by Diane Taylor
He so much as pulls another stunt like this, and I’m going to either fuck his brains out and then kill him, or maybe I’ll just kill him. I hate unexpected shit like this. These thoughts carried Carmen high into the air, leaving her body looking like she’d been crucified without the cross behind her. The view became a panoramic scene of the entire audience up to the nosebleed seats.
Suddenly, a cage descended to surround her, interspersed throughout the metal were tiny flames to represent stars. When Carmen looked up, the instructions were taped to the top of the cage;
When the flames flare hot, don’t move. The curtain will surround the cage to contain everything. When it happens, my assistant will open the back of the cage and substitute a panther in your stead.
No fears,
Rogue.
“No fears, my ass, he’s not the one sitting in the cage getting ready to be torched.”
The moment the words left Carmen’s lips, the flames roared to life, surrounding her. Controlled pandemonium reigned on stage as his team began their routine of rushing around with fire extinguishers while Rogue pretended to be distressed. “Ladies and Gentlemen do not be alarmed, the flames will be contained in a moment. We have a medical team standing by.”
On cue, the heavy blue curtain with stars dropped over the cage and the flames died out. The moment they did, the back of the cage flipped open and she slipped out of the wires and crawled out over the small catwalk. The moment she was safe, the panther stalked over and into the suspended container. The animal’s handler quickly crawled out and secured the cage.
Safely back into the darkness of anonymity, Carmen tore off the mask and hurried back to the side of the stage to see how he worked the last of the trick.
At a motion from the Rogue, the chaos calmed and everyone watched worriedly as the cage was lowered to the stage floor. “Those of you who are faint of heart may want to look away. The lady of the night may not be a pretty sight.” He walked up to the curtain and took a handful of fabric. Looking at the medics and stagehands, he yanked. In a flourish which would have made a matador proud, he swirled the lightly singed fabric off to one side, revealing the snarling panther.
Carmen smiled at the reaction of the audience, their gasps at what should have been a badly burned body turned out to be just another illusion. A tap on her shoulder made her turn to look at Paul, who wore a grin the size of Texas on his face. “I suppose you were giving my crew a detailed account, Paul?” At his nod, she shook her head. “I’m never going to hear the end of this one.”
“But, where is The Lady? Is she the panther before us? Is she somewhere in the audience?” Groaning, she donned her mask once again. Paul handed her a black cloak. “You get to tame the panther and you both go to the center of the stage to be revealed.” He chuckled and bowed. “My Lady of the Darkness.”
She swatted him on the head, then swirled the cloak around her shoulders, pulling the hood over her head. The snarling of the beast and the clanging of the bars rang in her head, bringing forth a memory of another day and another big cat. Slowly, Carmen shook off the nervous twitch and she walked across the back of the stage near the curtains while Rogue did his job of keeping the audience’s attention.
Carmen attempted to be the silent, a mysterious wraith, yet she almost lost it when Michelle caught her attention on the far side of the stage. Her cool and collected right hand lady was trying very hard not to howl with laughter at her friend’s predicament. Sighing, she knelt at the cage and offered her hand to the cat. Slowly, it sniffed it and took in her scent before playfully bat batting the fingers with its claws retracted. “Good kitty. Now, let’s get on with this performance so I can get back to doing what I was hired to do, eh?”
The cat apparently agreed, showing her by rubbing his head all over her hand. Reaching up to unlatch the handle, she stood up and waited for him to come out. As if choreographed, they paced up behind the Rogue like two wraiths in the night. Reaching up, she stopped his performance with a soft hand on his shoulder. Turning, he saw the two who waited. “And who are you, to have magically appeared before me?”
The panther showed his teeth in a snarling menace, before Carmen laid a hand on its head. “I am the Lady of the Night which you seek.” She grinned and pushed back the hood of her cloak, revealing herself to the audience.
The Rogue knelt and gave the cat a big belly rub before standing and taking her hand, kissing it like a true gentleman he was, then presented her to the audience. “Give this woman a round of applause. She’s earned it.” He pulled her down into a bow as the audience stood and began to applaud wildly.
