Chapter Fourteen ; Happy the Hard Way

The moon shone full and round in the midnight dark sky as I entered the abandoned church. Excitement bubbled within me as I took in the sight of the interior. I was the first one in, obviously, as I had arrived with the rest of the Cirque. There were lots of pews where the people were going to sit, and a few deckchairs near the front. A stage was propped up at the very end, and blood-red curtains decorated around it, giving off a horror effect. I seated myself on one of the deckchairs right at the very front of the church, my eyes taking in the whole stage. It was deadly quiet, until someone spoke from right next to me.

"Excited for the show?" It was Mr Tall. I jumped out of my skin – he hadn't been there a second ago – but soon relaxed. "Yes, I really am." I replied enthusiastically – and it was the truth as well. My whole body was pretty much shivering with excitement.
"Good. Then you will not be disappointed."
And then he had disappeared. Surprised again, I flung myself around and spotted him at the door of the church. He winked at me slyly, before turning to greet the first visitor. I was entertained as I waited for the show to start. I laughed to myself as I watched Mr Tall appear suddenly whenever somebody arrived, and the shocked gasps and a few screams of the people.

Finally, the massive double wooden doors swung shut with a loud clunk, and the crowd of people went completely silent. The whole place was shrouded in darkness, until two bright floodlights shocked up from the front, alongside a few red lights, going along with the blood-red theme. Trumpets sounded, singing out a nightmarish tune. My eyes glided over the stage, my heart thumped with apprehension – but excitement once again overpowered it soon enough. Then Mr Tall was standing on the stage, smiling around at everyone curiously. "Welcome, my friends. Welcome to the Cirque Du Freak. We are one of the longest operating freak shows in the world. Here you will witness the most amazing and stunning acts that you first thought to be impossible. If you get frightened easily, or have a tendency to panic, I ask you to leave now. Because all of these acts are real, and none of them assure safety."
And with that statement, the operator of the Cirque slipped back into the wings so quickly that everyone was left staring at empty space.

First on was Rhamus Twobellies. I had been anticipating his act ever since I had seen both of his bellies – and it was certainly a unique act too. Some small hooded people, their faces covered by the blue material of their clothing – I decided I would ask Lilia about them later - wheeled on a big tray loaded with cutlery, china and other inedible things. Or at least I thought they were inedible. To everyone's astonishment, Rhamus gulped down every single one of the inedible items in under five minutes. I was amazed, and applauded along with the rest of the crowd.
Next up was Gertha Teeth, who could bite through anything you put in front of her. This slightly tied in with Rhamus' act as they worked together – Gertha bit into huge chunks of metal and Rhamus swallowed it all. I was having a great time.
Then was the Wolfman. He was a massive hairy beast that looked half wolf, half man. He crept around the stage, snarling and roaring at people. A few of the audience actually left out of fear. The Wolfman came up right next to me and sniffed my face. I didn't flinch, but met his gaze. He grunted and looked away, obviously disturbed by my half vampire blood.
Alexander Ribs was next. He played a tune on his insanely skinny body like a xylophone. Every time he hit one of his ribs, it made a light, soulful pinging sound and vibrated into the air. Cormac Limbs joined him on stage and astounded the audience by chopping off his hands and toes. I watched with awe as they grew back. Honestly, I never thought I'd get used to seeing the man grow back fingers or toes or anything, really. It just grew back, just like that.
After them was Madame Truska. She grew her beard and earned a round of applause – but she wasn't finished. She let people come up and try to cut off her beard with scissors, hedge trimmers, and even an electric saw – but nothing could cut it off! I hadn't been expecting this, so this was a treat for me.
Then the lights dimmed and there was Mr Crepsley. He took a bow, and then introduced his act. He explained that not all spiders were poisonous, but those that were could send you into a coma or worse, kill you. While I was wondering why the hell he was talking about spiders, the small crate that he had set on a table when he had entered the stage caught my attention. What was in there? I was intrigued to find out.
That was when Mr Crepsley whipped away the cloth from on top the crate and inside was a massive, colourful and very ugly spider. It was red, purple, green and blue with various darker splotches. Its eyes trickled along the crowd. I never knew Mr Crepsley was one to keep a spider like this and decided to quiz him about it later.
"This is Madam Octa." My mentor announced. "Now, I need to ask you all to please not make any sudden movements or noises. If you do, it will ensure certain death. One bite of this spider and you are dead."
The audience was deathly quiet, and everyone was on the edge of their seats. Then Mr Crepsley opened the spider's cage. A few people that were on my row made to jump up and run for their lives, but a long hiss from Mr Crepsley sat them down again. They remembered his warning.

The vampire brought out a flute from his pocket and began playing a strange little tune. Madam Octa appeared to cock her head. Her legs twitched, and she skittered out of the cage, swaying lazily to the flute's music. Mr Crepsley made her do all kinds of things. She danced, made beautiful webs and finally, climbed up the vampire's leg and arm until she sat upon his head. I had to stifle a laugh, he looked really funny with the spider sitting on his head like some sort of hat. Then suddenly, she climbed onto his mouth. I gasped, frightened she would bite him. But then Mr Tall appeared from the wings and took up the tune with a flute of his own. Madam Octa began weaving a web over Mr Crepsley's mouth, and when she had finished and Mr Tall had coaxed her back into the cage, the red-haired vampire licked his lips and swallowed the web.
When he went off the stage, he received the biggest applause so far, the loudest hands were mine.

