Chapter 5: Madam Octa

"You're late, the sun will go down soon."
Inside the tent of the vampire everything looked just like when Darren had arrived the previous night. Darren looked around curiously, but Gillian snapped at him: "What are you looking at? Hurry up, hang the mantle up there."
She pointed to a dressmaker's dummy, and Darren hung the coat over it.
But Gillian was not satisfied: "A bit more neatly, please!"
She stepped next to Darren, stroked smoothly the folds out of the fabric and inspected the hem. "I hope the spots have gone completely out?"
Darren shrugged his shoulders. In the dim light of the tent you could not see anything anyway.
"And? What now? ",said Darren.
Gillian narowed her eyes to slits. "How about if you feed Madam Octa? Finally you're here to make yourself useful."
She smiled maliciously, and stroked aside the curtain that separated the rest of the tent. There, standing on a table in the cage, was the big, blue and red spider.
Gillian walked over to the table and took a pair of tweezers and a jar of dead flies from a shelf. She put both next to the cage so that the hungry spider came close and stretched her hairy legs through the bars, groping for the glass.
Darren went fearlessly over to the cage and opened the jar of flies.
Gillian watched him, her arms crossed over her chest and leaning casually against a tent pole.
Darren tipped the glass and poured a couple of flies on his hand. He wanted to take the tweezers, then changed his mind and ignored them. Instead, he replaced the little latch on the cage and opened the gate.
"What are you doing?"
Madam Octa, the big hairy spider came crawling out, pleased. Darren was holding out his open palm with the flies and Octa crawled towards him.
"Are you crazy!" Gillian exclaimed in horror, and rushed from the tent pole to Darren.
He raised his hand to his face so that he was on eyesight with the spider. "Well, my pretty. Enjoy your meal."
Gillian was surprised to see how Madam Octa gently touched the dead flies and then began slowly to eat one up.
"She ... she likes you." Gillian couldn`t believe it. "This spider is very rare and dangerous. And very toxic. No one is allowed to carry her on his hand, except Master Crepsley", Gillian whispered almost reverently.
She glared at Darren, as if she was seeing him for the first time.
Darren grinned.
Gillian cocked her head and frowned. So that was it.
The boy was not afraid of spiders. He did very well with Madam Octa.
That was certainly what Mr Crepsley had found out about the boy.
The boy had impressed the master vampire, because the spider liked him.
Gillian knew the special connection of her master to his crawling pet.
She could not stand the spider, but better or worse had to live with it. But the spider never was removed from the cage without the master vampire would be at hand.
However, this boy seemed to have an innate talent to deal with spiders.
Gillian was relieved.
Larten Crepsley wanted these boys as an assistant.
As an assistant for the show!
He should take care of Madam Octa, perhaps even become a part of the number.
Gillian smiled and watched as Darren whispering gentle words to the eating spider.
She chided herself
How foolish she had been.
To believe that her master would push her away, his student, and replace her with a stupid teenager.
Gillian, Gillian admit it, you have been jealous.
She chuckled and laid sympatheticly one arm around Darrens shoulder.
This sudden confidential gesture astonished him and he frowned.
"Well done," said Gillian, gave Darren a pat on the shoulder and turned and went elatedly over to an chair.
"You'll assist Master Crepsley in the show. Your task will be to take care of Madam Octa."
Secretly Gillian was glad to hand this task over.
Darren was happy, too. He loveed to take care for the spider. Gillian could go on wash their clothes and play the maid.
He lowered his hand, leaving Madam Octa who crawled back into the cage.
"Have you heard that?", he whispered to her. "I am allowed to feed you. I'll take care of you, I promise. I'm sorry for what happened. I will not allow that anything bad happens to you again... "
Darren had not noticed that Gillian stood next to him, so he winced as she hissed at him: "What did you say? What you're sorry for? "
"Nothing", Darren hastened to say and backed away.
Gillian came after him. Her coal black eyes sparkled dangerously.
"You!" She stared at him. "You are the one. You're the boy who kidnapped Octa!"
