Chapter elf
Cormac Limbs turned out to be this good looking normal guy with short brown hair and a muscular frame. He came over with everyone who had left me to introduce himself. Right when I met him I liked the dude. Not only was he funny as shit, his talent was straight up amazing. I mean, there were no words to describe what he can do! This bastard could bite off a finger, chop off a hand or whole arm, and like a scene out of a movie, it would almost immediately grow back. Cormac enjoyed freaking the hell out of me with his talent as well. Biting a finger off and letting it fall into my food, real entertaining! I loved it. We chewed the fat for a while, great 50s saying, before he had to turn in for the night.
"Well doll face, it was wonderful meeting you," he said with a genuine tone, "but I need to get a quick meal and hit the sack. I'll catch up with you tomorrow." Cormac bowed and headed over to the buffet. I smiled as I watched him walk away. What a killer dude. "I see you made yet another friend." a soft accent from behind me chuckled. I turned to see Mr Crepsley with humor in his eyes. My insides felt cold once I saw him, and I wondered if he remembered what he was about to do before Cormac came. If he was going to do anything, that is. "Yeah, he's really fucking boss." I took a quick glance over at the food table where he was chatting with Evra and Alexander.
Mr Crepsley narrowed his eyes and pointed a finger. "You had better watch your language Renee. I do not like that at all." he warned. I appologized on the spot surprisingly, and lowered my gaze. This must have caught Mr Crepsley off gaurd since he stalled a bit on his next words. "Well, yes. No need to appologize. Just be careful." he walked over and ran a hand through my hair. I shivered as his fingernails scraped gently against my scalp. The feelings I had for him were starting to scare me. On the inside I felt kind of slutty for crushing on him so fast, but Gods, I couldn't help it! Mr Crepsley was amazing in my eyes.
I mean first off, he helped me when I was wounded and offered me a ticket to an amazing show. Of course, he wouldn't have been the only one to help me, and at the time, I didn't know whether the show would be great or not, but still. Secondly, he got me out of a hell-hole and cares about what I do and say. Thirdly, his personality and looks meshed together make one sexy looking man. "Renee? Are you still with me?" I blinked and focused back on what was in front of me. Mr Creplsey was leaning down a bit with an odd look on his face. "I asked if I could talk to you for a moment in private."
"Sorry," I laughed and shook my head slightly. He smiled and we headed back towards my trailer. It was pretty chilly outside, and there were practically no stars out tonight. It bothered me. What good is a night without stars? All that was in the sky was a full moon. It was so beautiful. I loved being able to see the dark grey craters in it. Knowing they were, in reality, massive in size was even more intriguing. It was chilly inside of my trailer when we arrived, as it was before. There was a thermostat on the wall above the light switch, but I didn't touch it. If I did there would be no use of my blanket tonight.
My throat began to feel a bit scratchy so I went over and opened the mini fridge. There were three bottles of water, soy milk, V8 juice, and a twelve-pack of coke zero to drink. I grabbed a can of coke and turned to ask Mr Crepsley if he wanted something. "No thank you." he smiled as I shut the door. He was sitting on the sofa now with his legs resting over one another. They were so long and thin for a man. I wondered if he ever played basketball. A little stereotypical, but I couldn't help but wonder a moment. I sat next him with one leg underneath me and the other hanging over the side.
The carbonation from my soda made my throat feel worse, but I drank anyways as he started to speak. "Are you enjoying your time here?" he asked. A simple start to are conversation. I nodded my head and swallowed. "I love it here so far. People are nice, I've already made a close friend in Evra, my new place has a great feel to it and.." I paused a second and smiled softy, "being here has made me feel a ton of worth. I just love being here. I owe it all to you, you know?" I turned my head to the side and eyed Mr Crepsley. He gave a modest look and waved it off. "You are too kind. It was the least I could do." I laughed and moved closer to him.
"I believe it was destiny that brought me to you that night, in all honesty, " Mr Crepsley said, "I actually got a bit off course that night and ended up on that street out of accident. If it were not for the scent of your blood, we might have never met." I shuttered at the thought of never meeting him. "I cannot imagine that. Hell, I never want to imagine the possibility of not meeting you." I rested my head on the couch and kept my eyes on him. He shifted his body to face me, lifting up his never ending legs and resting them at my side. I smiled and rubbed one of them. "That feels strange Renee." he let out a small chuckle and knocked his shoe against my side.
