When Lune retorted to his nickname for her, Rayth had to stop himself from pointing out that she could have had her pick of ‘village boys’ too. She had already nearly run off once just because he had fangs. He didn’t want to make her think the vampire that she didn’t want to come within an arm’s length was flirting with her—even if he really did believe she was effortlessly beautiful. Her blue hair was intriguing, and she had a great smile when she stopped scowling at him long enough to show it.
	Expecting her to waver after he offered to show her to the train, he wasn’t offended by the distrust that etched itself into her face. At least it didn’t last long this time.
	“Actually, I thought you’d be tired of mine,” he grinned back at her. “Putting a show like this together is grueling work, and I, unfortunately, didn’t take after my mother when it comes to being able to do heavy labor without breaking a sweat.”
	Really, the jest was only true in part. He did sweat like a human when he worked his body, but no one had ever accused him of having an odor. His best guess to explain it was that he’d inherited some sort of genetic compromise between his human and vampire parents. Whatever the case, he wasn’t going to complain about being able to run a marathon without smelling like he hadn’t showered in a month when he was done.
	“But seriously, that’s a terrible idea,” he shook his head. “[i]Eau de Smurf[/i] would be more like [i]Eau de Déchets[/i], and trust me, that would never sell.”
	He followed her to the exit, keeping a subtle watch just in case she noticed anything upsetting outside the big top. The troupe never picked up the bodies of the people they fed on—it was easier to leave them behind when they moved on—so the scene in the backyard probably looked pretty gruesome right about now. Of course, none of the humans were dead, but they definitely looked like it after they’d been drained of blood, energy, spirit, or whatever else they had been unfortunate enough to lose to the creature of the circus during the after party.
	“If you insist, Blue’s Clues,” he quipped as he stepped outside.
	Now that the effect of the incense had been wearing off both of them for a while, he knew it could be more difficult to keep her eyes off the more startling scenes in the backyard, so he attempted to keep her attention on him with some friendly conversation.
	“So, are you from around here?” he asked, falling in step beside the runaway. “You look like the big city type to me.”