Being inundated with cases was a good thing for Vampire Hunters Incorporated; sure they were always on the go with barely a moment for themselves, but whilst they were doing that they weren't thinking about the fact there had still been no sign of Gale, John, or any of the other vampires that Chicago had sired. They'd taken out seven of the twenty, but since the black witch had returned they'd gone to ground, which was unsettling to say the least.
"I just can't shake this feeling that they're all working together…" Beca mumbled, flicking through the little information they did have on Gale, trying to find something, anything that would give them some kind of information as to what she was planning.
"I thought vampires weren't great at teamwork?" Stacie frowned.
"They're not. But if Gale has some huge end game that works for them, then they might be able to put all that aside for a while." Beca sighed, running a hand through her hair.
Hunter whistled as Stacie shook her head, "Absolutely not. Not after last time."
"Nope. I appreciate it little dude but it's not worth the risk again." Beca didn't need Stacie to translate, knowing that Hunter was offering to try recon again. The dragonfly whistled again, Stacie unable to suppress a snigger, "What? What did he say?!"
"He wants to know who you're calling 'little'." Stacie laughed, Beca raising an eyebrow and scoffing in mock outrage.
"Hey, I'm bigger than you Tinkerbell." Hunter whistled again as Stacie shook her head.
"Yeah I'm not translating that… I didn't know you knew half of those words." Hunter simply whistled sarcastically as Beca stuck out her tongue, the exchange very immature but relieving some of the tension.
"So, I was thinking." Chloe cut in with a grin, before Beca completely devolved into being a toddler again, "How about tomorrow we take the night off and just go and blow off some steam? There's this funfair in town, and there's a circus with it!"
"Clowns?" Beca sighed, pulling a face, "I hate clowns!"
"Really? The powerful, immortal, creature of the night is afraid of clowns." Aubrey raised an eyebrow, chuckling softly.
"Hey! I'm not afraid of them. I'm just… not a fan." Beca grumbled, crossing her arms across her chest.
"I think that sounds like a great idea Chloe!" Stacie grinned, turning to Aubrey and planting a kiss on her cheek, "What do you think baby, we've earned a night off right?"
"I think so." Aubrey grinned, "Plus I want to watch Mitchell hide from clowns, I feel like that would be a great way to spend an evening."
Beca simply gestured her middle finger at Aubrey as they laughed, resolving to meet at the circus at about six after the sun had begun to set and was no longer a threat to the undead members of the team.
"Come on, admit it. You're having way more fun than you thought you would." Chloe nudged Beca as they walked through the funfair arm in arm, Beca happily eating cotton candy as Chloe clutched the bear that Beca had won for her at the Ring Toss stand.
"Okayyy…" Beca rolled her eyes, leaning her head on Chloe's shoulder as they walked, "This has been a great night."
"And we still have the circus yet!" Stacie grinned, one hand in Aubrey's, the other holding a stuffed tiger toy that Aubrey had won at the shooting gallery (okay, maybe it was cheating for Aubrey to use the natural proficiency with weapons thanks to her Vampire Hunter powers to a use like this, but Stacie had really wanted the tiger).
"I reckon we have time for another few stalls though." Aubrey grinned, looking around, "Oh hey, what about the coconut shy? I bet I can knock down more than Beca." She winked at the vampire who raised an eyebrow.
"Oh. You wanna put your money where your mouth is?" Beca scoffed, handing her candy floss to Chloe, "Twenty bucks says that I can knock off more coconuts than you in two minutes."
"You are so on." Aubrey snorted, the two of them quickly running for the coconut shy, as Stacie rolled her eyes.
"They are such children." She laughed as her and Chloe followed them to the stall, "It was a great idea this Chloe, I think they both needed it."
"Yeah, they've both been wound pretty tight over this Gale thing." Chloe sighed, watching them both fondly, "Understandably, but I hate the fact that she has them both so shaken."
"Me too." Stacie gently nudged Chloe with her shoulder, "It's nice to have a night just for ourselves, even if it brings out their overly-competitive sides."
The bet had been resolved as Beca triumphantly held out her hand, "Cough up Posen, I won."
"It's not fair!" Aubrey cried, eyebrow raised, "She used her vampire abilities to get an edge!"