Despite that I kept rubbing his leg. "You're around six-four, right?" I questioned. Mr Crepsley nodded his head and watched my hand run up and down the fabric of his pants. I stopped a second later. Out of nowhere I felt really uncomfortable about touching him. I folded my arms and pressed them against my stomach with a sigh. "How tall are you? You are not the average height, I know that," he noted. "I think I'm like five-nine or so. Might've grown a bit since the last time I checked." I leaned over and grabbed my drink. "Those are bad for you." he said as his eyes followed the can up to my lips.
"No sugar, calories, or carbs." I winked and downed another mouthful. The only thing I still had to worry about was the damn phosphoric acid. "I see," was all he muttered. We sat quietly for a while, nothing to be heard but the sound of cold air coming from the vent. There was a different smell in the air, but it made me feel really good. Not high or anything. It smelled a bit fragrant. Mr Crepsley coughed, which got me to look up. "I wanted to talk to you about dinner. Remember when I, well, when it seemed as if I was going to kiss you?" he seemed really nervous at this point, but not as nervous as I was.
My face turned warmish-cold and I simply gave a nod. "Well I was not going to." he stated bluntly. Since he told me that vampires had ten times better hearing than humans, I was sure he could hear the exact moment at which my heart dropped and shattered in my chest. That killed me. Mr Crepsley sat up normally on the couch and looked over towards the door. "I just wished to clear that up before you went to bed so you would not think I was trying to get fresh, as some put it." That over-killed me. "I never thought that for one moment, Mr Crepsley." I assured him with a superficial grin. I would not have considered that fresh, just romantic.
He seemed relieved after that comment because he moved over and gave me a hug. I wrapped my arms around him and was about to lay my head against his chest, but he let go really quick and stood from the couch. "It is quite late now and I promised Hibernius that I would have a chat with him. I shall see you tomorrow Renee." Mr Crepsley smiled and turned around. He opened the door and took one step out, and the urge to tell him was too damn strong. "I was going to kiss you earlier." I laughed. Mr Crepsley turned with a shocked face. The pieces of my heart turned into lava as my whole body went hot from self-induced humiliation.
"You were going to kiss me?" he repeated what I had already said, from shock I was sure, but I nodded my head anyways to confirm it. "Yeah. I'm surprised you didn't notice when you had a hold of my face earlier." I turned my head and stared at the blank laptop on my dresser. There was no response to what I had said. I was too scared to look back, for fear that he might have just left me here alone. A moment later I felt the couch dip next to me. A hand gently cupped my chin and turned it to face him. Mr Crepsley had a look in his face that really worried me. It was just a strange expression I had not seen from him before.
Once again I had the feeling he was going to kiss me. His hand was still holding my face in place and his eyes were locked onto mine. I was a split second from moving in when he let go. "Renee you and I are just-you are so young compared to me. I am around one hundred and eighty year old while you are not even eighteen yet. You are but a child to me. We could not kiss in that way." he lowered his gaze and stood for the second time. "What way? It was going to be a harmless kiss." I said. "I am sorry then. Well shall talk more tomorrow." he said and walked away. He didn't stop on the first step. I'm guessing he stopped in front of his coffin this time, or maybe once outside as he looked back for a moment. I don't know.
I sat there. Just sat there. My insides were hurting right now. That had been a very embarrassing moment with him. He was totally right though. I was like a child to him. Not in the sense that he found me to be immature, but that I was around a hundred and sixty-two years younger than him. It still sucked though since I had that crush, and just because all this shit just happened doesn't mean it will go away. No! That feeling is not coming back! I promised myself no more bad feelings like this. Not in my new life! Tonight I would go to bed and have some awesome fucking dreams no matter what! Still...I wish I was 100.
An open field with lush grass and fire flies, a million fire flies had come to fill in for the absent stars. I could hear running water somewhere in the distance. I turned my head and in the distance there was a campfire surrounded by the Cirque members. Evra looked a lot older, and he was next to Cormac and Mr Tall laughing. I could also see an orange crop of hair. It was Mr Crepsley. He was-on the ground. On top of Gertha. Naked. She had clothes on but he was naked squirming on top of her. God his body was fine. Galloping behind me. All I could do was stare. Evra turned and looked over at me. He smiled and waved. The Wolf Man's face appeared out of nowhere over me, his head spazzing out and his jagged teeth sicking through his shut mouth.
"Ahhh!" I screamed my fucking head off and covered myself with my bare arms as something began grabbing at me. "Renee! Wake up! Truska help me!" the voice almost immediately calmed me. The unmistakable voice of Evra got me to slowly open my eyes. He had tears in his eyes and his hair was a mess. It looked as if he had just woken up. When I lifted my hand to wipe my own tears away, I noticed the hunk of yellow hair slipping out from between my fingers. "Oh my God Evra! I'm so fucking sorry." I wrapped my arms around him and cried some more. Truska was now standing in the doorway panting.
