No Need To Be Human

Night.

Of all the times she hated walking the fairgrounds it was at night. After the lights of the midway had gone out, the otherwise fun structures had always seemed to hold dark secrets. Dia Banks had grown up in the circus since she was 8, at that time she was a pick pocket and took money to her foster parents. Now she worked as a fire dancer, most men loving how she seemed to mix her beauty with a slight twinge of danger.

But night was not a time when her job was her friend. She had been attacked by more than one creep who thought they could have their way with her. When you toured the south, sometimes the drunk rednecks seemed to think that she owed them something. She didn't. And when she fed on them, the faces they made while contorting with screams were enough to keep her happy.

The harvest moon beat down on her as she made her way back to her caravan, hoping that she could get home before one of the other carney's put her son to bed. She hadn't gotten to see him all day and she wanted to. It was her son Louis that kept her going. As she walked, however, she swore she could feel someone's eyes on her.

Hunger was one of the few things that caused Cody to come out from his usual place among the animals that were used for preformances in the circus. He'd been waiting all day to go out to feed, not daring to go out during the day. Even as night fell, he'd still been cautious as he'd gone out, always paranoid that a Hunter or some other enemy of his kind would be waiting for him.

He'd been turned into a Vampire a few years back before he joined the circus, having been turned by a man he'd fallen for, though he hadn't even believed Vampires had existed until then. He didn't mind being one so much besides the fact that like his Sire, the man who'd turned him, he was a Malkavian. It caused him to often end up paranoid about things, often for no real reason.

Sitting in a tree that gave him a decent view of the fairgrounds, Cody had sat watching and waiting for someone to feed off, grinning when he saw a lone woman. If he actually spent more time with the actual members of the circus and not the animals, he'd know better than to go after her; but he didn't. Silently, Cody crept down from his perch in the tree and down onto the roof of one of the empty booths instead, following the woman.

Dia's eyes scanned the rest of the fairway before she hurried with her pace. Something wasn't right but if she could make it all the way to her trailer at the far end of the grounds she would be alright. Most supernatural creatures couldn't come inside a home unless invited, though she still wondered how her boyfriend's ghost had ended up inside her trailer one day when she came home from the circus. She guessed her four year old was getting more power than she thought he had.

It was her fault he was dead and she knew that. He had bitten her had enough during one of their bouts of passion that he had drawn a few droplets of blood and had become enthralled. It scared her, knowing someone wanted to be that close to her, so she had told him to go jump off a bridge. He had. Next thing she knew the cops were investigating her and Chicago was no longer a safe place for her or her son.

She had come back to the one place she knew was safe for her, the place that she knew would keep her warm and provide a life for her boy. Though, she would never make him pick pocket like she did when she was a child. It was demeaning enough to be an incubus, succubus in her case.

Come on Dia she thought to herself, whatever's watching you is just gonna keep on watching you til you get to your trailer.

Cody kept an eye on his prey as he followed her across the roofs, keeping low like an animal would while hunting, making as little noise as possible. Being able to communicate with animals, he'd quickly realised after discovering the ability, came in handy. He'd learnt how to hunt better thanks to them, having barely seen his Sire since being turned, Cody's father having sent him away when the change had made him ...unstable.

He sensed his prey was nervous, seeing her start to hurry, frowning when he realised he'd miss his chance to feed if he didn't do it now. Carefully shifting his weight, avoiding making too much noise, Cody got ready to attack. He watched for a few more seconds until the woman passed in front of another booth before quickly jumping down and pinning her against it. Without stopping to think, Cody leaned close, sinking his fangs into her neck.

Instead of letting out a scream like a scared little girl, Dia's succubi instincts kicked in, wrapping a leg around Cody's waist and letting him feed. She hated the fact that because of what she was, it wasn't hard at all to make her excited. Her eyes went from the brown they were to an electric blue as he fed, her own body feeding off of the energy. Then she remembered what would happen if he drank her blood. Weakly she pushed at his shoulders, trying to make her assailent stop. She only managed to get out one word over and over again:

"Succubi..."

Cody closed his eyes as he started to feed, enjoying the taste of the blood after having gone longer than he probably should have without feeding and leaned closer when he felt the leg around his waist. Her response distracted Cody, making him take longer than it should have to realise something was wrong, only realising when she pushed at his shoulders; repeating that same word.

Though he didn't actually know what her being a Succubi meant, Cody quickly stopped feeding, hissing as he pulled away. He stumbled and fell backwards, making a frightened sound when he started feeling different, clueless about what feeding on the Succubi blood had caused.

"What have you done to me?!" He asked, panicking when he found himself unable to take his eyes off her.

"Didn't mean..." Dia softly said, bringing her hands up to cover her mouth in fear. "It's...it's enthrallment...when...when certain succubi or incubi are fed on the person or thing that fed on them becomes entranced by the person. I...I didn't mean to..."

She stood, shaking in her boots because she knew what this meant. The vampire that just fed on her would become more and more obsessed with her, would want to know wherever she was going and whatever she was doing. She didn't like it with Colt and chances are she wouldn't like it with some crazed vamp. She looked at him, having only seen him around the circus when she had been talking with her friend Nolee. He stayed by himself, over by the animals often talking to them.

"Your...your that Rhodes boy..."

Cody meant to glare at her, part of him still believing she'd done this to him on purpose, but couldn't; staring up at her with an almost child-like, scared look instead as he listened. He slowly reached a hand up to his mouth, wiping the blood away as if it would help. He was too busy panicking and trying in vain to fight the effect that he took a few seconds to realise she'd asked him something.

