Mr. Crepsley spent a lot of his time teaching Darren and I about blood. He taught us what animals vampires can and cannot drink from. "So, cats are poisonous, but dogs are fine?" Darren raised on of his eyebrows, his arms folded across his chest as he sat cross-legged on the ground. He'd become more cooperative with our 'vampire lessons' since Mr. Crepsley said that he'd be returning to the Cirque Du Freak.
I cringed at the mentioning of dogs.
A rare smile flitted across Mr. Crepsley's lips at Darren's thoughtful inquiry. "That is correct, Darren."
Blood plays a vital role in the life of a vampire. If human blood isn't consumed regularly by a vampire, whether they be half or fully blooded, they will age twenty or thirty years for every one year that passes. Darren frowned when he heard this. He and I had been refusing to take any human blood ever since the day we were both blood as half-vampires. Darren had no intentions of starting now. And, although I had no interest in the longevity of our new lives, I was having second thoughts.
We covered more animals we couldn't drink from: monkeys, frogs, snakes and most fish were off limits. But there were so many, Mr. Crepsley said it was impossible to cover them in a single night. He advised to ask him before trying blood from any type of animal that we hadn't tried before.
Mr. Crepsley couldn't flit with both of us-that was a major drawback of having two assistance, I guess. I would have offered to be left behind, but I had nowhere else to go, and I was unable to search for Mr. Tall mentally, as Mr. Crepsley had before we left the church.
Darren and I idled by the gaping mouth of the doorway of the weathered stone church we were harboring in while Mr. Crespley say on one of the benches with his eyes closed. The snapped open and he approached us, handing me a bag of cookware and Darren another bag full of other things. "They are not far off," he said to us as we exited the church. "Half a night or so will have passed by the time we reach them."
Darren was in awful high spirits as he dashed ahead, searching for the circus tents and trailers that they somewhere beyond the horizon. It made no difference to me whether we stayed or went. At least, That's what I told myself. What I really wanted was someone else to talk to. Maybe a friend who was a girl. That would be nice. . . .
The more we discussed the idea, the more excited Darren grew. He was practically vibrating as we traveled along the empty countryside. "What if I don't like it there?" he asked.
"Then we will leave," Mr. Crespley answered simply. "I enjoyed my time with the Cirque, but it was not the life for me. If you like it there, we will stay. If you do not, then we will hit the road again."
I felt secluded, as if I were invisible. My eyes narrowed at Darren, and he gave me a curt nod in return.
"They won't mind if we tag along?" He made sure to enunciate the word 'we'.
"You will both be expected to pull your own weight," he explained. "Mr. Tally will most likely order you to help with setting up for the performance, with lights, setting up chairs, duties similar to that."
"Absolutely," I said without thinking. Darren grinned at me and knocked my ribs with his elbow. I shoved him and glanced at Mr. Crepsley. "Will Mr. Tally know that we're coming?"
"He may," he answered hesitantly.
My face scrunched up, eyebrows furrowed beneath my choppy bangs. "What is that supposed to me? Didn't you tell him with your thoughts? Aren't you all telepathic, or something?"
Darren perked up at the mention of telepathy.
He chuckled. "In a matter of speaking, yes. We do not communicate our words through telepathic speech, but we can sense each other's presence, even from a far distance." He thought for a moment before continuing. "It is akin to sensing an aura."
"Would we be able to sense it, too?"
He shook his head. "Vampires, and exceptional humans possess such a ability," He caught a glimpse of Darren's prying eyes and must have sensed a question. "Go on," he said, "say whatever is on your mind."
Darren took a deep breath. "Do you believe in God?"
I arched an eyebrow at his question, but held my tongue since he wasn't directing the inquiry toward me.
Mr. Crepsley flashed him a questioning look, just as I had, but, instead, he gave a slow nod. "I have faith in the gods of vampires."
I jumped in. "There are vampire gods?"
"All cultures have gods," he said.
"What about heaven?" Darren asked.
"We believe in a place called Paradise. It lies far beyond the stars. If a vampire has lived a good life, he will be granted entrance to Paradise."
My head involuntarily recoiled. "What about the vampires who don't live acceptable lives?"
Guilt swam inside me.
"They stay here," he said."
"How do you live a good life?" Darren said, thinking hard.
"Live cleanly. Do not kill those you drink from, unless it is deserved. . . . If the world is better off without that person...that is the only exception." He cast his gaze ahead, that same sweep of loneliness dancing in his eyes.
I thought he wouldn't answer anymore of us pestering, but decided to ask anyway. "Killing someone can be a good thing?" I glanced at Darren, but he wasn't looking at me.
Mr. Crepsley's chin dipped. "People have souls. When they die, those souls go to heaven or Paradise. When we take minimal amounts of blood, we do not ingest the essence of the person. But if we consume a great deal, we keep part of them alive within us."
"How is that possible?" Darren asked, his eyes full of bewilderment and panic.
I'm not sure what he was thinking of, but Steve leapt into my mind and I had to shake my head to get him out.
"If we drain a person's blood, we gain their memories. Thoughts. Feelings of the past. We learn through their eyes," he explained.
"But..." I stopped myself, constructing a better way to phrase my next question. "Do we only take from people who ask or who're dying?"
"If they ask, we drink. If they lay on the brink of death, with no hope in sight, we drink," he answered simply." He smiled to himself. "To drink from a friend so that you can keep them alive within you...that is a good deed."
He left the ominous telling to hang in the air, floating in the wind. We drifted from dirt road to road, but we found the Cirque.
"Hurry up, old man!" Darren teased, running out ahead of Mr. Crepsley and I.
I giggled, but Mr. Crepsley shot Darren a hard scowl. "Keep up that snide taunting of yours," he snarled. "I will do nothing but earn you a smack on the ear, and a kick in the-"
"Look!" I cried, rushing up the hill to stand beside Darren. "There it is!"
