Cirque du Freak: A New Recruit
“This is so unfair,” Darren muttered as he kicked a can down the street. He thought it was stupid that Mr. Crepsley cared for Kelly a lot more than him. He was a normal boy and she was a freak. She had one shiny grey eye and the other was destroyed by two scars crossing the pupil. She could jump fifteen in the air and was a total book worm. She also did this weird thing when they were running for a while; she would fall flat on her face and go to sleep. But that wasn’t the weird part, she would only stay asleep for five minutes and then she would be as hyped up as before.
He always dressed her the same way as him from the smart red suit and shoes to the red cape. They made him carry all of the stuff and do all of the chores while they slept. Darren hated them. He hated Kelly because he thought she was a freak and didn’t deserve all of the attention. And he hated Mr. Crepsley most of all for actually liking that little abomination but mostly because he was the one who took away his family, his friends, his life.

Mr. Crepsley and Kelly were snuggled together on the bed in their hotel rooms. They didn’t want a hotel but Darren kept on whining for one until they finally gave in. The room was for two people, scarcely furnished, just like Mr. Crepsley had requested. Kelly, being from Romania, had never seen many modern day luxuries, such as television, radio, and telephones. Mr. Crepsley had either requested things she had never seen out of the room or hid them from her sight; he didn’t want to scare her with them. Darren wasn’t happy about moving out the television set but Mr. Crepsley told him that it would either scare Kelly or she would like it and she would want to watch it all of the time.
Mr. Crepsley’s eyes fluttered open. He looked at the sleeping figure in his arms and smiled. “Hey sweetie,” he whispered rocking her gently. “It is time to wake up.”
She opened her eyes and looked up at Mr. Crepsley. “Five more minutes.” She said smashing her face against his chest.
“No, no,” he laughed. “We have had enough sleep. It is time to wake up.” He sat up on the bed and she followed. Mr. Crepsley scratched his scar as Kelly rubbed her scared eye. They both yawned and stretched as they ran their hands through their hair.
Suddenly Darren burst through the door panting. “We need to go.” He said breathlessly. “We need to leave now.”
Mr. Crepsley took one look at his face and nodded. He knew something was wrong and did not think now was the best time to ask.

They found an old church several miles of the town and settled down for the day. Mr. Crepsley lay down on a phew and Kelly crawled on top of him. She rested her head on his chest and curled her legs between Mr. Crepsley’s thighs. Darren let out an irritated groan at the sight of the two vampires and stormed out of the building.
Kelly woke to Darren digging through Mr. Crepsley’s bag pulling out collapsible pots and pans. “What are you doing?” She whispered.
“I am going to cook the meal for once.” He said examining two flat pots.
“Do you want some help?”
“No!” Darren said. He looked at all of the cooking supplies in front of him and sighed. “Could you?”
She carefully slid off of Mr. Crepsley’s chest and headed over to Darren, her red dress shoes clicking on the old wooden floor as she walked.
“I am going to show you something easy first. What ingredients did you pick up?”
“Uh… some vegetables and meat.” Kelly picked up the plastic bag and sifted through it.
“Stew,” she said. She walked around the compressed metal and picked up one that expanded into a stew pot. She sat down and placed the pot between her legs then pressed on the middle. The pot quickly expanded into its full size. Kelly pushed the pot over to Darren and stood behind him, telling him exactly what to do.
Right after the stew was finished Mr. Crepsley awoke. “Larten!” Kelly said skipping over to him as he ran through the morning routine of scratching and stretching.
“You are already awake?” Mr. Crepsley asked, sitting up on the bench.
“Darren woke me up. So I showed him how to make breakfast.” She sat on her mentors lap, and beamed up at him.
Mr. Crepsley smelled the air with one deep sniff. “Your stew? I absolutely adore your stew.
Darren scooped the stew onto three plates he pulled out of Mr. Crepsley’s bag and handed them a plate. Mr. Crepsley set Kelly on his lap and fed her a bite of meat. He wiped away any that came out of her mouth as she was chewing with a napkin. Kelly always needed help eating because the sharp teeth made it difficult to do it on her own.
“Some of the meat is not cooked all of the way and it needs a bit more seasoning, but other than that it is not that bad.” Mr. Crepsley commented.
“Thanks,” Darren said as he shoved a hunk of meat into his watering mouth.
“Um. Darren?” Mr. Crepsley said setting down the almost empty plate and pulling Kelly closer to him. “What went wrong yesterday, you seemed very upset?”
Darren sighed and set aside his plate. He quickly told Mr. Crepsley and Kelly of how he had accidentally broken a boy’s legs while playing hockey.
Mr. Crepsley thought for a moment then shook his head. “You must be careful when playing with humans. Do not forget that we are much stronger than they are. Similar events happened to Kelly and me. Lucky for you it was just broken legs. Kelly’s incident ended in two children dead. I killed a man in mine own event.”
“I said I was sorry,” Kelly murmured, tears welling up in her eyes.
“It was not your fault.” Larten said, hugging Kelly close. “It was not your fault either.” He said looking at Darren.
“But I want to have friends! I don’t want to be stuck with you two for the rest of my life. I’ll never be able to make friends.”
