“You fugging bastard, that wasn’t what I asked for,” Cameron sobbed through his bruised, possibly perforated throat. His face shone with tears, phlegm and diluted blood.
“I always give the wisher exactly what he asks for,” Bell said. “It is your mistake that you were not specific enough.”
“Fug this noise. I’m not making another wish. You haven’t granded my first one anyway and the second…you sick fug.”
“I told you, the wish will be granted later this evening. You just don’t get to see it. Maya is adventurous, but I would never share her with you. Now, good sir, you said you wouldn’t make any more wishes,” Bell said. “Tragedy, Comedy, Murphy, he’s all yours.”
The Ringmaster withdrew his whip with a rabid grin, and Bell turned his back on Cameron to wrap his arm around Maya’s shoulders. They walked away as the clowns advanced on Cameron, hunched over in anticipation. The rest of the cast, even the other demons, joined Bell and Maya on the other side of the trailer so that they wouldn’t have to watch.
“Wait, wait!” Cameron shouted after them in a panic. “I wish to be out of here. Get me out of here.”
“Granted,” Bell said.
And did absolutely nothing. The clowns would take care of the fulfillment in their own special way.
“Forget about him,” Bell murmured to Maya as they entered their RV. “He’s not worth the second thought, and they will eat him slowly.”
“Forget about who?” Maya asked, shedding the remnants of her costume. All of her trembling had disappeared.
Bell pulled their hips together. “There’s my girl. You amaze me, Maya.”
“Don’t we have a convention to go to?” Maya asked.
“They’re having other events tomorrow and Sunday morning. They can wait. Are you sure you’re all right?” he asked. “The jackal didn’t…”
“No,” Maya said. “He just tried.”
Bell cupped her face in his hands, staring at her with such smoldering intensity that Maya thought she would melt as his gaze moved from her eyes to her mouth. Then he leaned in and pressed his lips to hers, almost chaste, if not for how tightly he held her.
The next few kisses were far from pure. He made love to her mouth and molded her to his body as though, if he held her close enough, she would dissolve right into him.
“Asalam. Golam,” Bell muttered against her lips.
“Do I want to know what you were saying to the guys in whatever language you lapse into when you’re furious or horny?” Maya asked.
Bell laughed and pressed his forehead against hers. “They are not appropriate to be spoken at this moment, no. But what I tell you is how precious you are to me. Ta setareha dooset daram. I will never, ever, let anyone try to hurt you like that without making them pay. I would eat their souls for you, Maya.”
“Just what a girl likes to hear,” Maya said. Then she pulled him down for another kiss, starving for them, for him.
She forgot about the dinner, about the convention, about the three new additions to Arcanium, and about the clowns’ impending full bellies.
Maya just closed her eyes and helped Bell fulfill the forgotten one’s first wish.
Chapter Eleven
“We’re doing things a little differently today,” Bell said, leading her not to his fortune teller’s tent but to the ring. Outside the big top, Maya heard the commotion of the oddities setting up on the Row.
Shawn, Melanie and John wouldn’t feature on the Row until the next week or two, after they’d adjusted to their new reality and learned some of the rules. Bell had already needed to intercept John, who had tried to climb the fence much like Maya had. Melanie, however, was in no state to run, and Shawn didn’t have the coordination yet to do so.
Maya had seen them that morning when Kitty had handed John a smoothie and the other two the standard scramble. John couldn’t open his mouth much more than the height of a straw without billows of smoke pouring out of him like a burning house.
Melanie had the decency to hang her head in shame as she floated in her mobile aquarium. John was angry because he was scared, but not to the same level of stupidity as Cameron. Shawn just didn’t know how to deal with the change. He wandered around looking a bit stupid, with his stumbling and weaving and single-eye squinting.
Maya thought she ought to be a bit more compassionate toward their despair and disorientation, but she just wasn’t ready for that. Maya had been condemned to Arcanium because of Derrick’s wish, not her own, and certainly not for threatening the life and limb of a defenseless girl, beating a peaceful man just because he was in their way then attacking the woman trying to defend them.
