Stardust: Tales from Cirque Macabre

by Kristen Strassel

  Stardust

  Kristen Strassel

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Afterword

  The Fire Dancer

  Other Books By Kristen Strassel

  All rights reserved.

  This is a work of fiction. Likenesses to any people, living or dead, is purely coincidental. This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be resold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please do so through your retailer’s “lend” function. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return it and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author. To obtain permission to excerpt portions of the text, please contact the author at kristen@kristenstrassel.com

  Stardust, Kristen Strassel (Cirque Macabre #0) Copyright 2017

  Created with Vellum

  Stardust

  Rainey must cast a spell to destroy vampires, but her girlfriend’s been offered the opportunity of a lifetime—starring in a vampire show.

  Rainey’s always considered her powers a curse. She casts spells and sees the future—most of it anyway. Ever since she moved to Las Vegas, shadowy figures have hidden in her visions, and she’s worried what she can’t see will harm her girlfriend, Holly.

  When Rainey is asked to cast a spell to destroy vampires, she realizes they’re the blacked-out figures from her visions. But Holly’s been given the opportunity of a lifetime, starring in a show on the Strip with a vampire band. Rainey must figure out what will hurt Holly more—casting the spell or handing her over to the vampires.

  1

  Holly got all the cool powers. Depending on who she talked to, she’d embrace her powers as a blessing, or scream to Hell that they were a curse. She was more than my best friend, we were destined to be together, our souls and pasts and futures singular… so I was pretty biased toward to blessing column. Holly traveled through time with the ease and grace of a ballerina and when she came back to me, flames dripped from her fingers like a warm summer rain. It was Holly’s world, and we were simply living in it. But her greatest power was that she always made me feel like I was the center of the universe.

  And for that reason, I’d do anything for her.

  I had powers, too. At least, that’s what I called them. Lucille, the woman who’d cared for Holly and I since we were children, tried to convince me I was crazy. I was an adult now, but the stigma of her claim would never fade. I heard voices, as plain as Holly smoothing my hair behind my ear and whispering to me. As the messages became clearer, I began to See them. But I doubted every single one of them, wondering if my eyes lied to me.

  “You have an overactive imagination,” Lucille insisted any time I tried to warn her of what I Saw in my vision. “Learn to mind your own business. We won’t change our plans because you’re afraid. This move is best for all of us.”

  If I had a tail, it would’ve been between my legs as I retreated my bedroom.

  The messages were coming fast and furious ever since Lucille announced we’d be moving from Santa Fe to Las Vegas. They involved fire and loss, but since they were all about the future, I had trouble putting what I saw into words in a way that made sense to anyone else. It took me a long time to understand that other people solely lived in the present.

  How boring.

  “She’s an idiot.” Holly didn’t give a crap about pleasing Lucille, while I did everything I could to get her approval. We both managed to piss her off. “Your Sight is a gift. Now tell me what will happen when we get to Las Vegas.”

  She lay on her stomach on our bed, chin in hands, her blazing red hair trailing over the edge of the mattress. She’d kicked her bare feet in the air, and her gold eyes sparkled like topaz. Gazing into them had the same effect as holding the stone in my hand. Holly calmed me and gave me center. And if my visions were right, she was about to become a star.

  If it didn’t kill her first.

  The visions weren’t reliable. I had to interpret what I saw, which meant I had to take a side. If the future was as bad as I feared, I was doing her a service. She could take steps to avoid disaster. But if I was wrong, I risked looking jealous and petty. Holly’s true beauty was in her happiness and success, I would never stand in the way of it.

  “Something’s different this time.” It was the best way to start. I settled on the floor with my legs crossed in front of Holly, lost in her gaze. She’d probably think I was having another vision, and she waited for me continue, but something else was happening altogether.

  My feelings for her were changing. Intensifying, like the fire that burned inside her. I wanted to reach out and touch her, to see if I’d get burned. I didn’t know how to tell her that, either. So for tonight, I’d stick to answering her question.

  “There are massive black spots in my visions. That’s never happened before. The visions are often confusing, but this time, it’s like things have been scribbled out. Whoever’s sending the message won’t show me everything.”

  Holly frowned as she considered that. “Tell me what you can See. We’ll fill in the blanks. Like a math problem.”

  “I’m terrible at math.” I was suspicious of things that had definite answers.

  “Me too.” Holly laughed as she reached out and wrapped a lock of my hair around her finger. Compared to hers, mine was dull and blonde, but it held the curl once she let it go. Sparks fell between us. “But at least those stupid word problems we suffered through might finally serve a purpose.”

  “The buildings are huge, and there are so many people. They keep bumping into me like they don’t see me. And they’re all trying to get into your show.” I expected her face to light up at that. Holly loved being the center of attention, while I was content to stand in her light. “The things that are scribbled out are coming for you. Like they don’t want you on stage.”

  “Why would anyone care?” The light faded from her eyes, like I’d extinguished the fire inside her. That was what I’d worried about. “They don’t know who I am.”

