Carnies

The Ferris wheel spun, the bumper cars crashed- and the ring in my ears never stopped. An entire week of working this job was getting the better of me. All of the prissy little children, and the angry parent's and the repetitive soundtrack of the fair would surely have my brain seeping from my ears sooner than I had originally thought. This wasn't my usual job, but that could be debated. At this moment I was under cover- It didn't really feel that way though. I wasn't being secretive, I wasn't hiding or staking out with my team...no. They were all manning other rides in the park- or pretending to be cute couples enjoying the rides and fun. "Hey, lady. Did you here me? If I get those bottles down, you've gotta go on a date with me."

I looked lazily at the boy in front of the stand. He had dirty blonde hair that would have been cute- had it not looked so bad. It was a bowl cut. I scanned the rest of him. Gray eyes, freckles, paler than death, lanky and seemingly acne prone. He was probably 19- at least legal drinking age, because he reeked. Then again he could have just been getting smashed with his friends. "Mhm, sure." I muttered with a frown. He grinned, revealing a set of slightly discoloured teeth. I looked away, out into the midway. There was a clang, and the ball knicked the side of the desk holding the bottles. They wobbled- but stayed stationary. This kid, I was sure, knew that he wasn't going to go out on a date with me.

Most people knew that a lot of games at fairs were rigged. The bottles were actually glued to each other, and held onto the table the same way. I didn't feel at all bad for the kid. After wasting the 5 balls that he had bought, he let out a frustrated snarl. "Forget this!" he looked at me with hooded, angry eyes. With a quick move he swept the balls off the counter and reached for the money pouch around my waist. I suppose he had forgotten about his 'I win you go on a date with me' because he seemed very, very focused on the money. I caught his wrist and twisted upward; I felt the vibration of his skin under my hand and caught his gaze.

"Get lost, Kid." My grip tightened minimally, and he yet out a loud yelp of shock as I let him go.

You could easily see the indentation of my hand- and the slight reddening of his skin. He stumbled back holding his wrist. He seemed to notice the slight burn to- because his gaze whipped up to mine, and then back at his hand. He swore, stumbled once again and walked away into the crowd out people. It was easy enough to tell that that kid had dismissed what had just occurred. Part of me had wished to really scorch that kid- but then again, he may not have come up with a reason for that that was logical. I smiled and gave 3 balls to a little girl, and she wound up to toss. I glanced at the bottles- the air sizzled momentarily and the glue on the top bottle melted. She let the ball loose and hit that exact bottle, knocking it back into the wall- shattering the bottom.

The little girl let out a cry of triumph and jumped. I reached under the counter and pulled up a cute stuffed bear. She took it and almost squealed a thank you. "Your welcome." She scampered off. I shook my head and looked back out into the midway. Most kids annoyed me- but there were times when I figured I could give them a break. I could pinpoint exactly were the others were. In fact, I could see Belle right then- she was working a concession stand- and at that second was handing a little boy a candy apple. Not a few feet away was my 'twin' Winnifred, and our resident sorcerer, Brad trying to play off 'the couple'. Her face was annoyed and she kept slapping Brad when he offered to win her something. I rolled my eyes. Winnifred had a boyfriend, James. He was a telekinetic.

There was a knocking beside me and I turned to look at the door into my stall. "Wh-" I started "It's Iden" My stomach flipped and I quickly undid the deadbolt and swung the door open. "Switching time." He grinned and stepped into the booth. I frowned. As much as I hated this game- I really didn't want to work the tilt-a-whirl. Oh god, I didn't. Sure, it was fun. But the garbage can was right beside the control station, and 2 out of 4 times a kid would get off and hurl his hot-dog and cotton candy. "You've got that other guy, Frank, running it right now. I'll lay low here. I really don't want that ride." Iden snorted and quickly set up.

I couldn't not watch him- so every few minutes I would look away from the broken bottles and stuffies- to see him. "So, have you guy's found him yet?" He asked.

I glanced out into the midway.

"Yeah, he's tailing this one kid...I've been watching- Winni and Brad have seen him to. We expect he'll try something when this place closes down- so we have to get him before then." Iden nodded. I was a agent and at that second, the team was trailing 'Bugzy' the carnival clown who had been taking children to prolong his life. Not like that would work. You may be asking 'Why' right now. Its easy. Bugzy's real name was Elmer Goldstein and he was an ex cabal, back when he was with us however, he was human. Elmer went insane after he was fired for learning to much, and joined up with some rogue vampires. They changed him. Now he was out to get the cabal, or so they thought. He was a threat and had to be terminated. I sat with Iden for a while longer- watching children come and go, teenagers to...There were a few girls who stopped. I made sure to glare at them pointedly from behind him. "So, you're an artist? I love that." The blonde with an accent murmured, leaning on the counter and exposing her...minimal, cleavage. Iden didn't even notice. I found it odd. Why would any normal girl flirt with a carnival worker? I remembered when I was a kid, and how they all used to scare me so much...