Then Mr Tall appeared back on stage and announced the ending of the show. "Thank you for watching. And please, come again." He gave one of those curious smiles of his again, black eyes scanning the crowd, and was gone. Another applause filled the church, and within ten minutes they had all filed out, and I was the only one still inside.

I met Mr Crepsley outside the church, and I was buzzing with joy. "That was amazing!" I gasped as I reached him. "I am glad you enjoyed it." He smiled. "Enjoyed it? That was the best show I've ever seen in my life! And you – you have a spider? She's really awesome!"
"I am relieved that you think so. Then you can be in charge of her. You can feed her and exercise her."
I huffed, smile fading. "Thanks a lot." My tone dripped with sarcasm.
He ignored me and began walking. I followed, and after a while I realised we weren't heading back to the Cirque. "Where are we going?" I asked.
"You are going to drink blood." His answer was cold, and threatened that if I said anything against it then he would have it in for me.
My mood decreased within a heartbeat. I had completely forgotten about that. "I thought I had until tomorrow?"
"It is better to get it over with now." He replied, red cloak billowing out behind him with a swift breeze. "That's not fair!" I snapped. He just snarled. "If you do not drink blood, you will die. It is as simple as that, Mercy."
With a hiss, I declined into silence. I couldn't believe that he was so mean, and so cruel. Why did he have to take me away from everything I had ever known? I hated him for that!

We arrived at an old barn in the middle of nowhere. Without another word, my mentor started forwards and then stopped by the barn door. "There is a farmer in here, and he is on his own. You will drink from him. Do you understand?"
I glared hatefully at him. "How the bloody hell do you expect me to do that?"
"Watch me." He answered, and slipped through the door. I followed him in and watched as he went up behind the farmer and breathed sharply over his shoulder. The man collapsed at his feet.
"What have you done?" I shouted, rushing up and kneeling next to the fallen farmer. "Do not be such a baby. I merely knocked him out by exhaling a special gas into his oxygen that only full vampires and Vampaneze possess. It knocks out human beings for a short amount of time. You will not be able to do this yet. Now, watch what I do and copy me closely."
I watched silently as he bent over the man and made a small cut on his leg by drawing a sharp nail over the flesh. I felt sick as Mr Crepsley bent over the cut and clamp his mouth around it. When he had finished, he spat on his palms, rubbed them together, and spread it on the cut. I watched in amazement as the cut healed up immediately. "Healing spit is only available to full vampires also. Again, you cannot do this yet. When we feed, it is important that we heal the cut so that we do not arouse suspicion amongst the humans. Now it is your turn."
I stared numbly at the man's leg, a cold dread filling my lungs. I felt icy claws clasp around my heart, wrenching it in every direction. I looked at Mr Crepsley and opened my mouth to say I wasn't going to drink from a human, when a recent memory struck me. I remembered the first time I had met Lilia, she had told me to not delay drinking human blood. At first, I struggled to remember why, when at last it hit me. She told me of the time when her father and Darren Shan were younger. Darren had almost died because he had delayed drinking blood.

I took a deep breath, making up my mind. Heeding Lilia's warning, I drew my surprisingly sharp nail over the flesh on the farmer's leg, nearer to the ankle this time, and watched as the blood oozed from the tiny cut. "Do not hesitate." Mr Crepsley warned. "We are taking too much blood from him as it is."
Closing my eyes, aware of my heart in my throat, I bent low and clamped my mouth around the oozing cut. Blood swarmed into my mouth quicker than expected. It tasted salty, metallic. Rusty. But the satisfaction that spread through me was unreal. It was delicious. It was so hard, accepting the fact that I loved the taste of human blood. A warm feeling spread inside me. I had been hoping to draw away, coughing and choking, the blood tasting like sour milk or rotten fruit. But it was so delicious, I just couldn't help myself. As soon as I drew away from the unconscious farmer, I was acutely aware to my sudden heightened senses. I could hear so much better than I had before. My vision was healthier than it had been all my life, and was so clear and flawless that it was like I was looking through glasses. My sense of smell was amazing, I could smell everything from the cows in the next room of the barn to the smoke that wafted from the factory a couple of fields away, and further still. When Mr Crepsley had sealed the cut, he looked at me expectantly. I licked away the last traces of blood from my lips and found a smile tugging at my mouth.

"Delicious, is it not?" He queried, a smile playing at the edges of his normally down turned lips. "Its... amazing..." I breathed. I wasn't happy at all with what I had done, but the advantages that it gave me sent my heart soaring. I was a true creature of the night now, and a sadness curled inside of me. I was going to voice my thoughts to Mr Crepsley, when I noticed the sudden faraway expression on his face.
"Mr Crepsley?" I asked, studying him curiously. His eyes flickered back to me, and his mouth fixed into a hard line. "Vancha just contacted me." He stated, and I drew back, shock building within me. But my mentor wasn't finished.

"He wants us to join him in Vampire Mountain as soon as possible."