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Cirque du Sombre [Siaya Dragalorn & Summer]

Thanks! Dialogue is probably my favorite part of writing xD

I really liked all the detail in your post too. It was really easy to picture everything you wrote about.

And not at all! "Straw house" is circus slang for full house. Comes from the history of older circuses getting so crowded, they had to lay down straw for the overflow to sit on during the performances when they ran out of seats :)
I'm pretty sure occupancy codes don't allow that kind of seating anymore, but the term stuck, haha.

~Bonsoir~

Okay! Can't wait to see what happens

~Bonsoir~

When Victoria told him to wear gloves, Vail smiled amusedly. Of course he was going to protect his hands. How else would he pull the trigger? He just disliked the thought of getting closer to touching a silver gun than he had to. Any extra padding for the grip was welcomed and necessary in his opinion. He wished there was a way to get rid of the acrid stench of the metal as well, but alas, that was something he was probably just going to have to put up with until the deed was done.

As the Lady confirmed his suspicion that she was new to using weaponry like this, Vail nodded in mutual understanding that he would have to be the one to shoot Lord Spencer in the heart. It was a disturbing image, so he replaced it with a more pleasant one of Victoria’s writhing body as he primed her skin for feasting. The echoes of her sounds of pleasure sent a lustful shiver down his spine. Getting to relive that for the next thirty years was well worth one night of brutality. He couldn’t wait until she was only his for the rest of her mortal life.

As if she could read his mind, Victoria’s next words made him waver. He hadn’t realized his possessiveness had been so obvious to her, but then again, he’d never felt this way about anyone before. He didn’t know how to hide the newfound attachment he had to her, and honestly, he wasn’t sure if he even wanted to. It didn’t make a difference if she knew he wanted her to be solely his prey. She had already agreed to it when she’d made the pact. There was no reason to pretend like he wasn’t tied to her just as much as she was to him.

With that, he supposed she had a point when she warned him not to get jealous of Spencer if he fed on her. Just the thought of a Wynter sinking his fangs into her supple flesh make his blood boil. He didn’t want any other vampire to lay so much as a finger on her, but he knew he would have to relinquish his hold to keep the Lord from becoming suspicious. If Spencer’s attention was on draining the Lady of her essence, he wouldn’t notice his rival’s presence until it was too late either.

Perhaps it would feel better than he thought to send that silver bullet through the Wynter’s heart.

“’Til then, My Lady,” Vail returned her bow with one of his own before heading out of the lodge to return to his family’s manor. It seemed he had some more planning to do.

~Bonsoir~

As Victoria rose from the lounge, Vail did as well. He stretched his back, which was slightly uncomfortable from the way he had been leaning over her during the feed. Still, a little soreness was nothing compared to the high he had felt while he’d drank her unique blood. He could still feel the phantom of her delicate fingers on his shoulder and smell the remnants of iron that lingered in the room, both of which just made him more excited about the next time he would return to prey on her again.

At her description of the plan, he murmured his agreement. One week from now wasn’t very far away, but he supposed it was better to get the more disturbing part of their pact over with sooner rather than later. Once Spencer was dead, he could focus entirely on the pleasure of meeting every three days to taste her blood. He quite looked forward to that.

“Just make sure the weapons are wrapped in a cloth or something else that will keep them covered,” Vail added. “Otherwise I won’t be able to touch them.” Silver wasn’t just off putting to him because of its pungent smell. Even the gentlest brush of the metal burned his skin. Though he was fully capable of handling a pistol, he couldn’t use one made with silver unless he had something to put between his hand and the weapon. It was inconvenient, but it was what he had to do if he was to manipulate a gun like that.

“I could help you in one of two ways,” he answered when Victoria asked how he planned to dispatch her fiancé. “Either you will distract him long enough for me to get a clear shot at his heart, or I will restrain him while you shoot.” Both options seemed viable in his opinion. In either case, they would have to catch the Wynter by surprise, which meant the Lady would have to keep him distracted. As long as Spencer didn’t catch on to what was happening before they had an opportunity to kill him, the murder would go smoothly.

