“I could really use help getting to know everything about the circus,” I say to him as he takes a seat.
“Well, I’m the dragon for you,” he chirps. “We’ve been with the circus for a while now. We just change the act every time we do a new go around. You should see the different things we juggle and set fire to. After we have warmed the audience up, it's time to cool them down, literally. The set changes, and it starts to snow in the dome.”
“Yes,” says William, taking over, “now as ringmaster, you also take a role in this act and become the ‘lion tamer.’”
Dylan laughs. “Lion tamer? Really? That’s what you’re going to compare them to? Yes, if a lion looked like a saber-toothed tiger and could shoot lightning from its mouth and tail.”
William shoots Dylan a dirty look. “We call them ice tigers, and yes, they are similar to saber-toothed tigers. The audience thinks they’re animatronics, an assumption we wholeheartedly endorse, since so many countries don’t allow the use of animals in circuses any more. If PETA or one of those associations come looking, we’ve got some animatronics in the equipment area to stop them from snooping too much. In reality, they are a species of aliens that shifts, similar to the shifters from Fluxx, but they are from the planet Iceeen. They have a humanoid-ish form and their animal form. They live in matriarchal family groups, and there are a lot more males born than females, so a female will often mate with more than one. The males are very protective, not sure why, as their females are vicious beasts. The group we have performing with us is not a family group. They are young adults doing some traveling, seeing the galaxy before they go back to Iceeen, form family groups, and settle down. Once they mate, they don’t tend to leave the planet. You need their respect, or they will not perform for you. Here come two of them now.” He raises an eyebrow then growls at me under his breath, “Be nice.”
I scowl at him, not sure why he would think I would be anything other than nice, responsible, and totally capable of taking over the circus. Sure, my mouth dropped open a little bit when I saw the other guys. And, okay, I might have hit someone in the ass with a lightning bolt. And if aliens believed in sexual harassment—dothey believe in sexual harassment?—I might have already harassed their doctor. Plus, there is the matter of falling asleep instead of actually doing the research they asked me to do.Okay, you know what, maybe this does make a tiny bit more sense.
Walking toward us are two beings, both covered in a fine sheen of fur that looks similar to a mink blanket. They vary in color; the male-looking one is dark aqua, the color becoming an ombre as it travels down his body, ending in a snowy white on the lower part of his legs. He has black markings across his shoulders, chest, and arms, like a tiger, but they’re not stripes. These almost look like tattoos. The male has a broad chest and well-defined arms. His torso tapers down into his waist, where the fur stops, and there is a naked patch across the front of his body from just above his nipples to as far as his groin. There looks to be plenty of muscle definition. He has a loin cloth covering where his genitals are. Damn! He’s stunning, his beauty undimmed by the very unwelcoming frown that’s currently on his face.
The female is lighter all over, her entire body a very pale blue, and she has a mane of black long hair running down her back. She has defined breasts, with a slender, toned body leading down into a lean backside and legs. She’s covered by a toga-style dress, so I can’t see if she has hairy titties. God, I’m bad. I’msogoing to get myself into trouble.
Both are currently in humanoid-shaped bodies. Their faces have angular high cheekbones, and they have cat ears on top of their head that twitch, likely following the sounds in the room. Their eyes are feline in shape and pupil, and they have fangs sticking out over their bottom lips. Not huge saber-tooth fangs, these look more like vampire fangs.
I can see that both have tails that are moving back and forth in agitation. I’ve probably been staring for too long, but at least I haven’t blurted out any stupid questions. This could totally be going much worse than it is right now.
They reach the table, and Dylan stands up, holding his hand out to the male. “Maxsim, man, good to see you.” He turns to the woman and air kisses her on the cheek. “Natalia, beautiful as always.” He turns, gesturing to me. “This is Lila, as you probably heard.”
Neither look impressed to see me, and I can hear a quiet growling sound as I say, “So happy to meet you. I hear we are going to be in an act together.”
Maxsim crosses his arms and just continues to stare at me. Natalia looks me up and down, the growling stops, and she sneers at me with what sounds similar to a Russian accent but is much growlier—probably due to the teeth. “That remains to be seen.” She turns to William, dismissing me. “We will not work with thisbistich.” The unfamiliar word sounds more like a sneeze than anything else, but the tone she’s using is speaking perfectly clearly. “You insult us if you think that she, a human, can handle us.” Right, this must have been why he warned me to be nice. Bitch has attitude.