“That is not true. You will just have to be careful. You-“
“That’s not good enough!” Darren yelled at Mr. Crepsley. Kelly snarled and hurled her plate at Darren. He ducked too late and it hit him in the head.
“You little freak! What the Hell was that for?”
“Do not yell at Larten. You are being such a baby.” Kelly told him, disregarding Darren’s glares. She looked up at Mr. Crepsley and the anger she had against Darren quickly seeped out of her.
“I am sorry. I should not have blooded you. It was a poor call. Kelly did not leave her house to make friends back in Romania, so she never knew what it was like to have any. I just…” He trailed off into silence.
“The Cirque,” Kelly said after a few minutes of thinking.
“What?” Darren asked.
“The Cirque!” Mr. Crepsley repeated, catching on to Kelly’s idea. “We can rejoin the Cirque. Every one there knows about vampires. You could tell them all of your secrets without having to worry about anything.”

“Kelly,” Mr. Crepsley called to the little girl that was playing outside while he was talking to Darren about joining the Cirque du Freak. “Could you please find Mr. Tall while we pack things up?”
“Okay!” She called back then skipped to the center of the church sat down and closed her eyes.
“What is she doing?” Darren asked wiping off a dirty plate.
“Homing in on Mr. Tall’s thoughts. She is locating him for us. I could have but she needs to practice.” Mr. Crepsley told him.
“You guys are telepathic?” Darren’s mouth hung open in astonishment.
“Sort of. We cannot speak to each other with our thoughts, but we can pick up his…aura. Once you find that tracking him is no problem.”
“Can I do that?”
“No.” Mr. Crepsley said, placing a folded pot into his bag. “Only full vampires and a few gifted humans can, but half- vampires cannot.”
“But Kelly is a half vampire.” Darren stated, confused.
“Yes, but Kelly’s entire family was able to use their minds to find each other and vampires.”
“Was?”
“Never your mind.” Mr. Crepsley said looking up at Kelly. After a few more minutes she opened her eyes.
“Got him.” She said walking over to Darren and Mr. Crepsley.
“Excellent,” Mr. Crepsley said picking her up. “We are off then.” He handed her the tube of papers and her violin. “Hang on tightly.” She wrapped her arms around his chest and her legs around his lower back, tightly clutching her violin. Darren climbed onto his shoulders and Mr. Crepsley began to run.

Kelly pressed her ear against Mr. Crepsley’s chest as he flitted to the Cirque. She closed her eyes and listened to the beating of his heart.
The beating of a heart was her favorite sound of all that intrigued her. It never used to be, until she held her ear to her family members’ bloody chests and bodies, searching for any hope that they would still be alive. When there was none, the beating of a heart became the sweetest sound of all.
His heart rate increased. Kelly looked up to see if her mentor was okay. He was sweating and beginning to breathe hard. She pulled out a bottle of blood from his pocket, uncorked it, and then held it to his lips. He drank it quickly then smiled down at her. She then pulled a rag out of one of his many pockets and wiped his head with it. When she finished he bent his head and gave her a quick kiss as she put the rag into one of her own pockets.
As the sky began to lighten Mr. Crepsley stopped running. Darren hopped off of his back then Kelly slid down his front until her feet touched the ground. Mr. Crepsley bent over to catch his breath as Darren put on the stuff he was too carry.
“Run out of steam?” Darren asked, laughing at the exhausted vampire.
Kelly growled at Darren then kicked him in the knee. Darren cried out in pain and started hopping on one foot, holding the other leg up to his chest.
Kelly crouched down by the kneeling vampire. “Are you going to be okay, Larten?” She asked, tilting her head to look at his face.
“I am going to be just fine, sweetheart. Thank you.” He smiled at his little assistant then pulled her into a hug. He kissed her on the head then rose as Darren started to run down the road slowly.
“Come on, old man.” Darren laughed back at them. “You and the twerp are getting left behind!”
“Keep it up,” Mr. Crepsley growled. “See what it gets you. A smack on the ear and a kick in the pants.”
They walked for a few minutes then Larten patted Kelly on the back, signaling that he was ready to run. She took a few short bounds ahead of the group then stopped and began a slow run like the others.
They passed a bunch of grungy campers on the way but Kelly got excited and started jumping ahead again, so they didn’t get a good look at the campers.
As they came around the last curve in the road, they saw it: the Cirque du Freak. They jogged down to it and crossed a narrow part in the river that the Cirque was resting by. Kelly was jumping over the vans as Mr. Crepsley weaved through the maze of tents.
They stopped at a long silver van and Kelly proceeded to bang on the door repeatedly. Her quick beating was stopped short by the opening of the door revealing the enormous Mr. Tall.
“I thought I felt you searching for me,” Mr. Tall said in his deep voice, his lips barely moving. He smiled down at Kelly who grinned right back at him. He transferred his gaze from Kelly then to Mr. Crepsley and finally to Darren. “I see you’ve brought the boy.”
“May we come in?” Mr. Crepsley asked.
“Of course.” Mr. Tally said. “What is one supposed to say to you vampires?” He smiled. “Enter at your own free will?”
“Something like that.” Mr. Crepsley replied with a smile on his face.
Mr. Tall reached down and picked Kelly up by the back of her cloak. She smiled at him as she hung there, watching him as he stared at her. He then playfully tossed her onto the bed inside and climbed on top of her.