"Oh, and you didn't put those Vampire Hunter powers to use? You split a coconut clean in half without even knocking it off the stand!" Beca protested, both of their girlfriends just rolling their eyes.
"Just give her the money Bree." Stacie grinned, wrapping her arms around her waist and kissing her cheek, "Sometimes you have to just let people win."
Beca scoffed in outrage as Stacie winked at her, Aubrey reluctantly pulling a twenty dollar bill out of her pocket, "Fine, fine…" She mumbled, handing Beca the money.
"Come on, let's go find some good seats before you two kill any more innocent coconuts in your quest to better each other." Chloe laughed, the four of them heading into the Big Top, finding four seats to one side but near the front so that Beca could see what was happening.
Twenty minutes later, the ringmaster stepped into the ring arms gesturing widely, voice carrying through the now packed Big Top:
"Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls welcome to the greatest show on earth! Feast your eyes upon the greatest tricks, the most splendid delights that the globe has to offer! Behold the greatest splendor you will ever see, for after tonight, your lives will never be the same again."
The assembled crowd watched in wonder as magicians, stuntmen and, of course, clowns wowed with their routines, the two couples enjoying the normalcy of just being sat in a crowd enjoying a show, not having to worry about beings from the Other Realm or black witches with personal vendettas for just one night. Beca, who was on the end of the aisle, snuggled close to Chloe, her head resting on her shoulder as their hands linked together, perhaps for the first time truly appreciating what eternity for Chloe Beale would be like, and loving every minute of it. Aubrey glanced at the pair and smiled softly, her head resting on Stacie's shoulder, deliberately sitting on the side of Stacie that didn't have Hunter perched on her shoulder, the tall brunette wrapping an arm around her waist. Aubrey was still a little reticent to trust Beca completely, it niggling at her brain that this was the woman who had turned Chloe, who had taken so much away from her. Yet as she watched them so happy and content in their own little bubble, she could feel the last bits of mistrust begin to melt away, finally understanding why Chloe had made the decision that she had.
"Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, what we have next for you will dazzle and amaze all of your senses. Behold, the death-defying, jaw-dropping, visual delights that is The Twisted Sisters!"
The floodlights flicked towards the upper level of the circus ring, highlighting two young looking blonde women, each holding a trapeze in their hands. Everyone sat bolt upright as the two acrobats swung from the platforms they were standing on, leaping, twisting, almost dancing through the air as they moved from on trapeze to the other, sometimes on separate ones, sometimes both on the same. They were preparing to do their final trick, one of the sisters hanging upside down from her trapeze, the other letting go of her own, somersaulting, but as her sister swung to catch her, the unthinkable happened; one of the trapeze ropes snapped, both sisters quickly plummeting down towards where the safety net should be. Yet, as the crowd watched in horror, Stacie and the other members of VH Inc. quickly realised that the net had vanished. Aubrey turned to Stacie to ask her to do something, Hunter whistling urgently, but the tall brunette was already on it, hands flexing towards the two acrobats, managing to catch them a mere two feet from death. There was silence for a moment, before the crowd was in uproar, clapping, cheering, whooping, assuming it was all part of the act. Stacie gently lowered them to the ground, hands shaking a little as she realised how close a call it had been.
"Nice catch." Beca mumbled, the group of five leaning in close so they could hear each other whilst the crowd still cheered.
"There was definitely a safety net there a minute ago right?!" Chloe asked, eyes wide.
"Definitely." Aubrey nodded, "There's something going on here, something… other realmy."
"So much for our night off." Beca sighed as the four of them made their way over to the ring, the show concluded and the crowd departed.
"Excuse me?" Aubrey approached the ringmaster, the others hot on her tail as she tapped him on the shoulder, "Has that ever happened before?"
"Oh, fear not madam, it is all part of the illusion of the act." The ringmaster gave her a tight smile, clearly trying to maintain a sense of calm after the incident.
"I'm Aubrey Posen, this is Chloe Beale, Stacie Conrad, and Beca Mitchell. We're from Vampire Hunters Incorporated, we were here completely by chance, but we have a lot of experience with… unusual happenings." The blonde pulled out her wallet and handed him a business card.
"Oh, thank god…" The ringmaster sighed, letting the tension flow out of his shoulders, "I was going to call someone about this. Can we go somewhere with a little more privacy?"
