Chapter Three

Mac had dropped Seth off at dinner, explaining that he had a last minute rehearsal to do. Seth was only vaguely certain that he would be able to find his way back to the trailer where they were sleeping by himself. There was a good chance that he would be smelling his way back through the maze of trailers and tents.

He poked unenthusiastically at his stir fry and stared around the mess tent cautiously. His imprint was a few tables over. This was the first time he had seen her since the date debacle, as he had taken to calling it. When not all dressed up for a performance, she seemed more laid back. Her hair was tied in a knot on top of her head, except for some shorter pieces that fell into her eyes. Her skin was tan, a bit lighter than his, and he definitely thought she was some type of Native American. Like the other performers at the table, she was dressed casually in a sweatshirt and track pants. The way she moved, even just sitting at the table, belayed a certain grace.

He was wretched out from his staring by the scent of vampire. The sickly sweet smell was flooding his senses and making him anxious. His imprint was here. He had to neutralize the threat.

The source of the smell suddenly walked by his table. She was gorgeous, in that unreachable, unreal way of vampires, her body frozen in eternal youth. She was dressed in loose sweats, like many of the other performers just out of practice. Did she work here? She turned her head towards him as she passed, tossing her perfect blond curls out of her face and giving him a flirtatious wave.

He growled, ready to rise to his feet, but then saw her sit down at a table full of acrobats. Including Hannah.

His gaze narrowed, and he gripped the table to stop himself from making a scene.

This bloodsucker, whoever she was, was accepted here. She was liked. Maybe she was like the Cullens, just looking to coexist?

His glaring contest with the vampire was broken off when someone sat down at his table uninvited. "Hey, Seattle," the guy said. "I'm Kurt. How's it hanging?"

"The name's Seth," he corrected lightly, not liking the way the guy was eyeing him up, even as he kept one eye on where his imprint was within arm distance of a bloodsucker.

His companion didn't acknowledge the correction. "So we heard you were lurking around some of the girls after the show on Thursday. I just want to let you know that this isn't one of those circuses that just picks up freaks. We're close here, dude, and we look out for one another." He lowered his voice and leaned forward a bit. "So I don't want to hear anything about you harassing any of the girls, you hear? If you think they're just some cheap sideshow strippers…"

Seth suddenly gave him his full attention. He definitely wasn't the biggest threat here; it was the leech at the next table! He had to cut Kurt off. "That's not what I think at all," he growled lightly. "I appreciate your concern for your coworkers, and I promise. No funny business."

The guy continued to study him for a moment, probably for intimidation effect, before he finally smiled tightly and offered him his hand. "Welcome to the show, dude." He stood up, but paused for a moment, his eyes drifting over to where Seth sensed his imprint was. "I'll be watching you," he warned quietly.

Seth nodded, not looking at Hannah. He sensed her leaving, walking out the door of the mess hall, but resisted the tug to follow her.

For a few minutes, at least.

He stood up and dumped his tray. He could sense vaguely where Hannah was at all times, and moving quickly he could just see her up ahead, going towards one of the smaller tents. He tried to look casual, as if he just happened to be wandering the same way, when the wind shifted.

The vampire was following him.

He turned around quickly, making her smirk. "Why are you following me?" he demanded.

She laughed, a bit condescendingly. "Why are you following her?" She tilted her head towards Hannah, who was quickly getting away through the maze of trailers.

"None of your business," he growled. "The only reason I haven't taken you out is because you seem relatively safe, but don't count us as friends." Having an imprint made him so much more serious these days. The long hours of following her, the panic and stress of having so many people around her all the time, the cities filled with strangers, and the separation from his pack and family had worn him down mentally and physically.

"Down, dog," the leech said lightly. "Oh! Is she your-what do you call it?-mark? Your mate?"

"It doesn't matter." Seth was done with this conversation. He didn't need romantic advice, especially not from his mortal enemies. The Cullens were one thing, but he had no treaty, no reason to trust her. He turned to glare at her. "Anything else?"

She had stopped smiling finally. She actually looked kind of sad. "Why haven't you told her yet?"

He snorted. "Look, I'm not really looking for a heart to heart, especially not with a bloodsucker. No offense," he added quickly when her concerned look faded back into her haughty mask.

She sniffed. "It's not like I care about your mongrel problems, I was just wondering if there was a reason you wanted to come off as a creepy stalker to her." She shrugged. "Who knows, maybe that's in vogue today."

