History

Abandoned like a stray cat in New York City, Caleb Vaughan took to the streets too young to fully understand why. His memories of his parents and their untimely demise haunted him then and now like a bad dream he couldn't shake: just blurry vignettes of blood and screams twisted by the imagination of a child.

He wasn't alone out there for long. A group of street urchins absorbed him into their pack, taught him to pickpocket, but he took to the roll of distraction far easier with his charming troublemaker smile and a talent for performance. He started out busking with song and dance, and as his adolescence approached, his act evolved into more physical fare, half born of the gymnastics and limber skills he developed through years of escaping capture over rooftops and through tight spaces. He was flexible, he was fast, and he was slippery. And he was well known amongst buskers and beggars and coppers alike.

Adolescence hit like a steam engine of anger and violence. No longer an adorable little urchin, his talent and his charm hit a rocky road of growing pains and a constant struggle to find how to survive in a world that pulled no punches. His little found family got decimated by the horrors of street life: disease, starvation, prison, predators. He found himself alone once again. He struck up a brotherly friendship with a young man who busked as a clown, and when a local circus act took notice of his clown friend, that friend whisked Caleb along into their ranks.

It was good. Training gave him purpose. It gave him something to focus on and kept. He didn't quite turn a new leaf—he still picked pockets and caused chaos, as survival instincts aren't so easy to shake, but with half his troupe made up of charlatans and criminals anyway, he had plenty of mentors to help hone those instincts. He found his stride as he became an adult. With a pretty, androgynous face and his lithe gymnast body, his charm re-forged into a brand new type of survival instinct. He discovered a whole new world of possibilities and ways to get what he wanted, and what he wanted was everything: safety, money, fame, love, a way to escape from the haunting memories of his past ever lurking in his periphery.

He fell in love with an older man in his troupe: a savvy magician with a sharp tongue and a passion for life. But his magician was also incredibly obsessive with a nasty jealous streak. Their torrid romance was fire and oil. The magician trying to control and dominate, and Caleb ever uncontrollable.

When his clown friend became the victim of one of his magician's jealous rages, Caleb ran. His magician followed. The man knew Caleb too well—knew where he'd hide, knew who he'd turn to. He was always one step ahead. So in a desperate attempt to escape the magician's clutches, Caleb found another circus, bound for London.