Circus of The Darned (7 page)

"Mages?"I looked down at the hobble. "Mikaela said Tibolt was a mage."

"You'd know if it was him who took Tesla, though," Soren pointed out, slapping at a mosquito on his arm.

I shook my head. "I haven't touched him with my bare hands." Something occurred to me then."Oh great. I haven't touched a bunch of people working here—that means I'm going to have to go around doing the touchy-feely thing with everyone. I hate that!"

"That may not be necessary," Bensaid, an odd abstracted look on his face. "There's a Diviner here, isn't there?"

"Diviner?Not that I know of."

"Hmm.Perhaps there's one nearby we can ask for help."

"Whatever," I said, anxious to find Tesla. "All this standing around talking isn't finding him. He could be out there all alone, or being abused or something. Ben? Can we go find him, please?"

"Absolutely.I'll get my bike and pick you up." He tossed the hobble next to the bucket and ran off to get his motorcycle.

"I'd help look, too, but the show is about to start," Soren said, casting a worried look over his shoulder toward the main tent. "In fact—"

"Go," I said, making shooing motions with both hands. "Don't be late with Bruno or your dad will kill you."

He hurried off, leaving me standing alone in the empty field. I tried to open myself up to it.

Mom said it was the proper way to get in touch with other beings and weird things like that, but I guess I lack the "opening up" gene or something, because all I felt was the night breeze and a couple of residual itchy spots.

"Ready?" Ben asked. I gave up and ran over to the field where people parked. He was on his bike, fiddling with one of the levers (it had to be a guy thing—I didn't hear anything wrong with the bike at all), his long black hair pulled back into a ponytail.

"I'm ready, although I don't know where to start looking. I guess we're going to have to check out everywhere we can—Ugh. Not that!"

I made a face at the helmet Ben held in his hand.

"It's your mother's rule," he said, giving it to me. I glared at it. I hated wearing a helmet, but my mother had put her foot down after she'd caught me riding around with Ben without one.

"You're not wearing one," I pointed out, knowing it was stupid to pout, but feeling like it anyway.

"That's because I'm immortal." He zipped up his leather jacket and held out his hand for me. "If we crash and I smash my head in, it won't do anything but make me pissed for a while. You're a

bit more fragile."

"Well, you keep telling me I'm your Beloved and all. I thought they were immortal like

Imogen?"

"Beloveds are immortal like female Moravians, yes, but you're not my Beloved yet.At least, not officially.Unless you want to do the blood exchange?"

I thought for a moment he was seriously pressing me to do the whole "save his soul by binding myself to him forever" thing, but his dark eyes were twinkling from under the shadow thrown by the brim of his hat.

"Another time, vamp boy," I said, giving him a little punch on the arm just to let him know I cared. He laughed and scooted forward a bit as I crawled onto the seat behind him, thankful I'd worn shorts instead of a skirt.

He glanced back at my bare knees, moving back until I was pressed up tight against his back. "I hope you won't be too cold."

"I figured you'd keep me warm." I leaned into his back, wrapping my arms around him as he gunned the bike and pushed off. It took me a few minutes to get my mind off the really delicious scent of leather jacket and Ben (he had to be wearing some sort of spicy aftershave or

something), but eventually, I stopped snuffling his neck and ponytail, and started looking around as he drove us through the countryside.

We searched for Tesla until two in the morning. Because of the white night, we could zoom

around and look for a horse being horsenapped pretty easily, but unfortunately, whoever took

Tesla hid him well. By the time we got back to the fair, I was upset, mad, and frustrated.

"I'm sorry, Fran," Ben said as I climbed off his bike. I felt like crying, but I knew that was stupid—Tesla hadn't been hurt (at least I didn't think he had), he was just stolen. "I'll keep looking for him."

"Look where? We looked everywhere within a two-hour radius. If someone had driven off right away with him and kept driving, we'd never be able to find him anyway."

Ben got off the bike and pulled me into a hug. "We'll find him, Fran. I promise you that we'll find him," he said, his breath ruffling my hair.