"Of course." The four of them followed the ringmaster backstage, him leading them into a small office, closing the door behind them.
"Can I get you something to drink?" He asked as all four of them shook their heads, sighing as he sat behind his desk, gesturing at them to sit somewhere too, "It had all started about six months ago. We were in Maine at a show and there was a terrible accident. One of the acrobats, she had a solo act, but the guy we used to hire hadn't secured the safety net properly. She fell from the tightrope during a rehearsal but when she hit the safety net, she just kept going… kept falling… sometimes I can still hear her screaming." He was looking down at his desk, tears in his eyes, Aubrey frowning softly as she nodded, "There was an investigation, of course, and the safety guy was fired. We've been so careful ever since, none of us want to relive that day, but there's been little things. People tripping over things that weren't there before, equipment missing, things seeming to move on their own… sure people were being hurt, injured, but nothing like this… not until today…"
"The acrobat… was she close to anyone here?" Aubrey asked, frowning softly.
"We all were. It's like a family here, we all look out for each other. Her name was Lilly Onakuramara, she'd been here since she was a teenager, her parents threw her out, so we took her in. She was only twenty-three…" The ringmaster was clearly still distraught about the loss of the young acrobat. All five of them completely understood what he meant; their team was more than just a group of friends, they'd become a small family. None of them had said it out loud, but all of them felt it.
"The safety guy, the one you fired, what happened to him?" Beca asked,
"I don't know. We left him in Maine, I never heard from him again." The ringmaster shrugged.
"Were charges ever pressed? Gross negligence, involuntary manslaughter, anything like that?" Aubrey frowned. There was definitely something going on here.
"No…" The ringmaster sighed, "We had a meeting about it, but we had to move to New Hampshire the next day. So we just packed up and moved on. Not from Lilly, obviously."
Stacie looked at the ringmaster with a frown on her face, "Still… surely you put that on hold…"
"I wish it were that simple… but in this business you can't afford to do that. Circuses aren't as popular as they used to be, and we have to go where the money is. Otherwise we're all in trouble." The ringmaster shook his head, "If I had my way his head would be on a pike, but here we are."
"Alright, we're gonna look around and see if we can figure out what's going on." Aubrey smiled softly.
"Thank you. I just don't want anyone else to get hurt…" He sighed as the VH Inc. stood up, "You can figure this out right?"
"We're certainly going to try." Stacie smiled tightly as they left his office.
They headed down the hallway, Stacie's fist clenched, "I don't care if it meant losing money, if that happened to one of you, there is nothing on this EARTH that would stop me getting you justice."
"I know…" Aubrey smiled softly, stepping closer to her girlfriend and intertwining their fingers briefly, "But we have to figure this out, people are getting hurt."
"It's some kind of ghost thing, right?" Beca asked, trying to change the subject to take Stacie's mind off things.
"Ghosts are mischievous but rarely malevolent. This is probably a poltergeist." Stacie's brain switched to its wealth of knowledge, trying not to focus on how angry she was that the circus had just seemed to have moved on.
"Okay, so how do we go about catching it?" Chloe asked, face serious. This wasn't how she wanted their night off to go, but they were here now, and there was no way any of them could walk away from this.
"We should start by talking to the other circus performers, especially the acrobats. See what people have experienced since Lilly died, if there's anything of hers that's still here, something her spirit would attach too." Stacie frowned slightly in thought, "It would have to be something that was really important to her, but that doesn't mean it's something she owned outright."
"Should we split up? Cover more ground?" Beca asked, "As long as I don't get stuck with the clowns. There's enough spooky shit going on here without me having to deal with them…"
Chloe rolled her eyes at her girlfriend, some of the tension easing as they all grinned at the fact that the oldest and strongest of them was terrified of something as relatively harmless as a clown. They all agreed to take a group each; Aubrey the fire eaters, Beca the daredevils, Chloe the clowns, and Stacie the acrobats.
"So, we meet in the ring in half an hour okay? No-one goes rogue this time." Aubrey raised a pointed eyebrow at Chloe who held up her hands defensively.
"Hey that was one time, and I thought it was a kid." She protested.
"Oh sure, that excuses it." Beca rolled her eyes, "You put yourself in real danger, but it was only the once!"
