Freakshow

Chapter Twenty Six

"Every time you feel a tug on your skin, make sure you give it your all. I want the audience to get what they paid for, I want them to believe that I am torturing you," Orion said, a sadistic tone in his voice.

"I think I can manage that," I replied with trepidation. Now that I was lying face down on the wooden table, stripped naked and shivering in the cold air, I was reconsidering my hasty decision to join After Dark.

Cairo was beside me though, at least for this time. When I performed tomorrow night, he would be in the audience but far from the stage. Orion didn't want him distracting me from my theatrical dramatics.

I felt Orion's hands on my back, his skin was hot and dry, he felt like he was running a fever.

"You're hot," I said, flinching from his touch.

"We run hot," Cairo said, "Haven't you ever noticed that with me?"

"No, I haven't," I replied, suddenly overwhelmed by the presence of magic in Orion's body. I'd seen him try to shift, and I'd known he was obviously a wolf like his son, but it hadn't impacted me until I was trussed up at his mercy.

He was a shifter, a creature that could change into a savage beast.

It made him infinitely more dangerous.

"We are hot creatures," Orion said, running his hands up my back. Against my will, I relaxed and eased into his massage. "You run a little warm yourself," he continued, "I wonder why that is. What you are."

"If I knew, I would tell you," I said and felt a forceful tug on my skin. I heard the overhead ropes move and something dragged against the hook he'd just threaded through my flesh.

"How's that?" Orion asked with the gentle sound of a father tending a child. He was so bipolar at times I didn't know if he was coming or going.

"It's fine," I said.

He grunted an acknowledgment and continued. I felt several more rough tugs through my skin, followed by movement in the overhead ropes.

"Hold tight," Orion said, moving towards the head of the table.

Cairo stood nearby and gave me a look of support, I took a deep breath and waited.

There was a sound, like chain running through a loop. I felt nothing at first, but soon the hooks in my skin were pulled tight and I started to rise.

I forgot to act like I was in pain, I was so enthralled with the lightness, the sensation of flying.

"How high are you taking me?" I asked in a breathy voice that seemed to belong to another.

"Just a few feet," he said, "It's a quick act after the levitation occurs. The main part of the show is centered around the hooks going into your flesh. Our crowds are particular about certain aspects of our performances."

"They like blood," Cairo said, "from what I've heard. I've never attended one before."

"You were always too squeamish to handle them," Orion said, "If it were up to you, the Cirque would flounder and fold. We'd all be collecting welfare and living in a shitty trailer park on the edge of the desert."

"We're Canadian," I said, "Welfare isn't the worst thing that could happen." I smiled at Cairo in an attempt to make light of Orion's rant.

"Something happens to our people when they're left idle," Orion told me, lifting me a little higher, "They languish, they get into trouble, and they die early of horrible means. They need to work, they need the community."

"I'm sure she means nothing by her remark," Cairo said.

"I'm going to release you now," Orion said, "Please make more noise on the night of the performance. We need to really get the audience riled up. We owe it to them."