I leaned againsthim, an odd sense of Tightness creeping over me that distracted me for a minute from Tesla. I had told Ben the previous month that I was willing for us to try the

girlfriend/boyfriend thing, but I had said that just because I liked him so much. I didn't honestly buy into that whole Beloved bit—although it gave me a warm feeling to think about it—but right

after we'd left Hungary for France, Ben disappeared to do whatever the mysterious thing was that he couldn't tell me, so we really hadn't had much time to be together.

And now there I was standing in his arms, leaning against him, feeling warm and happy despite

the fact that I was worried sick about Tesla. I couldn't help thinking things were pretty wonderful because we were together, and also, I'm ashamed to say, I was more than a little smug because

out of the millions of girls wandering around the world, Ben had picked
me
.

Life is kinda weird that way.

"Fran, are you ready for your regression? Oh, hello, Ben. We haven't been properly introduced, have we? Imogen has told me so much about you, though, I feel like I know you. I'm

Desdemona. I'm a personal time-travel consultant. Did you know that in a past life Fran was

Cleopatra? It's so very exciting. I've promised toregress her again so we can get some more

fascinating details of her life in ancientEgypt ."

Life just got a whole lot weirder.

Benunwrapped his arms from around me as soon as Desdemona started to talk, but he didn't

move away as I turned around to face her. Part of me was embarassed that anyone had caught us

together, but the other part was annoyed because it was clear the way Desdemona was smiling at

Ben that she had purposely interrupted us.

"Hi, Des.About the regression—could we do it another time? I'm a bit busy right now."

"Yeeees," she drawled, giving Ben another long look. Her tone made me grit my teeth. And it didn't help that she was wearing a leather waist cincher and short skirt that let everyone see just how different her five-foot-nothing, one hundred-pound self was from mammoth, six-foot-tall

me. "I can see you were."

"No, not us.Um.That is, Ben and I weren't… well, we were, but that's not what I'm talking

about."

"Fran is distraught over the theft of her horse," Ben said smoothly interrupting me.
Are you by
any chance jealous
?

Me? You're kidding right? I'm so not jealous.
Although she definitely has the hots for you, the wench.

Ben laughed in my head.

"Oh, your horse was stolen? I'm so sorry. Of course the regression can wait for another time."

Desdemona smiled at Ben. "How would you like a personal time-travel experience, Ben? It

seems I have an opening, and since the fair is just now closing, I could get you in quickly."

Oh! She didn't just say that!

Calm down, Fran.She's harmless
."Another time, perhaps. I've promised Fran to continue looking for her horse, and I doubt if I'll be done before daybreak." Ben glanced toward where the sun was barely beneath the horizon."Or as close to daybreak as it gets around here. Thank you anyway."

"No problem. I'll be happy to do you anytime," she said, giving us both a little wave as she

strolled off toward the main tent. Ben watched her walk away from us for a second before looking back at me.

"Why are you making that face?" he asked. "Why are your eyes narrow little slits of ebony that look like they want to shoot lasers at me?"

"You watched her walk away," I said, struggling to keep my voice jealous-free. I lost the fight.

"You deliberately watched."

"Yes, I did. I looked at her breasts, too, but despite that, you're still the only girl on the planet for me."

"Nice try, Vlad," I said, slipping out of his arms when he tried to pull me into another kiss. I stalked toward the trailer that Mom and I shared. "
My
boyfriend isn't going to be aware there's anyone else around but me.Since you have other ideas, so long.Hasta la vista. Don't let the door hit you on the butt going out."

Ben stood where I left him, his arms crossed over his chest. I smiled to myself where he couldn't see it.

Fran?

Hmm?

Are you seriously jealous of Desdemona, or are you ragging me a little?

What do you think?

I smiled even more at the pause that followed that. He wasn't one hundred percent sure,

something I was perfectly happy about. I entered the trailer,,absently moving Davide from the

couch that turned into my bed at nights.

I think you know full well how much you mean to me. I think you know that I'd do anything to
make you happy
.

