by Tim Waggoner
He tried to imagine Emory walking down the stairs and entering this level, slowly circling the displays and pondering the devices for sale. Had she come here on her own or with a lover? What had it been about the Pink Devil that made her say to herself, This is the one. Definitely.
Jayce became aware of muffled sounds then. Buzzes, whirrs, and clicks mingled with soft moans and sharp cries. He realized the sounds were coming from behind the doors. He looked at Nicola and she said, “Those are demonstration rooms. Here, you get to try it before you buy it.”
Knowing people were right now behind those doors – less than a dozen feet from where he and Nicola stood – having sex with one or more of the sinister-looking devices on display was disturbing enough, but the realization brought with it the memory of what it had felt like to be violated by the Pink Devil. Nausea gripped his stomach, and his body started trembling. He still felt the effect of Sela’s power, and his highly charged libido clashed with the sensations brought on by the flashback to his rape earlier that evening. He found himself caught between two intensities – a nearly overwhelming desire for sex and an utter revulsion of it.
Nicola took his hand then, maybe because she sensed how he was feeling or maybe due to Sela’s influence. Either way, he was grateful for the contact. It helped calm him and focus his thoughts. And while his feelings of revulsion and helplessness didn’t vanish, they became more manageable. He squeezed Nicola’s hand and gave her a grateful smile, and she smiled back.
“Welcome to the Funhouse.”
A woman approached them, and Jayce knew it was Sela even before he had a clear impression of what she looked like. He felt her power precede her as a tidal wave of pure lust that overwhelmed everything in its path. The energy she projected, however, didn’t match her appearance. He had expected her to be some sort of exaggerated sexual goddess – tall, long-legged, wasp-waisted, big-breasted…an imposing presence, part sex-kitten, part dominatrix. But there was nothing overtly sexual about her. She wore a white sweater over a floral-print dress, with brown open-toed shoes that had modest heels. She was barely five feet tall, round-faced, with curly black hair. She wore no makeup or jewelry, and her nails were short and ragged, as if she chewed them. She flashed them a smile as she drew near, and while her upper row of teeth was straight, the bottom was slightly crooked. Like her husband, her race was impossible to guess. She seemed a combination of them all, as if she came from a future where humanity had blended to the point where race no longer mattered. She was on the plain side of pretty, but Jayce had never wanted to fuck anyone more in his life. He felt a sudden surge of resentment toward Nicola for holding his hand, for claiming him as hers in front of Sela. Jayce wanted the woman to know he was single and more than available. He almost jerked his hand from Nicola’s grasp, but Sela stopped, took a couple steps backward, and the urge diminished. It was still present, but Jayce could resist it now.
Sela smiled at him. “I’m not psychic, but I saw you tense up, so I figured it would be best if I kept some distance between us.” Her voice was soft and throaty, and it felt like warm honey in his ears.
“Thanks,” Jayce said, the word coming out as a hesitant croak.
Sela’s smile took on a teasing edge. “I take it this is your first time here?”
Jayce didn’t trust himself to speak, so he nodded.
He wondered why two people as different as Ronnie and Sela would marry. Given their opposite energies, it was like they were batteries, one which ran on AC and one on DC. But then he realized their different energies didn’t clash so much as leaven one another. Ronnie’s anti-sex energy brought Sela’s ultra-sex energy down to normal, manageable levels, and her power gave Ronnie an actual sex drive. Only with each other could they have a normal sexual relationship.
“There’s no sales pressure here,” Sela said. “Look around, and if there’s something you’d like to take for a spin, let me know and I’ll open a demonstration room for you.”
“We didn’t come here to buy,” Nicola said. “We’re looking for someone.”
Jayce took that as his cue. He showed Emory’s picture to Sela, careful to hold his phone out as far as he could so she wouldn’t have to come any closer to him than necessary.
“Her name’s Emory—”
Sela interrupted him before he could go any further.
