A/N: Sorry for the delay in this chapter. But guess who's graduated with her Masters? Woot woot! My friend and I took a short trip to Greece to celebrate the end of the semester and then I had to pack two and a half years' worth of stuff into one suitcase and fly halfway around the world for my move back home, which explains the further delay in getting this out.

I also apologise for any formatting issues/differences throughout this chapter as I had to keep switching back and forth between pages and word on different devices.

Thank you to Tiffanylorain15, FlowerChild23 and marauderDawn for reviewing that last chapter, and thanks to everyone who favourited or added this to their alerts list. You guys are the best!

DISCLAIMER: Everything you recognise belongs to Warner Bros., Joel Schumacher, Janice Fischer, James Jeremias and Jeffrey Boam. Everything else is mine.

Rated 'M' for strong language and vampire stuff.

Heathens

"Wakey, wakey, Sleeping Beauty!"

Remy groaned as a bright shaft of sunlight hit her eyes. She could hear someone rummaging about in her trailer, humming obnoxiously loud and off-key. Rolling over, she buried her face into her bed and pulled her pillow over her head for good measure.

Last night had been awful. Sure, Leander had fun. But it was awful.

She remembered them leaving the cirque for the boardwalk, the boys chatting with and teasing Leander along the way. Or at least the two younger blondes were. They had introduced themselves as Paul and Marko and were both as excitable as puppies. They certainly did nothing to calm Leander down, and he was already rather energized from that night's show. The other two – if she remembered correctly, their names were David and Dwayne – were more of the strong, silent type. She found their lack of loquaciousness a bit unnerving.

It hadn't helped that her headache had gotten progressively worse throughout the night. The slightly annoying throbbing behind her eyes had grown to the point where it felt like she had a troupe of midgets with jackhammers pounding away at her skull. But the worst part of it all was the nagging feeling that this was familiar, that she had experienced such a headache before and it was a defensive measure of some sort. Only she couldn't remember what her body or her mind was trying to defend her against. It'd been some time since she had felt so unsure of herself.

Remy was sure it had something to do with the boys. But Leander had refused to hear a word against them. He had decided that he liked them and that was that. And they certainly hadn't done anything that could be construed as threatening. In fact, they had been downright nice, almost as if they could sense her discomfort and had been trying to put her at ease.

Paul was the friendliest of the bunch, slinging his arm across her shoulders as he practically grilled her on her life history. It made walking side by side a bit difficult considering their vast differences in height but he didn't seem to notice the not-so-subtle glares she sent his way. He had made a game of trying to guess where she was from since her features hinted at an Asian descent. Leander finally gave it away, revealing that she had been born in Lapland, in the northern most reaches of Finland. This then led to a lengthy explanation about the differences between the Sami and Inuit people and why it was not ok for him to call her an eskimo. Remy held him primarily responsible for her worsening headache.

The others made the odd comment here and there, most of them polite. Marko seemed most interested in the fact that her family had been reindeer herders. From what she could gather, the boy was a bit of an animal lover himself. It certainly seemed like the reason why Leander appeared to like him the most out of the four.

Their idea of a decent place to eat turned out to be a run down looking diner on the edge of the boardwalk. But Remy had to admit, the food was certainly delicious. Greasy and fattening, it was just what her body craved after an exhausting performance.

Speaking of food, from the direction of her kitchen came the sound of the fridge door slamming shut. Metal clanged against metal as someone dropped something into the sink. The blender buzzed to life.

"It's kind of impressive how she's managing to sleep through all this racket," came a smooth, velvety voice.

Someone snorted.

"She's faking it," scoffed a voice Remy identified as Generys'. "Remy's not really a morning person."

"But it's two in the afternoon," said a third voice, soft and feminine.

Growling dangerously, Remy extended her arm in the general direction of the trailer's kitchen and sharply flicked her hand. Protests sounded as the curtains drew themselves across the windows, plunging the trailer back into darkness. The faucet turned itself on and there came the sound of dishes being scrubbed clean. The blender abruptly cut off.

Generys sighed exasperatedly.

"All that power and you choose to use it to get a couple more minutes of sleep. You really need to work on your priorities."

"And you need to work on not barging into people's homes," Remy snapped.

