“Well, yeah, but when you live with it, you learn to tune things out,” Rayth explained in response to Lune’s question about his sense of smell. “If I paid attention to every scent around me all the time, it would drive me crazy.”
The only smells he really focused on were silver and blood, the former because it was sometimes associated with hunters and the latter because, well, he was a vampire. But he decided not to bring her attention back to that.
When she called him Count von Count, he shook his head, though he couldn’t stifle the smile on his lips. It seemed he wasn’t the only one who could throw kids’ show characters around in the form of an epithet. He was going to have to wrack his brain for better references later on, so he could show her that he wasn’t going to let her win “most creative” that easily.
Walking with her to the gate that would take them to the train, he was relieved that she seemed invested enough in chatting with him that her gaze didn’t stray to the mess left behind by the troupe.
Briefly, he peered over her shoulder to see that Frieda was rounding everyone up. The ringmistress didn’t always gather them after a show, but he remembered that she’d done the same thing the day he’d joined the circus. The only difference this time was that their newest member wasn’t present to be formally introduced.
She must be warning everyone that Lune’s a human, he deduced, his scarlet eyes flicking back to the girl’s face. They’d never taken a human in before, and since some of the monsters in the group were even more bloodthirsty than he was—so to speak—the faerie would have to lay down some ground rules so she wouldn’t be killed. He wondered if Frieda was telling them all that Lune didn’t know they weren’t human too.
At her question, he snapped out of his musing to pay attention, not wanting to clue her in to his wandering thoughts and get curious when the scene behind her looked like a horror flick.
“Las Vegas?” he brightened at the name. “I’ve always liked that place. The streets are lively, but I’ve never been able to get into the casinos. Can’t pass for twenty-one.” He held up his hands in a helpless shrug. It was one of the downsides to being immortal. He’d passed his twenties decades ago, but he still looked like he was only eighteen or nineteen years old. If he tried to go anywhere with an age limit, the bouncers and dealers would ask him for an ID, which he didn’t have because he was born in 1912, and that would raise red flags at any DMV.
The best he could do was get a fake, but the professionals in Vegas were so good at spotting those that it wasn’t even worth the effort.
“I’m from Albuquerque originally,” he replied openly when she asked about him. “But I migrated my way to New York before I joined the circus. That was where I met Frieda. She sort of… helped me get out of a not-so-great situation by letting me be part of the troupe.”
Thinking of another question to keep her occupied, he queried, “If you’re from Nevada, what made you choose to come to Los Angeles?”

Noticing Rayth’s distracted gaze, she started to turn her head to see what had apparently caught his attention, but he refocused on her and responded to her answer. A proud grin tugged at her lips as his mention of the casinos. “I managed to sneak into one, once. Wouldn’t say you’re missing out on much.”
Her expression deepened, remembering how close she’d come to getting caught by security. Thankfully, they’d been understaffed that day, and she’d been there with another friend on a dare, further stretching their resources. He’d gotten caught, sure, but the weasel deserved it, and at least had the loyalty to not rat her out.
She’d heard that the place had increased security measures after that.
Rayth’s own answer drew her from the short-lived reverie.
“Albuquerque?” she repeated through a chortle. Of all the places she’d expect a vampire to be from, Albuquerque hadn’t made it to the consideration list. The thought of one being from anywhere in America just seemed strange.
The surprised amusement at his hometown wiped from her face at his next question. She looked from him to the ground in front of their feet.
“I needed to get out of town, a.s.a.p.,” she began, her tone darkening. “Saw an advertisement for the circus at the station, and LA happened to be the next bus out.” Trying to re-lighten her own mood, she looked back to him. “Let me tell you, jumping on the next one available without checking how long it’ll take is not a good idea. I swear. Longest. Bus ride. ever. And I’m pretty sure the teller overcharged me,” she added, scowling at the ever nearing fence.
Eager to change the subject, she took a slight step further from him and looked him over with a calculating eye.He certainly didn’t look old enough to get into a casino on his own, but the statement had made her wonder. If he was only half immortal—if that part about vampires was even true—did he still age the same way as a human? Or was he secretly old as dirt?
“So,” she continued raising her gaze to meet his, “how old are you, anyway?”

“Yeah,” Rayth confirmed with a grin. “Nacido y criado. Born and raised.”
He was proud to call New Mexico his homeland, but he was used to the reactions he received when he told anyone he was a half Hispanic vampire from Albuquerque. Everyone always seemed to be surprised when he named anywhere other than Transylvania as the place where he was born. Although, he knew most people based their judgments about vampires on specific lore like Dracula, so he couldn’t hold it against them.
When Lune gave him her reason for coming to LA, he immediately flagged the subject as one that he probably shouldn’t touch on much more than he already had. He’d never properly learned how to control humans like other members of his kind did—the best he could do was influence them not to fight back while he fed—but he was still able to read them fairly well. It was a hunting tool that also came in handy in casual conversations like the one they were having now.
Not wanting to prematurely end their chat before they left the backyard, he pondered over something less touchy to ask her about; but fortunately, she saved him from having to backpedal.
“Hopefully you’ll never have to take a bus again,” he said optimistically. “Train rides are long too, but at least you have a cot to sleep on instead of a stiff seat that only reclines a quarter of an inch.”
Noticing Lune’s wandering eyes, Rayth wished he had the power to read minds. Since they’d first been introduced by Freida, he’d caught the runaway staring at him a few different times. Humans didn’t usually do that unless he’d used his aura to entice them, and he wondered what thoughts were going through her head when her gaze lingered.
Whatever it was, he found her long looks to be more flattering than disturbing; and when she asked about his age, he laughed. “Didn’t anyone ever tell you that’s a rude question to ask?”
Despite the accusative words, there was no hint of anger in his voice. He was immortal, so he didn’t really care if someone knew how old he was the same way aging humans did. “I’m one hundred and six years young,” he answered proudly, striding a pace ahead of her to unlatch the gate that would take them to the railyard. “I actually share a birth year with my home state.”

