Disclaimer: I do not own the Cirque du Freak series.
"And you're sure I won't kill him, right?" Ella asked nervously as she looked at the unconscious man Mr. Crepsley had just knocked out.
"You know I would not allow for that to happen." He stated as he placed a hand on her back and gently pushed her forward.
For the past month, Ella had been running every morning and building up her strength. Her lessons were going great as well. She was becoming quicker and was improving on her ability to predict his moves. She decided it was time now to feed like a vampire. No more vials of blood collected by Mr. Crepsley.
"Just make a small incision here on his neck," he pointed to the spot, "and do not worry, you will not hurt him." He said, knowing she was afraid she would.
Ella nodded in understanding and took a deep breath. With the nail of her index finger, she made a small cut in the place Mr. Crepsley indicated. She looked at him again with uncertainty, but he nodded in encouragement. She lowered her mouth to the cut and sucked the salty liquid down her throat. It was different from drinking it from vials. It was warm and fresh... and oh so good. She felt after a while that she had gotten enough and withdrew from the man. "Very good." Mr. Crepsley said after he rubbed spit on the wound to heal it.
Ella sighed in relief. "That wasn't really too bad!" Mr. Crepsley turned to look at her and chuckled when he saw a trickle of blood running down from the corner of her mouth. He brought his hand up to her cheek and rubbed away the blood with his thumb.
Her cheeks flush at the contact. "Oh, thanks." She said, letting out a nervous giggle.
"You did very well. Are you ready to go back to camp?"
"Yes, sir," She responded, climbing onto his back.
They arrived back and went over to a field beside the cirque to continue their lessons for the night. "Do you think we could add the knives tonight?" Ella asked him.
Mr. Crepsley looked at her shocked. "Are you sure?"
"Yes, sir. I think I'm ready." She smiled at him.
"Do not be afraid to hit me." He said seriously.
Ella felt her nerves creep up but quickly pushed them back down. She vowed she would no longer be weak. Her biggest flaw was her weakness. If she could fix that, she would have the ability to be an exceptional vampire.
He pulled out a knife from his coat and handed it to her. "We will take it easy first, then engage in actual combat. Just try to make contact with me tonight. If you can do that, we will advance further. Are you ready?"
She took her stance and nodded. He flitted beside her and she easily followed, but when it became time to attack, she swung the blade timidly at him. "You need to swing the knife like you mean it. Here, I'll show you. Take your stance." He said as he came around behind her. He placed one hand on her waist and the other covering the hand that was holding the knife. He was nearly an entire foot taller than her so he stooped down so that his head was level with hers. "Now grip it tightly and put some force into the swing, like you would do when you throw a punch. Like this." He tightened his grip on her hand, brought it up, and then powerfully brought it down. "You see how strong that felt?" He demonstrated with her again. "And swing all the way through. That is how you will do some damage to your opponent." He then turned his face in towards hers. "Do you think you have it?"
"Yes, sir." She said as she turned to face him as well. They then realized how close they really were, their faces only inches apart. Mr. Crepsley's ears turned red as he did a little cough and stepped away from her.
"Right, now show me." She took her stance, gripped the knife hard, and swung it down forcefully. "That was better. Remember, always strike like you mean it." She nodded and gave the signal she was ready to begin again. He advanced toward her and she attacked. He easily blocked every one of her moves. Over and over again.
They had been practicing close to an hour now with no success. No matter how much she concentrated and tracked his moves, he would always block her attacks. He flitted to her side again and she swung her knife harder than ever. When she missed this time, her frustration got the best of her. "Dammit!" She screamed. This the first time he has ever heard her swear. Then he realized he had never even seen her angry before. He almost laughed until he looked back at her to see absolute rage on her face. He knew if he laughed when she was serious, it would only infuriate her further. "I'm never going to get this! Every time I attack, you counter it! I'm hopeless!"
"You most certainly are not. Ask me this two months ago, and I would have agreed with you." She was staring at the knife in her hand still seething with fury. "Look at me." He said softly. She peeled her eyes off of the knife and looked up to glare at him. "You are not hopeless. You have improved more than I ever imagined you could have. Your anger shows me that you do care. You are not the same, weak child you were." Her face softened slightly. "Now, we are going to try again. You are focusing too much on the attack. Go back to what you learned before with tracking and predicting my moves. That's what you need to focus on."
"Fine. Let's try it." She muttered and took her stance. He smirked as he watched his student be overcome by determination. He started towards her and she attempted her attack. "Damn." She muttered as she missed him again.
