Hunger

Chapter 18

"Columbina, stand still!" Parthavo said as he helped her into her next costume. He gave her a tiny swat on her buttcheek when she glared at him over her shoulder. "Stop your wriggling or I'm going to have to send you out there before you're ready!"

Columbina let out a low snarl. She was trying, dammit! All this pent up energy coursing through her that had nowhere to go.

Come on, Columbina. Just hold on for a little while longer. The lack of release her body felt was sheer torture. Fifteen minutes was too long for intermission, forcing her to stand backstage while one depraved and unwelcome thought after another floated towards her. The image of Buggy sucking on her finger in the lobby wouldn't leave her, her private fantasy morphing into what would possibly happen if she finally managed to get him alone...Him forcing his own fingers past her lips, demanding that she get him good and wet so that he would have no trouble dipping them lower, sliding them between her folds, get her nice and wet for him in turn...Let him show her what Buggy the Clown was truly capable of.

Parthavo swatted her on her other buttcheek. "Bina! The squirming! Stop it."

"Sorry, Par. Sorry, sorry, sorry..." she mumbled as he finished lacing her up in the corset she was wearing for her next act. A horrid, telling blush had come into her cheeks. Truth be told, as pleasant as the thoughts admittedly were, Columbina was concerned. The potency of the clown's energy wasn't something she could ever remember feeling from anyone else, and she'd Fed from thousands of other humans before him. It was ghosting along her skin, almost making her feel like...

I'm all hot and bothered because it almost feels like his fucking hands and fingers are actually back here!

She let herself inhale and exhale several times, knowing she had to focus for the sake of those around her as well. She'd caught several stolen glances from some of the other performers, several sets of eyes lingering on her for just a little too long. Laynie and Par at least had been around her enough and had both been with her enough times that there was a certain level of immunity they had towards her. They were used to being near her while her pheromones radiated from her like mist, the Lilin-Lilin Fruit working to attract potential prey. She hated using that term, "prey". It had been what Sir Crocodile insisted she use to refer to other humans during her short stint with him and Baroque.

Your Devil Fruit has provided you with a tremendous gift, Pigeon, she could still remember that first post-coital conversation they'd shared. His honeyed words to her had been a lie, a manipulation tactic, the same way his gentle touches had been, coaxing her into believing she may have finally found her home. She could remember collapsing against his chest after their exertions, his bare skin smelling of expensive cigar smoke and desert spices.

Columbina recalled the fleeting moment of safety she'd felt as Croc had smoothed her hair away from her dampened brow, how he'd thoroughly checked every inch of her body to make sure there were no bruises left after an evening of rough intercourse. He'd simply marveled over her Devil Fruit abilities, both what they could do for him inside and outside of the bedroom. You have powers that the Kings and Queens of this world could only dream of. Do you know that, Pigeon? You're going to stay right here with your Desert King, let Sir help you embrace what you are, he'd told her, pushing her back into the mattress of his bed and plunging into her once more, one more powerful man intent on possessing her, controlling her. In the end, refusing to treat her like a human. Forcing her to use sex to keep herself alive. Such a good Succubus, obeying her master...

Columbina had to physically shake her head to drive the memory away. And that's what Sir Crocodile and Baroque Works were to her at this point, just a memory. Nothing and no one ever stayed. Buggy and his ill intentions were just the fucking pattern of her existence repeating itself all over again. All of a sudden she felt as if she had to fight to hold on to the energy swirling inside her, the brief Alabasta flashback replacing the lushness that had found its way into her nervous system with nausea.