Fantasy Cirque de Monstres (1941) first edition

[IceQueen]

Nanami smiled slightly, seeing the smoke ring and bringing a soft smile to her face. "No, but I'm just worried. I mean, there is next to no chance that our little deviousness isn't going to bring something else along, and I guess I am just nervous." She mumbled, closing her eyes.

 

[The Fallow]

Harper looked towards the ground, sitting on the edge of the bed. "But I am only part." She interjected, hoping it wasn't her fate to hide away for the rest of her full moon nights. How did interpol feel about it? John's father? How did she know they wouldn't lock her up for it? "John. If we do plan C someone could die. If we do plan B...only one person loses something."

 

[Airagog]

John shook his head, "Wouldn't die. Maybe lose your sanity, but not die. Does leave a lot of variables though... but for some reason I have the feeling a certain someone has already double checked everything.." John said with a shiver. "What it is, is think of our worlds as three separate spheres. Ours, Hell, and Heaven. Between these is a lot of space. Sort of like three circles in a large rectangle. The in between though, it's not pleasant. Think of the world you know. Now think of nothing. Now think of a world of nothing. No life, no death, no emotions, no heat, no cold, no light, no dark, not even color. Just a world of black and white and endless monsters that don't quite exist, instead they're stuck between coming into being and not. So getting out would be relatively easy, use the in between, travel to where she is, yank her back... however."

 

[Axeykins]

"There's no need to be nervous about anything. We'll all get through this just fine or at least we can hope that much." He leaned over and gave her a little hug. "Whatever comes our way we'll get through it, right? We always have before."

 

[Lady Luna Ravenswood]

"However we need to make sure my parents nor my fiancé cannot drag or summon me back to the inferno."


Nora spoke up, not that she was afraid of the in between realm, she just knew her family very well.


"They will you know, the minute you think I'm all good and back there they will drag me down. It's what they do, it's why they chained me to the inferno. So I cannot escape again, and bind a contract making it so they cannot take me."


She sighed, feeling truly trapped in hell.


"Unless I was to become intimate with another human again.......no, no I will not do either things that entitles again....."

 

[The Fallow]

"We can't risk making it all the way through the other dimension only for her to be taken back. Plan B is the only permanaunt option." Harper said to the two. She wringed her hair once again before laying back along the bed. "What exactly entails this contract?" She asked.

 

[Lady Luna Ravenswood]

"The contract is a binding one. Basically you give up well, let's say, you give up your sadness and fear. I take your sadness and fear and I become your servant. You get a personal demon servant and I get whatever you sacrificed. The contracts remains until either you null it or die. But the thing is you loose what you sacrifice and it's gone. I mean you would never feel sadness or fear as long as the contract is in tact. That is if that is what you give up. So it's something to not rush into."


She made it sound nicer than it was. She was actually a slave to the person she was blinded too.


"Also we would feel each others emotions."

 

[The Fallow]

Harper bit her lip gently. "Well, John? Your thoughts?" She asked, standing up, she needed some clothes that would actually fit her, though she would have to wait, she didn't feel like having another run in with his father. Ugh. If that man was ever to find himself in peril, she would be sure to laugh as she showed no mercy for his situation. He was a true stickler.

 

[Airagog]

John sighed sitting down, "I'm not a fan of having anyone bound to me. Maybe see what the others think, decide if someone wants a slave and bind Nora to them. Otherwise, number three seems to be the option. Thoughts so far? "

 

[IceQueen]

Nanami sighed softly as he pulled her into a little hug, resting her head on his shoulder as he hugged her. 'Alright." She mumbled softly, kissing his shoulder softly before pulling back away so he could continue with his cigarette.

 

[Lady Luna Ravenswood]

"Well the thing is we don't have time. I just realized something.....My mother is no longer in the inferno."


Nora had no idea where her mother went. But one thing was certain, her mother was in the human realm.


"She is most likely after Ignis. See, my mother and father were not.....well, they were not happy about me saving Ignis. Also, please don't say slave, it's degrading."

