Here is chapter 4; sorry it's taken a long time! I hope you all like it. Thanks for all the reviews so far and thanks to my good friend chinchilla- in-a-bowl for her help with my story!

As the train stopped, I felt my nerves worsening. Butterflies fluttered madly in my stomach as I headed towards the main road in search of directions. I walked briskly, my head held high along with my spirits. All of a sudden the clouds burst and raindrops began to fall. Even though I was soaked to the skin, I was as determined as ever as I headed down a dark side street. I saw a sign for Bracken Park, which was where they were said to be. My excitement increased as I walked up the steep hill towards the park. Yet when I reached my destination, my heart sank. All I saw was a deserted, wet, muddy area littered with pieces of damp paper.

Raindrops streamed down my face as I just stood blankly; staring at the lonely place I had come to. I was so sure I would find them and now all I felt was disappointment. I bent down and picked up one of the sodden flyers. "Cirque du Freak", "Wolf man", "Cormac Limbs", "Truska: The Bearded woman". The colourful words were now smudged and dull, but I remembered the names from when Darren had described the acts to me after his first fateful visit to the Cirque.

Cold, wet, scared and alone. I trudged along, holding the leaflet, my clothes clang to my shivering body. I couldn't think straight. I didn't have a clue where I was going, but I carried on walking, my head down low. Night fell, the heavy clouds blocked out the moon and stars. I cowered in a shop doorway, shaking with fear and cold. A few years ago, I would never have believed that I would be spending nights on the streets while in search of my supposed resurrected, vampire of a brother.

I no longer felt strong and determined; I didn't really know what to do. Whether I should carry on searching or just admit failure and go home. The streets gradually filled with shoppers, most gave me dirty looks, like I was some kind of common tramp. I felt a coin hit me sharply on the side of my head. I felt annoyed that people thought I needed charity and so looked up to see who it was. A strange looking young man came up to me. He looked like he had some kind of skin problem. He clutched a large suitcase as he looked down on me to apologise.

"Are you ok?" He spoke gently "I'm really sorry, I didn't mean to hit you like that".

I mumbled something quietly in return as he continued to stare at me. He paused for a moment as if thinking and then blurted out:

"You really remind me of my friend,"

I stood up and faced him. I felt shocked when I saw the extent of his skin problem. It looked almost scale like. I averted my eyes as he caught me looking.

"Look its ok I'm not some kind of monster you know." he joked, "My names Evra, Evra Von and I'm really sorry about throwing money at you! I thought you were begging," He laughed, blushing slightly. "You look frozen. You want to come have a drink with me in that café? My treat?"

I wasn't sure whether to accept his kind offer. For all I knew he could be a mass-murderer, but he seemed nice and I could always scream for help as there were plenty of people around. Plus I was icy cold and only had a small amount of money left. I followed him into the café, it was dingy and smoky but it was warm. He sat me down and ordered two cups of tea for us. I didn't say much to him at first. After all he was a complete stranger.

"What's your name?" He asked as we drank.

"Annie Shan," I replied quietly and watched as an expression of shock came over his face.