“Pink Devil!” she said. “She bought one a month ago. I remember because she insisted I show her the most extreme product we carry, and they don’t come more extreme than Pink Devils.”
Jayce felt a surge of hope, but he reminded himself not to get carried away just yet.
“She’s my daughter. I’d appreciate anything you could tell me that might give me an idea where to look for her. Anything at all.”
“I don’t know that it’ll be of much use, but I can tell you that she returned here a couple weeks ago to ask me advice on how to get the most out of her Pink Devil. They can be sensitive and somewhat volatile devices, and operating them is often more art than science.”
Sela’s words seemed too good to be true. He’d finally found someone who’d actually seen Emory – and from the sound of it, not long before she’d disappeared. He was so excited that he forgot about Sela’s powerful aura of sexuality and stepped closer to her.
“Can you tell me what you talked about with her? Did she say anything else that wasn’t connected to the Pink Devil? How did she act? Did she seem worried or in distress?”
The questions poured out before he could stop them. But before Sela could begin answering, someone shouted from the stairwell, the voice muffled but still audible from behind the closed door.
“I’m coming for you, Jayce! And this time no goddamn boogeyman is going to save you!”
Jayce recognized Ohio Pig’s voice. He exchanged a look with Nicola, as if to ask her, What do we do now?
You should’ve killed that asshole when you had the chance, Mother said.
Jayce couldn’t argue with that.
Nicola turned to Sela. “Put us in one of the rooms – please!”
Sela didn’t hesitate. She led them around the Funhouse until she came to a particular door. There was no outer sign that it was unoccupied, but Sela removed a set of keys from her sweater pocket and quickly unlocked the door. Inside was a small space not much larger than a department store dressing room. The walls and ceiling were painted black, and a leather upholstered bench was the only item inside. The floor was concrete and had a slight depression, in the center of which was a drain. There were sprinklers on the ceiling – four of them – and from the astringent smell in the room, Jayce knew that the sprinklers didn’t release water, but rather some kind of cleaning chemical used to sanitize the room – and likely the device being tested as well as the customers themselves – before its next use.
“How romantic,” he muttered.
Nicola quickly stepped inside and pulled him after her.
“Please don’t tell him we’re here,” she said to Sela.
The woman pressed an index finger to her lips, winked, and then closed and locked the door. There was no lock on the inside, and Jayce didn’t like it. It made him feel trapped. But he liked the idea of Ohio Pig opening the door to find him inside even less.
Jayce and Nicola stood behind the door, listening. They heard the sound of the door to the lower level slamming open, almost as if Ohio Pig had kicked it in.
“Jayce? Jayce Lewis! Where the fuck are you? Come on out and face me like a man!”
The Pig’s voice was thick, almost as if he had a cold, and Jayce put this down to the man’s broken nose. His missing teeth created a slight whistle when he spoke, but neither of these factors made him sound any less intimidating. If anything, he sounded more crazy and dangerous than ever.
“Can I be of assistance?” Sela asked, and Jayce pictured the woman walking up to Ohio Pig, bringing him into her sexually charg
ed aura. How would the man react? Would he be overwhelmed and thrown off guard, or was he so filled with fury and hate that her power would have no sway over him?
“You can help me by staying out of my fucking way,” the Pig snapped. There was a rustle of cloth and a soft oomph, and Jayce guessed that the Pig had shoved Sela to the side.
“Hey, you can’t do that to her!”
Jayce assumed this was one of the customers. The voice was male, and he sounded pissed. Jayce heard the sound of boots clomping, but he didn’t know if Ohio Pig was charging the man who’d shouted at him or if it was the other way around. Either way, some shit was about to go down. But as he was listening closely, trying to picture what was happening outside, Nicola stepped up behind him, pressed her body against his, reached around and began massaging his cock. With the arrival of Ohio Pig, his dick had softened – nothing sexy about that maniac’s appearance – but as soon as Nicola started working it, it swelled and hardened almost instantly. He knew his body’s response had more to do with being near Sela than any real desire on his part, and now was definitely not the time to give in to sexual urges that, while having a basis in reality, had been artificially enhanced. He knew this intellectually, but he couldn’t stop himself from turning around, taking Nicola in his arms and kissing her.