She’d save her compassion for the more random victims of Bell’s wish-granting.
“I’ve already arranged everything,” Bell said. He gestured to a cavalcade of golems who carried a platform standing on end to the center of the ring. Bindings for the wrists and ankles interrupted the smooth, glossy finish of the wood. “I’ve spoken with the Ringmaster. This evening’s…entertainment with him has been postponed, perhaps indefinitely. That’s still your decision, but I was under the impression that you were finished with your self-imposed sentence.” He traced the line of her clavicle.
“I-I don’t know. I mean, with the Ringmaster’s sessions,” Maya said.
She was done beating herself up over Derrick, but a deeper part of her still condemned herself for declaring an end to it. On the one hand, Derrick had hurt her and she had hurt him back. On the other hand, revenge was a never-ending loop. Cameron had been this close to unintentional retaliation. If Cameron had worded his wishes right, Bell might not have been able to get around them without hurting her first.
Even if she moved on with the rest of her life in Arcanium, taking her licks where she got them, she could at least ensure that she’d get a few of them on the regular. Maya didn’t know if she still needed them, but she wasn’t comfortable shutting it all down completely.
After all, she couldn’t go to a priest on Saturday evenings anymore. She thought of the Ringmaster’s sessions as interim absolution—poor substitute though they were. She didn’t even know whether they worked. But Maya needed something.
“There’s no need to be ashamed,” Bell said, tilting her head up when she dropped her gaze.
She reluctantly looked him in the eye.
“It was merely a comment. The Ringmaster has never had such a willing victim with such regularity for a long time. As I expected, I’m afraid he’s developed too much of a taste for it now that he’s had it. But if you intend to continue, that should slake his desire for infliction. If you decide to continue. Now, before you go into the device, I would like you to change. Tonight is not a high wire night. Tonight, you are my lovely assistant and you will wear this.” He held up the costume he had in mind.
“That thing?” Maya said. “One, I’m wearing this in front of everyone tonight? Seriously?”
“The kink community is returning, and after last night’s success, they’re bringing friends,” Bell said, grinning as he undid her red and black ensemble and handed it to one of the golems.
Now she knew they didn’t have souls, because not one of the guys was staring at her tits.
“Don’t worry, I wouldn’t display you in such a fashion to just any audience. It’s all about context.”
Oh, well, as long as they were in the right context, suddenly it was okay that the outfit he wanted her to wear was primarily an underbust leather corset with a series of straps she couldn’t decipher but didn’t look like they were anywhere close to covering her breasts—if they were even made for that.
“Two, I’m not tipsy anymore, but I still can’t figure out which way is up in this thing.”
“Then let me help you,” Bell said. “Turn around, Maya. Hands on the platform.”
Wearing nothing but her panties, her cuffs and her boots, Maya obeyed, putting her hands flat on the platform as though preparing to get frisked.
The corset was str
aightforward enough, a hook-and-eyelet design down the back. The straps and rings, on the other hand, required a little more work. Leather straps from the back and front connected to a shoulder piece, all leading to a collar snug at the base of her neck. As she’d suspected, the leather straps at the front weren’t made to conceal. On the contrary, they exposed and framed her breasts, defining her cleavage and rounding out over the tops.
“I must be breaking some kind of law wearing this in public,” Maya muttered.
“Only if the audience gets to touch you for the right price,” Bell said softly, tugging at the straps to make sure they were tight but not too tight. “Or if we pretended we were a family show. Now, turn around again like a good girl and hold still for the binding.”
“Bell, are you going to tell me what’s going on or are you trying to drive me crazy?” Maya asked, but did as she’d been told. The golems quickly pulled her arms out, as though hanging her on a cross, and bound her wrists on either side of her cuffs.
