Cirque du Freak: A Vampire by Accident

By: moonlightbear

Disclaimer: I don't own the books, or the movie… the movie is what made me fall in love with the books, but I do recognize they are extremely different. I like this to be book verse although when it occurs I'm not sure since I have not finished the series. Due time will tell me and then I will be able to tell you when my story and the books collide.

Summary: Hello, my name is Abigail Hunts and I'm a half-vampire by accident…

Chapter Four: Government Custody

I was in the hospital for a week while they searched for my step-dad. Through a series of nods and shakes of my head, yes or no question period with an officer on my second day at the hospital, I told them it was Gabe. I didn't talk, the doctor said I was still in shock and in time I would talk again. The hospital therapist talked to me a few times… I didn't talk back. I just want things to go back the way they were. I want my momma back. I want to go back to us traveling from store to store for tasters, and I want to go back to our music, pageants, being the dynamic duo we used to be! I want to go back to life as it was 10months before… Before we ever met HIM.

I can't though. What's done is done, and there's nothing I can do about it.

After a week passed and there was no sign of Gabe, they put me into foster care. My mom had no other family, and although they found my real dad, he decided to give up his rights on me. The social worker and police didn't tell me this, but I could tell. I knew.

Mr. Hennnings was a nice man, and yes his last name really did have three Ns together. There were already seven girls in the home, but he was happy to have another. The other girls said it was fresh meat. I never understood what they meant. He spent all his time with us. At night he'd sit on my bed and rub my tummy as he read a book to me and the two girls whom I shared the room with. I still didn't talk much, and the few words I did say only started after three weeks of living with Mr. Hennnings. I felt weird, but safe there.

Just after Halloween, Mr. Hennnings took us all camping. The other girls told the two of us who hadn't been camping before (and neither of us had been there long) to be careful of alone time with Mr. Hennnings. We went fishing and hiking. We sat around the fire and told stories. We pretended to go hunting after deer and rabbits, chasing them through the woods. It was a lot of fun. I was having a great time, but I had this weird sensation ever since we got to the camp grounds, and I thought it was because of what the other girls were saying. They were starting to make me nervous. I'll admit fishing got uncomfortable with Mr. Hennnings; he helped me/ taught me. He held me and showed me how to throw the hook thing into the water. He held me real close and I panicked, having a flashback of Gabe grabbing me and taking me to my room. I elbowed Mr. Hennnings so hard he fell backwards into a tree real hard. I felt so bad. He had hurt his back, but said he'd be ok.

That was two days ago, and he's barely been out of the tent since, instead he was having his alone time with us. I'm supposed to go tomorrow morning; tonight is Julia, the other new girl. My nerves were at an all time high and all I wanted to do is go to sleep, but one of the other girls kept getting up and looking out of our tent.

"What are you doing?" Another girl, who had been stepped over, asked.

"I keep hearing stuff… Oh hey, he's come out!!" The girl, who had been looking out, said. "Hurry! We're supposed to be asleep!"

"You're the only one up…" I said dryly, and a few of the others laughed.

After a few chuckles we quieted down and closed our eye's when we heard Mr. Hennnings say, "What the? Holy st---" He was cut short by a ripping sound and a loud thud as we presumed he hit the ground.

"It's a bear! It's attacking him!" The girl closest to the entrance said. "Should we help him?" They really didn't like Mr. Hennnings.

At first, I was going to say yes, but then I got to the tent entrance and saw the creature that was attacking our foster parent. "No… We have to run… You guys have to get out of here!" I climbed to the back of the tent and began pulling the fabric, trying to rip it. My nail caught hold of the fabric and ripped it wide open. Behind me I heard the zipper zip and I turned around, "No! Not that way!" I knew what my bad feelings were now, I wasn't nervous about Mr. Hennnings, it was Gabe I was scared of; I just didn't know it yet.

"ABBIE!"

"The bear can talk?!" One of the girls exclaimed.

"RUN!!" I yelled and everyone took off through the back. As I came out, a rush of wind swept pass and next thing I knew I was against a tree with a hand against my neck and my feet dangling a few feet above the ground.

"Abbie…" Gabe said breathing into my face. He was dripping blood from his mouth on to my shirt.

Several of the girls had come back to help me when they saw him pin me to the tree with lightening speed. "Run…" I told them, while trying to get a breath, "Run!"