“Cot. Leg room. Better company than a guy who smells like month-old onions.” Arla shrugged. “A train sounds like heaven.”
Exactly how cliché her question about his age had been washed over her when he laughed. She cringed inwardly, frowning, but instead of pointing that out, he offered a playful reprimand. Her smile returned.
She shrugged lightly. “The rules of social engagement are overrated.”
She blinked at him when he gave his age. Her eyes narrowed as her gaze trialed after him as he hurried ahead of her, trying to decide whether he was being serious, or messing with her. Deciding he’d answered seriously, she made a mental note that even half-vampires were, indeed, some form of immortal.
“Well, aren’t you fancy?” She nodded her thanks to him for opening the gate. “Must say, you look pretty good for your age, Gramps.” She smirked at him as she strode out into the trainyard behind the fairgrounds.
A pleasant shudder ran through her as she stepped into the shadow cast by the fence. The light from the fairground still spilled over into the trainyard, but it was a relief to be away from the worst of the artificial glare.
She stepped aside and turned quickly to face Rayth, not yet willing to keep her back to the half-bloodscuker.
Movement caught her eye further down the fence. Someone had pointed a few floodlights toward a section of train cars. She squinted at the stinging light. The illumination turned the forms of workers into blurred, vaguely human-shaped blotches as they loaded equipment onto the train.
She looked away quickly, the night coming into focus easier than the hazy workers. She looked back to Rayth, waiting for him to lead the way to the passenger cars.
“So, what,” she began, “Do you age slower, or are you an eternal teenager?”

As soon as Lune said that the rules of social engagement were overrated, Rayth was convinced that he was going to like her. He’d already gotten that impression from their first conversation, but the casually-made statement solidified his theory. Anyone who paved their own way in the world rather than worrying about what others thought of them were A-OK in his book.
“Thanks. I eat my vegetables,” he replied, letting the gate close behind them once they had both passed through the opening in the fence. If she had been more comfortable with his supernatural heritage, he would have added that the regular meals of human blood helped too, but it was best not to talk about that.
The way she angled her body to keep him in her sight at all times didn’t slip past his notice, and he wondered what she thought she was achieving by watching him so carefully. If he had wanted to feed from her, it would have made no difference if he came at her from the front or the back. He could easily restrain her in the blink of an eye either way.
However, the needless behavior seemed to soothe her, so he tolerated it as they made their way to the train and walked alongside the railroad toward the cars meant for the troupe members.
“Actually, I haven’t figured that out yet,” he answered her question with a helpless shrug. “I’ve thought about it before, but I’ve never met any other half vampires, so I don’t have anyone I can ask. All I know is that I aged like a human until I turned eighteen, then I either stopped or slowed down so much that I can’t tell if I’m aging at all anymore. I guess I’ll find out which it is in another century or so.”
Assuming he lived that long, he mused. While he stayed with the circus, he was safe from hunters, but he’d lived long enough to learn that he couldn’t predict where his life would go ten or five or even one year from the current day. Nothing was certain, and he’d taught himself to ‘go with the flow’ because there was no sense in worrying about things that were outside of his control.
“Since you asked me, it’s only fair that I get to ask how old you are now,” he posed, taking a second to look her over in a scrutinizing fashion. “My guess is seventeen. Am I right?”

Arla suppressed a shudder at the creeping thought of his real diet that his comment returned to the forefront of her mind. She took a deep breath, reminding herself that Frieda trusted him. That she wasn’t on the menu. And, if she was, someone would know what had happened if she couldn't fend him off. But he wasn’t the monsters that had chased her down. He hadn’t even come after her when she’d ran off before. Instead, he’d taken a nap. Not the most monster-like choice.
“I’m sure that’s it.” She used a grin to push away the thoughts. “Popeye would be proud!”
She trailed after him, staying a step behind and to his side. She cast the train cars quick glances, searching for anything that made each one stand out. After all, she’d have to remember how to get to the correct one on her own at some point.
She blinked at the half vampire in surprise at his response to her question.
“Wait, for real? Never?” Her brows rose slightly. She inhaled to add another question, but Rayth continued and looked to her.
Realizing he was trying to gauge her age, she took a slight step away and angled herself more toward him to give him a better chance at the right conclusion. She glanced down at herself, his calculating gaze reminding her exactly how much of a mess she looked. For all she knew, though, that had added to her acceptance into the circus. She’d heard the ‘pathetic homeless girl’ look could work wonders.
“Good guess,” Arla said with an approving nod. “I'll make sure to add 'good night vision' to the confirmed list of vampiric superpowers!” She offered a disbelieving smile. A day ago, she'd have laughed at the thought of saying that with any form of seriousness. “I’ll be seventeen next month.”
She glanced over to the next train car as they neared. She looked back fully to Rayth. Her head cocked slightly to the side.
“So, are half-vampires that rare,” she began, remembering her unspoken question, “or are you just that much of a hermit?”