“I promised you a reward,” Bell replied, tucking the loose strands of her hair behind her ears. “For what you did for my Arcanium last night. You risked yourself for them, for us. With your punishment completed, you are now free to receive my bounty, and I am generous, Maya, as I am sure you have discovered—when I have cause to be.”
“Speaking of generosity, what happened to all that money?” Maya asked. She determinedly didn’t ask what had happened to Cameron.
“The golems cleaned it and are keeping it in a safe place. It should be useful, if heavy,” Bell said. His smile faltered. “But let us not dwell on unpleasantries. Let us refocus our energies on your reward.”
“Ah, yes, my reward. I’m certainly feeling rewarded,” Maya said, tugging on the ankle restraints, which separated her legs a little more than shoulder’s-width apart.
“Oh, I imagine you will be extremely uncomfortable at certain times of the day,” Bell replied. He stepped back to admire her. “Yes, this will be perfect.”
“The rest of the day? What the hell? I’m not jinn or demon, okay? I need to pee.”
“Don’t worry about that,” Bell said. “All your little discomforts and biological imperatives shall be taken care of. No, I refer to other forms of discomfort. Sweet, aching, dripping, delicious forms of discomfort,” he murmured low in her ear. “For the rest of the day.”
Maya whimpered, the hair on the back of her neck rising at the purr of his promise.
“One more piece to complete the ensemble,” Bell said. He opened the bag at his hip and held a single scrap of black fabric before her eyes. “I want you to let go, to feel everything as it happens, for your senses to heighten each touch, each caress, from everyone who answers my request.”
“Everyone?” Maya said as Bell tied the blindfold over her eyes. “Wait, what do you mean by ‘everyone’?”
“Are you afraid?” Bell asked. “Or do you trust me?”
Wow, just throw that grenade out there. Her trust in Bell was so complicated, she wasn’t sure it was trust anymore.
“More importantly, do you trust them? Do you trust that they won’t hurt you or do anything against your will? Because it will please me for them to do this to you,” he said, stroking her cheeks and down her neck to the collar.
“You didn’t invite the newbies, did you?” Maya asked tentatively.
“Of course not. Did you expect me to?”
“I had to ask,” she said. She blew air out of her mouth in a rush. “Okay. Okay, let’s do this.”
“Good girl. Oh, and I forgot,” Bell said, backing away. “Try not to come.”
“Fuck, Bell, really?” Maya said, pulling against the bindings. “Again? I thought we were through with that.”
“For every time you let them make you come, I’ll make you come again tonight. Sounds pleasant, doesn’t it? But after a while, things do get sore—with humans,” Bell said.
Son of a bitch was grinning—she could hear it.
“If you weren’t immortal, I’d kill you,” Maya said.
“I know, golam. But remember, not everything is about you. The words that condemned you, they are now the words that will give you unimaginable pleasure if you embrace them. Kitty will bring you meals and drinks. I’ll take care of the rest. Enjoy your day, Maya. I know I’ll enjoy it from afar.”
“He’s just leaving me here,” Maya muttered. The big top tent entrance closed with a sound like wind through sails.
Absolutely no way this could go wrong.
‘Not everything is about you.’ The wish that would go on forever if Bell so willed it. Somehow that didn’t seem nearly as bad as it used to.
Fuck you, Derrick. It’s not going to be about you anymore either. Ever again.
* * * *
Her first visitor surprised her. The only clue he gave her was the suede stroke of braided leather over her cheek.
“I have been told that our session tonight is cancelled, but the sessions themselves are not to be discontinued,” the Ringmaster said. “I am thrilled to hear it.”
“I’m…glad?” Maya said. She might willingly submit to his whip, but she still wasn’t sure exactly where she stood with the Ringmaster.
Of the collection of demons in Arcanium, the Ringmaster was the only one she hadn’t seen out of his disguise, and he and the clowns were the only ones who seemed outright evil. A furnace of dark flame billowed black smoke into his eyes whenever she stared into them. She was glad she didn’t have to see them when he was beating her. Or now, with the blindfold. His darkness was why she had chosen him to punish her as he did, but it didn’t exactly lend itself to the start of a beautiful friendship.
