To Hope, is to Fear a Fight
A number of days had passed since Katie and Steve had come to visit the Cirque, and it was in the dead of night. Darren, Evra and Rebecca were out by the lake that was near the camp, and they were having fun, all of the other freaks were simply just enjoying each other's company. Crepsley was lying on an array of pillows with Madam Trusca, the pair occasionally stealing kisses from each other and at this moment, Crepsley was kissing down her neck and across her shoulder, when he stopped at feeling her tense.
"What is it dearest?" Crepsley asked her, his voice soft and whispered as he carried on kissing her shoulder. "What do you see?"
"Trials are ahead, loss and great suffering will follow, two young lovers are in danger, and only one can survive." Madam Trusca told him, her eyes glazed and her voice sounded like she was far away.
"Who are these people that you speak of?"Crepsley asked, a sudden sense of urgency in his voice as he sat up and was suddenly knelt in front of her, looking at her, his eyes holding nothing but worry and fear for her answer.
"Evra and Katie...They are in danger..." She whispered as she snapped back into the present, looking at the worry in his face as she caressed it. "What did I say?"
Crepsley repeated it back to her clearly, and then they both ran out of the tent at hearing screams. Getting outside, they saw some Vampanese running through the camp, actually burning tents as they went. After making sure that Madam Trusca was safe, Crepsley went to find Darren, Rebecca and Evra.
When Crepsley got to the lake, he found a note attached to a tree, but no sign of Evra, Darren or Rebecca. "What is going on here?" He asked out loud, though he knew that no one could hear him, and he walked to the tree and pulled the note off, taking it back to the Cirque. By the time he had gotten back, everything was quiet and everyone else was there, but there was still no sign of Darren, Evra or Rebecca.
"Crepsley!" Madam Trusca ran to him, hugging him. "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine, has anyone seen Darren, Evra or Rebecca?" He asked, hugging her back.
"No, not since they went out to the lake...Aren't they at the lake?" Mr Tall asked as he walked to them.
"No they aren't, but this was." He took the note out of his pocket and held it out to Mr Tall.
"What does it say?" Corma Limbs asked as she, Alexander Ribs and Rhamus Twobellies.
Mr Tall looked at the letter as she stood by the fire and he read its content out loud, so that everyone could hear:
'Here is my warning to you all, three of your precious freaks have been taken by my men and they will be killed by tomorrow night. My reason is because of the little bitch Katie Crepsley, Steve was doing as he was told, but she is much harder to break. Watching the death of her precious boyfriend and friends will break her, and then you all have a choice, take her back to the Cirque, a shell of her former self and likely to kill all of you, or leave her with me where I can put her out of her suffering and reunite her with her loved ones. It's your choice."
Everyone looked at the letter, and then Mr Tall and then to Mr Crepsley, all of them scared and confused.
"I told you that she was dangerous." Rhamus Twobellies suddenly shouted.
"You said nothing of the sort!" Alexander Ribs suddenly shouted. "You treated her like she was a friend, which she is."
"She is a friend and a freak, and us freaks all stick together." Corma told them, standing between them. "So, Mr Tall, what do we do to get the three back?"
"We wait until night." He told them. "Mr Tiny knows that we are coming for them, so he will wait until we are all there. And I want to witness Katie do some real damage."
They all nodded, and decided to go to bed, for now carrying on as if everything was normal, Mr Crepsley wasn't happy about it, since he wanted to get his assistant and daughter and their friends safe as soon as possible, but he knew that Mr Tall was right.
The next day, everyone woke up and went about their day; however they were all getting ready for a fight with Mr Tiny's Vampanese for the safety of Katie, Evra, Rebecca and Darren. That night, they were all stood around a fire, and they looked up as a motorbike sounded in the distance and got louder as it pulled up into the camp and Katie's voice sounded.
"Hey guys, what's going on?" Katei asked, she sounded happy, but her happiness disappeared as she took in the scene of burnt tents and everything else. "Father?"
"Mr Tiny's men came last night, they tried to destroy everything, we managed to capture one, but the others fled." Mr Tall told them.
"Katie, they took Rebecca and Darren...They even took Evra." Madame Trusca told her, looking at a now tense and furious Katie.
"Where is the one that you captured?" Katie asked, her voice dark, and she turned around in time to see Steve leave on the motorbike. "Coward." She muttered, before she followed Madam Trusca as she took her to Mr Tall's tent, with Mr Tall and Mr Crepsley following.
"Do you know where they are?" Katie asked them, and when they shook their heads she nodded. "Alright, I will find out, but I will need to be alone." She walked back into the tent, and she walked to where the man was tied up.
Katie looked at the man, and she knelt in front of him, her eyes meeting the man's and she held him as her hand suddenly shot out and gripped the man just above his neck.
"Give me your name and your species." Katie ordered him.
"Giuseppe, and I'm a Werewolf, not whatever scum you leeches are." He snarled.
"Well Giuseppe, you are going to tell me where Mr Tiny has taken my friends, and then I'm going to let you go. But if you don't…" She suddenly shoved her hand into the man's chest, causing him to lurch forward. "I'm going to rip your heart out, do you understand?"
The man gave a choked nod, and Katie removed her hand.
"Good to see that you do have some common sense, now tell me where Mr Tiny has taken my friends."
The man suddenly spat at her. "Go to hell bitch." His bust of courage was suddenly ripped out of him as fast as ripping off a plaster, as Katie suddenly punched him in the face, a ridged metal band over her knuckles and it cut the man's face.
"Wrong answer, now where are they!" She asked again, her voice rising.
"I don't know, you crazy bitch!"
She punched him again, before she spoke as she watched the man spit out blood. "I'm not a patient girl Giuseppe, so you better start to tell me."
"The old abandoned warehouse, on the outskirts of the east side of town."
"Good boy." Katie told him, before she suddenly tore the man's heart from his chest. "Feed him to the Wolf Man, it should keep him busy for a while." She told Mr Tall as he walked in and she watched the man get dragged away.
"Katie, what do we do?" Madame Trusca asked her, walking to her side.
"We go and get them." Katie told her, and she headed outside, pulling her hood up.
Mr Crepsley and Madam Trusca looked at each other, before they followed Katie out of the tent, where she and the others had already started making a plan of attack, writing it with a stick in the dirt. When everyone was sure of where they were meant to be and what they were meant to be doing, they got ready to go. Mr Crepsley and Madam Trusca walked to her tent, and Crepsley sat on a chair in the corner as she got ready, he watched her change into jeans and a button down shirt, and even though he had seen his lover's body plenty of times before, he felt as though he had to savour this moment as it might be the last time he sees it.
"What?" She asked him as she saw the way in which he was looking at her.
"I just feel like this will be the last time that I see you." He told her, getting up and walking to her when she was fully dressed.
"Larten, I can say nothing to put your mind at ease, but you need to concentrate on helping your daughter and keeping yourself alive." She told him, as she rested her hands on his chest as his rested on her waist. "I love you so much, but you need to survive this, Katie will need you."
"I love you too, but how can I keep my mind on her when I still have you with me?" He asked her in a whisper, kissing her lips. "I don't want to lose you."
"You do this, by making sure that Katie is fine and keeping your eyes on her." She told him, her voice a whisper as she kissed him back.
After a handful of moments together, the lovers broke apart and everyone who was going, got onto any mode of transport that they could, except Crepsley and Katie, and they all left for their destination. Everyone unsure whether they would see each other again, but they knew that they couldn't dwell on it for much longer.
