This story is featured in:
Hellfire Circus Volume One
Hellfire Circus: Whipped by the Ringmaster
By
Crystal De la Cruz
Published by The Blue Bouzouki Press at Smashwords
Copyright 2012 Crystal De la Cruz
Hellfire Circus: Whipped by the Ringmaster
Julie chewed her pen idly and stared at the screen. She was supposed to be writing up an article about the new shopping mall on the outskirts of town but her heart just wasn’t in it. Somehow, she’d always imagined that the life of a reporter would be so much more exciting than it had turned out to be. But then maybe that was more the town than the job. Nothing much exciting ever really happened in Arlington.
Across the newsroom, the door to Mark’s office opened and he and Thelma stepped outside laughing mischievously. Julie glanced up, wondering what the big secret was and just why her friends suddenly looked so naughty all of a sudden.
“Hey Julie,” Mark called, “will you come over here for a second?”
“I’m kind of busy right now,” she replied, for some reason feeling like she should hide her curiosity. “What is it?”
“Just come over here will ya?”
Mark was Julie’s editor, the editor, the man in charge of the whole operation, as small scale an operation as it might actually be. Thelma was a fellow reporter and Julie’s best friend and together the three of them had shared a certain kind of chemistry ever since they’d started working together. In fact, she and Thelma enjoyed a flirty competitiveness for their boss’s attention, though Julie would never in a million years have dreamt of actually acting on it.
“Fine,” she sighed and stoop up from the computer, hitting the save button even though the screen was still blank.
She walked across the office.
“What are you two up to?” she asked, studying the cheeky expressions on their faces.
“I’ve got a story for you,” Mark said, his cute blue eyes seeming to tease her as he spoke.
“Yeah, well in case you haven’t noticed I’m still working on the one you gave me half an hour ago.”
Mark brushed back his black hair and narrowed his eyes. “Oh I think you’re going to want to follow up on this one first.”
“It’s super naughty Julie,” Thelma said, grinning at her salaciously. “In fact I wanted it myself but Mark wouldn’t let me have it…”
Thelma rubbed up against their editor flirtatiously and he pushed her way with a playful shove. And just like that it suddenly dawned on Julie: they were sleeping together. And she didn’t know how she felt about that exactly.
“Fine,” she said, trying to push the thought out of her head. “What’s it on?”
“We got a tape in the mail,” Mark said, “an anonymous tipoff you might say. It’s in my office in the player. Go on in and have a listen.”
“Ok,” Julie said, “and what’s on the tape?”
“Oh you’ll see,” Mark smiled, “all you need to know is that it came with a note attached. Come to the Hellfire Circus, that’s all it said.”
“We’re going for a late lunch,” Thelma smirked, “go on in Julie and see what you think. If you’ve got the nerve, that is…”
***
Julie stepped into Mark’s office and closed the door behind her. She should have been happy for them, but somehow she just felt… raw about it. She shook her head trying to shake herself out of the bad mood. This wasn’t just about Mark and Thelma, this was deeper than that. The truth was she’d been feeling bored with her whole life lately. More than just bored… extremely dissatisfied. Somehow she knew that there had to be more to it than this.
She went to the old style tape player and rewound the cassette. On the desk she noticed the note that had accompanied it. The paper seemed to be made of some kind of exotic material and the words were inscribed in flowing, elegant calligraphy. It was very strange.
The tape stopped and Julie pressed play.
At first there wasn’t much sound except for faint voices speaking, too muffled to make out what they were saying exactly. Julie walked around Mark’s desk and sat down. She flicked her long blonde hair over her shoulder and pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose. People told her she was attractive, but these days she didn’t much feel like it.
And then all of a sudden the voices came into focus and suddenly Julie was wide awake.
She heard a voice speak, a deep European accent, masculine and dominant. “Come over here,” it commanded, “do as your master tells you, worm!”
Julie’s eyes widened as she heard what sounded like a whip slapping bare flesh and a woman’s scream, not of pain but of intense pleasure. She sat upright at the desk, her mouth opening slightly. Just what was she listening to here?
“That’s it, that’s it. You are daddy’s little princess but you must be punished for your transgressions.”
“…Yes master,” the woman spoke, her voice thick with arousal.
“Are your binds too tight? Are they hurting you?”
Julie felt a twinge between her legs at the ominous and controlling tone of his voice. She blushed and glanced up at the office window to make sure nobody was watching her. Suddenly she felt very ashamed. She’d read about things like this, sure, but to actually hear them as they happened for real? It was awakening a whole spectrum of new emotions and feelings inside her.
“Yes master,” the woman on the tape whimpered.
“Good!” the male shouted and Julie jumped in her seat as the sound of leather hitting flesh reverberated on the tape again. “Now crawl over here and lick my boot. Lick it clean and maybe then I’ll fuck you the way you like...”
There was the sound of the woman moaning lustfully once more and then the tape stopped with an abrupt click.