And then she yelped in surprise as someone tipped her mattress, rolling her out of bed. She hissed as she landed on the floor with a painful thump and pushed herself up to glare at her attacker. Kakra and Zesiro stood at the end of her bed, arms akimbo on their rather generous hips. Kakra was smirking at her while her more reserved twin smiled sheepishly.

Sorry, Zesiro mouthed at her.

Belteshazzar had picked up the Siamese twins in Egypt a couple of years ago. They were physically stunning – tall and olive-skinned, with faces that wouldn't seem out of place on a fashion magazine. There was just the small matter of them being two heads on one body. Their family had been more than eager to foist their unmarriageable daughters off on the strange traveller and the twins had jumped at the opportunity to see the world. The fact that they spoke Arabic had further added to their exoticness, though they picked up English quickly enough and now spoke it with a barely discernible accent.

Generys was in her kitchen, trying to plug the blender into another outlet.

"Oh please, if you really wanted to keep people out, you would've put up some proper wards. And did you really just short out the power in your own trailer just to spite me?"

"Maybe," Remy muttered as she got to her feet.

Lazily waving her fingers at her bed, Remy stifled a yawn as her pillows and blankets levitated themselves off the floor and her bed made itself. The twins looked on in wonder. Despite being with the cirque for a while, they still seemed in awe at what everyone else could do. Though she supposed she couldn't really blame them. She was, after all, the only magic wielder in the cirque.

Whilst everyone had their own particular skill sets that they built their acts around – shape shifting, sword swallowing, manipulation of the elements – Remy was responsible for more than just her own performances. She was the one who created all the 'special effects' for their main shows. If someone needed to disappear from the centre of the ring and reappear somewhere else, it was up to her to either teleport them or create a diversion that would allow them to make their exit unobtrusively. If a stage prop needed to be transformed into a kaleidoscope of butterflies, she'd be hiding out in the wings to make it happen. If the big top needed to be filled with fog, it was her job to make it happen. After all, she was much cheaper than a smoke machine.

"Jasna said she saw you leave the cirque with a group of boys last night," Kakra suddenly blurted out. "Is that why you're tired?"

Remy paused mid-stretch, staring at the more outspoken twin incredulously. Was she implying what she thought she was implying?

"I'm tired because we had a ridiculously magic heavy show last night. Yes, I left with a group of guys but Leander was with us the entire time."

"If you're all magicked out, why are you wasting energy on doing chores?" Generys retorted. She had abandoned the blender and was trying to mix whatever it was she was making with a whisk.

"Because I happen to like my trailer to be clean. What are you guys doing here anyways?"

The three women grinned at this. Even Zesiro seemed uncharacteristically excited.

"We're in Santa Carla, girl," said Generys, pouring the concoction she'd been working on into a clean glass. She reached for one of the wine bottles that lay in the wine rack above the kitchen counter, uncorked the bottle and took a tentative sniff before adding a splash of the red liquid into the mixture. "We're hitting the beach!"

"But I hate sand," Remy whined. She accepted the glass that Generys shoved into her hand, eyeing the drink suspiciously before taking a cautious sip.

"It does get everywhere," Zesiro agreed.

"I thought you two used to live in the desert?" asked Generys.

"Doesn't mean we have an inherent love of sand," Zesiro countered.

"Speak for yourself," said Kakra.

"What am I drinking?" asked Remy.

"It's my famous hangover cure, laced with a bit of your favourite 'rosé'," said Generys as she stepped out of the kitchen to ransack Remy's tiny closet instead. "Please tell me you have a bikini somewhere in here."

"But I'm not hungover. And I don't see why you should care if I own one or not."

Generys popped her head around the closet door, an incredulous look on her face.

"Are you telling me that you spent the night with four incredibly attractive guys and you didn't even have one drink? And I care because you have a figure to die for and you should be showing it off."

"How do you even know they were attractive? Like I said, Leander was with us the entire time. I wasn't going to go drinking with him around. I wouldn't go drinking with strangers period. Also, I have no boobs."

The twins had been looking a little lost at their quick banter, but Kakra quickly latched onto Remy's question.

"So they were attractive?" she asked eagerly.

Remy rolled her eyes and gave an exaggerated groan.

"Can we talk about something else?"