As she raised her head, Carmen noticed one person who looked out of place in the front row. Not only was she not applauding, she seemed to be scowling. But the glimpse was brief as the Illusionist swept her off the stage and back into the anonymity of her job. He paused briefly to get a big gulp of Gatorade before heading back out to do his next piece of mystery for the audience.
Paul silently handed her equipment back and vanished into the chaos to get everything set up for the rest of his show.
Carmen donned her gear and activated the mike, “Okay kiddies, we’ve had the laugh at the boss’s expense, shall we return to work?”
Snickers and a good hearty laughter met her ears, then everyone checked in.
“Michelle here. Everything’s fine on my end, nothing going on except the normal hustling around.”
“Logan calling. We’ve caught a few attempts to sneak in through the side doors. Mostly kids trying to get into the show for free, or fans trying to get a forbidden peek at his dressing room.”
Carla’s voice enter the conversation, “Louis and Carla are on the job. There are several camcorders out in the audience and at least one digital transmitter sitting out there, logging it for a website. Logan? You on it?”
Logan sighed. “The only thing they’ll be getting is a bunch of static and white noise.”
Carmen nodded. “Pinpoint everything for the guards and let them handle the physical part of it. Michelle, soon as you think it’s safe, backtrack to Rogue’s dressing room and guard it. Louis, Logan, I want copies of the front row audience on disk and time stamped after the performance finishes.”
“You got it boss.”
Moving through the performers and the rest of the props, she kept checking. Slowly, she worked her way over to Michelle. “How’s it going on this end?”
“Fine. But I have to say, you two looked so hot out there. Even I could see the chemistry.” Michelle arched an eyebrow. “You sure you two didn’t do anything when you were in Scotland? Ian mentioned you called him and checked out of your room the same day we talked. Something about you two looked pretty cozy out there.”
Blushing, Carmen looked away and turned off her mike, but left the earphone on. “You have an uncanny way of making me feel like a kid with a porno magazine. What do you want me to say? The man has a primal quality about him. Believe me, the chemistry is there, but I won’t break my cardinal rule about getting emotionally involved.” Yet her eyes wandered over the man performing on stage. He had just made the move of getting Khan to go up on his hind legs and dance with his forepaws on his shoulders. Muscles rippled on both man and beast, trapping her gaze in the motions.
After a few moments, the woman beside her leaned against the wall support and grinned. “Mmm hmm. Girlfriend, anything which struts his stuff like that in front of me would be enough incentive to take the man to bed and screw his brains out.”
A movement off to one side of the front row caught Carmen’s attention. The place where the scowling woman sat was now empty. Glancing around, she spotted the woman making her way up the aisle towards the exit. Several figures in the back of the audience separated themselves from the shadows and followed her out. Without taking her eyes off of the departing figures. “Michelle, get back to The Rogue’s dressing room and guard it. No one is to enter his room no matter what.”
“Got it.” Michelle frowned. “Yo
ur radar going off again?”
“Yep. Get going. I’ve got back stage covered.”
Nodding, Michelle quickly disappeared, weaving her way through the darkness, leaving Carmen to gaze out at the audience once more. The rest of the performance went on without a hitch. Her team continually kept her up to date on the happenings around the building. She moved onto the stage after the last person had filed out of the auditorium and moved to the edge of the raised flooring. When the last person finally left, Carmen sat at the edge of the stange, visualizing where her target sat.
Descending the steps, her gaze went to the right hand side of the front row. Moving slowly, she took in every nuance of the seat. Including the sprig of Jasmine placed there next to a stuffed tiger in full bondage.
Another sick individual to contend with. Carmen pulled on a pair of latex gloves. Carefully, she picked up both items and bagged them, noting the date and time on the bags. She left them in place and checked the adjoining seats, finding nothing. Suddenly, the hairs on the back of her neck stood on end, seconds before her earpiece chirped.