She rushed to my side and grabbed my face gently. She stared at me for a moment before heading to the fridge and pulling out a bottle of water. She searched through a small cabinet I hadn't noticed before and pulled out a white washrag. "What the hell is going on?" someone else asked in exasperation. I lifted my head from Evra's shoulder and saw that my screams had freaked out Hans, Sive and Seersa. Evra turned and told them I just had a really bad nightmare. Hans came in and took a seat on the sofa, the twins followed soon after. Truska however pointed a finger towards the door and made them all leave.
Even though I still felt a bit mind fucked, I still wondered why Truska grabbed a water bottle instead of just taking me into the bathroom. None the less, she wet down the rag and placed it over my head. Then a knock came at the door. "Is everything alright in there?" It was Mr Crepsley. I freaked and pulled Truska down towards me. "I don't want to see him right now!" I whispered in a pleading manner. She gave an understanding nod and walked over to the door. She popped her head out and blindly motioned for Evra to come over. He looked at me a second before rolling off the bed and walking to the door.
"Renee just had a really bad nightmare, but she is fine now. We're just making sure she can get some sleep now." Evra told him. "I wish to see her." he said while trying to come in. "You can't Mr Larten!" my dear Evra stopped him. "Do not be foolish boy let me in to-" "She's completely naked right now!" Evra squealed. My jaw dropped at this and I covered my face. There was an awkward pause followed by the clearing of one's throat. "Tell her I love her and hope she gets a good nights rest." Mr Crepsley muttered. The love part threw me over the edge and I was tempted to get up, but quickly stopped myself. After all, I was naked!
Truska and Evra bid Mr Crepsley a farewell and closed the door. Evra turned back around with a very wide eyed look. At that I busted out laughing and shaking my head against the soft pillow behind me. "Of all the things you could have told him, Evra." I gave a fake glare and sighed. Truska came back over with a badly concealed grin and caressed my forehead with the now warm rag. They left after another ten minutes to let me sleep. I had a very hard time doing so. All I could see was the nude form of Larten on another woman, and the horrid face of Wolf Man. The bad part was, I couldn't decide which was scarier.
I had finally fallen asleep at some point late in the morning and got up at 11:25. The blinds were pulled shut, allowing only small strips of sunlight inside the trailer. I laid in bed for another five minutes before the smell of food beckoned my ass out of bed. I went to pee first and brush my hair. After that I put on a sleeveless black Chowder shirt, my Pirates of the Caribbean boxers and my slip on checkered converse. It was super bright when I opened the door, thought it mellowed out as my eyes adjusted. "Hey Renee." someone greeted. I shielded my eyes to see Gertha. I waved back after shuttering from my dream image.
Evra was outside with a hose in is hand cleaning his boa. I walked down the steps and headed towards him. "Just throw it in fast!" I heard someone shout out from somewhere. I looked around and spotted two crew members throwing raw meat into the Wolf Man's cage. He was snarling and shaking his cage like crazy. Seeing him after my dream freaked me out a bit. He spotted me looking at him and stopped dead. What happened next was one of the most creepiest things ever. From all fours he stood on two legs, and slowly, walked over the the side of the cage facing me. Then he grabbed two of the bars and stuck his face in between them, squated a bit, and...stared.
He motionlessly stared at me with wide eyes and a gaping mouth. The crew people seemed really confused at this, but took this time to place the slabs of raw meat into his cage. This peacefulness did not last, because a second later he lashed out and started growling and bellowing like a psycho, shaking the bars harder and harder, causing one of them to come loose at the end. I saw this and ran over towards Evra, who had been watching the Wolf Man the whole time. The crew started freaking out, but Mr Tall came out of his trailer with something in his hand and they all calmed. A tranquilizer. Less than two minutes later the Wolf Man was out. "What the heck was that?" Evra came next to me.
I looked over at the bewildered Evra. "Fuck if I know." I muttered. Mr Tall walked over to us calm as ever and asked what had happened. "I don't know. I was just watching him get fed and, he went crazy. I don't think I provoked him." I rubbed down my forearm and felt my hair prickling like mad. It wasn't even cold outside. Mr Tall dropped the subject and told Evra and myself the show would be tonight. "You sold all the tickets yet?" I wanted to know since I never saw anyone go and advertise. "No not all. That is why I want you to go into town and do a bit more for me. School is not out yet so it will be safe."