After that it was like a dam had broken. The two of them began pawing each other like animals, kissing, sucking, biting.… They tore at each other’s clothes, desperate to get at the flesh beneath but so caught up in animalistic passion that they couldn’t remember how to properly disrobe. Cloth tore, buttons popped off and clattered to the floor. The next thing Jayce knew, Nicola was lying naked on the leather bench, legs spread wide and awaiting him. As if coming to him across a great distance, he heard shouting, punches being thrown, cries of pain and anger. A nearly dormant part of his mind worried that he couldn’t afford to ignore those sounds because they meant danger was near. But he was unable to stop himself, and he stepped forward then plunged his ramrod-stiff cock into Nicola’s warm wetness, and then everything in the world ceased to exist except the overpowering need to pound himself into Nicola again and again.
An image came to Jayce’s mind then, a pair of insects copulating like mindless machines, oblivious to the gigantic foot that was coming toward them from above, ready to flatten them into paste. But instead of making him pause, the image only made him thrust faster, as if he were determined to finish before the giant foot could descend upon them.
Nicola’s eyes were closed, her lips parted, head thrown back. She squeezed her right breast with one hand while she worked her clit with the other. Her legs were in the air, and Jayce gripped her ankles to support them as well as give him more leverage for thrusting.
I understand it’s been a long time since you had sex, Mother said, but if you two keep on going like this, there’s a good chance you’ll end up fucking yourselves to death.
Valerie’s mental voice hit him like a splash of cold water, and while it wasn’t enough to make him stop thrusting into Nicola, he did slow down.
“We. Have. To. Stop.” He grunted out these words in time with his thrusts.
Nicola didn’t open her eyes, didn’t take her hands from her body as she replied, “I know.”
Still they kept going. Jayce’s body picked up the tempo once more until he was thrusting as fast and hard as he could. Sweat coated both their bodies, and their breaths came in sharp gasps.
Outside, the situation was getting worse. The shouts had become louder, and Jayce could hear the sound of scuffling footsteps, as if two or more people were struggling to knock each other down. There was a loud thud, and Jayce knew someone – Ohio Pig or one of the people trying to stop him – had been slammed against one of the demonstration room doors. Judging by how loud the sound was and the way the impact made their own door rattle, Jayce guessed whoever it was had hit close by, maybe only a couple doors away.
There wasn’t much time left.
Nicola had been making little uh-uh-uh sounds as they pushed against each other, but now these became higher-pitched cries. The sound of them excited Jayce even more, and he began thrusting furiously. He heard a noise that was half growling, half groaning, and he realized it was coming from his own throat.
This isn’t much different than what happened to you with the Pink Devil, Mother said. You’re not doing this because you chose to. You’re doing it because you’re being compelled.
Jayce ignored her. At that moment, it didn’t matter to him why this was happening. He was caught in a force he couldn’t resist, and all he could do was ride it out to the end.
He felt a hot tingling spread throughout his lower abdomen as he began to build toward orgasm. That’s when he heard the first gunshot. His body didn’t react to it – at that point he doubted anything short of a nuclear blast could have made him stop fucking. He heard another shot, then a third, followed by the sound of people running. Doors slammed open, and Jayce knew the other demonstration rooms were emptying out, their occupants perhaps more accustomed to Sela’s power and thus able to resist it better. Was anyone hurt? Or dead? How many more seconds would it be before Ohio Pig kicked in this door and starting shooting at them? Would they finally stop fucking at that point, or would they keep at it, blood spurting from gunshot wounds like red cum?