“How confident are you with a gun?” Vail queried, deciding that was probably the biggest factor in determining which of them would shoot her fiancé.

~Bonsoir~

It seemed to Vail like Victoria was already on the same page he was. He nodded when she said she had already considered using her blood to distract Lord Spencer from her weapons. It was a good plan, since their noses were much more attuned to iron than silver when it came to metals. He did ponder her question though. At a guess, he would say she didn’t need very much to keep the Wynter’s attention on her. Just her small cut at her party had been enough to draw them both to her from different parts of the room. To be safe, it would have been wise to use more than the bare minimum though.

“Just a cut,” he answered, reaching out to trace his index finger across the width of her forearm in an absent demonstration. “But if you can, you should inflict it somewhere beneath your clothes. He’ll be captivated trying to figure out where the source of the smell is coming from.”

Her second question made him think as well. “No,” he mused. “Draining a person of enough blood to kill them is a slow process, and he would be vulnerable to attack if he tries. You shouldn’t have to worry about that as long as nothing happens to me before he bites you.” Now that she belonged to him, he had no intention of letting a Wynter take her away from him. Her blood was his, and his alone, and he was going to feed on it solely until she died. If Spencer wanted her, he was going to have to put up a fight.

As Victoria sat up on the chair, Vail caught another hint of her perfume on the air she stirred. Her thick hair tickled his jaw, and he was nearly tempted to lean into it. He took a slow breath, reminding himself that the feeding was already done this eve, and he had no more reason to get closer to her. Closing any more distance without an excuse would just complicate their already obscure deal, and that was the last thing he wanted.

When she suddenly spoke again, he turned to her in surprise. He hadn’t expected her to offer him an out. As much as he disliked the thought of murdering Spencer, he disliked the thought of giving up his right to her blood even more. “I know I can,” he agreed, meeting her gaze as she looked at him. “But I won’t.” A smile curved his lip. “I meant it when I said I think you’re worth it, My Lady. I’m not going anywhere until this whole thing is done.”

Cirque du Sombre [Siaya Dragalorn & Summer]