"You wouldn't know, would you?" he shot back. "What are you, like a hundred?"

The vampire smirked. "Didn't anyone ever teach you not to ask a lady her age?" She pretended to fan herself lightly, the air barely moving her perfect brown curls. "For your information, though, I was born in 1940. I'm quite young by supernatural standards."

Seth was torn between keeping one eye on her, a threat, and watching his imprint fade into the distance. He missed her look of annoyance when he wasn't paying attention.

"Well then, if we're not going to fight and you're just going to stare at her, then I'll leave you to your stalking," she said lightly. "If you ever actually talk to her, make sure you close your mouth, hon."

His head snapped back to her as she left. He was confused by the entire encounter. What had she wanted?

He was distracted by the sudden wave of confusion and anxiety from the other end of the imprint bond. It faded almost immediately into a warm, subtle happiness. What had happened? Was she taking drugs or something?

He followed the tug of the bond towards the smallest of the tents and slid inside the door, keeping to the shadows. The happiness and contentment of his imprint was growing steadily. Maybe she was making love to someone? He felt rage and jealously at the thought.

The first room of the tent held a small table and dozens and dozens of racks of clothing. It was all wildly colored, all costumes, covered in feathers and sequins and beading and things Seth couldn't identify. He sensed his imprint was still farther, behind a canvas partition.

He padded forward cautiously. This definitely counted under stalker behavior, but he couldn't stop himself. Also, there was some crazy vampire wandering around this circus, he justified to himself as he peeked around the curtain, unsure of what he'd find.

She was…dancing.

The small side space of the tent was almost completely open, with just a simple beaten dirt floor. Hannah had taken off her sweatshirt and sweatpants, revealing long, tan arms and legs barely covered by a leotard. She had earphones tucked into each ear, and a music player clipped onto her sleeve. Even though he couldn't hear the music, he could tell that her movements rose and fell with it.

Seth watched his imprint twirl across the floor, feeling a stupid grin cover his face. Her body formed graceful lines as she swayed and twisted, her toes pointed and legs straight and back arched. She had a small smile on her face that was just visible as her leg kicked out and she leaped lightly from foot to foot. Her arms floated around her body.

It was beautiful. Her joy welled out of her, overflowing into him until he wanted to laugh for the pure happiness of it.

This was his imprint. This carefree girl was the one that was meant for him.

He clasped his hands together to stop himself from clapping and giving away his presence. But as he crept back into the shadows, he promised himself that he would do whatever it took to keep this joyful girl.

Hannah ended the song with a few turns and a clean landing, feeling good about it. She didn't usually land triples so well, especially not on the rough tent flooring. Along with that, she felt a renewed sense of composure. There was no reason to worry about that guy, he probably didn't even remember her, she reasoned.

She stretched quickly and pulled on her sweats and headed back to the trailer she split with Silvia. She found her roommate in the middle of watching a movie with one of the jugglers, Fin. She quietly shut the door before they noticed her and sighed. Hannah had been watching Fin and Silvia dance around each other for months; she couldn't interrupt their time together now.

She glanced around and finally settled on a direction. The trailer two rows over from hers was draped in a huge Jamaican flag. She knocked on the door before letting herself in.

"Mac? Jordan?" The two were brothers, both acrobats, and both funny. They were usually where Hannah turned when Silvia was busy. Inside the crowded trailer, she found only Jordan, sitting upside down on his bed with a book.

"Hey girl," he said. "You get sexiled? We saw Filvia disappear into your place." Filvia was their group's unofficial name for Fin and Silvia, should they ever become a couple.

Hannah climbed onto the bunk above his, hanging her head down to talk. "They're just watching a movie, but it looked awfully cozy." She giggled. "I don't think they even saw me come in."

She glanced over at the bed in the corner, where they usually piled their stuff when they were too lazy to clean. Instead there was a duffle bag and a guitar case.

"We got a new roommate. I knew the spare bed was too good to be true," Jordan sighed when he saw her looking. "Seems like a nice enough guy though, for a Smith." He grinned wickedly, his white teeth bright against his dark skin. "Smith," was slang for normal, non-circus folk. "We think he might have gotten lost getting back here, so Mac went out to look for him."

Hannah tried to control her reaction. Their new roommate couldn't be the same guy that asked her out, right? Their circus was a pretty big crew, with over a hundred people.

