by Rue Volley
“Did you get his hat?” I asked him.
He threw it to me. I caught it and stared at the writing.
“Sweet,” I said, as I placed it on my head and closed my door.
***
Josh shook his head and laughed, went into his room and shut the door. He sat down on the bed and stared at his hands. Black static rose from his fingers and he stretched his hands out a few times. He layback on the bed and stared at the ceiling.
“Did you get his hat?” he whispered, as he shook his head and grinned.
***
Sara had knocked on Rue’s door a few times and peeked into the windows. She stood on the porch then turned around and looked at the cars. She placed her hands on her hips and grinned.
“Well crap,” she muttered.
She had come to wake Rue up and drag her to the secret rendezvous, with the cute boy who had sparked her interest on the phone. She crossed her arms and decided to head to the carnival herself. She ran back down to her car and jumped in. Sara adjusted her mirror to look at herself, giving her hair a fluff. She grinned and pulled her dress down over her shoulder then turned the key. She pulled out and headed for the outskirts of town.
She pulled up to people scurrying around and tents being pulled up. She smiled as she got out of the car and remembered that she hadn’t been to the carnival since her and Rue were about thirteen. They had begged and pleaded to go…and her Dad had taken them. They had spent the day riding rides and eating nasty food. She sighed, as she thought about how great that day was. A raindrop hit her windshield and she frowned.
“Of course,” she muttered to herself.
She looked in the backseat and spotted her umbrella a black one with white polka dots. She grabbed it and opened her door up. She popped the umbrella open and looked at the carnival. She grinned. Rain was not going to ruin it… was not. She brushed her hand on the front of her dress, the red one that she only broke out on special occasions, and started to walk towards the front gate. She leaned into the ticket booth and didn’t see anything but a nudie magazine lying on the ground. She rolled her eyes and stepped past the booth. She took about three steps in and Caine stepped out of a tent and stared at her. She grinned. He was super cute… his hair kinda messy… in a Victorian way. He wore a white button down with a black vest over it. His pants were black too. She smiled and waved at him. He stepped up to her and grinned.
“You must be Sara,” he said to her. Sara grinned and turned her red heel in the ground.
“And you are Jonah?” she asked him.
Caine nodded and held his hand out to her. Sara placed her hand in his and he lifted it to his mouth. He gently kissed the back of it and closed his eyes as he felt her heartbeat in his ears.
“Oh,” she whispered.
Caine lifted his eyes to hers and she stared at them. His eyelashes were so long, it almost looked like he had mascara on. She bit her lip and he lowered her hand.
“So… I was correct,” Caine said to her. Sara looked at him, a little confused.
“About what?” she asked him.
“You are as pretty as you sounded on the phone,” Caine said to her. Sara giggled.
“Well, you look nice yourself,” she added.
He stepped up to her and looked at her face and then at her neck. He could see the vein moving in rhythm to her heartbeat. Her heart fluttered and he cleared his throat, resisting the urge to drop her to ground and bite her.
“Well.” He reached into his pocket and acted like he was searching for the phone. He frowned.
“Oh, it seems that I must have left the phone in my tent,” he said to her.
Sara smiled. She didn’t care that this may be a plan to get her alone. Truth was he was so cute that she really wasn’t even thinking about why she came here anymore. Caine smiled at her. She looked at his teeth… they were bright white… perfect, really. He leaned in to her ear. “Would you like to go back to my tent, so that I can give you what you came here for?” he asked, in a half whisper.
Sara blushed. She was not used to being with any boy who could properly flirt with her. Teenage boys were clumsy by nature… not really knowing the right things to say to a girl. She placed her hand on her neck and rubbed it.
“I guess that would be okay,” she said to him.
Caine took her hand and started to lead her to his tent. She stopped when she thought she heard someone yell out. Caine squeezed her hand and led her inside. Sara shook her umbrella and closed it up. She looked around at the room. It had costumes and chests thrown around. Then she spotted the bed. It was big… nice and big. She looked away from it and looked at Caine. He stood there staring at her and then glanced at the bed.
“Big… isn’t it?” he asked her. She smiled and rocked back and forth for a moment.
“Yes… it seems to be,” she said.
Caine turned and walked to his jacket that lay open over a chair. He reached into the pocket and pulled out the phone. He looked at it and then walked up to her. Sara looked at it and then up into his eyes. He grinned.
“See… here it is,” he said. She reached her hand out and Caine placed it in her hand.
He held her hand for a moment and Sara felt her heart flutter in her chest again.
“I am afraid that it is dead,” he said to her. Sara pressed on the button and nothing came on.
“Oh well… Rue can charge it when I give it back to her,” Sara said.
They stood there in an awkward silence for a moment and Sara started to turn.
Caine touched her arm.
“Would you like to stay and have dinner?” he asked her.
Sara looked around the room and then settled on his eyes. Normally she wouldn’t be so eager to just hang out alone with a boy that she didn’t know, but he made her feel safe for some reason. She grinned at him.
“Sure, why not,” she said.