 

[Soviet Panda]

Something told Connor that this woman was looking for something. Maybe it was the way she was standing. Or, the fact that she was ignoring a naked man that could turn into a wolf. Either that, or she really didn't care about what she looked like and it was simply a coincidence. Either way, perhaps he could learn a bit more about her. "I can help." he said simply.

 

[Airagog]

John's face looked pale as the color drained from it, suddenly putting together pieces of the puzzle. He was assigned here. To kill Nosferatu, right? Surely that was it... But then how did he get mixed up with these dorks? How did he even get here? How did a simple mission go so awry. How did he go from one minute trying to kill a vampire to the next minute trying to help them. It hit him. It hit him all at once as the room became dead quiet, then the sounds of footsteps in the hall could be heard. Slow, steady, methodical. Footsteps that could only belong to one man who passed the door, walking through the hallways and towards the elevator. His cane tapping against the floor just like sweat from John's face as he looked in absolute terror. He look at Nora and shook his head, "She's not the hunter..." was all he whispered as he began to piece together every single last detail of what had happened. How everything seemed to fit together so perfectly. How he was here, how this happened after Cairo. How he was supposedly given a job because of his performance that would usually request a team. He shook his head slowly at Nora. "She's not the hunter..."

 

[The Fallow]

Harper looked towards John with a small look of confusion. Why was he so pale? She wasn't the hunter? What the hell did he mean. What ever it was, it had him scared. "John, what do you mean?" She asked with slight hesitation. What if he knew, what if he knew her files didn't add up, that her being assigned here wasn't as authorized as he thought? No, it was something else, he was talking about a hunter, not a spy. Paranoid her eyes diverted to the door for a moment. Keep it together Harper, he doesn't know. He believes I am a awkward, loud mouth with a lack of manners and a crush. Right? She felt her left hand shake.

 

[Lady Luna Ravenswood]

Nora was confused, although she may better gauge the situation if she was in the same room as him. At the moment all she heard was the chatter.


"She is not the hunter? Whatever do you mean John?"


She was downright confused.


"Well whatever the reason, if she is not then who is?"


Nora cautiously looked out the bars of her cage as she heard footsteps.


"Shit, going to have to cut this convo short. I think My former fiancé is coming to check on me."


Shed spoke to Dax in her native tongue.


"Dax, sive manserimus hic moriendum ne dimiseris, non mater"


Paul looked at the others.


"We'll be lucky if the cirque is ever a safe place again. We will be lucky if we ever see Nora again."


He let out a long sigh.


"In a caravan just outside of town hides Nora's secret. I feel like if I go you two should know about her. Nora's daughter lives with a band a gypsies outside of town. She's not half human, rather the child of Nora and another Demon. Her name is Mera she is not even a year old. Go get her if you two make it out and I don't. if not she can stay with the gypsies."


 
Agrat let out a laugh.


"Help me and you sign your death certificate. Besides I don't take help from pathetic low level scum like you."


She continued following the scent.


"hmm hmm.....little Mera, should have covered your pet's scent"

 

[Axeykins]

"Nora has a daughter that young?!" Ignis nearly choked on his cigarette at that news. When did that even happen? It must have been during a rough year if he didn't even remember that. "When do you want us to try and get her Paul? As soon as possible or whenever we get out of this place..if they ever let us out that is." He scratched his head nervously. "And uh...what would we do after that? I mean...would we be ready to even raise a child that young?"

 

[Soviet Panda]

Connor decided to ignore that last comment about low life scum. He was good at ignoring things yet being aware of them. Like a cat. But he'd never compare himself to a cat. Anyway, he very mich doubted that she could do anything on her own. Just a second ago she was whining about him hiding in plane sight. Then she passed out and was like this. Split personalities. A surprise she even managed to join the force. "I have a short life as it is." he told her, following behind at a safe distance.

 

[Lady Luna Ravenswood]

Paul nodded his head.


"Yes, she does. She hid her pregnancy from you all by traveling to Germany before the cirque. It was why she was gone for several months. She didn't want anyone to know, she didn't want to drag her daughter into our problems."


Paul shook his head when Ignis wondered if he could care for such a young child.


"That is not something you should say in front of your wife."