Julie didn’t know what to think. She was so hot and flustered… that voice, that predatory voice. She looked out the office window to make sure nobody was coming her way and then she stood up and went to play the tape again.
***
She knew Mark and Thelma were toying with her. Chances were, they expected that she wouldn’t have the guts to track down a story like this. In fact, as far as they were concerned she’d probably get embarrassed just talking about such a thing. Maybe they were right.
Julie looked at the note on the desk, studied the elegant calligraphy. Had he been the one to write it? The man on the tape? And if so, what possible reason could he possibly have to send it to the paper?
The Hellfire Circus, that was that new carnival that had just moved into town. That was just the kind of thing the Arlington Times would do a write-up on anyway. Julie glanced out the window again and made a snap decision. She was going there herself. Right now.
***
She drove her small sedan out to the large meadow where the circus had been set up. The large billboard she’d seen as she approached had sent shivers down her spine. Whether the tape had come from there or not, the Hellfire Circus was definitely not your ordinary carnival.
The picture showed a beautiful pale young woman in a tight bodysuit with thick mascara plastered around her eyes, goth-style. At her feet was a dwarf in clown face-paint that was more horror movie than children’s entertainment. And above them both was the outline of a man, really just a cape and a top-hat with a pair of piercing golden eyes underneath. Out of everything in the strange picture, Julie thought that it was those eyes more than anything else that unnerved her. They seemed to be staring directly into the darkest corners of her soul.
She drove down the muddy track and parked her car amongst all the others. It looked like a show was already underway. She went to the ticket booth and knocked on the glass.<
br />
Inside, a huge bald man with rippling muscles was pouring over a magazine filled with pictures of tattoos and piercings. When he looked up Julie gasped in shock. He was wearing light goth makeup and had a studded collar around his taut throat. He was not the kind of person you saw in Arlington everyday.
“Hi,” Julie said, “I’d like a ticket for one please.”
“Sorry,” the hulk shrugged, “the last showing for the day started half an hour ago. Unless you want to come back tomorrow, that is.”
Julie smiled professionally. “I’m with the Arlington Times newspaper in town here,” she said, “do you think I might be able to go in and get a quick look around for a write-up I’m doing?”
The ticket man shook his head. “Sorry ma’am,” he said, “you’ll have to come back tomorrow.”
Julie nodded slightly and the man went back to his magazine. She started walking back to her car and then, halfway there, she turned around again. The guy was still completely buried in his magazine. Julie looked around herself and then made a quick run towards the tents.
***
She couldn’t give up now, not after listening to that recording. She had to see it for herself, had to find out.
Find out what, she wondered? She wasn’t sure yet, but she needed to explore.
The tents were stylistically gothic and dark, most of them ebony and ivory stripes, and the whole setup felt more Victorian than twenty-first century. She heard voices talking and quickly ducked in behind a trailer.
“That’s right,” one said, “they flogged her so hard she was bleeding, but she loved every minute of it…”
“I’d love to have been there,” the other replied and then the voices moved off out of earshot.
Julie peeked her head around the corner to make sure it was safe and then hurried on. Surely she’d misheard them?
As she approached the big top tent she realized that, considering the tape she’d listened to earlier, the men had probably meant just exactly what she thought they’d meant.
She shivered, a little afraid and more than a little excited, and pressed on.
***
A moment later she slipped into the main tent and made her way towards the ring. The whole place was almost empty so it didn’t take her long to find a seat. She only hoped nobody in charge had noticed her sneak in.
As she focused her attention on the center of the ring she began to feel uneasy. A trio of clowns with black makeup around their eyes and strange smiles on their faces were cycling around the edge on unicycles at rapid speed, but it was what lay beyond them that had really caught her attention. It was the dark trio from the billboard outside.
The dwarf was juggling small knifes and the beautiful, svelte woman was beside him, dressed in a skintight silver jumpsuit that covered her entire body, save for just the front of her face. She wore silver makeup to match her outfit and her bright green eyes were wild and frenetic underneath. She seemed to be some kind of contortionist, slipping into various impossible poses, twisting her limbs around her neck and behind her torso.
And just slightly behind those two, with only his dark smile and smolderingly intense eyes truly visible, was the Ringmaster. Julie gasped as she looked at him, dressed in his sleek black top hat and velvet cape. There was no doubt in her mind that he was the man from the recording.
In his hand he held a long black cane and he raised it up powerfully over his head, bellowing laughter. “Cassandra!” he commanded, “lift him up!”
The contortionist reached her legs down to the dwarf and flicked him up onto the soles of her feet, as he continued to juggle. Julie felt a pang of dark heat in her belly. That voice, it was him…
At that moment, the Ringmaster turned and looked directly at her. Julie felt her whole body go limp and weak as though just by his gaze he had taken total control over her, body and soul. He opened his mouth and smiled a smile that was full of dark and sinful intimations.