“Never,” Rayth confirmed with a nod when Lune reacted in shock to his answer. It wasn’t that he’d never wanted to meet another half vampire. It would have been exciting to find someone else with a foot in two worlds, just like himself. However, he’d never had the luck to cross paths with any. As far as he knew, it was possible that he was the only supernatural in all of North America who was the product of love between a human and vampire.
When she confirmed that he had been close in his estimate of her age, he smiled proudly. It usually wasn’t that hard to guess how old a human was, but every once in a while he was left dumbfounded when he thought someone was far older or younger than they actually were.
“I wouldn’t be a very good vampire if I couldn’t function at night,” he pointed out. Predominantly nocturnal, he needed all of his senses to work after the sun went down. Living with the circus had changed some of his habits, since he no longer ventured out on his own to hunt, but he was still at his strongest when the moon was shining overhead.
His blood red eyes flicked up toward the softly glowing disk at the thought before he strode ahead to the next car in the line. “A little of both?” he replied to Lune’s question with a slight inflection as he hopped up on the rail to reach for the door. “I don’t think it’s common for vampires to fall for their prey and have kids with them, so my instinct says there probably aren’t very many others like me in the world. But I also spent over sixty years with my human family near the Pueblo reservation in New Mexico, where there are no other vampires at all.”
He gave the door a sharp tug, and it groaned as it slid open, granting them entrance to a pitch black space on the other side. The car was lined with windows, so it was usually illuminated with natural light during the day, but at night, there was nothing to keep it lit. Trains designed by humans ran wires through the passenger cars so the occupants could turn on lights inside, and there were outlets and switches that suggested these had been built the same way. However, the monsters of Cirque du Sombre were at home in the darkness, so they didn’t bother plugging anything in or replacing the bulbs in the old, burnt-out overhead fixtures.
Rayth went on, “I like to think I’ve become well-traveled since I left home, but I still haven’t found any other half-vampires. Or very many pure-blooded vampires, for that matter. We don’t share territory very well, so we tend to stay away from each other unless someone trespasses on our turf.”
He leaned away from the car so that he hung precariously by the hand that grasped the sliding door handle. Glancing down at Lune from his perch, he paused for a moment and then extended his free hand to help her up if she needed or wanted assistance.
“This is one of the sleeper cars,” he told her. “There are seven of them in total, and I’m not sure if this one has any empty beds, but I figured we can keep walking through the inside of the train now… So you can start getting a feel for your new mobile home.”

“Hey.” Arla cast a quick, squinting glance down to the workers and floodlights. Their shouted orders floated faintly toward her and Rayth. “I trust Hollywood as far as I can throw them. Can’t blame a girl for keeping notes!”
As he contemplated her question at the sky, her own gaze flicked between him and the train car. She took it in, trying to tell if there was anyone else already inside. But the windows were dark, the glass reflecting the fairground lights, and she didn’t see the telltale glow seeping around the doorframe.
Her attention shifted fully back to Rayth as the boy answered. Her body tensed reactively at his quick movement of jumping up to the sleeper car’s entrance. She watched him closely as he reached for the door, but stopped to continue speaking.
She blinked in surprise at the second half of his response. “You… lived with humans?”
She supposed that made sense—being half human, he’d have had human family. Still, being something renowned for preying on humans, that didn’t lessen its strangeness.
“Not sure which is more surprising. That you lived with them in general, or that you managed to put up with family for sixty years!” She offered a chortle, but the sound died off as he opened the door into the interior of the car.
There was no one inside, after all. That, or they’d gone to sleep and shut off the lights. Despite the windows, the only light illuminating the entrance came from behind them, turning it into a playground for creeping shadows.
About as close to an equivalent of a creepy alleyway you’re going to get out here, she thought.
Her attention shifted back to the half-vampire as he continued.
“So, you’re all like introverts on crack?”
Instinct told her that getting into an empty, confined space with a vampire—even a half-breed—wasn’t the smartest thing in the world. Reminding herself to trust Freida’s judgment—after all, Rayth hadn’t used any mind mumbo-jumbo on her that she could tell… yet—Arla shoved that instinct to the side, waved away Rayth’s gentlemanly offer for help, and hopped up into the entrance to the waiting corridor.
She frowned. “Seven. Great.” She supposed it could be worse. There could be more she’d have to sift through and try to remember which had her bed. She’d have to look for defining marks again when her attention wasn’t divided.
The darkness of the car enveloped her. Despite her companion’s race, she felt some of the tension leave her as what light radiated from the fairgrounds remained outside. Something about this place felt… content. If a place could feel any way about those who lived there.
She shook the thought off and stepped aside to give him room to enter.
She nodded as Rayth finished speaking.
“Sounds like a solid idea.” She shifted her gaze to the corridor slicing through the center of the car’s interior.
Despite its darkness, her eyes adjusted quickly to the new lack of lighting. Though she doubted it was as sharp as a vampire’s, her night vision was one thing she’d always prided herself on. If only to herself.
She started to take in what she could make out, then remembered that Rayth could see her. As she knew all too well, seeing in the dark wasn’t exactly considered ‘normal.’ And she didn’t need anyone here thinking she was a freak before she’d signed an official contract.
She almost laughed aloud at the thought, the corners of her lips twisting upward. She was in a circus. With a resident vampire. She doubted being dubbed a ‘freak’ would be a problem here. Heck, it was probably a compliment.
But, better yet, she didn’t need Rayth to realize she could still see in the dark, on his turf. Though so far he’d demonstrated she wouldn’t need that advantage of surprise, as much as she hated it, tonight was as good as any to take heed of that soft voice of caution poking at the back of her mind.
“Don’t suppose there’s a light, is there?” She struggled to keep the dismay at the thought of adding brightness to the comforting night from her voice. She squinted, trying to mimic the expression she’d seen on others’ faces when confronted with the dark. “Or would that risk waking people up?”

