The three of them moved away from Lucas' apartment building – old apartment building, technically – and down into the sewers below the city streets. After Larten had explained of a friend he knew that ran an under-the-radar circus – Which, by the way, who knew? – he led them away from the alley.

Now, he was sitting on the cement walkway near the ladder with his eyes closed.

"What is he doing?" Lucas whispered. They were both standing off to the side, somewhat awkwardly.

"He's reaching out for someone's mental signal," Darren replied in a hushed voice. He didn't go into how he didn't understand how one person who wasn't a vampire could possess a mental signal. "It takes some concentration."

"Is there anything we can do?" Lucas asked.

Without moving or opening his eyes, Larten responded, "A bit of silence would be nice." His tone was slightly irritated.

"Sorry," Darren said, and him and Lucas stood quietly.

After a few minutes, Larten broke the silence. "Got him." He stood up and brushed off his clothes. "We are in luck. The Cirque is not far from here. If we did not have to stop at dawn, we would be able to get there by midday. We will be there tomorrow evening."

They left the city and followed Larten's lead.

"So how do you know a secret circus ringleader?" Darren asked curiously.

"It is not a secret circus," Larten replied, "It is a freak show. They just need to be discreet because freakshows have been illegal for several decades in most places."

"Okay," Darren said, "how do you know the ringleader of a secret freak show?"

Larten chuckled. "It is a long story."

Darren waited, but it did not seem like Larten was going to tell it, at least not at that moment.

When the three arrived, it was early evening the next night, and the Cirque was in a large field outside a small town in France. Darren looked on at the dark tents and soft lights as Larten led them straight in and through the cluster of vans and tents. There were people walking around who stopped and stared as they walked past.

Darren tried not to stare, but he couldn't help but notice that there didn't seem to be abnormal about them. Larten had said that this was a freak show, but everyone looked…normal. Darren expected bearded ladies, or people with two heads, wings, or a tail.

Larten led them to a tent in the middle of the rest. It was the largest and Darren assumed it belonged to the ringleader.

They had barely stopped in front the entrance before the flap opened, revealing the tallest man Darren had ever seen. He gawked.

The man looked between the three of them and regarded Larten with a smile. "I thought I felt you reaching out. Welcome back, old friend."

"Thank you, Hibernius," Larten responded. He smiled as well and Hibernius moved aside to open the entrance to his tent to them.

Once inside, Hibernius said, "You brought friends."

"Yes," Larten said. "We have quite a bit to catch up on. First, this is my son, Darren."

"Ah," Hibernius said, eyeing Darren. "The Boy in the Snow. I heard."

"And this is Lucas. He is a scientist."

Hibernius crossed his arms and reached his hands out for Darren and Lucas to shake. "It is a pleasure to meet you both."

"Boys," Larten said, "This is Hibernius Tall."

Fitting name, Darren thought as he shook his hand.

Mr. Tall invited them to sit and he and Larten spent some time talking. Darren listened attentively. Although Larten was more open with Darren than other vampires, there was still much about Larten's past that Darren knew he kept private and he's always been curious what it was that happened in Larten's life that kept him so closed off.

Apparently, Larten used to perform at the Cirque Du Freak. They did not tell specifically what it was that Larten did, but Hibernius did mention something about filling his old slot.

"We've added quite a few performers since you left," Mr. Tall said. "I think you would be very impressed with some of the talent we have assembled here."

"I'm sure I will be," Larten responded. "I was hoping to stay here a while. I know this is sudden and if you cannot I completely understand-"

"I already had a caravan set aside for you when I sensed you were coming," Mr. Tall cut him off. "I made sure it was large enough to fit a coffin for you and Darren. And I've arranged for Lucas to share a tent with one of our performers." He turned to Lucas. "I hope you do not mind having a roommate."

Lucas shook his head, "Of course not. Anything is fine by me."

Mr. Tall nodded, then began rising from his chair. "I hate to cut this meeting short, but I have some preparing to do for tonight's show. I will show you to your tents and then wish you goodnight."

He led them to Lucas' tent first. His roommate was there to greet them. He was a tall man in his thirties, with long hair and scales! Darren eyed him in awe. He was wearing thin, white shorts and no shirt, so it was visible how his scales covered him head-to-toe.

"Hi!" He said cheerfully, "I'm Evra Von."

Darren waited for him to say the rest of his name, but it never happened. He shared a puzzled look with Lucas, then asked, "Von what?"

Evra shrugged and shook his head. "Just… Von."

"Oh," Darren said, slightly awkwardly. He smiled. "Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you," Lucas echoed, and he reached out his hand to shake, but Evra shook his head.

"Sorry," he said, "I'm shedding. I wouldn't want to get it on you. That's not a very good first impression." He chuckled.

Lucas pulled his hand back and chuckled.

They left Lucas to get situated and Mr. Tall led Larten and Darren to their caravan before excusing himself to get ready for the show.

Inside, there were two coffins and a small writing desk. The only window was covered with a thick curtain. Larten walked over to one of the coffins, where there was what looked like a small box covered in a velvet cloth. Larten walked over to it, blocking Darren's view as he removed the cloth.

Darren was putting his knapsack down on the writing desk when he heard whispering coming from his father. He turned with an arched eyebrow, but Larten had his back to him. When he heard his father chuckle, he walked around and peered at what his father was holding.

In his father's hand was a cage. The cage itself was nothing special. The rods were rusted and old. It was what was inside that made Darren gasp.