"Anticipate my every move. Including my counter." He instructed. He once again made his move, which she easily tracked, and prepared to side step out of the way of her blade. This time, she countered with him and managed to knick him on his upper chest.
Her eyes widened and she stood shocked. "I did it!" She said breathily.
"Well done. I think this will be a good place to end our lessons tonight. You have made much improvement. I am proud of you." He said.
He's proud of me! Her heart soared at his words. She was so elated, she didn't even think before she threw her arms around him and closed the gap between them. He was taken off guard and didn't have time to respond before she took a step back. "Thank you, sir." She said, smiling up at him.
"You are welcome. Like I said, you are not the same person I met. Your drive to be better deserves a large credit to your success tonight."
"And the fact I have a great teacher." She said proudly.
"I thank you for that compliment." He was about to start walking in the direction of the cirque, but stopped when he noticed Ella didn't make a move to join him. He turned around to see her looking at him, hesitant about something. "You have a question." He stated.
She suddenly got really bashful and she looked down at the ground. "There is something... Not fighting related, but about vampires in general... Well, female vampires to be more specific..." She looked up at him. Her cheeks were flushed and Mr. Crepsley started to become slightly nervous, wondering where this was about to go.
"It's been two months now and I, uh, haven't had a period." She didn't give him time to respond as she nervously started rambling. "I mean, it's just starting to worry me because I've always been on schedule but then I thought maybe it was delayed since I only age at a fifth of the rate I did as a human so maybe it will start in a few months but then would that mean it would last longer than a week-"
"Ella, take a breath and let me explain." Mr. Crepsley started to sweat as he tried to think how to tell her this sensitive information. "Vampires are barren. We are not able to reproduce so you will not have a cycle."
Her eyebrows furrowed. "What do you mean we can't reproduce?" She said slowly. "You're telling me I can't have children?" She was getting angry. "Please tell me you're joking."
"I am sorry to inform you that this is no joke." He started to realize he should have mentioned this much earlier when he was educating her about their kind. "I should have told you about this before now. Forgive me, I forget how much the idea of having children means to females." They stood there in silence as he watched her try her hardest to fight back tears.
"As if my biggest dream hadn't been shattered already, now this one gets taken away, too." She sat down in the grass and pulled her knees up to her chest.
Mr. Crepsley sat down beside her. He started to feel guilty. Not just because he failed to relay this information before now, but because he didn't know what her biggest dream even was. He never realized how little he did know about her. He knew about her father's passing and he knew she was close to her mother. He knew that she was going to audition for her dream school, but then fate stepped in. He figured she was involved with the arts in some way, but wasn't sure if she played an instrument or sang or something else of the sort. He did not know his assistant as well as he should and for that, he felt guilty.
"What was your biggest dream?" He finally asked her.
She looked at him confused. She thought he knew, but then thinking back, she had only really talked to Evra about it. "To study at Juilliard and one day join the Metropolitan Opera Company."
"Those are high ambitions. You must be good."
"I tried to be. I practiced a lot and I had the privilege to study voice under a retired member of the Met. She was absolutely amazing. I mean, her voice was flawless. I was really lucky to have been able to study under her." She smiled as she remembered her former teacher.
"Will you sing for me?" He blurted out before he had even realized what he said. He nervously scratched the long scar on his cheek. "I mean, if you are willing to sing, I would love to listen." He said more smoothly this time.
She turned to him slightly surprised. She had not sung since she had become a vampire. She just knew it wouldn't be the same anymore. At the same time though, she wanted Mr. Crepsley to see that side of her. "Ok, maybe just a little bit." She agreed. She decided to sing an excerpt from the song, Nessun Dorma. She turned to face him now and he saw how much this actually meant to her. With a big smile on her face she explained, "Now I know this song is meant for a male performer, but it is one of my absolute favorites. I'm going to start in the middle right before the climax."
She took a deep breath and began:
Ed il mio bacio scioglierà
Il silenzio che ti fa mia!
His jaw dropped as she sang the first verse. He didn't realize she would sound like that...
She paused before singing the last part and closed her eyes and allowed herself to be taken away by music once more.
Dilegua, o notte! Tramontate, stelle!
Tramontate, stelle! All'alba vincerò!
Vincerò! Vincerò!
She hit the high note with such ease, yet it was powerful. They had both been completely consumed by the music. She opened her eyes and was brought back to reality.
They sat in silence for a while. He just couldn't find the right words to say. She looked up at the nighttime sky... and he looked at her. He was seeing her through a new light tonight. He felt like he finally understood her.