“For more than half my life,” Rayth said, amused by the surprise in Lune’s tone. Even though he was just as human as he was vampire, it was obvious which race she associated him with the most. She wasn’t the only one though. It was interesting to him that the reaction to whom he associated with was always the same. No one ever looked at him funny if he said he was living among a troupe of circus monsters, but both humans and supernaturals alike often gawked when he told them he’d spent decades among his own blood relatives. There was a stigma in there somewhere, but he’d grown so used to being an anomaly that he’d never cared enough to figure it out.
“Well, don’t forget mi familia is Latino,” he laughed at her remark. “We’re a lot more family-oriented than white people are. I liked living with them, and if anything, they’re the ones who put up with me.”
‘Tolerated’ was probably the best word for it. Being a vampire put him at odds with his relatives because he slept on a nocturnal schedule and fed on the neighbors. Being immortal made him stand out because he remained young while all of his cousins grew wrinkled and old. If he could have made the living situation work, he would have stayed in Albuquerque for generations, but unfortunately, his relationship with his father’s side of the family eventually grew too strained, and he’d uprooted himself when it became clear that he was more of a burden to them than an asset.
Thinking about his now-estranged family was always uncomfortable, so he happily dropped the subject when Lune joked about her interpretation of vampire culture.
“That’s exactly what we are,” he agreed with tongue in cheek, holding up his hand in acknowledgment when she brushed off his offer to help her into the car.
He waited for her to climb inside before he followed suit, stepping into the train behind her. He could find his way around the blackened room just as easily as he could underneath the moon and stars, but he knew humans had poor eyesight in dark spaces, so he gave her a wide berth to keep from startling her.
The smile he saw on her lips was reassuring though, and he wondered to himself if she was starting to feel more settled around him than she had been before. He hoped so. Just based on their brief interaction so far, she was definitely someone he wanted to get to know better, but it would be hard to do that if she stayed afraid of him.
At the moment, he was docile because he’d just fed, but even when he was hungry, he liked to think he had a decent handle on his bloodlust since he’d lived among humans for so long. As long as he drank blood regularly—which he always did in Frieda’s circus—he doubted there would be any problem pursuing a friendship with the new, mortal member of the troupe.
“There’s no one around to wake up right now,” he shrugged in answer to her question. “But it wouldn’t matter even if there was. The lights don’t work.”
To demonstrate, he stepped over to the wall and flipped the light switch on and off. Even if Lune couldn’t see the gesture, the soft clicking sounds the switch made was enough of a cue to give away what he was doing.
Quick on his feet, Rayth explained the odd detail simply: “The power generator is broken, and we haven’t gotten it fixed, so we’ve just been leaving it as it is. There’s plenty of light during the daytime because of all the windows anyway. It’s only an issue if you need to charge a phone or something, and most of us don’t have those.”
Ambling back over to her, he looked her down and up, taking advantage of the fact that she couldn’t see him very well inside the train. There was rarely an opportune time to stare at someone, especially as a creature that preyed on humans compulsively, but the lack of light in the car gave him enough cover to get away with it.
He thought she was an attractive girl. Even in her ragged clothes, his eyes were drawn to the shape of her figure and features of her face. While he had no intention of acting on his passive interest, he could still appreciate beautiful people for what they were and couldn’t help indulging himself in a benign way.
“I think all the beds in this car are taken,” he mused, sliding his gaze away from her to rove the cots around them. “We can check out the next one.” Turning back to Lune, he paused for a moment before carefully reaching out to touch her arm, hoping not to startle her. “If you can’t see, I can help you get around. Just hang on to my hand or my shoulder… Think of it like one of those stupid trust exercises companies like to do at corporate social events.”

Arla looked to Rayth curiously at his revelation about the lights. The darkness bleached him of his colors, turning him into a partial silhouette where it settled the deepest around him.
“Is this where you sleep, then?” She mimed draping a cape mysteriously in front of her face, her gaze trailing his movement as he stepped to the wall. “The Car of Eternal Night!” she finished in a poor Transylvanian accent.
She lowered her arm and followed his hand as he reached into a deeper depth of dark. She blinked, her eyes adjusting to pick out the shape of a switch. She cringed when he flipped it on, instinctively bracing herself to be blinded, but it only gave off an empty click-click
Her gaze flicked back to him as he answered it was more than just the one train car. Her brows furrowed, then raised in further surprise at the news most of the troops didn’t have a phone.
“Wait, really??” Forgetting she wasn’t supposed to be capable of seeing him well, she searched his face for any signs he was joking. Catching the mistake, she did her best to keep her gaze unfocused as he stepped back to her. “That’s a rarity.”
As surprising as it was, most of them not having a mini computer in their pocket could work in her favor. It meant there was less chance of someone stumbling on a photo of her tagged as missing, and calling it in.
Then, of course, a dead phone wouldn’t be a problem--she’d left hers back in her bedroom. She frowned and sighed as she realized that no power also meant she couldn’t recharge her cameras’ battery packs between stops. She’d packed a few extra disposable ones, but not enough to last long-term.
“So, invest in a flashlight,” she said, trying to not look at anything in particular, but still keep half an eye on him. “Got it.”
She tensed as she realized Rayth was looking her over. She took a slow breath, and a smirk quirked at her lips; it was always amusing what people thought they could get away with when they believed they couldn’t be fully seen.
The dark could teach you a lot about a person.
When he shifted his attention, she stole the moment to fully scan the area for herself. Confirming Rayth’s statement, personal belongings were stacked on or under each of the cots, some more messily than others.
She ran her tongue over her teeth, trying to guess how much a ‘normal’ person would be capable of picking out from the dim light leaking through the bottoms of a couple of the window coverings.
His touch startled her attention back to him. Her fingers twitched toward her knife, but she stopped them, curling them into a loose fist. He was just letting her know where he was.
She groaned at his simile. “I got dragged to one of those once. They’re reputation is well-earned.”
Arla reached out toward him. She hesitated, took another deep breath, then placed her hand on his shoulder. “If I die from tripping on someone’s pile of dirty underwear, know I’ll haunt you for the rest of eternity.”