“Hibernius!” Kelly squealed. “You’re squishing me!” She began laughing as he pretended to fall asleep on top of her.
“How has my favorite little half-vampire been?” Mr. Tall asked, showing her a black, toothy grin.
“Fine,” she said. “Darren’s stupid or something so he cannot play chess.” Mr. Tall laughed at Darren’s reddening face.
“Shut-up you little brat!” Darren yelled. “You have no right to be putting me down all of the time!”
“Actually, she does.” Mr. Tall commented as he climbed off of Kelly.
“How?” Darren asked.
“Another night,” Mr. Crepsley said before Mr. Tall could answer him. “Is it okay if we stay?”
“Of course,” Mr. Tall said. “Delighted to have you back, actually. We are a bit under staffed at the moment. Alexander Ribs, Sive and Sersa and Gertha Teeth are all of on vacations of business. Cormac Limbs is on his way to join us but is late getting here. Larten Crepsley, Kelly Desrali and their amazing spider will be an invaluable addition to our lineup.”
“Thank you.” Mr. Crepsley said.
“What about me?” Darren asked.
Mr. Tall smiled at him. “You are less valuable but welcome all the same.”
Kelly laughed and Darren glared at her. Mr. Tall snickered at her laughter.
“Where shall we be playing?” Mr. Crepsley asked.
“Right here.” Mr. Tall said. “Kelly I was thinking about you being my partner on the stage. We could show off some of our talents. Would you like that?”
Kelly jumped up from her spot on the bed and crawled into Mr. Tall’s lap, snuggling against him. “I would love to.” She said.
“Of course you would have to keep performing with Larten as well. Can you handle it?”
“I can handle anything, Hibernius.” They gave each other a hug and a kiss.
Mr. Crepsley stood. “Thank you for taking us back, Hibernius.”
“My pleasure.” He held Kelly out to Mr. Crepsley.
“I trust you took good care of my coffin?” Mr. Crepsley asked taking Kelly in to his arms.
“Of course.”
“That is what I miss the most when I am away. It will be nice to sleep in it again.”
“Yep.” Kelly said.
“What about the boy?” Mr. Tall asked. “Do you want us to knock together a coffin for him?”
“No,” Darren said quickly.
“Put him with someone his own age.” Mr. Crepsley said.
Kelly smiled. “Evra.” Kelly said mischievously.
“Yes put him with Evra.” Mr. Crepsley said with a mysterious smile like Kelly’s.
“Who’s Evra?” Darren asked.
“You will soon find out.” Mr. Crepsley said. “Good night.” He turned and left for his coffin with Kelly in his arms.

Mr. Crepsley twisted and turned expertly through the mass of scrambled vans, until he found the one he was looking for. He stopped and sighed happily at the sight of the large black van as Kelly nodded off to sleep. He looked down at the sleeping child and smiled. Soundlessly, he opened the door of the van and inhaled the sweet aroma of blood from within.
The inside was pretty well organized. There was a large shelf filled with little things Kelly had made, boxes of old documents and books, and shelves with fliers for the Cirque as well as a few little nick-knacks. Pictures of Kelly were hung up all over the van, mingling with ones that he and she had drawn.
Mr. Crepsley strode over to the large mahogany coffin in the middle of the van and stroked the lid with his free hand. Silently he lifted up the lid and stared at the red silk interior. He gently placed Kelly into the coffin and began to work on her clothes.
First he carefully removed her tiny red cloak by unfastening the shiny bat clasp that held it on her shoulders and draped it over the bed-side table. Then he took off her red, button-up dress shirt and tossed it into a box by the door. Next he unbuttoned her pants and slid them off of her, leaving her in tiny red shorts and a matching silk top.
After placing her shirt and pants in the box to be washed, he went to work on his clothes. He unhooked the silver chain and draped it on a chair. Then he began removing the rest of his clothes until he was in red satin boxers. Mr. Crepsley picked up his own pants and shirt and placed them with her identical set in the box.
Mr. Crepsley opened the drawer on the bedside table and pulled out a long tube of cream. He stood over the coffin and watched Kelly sleep. A few moments later she began to twitch. He opened the tube and squeezed some onto his fingers. Carefully, he lifted her right arm and rubbed the cream into the skin, then applying the cream to her other three limbs.
Once he had finished he twisted the cap back on and studied the tube. It was a special mixture that helps relax the muscles. The recipe has been passed down in her family for generations to soothe their muscle twitching as they sleep.
Mr. Crepsley reopened the tube and squeezed some of the baby blue cream onto his fingers. He rubbed the cream on his fore arm then the entire arm. The cream made his arm feel warm at first then the muscle began to tingle. Mr. Crepsley found he liked the new sensation very much so he rubbed some of the cream into his other arm and his legs.
He placed the top back onto the tube and set it in the drawer. He climbed into the coffin slowly, careful not to squash his darling little assistant, and snuggled up next to her. He wrapped his relaxed arms around her and drifted off to sleep as the sun’s rays tried to penetrate the tape over the windows.
Chapter 7
Kelly gazed up at her mentor as he slept the day away. He had kicked her while he was having a nightmare and she could not get back to sleep. She slowly lifted his arm and slithered out of his reach. Kelly gave him a kiss on the cheek before she quietly climbed out of the coffin then out of the van.
