sunscreen for that, so once you get infected--no more warm, tingly skin on the beach, no more ocean sunsets, no more afternoon road hockey games, and no more sneaking into your mother's room to look at her Victoria's Secret catalogs. Actually, I guess you could still do that, but it would have to be at night. Still, you get the point. Life without the sunshine is tough. Just look what it did to Gollum. And the sun is just the tip of the iceberg. I'm sure you've seen the movies. There are lots of ways for us to die, and some are pretty nasty. Forget about holy water and silver bullets. Water of the regular kind scares me, and bullets don't need to be silver, they just need to be airborne. Then there's the angry mob. Scores of people armed with sticks and pitchforks and torches. They got the Werewolf. And Frankenstein's monster. And the Phantom of the Opera. They almost got Homer Simpson, too. For a vampire, fear of discovery, fear of the mob, is constant. It's why we work so hard to stay hidden. Vampire hunters are another reason. And they aren't all as cute as Buffy. In fact, most of them aren't human. They're vampires, which means most of us are killed by our own kind. Does this seem wrong? It certainly does to me. But if I understand