DS- Moonlit Stalker

Evra inclined his head and gave a small smile. The new member of the Cirque Du Freak was definitely quite interesting, however, he frightened him a bit. Why? Could it be the gentleman's lavender-colored flesh? Or perhaps his dazzling auburn hair? Precisely. The man was a vampaneze and was therefore a reminder of a certain psychopath he'd encountered when he was fourteen.

So, currently, he was doing his best not to draw away and cower. He was a man now, or rather, something resembling it. At nineteen years old, Evra had developed broader shoulders and a squarer jaw. The scales around his eyes and his shoulders had become more taut, more matured. Recently, he'd cut his hair short, a style he didn't prefer on himself but kept the yellowish locks from getting into his lidless eyes. As for Darren, the half-vampire had continued to look the part of a thirteen year old. Evra found it increasingly hard to treat him as someone only a few years younger than him, and so he was considerably relieved when Darren told him he was going to Vampire Mountain with Mr. Crepsley. However, when his tent-mate finally left, he found himself a bit lonely. And then the vampaneze came.

Gannen was a traveling creature of the night, much like Mr. Crepsley. The cirque members didn't seem at all that bothered by the new addition as he worked alongside them in dishes and setting up chairs. He was merely here for a rest and for food. Evra had creeped inside Mr. Tall's tent to discuss the matter with him and his uncomfortable feelings, inquiring if the ringmaster had felt any uneasiness since the vampaneze's appearance. Mr. Tall simply smiled over an old wrinkling book and winked a  black eye at the snake man. “No need to worry,” he had said softly. “Gannen is of good blood.”

“But what if-!?” Evra started.

“Evra, it is alright,” Mr. Tall said understandingly. “He will not harm you.”

So now, Evra watched with growing wariness at the vampaneze's back, his yellow eyes taking in every single detail of his tanned trench coat that covered his shoulders. He didn't look anymore than twenty-nine, and there were only two scars that stood out most noticeably on his face; one was rigid and small near his eyebrow, the other a small line across his lower lip. And he was very attractive for a man.

“Can I help you?”

Evra wasn't aware that the gruff voice was Gannen's until the vampaneze turned around to face him, his red eyebrows raising high on his forehead. “O-Oh, I-” Evra stammered and looked around. How had he come to be the only one outside? And then it dawned on him. It was night. The cirque members were in their tents and trailers, sleeping peacefully while he spied on an innocent man that he deemed guilty of some invisible crime. “I-” he tried again, “er...”

“Afraid I'll come into your tent and slay you in your sleep?” Gannen asked mockingly.

Evra scowled. “I'm not afraid of y-”

“Mr. Tall told me all about your experience with Murlough.” The statement cut the snake man short. Gannen smiled ruefully. “I wouldn't blame you for your cautiousness, let alone your fright after going through such a trauma. Why, I remember my first torture at the hands of a vampire mad with the need for revenge.”

“Torture?” Evra asked, blinking. The man didn't look as if he had been tortured. Then again, neither did he.

Gannen lent out a hand slowly, giving a gentle smile to show he was safe to touch. Evra hesitated before taking the man's hand and standing slowly. They were almost the same height. “Yes, torture,” Gannen said, nodding. He began to walk at a steady pace and indicated with his head for the other to follow. Evra did so with no hesitation this time, hurrying to the other's bare heels. “It's the reason why I wear this jacket.” He shifted his shoulders and caught the coat with his left hand before it could fall to the grassy ground.

Evra gasped. It was as if someone had played a monstrous version of tick-tack-toe with a knife and scissors, the game board being Gannen's back rather than a piece of lined paper. There were light colored scars, long ones, that ran down from the back of his neck to the start of his pant-line. “What did they do to you?” Evra whispered.

Gannen smiled and inclined his head as the snake man had been doing only mere moments ago. “He wanted to kill me slowly but he didn't want to damage my 'pretty front',” he shuddered at the phrase, “and so he cut and cut at my back, just missing my spinal cord each time.”

“Did it hurt?”

“If there were such a thing as a stupid question, I'd say that just made the top.” Evra blushed embarrassingly beneath his scales. “Yes, it hurt. I'd never experienced anything so...” he trailed off, failing to give words.

Evra cautiously reached out and stroked the back of the other's neck sympathetically. “So agonizing,” he offered. “So frightening that you couldn't even think right. Couldn't believe that-”

“-anyone would ever come for you,” Gannen finished. His red eyes had glazed over as he looked up at the starry-lit sky. They were not even 20 meters from the furthest tents. “You know what, Evra?”

The snake man looked at his face in acknowledgement.

“I think I like you.” Gannen glanced in his direction, giving a comfortable smile.

Evra cracked one of his own. “Well, I can't say I trust you to my full potential,” he said honestly. “But I can say that I won't be stalking you any longer.”

Gannen laughed heartily and gently clapped Evra's back. “I think I can deal with that.”