It was sunny outside and everyone was getting ready to or already doing their chores. She walked around the camp twisting her way through the mess of vans and tents stationed by the river. Kelly was panting as she searched for her friends and she finally found them sitting around a fire eating breakfast.
“Hans,” she said, stumbling towards the group. Hans turned and smiled at the tired, panting little girl.
“Hey, baby doll.” Hans said as she slunk into his lap.
“Hot,” she said pulling at her red silk top. “Too hot.”
“What are you doing up and out?” Mr. Tall asked stepping up behind Hans Hands. He lifted her out of his lap and held her in front of his face. She was panting heavily as the sun beat down on her small body. Mr. Tall pulled her close and lifted the lid of her scarred eye to examine it. After looking at it for a few moments, he let go of her face and cradled her in his arms.
“You know you cannot sweat. Larten would not be happy if he found out you were out here.” Mr. Tall lectured her.
“Sorry,” she said then fainted from the heat.
“Excuse us.” Mr. Tall said. He turned and walked Kelly back to her and Mr. Crepsley’s van.

Mr. Tall slowly opened the door to the vampire’s van and stepped inside. He set Kelly inside on her back next to Mr. Crepsley. Then he pulled a cloth out of his pocket and placed it in her mouth to chew on as she slept. Mr. Tall walked over to a water bucket in the corner of the van beside the bookshelf and pulled a soaking washcloth from it. After he had squeezed out some of the water he folded the cloth and placed it on her forehead.
As he turned to leave Kelly whimpered and began to rub her blind eye. Mr. Tall turned back to her and removed her tiny hand from her face. He lifted her eyelid and studied it some more. “You’ve got about fifteen more years.” Mr. Tall sighed, kissed her on the cheek closed the lid of the coffin and left.

“What?” Darren asked.
“What do you mean?” Hans Hands asked.
“She can’t sweat?”
“Oh that!” Hans said. He swallowed the piece of sausage he had in his mouth. “No, she can’t. Well, yes she can, but not very much.”
“Why not?”
“Well, her family did this thing called, well I think it’s called, selective breeding.” Hans said.
“Huh?” Darren grunted.
“It means that her family selected superior persons to be in their family to create the ultimate child. So they selected the qualities that they wanted and found the people that were very good in the selected quality. If you plan it right, those qualities will eventually end up in one body. Understand?”
“Yeah.”
“And it worked. The qualities eventually came together and formed the ultimate warrior: Kelly.”
“Kelly?” Darren gasped.
“Yes, Kelly.” Hans said.
“You mean the tiny little red head that despite the pointy teeth and the funky eye doesn’t look like she’d hurt a fly?”
“Well someone in her family thought that if they were going to be better than every one else in fighting, they might as well beat them in looks too.” Hans laughed.
“Okay. But what does this have to do with her not being able to sweat?”
“Alright. So this whole breeding deal sounds good doesn’t it? Like nothing could ever go wrong right?”
“Yeah.” Evra said.
“You don’t know the story yet?” Darren asked the snake-boy.
“No, this is the first.” The scale covered boy said.
“Well when you have a good thing you have to have a bad to keep the body in check. But because the family is so powerful, the bad things are miner to them, but they would drive a normal human absolutely bonkers.” Hans took another bite of his breakfast.
“Like getting tired quickly. She can get tired faster than a little half-vampire should so she has to take short naps after vigorous activity. And she can sweat but not very much so she cannot stay out in the hot sun for very long. Uncontrollable muscle twitches as she sleeps is another thing. Kelly has to put on a cream to relax the muscles.”
“That’s what that cream does!” Darren and Evra shouted in unison.
“Yeah. And her family ages normally until they get to twenty then it slows down and they stop aging completely when they look thirty.”
“So they can’t die of old age?” Darren asked.
“They can, they just never look older than thirty.”
“That’s weird.” Evra said.
“But her family is very generous to people like us. They will house us and feed us and give us fresh clothes. We spent a few weeks with the main household, Kelly’s family, while we were in Romania. Remember Evra?”
“Oh yeah!” Evra said. “They were so cool!”
His face fell. “Or they used to be very generous.”
“What happened?” Darren asked.”
“You see, her family housed freaks but they were always caring for vampires and the other type with the purple skin, I can never remember what they are called. Anyway, they lived to serve the creatures of the night, so they drank human blood about once a week. The people who lived near them feared them not only because of their power but because they were thought to be vampires.
“So an alliance formed to annihilate the entire family, even close friends and allies. The family got rid of the first, smaller groups without any trouble. But then the attacks stopped, they alliance was gaining members. Soon they had an entire army to rid themselves of these “Demons” as they so rudely called them.”
“What happened?” Darren asked.
“They took out the weaker ones first, the close friends of the clan. Once they had hunted down and killed every one of their friends, they moved up to the allies. The family began to get anxious. They knew that they had to fight hard to stay alive if it had gotten this bad.
“The gained more people then split them into enormous and spread them out all over the globe in search of the entire family. They found them, each cousin aunt and uncle. Every grandfather and grandmother was tracked down. Women, older men, and children were killed. The young, strong men were taken prisoner to be used a weapons and fulfill the wishes of the leaders of the armies.