My face contorted into confusion for a moment until I remembered Steve and Darren. "Oh yeah. Where do you want me to sell them? I mean like, not outside stores or anything right?" I asked. Mr Tall gave a handful of flyers to me as well as a roll of twenty or more tickets. "Sell them near the corners and alleyways, but don't look all suspicious. Act as if it is a fundraiser of some sorts." Evra had gone to turn off the hose and came back just as Mr Tall finished. "Can I go too? Maybe without a disguise and show people what they're in store for?" Evra put on a toothy grin and flickered his tongue out a bit.
Mr Tall wrinkled his nose and laughed. "Now Evra, you know we can't do that. You are the grand finale! We wouldn't want to ruien the ending now would we?" Evra dejectedly smooshed mud in between a few of his toes and shook his head. I giggled a bit and tried to hug him, which only resulted in him nudging me away with a grin. "You had better get going Renee, school ends in a few hours." Mr Tall reminded me. So I placed the roll of tickets around me arm and held the flyers in both hands as I walked off towards town. Hopefully things would go smooth as silk.
There were surprisingly lots of people out today, though most of them didn't look as if a freak show would float their boat. There were mostly middle aged and stone aged people out and about, picking up the newspaper or adult diapers, whatever they bought at the grocery store. There was an ancient brown fence near an abandoned house that looked perfect for loitering, so I headed over there first. Damn, and a 7-11 lay across the street from it. Maybe after I get a few buck from the tickets-ah shit! Mr Tall didn't tell me how much I was suppost to sell them for! That really sucked ass and I did not want to walk back.
Wait a minute. How much did Mr Crepsley say they were the night we met? Like-damn. I leaned against the fence and thought hard for a few minutes...oh yeah! Twenty bucks for a ticket. Cool beans, now I could get the pensive look off my face and sell some tickets. Some people were heading down the same sidewalk I was one. They looked decent. There was a man with really short brown hair that spiked a bit in the front, and he was wearing a horrid pink polo shirt with some board shorts and sandles. He was with some thin blonde, maybe in her late twenties. She had on a white shirt, long black shirt and slides.
When they walked up I smiled. The guy gave one of those slick nods I was accustomed to giving. "What'cha selling there? Some tickets." he asked oblivious to the fact that I knew the language of sarcasm. At that point I was tempted to pull a good old "Here's Your Sign" but that might've been bad for business. So I just nodded my head with a smile. "They're tickets to the Cirque Du Freak, the most amazing show you will probably ever see." I smiled and returned a slick nod. The dude just laughed a bit and said he had no money on him. Coincidentally, neither did his lady friend. I narrowed my eyes.
"You don't want to help out at all?" I put on a really sad look and leaned against the fence, putting on an dejected Evra look. "No sorry." the dude said without care, but the lady asked what they'd be helping out with. "You would be putting food on the tables of all who work so hard to put on this show. All the people who were shunned cruelly by society, yet still perform for the simple task of amazing those who once turned their noses to us." I had been able to form tears in my eyes from thinking of the ending to Moulin Rouge, my all time favorite love movie. The lady must have been thinking of the same scene too.
Her grey eyes had tears in the corner as she asked how much money a ticket would be, while her asshole boyfriend, or son, just stood to the side sipping the Big Gulp he never paid for since he had no damn money on him. "I feel nervous to tell you because it is so much." I bit my lower lip. "Come now darling how much?" she softly smiled as she held her wallet. "God...twenty dollars." I fidgeted a bit and looked at the ground. "Oh that is not nearly enough for food these days! How about an extra ten dollars?" she smiled. Fuck now I felt bad. "Thank you so much miss." I smiled as she handed me the money.
I pulled off a ticket and handed it to her along with a flyer. She shook my hand and headed off with Mr Shit-Head to wherever he was not going to spend money at. Once I saw they were gone I headed over to the 7-11 for a large cherry slurpee, some Swedish Fish and a bag of Cool Ranch Doritos. There was a homeless man outside of the store with a Bible in hand, which made me feel bad. When he saw me I walked over and stopped a moment. He said a small prayer for me and held out his hands, so I gave him the thirty dollars I had just got for the tickets and my act. He blessed me half to death after that.
Mr Tall would probably be a bit mad, but if I sold the rest of the tickets and just paid him back I'm sure he would be fine. After an hour or so more of doing my thang outside I managed to sell seven more of the tickets. I wished I had changed into some shorts before leaving, because I had to put all of the money I made into my bra. I cut down a street where five teenagers were obviously cutting school to smoke like a bunch of dumb fucks. They saw me and stood from the stoop they were on. I gave the traditional teenage head nod, which showed I came in peace. One of the guys approached me first with a grin.