"Just… stick to the plan okay?" Aubrey grinned as Chloe went to reply with something snarky.
The four of them went their separate ways, Stacie heading for the dressing room that she'd see the acrobats disappear into after the show. Hunter whistled to her as they reached the door of the dressing room, "I know, I know… he did the right thing by all of them but… yes, you're right. Okay… I will cut him some slack. That's why I'm trying to help find this poltergeist. Even if she has every right to be peeved."
Stacie knocked on the door, smiling warmly as one of the acrobats that she'd saved open the door, "Hi, I'm Stacie with Vampire Hunters Inc. Are you okay to talk about what happened out there?"
"Uh, yeah of course. Come in." The acrobat invited her in, still visibly shaken from the incident. Her partner gave her a small smile as she entered, Stacie sitting down opposite the pair.
"I'm Olivia and this is Rachel." Olivia smiled, sitting next to her sister, "Do you know how we survived that? Because we can't figure that out…" Rachel sniffed slightly as she shook her head.
"I uh… I don't know. But I was wondering if anything like that had ever happened to you two before?" Stacie was not one to boast of her own skills, and these young women were shaken up enough without her adding the existence of witches to the conversation.
"Not like that. Nothing like that has happened since… since Lilly." Rebecca shook her head.
"Were you close with her?" Stacie asked, voice gentle. She could see the pain on their faces, see how raw the loss still was.
"Yeah. She was like our big sister, she really looked out for us, made sure that we were safe when we were practicing, that sort of thing. It's weird, being here without her." Olivia smiled sadly, her hand gently reaching up to play absentmindedly with the necklace around her neck.
"Is that hers?" Stacie asked, noticing the way the young woman was playing with it with a fond smile on her face.
"Yeah… it was all she had when she joined the circus… she never took it off, not until the coroner did it for her." Olivia sniffed as she wiped the tears from her eyes with the back of her hand.
"Can I see it?" Stacie asked, "I promise I'll give it back, but I'm going to need it for a little while."
Olivia frowned slightly as she reached behind her neck to undo the clasp, "Um… okay."
"So, this is some kind of ghost then?" Rachel asked, a serious expression on her face, "Everyone talks about how superstitious circus folk are, but I knew that all the little accidents and things going missing weren't a coincidence."
"Yeah. We think it's a poltergeist." Stacie nodded. One of the hardest things about working with supernatural beings in the human realm was knowing how much to say and when, never wanting to freak anyone out or accidently start another Salem-like massacre.
"It's Lilly isn't it?" Rachel sighed sadly, "She's mad we didn't press charges… we should have Liv, we should have stayed in Maine until it had been resolved."
"If we'd have stayed, the whole circus would've gone under, we'd all be out on the streets with no money and no prospect. You know this…" Olivia shook her head as she handed over the necklace, "I hate that that's true, but it is."
Stacie kept a biting comment to herself, able to see how conflicted the two young acrobats were about the decision to leave Maine. Taking the necklace, she smiled at them softly, "I hate to be indelicate about this, but was Lily buried or cremated?"
"Cremated. We scattered her ashes in the ring, so that way she could still come with us wherever we went." Rachel smiled proudly. It had been her idea.
"That's a really lovely idea." Stacie smiled warmly, "You guys have been really helpful, thank you. I'm gonna go and fill my team in with all the info you've given me." Stacie stood to leave.
"Wait." Rachel stood up too, a worried look on her face, "If it is Lilly… do you have to- to get rid of her? I don't want to lose her all over again…"
"I don't know." Stacie answered honestly. There was no sense in lying to them, they'd been through enough, "I will try really hard to come up with an alternative, to try and keep her here… but if it puts everyone at risk, then we may have to."
"Please…" Olivia asked, "Just try."
Stacie nodded and left the dressing room, smiling softly as Hunter whistled comfortingly, "I know I did the right thing. But I wish I could give them a better promise than 'maybe'." Hunter whistled again, "The odds? Not great. When poltergeists are at the stage where they're ready to kill to get their vengeance they rarely come back from that." Hunter gave a sad whistle, both of them saddened at the thought that there would be any more loss.
Thirty minutes later the members of Vampire Hunters Incorporated had returned to the ring, all four of them with information and none of them having been kidnapped by any kind of wayward sprite. Stacie smiled a little sadly as her friends joined her, Aubrey frowning worriedly as she saw the look on Stacie's face.