“Well, this is a circus troupe,” Rayth shrugged. “We’re not really known for being a well-connected bunch.”
He wanted to pat himself on the back for that excuse. It was even more believable than the lie he’d tossed out about the lights not working. He had to wonder, though, exactly how long Frieda expected him or anyone else to keep up this charade. So far, he’d gotten lucky that she hadn’t come across anything he couldn’t easily explain away, but he had a hard time believing that they could keep her in the dark forever.
Sooner or later, she was going to see a werewolf transform or a shade melt into a shadow or an undine control water in a cup. The creatures in the troupe couldn’t suppress their nature for very long, and when they eventually gave away the reality that none of them were human, Lune was going to be in for a rude awakening.
And after the way she had reacted to finding out he was even half vampire, he had a feeling she wasn’t going to do well when she learned that she was the only mortal in Cirque du Sombre.
He even felt her tense when he touched her arm, and his eyes flicked to the hand that she curled into a fist. She was still jumpy. He pressed his tongue to his cheek, tempted to point out that if he wanted to hurt her, he’d had plenty of opportunities to sink his fangs into her neck since they’d left the circus grounds. They were alone, far away from anyone else—especially any coherent humans—and he had every advantage against her in a pitch black train car. This was his turf, and she was prey to his kind. The only reason he hadn’t turned on her was because he didn’t want to.
He’d never learned a lesson that someone else had tried to beat into him though, so he kept this mouth shut. It was better for her to figure out on her own that she was safe with him.
“You say that like I wouldn’t enjoy it,” he quipped back, waiting for the feeling of her hand on his shoulder before he led her deeper into the car. “As far as I know, I’ve never had my own ghost before. Just imagine the shenanigans I could get up to if I had an ‘imaginary friend’ to take the blame.”
Despite the joke, he was careful to walk her around any of the random junk the other troupe members had left strewn about the train. He didn’t want to have to be the one to tell Frieda that the newest member of the circus had twisted an ankle before she’d even picked out a cot.
As they entered the next car in the line, he examined the beds around them for available spots. Each one appeared to have an occupant. The sheets were disheveled and personal belongings were laid out on each one of the thin mattresses, but he stopped by one particular cot midway through the room.
It paid off to have a sharp nose, because he could tell that the top and bottom bunk in the section smelled like the same individual. Someone had spread out her things luxuriously, but one of the beds was empty.
“This one is open,” he told Lune with a gesture at the lower cot that he wasn’t sure she could see. “If you take it, you’ll be bunkmates with Genesis though, and I don’t know if I would wish that on my own worst enemy.”
The witch was one of the most particular, high-maintenance people he’d ever met—which explained why she’d taken two beds just to set up her personal belongings. “We can keep looking if you want to,” he added, turning back to Lune. “Maybe lay out all your options before you pick a place to sleep? It’ll be harder to switch later on if you decide you hate it.”

Arla snorted a laugh as Rayth led her forward. “‘My imaginary friend did it’ usually doesn’t go over very well with most people!” Though, she had to admit, the thought of being capable of pairing up with someone invisible certainly would have its advantages.
Despite their banter, she noted the care Rayth took to lead her around the mix of mess and cleanliness of the double-stacked beds.
The musty odor of blankets and clothes a touch overdue for a good wash strengthened as they passed an exceptionally messy area. But they quickly left that behind, going from one sleeper car to the next.
She stared at the new bunks absently. She had never shared sleeping quarters with someone else before. Not long term, at any rate. Even her experience with sleepovers was dismal. She ran her tongue over the back of her teeth as it dawned on her exactly how close-quarters she’d be living with others. She hadn’t expected to have her own space, but seeing the living arrangements in person sparked a tinge of apprehension in her.
She frowned. Reassuring herself she had nothing to worry about—except maybe keeping her camera from breaking if she left it out—she shoved the emotion down with everything else on her, "Deal With That Later," list.
Lost in her thoughts, Arla bumped into the half-vampire when he stopped. She looked up to him as he spoke, then followed his gaze and gesture to a bottom bunk. Her brows raised at the state of it. It looked far from being unoccupied. Either Rayth was messing with her, or this Genesis felt the need to claim two bunks.
“Tempting. But I think I’ll take your word on that. I’d rather not find out what it takes to get on a vampire’s bad side!” she offered a smile as he continued speaking, turning to her.
She shrugged her indifference. “Sounds fine by me. You lead, I’ll follow. My light at the end of the tunnel is still that shower!” She ran her fingers through her dyed hair in emphasis.
“So…” she began, turning toward the next door leading from one car to the next. She may as well find out what she could about this place and its people now. “How many members are there? And what are the house rules?” she added as an unhappy afterthought, her eyes narrowing.
She knew anywhere with others would have a code of conduct to prevent complete chaos, but she couldn’t help but hold her breath while she waited for his answer. She had already spent too long in a household with stifling rules. She had no intention of knowingly walking back into the same situation. Frieda seemed like the relaxed, understanding type, but you never really knew how someone captained their ship until you were a part of the crew.

