After her morning run, Ella and Evra began their chores like any other day. But little did they know, it was going to be anything but normal. They had just finished feeding the wolf-man when they saw the flickering light of a burning torch in the trees next to their camp.
"What is that?" Ella asked.
"Not sure." Evra said.
They watched for a few minutes as the torch came closer. As they came out of the trees, they saw who they were. There were about twelve small, blue-hooded people and one taller person in the back that was carrying the torch.
"Where did they come from?" She asked.
"I don't know. They left the show a while ago and I had no idea where they went." He answered.
"Who are they?"
"They're-," he began to answer, but stopped all of a sudden. His eyes widened in fear as he realized who the man was that was bringing up the rear.
It was a short, fat man with thick glasses and a bright yellow suit with green rubber boots. He smiled at them as they passed by. Ella returned his smile but Evra looked paralyzed. They watched as the blue-hooded figures found an open area in the camp and began to build a tent while the man headed for Mr. Tall's van.
Ella turned to face Evra and saw he was shaking all over and his face was paler than before.
"What's wrong?" She asked, now starting to worry.
"He... It..." Evra kept stuttering. "That was.. Mr. Tiny."
Ella was definitely confused. "Who's Mr. Tiny?"
"He's the leader of the Little People."
"The ones in the blue hoods?" She asked.
"Yup. He's their boss. " He explained. "He doesn't come here a lot, but he gives me the creeps when he does. He's the spookiest man I've ever met."
"He seemed nice to me." Ella shrugged as they arrived back to Evra's tent.
"That's what I thought the first time I met him, too. But wait till you've spoken to him. Every time he looks at me, I feel like he's planning to slaughter, skin and roast me."
"He eats people?" Ella asked, freaked out.
"I don't know. But you get the feeling he wants to eat you. It's not just me. I've talked about it with other cirque members and they felt it, too. Even Mr. Tall gets fidgety when he's around." Evra explained.
"Are the Little People his slaves? Are they afraid of him, too?"
"I'm not sure... They don't speak. I'm not entirely sure they're human."
"What are they then?" She asked slightly horrified.
"I don't know. I accidentally knocked down one of their hoods one time."
"What do they look like?"
"Hideous.. They have gray sewn-together skin and big green eyes that are placed on top of their head. They have no nose or ears. Their mouth is like a jagged cut and they don't look like they have any eyelids." Evra explained.
"That sounds terrifying!"
"It is. And they eat just about anything." He lowered his voice. "Even humans."
"Humans!? How do you know that?!"
"Bradley Stretch." He simply replied.
"Who?"
"He was a member of the Cirque years ago. He was able to stretch his body in impossible ways. He was really mean though. He loved playing horrible pranks on everyone, especially the Little People. He would set their capes on fire, set traps to have them hang in the air by their feet, and put thumb tacks in their food."
Ella gasped. "That's so cruel! Why was he so mean!?"
"I think it was because they never reacted. He liked to see people get upset, but the Little People didn't seem to notice his pranks...or so we thought." He continued. "Well, one night we performed a show at an Arabian place, where Bradley met a sheik. He told him he could never wear jewelry, because it always slipped off because of the changing shape of his body. So the sheik gave him a magic bracelet that was enchanted to only be removed when the wearer took it off.
"Getting back to the Little People: One morning we woke up and Bradley was nowhere to be found. People leave the cirque as they please, so we weren't really worried." He paused for dramatic effect. "About a week later, I was cleaning up the Little People's tent and was washing their pot. It was covered in grime and it took forever to scrape all the meat and bones from it. When I got to the bottom, I saw something glistening."
He reached behind him and pulled out a round, gold bracelet from his bag. Ella gasped. "Is that Bradley's bracelet?!"
"The very one." He slipped it onto his arm and shook it around, trying to get it to fall off. When it didn't, he took it off and held it out for her to see.
"They ate him?!" She asked, horrified. Evra nodded in affirmation. They sat in silence for a moment. "What did you do with the remains? Did you bury him?"
"Nah, I fed it to the wolf-man. Mr. Tall always told us not to waste." Ella went wide-eyed and looked at him terrified. Then suddenly, they burst into uncontrollable laughter.
Tears were streaming down their eyes. "We shouldn't be laughing!" Ella said through her fits. "I wonder what he tasted like!"
"I don't know but I bet he was rubbery!" Ella was now screaming in laughter.