Caine smiled at her and turned. He grabbed his jacket and put it on. Sara stood and watched him. He had the most amazing shoulders. Not too big… but strong, she would guess. A flash went through her mind as to what he would look like with his shirt off and she looked at the ground. Caine smiled. He could feel her energy shifting…to something closer to sexual, in nature. He cleared his throat and walked up to her.
“Shall we?” he asked her, as he held out his hand.
Sara placed her hand in his and he led her out of the tent. She looked around as people shuffled about, the sky was gray and the rain wanted to fall harder, it just hadn’t started too yet. Caine popped her umbrella open, over the both of them and she looked up at him. He smiled and led her to another tent. He stopped outside the door and looked at her.
“Let me tell them that we have a guest for dinner,” he said to her.
She smiled… I guess it wasn’t an odd request, for someone to announce that they had a guest, but in a way it was. She has never known any boy to have such manners as him. Caine turned and saw that the animals were being led in.
“Look,” he said.
A girl, dressed in all black was leading a white tiger out of a trailer and into a tent. Sara’s eyes got bigger.
“You guys have animals too?” she asked him. Caine smiled as he watched her face light up.
The thought of her being young enough to still get excited, like a child, in turn excited him.
“Yes… I guess that we are the closest thing to a perfect blend of carnival and circus, that could be,” he said to her.
Sara watched as the tiger growled and the girl placed her hand on its face. She leaned in.
Caine leaned up to ear. “You will be able to touch it later… if you like, once it has eaten of course.” Sara looked at him, her eyes big. She obviously loved that idea.
“Oh god, that would be just awesome,” she said. Caine grinned and stepped into the tent. “Wait here,” he said to her.
He handed her the umbrella and let his fingers gently rub across the top of her hand. She took a breath and he disappeared into the ten
t. She stood there watching as the lights started to come on, one by one. Music started to play and she smiled.
“This is the bomb,” she whispered to herself.
Caine opened the tent and held his hand out to her. She smiled and took it. He led her in and she stopped as she saw a long table with many people sitting at it. She smiled and held her head up. She wasn’t one who got nervous in a crowd too easily.
Caine took her umbrella and closed it in front of them. As it shut it revealed a very cute boy stood directly in front of them. He tipped his hat and took a bow to her. He straightened up and grinned. A very pretty girl walked up behind him and laid her hand across his shoulder and grinned, without showing her teeth. Sara stared at them for a moment. They looked to be dressed just as formally as Jonah was. She grinned, knowing that her choice of picking this red dress was probably a great move. The boy took her hand and kissed it. He leaned up to her face.
“Welcome,” he said to her.
She smiled and looked at Caine. He stared at the boy and then at the girl draped on his arm.
“This is Able and his sister Lily,” he said to her. Sara smiled.
“I’m Sara,” she said, as she looked past them to all the attractive people at the long table.
Jonah shot a look at Caine and smiled, as he tilted his head.
Caine led Sara to a chair and pulled it out for her. He sat down next to her at the head of the table. Jonah smiled at Lily and walked to the other end. Jonah sat down and Lily sat on his lap; she started to play with his hair and took his hat off. She laid it on the table and looked down at the other end, to notice Sara staring at them. Caine leaned over to Sara’s ear.
“They were orphaned at an early age. They are very close,” he whispered.
Sara grinned at her and Lily grinned back.
Food started to arrive at the table and Sara watched as a feast, prepared for a hundred, was placed around. She looked down at her plate and noticed that it looked like very fine china. Caine waited until all the food arrived and then poured some wine into Sara’s glass. She looked at it and he grinned at her.
“Oh… do you drink?” he asked her. She smiled.
“Are you kidding?” she said, as she lifted the glass to her lips and glanced at Able and Lily at the other end.
Able was leaned back in his chair and twirled his finger in Lily’s hair. Sara tipped her glass and took a drink. It tasted somewhat bitter. She pursed her lips and placed her glass back down on the table. Caine cleared his throat and raised his glass.
“I would like to thank everyone for joining us this evening to celebrate a new beginning for the carnival.”
Everyone raised their glasses and held them, waiting to see if he was going to drink or continue. He tilted his glass and took a large drink. Everyone drank theirs just as fast too. Sara grabbed her glass and held it out and then she took a big gulp. It kind of burnt her throat a little. She would be the first to admit that she had drank alcohol, but never wine. She lowered her glass and Caine smiled at her. She leaned over to him as everyone tore into the food.
“A new beginning?” she asked him. Caine sighed.
“Yes… with every end there is a new beginning Sara. We are embarking on a new chapter of prosperity for this carnival… not which has been seen before.”
Sara watched as Lily opened her mouth and Able placed a piece of meat on her tongue. She closed her lips over his finger and Able pulled his finger out slowly. Lily’s eyes flashed to Sara’s and she looked down at her hands… feeling like she had intruded on some strange moment between them. She cleared her throat as she raised her hand to her mouth.
Caine leaned over to her. “Would you like to eat?” he asked her.
“Yes… actually I would, I am starving,” she said to him.