The back yard was bustling with activity as the circus performers prepared for their last show in Los Angeles that night. Clowns, bally girls, and freak shows of every shape and size milled about the dressing area as they put their costumes together, moving with the purpose and haste of worker bees in a hive. Most of them didn’t speak much, but it was always this way. The energy of the guests in the front yard was buzzing, but the troupers themselves operated with steely focus. All they cared about was one thing: The after party.
It was the reason they were here, and it was the reason why they performed. After all, every face in the crowd belonged to a supernatural creature just waiting to feed on their human audience tonight.
Werewolves and banshees and gremlins and more all gathered together to hunt and catch their prey with an efficiency the monster world had never seen before. During each show they put on, a troupe of faeries would traverse the house, leaving black, satin cards underneath the seats of selected guests in the grandstands. Each card was an invitation to the circus’s highly exclusive after party.
At the end of the night, the ringmistress, an exquisite German beauty who commanded a room with her six-and-a-half-foot stature, would tell the house to look beneath their bleachers, and the crowd would be left mystified as to how and when the Chosen Ones were picked.
No matter what the answer was, almost everyone who attended the shows put on by Cirque du Sombre secretly wanted to be selected. The after party was a mystery. Everyone who attended it claimed they couldn’t remember anything that happened. Some believed they were lying to keep the circus’s secret, while others grew ever more curious to attend and find out for themselves.
The growing reputation boded well for the troupers. With the prey practically throwing themselves into their waiting fangs, it had become easier than ever before for the monsters to have their fill of blood, spirit, or whatever their preferences may be. Thus, they were eager to get through the task of the performance and move on to the moment they had all been waiting for.
Their focused silence was only interrupted by sound of two voices.
“That hair of yours makes you look like a woman, you know.” A small, skinny man perched on the edge of a hay bale with his stick-like legs dangling over the edge and his toothpick arms crossed over his chest. He was more than small, in fact, he was completely miniscule. If he had been standing upright on the ground, he would have been no taller than three feet. He liked to claim he was tall for his type though. Most brownies topped off at two-foot-ten.
“Are you ever going to cut it?” the tiny man went on with the gravelly tone of a Scottish chain smoker. “It would be nice to walk up behind you for once without expecting a pretty face.”
“I don’t know what difference it would make,” a second voice replied, younger and richer than the former. “You don’t have a better shot with any woman than you do with me, and you know it, Oscar.” The teenage-looking boy turned away from the platform he was stretching his leg against to cast the brownie a mocking smile. To Oscar’s point, he had a full head of brown hair that fell to his shoulders in tangled waves, and a lean frame to match, though his was much larger compared to the short man.
With just a pair of black pants to adorn his body, he showed off quite a bit of tan skin and a toned torso decorated with a large, black tattoo. However, his most striking features were the blood red irises that ringed his pupils and the long fangs in his mouth. Both were traits he had inherited from his vampire mother.
“Tch,” Oscar clicked his tongue. “You can’t say that. I just haven’t met the right one yet.”
“That’s because all the girls you chase after are two feet taller than you,” Rayth rolled his eyes, alternating his stance to stretch his other leg. It was good form to get all the kinks out before a show. “Everyone who comes to the circus is here to gawk at freaks, not go on dates. Try talking to one of the faeries instead. I heard they like flowers.”
“So, I have a type,” Oscar grumbled. “I like a tall, strong woman. What’s wrong with that?”
“Nothing,” Rayth bit back a laugh. There was never any point in trying to change the stubborn man’s mind once it had been made up. The brownie was a hopeless romantic of a midget who was convinced his soul mate would show up at the circus someday. “Who knows? Maybe I’m wrong and some enormous, five-foot fireball will fall head over heels for you.” Finished loosening his muscles, he stepped over to the hay bale to lean over his friend with a smirk. “Just quit ogling me from behind, will ya? It’s getting creepy.”
“Cut your lady locks, and we have a deal,” Oscar retorted dryly.
Rayth just snorted in response and turned away from him to join the rest of the performers, who were beginning to gather near the clown alley. The opening of the show would be starting soon, and they were expecting a straw house this time. Word about the circus had spread all over southern California, and since it was the last night before they packed up for the next jump, every ticket had sold out.
Even the sideshows had been packed all evening with people who wanted to get a glimpse of the traveling wonder before it was too late. Oddities that Rayth considered boring next to the grand show were treated like precious miracles of nature. He had a feeling the spectacles in the big top were going to make this crowd go wild.
As the monsters congregated, they all centered around one figure: the ringmistress, Frieda Sommer, who stood before them prepared to give the same speech she always did at the start of their shows. Her crystalline blue eyes swept over the throng of creatures, slightly intimidating in their intensity. It was as if she could see more than everyone else, though no one was sure if it was true. As a faerie, she could choose to don whatever appearance she liked best. This imposing skyscraper of a body just happened to be her favorite look, and the glass-colored irises that came with it were her preference as well.
Still, Rayth wouldn’t have been surprised if she knew more than she let on. Frieda always seemed to have an answer for everything, like a Magic 8 ball that was never wrong. He, like all the rest of the circus, trusted her to make the best decisions for them as their leader. She hadn’t let them down so far.
“Sisters and brothers,” the faerie began once everyone was listening. She had a familial way about her and a smooth, full voice that drew Rayth in like a fly to honey. Even though he’d heard her speech a hundred times, he didn’t mind sitting through it again.
As he waited for her to go on, he felt a sudden bump against his leg. Glancing down, he saw that Oscar had scuttled up beside him and was waiting with his arms expectantly outstretched. The communication was silent but effective. He picked the brownie up and let him sit on his shoulders, so the small man could see the ringmistress’s alabaster face above the crowd.
Frieda committed to the usual recital about her fondness of their shows thus far, her confidence that the next one would be just as good, and a brief reminder that no one was to touch any humans until the after party had begun. It was a pretty standard message, but before anyone had a chance to walk away, she added one more piece that they hadn’t heard before.
“And if anything unusual happens tonight, I expect you all to be flexible,” the faerie smiled warmly. “Have a good show, everyone.”
With that, she turned around and disappeared into the big top, leaving them with no further explanation.
As soon as she was gone, the troupe members began organizing themselves into their respective performance groups and lining up down the length of the clown alley. Everything about their movements was like clockwork after years of practice. However, Rayth wasn’t as quick to join them.
“What was that about?” he frowned, peering up at Oscar who was still seated on his shoulders. “It’s our last night in LA. What’s different about this show that she felt like she had to prepare us for?”
“How should I know?” the brownie wriggled uncomfortably. “Put me down, Rayth. I have to get ready to join my group.”
The half-vampire complied wordlessly with Oscar’s request and then watched him scamper off to the rest of the brownies before he moved to take up his own space in line. As baffled as he was by Frieda’s warning, there wasn’t any time to think about it. The grand entrance for all the performers was first on the agenda, and he needed to stay grounded so he wouldn’t mess up his part.
He took a deep breath as the line started to move.
Let the show begin.