"Poor guy, having to be subjected to your sanitary habits," she said drily, flinging one of Mac's socks at him.

He easily blocked it with his book. "Now that's why I get the new people. Because I'm the nice one," he told her primly. "By the way, do you know where Mac got the idea that early morning practices were a good idea?"

She tried but failed to hide her smirk. "I have no idea..."

"Hannah, you cannot make me get up at eight! That's inhumane!" He kicked up at her bunk.

"Nine AM practices aren't early, Jordan. That's like, midmorning," she corrected. She laughed as his kicks made the mattress she was sitting on buck and tilt. "Jordan!" she cried, grabbing for the sheets.

"I can't hear you! Take your nine AM practices back!" Jordan called back teasingly. Neither of them heard the door open. He kicked the bunk particularly hard, and she felt herself be flung off the bed. Luckily this was just acrobatic practice, and she tucked herself into a ball automatically, flipping until her feet were down and her head was up. She braced herself for the landing and then…

"Ugh!" She hit something solid feet first, and it grunted. Off balance, they fell into the wall in a jumble of limbs, but somehow the unlucky fellow managed to catch her. The trailer rocked back and forth for a moment, and then Hannah scrambled out of the stranger's arms. It was a farther drop to the floor than she expected, but she somehow got her feet under her again.

Blowing her hair out of her eyes, she looked up to apologize to the man she had tumbled into, looked up farther, and found the guy. The creep. The words froze in her throat, and they just stared at one another for a moment.

"Sorry, dude," Jordan called from his bed, still sitting upside down. "This is my friend Hannah. Hope she didn't damage you too much."

The newcomer let out a deep laugh that seemed to go on for longer than it should. Jordan wasn't that funny. "Sorry, you're just so small," he said as explanation eventually.

She bristled a bit. "I was going to land that, you know." She tightened her hair band and huffed. "Sorry I hit you."

He looked like he was trying to hold in another chuckle. "I'm Seth." She shook his hand, wondering if he would bring up yesterday. Thankfully, he seemed to realize that neither of them wanted to discuss it.

"Did you see Mac out there?" Jordan broke in. "He thought you were lost."

Hannah suddenly realized that she was staring at the Smith, and tore her gaze away. She climbed back onto Mac's bed as Seth explained that Jordan's brother had found him but was now visiting Derek.

Hannah and Jordan rolled their eyes simultaneously. "Derek again…"

"Mac's trying to get Derek to teach him some tricks on the cyr wheel," he explained to Seth. "Derek won't teach him because right now he's the only one that knows how to do it, so he automatically gets to headline. So Mac likes to pretend that he and Derek are best friends."

"I told him to just youtube it," Hannah commented. "The internet's a big place. Someone somewhere knows how to use it."

"He'll forget about it in a few days," Jordan said certainly.

Seth still looked a bit confused, but he moved over to his bed and started organizing.

"Hey, can you play that thing?"

Seth looked up at his new roommate and back to his guitar. "Yeah, of course."

Jordan whooped. "Yes, group sing a long is resurrected!" Ignoring his theatrics, Hannah stepped on his shoulder on the way back up to the top bunk. "Aw, come on Hannah! It'll be more fun without Ina!"

She rolled her eyes. "Everything is more fun without Ina."

Jordan told Seth, "We used to have group sing a long in here with our old roommate Jeff, but then he started dating this girl Ina that made everyone sing Russian folk songs."

"It wasn't the singing so much as the dancing that was the problem. Russian folk dancing is a blight on society," Hannah cut in drily.

Seth chuckled nervously. "I promise, no Russian folk songs." He grabbed a few things from his bags and then stood up. "I think I'm supposed to meet the grounds crew now. It was nice meeting you two."

Jordan waved him out. It wasn't until he left that Hannah let out her breath.

"You're quiet," her fellow acrobat said.

She ducked the sock he threw back up at her. "Your new roommate asked me out yesterday."

Jordan raised his eyebrows. "Are you offended?"

She groaned. "No, I'm just awkward and busy. Don't mind me."

"Do I sense another name mash coming on?"he asked teasingly. "Hannah and Seth? Hath? Sennah! Sennah. What, I'm just being optiministic!"

"Your optimism isn't helping my awkward." She sighed. "Filvia's probably done, right? I want to get in some early practice before we leave tomorrow."

"Always dance first, never Jordan," he complained. "Go on, be gone then."

She laughed. "Good night!"