She turns to Maxsim and lets out a barrage of words in another language, arms flying, tail twitching. He listens and responds in the same language before she turns to me and growls, exposing those fangs, then storms off. I can see a burnt patch of fur just at the bottom of her dress. I snort in amusement as I realize just who got hit by my stray lightning bolt.
Maxsim turns to William and says, in a voice just as heavily accented, “I am sorry.”
No-nonsense William is immediately back as he straightens his spine and stares the tigerman in the eye. “Deal with it. Fix it, Maxsim, or you are all out. I can and will find another act. Lila is taking over. Last time we were on Iceeen, the Sensee matriarch mentioned that some of her children would like the opportunity to travel, so I’ve no worries about being able to replace you.” Maxsim nods, throws a scowl in my direction, and follows Natalia. I appreciate the support, but I really don’t know how that’s going to make them respect me.
“Whoa,” I say, leaning back in my chair. “Is everyone so intense?” Not waiting for an answer, I direct my next comment to Dylan. “And what’s with all the beautiful creatures? Seriously, when the grandpas told me aliens, I was thinking slimy little green men, but that was definitelynota little green man. You could bounce a quarter off of his ass. Even your friend with all the tentacles was smoking hot, and you, you’re sex on legs. How is a girl supposed to cope with all of this sexiness around?” I wave in the direction Maxsim had gone, realizing that Dylan's eyes are on said ass.
“Honey, you are not wrong. That is one fine specimen of male tiger, but most of them are.” He turns back to me and laughs at the way I’m furiously fanning my face. Hey, you have to find the silver linings. Right now, I’ve struck out on a first impression with at least one out of two acts, so I’ll take the positive where I can.
“I’m not sure I can cope with much more. Not only is all of this so unexpected, but I can feel everyone's eyes on me. Like I’m on display and they’re waiting for me to freak out or something. I know that’s what Caspian had hoped for. People have been watching all that’s been going on and seeing all my reactions. I haven’t been popular so far.” All of this spews out of my mouth in a rush, and the grandpas exchange a glance. John and William are frowning at their employees, but Eric just stands up and stretches.
“Let’s call it a night.”
“But she hasn’t met everyone yet,” John complains.
Eric turns to him and frowns, gesturing to me. “Look at her, she’s exhausted and overwhelmed. She can sit and watch the show tomorrow night to get a feel for it.”
“I agree,” says William, “but we do have that one thing she needs to know.”
“That’s my cue to leave,” says Dylan, getting up. “Lila, it was lovely meeting you. I’ll see you tomorrow.” He grabs my hand, places a kiss on it, and then walks away.
“So, what was so important that you had to chase him away?” I grumble to the grandpas.
"Not here,” says William, glancing at Phillip and Fiona, the two failing in their attempt to look like they’re not hanging on every word. “Let’s walk you back to your room.”
* * *
Back in my room, the grandpas crowd in and shut the door. They all have a serious look on their faces, and William takes the lead. He comes across as the hardass of the group, but not one of them stands out as ‘the leader.’ They seem content with being on equal footing with one another, so it looks like they almost take turns with who’s in charge of what.
“Although we have shared much of what the circus does, there is one thing we haven’t shared yet. The most important and most secret thing the Galaxy Circus does is guard the Orb of Power.” Well, okay then, that sounds like something out of a movie, but I‘m coming to realize my life is much more amazing than a movie could ever be.Or at least a lot crazier.
“The Orb of Power was created by the Unas, a now extinct race, as a clean source of energy that could power planets across the galaxy, but it was taken and harnessed in a more destructive way by a race hellbent on total galaxy domination. The Aaz’ax are a brutal and violent race, or at least their leaders were, and they needed to be stopped. The Unas decided that the bad far outweighed the good and wanted to destroy it and the knowledge. But when they realized destroying the orb would cause millions of worlds to collapse in on themselves, they found a way to hide that object away, never to see the light of day again. By then, the Unas were all but extinct, wiped out by the Aaz’ax, but the Aaz’ax weren’t doing so well themselves. Their women had been infected by a mystery virus. Having no women to create mate bonds with meant no children were being born, so their race started to wither too. The war that they had waged against one another had done nothing but bring them both to the brink of species annihilation.”