Cirque du Sombre [Siaya Dragalorn & Summer]

Sounds good! I took a short break from writing to play with my puppy for a bit, so I'm feeling better about getting to work on that intro now xD

I think I'll start on it after I make a quick dinner.

Cirque du Sombre [Siaya Dragalorn & Summer]

Minor Characters

Name
Frieda Sommer
Age
577
Sex
Female
Race
Faerie
Circus Role
Ringmistress
Birthplace
Germany

Cirque du Sombre [Siaya Dragalorn & Summer]

Rayth Mascorro
The Reaper

Age
106
Appeared Age
17
Sex
Male
Race
Vampire/Human
Circus Role
Blade Master (performs tricks with anything from daggers to scythes)
Birthdate
January 23, 1912
Birthplace
Albuquerque, New Mexico
Known Languages
English, Spanish

Appearance
Born to a vampire mother and a human father, Rayth has characteristics belonging to both races. Of his Hispanic father, he inherited a tan skin tone and thick, unruly hair as well as a few other general facial features belonging to Hispanic people. Of his vampire mother, he inherited striking blood-red irises and a relatively clear complexion.
For his physical build, he stands at about 5’11” and has a lean body type that is athletic, but not overly muscular. His innate fitness and lower weight are both traits that he gained from his mother as well.
Most of the time, he leaves his hair down and uncombed, however when he needs to keep it out of his face for his circus performance or anything else that requires his vision to be clear, he pins it back in a haphazard ponytail.
Distinguishing Marks
Mole above the upper right side of his lip; Fanged canines; Adorned with a large tribal tattoo across his right bicep that extends up his shoulder and down across the entire right side of his body. The tattoo was done by another member of the circus and functions as an aesthetic for his part in the show.
Clothes
Day to day, Rayth prefers to wear comfortable clothes such as t-shirts and blue jeans. Most of his shirts are darkly colored and/or printed with logos for alternative rock bands that he likes to listen to. His style could be described as a classic ‘teenage boy’ look.
His circus outfit consists of a pair of black pants and a red, satin sash that he wears tied around his waist. Doesn’t wear anything on his upper body to show off the tattoo on his abdomen.
Accessories
Wears a silver spearhead pendant strung on a leather necklace that was passed down to him by his father.
Paints his face with a black tribal pattern for circus acts.