Cody opened his mouth to speak, but found himself speechless, nodding silently instead. He looked up at the roof of the game he had jumped from earlier, hearing the sound of a bird, frowning at the tone of its call.

When he didn't answer, Dia slid with her back against the wall into a sitting position. Her neck needed healing, that much she knew, but she also knew that she didn't want to feed from him. She just met him, that was asking to much even if he was enthralled to her. Tears filled her eyes and she shook her head, "I'm...I'm so sorry...so sorry..."

She glanced up at the bird and then back at him. There were rumors that he talked to his animals and she softly asked, "What did he say?"

Though he heard her apology, Cody didn't respond to it, too busy looking up at the bird. Being able to communicate with animals was one of the reasons his father had got scared and sent him away, having seen him talking to his dog a few times.

Hearing her ask about the bird, Cody finally looked back at the Sucubus to answer her.
"She sensed I was scared..." He said as the bird flew down, landing on his shoulder. "She thinks you're a threat to me..."

He slowly reached a hand up to the bird, gently petting the dark feathers on her head, keeping his eyes on Dia.

"I don't hurt people...not on purpose," Dia said softly as she looked at the bird. It was very intimidating but at the same time very beautiful. "Can you tell her I would never purposefully hurt you? I don't want her to hate me."

Cody nodded, doing as she asked without a second thought to it, turning to look at the bird on his shoulder, whispering quietly to her. He smiled when the bird settled before suddenly frowning, realising how he'd quickly done as Dia had asked, stopping himself from making a nervous sound like he'd meant to; not wanting to worry the bird again.

"Do you understand what enthrallment means yet?" Dia asked softly, "This isn't a good thing Cody and it's not something I meant to happen. The last thing I want is someone following me around and doting after me..."

Dia stood shakily and frowned, "But we'll deal with this in the morning. I have to get home to my son. Do you have a caravan to sleep in?"

Cody gave a small nod in response to the first question, frowning still. He didn't want this either, or at least he didn't think he did; it was hard to tell thanks to the enthrallment. At her second question, Cody rolled his eyes.

"Of course I have somewhere to stay, though I rarely use it at night." He said, jumping back up to the roof he'd come from, the bird following him. He smiled and held an arm out for the bird to perch on, petting it again before slowly turning and looking down at Dia.

Dia looked up at him. She couldn't deny that he was handsome. Maybe it had something to do with his Malkavian side. Her friends had always joked that every man she fell for was crazy. He was definitly not all there. "Um...meet me over at the dunk tank in the morning? We'll meet up with my friend Jacen...he's like me and maybe he'll know what to do..."

"Morning?" Cody said, pulling a face. "Only if it's still dark out."

Even if it wasn't as deadly as people believed the sun was to Vampires, he was still paranoid that they might be right and avoided going out for that reason if it was sunny; usually staying in his caravan or where some of the animals slept when it was too bright for his liking.

"Wait...there's more than one of you here?" He asked, raising an eyebrow, showing how little attention he paid to others.

"One," Dia nodded, "his name's Jacen. He has a brother named Artemis whose a member of the unseelie court and a pookah. I'm surprised you don't know the Westmore's seeing as how Artie's husband Alex and their son are kitsune's."

She took a deep breath and looked towards her cabin, "Look, if you promise to be quiet you can come on over and we can talk..."

"I know the kitsune ...in their fox forms at least," Cody shrugged. "I don't really talk to them any other time."

The main reason he didn't talk to other people, though he wouldn't admit it, is because he was afraid that if they saw what he was like, they'd do what his father had done and reject him because they thought he was strange or scary.

Cody followed her gaze, tilting his head slightly to one side as he listened, considering it.

"But I want you to decide for yourself," Dia replied, "even if you are enthralled to me now...well...I don't want it to change who you are. Only person whose waiting for me in my caravan is my son. Maybe a ghost."

She sighed, hoping that Colt wasn't there. She had been through enough tonight.

Cody went to respond, stopping when she mentioned a son, quickly shaking his head.
"I can't..." He said, not wanting to accidentally end up hurting a child. "I...I need to finish feeding..."

He backed away slightly, despite being up on the roof and not near the child, though he paused when he realised what else Dia had said.

"Ghost?" Cody asked. "What ghost?"

Dia's eyes went wide and she bolted, not wanting to explain it. She knew he would follow, hell, he would probably catch her and demand to know. She just hated to have to explain it. Deep down, it scared her to know that he was enthralled.

Cody stood there, looking confused as she bolted, watching her. He went to turn and leave, but stopped, sighing in frustration when he realised he couldn't, trying to fight it for a few seconds before turning back to chase after Dia.

He quickly followed across the roofs of the stalls, jumping down in front of Dia, blocking her path.

Dia sighed and looked at him, "You really wanna know why I'm like this? The ghost who currently haunts me was once entrhalled to me. At first we thought it was great. It couldn't be any better. And then we started to get fed up with each other. So I told him to go jump off a bridge. And he did."

She shook her head, tears still in her eyes, "I hurt him, the only person who ever gave a real damn about me. I don't want anyone else to end up hurt..."

Hearing what had happened, Cody looked terrified, backing away from her. "Wh-What...?" He said, whimpering. "He...?"

Cody stared at her, his eyes wide. He wanted to run, but couldn't even make himself look away from her, dropping to his knees instead. Eventually he managed to put his head in his hands, muttering to himself as he panicked.

"Like I said, tomorrow we'll talk to Jacen, he's probably so drunk right now he doesn't know his name," Dia replied softly, forcing herself to look anywhere but Cody. Her wound was still bleeding and she knew she needed to feed but she hated it so much that she would get home and bandage it. Let it heal like a normal would.