  You’re everything. I had to look away from her. “Yet. I’m worried someone doesn’t want you to perform. The messages are pretty dire. I see crumbled buildings, and the city falling to ruin.”

  “It’s a rock show. I’ll be dancing on stage. If people don’t like it, there are a dozen other shows they can go to the same night. I’m not worried about that.” Holly shook her hair out as she sat, and then she slid down to the floor beside me. “I know you don’t want to leave Santa Fe. It won’t be so bad. Actually, it will be amazing for you. You’ll get to read cards right on the Strip. Think of all the lives you’ll touch. You’ll have real power to change things.”

  “If I can get them to listen.” My tarot business didn’t get many customers in Santa Fe. It took me a while to learn that I was supposed to only tell them the good things I saw. Silly me thought they wanted to hear the truth, so they had a chance to make their futures better. But to make money, I was forced to take a side, and tell a lie. I was getting better at it.

  “They will.” Holly was so close to me; I inhaled her tiger lily scent. I wanted to dab it on my wrists so I’d be reminded of her with every heartbeat. “You made all your mistakes here, and now you get a fresh start. And if you screw things up, I’ll go back in time with an eraser so you have a chance to start over.”

  “Lucille hates it when you do that.” When Holly
traveled back in time, she had to be very careful to leave whatever she came in contact with untouched. It could change everything that happened after it.

  She shrugged. “It’s a second chance, just like this move. You worry too much.”

  I closed my eyes as she came closer, pressing her lips against mine in a kiss. It wasn’t the first time we did this. Holly’s power radiated from her, and warmth flowed through me. From the tips of my fingers, to the deep places inside that Lucille told me not to think about. Especially those places. They were all I could think about.

  Holly took advantage of my sigh against her lips, running her tongue along my bottom lip, and it would’ve taken way less than that to convince me to let her inside. Soft, gentle strokes insisted everything would be okay. Nothing could hurt us. The visions played in my mind, but they’d changed. She danced on stage, moving to the same rhythm as the kiss. The cheers were overwhelming.

  I pulled away when it got to be too much. Those black holes were back, like the future was hiding something from me.

  “Did I do something wrong?” she asked softly, putting her hand on my shoulder.

  “No.” My answer was quick and sharp. “Not even your kiss could change the future.”

  “Sure I can.” She tipped her head and smiled at me. “That’s what I love about your visions. You’ve given me two endings. I can either be the star of my own show or hide from the bad guys in the shadows. And I want to be on stage.”

  “Do you have any idea what your performance will be like?” I asked. Holly never danced, but she didn’t have any trouble expressing herself with her body.

  “I’ll figure it out.”

  “Does anything scare you?” That was the difference between traveling to the past and Seeing the future. The past was safe and predictable, and the future had no rules. I’d trade powers with her in a second. I’d pored through my spell books many times to see if that was possible, but when they referred to power swapping as a curse, I reconsidered. I was given this ability for a reason. It was my responsibility to use it to help people.

  Holly had to think about her answer. “Boredom scares me. Seeing people repeat awful mistakes from the past.” She chewed on her lip. “And I never want to lose you.”

  I put my hand on her knee. The visions had told me something else. Her love would give me the bravery I needed to fight the shadowy figures that refused to show themselves. I’d do whatever I had to do to make Holly’s star burn brightly.

  2

  It didn’t take a vision to realize something was way off when we got to Las Vegas. Lucille had rented a rundown one-bedroom apartment. She offered us the bedroom and snapped at us when we questioned her reasoning on picking this place.

  “There’s no guarantee Holly’s show will succeed. Being too proud will ruin your lives.” She’d already settled in her spot on the couch. An indent reminded us where she belonged when she wasn’t there. Lucille didn’t leave the house anymore, making this move even more curious. She spent her nights sitting in the dark, the only light from the flicker of the old movies she watched over and over again. She’d taken care of us, and now it was our turn to take care of her.

  I hated leaving the apartment. Holly and I were both twenty-one—at least, that’s what we told everyone. We were immortal, and these bodies were borrowed. But I considered Lucille old-fashioned, and she encouraged us to stay close to her. To question what we saw. Holly had a different opinion.

  “She’s an asshole.” Holly cringed at something she saw on the other side of the window. “What will happen to us when we come back to this dump in the middle of the night?”

  “How much are you getting paid?” It was rude to ask about money. In my visions, I Saw Holly become famous. Never anything about wealth. They weren’t the same thing.

  She sighed. “There were a lot of percentages. It depends on how well the show does.” Holly had a lot on her plate. She’d never performed on stage before, and now, with sparks falling from her fingers, she’d been recruited to lead a show.

  “Did you read the contract?” I asked. We both hated math.

  “Lucille assured me she’d negotiated the best possible deal for me, and snapped at me when I asked questions, as usual.” Her shoulders fell, and she tipped her head against the window. “She wants us to question everyone else, but when it’s her turn, it’s all because I said so. Ugh. I swear she likes to make fools out of us.”