“The Desralies were the last ones in their family left alive or still had their freedom. Only Christoph, Lilia, Kelly’s mother and father, Demetry, Kelly’s uncle, and Joseph, the Desrali’s trainer, were left along with Kelly. They came in extreme numbers because they knew these were the most powerful members.”
“What happened?” Evra asked.
“Christoph and Lilia left Kelly with Demetry and Joseph and told them to run. Demetry argued with Lilia about her going and him staying but she won out, her being older and more experienced than Demetry. Joseph grabbed a wounded vampire and fled, Demetry carrying Kelly.
“As they made their way through the dense woods outback their house they herd a woman scream: Lilia. Kelly’s mother had fallen. A few minutes later they herd Christoph’s shouts of protests as they threw him in the back of a truck, chains wrapped around him.”
“What about the others?” Darren asked.
Hans wiped a tear from his eye and continued. “They stayed together for a few weeks until they knew that would have to split up. Joseph and Demetry left Kelly with the vampire and left, she would be safe with him.” Hans sighed as tears streamed down his face. “No one ever herd from Demetry or Joseph again.”
“What about Kelly and the vampire?” Darren asked.
“How do you know about all of this?” Evra asked.
“I was told by someone.” Hans answered.
“Who was the vampire?” Darren asked.
“Are you really that dense?” Hans snapped.
“How would we know?” Evra yelled back.
“Who is Kelly with know! Think about it!”
“We’re sorry Hans,” both boys apologized.
“They never did anything to hurt any one. They were just doing what they believed in. They were so kind to me and every one else, why did they have to die?” Hans threw down his plate and ran back to his tent sobbing. All around people had herd his story and stopped to listen. Those who knew were crying and thinking about the poor family.

Night came and Mr. Crepsley awoke right at seven o’ clock just as he always does. He looked down at his assistant who was wrapped securely in his strong arms. But she had a damp rag on her head. Mr. Crepsley pushed the top of the coffin open and grabbed the rag off of Kelly’s head to examine it. He caught sight of the letters ‘H T’ embroidered onto one of the corners.
On the cloth was a note.
“Larten,
Stop using that cream. You can’t feel her when she gets up and leaves. Kelly fainted from the heat but she will be okay.
Your good friend,
Hibernius Tall.”
“Alright Hibernius.” Mr. Crepsley said with a smile. He tossed the rag into the box of dirty clothes then nudged his assistant.
“Wake up lazybones.” Mr. Crepsley said. When she didn’t respond he pulled her into the middle of the coffin and straddled her tiny body. “Wake up, baby.”
“Five more minutes,” she mumbled sleepily.
“No get up. We have chores to do.” He bent his head down and began to nuzzle her neck.
“You do my chores for me.” Kelly said. She still hadn’t opened her eyes.
Mr. Crepsley opened his mouth and placed it over her neck and blew. Her eyes shot open and she began to laugh. “Not a chance.” Mr. Crepsley said then blew on her tummy. He stopped blowing and began to kiss her all over. She was squealing with laughter as he planted kisses all over her face and stomach.
“Are you awake now?” Larten asked after messing with her for five minutes,
“Yeah!” Kelly said happily. She wrapped her arms around his neck and gave him a kiss on his lips.
The door swung open. “Are you two done with your tickle fight? You have chores to do.” Mr. Tall said smiling.
“Yes, Hibernius. Someone just needed a little help getting up.” Mr. Crepsley said. He picked Kelly up and dropped her on the floor. She landed on her feet and ran to give Hibernius a hug.
“Good morning, little one.” Mr. Tall said, hugging Kelly back.
“Kelly,” Mr. Crepsley said holding a red suit out to her. She hopped away from Mr. Tall and grabbed the suit out of his hands.
“Your list.” Mr. Tall said handing the red boxer wearing Mr. Crepsley a piece of paper.
“Good day, Hibernius.” Mr.Crepsley said bowing slightly to Mr. Tall then turned back to Kelly as the door shut.
Suddenly a shirt was thrown at his face. “These are yours, silly head.” Kelly giggled. She was wearing his long red pants. She had to hold them up and most of the legs were crumpled on the floor.
Mr. Crepsley laughed at the sight of the tiny red head in his long pants. Kelly giggled at her laughing guardian, she loved to see him smile and laugh. He produced a camera from one of his pockets and took her picture. He waited a few second then pulled a ring on the side. The picture popped out of a slit next to the pull ring and Mr. Crepsley took it out of the camera. He waved it back and forth in his hand for a minute and waited for the picture to come in.
“Come here.” Mr. Crepsley said taking a knee to get to her level. He wrapped an arm around her and held the developing picture in front of them. They both laughed at the picture of her in the long legged pants. “You are so cute.” Mr. Crepsley said, and then gave her a kiss on the cheek.
“I want to take your picture, Larten.” Kelly said, turning in his arms to face him.
“Did you fix your camera?” Mr. Crepsley asked placing his hand on her shoulders and rubbing the smooth skin with his thumbs.
“Almost. It works but it is a little slow.”