“Not only that, but you brought me fresh meat,” the Ringmaster said. He trailed the wrapped circle of the whip down her chest, catching the winding curve under her breast and lifting it up slightly.
Maya tensed.
“Usually Bell gives troublemakers to the clowns—trespassing children, drunken louts, criminals. Others he keeps for himself. These new ones, however…I think I’ll get my whip into at least one of them, maybe more. But then, who could have known how bountiful you would be? I never expected such a gift.” The Ringmaster laughed, low and haunting, as he slid the leather over her bare thighs. Then he withdrew.
Maya braced herself for the crack of a whip, but it never came.
He was gone.
* * * *
The constant standing wasn’t easy, but whenever Maya got tired, she would lean against the platform or slump in the bindings. If anything, though, it was the loneliness that got to her. Only the Ringmaster had visited, no sign of anyone else, not even Bell.
When Kitty unbound her wrists and took off Maya’s blindfold, Maya thought she could kiss the woman. Another person. Another person existed. Sure, she could hear people outside. The circus opened earlier when they were on their own instead of part of a faire. But it was all so distant, muffled behind canvas, even more cut off from the world than she already was.
“How are you doing?” Kitty asked, handing her a turkey leg on a stick and a bottle of water.
“Disoriented,” Maya said. “Feet hurt. Ominous appreciation from the Ringmaster aside, it’s been a quiet, hot morning. You?”
“Same, except the Ringmaster didn’t visit me. What’d he do?” Kitty asked.
“Nothing,” Maya replied. “Just thanked me for being his whipping girl and giving him other potential people to punish. He makes my skin crawl. I mean, the clowns are creepy because…you know, killer clowns. But I’m not entirely sure what the Ringmaster is, except for a sadist. Hard to fault him for that, though. That’s what I use him for.”
“He’s one to watch out for,” Kitty said, “but you don’t have to worry about him, Maya. Hell, you’re one of his favorite toys, and he’ll do everything he can to keep anything from breaking you. Well, anything else. That gives you a leg up on the rest of us. Go ahead and drink the whole bottle. Bell told me he’d keep you from feeling, you know, that kind of pres
sure. Lucky.” Kitty grinned. “Sometimes I’m sitting there with people gawking at me, and I’m trying to convince my bladder it’s not about to explode. We have to wait for a lull.”
“I always did wonder about that,” Maya said.
Kitty helped Maya back into the bindings and retied the blindfold.
“Just out of curiosity, are you going to…?” Maya said. She couldn’t really finish the question, but her blush did just fine for her.
“Do you want me to?” Kitty asked, surprised.
“No, I— Just wondering,” Maya said.
“Not lying when I say I’d love to watch what some of our people have planned, but I have work to do,” Kitty said. “I’ll be back in a few hours to see if you need anything.”
“Kitty,” Maya called after her.
“Yes?”
“I’ve never… But if I were to try, I’d be okay with trying with you,” Maya said.
“I’ve never been with a woman before either,” Kitty said quietly. “I never thought about it. However, if you’re interested in experimenting, I wouldn’t say no. Another day. Not today. Not in the open. I don’t feel comfortable doing that.”
“Okay.” Damn, she’d flushed all the way to the tips of her ears, already warm under the edge of the blindfold.
“I can’t tell you how nice it’s been to meet a fellow spirit,” Kitty said. “In so many ways.”
“What do you mean by that?” Maya asked.
But Kitty had already left.
* * * *
Kitty visited again, so a few more hours must have passed. She shushed Maya softly when she stirred.
Then she placed a cold piece of chocolate-covered ice cream on Maya’s lips. One by one and without a word, Kitty—at least Maya assumed it was Kitty, it seemed like her, felt like her—fed her twelve ice cream bites then disappeared as silently and mysteriously as she’d arrived.
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