“Good choice. I’m not a very touchy guy,” Rayth nodded approvingly when Lune decided not to take the first open bunk they came across. The statement was really only half true though. Most of the time, he was laidback with a good sense of humor and little interest in picking a fight with anyone else, but that didn’t mean his temper was nonexistent. There were a few sensitive subjects that could get under his skin, and whenever he was between feeds, he was irritable until he whetted his thirst for blood.
With a chuckle at her remark about taking a shower, he led Lune further into the train to continue their search for the cot that would be her bed. “I think there are around thirty members right now?” he said with a slight inflection, furrowing his brows as he tried to add up the troupe in his head. “I’ve never been great at math though, so don’t hold it against me if I’m way off my mark.”
Navigating around another pile of someone’s unwashed laundry, he pondered the best way to answer her question about the ‘house rules.’ Nearly all of them were centered around keeping the creatures in the circus safe and hidden away from the human world. They weren’t allowed to wander away from the pack, they couldn’t feed outside of the prey that Freida had gathered for them and they couldn’t interact with the audience that came to their shows unless it was part of their performance.
With the ever-present risk of hunters looming over them, the whole point of Cirque du Sombre was to be a sanctuary for supernaturals of every shape and size… but that made it difficult to explain the isolating rules they followed to protect themselves from her kind.
“Um, Frieda might be a better person to ask about those than I am,” he frowned, glancing at her through the murky darkness. “Most of the rules we follow around here are more like helpful suggestions though. Like don’t steal stuff from the other members or don’t start fights… or, for me, don’t bite humans.” He smiled lopsidedly. “I think you’ll be fine as long as you think twice about doing anything that seems like a generally bad idea.”
There weren’t so many sleeper cars that they needed to spend an eternity wandering around in search of open beds, so after Rayth guided Lune through three more, they hit the end of the section, and he cut them off before they traipsed any deeper. There would be plenty of time to give her a tour of the public spaces and storage areas when there was enough daylight for her to see them.
Between the five cars they’d seen, he’d found three open cots that seemed like decent choices. The first had been the one he’d pointed out to her first with an uppity witch as a bunkmate, the second was with Briella the werewolf and the third was a shared space with a shapeshifter named Juliette who usually kept to herself.
Out of the options, he hinted most strongly toward the latter, since he knew Genesis would be inhospitable, and he didn’t trust Briella within ten yards of a human.
“So what’s your preference?” he asked when they’d finished their search, leaning back against the wall of the train car they’d stopped in. “I know this is probably the worst time of day to pick out a place to live, but if anything grabbed you, we should set up your stuff now before everyone else gets back. Better to ask for forgiveness than permission, you know?”

Arla chortled at Rayth’s comment about math. “And with that, any doubts about you being half human have been erased.” She offered him an amused grin, letting his rough guestimate sink in.
Thirty people. Thirty people to hide among. So long as she stayed more in the background workings, there would be little chance of any visitors to the circus recognizing her as a missing person. And, with luck, she’d be half way across the country by tomorrow night, anyway.
Her head cocked slightly as Rayth took a moment to answer her second question. Her chin dipped slightly in suspicion, before he finally answered, making her raise an eyebrow. What kinds of rules were so complicated that she’d have to hear them from the ringmistress herself?
“Okay?” she drew out the word, meeting his gaze when he glanced to her.
Yet, the simplicity of his summarization contradicted their apparent complexity. She inhaled at his add-on for himself, and she put the two together; he likely had a different set of rules to follow than everyone else. What, if any, restrictions were set for her would vary from his.
“So, it’s like the pirate code.” Her small smile returned at her own reference. “More what you’d call ‘guidelines’ than actual ‘rules.’”
Arla followed after Rayth as he led the way through a couple other cars. She took in each one, trying to imagine who occupied the surrounding beds. Some of the members had personalized their space to an extreme, while others were rather minimalist. Some sleeping areas were tidy, while others looked like a five-year-old hyped up on a pack of Mountain Dew had thrown a tantrum.
A chill crept down her spine as they passed a couple beds, though she couldn't say why. She shook it off as just nerves. Or a drafty window.
When they stopped the final time, she released her hold on the half-vampire’s shoulder. She glanced to him curiously, wondering why he thought now was a poor time to choose.
Because most people couldn’t see what they’re choosing in detail, she realized. She looked from him as he continued, a smug smirk involuntarily twitching over her face.
“Now that’s a guideline I can live by!” She glanced to him, then to the cabin before them. One of the shades over the windows had been left up a fraction, letting in a bit of light.
She nodded toward the last bed Rayth had pointed out, hoping the sliver of brightness was enough for the motion to pass as normal. “Looks like Juliette’s got herself a new bunkmate!”
Arla stepped toward the bunk. She hesitated for just a moment, a once buried instinct yelling at her for turning her back to Rayth. Taking a slow breath, she did her best to ignore it. She shrugged her backpack onto one elbow and closed the space to her new quarters.
Juliette had claimed the bottom bunk. Drawers lined the space beneath the bed. One sat slightly ajar, part of a clothing item jammed inside. Bolted, Arla assumed, to the floor, a narrow dresser nestled in the shadows between her chosen bunkbed and the next. A small, cushioned chair filled the space on the opposite side.
A blanket was still tucked neatly onto the mattress of the bed above. Wide-laced netting draped across half the bed, leaving an opening at a small ladder.
Arla tossed her backpack into the opening, then climbed up after it.
“I really don’t have much to unpack,” she admitted, sliding her backpack toward the head of the bed. Using the mesh to help keep her balance, she sat on the opening’s edge, her feet on one of the ladder’s rungs.
She unzipped her backpack. She carefully removed her camera case so she could get to the cleaner clothes beneath it. Pulling out a couple clothing items, she glanced down to Rayth.
“So, where do you sleep?” she asked, trying to sound nonchalant. Her gaze flicked to the other beds in her view. She couldn't tell by just a glance whether or not they kept the members segregated by gender, or if the cars were co-ed. For all she knew, the vampire could have one of the other bunks in the same car. “Or do you not need sleep?”
She reached into her backpack’s smaller front pocket. She freed a zip-lock bag of mini bottles of soaps her parents had collected from hotels they’d stayed at over the years.