"Do as she says! Or I might have to kill you too!" He exclaimed, and they turned tail and ran into the woods. "Oh, Abbie, Abbie, Abbie…" He whispered, and I whimpered as tears came to my eyes. I struggled against him, but he was SO strong! I was helpless… "I didn't want this, but I have to… you know too much…"

"Wha…?" I tried to ask, but I couldn't breathe. My vision was darkening/ fading.

"You are too much… I can't let you live…"

"Please… Don't…" I begged. His free hand came up and began to scratch my chest. "No!" I screamed.

"Get away from her!!"

"Leave her alone!"

"Oh my god! What is he doing?!"

Three of my foster sisters had returned. One jumped on his back and his grip loosened on me. The second got underneath and kicked him in the family jewels! He dropped me and I fell to the ground, weak and light headed from the lack of oxygen. The third girl came to my side to help me when Gabe got up and grabbed the first thing he could grip. The first girl was still on his back covering his eyes. He grabbed one of her arms and threw her over his shoulder, she went flying. Then he came at me again and grabbed what he thought was my leg, but instead it was the third girl's leg. "No!" I yelled, as he pulled her toward him.

"FREEZE!" Someone yelled, as a bright light shone through the trees. There was a click, and then a whoosh of wind, and a second later a Forest Ranger came in to the area, gun in hand and Gabe was gone. "I have a g--… Where'd he go?" The Ranger asked. He was sorta old, like 20, and he looked scared and shaken too. He didn't look like the sort who had ever shot a gun before, but apparently even Gabe knew not to take the chance.

With the Ranger was Julia, who was only wearing a little nightgown and her eyes were red and puffy, she'd been crying. Apparently, Julia had run away during her alone time and Mr. Hennnings came out of his tent to go after her when Gabe attacked. So this poor Ranger came to stop one thing only to get something much worse thrown at him. He called back up immediately and within the next hour we were on our way to the hospital.

Mr. Hennnings was dead. One of the girls (the one that jumped on Gabe's back) was getting X-Rays for her back and neck. The third girl who helped me had a broken leg. The rest of the girls were in another part of the hospital getting checked for stuff Mr. Hennnings might have done. Then there was me. They checked my neck, but it was ok except for a few bruises and shallow cuts, and they had to stitch up the small cuts on my chest. I wouldn't talk again, I just couldn't, not with what had just happened; instead, I just sat there sucking on my blood soaked shirt until they took it away when I changed. 'Evidence' the cop said when he took it away. Is it weird I miss that shirt?

Three days later, I was being escorted through the airport and left on a plane. Heading to the other side of the country, where I will meet the officer and his family who I will be staying with, in protective custody.

Up in the air I felt safe; lonely, but safe, no one here would hurt me. I think that's all I could ask for on my birthday.

The last two months of living with Officer Marcus and his family has been great, and wonderful! Can I say blissful and awesome too? Because it really was! They treated me like family. My sudden appearance in the family was excused by saying I was Officer Marcus' niece and staying with him while my mom served our country over seas. He has two kids: Jacob, who is 10yrs old; and Allison, who is 3yrs old. Officer Marcus was a single dad, his wife died giving birth to little Ally (I like calling her Ally, but the boys treat her like one of the boys and call her Sonny).

When I first got there, Officer Marcus found out it was my birthday before hand and took me out to dinner after we checked in at his office. It was really nice. I share a room with Ally; she really brought me out of my shell. I could talk to her for ages! I had nightmares and Officer Marcus would come in and calm me down. Jacob came sometimes too and helped. He was happy most times to play big brother for me. That was cool. I never had siblings before, but I liked them so far. Once I heard Officer Marcus talking with his boss on the phone and said that once they caught my step-dad, I could stay with the Marcus family permanently. That was the best thing to hear!

Over the Thanksgiving holiday, I ate the biggest feast of my life, saw two really great movies, and Officer Marcus taught me how to ride a two-wheeler! No more training wheels! My momma was gonna teach me soon, but then… What happened, happened, so she couldn't.

One of the big things that made me sad is Officer Marcus wouldn't let me do dance, he said I couldn't do things like I used to, because Gabe might find me that way. That's why I had a different name too; here my name was Nikki Marcus. Instead of dance, he put me in martial arts with Jacob. It was okay, but not my cup of tea, you know. After they taught me the basics, I was really good too. Officer Marcus was super pleased, but Jake got mad. He started pushing me around a lot, saying mean things, and making faces. I got upset a lot, but with all the holidays, school, and Officer Marcus' out of town conferences, martial arts classes were put on hold and me and Jake became friends again.