Darren went pale and stammered: "It was a mistake ..." He stepped further back from Gillian and almost stumbled over a box.
"You've kidnapped her. Crepsley master was outrageuos. He has pursued the thief, and was long gone. When he returned, he had Octa with him. The spider was hurt. I thought he killed the thief, but instead you show up here in his company. And he calls you his assistant."
Darren had receded into the far corner and groped his way along the wall to the tent exit.
Gillian stared at him angrily and unbelievingly, and reminded him of a cat ready to pounce.
"Yes, I'm his assistant. He has forgiven me. You can do me no harm."
"What? Do you fear me?" This idea seemed to please her, because she smiled maliciously.
"You should. Never forget I am his student." She stopped.
She narrowed her eyes and pursed her lips as if she was listening to a sound. "He has forgiven you, eh? Because you can deal with spiders?" She loosened her attitude. "Well, then. Assistant Darren. Welcome to the Cirque."
Gillian squirmed away from him.
Darren relaxed a bit. "Than... Thank you." He stammered, taken aback by her sudden change of mind again.
For safety's sake he stayed where he was, near the entrance, and watched as Gillian quietly and with elegant movements, straightened the chair, lit candles and made a glass carafe ready for use. She went quietly and routinely, as if she had done the same devices for a long time, night after night.
She ignored Darren as if he was nothing but thin air.

Darren did not know what to do with himself, and felt completely out of place again.
He had just decided to make a hasty retreat, and to go to his tent to Evra, since Gillian did no longer care about him anyway, when suddenly the vampire Larten Crepsley came out from behind the curtain.
Darren caught a glimpse of a dark coffin behind him.
Gillian was smiling at him, and the vampire nodded at her.
Darren freezed in his movement and did not dare to leave the tent. He was sure that Crepsley had seen him allready.
The vampire went without a word to his chair, and Gillian started to fill a glass for him.
She handed it over to the vampire who grunted and took it from her.
Darren wondered whether a half-vampire would also have to drink blood.
Gillian took no glass for herself at least.
Darren raised his hands and felt the crescent-shaped marks on his fingertips, where Mr Crepsley hat cut him with his razor-sharp fingernails and shared a tiny bit of blood him with.
Gillian had observed him.
When he ran his hand over the sensitive fingertips, she quickly stepped next to him, grabbed his wrist and pulled his hand closer to the candle light.
She stared at his fingertips.
"What is that?", she panted.
He squirmed in her grip and tried to escape from her, but she held his wrist with an amazing strength that he felt like a vise.
"Master Crepsley ...", she gasped and let go of the hand.
"This ... you ... you ... didn`t!"
The vampire was sitting quietly in his chair and stared wordlessly at his disciple.
Gillian shook her head, her silky black hair flew back and forth, and tears sprang to her eyes.
"Gillian." Crepsley raised his voice in a low soothing tone in which authority lay.
The student stopped shaking her head and looked at her master with large eyes.
"Why did you do that?", she whispered.
The dam broke and tears spilled from her eyes and ran down her pale cheeks, so that strands of her black hair got wet.
"No tears, Gillian," Crepsley said sternly.
Gillian moaned softly and it looked as though she would faint or go down to her knees infront of the vampire.
"Control yourself!", he thundered, so that Gillian and Darren winced at the same time.
He quickly got up from his chair and stood up in front of her.
"No tears," he growled. "You know that I will tolerate no tears."
Gillian nodded and sniffed loudly, in an attempt to suppress her tears.
Larten Crepsley looked into her eyes. "You must learn to control yourself," he said sternly and Gillian straightened. She lifted her chin. One last drop of her cheek rolled over her cheek she wiped it away in embarrassment.
Mr Crepsley turned off to the table and poured himself out of the carafe.
He waved the glass and watched the red liquid for a while swinging back and forth.
Gillian had regained her composure and smoothed her dress.
She did not look at Darren and stood next to the vampire to seal the jug again.
The vampire looked over the rim of the glass at her.
"Because the next time you will cry it will be tears of blood."