“I never thought about it that way before, but yeah,” Rayth nodded, smirking as he went on in a cliché pirate voice, “Stay in your lane, and you’ll get along just fine here, matey.”
When they stopped and he gave her time to choose a bunk, the half-vampire laughed at the way she reacted to his ‘guideline’ for living. She was already more fun than many of the other members of the troupe. The other supernaturals took themselves way too seriously and acted like they were better than everyone else, especially humans and half-breeds. Whoever ended up sharing a space with Lune was probably going to be upset about it.
He’d had the same trouble when he had first joined the circus. The pureblooded creatures had been hostile, and he’d seen his fair share of bared teeth and raised hackles as he’d tried to find a place to sleep. It had been fortunate for him that Oscar and the other brownies didn’t mind adding one more body to their shared cots. Since he was on a nocturnal schedule, they were rarely even in the car at the same time, so the arrangement worked out conveniently for everyone involved.
Relieved that Lune had decided to bunk with Juliette over the other two options, he followed her into the cabin while she got herself set up on the top bunk. He didn’t know much about the shifter since she was so quiet, but he hoped the living situation would work out better that it would have if she’d gone with Genesis or Briella.
“My bunk is in the car we just passed through,” he answered her, absentmindedly glancing over Juliette’s neat bed as he rested his shoulders against the wall that partitioned their section off from the rest of the train. “You probably won’t be surprised to find out I sleep during the day, so I split a bed with two other guys who use it at night… They’re part of the, uh, midget brigade, so they both fit comfortably in just one cot instead of taking two.”
There were four brownies in total, and they were a tight-knit group, so they all shared the upper and lower bunks in their cabin by choice. The space was crowded at night, but he never had to put up with their twitching and snoring since he had the luxury of using it when none of the other residents were around.
The drawers and other hiding places in the room were stuffed with all the watches, wallets, cell phones and other things the brownies had burgled though, so he didn’t have much storage space for his own belongings.
“The one downside to this bunk is that the showers are on the opposite side of the sleeper cars,” he noted, glancing up at Lune again when he caught the dull floral scent of the shampoo she’d pulled from her backpack. “I need to wash the paint off my face, so I can walk you over now, if you want. They’re back the way we came, just one more car down.”

“Really?” Arla exaggerated a surprised gasp at the news Rayth slept during the day. Though, she had to appreciate the confirmation. Whether she wanted to admit it or not, she was out of her element with him.
She paused and glanced to him as he continued, her brows raising before he elaborated.
“I guess that’s one way to save on space.” She pulled out the rest of the essentials for a shower, and wrapped them all into a bundle using the shirt she’d unburied from her backpack.
She shrugged at the apparent downside of her choice. “Unless that means I’ll have a long line to wait in, I don’t have any problem with walking to the showers.”
Despite Rayth’s statement that “no stealing” was among their guidelines, she shoved her camera case too the back of the bed near its corner, then blocked it with her backpack. It wouldn’t stop the curious from finding it, but it was better than nothing. Better safe than sorry.
Collecting the bundle of clothes, she carefully climbed back down and paused in front of Rayth. She nodded both her acceptance and thanks at him for the offer to walk her to the showers. It sounded simple enough, but she didn’t need to try her luck and wind up somewhere she wasn’t supposed to be.
Not yet, anyway. Going at least twenty-four hours before making trouble struck her as a smart idea. She’d already snuck into the circus without paying, after all. New member or not, she doubted that little detail would go over well if Frieda found out.
Bundle tucked under one arm, she stepped out of the compartment, moving out of the way for Rayth.
She glanced down the narrow, night-drenched corridor. She wasn’t sure what time it was, but she doubted they’d have much longer before the other troupe members started trickling in. If they hadn't already in the other cars. Bur for now, the place was still fairly quiet. Deserted.
She took a slow, deep breath, glancing to Rayth as discretely as she could. She’d survived the night so far, which was a testament to Frieda’s reassurances. And Rayth really did seem like an enjoyable guy to be around. Exhaling, she let the thought take some of the tension she’d bottled up. If he hadn’t attacked her yet, she was likely in the clear. For tonight, at any rate.
“Lead on, Snow White!”

Rayth let the subject go without a comment when Lune mentioned lines for the showers. Somehow, he doubted she was going to ever have a problem with that. Most of the creatures in the circus didn’t even use them except to rinse off their stage makeup after each show. While they were on the tracks between performances, the car that housed the showers was always empty. He was one of the few who stopped by more often because, as a half-human, he could work up a sweat if his cabin was too warm or if he decided to work out as an outlet for his pent-up energy during the troupe’s travels.
He had it on good authority, though, that he never stank even if he glistened after a weight training session.
Once the runaway was ready to keep moving, Rayth took a step away from the wall to lead her back to the shower car. “Snow White?” he snorted, glancing down at his own bare torso. The darkness sapped most of the color from his skin, but he could still see that he was tanner than she was, thanks to his father’s Hispanic heritage.
“Híjole, I must need sunlight if I’m being compared to the pastiest of Disney princesses,” he pulled a face, then moved toward the door with audible enough footfalls for Lune to hear him if she couldn’t yet see his silhouette in the cabin. He didn’t know exactly how long it took for human’s eyes to adjust to dark spaces.
“You can use my shoulder again if you need to,” he offered with a glance back at her.
Only pausing long enough for her to decide whether or not she would accept the gesture, he strode back down the shadowy corridor that would take them to the other end of the sleeper cars.
Along the way, he stopped by his own cabin to grab his collection of soap and a clean change of clothes. The space he shared with the brownie troupe was an obvious mess that he couldn’t have hidden if he’d tried when he opened the door. Discarded clothes and random assortments of jewelry, playing cards and other odds and ends littered the floor. The air also smelled faintly of tobacco from his roommates’ pipes.
The half-vampire skirted around the hazard zone to get to the lower bed bunk, which he reached underneath to retrieve an old, cheap bag with a New Mexico State University logo printed on the front in faded lettering. It was where he kept most of his personal belongings, and he didn’t feel like digging through it to find his shower supplies, so he slung the whole thing over one shoulder and stepped over an unfinished game of Jenga to get back to Lune.
“I heard the doors to the storage cars open a minute ago,” he mentioned offhandedly as he adjusted the strap of the bag to sit more comfortably against his collar. “The others are packing up the Big Top right now, so they’ll probably get here right when we’re done with the showers.” He just hoped they’d all fed well enough to behave around their new human troupe member.