We jogged the short distance between us and the Cirque. Campers were crawling from their tents as we passed, groggy, rubbing their eyes of sleep. A couple waved to us and I smiled back at them. Their hair was long and unkempt, similar to mine, but far longer. Bracelets dangled around their wrists, and they sported fancy earrings.
Signs decorated the camper's site, along with many banners. I couldn't read what they said, as we were jogging, and I noticed Darren squinting to read them as we passed by. They looked to be words of protest.
"Is this what you saw, Eliza?" Darren leaned over to whisper into my ear. He slung an arm across my shoulders and pulled me close.
I shrugged as we came into a forest, twisting around the second last corner in the road. "I saw tents and I got excited. Did I steer us away from the circus?"
Mr. Crepsley didn't answer.
"Aw, now look what you did!" Darren groaned, pushed a tuft of pine needles from our path as we rounded the final corner. "We strayed from the path and now we're lost!"
"That is not the case," Mr. Crepsley said, gesturing to the clearing ahead of us.
Numerous vans and medium sized tents were propped up against the unsettling background of the forest, nestled in beside the bank of a quietly flowing river. I gasped at the sight, my heart beating wildly. Darren and I joined hands and followed Mr. Crepsley deeper into the campground.
He weaved between the multiple cars and vans as Darren and I trailed behind him. He came to a halt at a large silver van and gave the door a rough tap with his knuckle. Mr. Tally greeted us almost immediately as the door swung open. In the dim light of the moon and lanterns, he looked like he had two empty sockets where his eyes should be.
When he spoke, his lips hardly moved. "Oh, it's you, Larten," He craned his neck, peering over Mr. Crepsley's head where Darren and I stood, huddled and shaking in our shoes. "And you have brought these two.
"May we come in?" Mr. Crepsley asked.
"Of course." Mr. Tall smiled. "What is it that one must say to you vampires before you can enter?" He mused for a split second before bobbing his head. "Right, right. Enter of your own free will."
"Something of the sort." By the slight smile of Mr. Crepsley's face, I knew that it must have been a old joke of theirs.
Mr. Tall sat himself in a large, purple armchair. "I didn't expect you to return to us so soon, Larten." He was pleased, though.
"Plans change, Hibernius," replied Mr. Crepsley.
Hibernius? Darren and I exchanged a bewildered glance. What an odd name for...whatever Mr. Tall was.
After a brief explanation from Mr. Crepsley and a few snide remarks from Darren, Mr. Tall's eyes searched over us. For what? I'm still not sure, but he was looking for something, I suppose.
"Are you will to let us stay?" Mr. Crepsley interrupted the irritating silence.
"I'd be delighted to have to back in the fold." He tossed his head away, speaking dreamily to us. "Larten Crepsley and his amazing performing spider, Madam Octa. I welcome you both."
My mouth moved on it's own, tongue following. "What are we, chopped liver?"
Mr. Tall stopped, spinning around, which caused me to jump back, dragging Darren with me. My back hit the door of the van. Mr. Tall leaned down, our noses mere inches from each other's. "Do you hold an amazing talent deep within you, young Eliza?"
I shook my head. "Well, I can control Madam Octa, but not as well as Mr. Crepsley or Darren."
"You two are less valuable, but welcome all the same," he concluded.
Darren snorted.
I piped up again and Mr. Crepsley shot me a glare. "While we were coming here, we passed by a bunch of tents. What are those people camped all the way out in the middle of nowhere for?"
"Oh! NOP? Pay no mind to them, they're nothing to be concerned with." He waved off the top.
Darren dragged it back. "What is NOP?"
"Nature's Opposing Protectors," Mr. Tall explained."They are environmentalists. They dedicate their lives to protesting construction of environmental hazards."
"Kind of like animals rights activists?" I added.
Mr. Tall nodded. "They should be off somewhere else sometime soon. They're nothing but a minor nuisance.
I was about to inquire further, but Mr. Crepsley interrupted. "I trust that you have been caring for my coffin."
"Of course."
He smiled, rubbing his hands together. "That is what I miss most when I am away for extended periods."
I rubbed the back of my neck. I wondered if, back in Mr. Crepsley's day, they had to drag their master's coffins around on their backs. Even with the two of us, Darren and I would never manage that.
Mr. Tall glanced down at Darren and I. "Shall I knock together a coffin or two for the children?"
I flinched. "Please don't!"
"Don't even think about!" Darren snapped.
"Put them with one of the performers," Mr. Crepsley said. "Preferably someone around their age."
I thought about raising the question of me being put into another girl's tent-I've had my fill of a man's company by now-but I kept silent.
"How about Evra?" Mr. Tall suggested with a wide smile.
"That sounds wonderful!" Mr. Crepsley smiled at the suggestion.
"Who's Evra?" I asked, nervousness slithering up my spine like a snake.
"You'll find out." Without a word further, he was off to his beloved coffin.
Darren and I followed Mr. Tall to Evra's tent. He handed us a pile of blankets, which knocked me to the floor, and threw a few pillows onto the bundle that was burying me. Darren shot me a questioning glance, and I knew he was wondering where Mr. Tall had pulled the pile from, but was too tired to ask.
We entered the darkness, the flap falling behind us.
"Hey, Evra, are you in here?" Darren called into the pitch black hole. "We're your new-"
He was interrupted by a slow, rattling hiss.
"What the hell is that?" I asked.
The slithering noise had reached our feet. As I stood rooted to the spot, something fleshy and slimy wrapped itself around Darren's legs. I knew what it was but didn't dare breathe a single word. Darren said nothing. I looked over and noticed the closed eyelids of a snake.
