When I got there the circus was as busy as I imagined, and by that I meant completely deserted. If it wasn’t for the guy asleep at the small ticket booth at the entrance, I would’ve thought it was abandoned. I tried to walk in, but somehow the man had detected me and sprang to life.

“Hey buddy, buy a ticket first,” pestered the man. “No ticket, no entrance. That’s the deal.”

“I know you’re holding someone in there against her will,” I hissed. “Let me in and I might give you a head start when you run.”

“I won’t hesitate to call the co-“

Before he even finished I could see him reaching for his phone. In two swift motions I punched him in the face and threw him to the ground. Should’ve at least bruised a rib, if not broken one. Hard to tell when humans are so squishy but cling to life like cockroaches. I gave him enough time to just let me in. At any rate, the man was out cold and I was on my way in.

The inside was even more sad. Abandoned stalls with stupid human carnival games were lined up, with dilapidated prizes and activities. It gave off the vibe of a ghost town, and I wasn’t liking it. Something was definitely off, but I couldn’t stop now. That just means I had to find her and get out of there quicker.

In no time I found the large tent labeled “Freakshow” and walked in. The tent was completely barren inside except for a few cage cars inside covered by tarps, and a few odd ceiling lights were shining down. Weird that it looked so abandoned but there was power… Now I knew for sure it was all wrong, but that just meant I had to be faster.

In a flash, I ran over and threw up a tarp. Nothing in the cage car under. Then I did the same for the rest, one by one, until finally the last one had something in it. Someone in it. Jackpot. Finally found the carvatian girl I was looking for.

She looked maybe just over 230, maybe around 240 if you were pushing it. Still not fully grown yet no matter which way you slice it. First thing that popped out to me were her eyes; two bright purple irises gazing fearfully at me. Her snow-white dove wings and yellow hair told me all I needed to know on why she was here. She might’ve been a horror to humans, but she was a drop-dead beauty for carvatians. Even in the old dirty brown dress.

“Not another show!” she cried, huddling herself into the corner. Clearly she had also been underfed from how thin she was. Probably didn’t even have enough to muster changing her eye color.

“No more shows,” I said. “Your contract is over.”

In one motion, I pulled my arm back and channeled magic into it. When I took a swipe at the cage, the bars fell to pieces, and my fingers had become eagle talons. I extended my hand to her, and my fingers turned back to normal.

“Let’s go. I hate being around humans for too long, if there are any here…” I said, looking around distastefully.

“I’m not the only one…” she whispered, not moving from her cage corner. “I’m the bait…”

“Another one!” exclaimed a voice behind me. “You’re my third one this week! Did you know that one?”

I turned around and saw an overly excited man in a doctor’s uniform. Beside him were two women both holding guns. Man, I hated those things. They were only made for hurting, hardly ever killed when it counted, and usually led to me bleeding for a while until I could get some bandages. They were machines of violence, and they were holding guns too. Luckily, I was made for all those things too, minus the “hardly killing when it counted” part. I’m pretty good at that one.

“You got more of them here?” I asked, pointing to the carvatian in the cage. “More of us in this trap of a circus?”

“The circus is a part of the trap,” he corrected. “The entire town is the trap. Lure your kind into this ghost town and pretend like this circus is the only thing here worth going to. Have an associate handout a flier, have a ticketmaster out front even, and bam! Hardly anyone expects it.”

“Wasn’t that hard to see something was off,” I hissed.

“Yes… your level of observation is surprisingly high for your kind… loathsome indeed. Far more observant than your brothers and sisters.”

“Where are the others?!” I demanded.

“I wonder… what do you really look like under those heavy clothes and I presume magic?” the doctor asked out loud, ignoring me. “I’ve examined your kind from the inside-out, and some of them are even still alive. I know all about the biology of you things, but I just don’t know your plan yet.”

“Wait… plan? Oh man, you’re not one of the idiots who thinks we’re aliens, are you?”

“I know you’re not from this world!” the man growled angrily. “And I will personally hunt and study every last one of you abominations!”

“That’s pretty funny,” I chuckled, untying my trench coat and putting my hand on my hat. “Because between you and me, I’m the apex predator.”

I finally dropped my trench coat and tossed my hat away. Little did anyone actually know, my skin was the only thing I ever changed with magic. I hated changing, and I had to conserve my magic with the garbage food humans had down there. My shrunken hawk wings expanded out to their full size, and my scorpion tail uncurled from around my waist. I jumped into the air, and turned my fingers into bird talons while poising my tail to strike.

“Let’s see if there’s anything left for the operating table when I’m done,” I growled with a sinister smile.

Here’s the thing about dodging human gunfire in the air. You just go up. No I’m serious, if you just dart to right above them they just look at you like a deer in headlights. I stung the first woman in the back with my tail and she went down just like that. I’ll admit though, it was stupid that I turned my back to the others. The man in the coat ran out of the tent, and the other woman shot me in the back.

Turns out bullets weren’t in their guns. Some kinda tranquilizers or something was there instead. Way easier to get out, plus they didn’t have much of an affect on me. As soon as I turned around, I could see the woman knew she was screwed. In one quick motion my talons ripped across her throat, and blood coated my hands and chest. As the doctor ran I turned around and pointed to the carvatian woman in the cage.

“Stay there and I’ll come back for you.” I said. “I’m going to free everyone else.”

“You can’t!” she cried. “He’ll catch you and put you in here with us!”

“Wouldn't count on it. I’m the hunter, and I’m not letting him get away.”

I stepped outside of the tent and felt something slip from beneath my feet. Oh wait, that was just the ground as I felt myself go lightheaded. Shit, he said he’s studied us; of course he’s made ways to knock us out.

“Ah, so it does work,” he smiled, approaching me. I tried to scrape at him, but my talons were regular fingers again. “That tranquilizer was made specifically to capture your kind. Your attempts to resist are cute at bes-” He sure did talk a lot, but he also shut his mouth when I stung him in the foot with my tail.

“Heh, suck it,” I weakly laughed. “You talk too much.”

“Ah!” he shouted in pain, gripping his foot and hopping around. “Is this poisonous?!”

“Die and find out.”

At least I could laugh while falling unconscious. I even got to see the doctor fall over too. Overall I think I won that fight. My vision went dark as I slipped into sleep.