Weapons
Extensive knowledge of blades, but currently only uses them for the purpose of his circus act. For actual self-defense, he’s spent years learning the ins and outs of Krav Maga (Israeli street fighting) that is enhanced by his own supernatural abilities and reflexes.

Personality
Despite having lived for just over a century, Rayth has maintained a child-like energy and enthusiasm for life. He hasn’t had the easiest go of it, but he’s determined to make the most of the hand he’s been dealt, and refuses to be a victim of his troubled past. He has a sharp sense of humor and an easygoing demeanor that make him likeable company to be around. Unfortunately for him, most of the other monsters in the circus are not social creatures, and they find him more troublesome than anything else. With so much energy and nowhere to spend it, he often does get himself into trouble when the circus isn’t performing to the point where the ringmaster has forbidden him from leaving the grounds alone for his own safety.
Major Positive Traits
Observant

Highly aware of his environment and the people in it. There isn’t much that slips past his watchful gaze, which helps him in dangerous situations and even in more benign cases where he just needs to be conscious of someone else’s body language.

Courageous

Rayth has a “leap before you think” mentality. While it can get him into trouble at times, it also helps him from overthinking a situation he’s capable of handling.

Quick-Witted

Not just useful for making sharp comebacks in an argument, his quick wit has saved him on multiple occasions when he found himself trapped in situations he didn’t expect. He is also skilled at thinking on his feet in a fight and making snap decisions about whether to stay or flee.

Flexible

Rayth doesn’t need a plan to be successful. He’s good at decision-making on the go and adapting to a situation in the moment if a plan doesn’t seem to be working anymore.

Major Negative Traits
Short Attention Span

While he has a keen eye for his surroundings, he isn’t great at staying focused on any one thing for very long. If something “shinier” comes along, his attention is apt to derail from whatever it was on before and transition to whatever seems more interesting or entertaining in the moment.

Bad Liar

Fidgety by nature, Rayth has a number of physical tics that tend to give him away when he tries to lie including: hesitating/fumbling over words, avoiding eye contact, shifting his weight back and forth, and toying with his clothing or hair.

Impulsive

Probably his biggest weakness, Rayth isn’t good at controlling his impulses. He tends to come up with ideas that seem foolproof at a glance, but when put into action get him into trouble.

Temperamental

Extending from his impulsiveness, Rayth can also be hotheaded. He is passionate about his convictions and isn’t afraid to defend himself if he’s accused of something he doesn’t believe he did wrong. This quality is heightened when it’s been a while since the last time he’s fed on human blood.

Physical Abilities
Supernatural Strength and Speed

Mostly self-explanatory. He is both stronger and faster than pureblooded human beings because of the abilities he inherited from his vampire mother.

Enhanced Reflexes

Similar to his heightened strength and speed, Rayth is also much quicker to react than a human could ever hope to be. His reflexes are fast enough that he can catch an arrow with ease and even dodge a bullet if he focuses hard enough.

Heightened Senses

All of Rayth’s senses are more powerful than a human’s. He can see farther, hear better, and smell more sharply. However, none of these skills are overly useful to him at the moment, since they all function as part of his predatory nature and he lives amongst monsters who do the work of gathering prey for everyone.

Fast Healer

Aside from wounds received from silver, Rayth is able to fully heal from most wounds within the span of a week without scarring. The only injuries he is unable to recover from are those which sever a body part or are immediately fatal.

Durability

Falls that would break bones in most people often only leave him with cuts and bruises, and he has endurance to run for miles at a sprinting pace.

Physical Weaknesses
Strength and Speed

While he is stronger and faster than a pureblooded human, he is no match for some of the other monsters in the circus. In fights against other supernatural creatures, he has to rely more on his learned skills rather than his innate abilities.

Enhanced Senses

While mostly good, his senses are sometimes a double-edged sword. If a scent or sound is too overwhelming to him, he can be left frozen and unable to function in a dire situation.

