Page 54 of Vampire's Choice
Abruptly, she rose, turned and left the tent. Ruth’s gaze slid to Yvette and Marcellus. He looked torn, his rigid expression telling her how much he wanted to follow her, even knowing they had more strategy to discuss.
She was the low person on the totem pole, and she’d shared the information she had. Ruth would get briefed by Dollar later. “My lady, may I…”
“You may.” Yvette picked up on her thought.
“I’ll watch over her until you come, my lord,” Ruth told Marcellus. He gave her a slight bow.
“Thank you, Ruth.”
She glanced toward Merc, feeling his shadowed expression resting on her. She gave him a nod, too, before she slid out of the tent.
Clara wasn’t hard to track. She’d returned to her fortune telling tent, and was trying to clean it up, putting the broken things on her round table. As Ruth came in, the girl was sinking down against a post holding up the back tent wall.
She stared at the broken glass and chipped candles. Then her shoulders buckled, her hands covered her face, and she leaned forward into them to stifle the sobs.
Tenderness didn’t come naturally to Ruth, but with Elisa as her mother, she’d had the best example of how to offer it. Kneeling next to Clara, she slid an arm over her back. The girl leaned against her, folding down to press her face to Ruth’s knee.
Clara didn’t say anything, ask any questions, or demand answers from the universe. She’d already proven to Ruth she had accepted its designation for her life. If Marcellus was here, Ruth suspected Clara would contain the tears, because most men felt helpless before such distress, wanting to fix it. Whereas women knew tears were their best way of finding the strength to take up arms against the world again. This was how Clara would work through it, so she could keep honoring the path Fate had chosen for her.
So Ruth sat with her, stroking her hair, being present. Standing with her new friend against an unbearable world.
When Charlie arrived, either because Marcellus or Yvette had requested her, or she simply knew where she was needed, Ruth relinquished her spot. Charlie stroked Clara’s thick hair back behind one ear. “This earring is pretty,” she noted, fingers tracing the strand of beads looped in an infinity knot. “That’s from that Colorado craft fair, isn’t it?”
Clara sniffled. “You should have let me buy you a pair.”
“They fit you best. How about we get you to your quarters?” The blind healer rubbed her back. “I want to give you a good energy treatment, help you build up your strength.”
As Charlie rose, drawing Clara to her feet, she staggered, because her patient’s knees gave way. Ruth moved in and picked Clara up, cradling her in her arms. “Lead the way,” she said.
Clara closed her eyes and put her face against Ruth’s neck. “You smell like a forest. And wild things. The right kind of wild things.”
She left Clara in Charlie’s care once she felt Marcellus drawing near. Outside the RV that was their current quarters, Ruth paused before him. “She’s all right,” she said.
There was nothing else to say, because he knew what that meant. And didn’t mean. When he moved toward the door, his right wing brushed her, an unspoken thanks. She ached for him. For them both.
“If she dies too soon, she had the chance to love someone with everything she is, and be loved back, the same way. That’s worth anything, Marcellus. Even immortality.”
She was a silly young vampire, saying things to an angel who’d stared into cosmic wonders she couldn’t even imagine. But she wanted to help, to ease the pain she felt from him, and it was all she had.
Marcellus glanced over his shoulder. Then he nodded and went into the RV.
Loss was as much a part of life as anything else. But did it have to hurt so damn much?
She wandered through the camp. Once dawn approached, she’d meet Yvette at the portal so the two of them could sleep out of reach of the sun. Many of the non-human troupe members, like the centaurs, unicorns and dragons, returned to the in-between campsite as well. But she had a little time before she’d have to do that.
Though she was exhausted from the overly eventful night, she didn’t want to go to bed just yet.
Roustabouts were playing cards and hanging out with performers, discussing the show. Many had plates of food. The cooks provided a generous post-showtime meal.
It had taken a while for all the ticket holders to leave, because they were encouraged to stay and spend their money on souvenirs and the midway attractions as long as they wished. But she’d been able to tell when they were all gone, because the environment was more like the in-between portal space. After showtime, Yvette’s magical cloaking was put in place, an effective alarm system allowing for a skeleton security crew. Ruth had offered to take another shift, but was told she’d done her part for the night.
She saw Medusa sharing a plate with John Pierce. They were bent toward one another, bodies brushing. When he gave her food from his fingertips, Ruth’s body tightened at the energy that sparked between them, a Dom caring for his sub, enjoying her reactions to his attentions. One of the snakes, coiled around her wrist, grabbed something off the plate, taking advantage of their distraction.
She picked up some blood. No one questioned why she needed more after having had Gundar and Charlie’s. Maybe they didn’t know about that.
Regardless, the cook on duty, Estella, gave it to her in one of the high-end souvenirs, a thermal travel mug with the Circus’s elephant-dragon-rose logo engraved on it. “To celebrate your first performance night,” she told Ruth. “And a gift for watching after our Clara. Bring it back for free refills anytime. You should go over to the Big Top. Fun stuff is usually happening there this time of night.”
Ruth smiled, pleased at the gift, and headed in that direction. When she arrived, it was far busier than she would have expected. In the center ring, several performers were practicing moves they didn’t feel they’d gotten quite right, or working out new routines. Choosing a section of the tiered benches with a good view, she took a seat along the top row and leaned against the guard rail behind it. At a squawk, she looked up to see one of the young dragons on a beam above her, eyeing her with measured intent.