Chapter 10: Evra Von

Gillian ran up the stone steps and tore the lid of the coffin, which concealed the entrance, open. She quickly climbed out of the coffin and checked the tent.
Darren was not there.
Enraged, she stormed out and through the camp of the Cirque du Freak towards the tent of Evra Von, where she assumed the assistant of the vampire would be.
The horror and the disappointment, that the boy did break the order to stay in the secret hiding place, became mixed with the anger of her master, which was running through her veins. Larten Crepsley was angry enough at her, Gillian, and he would be even more, when he learned that the boy had run away.
Or did he already knew?
Gillian was more than aware of the connection to her master, because she felt the blood of the vampire pulsing through her angrily.
The sun blinded her as she stormed past the trailers and a red veil fell over her eyes. A few performers of the Cirque jumped aside in fright and stared behind her, as she pushed Kristina Teeth roughly to the ground, because she had not gone out of the way in time.

Gillian pushed the plane, that covered the entrance of Evras tent, aside and stormed into the corner where Darren's hammock was.
But the hammock was empty.
Gillian angrily pulled down the sleeping bag and threw it across through the tent, so that the basins of the drums clattered to the floor.
Evra, who was sitting with a guitar on his bed, dropped a notebook with song texts and stared at her with his mouth open.
"Gillian? What ...? "
"Where is he?" Gillian went to him.
"Who? Darren? I do not know, not here. What is it ...? "Evra, who was not able to turn pale under his green snake skin, fell silent, because Gillian looked very furious.
Usually she was not a person to be trifled with, already. But now she looked beside herself, and her vampiric side emerged more clearly than ever. Her eyes had a red glow, her skin was porcelain white, she clenched her fists, angry, and on her forehead and her hands appeared bluish veins.
Gillian suddenly shot forward toward him, and Evra gave a little scream in terror and cowered in the corner of his bed, his guitar used as a shield in front of him.
Gillian's face was tight across his, and she bared her teeth.
Never before had he seen her thus: In her otherwise pretty face, sparkling black eyes flashed and between her beautiful lips he could see very sharp teeth.
Evra was holding his breath.
This was not Gillian.
This was Gillian, the vampire, and she was out of control. Did she recognize him at all? Would she jump on him now, and drink his blood?
Evra had dreamed of the beautiful vampires student once may be close to him, but he had not imagined it to be like this.
Many were afraid of the vampire and his servant, whispering behind their hands about the fact that they are, strictly speaking, no freaks, and therefore had nothing to do at the Circus. They held them for uncontrollable and a threat.
Evra had been nothing to this talk, he found the vampire less threatening than the Wolfman or Madam Octa. He had always experienced Larten Crepsley as reasonable and very controlled person.
And usually his student was same in every way.
Nevertheless, she was just a halfvampire whose forces were still not quite awake, and her thirst for blood was not yet under control.
And now she seemed to be a real threat.

Behind Gillian Evras snake was rising hissingly from the ground and spat on the halfvampiress threateningly.
Gillian turned her head and looked at the big, strong python.
Just when Evra tensed his muscles to try to escape with a pike jump from the bed, Gillian drew back, so there was enough distance between her and the serpent.
The red veil over her eyes cleared up and she could think more clearly now.
Control yourself, Gillian, Evra has nothing to do with it.
She inhaled deeply, her brow wrinkles as she looked at the snake boy, who stared fearfully at her from behind his guitar.
"Don`t be ridiculous, Evra, I won`t do you anything," she said as calmly as possible.
The python hissed.
Gillian was shocked at herself.
Had she just wanted to prey on the boy snake?
He does not even smell good, his blood was like an animal.
And she was not even hungry, not a bit. On the contrary, the blood of her master vampire filled her, and she felt strong and full of energy like never since a long time.
Still ... she almost were just jumped on him to ... to, what?
To kill him?
The Phyton hissed menacingly and was erected to full length.
Gillian realized how much Evra feared het at this moment and she was ashamed.
"Evra ... it ... I'm sorry."
The whole fury and energy that had risen up in her, withdrew from her head, and became a hard lump in her belly.
Her knees became weak, and she sat on the edge of the bed so that her face was hidden from Evra.
It was better that way because she felt she could burst at any moment into tears.
Evra slid gently past her from the bed, the guitar still used as a shield between himself and the halfvampire.
But when he saw that she had apparently calmed down, he put the guitar away, and went to his Python. He raised his hands and humming softly to appease it, and the Phyton slowly lowered its head, gave up its threatening attitude, and allowed that Evra picked it up and put in its cage.
He closed the lid gently, breathed out, and looked over at the halfvampiress, who was sitting on his bed.
She looked so lonely and lost.

Evra took a few cautious steps toward her, and then sat down beside her.
"You scared the shit out of me."
Gillian looked up at him. Did he see some tears glistened in the corner of her eyes?
Evra smiled wryly.
For the first time Gillian saw Evra right in the eye.
One minute ago she'd pounce on him and wanted to tear his throat open. Evra was not stupid, he had felt, how dangerous she was.
The reaction of his Phyton said it all.
But now he sat beside her on the bed, trying to hide his fear and cheer her up.
A wave of gratitude swept over her.
She had never taken Evra seriously.
He was just one of the freaks from the circus, not the slickest or the most gifted. Admittedly he was not necessarily the ugliest, but with his green snake skin, Evra was also not really a cutie.
She knew that he had a small crush on her, and that had been reason enough for her to avoid him.
But now she was very grateful to him, that he did not avoid her, that he showed no fear. He trusted her in a moment where she did not even trust herself.
She was neither hungry nor in danger.
And yet she had very nearly preyed on Evra.
Was this due to the vampire blood that pulsed through her body?
She had not been under control.
Would it be forever like this as a vampire?
Will there always be the danger that this red veil laid before her eyes, and she could not distinguish friend from foe?
Was it always like this for Larten?
Suddenly, she admired the cool discipline that her master always displayed. She had never seen that he lost control, although there had been moments in which he had been very angry.
Like now, he was angry, very angry at her, she still could feel it.
But still he had controlled himself, when she was lying close to him in the coffin.
Gillian, you must learn to control yourself.

"Hey ..." Evra said "Please, do not cry."
Cry? No, Evra was right. Larten was right. She must not cry.
She could not allow anger to overwhelm her.
She could not allow to loose control of herself.
Gillian looked Evra straight in the eyes.
They were not human, he had slits in his iris like the pupil of a reptile and he had a yellowish tint. She wondered how Evra saw the world through these eyes.
"I will not cry," Gillian said firmly. "I was just for a moment ... very angry."
She wondered whether she should apologize again, but instead she asked him: "Please, tell Mr. Creplsey nothing about it. It will never happen again, I swear. "
"Okay ..." Evra muttered embarrassed, and looked away, he could no longer withstand her piercing gaze.
"Evra. I must find out where Darren is. "
"I thought he was with you. Should I look around in the camp? ", he eagerly offered his help.
"No ..." Gillian murmured thoughtfully. "He is not in the camp. Where could he have gone?"
"I don`t know. Did you fight? I mean ... if he is gone ... maybe he's back home ... "
"Home?"
"Hmm, yes maybe. He has talked about how much he misses his parents and that he would like to see them. I mean, he knows that he is not allowed to show up, because they believe he is dead and all, but he said it would already be enough for him to peek through the window only once, whether they're okay ... Hey, where are you going? "
Gillian jumped up and hurried out.
At the entrance she paused again, and glanced back.
"Thank you, Evra," then she disappeared.
Evras heart hopped into his stomach.
For the very first time Gillian had smiled at him.