He wondered how the little spitfire was doing. He remembered when he had to dump her with the gypsises. Nora couldn't do it, so he had to. Mera wasn't even an hour old, and still crying. But it had to be done, they couldn't bring another person into their hell.


"Nora didn't even spend an hour with her child. I had to take her to the gypsies. It broke Nora's heart, which is why she started drinking more often. She had to cope somehow....."

 

[IceQueen]

Nanami glared at Ignis as he asked how they would care for such a young child. "We can do just fine with her. Or at the least I can." she said, heaving a sigh. "Poor thing, I really hope she doesn't hate her mother, though at her young age she probably can't even comprehend it." Nanami mumbled softly, looking at Paul.

 

[Axeykins]

"I just...don't know....Kids are wonderful but terrifying when they're practically your own.." He looked away nervously. Getting away from that part of the conversation as fast as he could. "I'm sure she'd understand once older. That that was only for the best at the moment. Raising a child on the road is pretty difficult, right? Especially with the cirque."

 

[Airagog]

John shook on the floor as he gulped looking at Harper. His face terror-stricken as he was panting, "It's a trap. Don't you get it? It's all a trap. She's not walking here to get Nora back." He said as the familiar ding of the elevator opened up, "She's walking here to die."

 

[IceQueen]

Nanami smield sweetly and squeezed Igni's arm. "Ignis, keep your mouth shut or the cigarette is going down your throat." She hissed quietly, smiling all the while. Not only was he making her feel worse, now she was uncertain how she was even going to raise their own child, especially with Ignis running his mouth like he was now.

 

[Lady Luna Ravenswood]

"She will know of cirque and will understand her mother leaving her. She is with the oldest cirque member Thomas. Who is now a crazed talking skeleton."


Paul rubbed his chin, he could feel stubbles from not shaving for a while.


"Mera will understand, what Nora did was the only thing she could do keep little Mera safe."


He dug in jacket pocket and pulled a tattered photo out. It was of Nora and she was holding a bundle of blankets. She was looking at the bundle with kind and caring eyes. It showed how motherly Nora was. But, it was obvious had a hint of sadness in her eyes. He handed the tattered photo to Nanami.


"This, is not only the only pic of Nora its the only one, and will probably be the only one, of Nora holding Mera. Keep it, and if you ever catch Mera doubting her mother show her that."


Nora had a very quizzical look on her face.


"You mean my mother? Your talking about my mother?"


Nora let out a loud laugh.


"Please, my mother may be stupid but she is not that stupid. Unless of course she is escaping something....."


Agrat looked at the wolf man.


"Help me and die weak one."


She reached her destination, she let her effect on Sammy wear off so she could get in the building.


Sammy was confused, mainly as to how she ended up at Interpol.


"The hell.....how....how did I get here??"


She opened the doors, maybe this was John's doing. She walked up to the secretary and flashed her police badge.


"I'm part of the cirque investigation."


The secretary wrote down a floor and room number on a piece of paper.


'You will find him here'


"Oh uh, thanks...."


She walked forward as Agrat took over again


good....good little human.


She took the elevator to the floor that was written down and found the room. She knocked on the door.


"Knock knock....."

 

[Axeykins]

Ignis gulped and returned the smile nervously. "So sorry cher....I'm sure that we'd be able to take care of her just fine." He chuckled nervously. His face turned bright red as he became extremely flustered. He really had no idea at all how they would even begin to raise a child.

 

[Airagog]

John let out a scream, "RUN NOW WHILE YOU CAN!" But it was too late. All at once, the noise stopped. All sounds that once filled the busy facility stopped. Everything was still, not even the air in the vents could be heard. No footsteps, not even breathing. Just, silence. Then came a voice, suddenly and abruptly like two metal sheets slamming into each other at high velocity, "Hello my pretty." it said as the light drained from the rooms and hall. All now encompassed in a darkness that sucked the warmth out of the air, the silence to a deafening roar. So quiet not even the blood that pumped through their bodies could be heard as there came a clapping, each clap might as well have been as loud as an atomic bomb against the silence. There he stood, the one man no one wished to see. The true evil one. Aleistar Crowley looking very pleased at Agrat.