"What is it?" She asked, slipping her hand into hers and giving it a soft squeeze.
"The poltergeist. It's definitely Lilly. It all adds up. I just… I want there to be another way to deal with this other than banishing her from this realm. It feels so cruel." Stacie sighed, taking a moment to be vulnerable with the woman she loved.
"I know. But sweetie, this poltergeist is escalating. Everyone I've talked to has been talking about how the small incidents have been getting more and more vicious… we have to fix this before another incident like tonight happens and we're not here to stop it ending badly." Aubrey leant in close and kissed her cheek, allowing them to have a moment for Stacie to wobble a little.
"Okay." Stacie sniffed slightly as she removed her hand from Aubrey's turning to all of them, a determined look on her face, "One of the acrobats, Olivia, she had this necklace that used to belong to Lilly, and her ashes are scattered here. I can do this spell to bind her to the necklace, but it's gonna get really intense after that. It really pisses them off when you do this, but it's the safest way to keep her in one place whilst we try and fix this."
Beca nodded, "So what do you need us to do?"
"Form a circle around me, join hands." Stacie shrugged her bag off her shoulder, laying it at her feet as Chloe, Aubrey and Beca stood around her, hands joined to form a small circle.
"Is this safe?" Aubrey asked, stood facing Stacie with a look of worry on her face. Stacie smiled softly.
"Sure." She grinned.
Stacie took a deep breath, Hunter whistling and leaving her shoulder, darting to hover at the edge of the circle. Binding spells like this had to be done without the familiar on her shoulder as it could accidentally unbind them, which would have negative repercussions for both of them, especially Hunter. Stacie gently wound the necklace around the palm of her hand, shooting Aubrey another grin.
"Whatever you guys do, don't let go of each other's hands okay? We need to keep her anchored here, and if you break the circle it won't just unleash her, any unsettled spirits in the vicinity would be free to cause havoc wherever they wanted." Stacie's face was serious.
"Oh no pressure then!" Beca scoffed, Chloe squeezing her hand for reassurance.
"We've got you Stacie. Just worry about the spell." Chloe smiled.
Stacie held out the necklace, the outline of it glowing as the tall witch began to chant: "Spirit of the unrested ease, come forth and this object seize. Come take this vessel bound to thee, come forth and communicate to me."
A wild wind whipped around the ring as the necklace glowed blue, seemingly throbbing as they were buffeted, the three women forming the circle gripping tighter as Stacie stood her ground, hand trembling as a blue and white translucent figure appeared in front of her.
"You dare to bind me like this?" It growled, eyes ablaze. The figure was a young woman with dark hair, a little taller than Beca. Her voice, although angry and vicious, was not very loud.
"I just wanted to talk to you." Stacie dug her heel into the sawdust to try and steady herself as the poltergeist grew angrier, Hunter squeaking as he dipped onto Aubrey's shoulder, still wary of the spell that Stacie was using.
"I don't care what you want. This has nothing to do with you." Lilly growled, fists clenched. The metal frame of the Big Top creaked, Aubrey's eyes flitting around the room as she gripped Beca and Chloe's hands tightly. Stacie needed to get this under control and quickly, or the whole thing was going to come down on their heads.
"It has everything to do with me when you're trying to kill innocent people." Stacie frowned, flicking her hand towards the metal pole that came flying their way, Beca flinching a little as it narrowly missed her head, "Hunter, a little help?" She grunted, it taking almost all of her strength to keep the poltergeist bound to the necklace.
Hunter whistled, a low buzzing coming from the direction of Aubrey's shoulder as a yellow glowing barrier formed around them, Aubrey wincing a little as Chloe was forced to turn her hands into claws and dig them into her skin a little to steady themselves.
"They abandoned me, they forgot about me!" Lilly growled, her voice louder but still barely above normal talking level.
"No. They're still mourning for you." Stacie shook her head, "Olivia was wearing this, the ringmaster couldn't talk about you without crying, Rachel all but begged me not to banish you from this plain. I really want to be able to do that, but if you continue like this you're going to give me no choice."
"You think I'm scared of a little witch like you?" Lilly's tone was taunting and menacing, the necklace in Stacie's hand throbbing, starting to burn as Stacie cried out in pain but not letting go, a determined look on her face.