Arla made a show of rolling her eyes good-naturedly at Rayth's observation of skin tone between him and Snow White. “I meant because she bunks with dwarves. If you get any more tan, mijo, you'll be crispy-fried!” she finished with a chortle.
She shook her head at his offer to take his shoulder. “I should be alright for now. If that changes, you’ll know.” She adjusted her bundle to make sure nothing would drop out, then followed after Rayth.
If he’d thought it odd she could find her way around the beds, he hadn’t hinted at it. She hated downplaying her night vision, but, if he hadn’t picked up on anything off, maybe she was overdoing it a bit. The downside to having a different ‘normal’ than most, was it was harder to pretend to be someone else’s version of the word.
When they took a detour at his cabin, Arla’s brows rose incredulously at the mess that was his living quarters. She leaned against the doorframe, watching him expertly pick his way around the disaster zone. It made her extra grateful her own bunkmate seemed to be at least semi-tidy. Or, at the very least, cleaned up every once in a while. And didn’t have what appeared to be a mix between a hoarding and gambling problem. Though, if the latter was the case, judging by the amount of stuff, they were at least good at it.
“I’m going to guess I shouldn’t challenge any of you guys to poker?” she summarized her thoughts.
Her head cocked slightly as she read the lettering printed on the bag as Rayth slung it over his shoulder. She hadn't considered he might have gone to collage. She opened her mouth to ask him if that was his university, but stopped herself, unsure if pointing out something that detailed would be pushing it.
“So, how much of this mess is yours?” she asked instead as he stepped over the Jenga tower on the way back to her.
She blinked at him in surprise when he nonchalantly mentioned hearing the doors of the storage cars. “You can tell they’re already working on the Big Top just by listening?” She gave a soft whistle. “I figured you’d have hyper-hearing, but man, that’s impressive!”

“Oh, right,” Rayth laughed, catching on to how Lune could have made that connection. To him, there was a gulf of difference between brownies and dwarves, so the joke had missed its mark. In fact, he nearly wrinkled his nose at the thought of bunking with the latter. The only dwarves he knew were stubborn, easily offended and quick to pick a fight with the first person to look at them the wrong way. Compared to that, his fun-loving brownie roommates were much more his speed.
There was no way Lune could know she was talking about a very real mythological creature in the circus, though, so he had to give her a little grace. Plus, the way she referred to him as mijo made him chuckle.
“Vale, mamá,” he quipped as they walked.
While they stopped by his room, he looked down at the scattered playing cards the human was referring to. At a glance, it definitely looked like his roommates were card sharks, but he knew they mostly played simple games like Blackjack and swapped their hoards around as collateral. If one of the brownies lost a game, he would just steal back the prize he’d forfeited when no one else was around anyway.
“Those are the trophies of guys who barely understand the rules of the games they play,” he told her with a shake of his head. “Actually, if you’re ever short on cash, you should challenge them to a round of Hold ‘Em. If you know anything at all about poker, you’ll clean them out.”
Idly, he noticed that she was starting to pick up on more details if she was able to make out the shadowy mess in his cabin. He wondered how much time had passed.
“Just this,” he shrugged his bag in response to her question. “My roommates are the slobs, I swear.”
If he spent more time in his bunk, he might have been bothered more by the state of it, but since he only used it for sleeping and holing away when he needed time alone, he had no qualms with the disaster zone.
When he escaped from Mount Stolen Goods, he tapped Lune passively with a hand to indicate that they were moving again before he continued on down the dark corridor. A smile played on his lip at the surprise in her voice. “I’ve had a lot of time to learn how to use all my senses,” he explained with a glance at her over his shoulder. “I can hear your heart beating too… and smell the mice hiding under the train. You know, you can learn how to do it to a degree. It’s like a muscle. A lot of people get so used to relying on their eyesight that they don’t think to exercise their other senses, but I taught one of my cousins a long time ago, and he got really good at listening… Well, as good as a human can be, I mean.”

Arla’s brows rose at Rayth’s explanation of the hoard. “Someone must have put in a good word for them with Lady Luck!” she interjected as he shook his head.
“Vegas,” she reminded him. “Casinos might be off-limits, but I’ve picked up a trick or two for poker. Used to play rounds every now and again with my best friend and her ex.”
It had always been for candy or whatever other type of snack they had on hand, but it had always been in good fun. She’d never been particularly talented at it, but she hadn’t been bad, either. At least, her wins-to-losses about evened out. Most of the time.
“Uh huh,” she drawled to Rayth’s reassurance he wasn’t the slob. “Sure you aren’t.”
Though a part of her wanted to recoil when he reached for her, she held firm when he tapped her this time, then followed after him. She kept closer to him than necessary, hoping to give the impression of still needing to be near to make him out well enough amidst the dark.
She suppressed a shudder at the thought of him being capable of hearing her heartbeat. Seemed to be a trend among the supernatural; the spindly monster that had chased her had demonstrated its use quite effectively. As quietly as she could, she took a deep breath, shoving the thought aside. It and Rayth weren't the same. It didn't take a genius to figure that much out by now.
The prospect of anyone being capable of enhancing their hearing caught her attention, giving her a concept to help toss aside the memory of her recent misadventure.
“Sign me up for that class, professor!” Arla grinned. “Could come in handy. As long as I don’t start smelling mice.” She scrunched her nose at the thought as they neared the end of the car. “That’s got to be annoying. Do you have any kind of control over it, besides selective… well, smell, I guess, in that case. Or do you have to use nose- and earplugs?”