I think you know I can't exist without you, that you are heaven and earth to me, my salvation, my
joy, my life
.

This time I let him feel my smile.

The brush of his mind against mind had a decidedly disgruntled tone to it.
And I think you're
enjoying every minute of keeping me on tenterhooks about whether or not you're going to be my
Beloved
.

Goodnight, Ben
, I said, laughing into his head.
Thank you for looking for Tesla
.

Sleep well, sweet Fran
, he answered, and I give in and had a lovely sigh of happiness over him.

Even with the Tesla problem, life was looking pretty good at the moment. Ben was back, and as

yummy as ever. I had settled into life with the GothFaire, and actually enjoyed doing the palm

readings. Mom was happy with her new group of friends, the Faire was doing well, and even

Soren was happy these days.

"Things are looking up for a change," I told Davide as I flipped off all the lights but one so Mom could see her way past me when she finished for the night, and settled into my makeshift bed.

The big cat sauntered over, jumping up on me so he could sleep on my hip. It was his favorite

spot, despite the fact that we didn't really like each other. "Not even poor Tesla gonemissing, and half-naked Viking ghosts running around are going to ruin my date with Ben day after tomorrow.

That is going to be the most perfect event of my life, I just know it."

Which just goes to show you I'm
not
clairvoyant in any way.

Chapter Six

The first inkling I had that something was wrong the next morning was the war axe imbedded in

the wooden door of my closet.

"Hrung?"I asked in no known language as I squinted at the wood and steel weapon that still vibrated slightly. The blade of the ax, mostly buried in the door, was curved on the

edges."Wha'?"

"Goddess, have you seen—oh, there it is." The Viking Imogen had been flirting with the night before stood at the open window right next to me. I glared at him, pulling the thin blanket

covering my legs up over the jumbo T-shirt I wore to bed. "Would you mind giving me back my Hanwei ax?"

"You threw an ax at me?" Iasked, my brain still sleepy and thus not much able to make sense of what he was saying.

"Me?" the Viking asked, pointing athimself in disbelief. "I would never do that! You are a goddess, and I am merely Finnvid, your devoted servant and the slayer of many hundred Huns."

"Then what is that doing in here?" I pointed to the ax. He looked a bit abashed.

"It… er… slipped. I was aiming atan usurper, and it went through your window rather than

cleaving his brain in two, as it was meant to do."

It was at that point I realized the sounds that had vaguely registered on my brain weren't from someone's portable TV or radio. I distinctly recognized Absinthe's brusque German voice as she

yelled orders.

"What the bullfrogs—" A woman's loud scream from nearby had me jumping out of bed and racing to the door. Davide and my mother were gone, which meant they had probably already

left to do their morning rituals
to
the god and goddess with their Wiccan friends. Since closing time wasn't until two in the morning, most of the GothFaire and Circus of theDarned people

didn't get up until after noon, but there were a few hardy folk up earlier. I figured it was about nine in the morning as I flung open the door to the trailer."Holy crap!"

The sight that met my eyes was not one I ever expected to see—only a handful of GothFairians

were up, but they were active… very active.Running around screaming with various Vikings

chasing after them.

"Is it?" The Viking ghost named Finnvid, who still stood by the open window, looked around, finally spotting a nearby pile of dog poop (probably made by Tallulah's pug, Wennie). "Ah. It looks like dog shite to me, but if it's holy, I will not rub someone's face in it."

The Faire was usually set up in the shape of a large U, with the big tent at the bottom, and two arms of vendor tents and booths. To the far side of one of the arms was what Mom

calledTrailerTown —where Faire and Darned people set up their trailers and RVs. In the center

of the vaguely circular arrangement of trailers were a couple of portable picnic tables and chairs, a small barbecue, and three folding chaise lounges that everyone used to work on their tans. The chaises weren't being used for suntanning now—one of them was acting as a trampoline for a

red-haired Viking, while another was tipped up on its end, the elastic plastic webbing being used by another Viking to catapult overly ripe peaches at Tallulah. She had taken refuge behind a