“Well if it works then you may take one.” Kelly gave him a hug. “Quickly, sweetheart. We must prepare dinner for the others.” He gave her a quick pat on the bottom right before she ran to her shelf of inventions.
She came back carrying a camera that was just about the same as his but with a few attachments to allow it to take pictures of vampires. “Smile!” She said snapping a picture of Mr. Crepsley squatting on the ground. The picture popped out of a slot in the front white but the image began to appear after a few minutes.
Kelly looked at the picture and smiled. “Larten, you look so pretty!”
“Let me see it.” Mr. Crepsley asked opening his arms to her. Kelly ran to him and jumped into his arms. Mr. Crepsley stood cradling her in his arms. He took the picture and examined it.
“You just had to get my boxers in the photo.” Mr. Crepsley asked laughing. He set her down and gave her the correct pair of clothing.
“You know, maybe you should not dress like me. We get confused far too often.” Mr. Crepsley said, buttoning up his shirt.
“But I want to be just like you, Larten.” Kelly said handing him his cloak. He took it and wrapped it around his shoulders, fastening the chain to hold it on.
“Why do you want to be like me?” Mr. Crepsley asked fixing her own cloak around her.
“Because I love you,” she said. His hands froze on the sparking bat clasp.
“Why did you say that?” Mr. Crepsley asked.
“Because I do. You have always been with me. Even when my mommy died and daddy got taken away and Uncle Demetry and Foxface left to try to keep us alive.” Kelly began to cry, remembering the horror that they had been through together.
“Oh baby, I love you too. I always have and I always will.” He pulled her into a hug and they dried their tears on each others’ shoulders. Mr. Crepsley pulled back a bit after he and she were finished. “It is seven fifteen. They expect dinner by eight. Let us go.”
He held his hand out to her and she grasped his pointer and middle finger. They had just gotten out of the door when Mr. Crepsley froze. “What are we preparing for dinner anyway?”
Kelly pulled the paper out of his pocket and looked at what Mr. Tall had planned. “Duck a l’Orange. With baked potatoes and a small salad.”
“It has been awhile since we have cooked that dish. But we will pull through.”
“We always do.” Kelly said as they made their way over to the cooking van.

At eight o’ clock, everyone gathered around the fire for dinner. Mr. Crepsley and Kelly set the meal up nicely on shiny tin plates. Two plates at a time they quickly handed each person until every performer and every worker had one. They then brought out a few pitchers of water and milk and placed them in the center to be passed around then they ran around handing each person a tin cup for their drink.
Mr. Crepsley and Kelly took their places standing behind the group as they took their first bites. “Delicious as always you two.” Hans said. Everyone nodded in agreement.
“Come sit.” Mr. Tall said motioning to the two vacant spots too his left. “There is no need for the chefs to watch as we eat, you deserve to eat.” Kelly and Mr. Crepsley walked over to the empty spots and sat in front of two plates.  
Mr. Crepsley pulled out three bottles of blood from his pockets and poured one in a cup for Kelly and one for himself. He threw the last bottle to Darren who gagged as the bottle landed in his lap. Darren watched Kelly climb into Mr. Crepsley’s lap and have him hold the cup so she could drink. Mr. Crepsley then took his own cup and drank from it.
Mr. Crepsley fed Kelly her dinner as he ate his own. After they had both finished Mr. Crepsley emptied his cup and helped Kelly finish hers. He tilted it too much and some blood trickled out of the corner of her mouth and moved down her face and dripped off her chin. Darren retched at the sight of the two drinking blood and began coughing.
Darren hadn’t been felling well because he refused to drink human blood. He was always tired, his skin was pale, his senses had weakened, and his skin was pale for a half-vampire. Mr. Crepsley knew exactly what was happening, Darren was dying.
Mr. Crepsley stood and walked his plate over to the wash bucket. He snapped his fingers and Kelly’s dishes disappeared as well. He snapped his fingers and appeared behind Darren. He jerked Darren up roughly up by the arm and pushed him away from the group.
“What the Hell is wrong with you? You could’ve broken my arm!” Darren yelled.
“We are going to see and old friend.” Mr. Crepsley said then grabbed Darren by the arm and pulled him to the road. Kelly jumped up and ran after them after Mr. Crepsley gave a quick whistle and latched herself onto Mr. Crepsley’s leg.

Mr. Crepsley led them to a large building miles away from the Cirque. “Where are we, Larten?” Kelly asked climbing off of Mr. Crepsley’s chest.
“We are at the office of an old friend of mine.”
“Who is it?” Kelly asked.
“Jimmy Ovo,” he answered.
“What are-“ Darren began to ask.
“Shhh. You ask too many questions, Darren.” Mr. Crepsley shushed Darren.
“What are we doing here?” Kelly asked the question Darren was going to.
“I will show you in a minute, baby.” Mr. Crepsley said holding the door open for her and letting it fall on Darren. Mr. Crepsley was not too concerned about Darren ever. His whole life seemed to revolve around Kelly.
Mr. Crepsley led them down a hallway and up a well lit flight of stairs. After a few minutes they came to a waiting room with a white desk sitting below a blurred glass window. Mr. Crepsley rang a bell on the desk and stepped back. Kelly had never herd that noise before and jumped up to the desk knocking the bell on the floor. Kelly squealed as the bell chimed when it hit the floor and began tossing it around.
