"And stay down!" I said to the middle-aged man as he squirmed beneath my boot. "Boys, take him away."

The goblins shuffled and gripped the man by his shoulders. 

"No... please..." He whispered, spewing blood out of his mouth as he talked. 

"Vanessa," I heard a voice behind me. 

"What?" I spat as I turned around.

It was Dracula. 

"Vanessa, what did this man do to deserve this beating you have given him?"

He was ancient. Almost twenty-five hundred years old. His skin was paper thin, and the color of snow. His hair was slicked back, and was black as soot from a fire. 

"He pushed me against a wall. He tried to beat me," I smirked. "Tried to."

"Vanessa, Vanessa, Vanessa." He muttered. "One more mess-up and I will have you beheaded, and burned."

Fear bubbled up inside me. Once you're burned, you're gone. 

"But I didn't do anything..." 

"You're giving me a bad reputation! Vanessa, you're practically my daughter. I treat you like my daughter, and you treat me like your father. Don't change that. You're almost a thousand years old. You've seen how bad the world is now, and if one person goes missing, it's more alerting than back then. You can't just destroy someone for shoving you up against a wall. You should know better."

"Okay, it won't happen again," I hung my head, and my wavy red hair fell around me.

"It better not," He said, as he waved the goblins over. They took his long black and red cape off of him, and he stood there in the moonlight. He started to change, and, in the form of a vampire bat, took off to his mansion.

I groaned, and sat down. 

I collapsed against a wall, my black leather outfit not letting me move much more than a few feet over the ground. "Sometimes I wish I'd never been turned into a vampire..." I whispered, and wedged my head between my head. I wanted to cry. I couldn't. 

"Careful what you wish for!" I heard a tiny squeaky voice echo into my ear. I looked up, and there, a blue fairy was hovering, just a few inches from my face. 

"Who are you?" I asked, curious. 

"I am Herold, a wishing fairy."

"But you're a guy...?" I said, unsure. 

He sighed. "Yes I am. Why does everyone say that?" The tiny being crossed his arms. "But anyway, I grant wishes when I hear them. Mortals can't see me."

"And I can?" 

"You're a vampire. Of course you can, you aren't mortal." He giggled. "And I'm supposed to grant your wish, but that's a pretty big wish. Are your sure you want to make that wish?"

"Of course!" I said quite sternly. "Dracula's always chewing me out for everything I do. It really tears me a part inside, because he's practically my father. Ever since I was a baby." I said. Harold looked at me weird. "He found me on the side of the street and took me in. He wanted a family, and got one. Dracula turned me into a vampire when I was sixteen, and he taught me everything I needed to know about having to be a vampire. But he's gotten more strict over the years because he's afraid I'll get caught, or give him a bad reputation or something like that. It's ridiculous. And he's the only thing I'm scared of in the world! Ugh!

"You know, I learned how to kill from him, and I hate it! Every time I do, it sends a bad feeling to the pit of my stomach. But I can't stop! It's the frenzy, and I hate it!

"I really do wish that I had never been turned into a vampire!" 

"If you insist, I shall grant it..." Herold sighed. 

"I do insist! I really do! I wish you'd come by sooner, because then I could have it granted sooner!"

With one more sigh, Herold said, "Okay," and he granted my wish. A flash of blue light swept over me, and I woke up in a large forest. I could hear carnival music playing in the background. I looked down at my clothes. I had on a raggedy dress that was peach, and navy blue. The colors were very faded, and I could feel bloomers cutting off my circulation in my legs under the dress. I looked at my feet, and saw I wasn't wearing any shoes. My red hair was pulled back in braids, and the world seemed dull. 

I started walking toward the music, and saw a large carnival in front of me. 

"Rachelle! There you are!" 

I turned to where the voice was coming from. A fat lady was rushing toward me, and hugged me tight. She crushed my lungs, and I couldn't breathe. She put me down, and was panting. 

"Rachelle, I looked everywhere for you!" She said, breathlessly. "Where in Sam's Hill were you?" 

"Well... uh, I was... um..." I studdered, not knowing where I actually was. 

"We have no time!" She gripped my arm, and rushed me along with her down to the carnival site. "The show starts in thirty minutes. Goodness, gracious, you're all dirty! Oh, he's not going to be happy, not at all."

"Who?" I asked.

"Who?! The ring leader! You should know him, Rachelle! He raised you in the carnival!" She laughed over her shoulder as she continued pulling me to the carnival. 

"I live in a carnival?!" I shouted at the large woman. 

"Why, yes. Oh, dear, did you catch amnesia or something?" She said, disappointed. "Don't let the ring leader know, or he will put you on the road again."

"Al-alright...?" I said partially scared.

We entred the entrance to the carnival, and a man greeted us. 

"Hilda, you found her!" He said. "Now, I shall get the show ready for guests! And if you try to run away again, Rachelle, the ring leader--" He patted his chest, "--me, shall have your head cut off." He smirked. "Run along, you must get ready."

Hilda dragged me to a small white tent, draped with colored rope and nets. It looked like something a gypsy would camp out in. 

'Come dear, we must get you ready.'

'Um, Hilda?' I started to ask 

'Yes, Rachelle?' She turned to me from the vanity she was scrounging for makeup and jewelry on. 

'What am I doing here?' 

She looked at me with pity. 'Oh, my, you don't remember do you?' 

I nodded my head. 'You must've caught amnesia. Oh, dear. Alright. Rachelle, the Ring Leader found you when you were young, and he took you in. He found you were exceptionally flexible when you turned seven. So he added you to his act. Ever since then, you've been known as Elastica as your stage name. You're very popular with the youngsters.' she smiled wide at me. 

'But my name isn't Rachelle. It's Vanessa.' 