***
She had to get out of here. She must have been crazy to sneak in here, to break the law like that. It wasn’t like her at all and now, now she just knew that he’d spotted her.
She decided to wait until he turned his attention away from her to make her move, but it seemed like he was always at least partially watching her out of the corner of his eye. Finally, she stood up and slowly started walking to the exit. There must have been another twenty minutes or more left in the show so it wasn’t like he’d be able to stop her now anyway.
She turned her back to the circus ring and walked to the door, gaining speed as she went. Behind her the dark ringmaster whispered something in one of the clown’s ears and he went cycling off at speed out of the tent.
***
Outside, the evening was beginning to get dark and Julie shivered as she pulled her blazer tighter around herself. Suddenly she just wanted to get home, to make a nice cup of hot chocolate and settle down in her dressing gown in front of the TV. Whatever it was that was going on out here, she would just have to remain ignorant of it. Maybe she wasn’t so adventurous after all.
“I thought I told you to come back tomorrow.”
Julie froze in shock. There in front of her was the muscular goth from the ticket stand. Behind him stood two identical brothers with shaggy brown hair and beards, dressed in tight green leotards. Though slimmer, they were just as ripped as he was.
“I… I’m sorry,” Julie began, “I got lost.”
“Bullshit,” the ticket vendor said, “you were just inside the circus. You were spotted there.”
Julie backed away from them. She was frightened and wanted to go home, but also… she was excited. Maybe more than she’d ever been in her entire boring life.
“Look,” she said, “I can pay you for whatever you think it’s worth. I have money.”
The vendor smiled darkly and shook his head. “That’s not how we do things here. You’ve got two choices. Either you let Saul and Paul here escort you somewhere to wait for the Ringmaster or we call the cops and have you arrested for trespassing. Either way you’re going to be confined.”
Julie couldn’t believe her ears. She felt a flush of heat between her legs and felt herself moisten. That tape.
“What will he want from me?” she asked.
“What will he want?” the vendor chuckled and the two brothers sniggered behind him, “well that’s for him to say, isn’t it? You’ll just have to wait to find out.”
Julie said nothing. She was so confused, she didn’t know what she wanted. It was like her mind and her flesh were pulling her in two totally different directions. And the flesh was winning.
“Look,” the hulk said, “Miss, we’re not going to restrain you against your will, but we already know that you work for the local paper so it won’t be hard for the police to track you down and arrest you if you leave now. So you can do it that way if you want to, but maybe it would be better just to stick around. All he wants is to talk to you anyway.”
Julie looked from him to the two twins behind either shoulder. She sighed an uneven and flustered breath. “Ok,” she said, “I’ll wait.”
***
The two brothers took her by each arm, not without gentleness, and began to lead her away through the maze of trailers and tents. They took her to the back of a large white truck and ushered her up the steps inside.
“In here,” they grunted.
Julie paused. She was reluctant to continue, even though her gut told her they meant her no harm. One of them sighed.
“Hey,” he said, “you heard Chuck back there. Either you do it our way or we hand you over to the police and let them deal with you. It’s that simple.”
“Fine,” Julie said, “ok.” She climbed onboard the truck.
“There’s a good girl.”
They pushed her forward through the darkness and as her eyes adjusted, Julie let out a gasp of shock. Ahead of her was what appeared to be some kind of large animal cage. Before she had time to think, they’d already led her in
side and closed the door behind her.
“Ok,” one of the brothers smiled, “you will wait here until the Ringmaster has finished his performance. Perhaps then you’ll have some time to think about why what you did was wrong.”
Julie put her hands around the bars. This was ridiculous, totally humiliating, and yet… and yet it felt like the hottest thing in the world right now.
“You can’t leave me here,” she protested, “locked up like a wild animal.”
“Are you sure?” the brother laughed as they left, “because I have a feeling you’re quite enjoying it.”
They closed the door over almost all the way, leaving just a sliver of light coming into the truck and then they were gone.
***
They were right, she was enjoying it. Ever since she’d heard that tape Julie had felt something deep inside her grow. Something bad, something dark. Something that felt so powerful it could set the whole night on fire.
She brushed her fingers against the rough metal bars, savoring the feeling against her palms. Between her legs she felt the juices seep out of her pussy, dampening her panties completely. With one hand, she began to stroke her warm stomach, finally sliding her fingers down beneath her pants. As she pressed them against her quivering folds she leaned forward and opened her mouth around the iron bar.
She didn’t know why she’d done it. It tasted cold and metallic and somehow it made her feel so naughty and depraved. She stroked her fingers up and down her slippery slit, rocking her hips forward in time with her stroke. In her mind, she saw the Ringmaster coming towards her, growing bigger and more powerful with each step, his smile widening as those piercing golden eyes held her captive in their gaze. She let out a soft moan and the doors at the back of the truck suddenly swung open.
Whipped by the Ringmaster Page 1