  “You should’ve refused.”

  Holly turned to me quickly, unable to hide her anger. “She threatened to commit me if I didn’t sign it.”

  It was Lucille’s favorite threat against us. Time travel and visions were enough to keep us disoriented in the real world. Lucille was immortal, too. Her power was casting spells, getting people to believe what she wanted them to see.

  Her threats were no joke. The only time I dared defy her, she had me committed to a mental hospital. It was decades ago, and my physical body was about fifteen at the time. A series of electric shocks attempted to tear my visions away from me, but I clung to them with everything I had. Ripping our powers from us was Lucille’s strongest threat, because the powers made us special, and she didn’t realize being committed made me smarter. I learned to hide my powers, and only talked about what I Saw with people I could trust. That was a short list that began and ended with Holly. It always had, and it always would.

  I thought I’d die in the asylum, before Lucille decided I did her more good on the outside. Holly had gone back so many times and tried to keep me from going to that place, but every time she failed. I was okay with that, because the experience made me stronger. I didn’t want that taken away from me, either.

  Sometimes, our talents had power over us. But they gave us power, and we could never forget that.

  The first thing I unpacked was my spell books. My favorite deck of tarot cards was always in my bag. I kept them in a velvet pouch with a rose quartz stone to balance the energy, and to make sure the spirits didn’t escape, I wrapped them in a scarf for good measure. Our bed took up most of the room, and my bookshelves took up precious space on the perimeter. I’d have to be careful about the way I set up the stones and glass votives that I used with my spells. I couldn’t afford to lose them.

  I’d spent the day making the shelves look good. Casting a spell was a spherical mission. All components involved had to be in harmony, including aesthetics, which was a daily fight since my roommate was an unapologetic slob.

  “Careful.” I winced as Holly twirled in the tiny pathway on her side of the bed. Her knee knocked the side of the bookshelf and everything wobbled.

  “Sorry.” She put her hands on the side of the shelf to stop the quake she’d caused. Once the danger passed, she crawled on the bed and picked up the blanket I’d settled under. Unusual. Holly was always hot, and she insisted we run the air conditioner full blast. She was going to hate living in the desert. She put her hand on my shoulder, and my heart skipped a beat. “What spell are you working on?”

  “Something to cleanse the house.” I looked up from by book and wrinkled my nose. “The sage wasn’t strong enough to drive whatever used to live here out. The place has so much bad juju it leaves a nasty taste on my tongue.”

  “What can I do to help you?” Holly shimmied a little closer. “I couldn’t sleep at all last night. I kept hearing things. Every time I got up to check, Lucille yelled at me to go back to bed. She insisted it was the apartment settling. But the old witch is probably pissing off all the bad spirits simply by planting her ass in front of the TV out there.”

  The dark smudges under Holly’s eyes made them seem lighter. More citrine than topaz. Citrine brought joy, and we needed it. We were eager to explore the Strip, but first, we needed to deal with the energy in our own home—before we dealt with energies we couldn’t control. Holly would be performing at The Riviera, so there was no avoiding it.

  Fight the battles you can win. The deep voice that rumbled through my brain always startled me. I kept
my circle small—Holly, Lucille, and anyone who gave me twenty bucks to look into their future. The male voice was unique. He spoke with an accent I couldn’t replicate.

  Holly was staring at me when my vision cleared. “Did you See something?”

  I nodded. “The message was one thing at a time.” I never gave her a play by play. I kept a cushion between myself and what I Saw to protect myself. I wasn’t sure if it was more harmful to be wrong or right. “We shouldn’t take on more than we can handle.”

  “Speaking of that, I need your help.” Holly sighed and lay back on her pillow. “What do you have for dancing in those books? There’s no hiding the fact I suck. I have no place to practice, I’m not sure where to start, and I have my first rehearsal next week. I’m pretty much screwed.”

  “What did you tell them you could do?” I asked. Holly often promised more than she knew she could deliver, because she didn’t want anyone to be disappointed in her. She also got easily confused because of the time travel thing. Sometimes she couldn’t remember if something had happened or not.

  “I didn’t tell anybody anything.” She wouldn’t meet my gaze. “Lucille told me to learn how to dance and made me sign the contract.”

  “Why did you agree to this again?” I rubbed my temples. Holly’s optimism could be mistaken for foolishness on occasion. I couldn’t go too hard on her, since she hadn’t Seen the future. To her, it was full of possibility. Not limited by restrictions from a man whose face she’d never seen. I wondered if he was the same as the mysterious shadow figure that had appeared in my latest visions.

  “Having a show sounded like fun.” Holly grabbed my pillow from behind her and hugged it. I’d swear she inhaled the scent. Spell casters noticed little things like that. All senses held equal weight and encouraged different feelings and thoughts. It took her a moment to open her eyes, and she frowned. “She threatened to commit me, Rainey. I don’t know if I could prove to anyone she’s not right.”