The fat woman burst out laughing. 'Honey, you have it bad! Vanessa? Ha! How absurd! Now we must get you ready.' 

She had me sit on a stool that spun a full three hundred and sixty degrees that was topped with a red velvet cushion. Hilda slapped on makeup onto me and combed my hair so big it felt like I had a poodle on my scalp. My red hair looked like a circular bobbing flame. Then she crushed my ribs in a corset and a blue top. She stuck me in a gigantic Tu-Tu. It stuck out so far I couldn't put my arms down all the way. 

'How am I supposed to do acrobatics with this dress?' I asked breathlessly. 

'No idea, sweetie. But you do! And... Done!' 

I looked hideous. 

'Uh...' I gaped in shock. 

'Well, I've got to go get ready, my dear.' she said happily, and bounced off, with her rolls of fat jiggling behind her. 

I stared into the cracked and dirty mirror in horror. 

'Ohh! Honey, you need to fix that.' A tall, slender man strolled into the tent. He had circular glasses and a long striped outfit on. 'You don't want the crowd seeing you like this.' he told me. He walked into the tent a little more. 'I heard you lost your memory. The fat lady, Hilda, is such a gossiper, and the fattest lady in the world. She means well. I am Bernard. The skinniest man in the world. Good luck fixing Hilda's mistakes.' he chuckled and stepped out. 

'Good luck fixing Hilda's mistakes,' I said, mocking Bernard. 'Whatever. Who does he think he is? Telling me what to do. I don't even know whats going on! Ugh. People irritate me.' I said quietly as I hit the vanity. The items on top of it shook. 

I tore off the beautiful blue top and ripped off the corset. It felt so good to breathe again! I took off the skirt, only revealing my bloomers and my under shirt. I walked over to the closet and pulled out a blue top, that almost looked like Princess Jasmine's from Aladin, and some blue pants that looked like they belonged to a genie. Slipping those on, I saw a pair of gold slippers that were my size. I put those on and went over to the vanity. I shuttered. Oh the horror of my face. I picked out a brush and started to brush my tangled hair. I pulled it back, and poof it up in the front. I fish-tailed the top half of the tail of the pony tail and tied it at the end. I looked around for a cloth to clean my face on. Thats when I saw a tear in the tent opening. 

I walked over to it, and tried to rip it. 

It wasn't ripping. 

'Gosh, this mortal body is so weak!' I said to myself as I yanked again. 

Finally I got it to tear, and the tent collapsed around me. All I saw was white darkness enshroud me. I eased my way out slowly, and saw people just staring at me as I came out of the fallen tent. 

'Move along!' I shouted in annoyance. 'Nothing to see here!' 

'FIVE MINUTES TILL SHOW TIME!' I heard the announcer shout. 

'Well?! Go on, get going!' I yelled at the random personnels that were gaping. 

The people started moving on their ways and I turned around to the tent, completely collapsed and sighed. 

'Really?' I said aloud. 

I had trouble ripping a piece of the white tent off once again, but I'm glad I knew nothing would tip over again. 

I wiped most of the makeup off that I could get. 

A tiny man grabbed my ankle and started to pull. 

'We gotta go!' he shouted at me.

I ran into the back of the enormous red and yellow striped tent and saw they were already starting.

I could hear the crowd roaring inside the thick layer of sheets. 

'WELCOME, LADIES AND GENTLE MEN, TO THE FREAK SHOW!' I could hear the Ring Leader yell at the quiet, yet vast, audience. 

He called out the 'Freaks' (what they called themselves) one by one, and sometimes in pairs and performed like no other. 

I knew I was going to have to come up with something quick. I was supposed to be a flexible acrobat. Well, I've always been flexible, it helped me with my vampireism. And I don't know if I'm still as agile as I was used to when Dracula was still my father. 

I stood back stage, tensing up. There was only two in line left--a girl with the tail of a monkey, and me. 

'Rachelle! Why aren't you stretching? You always stretch before a show! We're on next!' 

'What?!' I asked her, shocked.

'Yes! Hurry! Stretch!'

I started to stretch everything I could. It felt so good on my body, and strange. My muscles were always tense, but flexible and ready before all of this. The Vampire-to-human thing.

'Do you remember the routine at all?'

I gulped. 'Of course!' I felt sweat drip down my forehead. 

'No you don't! Hilda said that you caught amnesia! You don't remember! Oh, God! What are we going to do?!" Harper's tail was going haywire as she spoke. 

'Er, we'll figure something out!' I said quickly. 

'But if you mess up, the Ring Leader will have your head!' She gasped. 'My head!' She went pale. 'Oh, no, no, no, no, no! I need my head! I still have a life a head of me! If I ever get out of here... No! We have to do something or else--Oh! I don't wanna die!' She cried to me.

'No! Everything's going to be fine! I'm not afraid of the crowd or even the Ring Leader. I'll come up with something, I promise.'

'But--'

'Just trust me!' I said as I gripped her by the shoulders. 

'AND NOW, LADIES AND GENTLE MEN, WHAT YOU HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR... HARPER AND RACHELLE!'

I felt my heart skip a thousand times a minute when I realized Rachelle was my name now. That was also a weird feeling, for my heart never beat and was always still, and never skipped like it was just then. 

I felt my mouth go dry as I stepped out into the ring. I felt sweat gather in my palms and tried to make me slip off of the ladder I started to climb for the -- tight rope. I could feel adrenaline speed through my body like cars on a highway, and I felt my stomach do backflips in my body. My heart raced, and the music started to play. I looked down, and saw an orchestra of people playing instruments loud enough for both Harper and me to hear. I got nautious, and looked over at the other end of the rope. Harper was already strutting across to me. 

I took a step, and felt my body lose it's balance.