"Yeah. I am. Pencil's are my medium-" he jumped into his entire art history and the girl quickly decided that she wasn't interested when she found that he clearly wasn't. I grinned as she walked away. "You do realise that she was flirting with you, right?" I asked. Iden smiled slyly. "Was she?" I rolled my eyes- but caught something as I looked back out into the crowds of father from earlier, had his hands cupped around his mouth and he was shouting something...

"Caroline! Oh god. Caroline! My baby, were are you!"I frowned. "Hey, Iden...Were's bugzy?" I was already searching. He also scanned the crowds- but Bugzy wasn't there. I felt my stomach twist. He had already waved in Winni and Brad. "Whats going on?" Winni asked- clearly thankfull that she didn't have to be alone with Brad anymore. I looked at my twin and felt the furious blaze my eyes. I also smelled the smoke from the counter as I gripped it.

"Remember how we thought that Bugzy only went after boys- and that we figured he would strike when everyone was leaving?..." I ground out through my teeth.

Winni's cat like eyes took on a dangerous look, and she nodded. "Well. We were wrong...We need to get him not- because he's got a little girl." With a collective nod myself and Iden hopped the booth and we call ran into the midway- shedding our carnie clothes when we were out of the main crowd. "If you were a crazy clown- were would you go?" I asked. Brad, being ever funny, grinned. "I would go to the funhouse." I frowned over at him. He was so odd sometimes. It was a wonder that Marie liked him so much. Sure he was extremely good looking, and he had great moments of clarity...but in serious situations he felt that he should act like a clown.

Winni slapped him over the head- clearly appalled. Brad made a whiney noise and held the fake lump as we made our way to the fun house. It had been closed down for the last few days, as one of the moving stairs in it broke and almost cost a little girl her shoe- and foot. "Winni- can you see the funhouse?" My 'Twin' was a half demon like myself- but not an Aduro. She was an Aspico- meaning she could see long distances, though walls- all that cool X-ray vision stuff. She nodded and after a moment scanned the area. She gasped and turned away when she looked toward an old 'balloon wall'. "Whats wrong, did you find him?" Iden asked, anxiously. She swallowed and shook her head. "No...I did find- oh god. Why do teenagers find it fun to do those things- In a public place no less." "Guys, we don't have time for this." Iden growled and with that we hall ran for the funhouse, once again.

Winni did a quick scan and found two shapes- one large and one small moving through the funhouse. "Got em'" Was all she had to say before I was up and running through. This funhouse was made to appear like an old mansion- a haunted one. I didn't call that fun. From behind me, I heard the almost horrified groans and sobs of Winni. It made me want to laugh- because everyday she handled gruesome things like vampires and rouge half-demons and dead humans and gore...and yet things like haunted houses and dark forests scared her. Bizzare. I moved through a swath of cobwebs and was greeted with a screaming noise- the bloody murder kind. A white skeleton dropped in front of my vision. It looked almost real. It even had brown hair falling from its skull and small pieces of flesh on its bones.

Its hand I realised, was right in front of my face- but it was to late fore me to stop moving. It touched me.

You know how I said that it had almost looked real? Well I had been very, very, very wrong about that. It was totally real. My throat closed, and opened long enough for me to let out a shriek and leap back. As I looked at my surroundings now- I could see the bodys. At least 10. All children. "Oh god." I was almost ready to vomit when I felt a hand on my shoulder. "Keep moving, Rylee..." Iden said. Had he known that these were real? Something told me that he did...Could he smell them? I looked back at others. They didn't seem to care about the body's- or maybe they didn't know. Iden easily brushed past the skeleton and the others followed. What confirmed my suspicion that they didn't know was when Brad shook its hand. I would make sure he used a lot of purel when we got back to the office. We moved through the rest of the funhouse, and I found it easier as we went to ignore the body's and bones and focus on what we were here to do.

"Winni- do you see hi-" Brad seemed to have shed his fun side, and had his serious face on now. As he spoke however there was a cackle, a muffled scream, and a bright flash of colour ahead as Bugzy ran down the hallway. "Catch me, Catch me!" He called. I was off running- Iden over taking me and moving with heightened speed. Iden was a werewolf- and along with being like he was he had far more strength and stanima that the rest of us. No it wasn't wrong that I liked him...He was one of the cutest men I knew. Tanned skin, tall, dark wavy hair...When we skidded into a second hallway- we saw the Bugzy pass through a wall. Iden bolted and stared at were he had disappeared. "A hologram?" Brad asked slowly as he came to stand beside us. "No..." Winni murmured, a slight smile forming on her face. "A passage."

** Comment and Rate, Chapter 2 will be up soon :) **