In the middle of their hysteria, the tent flap opened and Hans walked in. "What's the joke?" He asked. They tried to tell him, but each time they started, they were interrupted by another round of laughter. Once they finally quieted down, Hans said why he was there. "I have a message for you. Mr. Tiny would like to see you both in Mr. Tall's van right away."
Their smiles faded and Hans let himself out. They remained silent as they left to find the van.
Mr. Tall, Mr. Crepsley, and were in the van when they entered. Evra was shaking like a leaf, but Ella wasn't really nervous. But when she saw the worried looks on Mr. Tall's and Mr. Crepsley's faces and realized how uneasy they were, it put her on edge a little.
"Come in, children," Mr. Tiny welcomed them, as though it were his van and not Mr. Tall's. "Sit down, make yourselves at home."
"I'll stand if that's ok," Evra said, trying not to let them hear the chatter of his teeth.
"I'll stand, too." Ella said, taking Evra's lead.
"As you wish." Mr. Tiny said. He was the only one sitting.
"I have been hearing a lot about you, young Ella." Mr. Tiny said while rolling a heart-shaped watch between his hands. "You are not the typical vampire. Larten says you have improved remarkably well in the past two months. Even drinking blood from a human now. I understand your reluctance to it though. Nasty stuff, blood. Unless of course it comes from a child. Their blood is scrump-dilly-icious."
Ella frowned. "You can't drink blood from them. They're too small. You would kill them!"
His eyes widened and so did his smile.
"So?" He asked softly.
A chill ran down her spine as she realized he was completely serious and she realized why this man was so feared. He was evil. Ella looked at Mr. Crepsley, trying to mask her horror. He seemed just as uncomfortable as she did.
"Down to business," Mr. Tiny said. "You two saw me arrive with my Little People. They're new converts to my cause and are a little unsure of the ropes. Normally, I'd stick around and teach them how to work, but I have business elsewhere. I'd like it if you two would help ease them into the swing of things. You won't have to do much. Mainly I want you to find food for them. They have such big appetites.
"So what do you say? I got permission from your guardians." He nodded and Mr. Tall and Mr. Crepsley, who didn't seem happy about the arrangement, but looked resigned. "Will you help poor old Mr. Tiny and his Little People?"
They both nodded their heads, even though they didn't really want to.
"Excellent! Young Evra knows what my darlings like, I'm sure. If you have any problems, report to Hibernius and he'll help you out."
Mr. Tiny waved for them to leave and then stopped. "Oh, and Ella?" He got up and walked over to her and she immediately tensed up. "Your future as a vampire will be hard, but don't get discouraged. Towards the end you will find yourself... enjoying it." Everyone watched as he turned to Mr. Crepsley and gave him a not so subtle wink. "You may all leave now." With that, they scurried out of the van.
"Ella?" Mr. Crepsley called to her before she could walk off with Evra. She said goodbye to her friend and walked over to her mentor. He could tell she was still shaken. He led her away from the van, wanting to put a distance between them and the evil man. "There will be no lessons tonight. Go ahead and get an early bed." She nodded in acknowledgement but he could tell her mind was wandering far off. "Are you ok?" He could always tell when something was on his assistant's mind.
"What is he? He drinks blood, but he's not a vampire because he kills... I would say a vampaneze, but he doesn't have purple skin. " She asked, ignoring his question.
"I am afraid I do not quite know either to be honest. But I do think you are correct in assuming her is neither vampire nor vampaneze." He saw she was still in deep thought.
"Can he tell the future?" She asked, looking at him now.
Mr. Crepsley coughed nervously. "I do not quite know the answer to that either, but I have always wondered that as well. I think it is possible."
Ella nodded thoughtfully. "I wonder what he meant by-"
"Go off to bed now. You are going to need your rest." He cut her off in hopes he could send her off before she could continue that thought.
She nodded again. "Goodnight, sir." She muttered.
She walked off , leaving him alone to his thoughts. When she was gone, he whispered faintly. "Goodnight, Ella."
A/N Thank you so much for reading this story! This chapter was a blast from the past for me. It was one of my favorite moments in the second book and I felt like the story of Bradley really was a significant moment in Evra and Darren's friendship, so I really wanted to add it to this one.
I have this entire story planned out and have even written a lot of the main parts, it's just a matter of me writing the fillers. Since it took me so long to update and since it wasn't really too much new material, I am going to update with a new chapter before the end of the weekend. Again, thank you so much for reading!
~Ally