is one moment when I truly understood what it was like for one of you creatures to have true power. Real power. Not just armies, not just seity and legacy, but something that rivaled my own reach, but given to a creature that had once been mortal. He walked in here one day. Tall fellow. Very tall. Clearly inhuman. His skin was the color of white ash. You’d have liked him. Seeing how I know you like red eyes and all.”
Hah, hah.
Lazarus chuckled. “Serious fellow, though. Looked as though it might hurt him to smile. He strolled in here and it was clear he just…knew what I was. Just as I knew what he was. I wasn’t sure who was more curious about whom, he or I.” He grinned.
Really? It made her smile that those kinds of things existed out in the world. It made it all the more interesting.
“Oh, really. There are more things in Heaven and Earth, and so on. Do you think it was just me roaming this place? No, dear. Creatures like us are simply good at hiding.” He shut his eyes and rested his head back against the metal, a small smile crossing his features. The memory of a good day was clearly playing through his head.
What happened?
“I sent Clown to say hello, in the way only a clown can. He made the creature a balloon toy. A hot pink sword.” Lazarus snickered. “I thought he’d fly into a rage at the insult. That he’d pop it at the very least. But he didn’t. He took it. In those red eyes I saw a creature that recognized darkness like his own. He understood what we were. He had an idea of what this place really was. And he simply said, ‘Thank you,’ and…walked away. He handed the sword to a child some ten feet later, sure, but he took it. He could have started a war. He could have done some incredible damage. He saw a creature that rivaled his own power, a potential threat, and he chose peace.”
Cora swallowed another thick glob of blood. She wanted to hear the rest of the story. The pain was starting to eat through her focus. She was going to go back to the darkness soon. And?
“I learned then that your kind are capable of handling power like this—like mine—after all. Not always. Maybe not for long. But at times, maybe once in a while, you choose peace. You choose just to live.” Lazarus shrugged. “It gave me hope for humanity. That you aren’t entirely hateful, monstrous, self-destructive, selfish zealots. Just mostly.”
She would have smiled. She would have laughed. She would have tried to come up with a witty retort.
But everything just kind of faded away.
She felt lips touch her hand. “I am so sorry, Cora…we could have been grand, you and I.”
She wondered if that was true.
But it didn’t really matter anymore.
Nothing did.
6
Turk hesitated as his hand touched the knob of his boxcar door. He felt as though he was being watched. With a long, heavy sigh, he looked up. There, atop his structure, was a werewolf. One with blazing yellow eyes that shone in the darkness.
Ringmaster raised an eyebrow at him. “What, Rudy?”
He was treated to a low growl from the Zookeeper.
With a roll of his eyes, he opened the door to his boxcar and left it open. “If you want to talk, talk. You know I don’t respond to scare tactics.” He went to his stove to make a pot of tea.
There was a thud behind him. He heard the door shut. He knew Rudy would have had to take human form to fit through the door. It meant he hadn’t come for a fight. Turk was rather glad. He had only brawled with Rudy a few times over the years, and it was always…messy. He usually won, but it was never enjoyable.
Suddenly, he missed his boxing matches with Ludwig. He and the Strongman had often sparred in the ring for entertainment and practice. Grief plucked at his heart. Of all the Family members who had come and gone over the years, he missed the gentle giant the most. Ludwig would have managed to talk sense into Cora. If the Strongman had stayed only a few more weeks, all this could have been avoided.
Ludwig could talk sense into anyone. Even Simon, from time to time. But the gentle creature was gone. Ringmaster wondered if that wasn’t all part of Harrow Faire’s design.
Rudy said nothing. There