Racial Weaknesses
Silver

While its effects are diminished because of his human blood, Rayth still has an innate weakness to the touch of silver. He is able to handle the metal with ease as long as it stays on the outside of his body, but if it breaks the surface of his skin, it causes him intense pain and can leave a burn mark that takes longer to heal than regular wounds.

Sunlight

Similar to the effects of silver, sunlight doesn’t bother Rayth as much as it does other vampires because of his mixed blood. He is able to stand in direct sunlight during the day, but he can’t be exposed to it for longer than about an hour or two at a time (depending on the time of day) before it begins to burn his exposed skin. Concentrated UV rays harm him immediately.

Bloodlust

The one weakness Rayth inherited from his mother that is just as strong in him as it is in any of his kind is his thirst for human blood. When he smells it, he can become frenzied and lose sight of himself in his overwhelming desire to feed. He also grows weak when he goes too long without drinking any and can even exhibit symptoms of illness (headache, dizziness, nausea, etc).

Mental Weaknesses
Envy

With one foot in two separate worlds, Rayth often feels like he doesn’t belong in either of them. He harbors a deep seeded jealousy for pureblooded humans and monsters who know their places in the world. This manifests itself in the form of hidden insecurity in himself and is also a sore spot when brought up in conversation. If mentioned in a mocking or insulting manner, he might lose his temper and be drawn into a fight. The title “half breed” specifically irks him.

Fears
Autophobia

Stemming from his father’s death, Rayth is afraid of finding himself alone. He needs others around for both company and a sense of protection in a world that hates and fears monsters such as himself.

Claustrophobia

Somewhat ironic considering the stereotypes about vampires sleeping in coffins, Rayth is actually afraid of tight, enclosed spaces. If he ever finds himself in one, he has a panic attack and has to talk himself out of it.

Thanatophobia

Immortality is a surprisingly fragile thing. Even though as a vampire, Rayth is technically immortal, he knows he can still be killed by a well-placed silver stake. Because of this, he has what he likes to think is a healthy fear of death.

Quirks
Fidgety

To burn off some of his excess energy, Rayth fidgets quite a bit. He almost always has to keep his hands occupied and will pick up small objects (rocks, twigs, loose cobblestone, etc.) wherever he finds them. He also paces when he thinks and has a nervous habit of running his tongue over his fangs if he’s feeling anxious or especially eager about something.

Falls Asleep Easily

For Rayth, falling asleep is almost a talent in itself. He has the sleeping habits of a military man, able to slip unconscious in a matter of minutes even if he just lays down on a cold, stone floor. However, while he can sleep easily, he isn’t narcoleptic. He has full control over when he decides to sleep, and doesn’t pass out spontaneously.

Lounges in Strange Positions

Rayth finds comfort in usual positions when he’s lounging around. One of his most common stations is when he lays flat on his back with his head lolling off the edge of a surface. He enjoys the feeling of the blood rush and finds that it relaxes him.

Forgetful

Relating to his short attention span, Rayth is often forgetful of information that he doesn’t deem important enough to remember. As such, he tends to lose track of his things and can’t tie names to faces very well.

Daydreamer

Rayth spends a lot of his time daydreaming, especially since the other monsters in the circus aren’t very social during their down time between shows. Puzzling over the things of the world that he doesn’t understand gives him something to occupy his mind and keeps him out of trouble.

Family
Gabriel Mascorro (1892-1975)
Ilene Guisseau (1787-1930)

Other
Rayth found a Rubik’s cube once and it was pretty much the best day of his life. Unfortunately, he lost it after about a week and hasn’t been able to locate it since.