“Boss? You’d better get to Rogue’s dressing room, pronto,” Michelle murmured.
“On my way.” Carmen arrived to find the corridor blocked by a crowd of people looking outraged. “Make a hole people!” Her voice parted the bodies like a wedge, allowing her access to the door. She had a good idea what she’d find, but the view didn’t make it any better.
The room had been totally wrecked. Every piece of furniture had been destroyed. Images had been painted on every available wall space. It appeared to be a strange mixture of Egyptian Hieroglyphs and Arabic. The center of the room had been left spotless so the contents would not be missed. Kneeling beside it were Khan and Rogue. Both were quivering with barely suppressed rage.
The chained body of a white tiger cub lay next to a pair of jeweled collars. At a glance, the cub didn’t seem to be alive, it just lay there in a pitiful pile under the metal links. Just the sight of the whole mess made Carmen’s blood run cold with fury. Beside everything else, a branding iron sat. Its surgical stainless steel design gleamed evilly in the light of the only surviving lamp. Her lips peeled back in a silent snarl of rage. Turning, she looked at those waiting at the door. “Out.” Her words sounded almost like a growl. It made people cringe and move away from the door. “Don’t disturb us until I say you can.”
When they were alone, Carmen removed her radio and switched it off. Coming over to Sean, she knelt and stared at the strange scene before her. “Okay. We’re alone, Sean. Talk to me.” She waved a hand at the items on the floor. “From your reaction, I’m assuming you know what this means?”
“Yes, I do. It means the person who created this whole scene still wants me to submit to them as their personal slave.” He looked over at her, tears flowing down from beneath his mask. “I must bring Khan and myself before her, collars on, and allow the both of us to be branded with her sigil, or she’ll kill Khan by torturing him to death.” He waved a hand at the cub. “This was her way of getting my attention.”
Carmen reached out to touch the cub, stroking his fur. “You want to tell me what the hell is going on? First the garbage at your house, now this? The same person is behind all this?”
He nodded. “As far as I can tell, only she would be this demented. She has partners in every country. Women who train men and women for absolute subservience, to crave the taste of pain.” His head lowered so he stared at the floor. “To break a person’s will so there is no will but the Mistress’s will.”
Reaching over, Carmen put a hand underneath his chin. “Does this woman have a name?”
He smiled. “Most call her Mistress. The world would know her as Princess Yasmeen.”
“Then let’s show her how we ignore such things. But, you do know we have to get the cops in here to get this mess cleaned up.”
Nodding, he sighed and stood up. “I know. But we’ve got two days to make it to Vegas. But…” He looked at the tiny body. “Don’t let them know about the cub? I’ll take care of the poor thing.” He reached for it, only to have Khan step in the way to take the tiny body, gently, between his jaws.
“What the...” Sean’s words were interrupted by a soft chirrup from the bundle and the waving of a tiny paw. Gently, Khan laid it back down on the ground to paw at the tight chains.
Carmen scooted forward. “Let me. I’m good at picking locks. The faster we can get them off the cub, the faster we can find out just what damage has been done which caused him to appear dead.” Slowly, she reached into her back pocket, pulling out what appeared to be a small pen. A twist of the top caused the pick to appear out the other end. Approaching Khan and making no sudden moves, she reached down to the barely breathing tiger cub, “Easy Khan. I won’t hurt him.”
Khan looked into her eyes as if searching for answers. He must have seen something as he leaned forward to nuzzle her face and nip her jawline before backing away. Turning, he curled up around Sean’s body and watched her intently.
A few moments later, the restraints fell free and Carmen gathered the cub in her arms to cuddle it close. The pulse of the animal beat a frantic tattoo against her chest. “I’m going to have to get Michelle in here and get a vet to help out, and someone to decipher the stuff on the walls.”
A new voice intruded from the door. “I think I can help you with that.”
Chapter Five
All of them turned at the voice and Khan snarled at the strange man, making motions to lunge at him. Sean, back in his persona as Rogue barely had enough time to grab the neck fur and wrap a forearm around his throat. “No, Khan! This is not who did this and you know it.”