Nicola orgasmed first. Jayce felt her spasm around his cock, grip it like a fist, and the sensation brought him to climax. They cried out their release in unison, and Jayce’s own orgasm was so intense that for an instant his vision went black and his legs threatened to give out. He was on the verge of losing consciousness, but he managed to hold on. His exertions slowed, but he continued thrusting, determined to give Nicola every spurt of his semen.
He wasn’t surprised when he heard the sound of a boot slamming into the door. Neither of them had been quiet as they fucked, and the sounds of their passion had led Ohio Pig right to them. The lock broke and the door burst open on the second kick, and Jayce pulled out of Nicola and turned around, his cock shooting one last ejaculation into the air. Ohio Pig stood in the doorway, holding a 9 mm Glock and grinning as best he could with his damaged mouth.
“Looks like you two are going to get to go out with a bang – literally and figuratively!”
He raised his gun and aimed it point blank at Jayce’s chest. His lust spent – not to mention a weapon being pointed at him – Jayce’s mind cleared instantly. He knew there was no way he could rush forward and try to grab the 9 mm from the Pig before the man could shoot him. He could stand between the Pig and Nicola and shield her, but as soon as the Pig dropped him, Nicola would be vulnerable. The best Jayce could do was delay her death by a few more seconds. There was nothing he could do except stand there and wait to feel bullets tear through his flesh.
Not true, Mother said. There’s one thing you could do.
He thought back to that day in the basement, when he’d discovered Emory having sex with the Sanguinem Seminis. He’d brought forth the Harvest Man’s darkness that day, although it had come to him unbidden. Could he call it now, on purpose? He had no idea how he might accomplish this – or what consequence summoning the power might have – but he had no choice. He had to try.
He pictured what the cloud of darkness had looked like as he’d breathed it out on that long-ago day, and as he did so, he tried to remember what it had felt like inside him. He remembered a cold stirring deep in his being, as if a mass of serpents coiled around each other. He remembered that writhing cold rising upward, moving from his stomach into his throat, over his tongue and past his teeth to be released into the open air. In his mind, he saw the Harvest Man’s obsidian eyes gazing into his, and he heard a whispered word.
Soon.
He felt nothing inside, and he knew that this time – for whatever reason – he was unable to summon the darkness that lived inside him, and because of this failure, he and Nicola were going to die.
“Looks like you got yourself a drooper there. I wonder if I can hit it before it goes all the way soft.”
He lowered the barrel of his gun until it pointed at Jayce’s rapidly deflating dick. Jayce felt a sudden wave of sexual energy then, and despite the situation, his cock stiffened once more. The Pig must have felt the same energy, for he turned around, but he was too slow. Sela jammed a stun gun to the side of his neck and released a charge. There was a crackling sound, and Ohio Pig’s body bucked and seized. Sela kept the charge going, and the Pig’s hand sprung open and the Glock dropped to the floor. He collapsed, and Sela followed him down, keeping the stun gun in constant contact with his flesh until he lay on the ground, eyes closed and body twitching. She deactivated the stun gun then and straightened.
Nicola had remained lying on the leather bench this whole time, Jayce’s cum dripping out of her, but now she stood and walked to Jayce’s side.
“Thank you so much, Sela!” she said. “I thought for sure he was going to kill us.”
Sela gazed down upon the Pig’s semi-conscious body with disgust. “I know he would have. He killed two of my customers on his way to you.”
“I’m so sorry,” Nicola said.
Jayce felt self-conscious and exposed standing naked before Sela with a raging hard-on, but Nicola seemed perfectly comfortable in her nakedness.
“It’s not your fault,” Sela said. “But on the bright side, having the Pig means we can make an extra delivery now.”
Jayce had no idea what the woman was talking about. He looked at Nicola, but it was clear from her expression that she was as confused as he was.
His cock began to soften once more, and he felt the sexual pressure Sela exuded ease. A moment later he understood why, when Ronnie appeared behind his wife. Their two powers were balancing each other.