Bio
As the son of a human father and a vampire mother, Rayth has always had a foot in two worlds. He was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico within a month of the state’s inception as part of the Union. Because of this, his childhood was a complicated one. His mixed Hispanic-European blood brought conflict with other humans, and his “half breed” genes made him an outcast among other supernatural creatures. With nowhere else to turn to, he grew close to his parents and his father’s family, all of whom were the only ones that seemed to accept him for who he was.
Rayth lived in a large, communal home with his family for the next sixteen years of his life. Though he didn’t get to leave often, he found the time to be peaceful. He got along well with his cousins, and his aunts and uncles were fond of him. However, all of that changed in the summer of 1928 when he experienced his first vampiric frenzy.
When the weather had cooler during the monsoon season, he and his younger cousin, Antonio, had gone outside to play horseshoes. While they were out, a few boys from a nearby European-American settlement saw them and started shouting racial slurs. Antonio wanted to go back to the house to get away from their jeers, but Rayth, always the hothead, refused to run without standing his ground first. Naturally, his stubbornness led to a fight.
In the middle of the scrap, Antonio landed a punch to one of the bullies’ faces that caused his nose to break. The sudden and intense smell of blood was too much for Rayth, sending him into an uncontrolled mania in which he nearly killed the boy and even attacked his cousin when he tried to pull him off of the kid.
At the time, his parents had been out on an errand, but his aunt was close enough to overhear the commotion. She came outside to break up the scuffle and was shocked to find Antonio defending himself from a frenzied Rayth while the bloodied European boys fled from the scene in terror. Frightened that the half-vampire would kill her son, she struck him in the head with a broom handle. The pain of the blow was enough to make him come back to his senses, but by that time, the damage had already been done.
Still panicked from what she had just witnessed, his aunt gathered Antonio into her arms and screamed at Rayth to leave, and he was too dazed and confused from the mania to argue with her. Instead, he turned and ran, shocked by what he’d done to his cousin. He had nowhere to go, but he was too ashamed to return to his family, so he headed into the city to take shelter in an alley.
This was where his mother found him later that night. As soon as she heard what had happened, she sought him out and reassured him that what he’d gone through was normal for their kind and that it meant he had come of age as a vampire. Her promises to teach him how to handle his bloodlust were what helped him move on from the trauma of attacking Antonio.
Unfortunately, his family wasn’t so quick to forget. Worried that Rayth was too dangerous to be around, they asked him and his parents to move out.
For the next two years, they lived together in a small home on a Pueblo Indian reservation, where Rayth’s mother began to teach him more about what made him different as a half-vampire. With the lessons, he finally began to feel more comfortable in his skin. Though he didn’t have any particular group he could fit in with—monsters or humans; Latinos or Europeans—he gained some confidence in his individuality—
Just enough to be torn down again when she died.
On a cold night in the fall of 1930, Ilene went out to satisfy her own thirst for blood. While she was gone, she was found and killed by two hunters who happened to catch her with her fangs in the throat of her victim. Rayth and his father didn’t know what had happened until she didn’t return the next day.
Frightened that the hunters would come for his son next, Gabriel begged his family to let them move back in, swearing that no harm would come to them now that Rayth had learned to better handle his bloodlust. The rest of the Mascorro reluctantly agreed to take them in.
Rayth lived with his father’s family for the next thirty-five years, but even though he was safe with them, he no longer felt at home. By this time, he had stopped visibly aging. When his cousins all entered their forties and fifties, he still looked like he was in his late teens. No one ever said anything about it, but he could tell they were bothered by his perpetual youth. So, when his father passed away in 1975, he left of his own accord, deciding to build his own life independent from his human relatives.
He managed to get by until early 2018, when he was found and attacked by a group of hunters in a fight that he barely escaped with his life. Rattled by the experience, he reverted to the habit he’d been taught by his family: To seek safety in numbers.
Luckily for him, it was that same week when he happened to stumble across a circus filled with all sorts of supernatural creatures who took him into their protection. He’s been traveling with them ever since.

Cirque du Sombre [Siaya Dragalorn & Summer]

Thread is up :)

@Siaya Dragalorn