A shadow appeared behind the glass and the door in the glass wall opened. A man dressed in a white doctor uniform with brown hair and a green mask through. “How may I-“ He stopped and lowered his mask. “Larten Crepsley! What are you doing here, you old devil?”
“Hello, Jimmy.” Mr. Crepsley smiled and shook his hand. “Long time, no see.”
“I herd you were dead.” The man said.
“You should not believe everything you hear.” Kelly lightly tapped the button on the bell and jumped back as it rang. Mr. Crepsley whistled and Kelly grabbed the bell and ran too him.
“Lookie,” she said waving the bell back and forth making it ring.
“Yes a bell.” Mr. Crepsley said them picked her up. “This is my assistant Kelly. Kelly this is my old friend Jimmy Ovo.” She was shaking the bell furiously then looked up at Jimmy.
“Yours?” Kelly asked holding the bell out to him.
“Hi, sweetheart.” Jimmy said brushing past the bell and stroking her cheek. “You’re a cute little thing.” Kelly smiled revealing her pointy teeth to Jimmy. “That’s a nice set of chompers you’ve got there.” Darren was shocked that this man didn’t care that she could bite his arm off with little to no trouble at all and just kept stroking her cheek.
Jimmy took notice of the bell and laughed as she shook it up and down. “You can keep that if you want to.” Kelly’s eyes lit up and she held her arm out to Jimmy to give him a hug, still clutching the bell. Jimmy took her from Mr. Crepsley’s arms and gave her a hug then set her on his hip.
“This is Darren, my second assistant.” Mr. Crepsley said nudging Darren forward. “Darren this is Jimmy Ovo, world’s finest pathologist.”
Mr. Crepsley told Jimmy that they were both vampires and the two sat down to talk about old times. Darren sat with the two men as Kelly walked around. Mr. Crepsley watched as she tossed the bell on the ground, chased after it then threw it again. Jimmy turned and watched as Kelly threw the shiny bell and began to chase it. As she bent to pick it up Mr. Crepsley snapped his fingers and the bell went sliding away from her.
After a few minutes of Mr. Crepsley’s teasing, Kelly timed her jump just right and landed right on top of the bell then threw it at Mr. Crepsley. She quickly jumped to one of the drawers and pulled the handle. The door opened with a hiss and she climbed inside.
Larten chuckled and picked up the bell. “Have you got anything recent?”
“Yeah,” Jimmy laughed. “Just got a fresh body in about ten minutes ago.” He walked over to the drawer that Kelly had shut herself in and opened it with a hiss. Larten walked over to the open drawer and gasped playfully.
“She is too cute!” He exclaimed, lifting her out of the drawer. “She is perfect, I will take her.” Kelly squealed with laughter. She grabbed the bell out of his hands and began to shake it.
“Give me that.” Larten said with a smile. “That thing makes enough racket to wake the dead!” Larten slipped the bell back into one of his pockets and turned back to Jimmy. “So do you have any fresh bodies? I need to fill up.”
“I’ve got one from about eight hours ago, died in a car crash.” Jimmy said.
“Nothing fresher?” Jimmy shook his head. “It will have to do.”
Jimmy led them over to a table with a body on it covered with a white sheet. Kelly jumped onto the table and whipped the sheet back revealing a tall blond man with a bruise on his head. She was about to make a cut in his chest when Darren began to protest.
Kelly cocked an eyebrow and gave Larten a confused look. Larten sighed and shook his head as he pulled out his empty blood bottles. Kelly shrugged and began to make the cut. She drug her nail down his chest, slicing him open. Mr. Crepsley grabbed her arm and rolled up her sleeve. As Mr. Crepsley pulled out a long tube Kelly had grabbed the beginning of the tube and reached into the man’s chest.
Darren watched, disgusted, as she began to squeeze the heart of the man like a pump, blood pushing through the tube into the bottles. Mr. Crepsley tasted some of the blood and confirmed that it was still good.
After about fifteen minutes they had finished and Mr. Crepsley tried to offer Darren another bottle of blood. When he refused, Mr. Crepsley grabbed Kelly off of the man’s chest, thanked Jimmy stiffly, and then stormed out of the morgue.
When they got back to the Cirque, Mr. Crepsley told Darren that if he died it would not be his fault.
“Why didn’t you help them, Mr. Crepsley?” Darren asked.
“What?” Mr. Crepsley snapped turning back to face him.
“You could’ve helped the Desralis. But you ran away with the others.” Mr. Crepsley’s mouth fell open as he searched for words. He dropped Kelly on the ground and rubbed his temples as his head filled with images of that awful time. “You abandoned them for this little, little, Freak!” Darren yelled pointing at Kelly.
“Shut up, Darren.” Mr. Crepsley said quietly.
“No!” Darren screamed. People began to come out of their tents and vans to see what was going on. “You Bastard! You could have helped them!”
“Stop it, Darren!” Kelly cried.
“You’re a murderer, Mr. Crepsley. A no-good, dirty-rotten, asshole! You’re no better than the people that killed her family!”