Carmen stood up with the cub in her hands. “Dad?”
“Yeah, baby, it’s me.” He looked at the angry tiger. “Back off, fur face. You have no idea what you’re dealing with and, if you want this youngster saved, you’ll calm down and let me do my job.”
Khan actually backed up into TheRogue, who blinked then looked at her. “Dad?”
Carmen nodded. “Yeah, the man who took me out to the obstacle course when I was a kid and had me working around the big boys until they dropped from exhaustion.” A grin lit up her face. “It’s good to see you, Dad. After this, though, you’ve got some serious explaining to do.”
He nodded. “Fair enough.” He reached over to gently run his hands over the white and black fur. Slowly, he began to gently apply acupressure to certain areas. “He’s been kept in a form of suspended animation with a combination of acupressure and acupuncture.” Opening his hand, her dad revealed five tiny pins. “Placed in the right spots in his nervous system, it made him appear dead.”
In her arms, the cub began squirming and growling, waving his paws about. Khan moved over and gently placed a huge paw on Carmen’s leg. She knelt and let the cub roll out of her arms and onto the floor. “Take care of him, Khan. Dad and I are gonna go have a small talk.” She looked meaningfully at The Rogue, who had remained quiet, watching. “The team will take you to Vegas. They know the routine and I guarantee you will be protected within an inch of your life.”
His eyes went dark. “What about you?”
Carmen moved over to The Rogue and laid a hand on his masked face. Smiling. “Don’t worry. I just have to check up on a trump card I happen to have laying around.”
Rogue rose up on his knees and drew her head down so his lips claimed hers. The moment they touched, heat arched between them, like lightning only with a pleasurable ache. As the kiss deepened, the world fell away until only the two of them remained. Nothing else seemed to matter in the entire universe. She raised her hands to run them through his shoulder length brown hair, carefully avoiding the ties which held his mask on.
Suddenly the door behind her dad burst open, sending him flailing into her. Not even thinking twice, Carmen turned and caught him. As he scrambled for balance, her fingers removed the small knife in his belt and made an underhand throw at whoever had come through the door. In the blink
of an eye, she had her dad’s combat knife in her right hand before stalking towards the doorway even before the cursing started.
There, laying on the floor and clutching the inside of his thigh, lay Sam Lodina. Michelle lay unconscious with a nasty bruise blossoming on her jawline. The rest of the team had just rounded the corner and, having seen one of their own down for the count, were advancing on the manager. Logan, face suffused with rage, led the pack. “Stand down, boys and girls. He’s mine for the time being. Logan?”
Logan kept coming.
“Logan!” Carmen raised her voice, “Do not make me angry.”
He looked up at her, eyes shimmering with barely suppressed violence. “What?”
“Tell the Black Angel we need his wings.”
Sam made to get up, only to have Carmen place a booted foot on his chest. “Oh no you don’t, you little prick. You’re going to stay right there and bleed until I get damned good and ready to let you up.”
Louis blinked at her. “Carmen? Uh, you sure you want BA in on this?”
She looked at him. “We’ve got a psychopath stalker who’s willing to hurt animals and break the will of human beings to do it.” Her emerald green eyes turned glacial as she looked down at the man under her foot. A moment later, she glanced at the rest of the group. “We’ve got a job to do and there’s just so much we, as a crew can do. Black Angel owes me a long list of favors and it’s time I called in one of his specialties.”
“I’ll kill the little pimp bitch! I swear it.” Michelle jerked awake with vengeance in her eyes.
“You can have him after a bit. He’s mine first. Now, you guys get Rogue and his people to Vegas.
I’ll be there in two days. Tell BA to meet you there. And if he asks, tell him,” Carmen grinned impishly.,
“Tell him the brat is pitching a tantrum and needs to be spanked. My play on words to tell him we have a bitch of a problem on our hands, and it needs to be handled.”
They all laughed.