"They're your family, how can you hurt them like this?" Stacie grunted, trying to ignore the pain in her hand.
"They left me!" Lilly roared, watching as the pain from the throbbing necklace brought Stacie to her knees. Aubrey moved to run to her girlfriend, wanting to help.
"Don't!" Stacie cried, looking up at her, Hunter whistling as he worked a simple charm, locking the women's hands together to try and keep the circle together.
Aubrey watched helplessly as Stacie grunted in pain, hand still clenched tight around the necklace. She wanted to help her, she needed to, but all she could do was watch as the young witch trembled with the effort of maintaining the spell.
"They didn't leave you." Stacie looked up at the poltergeist, her nose starting to bleed a little with the sheer effort of it all, "They left Maine, sure, and maybe they should have stayed and got that guy locked up. But you? They brought you with them, they scattered you right here, so that you were in every show no matter where they went. Lilly, they still love you, they miss you so much. So please, stop hurting them…"
The poltergeist seemed to falter, glow a little less furiously, the necklace in Stacie's hand pulsing a little less. The young witch was breathing heavily as Lilly's face softened.
"I just don't want them to forget me…" Her voice was barely audible as Stacie pulled herself to her feet.
"They won't. Not ever. That's family, they will always have your back, and they will never let you go." Stacie smiled, "You can stay here, help them run the circus. Just… stop this. Please…"
"Okay." The wind calmed, the necklace stopped pulsing, and the poltergeist's glow was dim and non-threatening as Lilly conceded.
"I'm going to give this back to Olivia okay? She can keep it safe, and that way you can be a part of the act." Stacie smiled softly as the ghost nodded.
"Thank you." She whispered, "For helping me see where I was going wrong."
The ghost faded, leaving the five of them alone as Stacie dropped to her knees again, the spell gone as Hunter released the charm keeping the circle whole as Aubrey ran to her.
"Sweetie are you okay?" Aubrey asked, her voice shaking as her hands cupped her face, gently wiping the trail of blood from under her nose away.
"M'okay." Stacie mumbled, a soft smile on her face, "I did it. She gets to stay with her family."
"Yeah, you did great." Chloe grinned, kneeling next to her and squeezing her shoulder, "You should be really proud of yourself."
"C'mon." Beca smiled warmly, "Chloe and I can fill the ringmaster in on what happened, there's still a few hours before the sun comes up, and we can flit home, it's not that far. You guys go back to Aubrey's, Stacie needs her rest."
"Are you sure?" Aubrey asked. She was reluctant to leave her team, especially the two vampires who were on a time limit, but she wanted to take care of her girlfriend.
"Yeah." Chloe nodded, noticing that Stacie was still trembling, barely conscious, "We've got time."
'Thank you.' Aubrey mouthed to them, gently slipping one arm under her shoulders and another under her knees, lifting her up and cradling her close. The blonde's enhanced strength helped her carry the tall brunette with ease as she gently kissed her forehead, Hunter whistling as he settled on Stacie's shoulder again, "Come on Hunter, let's get her home and resting."
It was a week later and the five of them were all gathered in the office as usual. Stacie had fully recovered from their trip to the circus, and everyone was back to work as normal. As Chloe set the mugs of coffee on the table, kissing Beca's head as she sat down next to her, she grinned broadly.
"I love you guys." She grinned, taking Beca's hand in hers, "We've been through so much lately, I wanted to make sure I told you guys that."
Beca rolled her eyes but couldn't keep the grin off her face, "You're such a dork… but we love you too."
"How about we make it a monthly thing?" Chloe asked, "A family night out?"
"As long as it's an actual night off, I'm down." Beca grinned, as Stacie rolled her eyes.
Aubrey let her head rest on Stacie's shoulder, a soft smile on her lips, "I always fought against having a team, this is such a dangerous line of work and I hated the idea of putting other people in danger… I still do. But having you three.." Hunter squeaked in irritance, "Sorry four…" Aubrey corrected herself with a chuckle, "You four make me wonder why I ever questioned the idea. I wouldn't work alone now, not for a moment."
Stacie said nothing, not needing to as she simply grinned at her misfit family. There was a moment of silence before Aubrey sat up and grabbed a file.
"Alright. Let's get down to business."