Larten looked over at Darren's awe-struck expression and smiled. "Darren," he said, "this is Madame Octa."

Darren stared, wide-eyed, at the spider in front of him. "She's gorgeous," he heard himself whisper, and Larten laughed.

Larten set the crate down on top of his coffin. He opened the cage door and the spider inside stirred and crept slowly toward the opening. Larten let out a low whistle and she froze. Larten stuck his hand in front of the crate and whistled again. Madame Octa crawled into his hand and up his arm until she got to his shoulder, where she settled.

Darren was staring, awestruck, and Larten smirked. Darren leaned in and stepped closer to look at her.

"I've never seen anything like her before," he said softly. Growing up, Seba sometimes took Darren low into the tunnels to play with the mountain spiders, but those were smaller and grey. This spider was the size of his palm and was as eccentrically colored as an exotic bird.

"I got her many years ago," Larten explained. "I performed with her here until I left for Vampire Mountain."

"So you could become quartermaster?" Darren asked, looking away from Madame Octa for the first time to meet his father's eyes.

"Well," Larten started. He raised his hand to his shoulder so Madame Octa could climb into his palm. "I did not know I would become quartermaster when I left. If I had known I would be gone that long I probably would have taken her with me."

Madame Octa crawled across Larten's palm and he lifted his other hand to catch her.

Darren hesitated. "Wait, how do you perform with a spider? Did you train her?"

Larten smiled. "Madame Octa is not trained. I can communicate with her through my thoughts."

"Like vampires?" Darren asked.

"Sort of," Larten replied. "It is not as strong of a connection as a vampire has to another vampire, but I can ask her to do certain, smaller things, and she listens."

Darren looked at Madame Octa, still crawling all over Larten's hands. "Can I see?"

Larten returned Madame Octa to her cage. "Not tonight," he said, closing her cage door. "We should finish getting settled and speak with Lucas about a plan."

Darren and Larten made their way through camp towards Lucas' tent. They passed no one along the way, which Darren found odd before he remembered that there was a show tonight, so everyone was getting ready to perform.

When they got there, Lucas was alone in the tent. They sat down and began to discuss what their next plan of action should be.

"You won't be able to go home," Darren was saying to Lucas, "but I don't want the vampire hunters finding you if you start over somewhere else."

"It is hard to tell how far the knowledge of your friendship to vampires goes," Larten said. "It is unlikely that every vampire hunter in the world works with one another. I would guess that they have smaller groups based on region. However, we cannot be certain that they do not interact with each other at all."

"That's a lot of guessing," Lucas commented.

Darren ran a hand through his hair. "Right, so, should we just go and try to find Steve now while Lucas stays here at the Cirque? Or should we go back to Lucas' apartment and face those vampire hunters and try to get some answers?"

Larten thought a moment. "I think the best course of action would be to find out as much information about how modern vampire hunters organize themselves before facing them directly and drawing attention to ourselves," he finally said. "We need to know who we are up against."

"Like how they get their information on vampires?" Darren asked.

Larten nodded.

"You know," Lucas said, "My father might be able to help with that. He told me once that he's encountered vampire hunters a few times before. He might know something."

"The princes said that you came from family of vampire allies," Larten said, "but I never asked who they were exactly. Who is your father, and how does he know about vampires?"

Lucas answered, "Well, I don't know the whole story, but from my understanding, it started with my grandfather. He met a vampire during world war 2 and he stayed friends with him after the war because he could get them vials of blood from people at his funeral home. That vampire knew other vampires and he started helping a few of them. My father went into the family business and did the same thing."

Larten was looking at Lucas, shocked, then he furrowed his eyebrows and asked, "Lucas, what is your last name?"

"Ovo," Lucas said, shifted at how intensely Larten was looking at him.

Understanding dawned on Larten's face and he laughed. "Your father is Jimmy Ovo?"

Lucas raised his eyebrows. "Yeah," he said, shocked. "I mean, not many people call him Jimmy anymore, just James, but yeah."

"I have not seen Jimmy in years," Larten said, "I knew his father too."

"You do?" Darren exclaimed, puzzled. What were the odds?

"Were you the vampire who met my grandfather during world war 2?" Lucas asked.

Darren's mouth hanging open while Larten responded, "No, that was Kurda. Your grandfather was one of the people Kurda smuggled out of concentration camps. I met him when he and Kurda were helping the injured during the war."

"Kurda saved people from concentration camps?" Darren reiterated, still shocked.

Larten nodded. "I met his son," Larten looked at Lucas, "your father, when he was a young boy. I remember he said he planned on carrying on the family business as an undertaker. And I met him again, decades later, in New York shortly after his father passed away, and I was one of the vampires he did those favors for, but I never knew he had children."

"That's crazy," Lucas said. "I actually didn't know some of that. Vampires have always been something that Dad told us to be mindful about, but never fear. He always said that there were not monsters like people thought and we should help if one approached us for it. That's something Mya always took more seriously than I did."

Lucas looked down. "Honestly, there were times I didn't even believe him when he said vampires were real, but Mya loved Dad's stories, and she was so passionate about there needing to be more human allies for vampires."

It was silent for a moment. Darren was looking down at his hands, remembering Mya, and Larten was staring off to the side, thinking. Finally, Larten nodded, cleared his throat, and announced, "I would like to pay a visit to Jimmy. He very well might know something that could help us."