"No," Generys retorted, returning her attention to her search for acceptable beachwear. "There is a serious lack datable guys in the cirque, mostly because it'll be kind of like dating your brother considering everyone here's pretty much family, so we've got to resort to outsiders. And outsiders are usually far too shy or far too grabby. I want to know which category these boys fall into. Mostly because I saw them at my show last night and, sweetheart, you need your eyes checked if you don't find them good-looking."

"Maybe I just have higher standards," Remy shrugged, tipping the remainder of Generys' hangover cure down her throat.

Generys replied by chucking a t-shirt at the other girl's head.

"You guys are lucky," sighed Zesiro. "We usually get kids or the weirdos at our booth, and they're kind of disgusting. The weirdos, I mean, not the kids."

A sudden cry of triumph turned their attention back to Generys, who'd emerged from the closet, waving a black scrap of fabric above her head.

"I knew I remembered Suzie giving you one last Christmas!" she grinned.

"Knew I'd regret not burning that," Remy grumbled. "Genny, I really don't want to go."

But Generys simply rolled her eyes and approached the other girl, brandishing the bikini top menacingly.

"Stop being such a big baby! Now, get dressed! We're getting some sun on your skin. You look half-dead."

Pickings were slim on the boardwalk that evening. David had a feeling that they'd have to stick to the partiers on the beach from now on unless they were willing to try their hand at hunting on the circus grounds.

Last night had been interesting.

His brothers had thoroughly enjoyed the show. Marko had wanted to try to find the animal enclosures afterwards. Paul had been more interested in the show's pyrotechnics. And even Dwayne had questions about the more technical aspects of the performance, like how well the wires were hidden so that even their enhanced eyesight missed them, because there really was no other explanation for how certain things in the show defied the laws of physics like they did.

Then there had been the girl – Remy.

David had noticed right away that she didn't like them, which was curious since most girls her age were easy enough prey to their charms. Paul had even been laying on the vampire glamour really thick but she was having none of it, only putting up with them for the boy Leander's sake. She made no attempt to try to really befriend them, let alone pull any of the typical flirting ploys that other girls usually employed when in their company. She wasn't scared of them either, like how some people were. She didn't cringe when Paul invaded her personal space, nor did she tense up when they offered the two of them rides on their bikes, not so subtly hinting at wanting to lure her and the boy to a more secluded area. Instead, she had turned them down politely, and frostily, and turned the conversation to their opinion on the kinds of rides on the boardwalk that they thought Leander might enjoy.

If David were completely honest with himself, it was kind of refreshing. And amusing. Somehow the night had ended with none of them particularly wanting to make a meal out of either her or the boy.

The brunette giggling into his shoulder at the moment was the polar opposite of the circus girl. She reeked of vodka and cigarette smoke, though underneath it all he could smell just the slightest hint of innocence – a college freshman succumbing to the peer pressure of her more worldly friends. Paul and Marko had wandered off ten minutes ago with two of her more inebriated companions, while Dwayne had gone off on his own to find dinner that wasn't so alcohol imbued, leaving him and the brunette sitting on a bench, staring stupidly out at the ocean. She sighed dreamily.

"It's kind of beautiful, isn't it?"

"What is?" he asked, trying to sound interested.

"The water at night."

She snuggled closer into his side. He looked down at her dark curls and reached over to lift her chin up so that she was looking straight into his eyes. He smiled disarmingly.

"Want to go for a dip?"

"I don't have a swimsuit with me," she laughed.

"So?"

He felt her hesitate, debating with herself just how far she was willing to take her new found rebellious streak. He could practically see the arguments going on behind her slightly glazed eyes. Maybe someone had told her at some point that she was far too prudish, maybe someone had made fun of her for not taking risks; whatever it was, he was leading her towards a more deserted section of the beach two minutes later. Dwayne and Paul found him after he'd weighed down her pockets with rocks and dumped her corpse over the ocean.

"Where's Marko?"

"He ran into that circus kid on the boardwalk," Paul answered. "He had some sort of ferret with him so of course Marko went off with him."

A slightly distracted look came over Dwayne's features as he reached out through the mental bond the four of them shared to search for their wayward brother. A slight smile tugged at the corners of his lips.

"Apparently the kid's led him back to where they keep the animals. Marko's ecstatic."

"I suppose we should go get him before we lose him to the circus," said David.