Caine took a large knife and carved into a big piece of meat in front of them. He pulled it off, letting it balance on the edge of the blade and placed it onto her plate. He scooped something that was blood red and placed it next to the meat. Sara looked at it and saw a little blood coming from under the meat. She wanted to be courteous, so she took her knife and cut a tiny piece off and placed the fork into her mouth. She started to chew. The flavor was familiar, but foreign.
“Oh,” she said, after she swallowed it. Caine grinned at her.
“You like?” he asked her.
Sara raised her napkin and pulled it from her mouth, it looked red where she had dabbed it on her lip. “Yes… I can’t really tell what it is,” she said.
Everyone at the table laughed. Sara looked around and once again her eyes settled on Able and Lily. Able grinned at her and Lily stood up next to him. He placed his hand around her waist.
“Well, it is buffalo… strange taste, similar to chicken and steak mixed together,” Caine said as he stared at Jonah. Jonah laughed and raised his glass to Caine. Caine nodded.
Truth was. Sara had just swallowed some poor unsuspecting child who had wandered off from home earlier in the day. Lily had snatched up the chunky boy as they travelled towards this new destination. Lily walked to the end of the table and leaned down to Sara.
“Come,” she whispered to her. Sara looked at Caine and he grinned.
“Seems that Lily likes you Sara. Why don’t you go and see what she has in store for you.”
Sara looked at her and grinned. The wine was starting to seep into her head a little. She felt somewhat dizzy, but in a great way. She shrugged her shoulders and Lily took her hand and pulled her up towards her. Lily leaned in to close to her and smiled.
“You are very pretty,” she whispered to Sara. Sara grinned and looked back at Caine.
He nodded to her. Lily held onto Sara’s hand as they walked from the tent.
Jonah stood up as soon as they left. He looked at Caine.
“You should be grateful that she did not end up on my plate,” Jonah said as he smiled and looked in the direction that Lily had taken her.
“She is not to eat,” Caine said as he waved his hand at him.
“So… let us get to the real dealings of the evening,” Caine said as he rose from his chair.
Jonah sat back down and propped his feet up on the table. Caine looked at him and Jonah took his feet off the table and leaned forward in his chair. Caine stood there and everyone around the table kept eating like pigs. Jonah cleared his throat and everyone stopped. There was a little mumbling, but not much. Caine leaned forward on the table and pressed his hands down on it. He looked up, grinning as he scanned the rag tag collection that sat before him. He looked at Jonah.
“Is this everyone?” he asked him. Jonah smiled.
“Minus a few,” he said as he drank from his glass.
Caine slammed his fists on the table and it vibrated. A few glasses tipped over, spilling blood onto the table. A girl on the right put her fingers into the spilt blood and raised it to her mouth. Caine’s glare flashed to her.
“I expect obedience,” he said to her.
She lowered her hand from her mouth and wiped the blood on her shirt. He straightened up and looked at Jonah.
“Well, the reason for this gathering is quite simple really,” he said as he walked around the table and stood behind the girl who had lowered her hand. He stopped behind her.
“I would ask any of you if you are content with the existence you have carved out here, feeding on scraps and hoping that the food supply does not run out from lack of interest?”
Jonah rubbed the top of his glass and it started to ring. He looked up at Caine.
“We have done quite well for a hundred years, considering the circumstances.”
Jonah leaned forward and stopped rubbing his fingers along the rim of his glass. Caine reached down and placed his hand under the chin of the girl. He held her face straight.
“Are any of you willing to continue on this path forever, is what I guess I am asking? I believe that there could be some perks to roaming around, but consider this. We have the right to build our own city, one in which w
e could remain and the rest of the world would be at our beck and call.”
Jonah laughed.
“There is already a city of such measure. It is called Valon.” Jonah looked around the room. “And as we know… none of us are welcome there.”
Caine reached down with his other hand and rubbed his fingers on the girl’s breasts. She grinned up at him and squirmed a little. He looked down at her and sighed. She stood up and he sat down allowing her to sit down on top of him and wrap her legs around his waist. He lifted her up and back down on his lap. She hissed and he pulled her hair, tilting her head back. Jonah watched, so did the rest of the table. Caine looked at all of them and grinned.
“I would ask…” He moaned a little. “…that all of you consider my proposal I offer.”
The girl cried out and he gritted his teeth as she moved back and forth on his lap.
“We are the beginning and the end. We do not grovel for food. I have a mate which will ensure that the world will bow to our every need.”
The girl started to grab at the back of his chair and Jonah started to breathe harder as he watched them. Suddenly, the girl arched her back and screamed. Caine sliced his blade across her throat and leaned up, grabbing a glass, the blood from her neck flowed into it as he grabbed the back of her hair and tilted her head back. He knocked her off of his lap and drank from the cup.
Jonah clapped his hands together. “That was very entertaining Caine.”
Caine smiled and stood up as he adjusted himself. He looked down at the girl. She raised her hand to her throat and a glow came from under her fingers, lighting up her neck. She grinned up at him and he looked at Jonah.
“What Rue Valon possesses within her is a child that will be a hurricane to the world, a destructive force of nature. She is unaware of what she is capable of doing. The little girl I brought in here tonight means a great deal to her. I will turn her and in turn, use her to make Rue my own.”