Christmas was great, not only was I around nice people but I also got a gift! They got me a MP3 player, the same kind my momma had, and they helped me put music on it and showed me how I can do it too. It was so nice because they knew how much I missed my music!! After Christmas, I spent much of my time in the back yard or in my room dancing to the music. I loved it so much!

One morning, mid-January, we had to get up really early. Officer Marcus had to go into the office early for a case he was working on. We were going to get up and stay next door with Mrs. Mason, until the bus arrived. I awoke with a start, and I had a huge knot in my stomach. I didn't feel good; I thought I might be sick. I ran to the bathroom when I heard it.

"Ok, kids up and atom! We have to… WHERE DID YO--?!" Officer Marcus was cut off. I heard a crack, rip, and a thud.

I froze, staring at the mirror, panic stricken. He's back!

"Dad? DAD!!" Jacob yelled as he left his room.

"Jake NO!" I yelled, throwing open the bathroom door. I had to stop him, Gabe will kill him I knew it! "Jake stop!!" He had already passed me when I got the door open, but he did stop… Right at the opening of the hallway into the living room where Officer Marcus laid dead. "Jake get away from there! He's—," I never finished what I was saying because there was no one to tell. One moment Jake was there and taking a step toward me and the next he was ripped out of view looking like a poor ragdoll. He never even had a chance to scream before his blood began to rain down in the living room. At that point, all I knew was, I had to get away!! I sped to my room as he was still busy in the living room, when I heard a whimper from the hall closet next to my door. I opened it to find little Ally hiding inside… She saw everything. She was terrified and no matter how hard I tried she refused to come out. I wanted to save her, but I didn't want to die in doing so. Does that make me a bad person? I left her, but I threw a bunch of towels and blankets on her and shut the door. I got into my room just as he finished in the living room. Locking the door stopped him just long enough for me to push our ginormous dresser in front of the door. I backed away, not sure what to do now, and nearly tripped over a board game we played last night. I looked around the room, there was a window. My goodness, a freakin' window! I raced to and tried to open it. A crash scared me and I looked to the door. The dresser was not going to hold him back much longer. I tried the window again using all my might and it creaked and opened a crack. The third attempt the window flew open and I tore at the screen, it was ripped opened instantly. Gabe was getting closer and so I glanced back once, grabbed my backpack, threw it out the window, and began to climb out the window.

I was nearly out when the almighty crash I feared came. He grabbed me at my lower back, his fingernails drew blood as I continued my struggle to get out. It hurt like hell and in a last ditch effort, I turned on my side and kicked. Although, it was not a position I was used to, it was a kick I learned in martial arts and I had more strength in it then I thought because it actually propelled him backward.

I got out of the house and ran as fast as I possible could. He chased me for a few moments before he disappeared, I didn't know where he went, but I wasn't going to wait around to find out. I ran for nearly an hour and a half without stopping and funny enough, I ran so far I was in the next town over! I ran nearly 65miles!! That's insane!

It's nearly eight o'clock in the morning now, the sun was up, and people are out and about. I went into a small store and went to the bathroom. I took off my shirt and rubbed my back. I guess I stopped bleeding a while ago. I sucked on my shirt for a moment before spitting it out and throwing it into the trash can. It tasted nasty… not like my shirt after the camping trip. Anyway, I grabbed my sweatshirt out of my backpack and put it on. My backpack always had everything I ever needed, from a first aid kit to candy, and from a pocket knife to warm socks.

It was a good thing I had my pack because I could no longer rely on people. I don't want anyone else to die because of me. Looking through my back pack I found a picture of me and my mom, I carried that everywhere with me. That reminded me of Helen Heathers, she and Gabe were alike in some way, though she's not nearly as evil as he is, but still. Helen took away my pageant coach, who taught me new things, and she stole my routine. Well, Gabe he took away the people who help me, who cared about me, and he stole my life… It's time I did the same thing to him I did to Helen. I'm gonna show him up! It's time for me to rely on myself! It's time I made my life good again!

It's gonna be a journey, but I'm ready for it!

What do you think?! I've been writing these 4 chapters for the last 2 months… it took so long because of the class I took in school… next semester is an easier class and so I'll have time to write(which is why I've started posting this), but if I don't write more I think this is a good place to end… but don't worry, I have plenty more of this story in my head and a sequel planned too!!