The circus grounds were considerably more crowded than the night before. Word must have gotten around that the acts they had on offer were well worth the price of an admission ticket. There was a long line outside the tent they had gotten kicked out of last night and a sea of people around an outdoor stage where what looked to be a half-man, half-wolf creature was prowling; growling every now and then when someone came too close.

As with the previous night, there wasn't really anyone checking for tickets until they got closer to the big top and David wondered exactly how the circus made any money. It was far too easy for people to sneak in. No one stopped them when they ducked between a booth and a tent and wandered further into the makeshift traveling village. They finally found Marko on the far side of the circus grounds where several flimsy enclosures constructed out of chicken wire had been set up. They certainly didn't look substantial enough to keep any of the animals in, though none of them seemed eager to make an escape either.

Marko looked up from the panther he'd been petting and grinned toothily at them. Leander was standing on the other side of the wild cat, scratching it behind the ears.

"This is so fucking awesome!" the younger blonde exclaimed.

"How is it not tearing you to pieces?" asked Paul.

"Who cares?" Marko replied.

"Dinah would never hurt a soul," said Leander like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Not unless Sylvaine told her to."

"Who's Sylvaine?" David asked.

"She's the one who's going to kick your ass if she finds you back here."

David turned to find Remy standing behind him and wondered how she had snuck up on them. He could've sworn he hadn't heard any footsteps and his brothers seemed just as surprised to see her. The girl was dressed in a black sequined outfit and a pair of towering heels that showed off her legs. Her hair was sleeked back into a bun that looked painfully tight and she had on far too much makeup. She did not look too happy to see them.

"Woah," muttered Paul. "That wasn't what you were wearing last night."

Remy rolled her eyes and crossed her arms.

"That's because we're not doing a show tonight."

"It's the Globe of Death on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays so we work the main drag," chimed in Leander.

"Which is where you're meant to be, Lee. You've kind of left Fillin hanging there."

"Globe of death?" questioned Paul. "That's sounds interesting."

"But I'm sick of standing around for people to stare at me, Remy." The boy looked up and David could swear he saw a trace of fear behind his eyes. "Is Mr. Belteshazzar looking for me?"

The girl looked from Leander, to Paul and back to the boy again, her eyes softening.

"Yeah, okay," she sighed. "I get that, Lee. And no, he isn't looking for you. He doesn't know you sneaked off. But you guys can't be back here. Sylvie would freak. Come on."

No one moved. Remy reached up to run her hand through her hair, frowning when she realized that was impossible. They could practically feel the irritation radiating off of her. David smirked.

"I think Marko's half in love with that cat, so we're not going anywhere for a while," said David, leaning against the rickety chicken wire fence and reaching into his jacket for his cigarettes. Before he could even draw one from the carton, Remy had marched over to him and snatched them out of his hands. Her heels gave her quite a bit of added height so she didn't have to tilt her head back as far as she normally would have to in order to glare straight into his eyes.

"I don't think you guys quite get it," she hissed. "Sylvie lets Leander wonder around back here because he's part of the cirque; he's family. She doesn't like strangers. And guess what you guys are?"

"Dashingly charming?" Marko offered.

Dwayne smiled at Remy's annoyance. Paul outright snickered. David made to grab for his pack of cigarettes but Remy stepped out of his reach.

"Sylvie's freak outs aren't pretty. You guys really don't want to be around for them."

"Oh, Remy," said David, placing his hand over his heart. "I didn't know you cared." David stepped towards her, lips curling up in amusement when she stood her ground. "Don't worry about us. We can look after ourselves."

Her eyes narrowed dangerously.

"Oh, I'm not worried," she sneered. "I just don't want to have to clean up after her when she's done with you."

"Remy."

Both of them turned at the sound of Leander's voice. His brothers were watching them, not even bothering to hide their outright delight at the exchange. But the boy wasn't looking at them. He was staring, wide-eyed, at something behind them. Remy looked over her shoulder to see what had caught the boy's attention and David noticed how she physically stiffened at what she saw.

"Shit," she breathed.

Someone was coming.

A/N: I'd always imagined Remy being of Sami descent but only just realized that I forgot to mention that. My bad.

I was originally going to have Remy and the boys spend some time seeing the other shows in the cirque but then she and David decided to have a little tiff instead. Oops.

Question: Do you guys like the switching back and forth between the boy's (well mainly David's so far) POV and Remy's? I'm trying to decide if I should just stick to hers.

Love,

Scribbles