He had on a pair of black pin-stripped short and a Marvel Comics shirt. "What's up? Haven't seen you around here before." he sounded a bit fresh when he said this, but I blew it off and got to the point. "Are any of you interested in buying tickets to a freak show? Only twenty bucks for a ticket, though this shit should be worth at least fifty." I said in all honesty. The guy turned around to see what he friends thought. They seemed mildly interested and walked over as I pulled out some flyers. I gave them each one and let them look over it. "Sounds interesting, but I don't buy into stuff like this." one of the girls commented.
"Seriously, the show is fucking boss and worth it. All the acts are genuine, none of that carnival bullshit. I work with them and can tell you first hand this is as real as it get." I placed a hand on my hip as they all continued to look through the flyers. "You ain't shittin' us right?" one of the other boys asked. This one was really cute. He had darkish brown skin and really nice dreads. His teeth were pretty much perfect in every way, and he had on some skate clothes. "No, I'm really fucken not. I wish I could one hundred percent convince you with my words, but I know I can't." I shrugged after that and let them decide.
After they made me explain a few more things about the Cirque and had me describe a few of the performers, which I chose Cormac and Truska, they finally bought their tickets and I headed off. I had seven more tickets to sell before heading back, so I decided to try and find some more teenagers. They were the easiest crowd to deal with since I was part of the same species for now. There was what looked like a high school up ahead so I decided to hang out there for a bit. Then again some SRO might mistake me for a student and send me to detention or something. Oh well, I can plead a pretty good case.
I asked some old lady walking down the street what time it was, and after pulling out her brand new black berry, she told me it was a quarter till' 2:00. If the school here was the same as my high school, they should be getting out in about five minute. Sure enough around five minutes later the bell rang throughout the school and-middle schoolers came pooling out! Damn, this was the middle school. There was really no point in staying around since I wasn't going to sell tickets to a bunch of thirteen year olds. I picked the flyers up and took what was supposed to be my last look at the school, but did a double-take instead.
Walking out of the front gates was none other than Steve and Darren. They seemed really uneasy and that only worstend when they spotted me from afar. Both of them froze on the spot. I did too, but only a few seconds went by before I made for the other direction in a slow manner. I actually wanted to see if they would follow me. Not feeling rushed at all I took my time down the sidewalk and even did a bit of window shopping, only with my eyes though. The seventh window I passed showed the reflections of Darren and Steve. "You best stop following me you little shit heads!" I spun around and yelled.
To my up most surprise, neither of them flinched. Steve stepped up towards me and pointed to my arm with a glare. "Those things only lead to hell." he growled in a threatening manner. "Naw, I beg to differ. I find they lead to joy and amazement." I sucked my teeth at him and turned back around, but of course, Steve decided to run and block my path. "Is Vur Horston still there? Or you might know him as Creepy Crepsley." his eye twitched, and so did mine at that comment. Man, if there hadn't been any witnesses around-damn! "You mean Larten Crepsley? He passed away about a year ago." I lied with malice.
Steve didn't seem to buy it. "He was a vampire you know? A nasty wicked vampire!" I wanted to step it up a bit. I flung the flyers down and got right up against him. "So am I you little bastard!" I snarled and got within an inch of his face, which at this point was pale as snow. "You say one more word about my father, and you shall wake up tomorrow without an ounce of crimson running through your veins. Larten told me about you, Steve Leonard. He told me how you threatened to kill him. I don't fucking like that at all." I pressed my nose against his, then caught a glimpse of Darren behind him. His face was even paler.
"Darren...Shan is it?" I questioned while shoving Steve to the side. "The spider stealer." I grinned, "Larten said you were very brave to do what you did, though he was not amused." I ran my hand through his brown hair and pressed my lips close to his ear. "Word of advice, watch out for Steve. Don't let him waste away his life worrying about this, kay?" I pulled back and looked into Darren's watery eyes. Steve was silent behind me, and for a minute I thought he had left, until he came around me and told Darren to hurry up so they could go. "Steve?" I called out. He turned with tears in his eyes. I sighed and smiled.
"You're damn cute for your age, you know that?" I winked, picked up the flyers, and walked in the other direction. I had to laugh a while on the way home, because I heard a "Yeah I know" from behind. The kid seemed alright, in need of an anger management session or two, but all right none the less. When I finally arrived back at the Cirque, Evra was there to greet me first as usual. I told him how many tickets I had sold and how many were left, and then told him about my encounter with Steve and Darren. He was astounded by how I had handled the situation, and so was I. In the end, they were ok in my eyes.
Well they were, until I realised I was two tickets short then what I had before talking to them. That little bastard Leonard.
A/N: A decent chapter I guess...R&R, point out what you liked, what I could've done better.