“Shut up, Darren!” Mr. Crepsley screamed. His scream echoed on for miles. He ran at Darren drawing his arm back and punching Darren right in the gut. Darren flew off his feet right into a tent. Mr. Crepsley pulled a vile of blood out of his pocket and straddled Darren. He pressed the bottle to Darren’s lips but he just bit the top off and the blood spilled all over his face and the ground. Mr. Crepsley’s hand balled into another fist as he pulled his arm back to finish Darren off with a punch in the face.
“STOP!” Mr. Tall roared. He jumped on Mr. Crepsley and pulled him off of Darren. He threw Mr. Crepsley on his back in the grass and lay on top of him. “Calm down!” Mr. Tall whispered. “There was nothing you could do, Larten. You did what they wanted, you took care of Kelly.” Mr. Crepsley relaxed and his face held the look of sadness. “Grab on.” Mr. Tall whispered. Mr. Crepsley nodded then wrapped his arms around Mr. Tall’s broad shoulders, and wrapped his legs around his back.
Mr. Tall stood, Mr. Crepsley clinging to him tightly, and walked over to Hans, who had the crying little girl cradled in his arms. Mr. Tall reached out the hand that was not supporting his best friend and Kelly was placed in his arms. He walked to Mr. Crepsley’s van and stepped inside. He put Mr. Crepsley in his coffin and closed the lid. He walked out carrying only Kelly and shut the door quietly.
“Alexander!” Mr. Tall called. “My keys!” Alexander walked up to Mr. Tall with a ring of keys. He locked the door to the van then walked back once he made sure it was locked correctly. Mr. Tall walked over to Darren and looked down at the boy. “That was incredibly stupid, boy.” He hissed. “If you ever upset my friends again I will not step in too save you. Understand?” Darren nodded yes than clutched his stomach.
“But he almost killed me!” Darren groaned.
“No, boy, you angered him. But do you see that he also tried to save you?” Darren looked down at the broken bottle and pool of blood. “Larten and Kelly have seen more than enough deaths in their lifetimes, do you really think that they want to see you go as well?” Mr. Tall grunted then walked off to his van with Kelly.

“Mr. Crepsley! Mr. Crepsley!” Evra screamed as he banged on the door to his van.
“Yes, Evra?” Mr. Crepsley groaned.
“The wolf-man is gone! I think it’s after Darren!” Mr. Crepsley shot up in his coffin and tore the door open.
“What?” Mr. Crepsley asked.
“The wolf-man got loose and Darren is gone!” Evra shouted pointing to the open and abandoned cage.
“Where is Kelly?” Mr. Crepsley asked frantically searching for his little assistant.
“Right here, Larten.” She walked around the side of the van eyes full of confusion. “What is happening?” Mr. Crepsley jumped out of the van and embraced her. He picked her up and set her in the van.
“Stay here, Baby.” He said. “It is not safe out here right now.” He pulled the bell out of his pocket and handed it to her. “Darren is in trouble and I need to go help him.”
“Are you going to come back for me?” Kelly asked as he turned away.
“I would never leave you, Kelly. Never in a million years.” He kneeled by the door so he was level to her. He gave her a hug and a kiss then shut the door. Mr. Crepsley grabbed a stick and jammed the door shut so nothing could get in or out without removing the stick.

Hours had passed since Mr. Crepsley had left Kelly to go find Darren. “Larten loves me. He said he would never leave me.” Kelly sang as she tossed her Larten doll up in the air while lying in their silk lined coffin. “I love my Larten. Always and forever, and ever.”
Kelly jumped out of the coffin with her doll and ran over to her invention shelf. She pulled a radio down off of the second shelf and plugged it in. She pressed the button so that it would play the disk and she squatted beside the player.
Her head moved in time with the song as it played. “I've been searching for a man. All across Japan. Just to find, to find my samurai,” she sang. “Someone who is strong. But still a little shy. Yes, I need, I need my samurai.” She was so into the song that she did not even hear the door open and Mr. Crepsley step inside.
He smiled as she sang the chorus. Once she had finished he began to sing the song. “I've been searching in the woods. And high upon the hills. Just to find, to find my samurai.”
Kelly jumped and spun around. She smiled when she saw it was Larten and began to sing again. “Some one who won’t regret, to keep me in his net. Yes I need, I need my samurai.” She jumped into his arms and then began to sing the chorus. “Ai yai yai, I'm your little butterfly. Green, black, and blue, make the colors in the sky. Ai yai yai, I'm your little butterfly. Green, black and blue, make the colors in the sky.” She stopped singing and looked into Larten’s eyes. “Will you be my samurai?”
“Of course.” Mr. Crepsley said. “And you will always be my little butterfly.”
They laughed together and then got ready for bed. “Where did you go?” Kelly asked.
“Oh, nowhere.” Mr. Crepsley answered. “Just went out to get Darren a little drink of blood.”
“Did he drink this time?”
“Yes, he drank the blood of that Sam boy. He was dying and Darren saved part of his soul.”
“Why was he dying?” Kelly asked as he rubbed the light blue lotion into her skin.
“The wolf-man got loose and hurt him, baby. But I got the wolf-man and Darren got a drink that is all that matters.” He climbed into the coffin as the van started up to pull them to their next destination. “Good night, Kelly.”
“Night, night, Larten.” He gave her a kiss and watched her as she fell asleep.
“Good night, my baby. My little butterfly.”