Epilogue

Six months later . . .

"You called?" The dark whisper wraps around me, making me shiver as I glance over my shoulder with a grin to see Diamond framed in my tent doorway. Spade, Club and Heart are behind him.

"I did," I murmur as I turn to face them, my hair flowing over my shoulder as I stand, naked and waiting for them. Their greedy eyes trace every inch of my body, and I know they love each dip and scar. My thighs clench, and desire spirals through me.

Diamond steps closer, no doubt sensing my intention. I always need them, and tonight is no exception. We have all been busy the last few days, setting up in a new place, and I haven't gotten to play.

Tonight, I want to play with each of them. I want them to remind me where I belong.

"You once told me you wanted to live and get revenge. You have both now. Is that all you want?" he murmurs as he stops.

"No." I smirk as I prowl toward him. "I want you all forever."

Gripping my ringmaster's hair, I yank his head back as I kiss him, my eyes going to my other men who step inside, letting the flaps shut behind them. Desire and hunger glimmer in their eyes as they watch me. Licking Diamond's lips, I pull away slightly as I meet his gaze.

"Tonight, your queen wants all of you."

"What our queen wants, she gets," he murmurs, licking his lips as his hand slides across my hip. He tugs me closer, dipping me as his lips find mine again in an all-consuming kiss.

Groaning into his mouth, I slide my hands across his built shoulders, down his muscular arms, and up his abs, greedy to touch every inch of him. I break the kiss with a gasp and turn his head, kissing down his throat and chest before I bite his nipple. His hiss fills the air, and suddenly, I'm flying.

I bounce as I hit my bed, but I don't have time to complain because he's on me within a moment. He rolls us so my arms are behind me, pinned between our bodies, his chest to my back, and his mouth meets my ear as he hooks his leg around one of mine and forces it open.

"Behave. Let your men fuck and worship you, my queen, and then you can have your monster."

My heart slams in my chest as Club steps between my legs, his clothes gone, as he strokes his huge cock, running his eyes down my body. "What our queen wants, she gets. You know that."

"Club—" His name ends in a scream as he lifts my left leg, throwing it over his shoulder, and slams into me, forcing his huge, hard dick as deep inside of my slick channel as he can. My eyes cross as my back arches. Leaning down, he captures my nipple in his lips, sucking and twisting as he pulls from my clenching body and thrusts forward, setting a hard, fast rhythm. Some nights, I like it soft, while others, I want the devil, and tonight I want their darkness.

I want them.

"Look at what you do to him. Feel what you do to all of us. You drive us crazy," Diamond purrs in my ear, making me shiver and clench down on Club. He groans into my skin, lifting his head as he captures my other nipple. I rock my hips into his brutal thrusts, taking him deeper, the wet sound of our bodies coming together loudly in my tent.

He straightens suddenly, lifting my hips into the air with the force of him fucking me, and turns his head to kiss my leg. His other hand slides up my hip and across my cunt, where he rubs my clit until I cry out and clench around his cock. Snarling, he fucks me harder, faster, as his teeth bite into my leg.

Pain and pleasure mix, and I explode with a scream, taking him with me, his groan muffled against my skin as his hips stutter before slamming deeply into me, pumping me full of his hot cum.

Gasping, I slump back into Diamond, shaking as he kisses my jumping pulse. "Good girl, now take your beast tamer."

I open my eyes, and Club steps away from me before Spade takes his place.

"Spade," I beg. "Please."

"He tames wild animals, Queen. Now let him tame this wild, perfect pussy," Diamond coos.

"I had you this morning, my love," Spade murmurs as he forces my thighs wider, to the point of pain. "Yet I want you with an intensity that borders on painful, so hold on because you'll need to for what I have in store."

"I can take you, all of you. I was made for you." I tilt my head back, widening my legs. "Show me your worst, beast master."

Despite Spade's usual softness, he grabs my thighs, lifts me from the bed, and spears me onto his cock.

Spade is huge but slick with my and Club's cum, so he fits inside me, stuffing me full of his dick.

I almost choke at how full I feel, and when he starts to move, I see stars. My moans echo around my tent as Diamond's hand slides across my chest and covers my breast, squeezing and pinching my nipple. Pleasure shoots straight to my throbbing clit, building me up until I'm begging wordlessly for more.

"You're ours," Spade snarls as he hammers into me, his hands spanning my hips as he uses my body just like I wanted.

"She is, and look how well she takes us." Diamond groans. "I can feel her dripping above me. Our greedy queen wants more, doesn't she?"

"Yes, yes, yes," I cry, power flowing through me with my pleasure.

Spade snarls, his fingers bruising my skin as he fills me with each wild thrust, hitting my cervix. The pain only makes me scream for more until neither of us can take it.

We tumble into bliss together, my name on his lips as he fills me with his release, and I drip mine down on him.

I don't get time to recover as he's ripped away, replaced by a grinning Heart with madness in his gaze as he looks at me. "My turn to play, Queen."

Without warning, he impales me on his cock, fighting my fluttering cunt to fill me.

I try to pull away, to fight him, but he drags me down, taking my pussy hard and fast until my screams fill the air, the madness in his gaze growing as he hears it.

"That's it, my queen. Scream for me. Let them all know you belong to us. My body was made to fill yours. I'm going to spend the rest of our lives buried deep inside you."

Whimpering, I nod my head rapidly. "Yours, you're mine." My words make no sense, but they seem to drive him wild.

Pulling from my dripping channel, he slides his slick dick down and presses it against my ass, pushing into me as I widen my legs, accepting him. He presses past my muscles, making it hurt even as it feels good.

My hips roll, chasing pleasure as he fucks my ass with wicked, hard thrusts, my name a constant chant from his mouth as Diamond holds me still for his assault.

The power inside me grows, and unlike usual, I can't control it. Cards fly from me, but Heart simply grins, fucking me as they embed into his skin, queens sticking from his bare chest.

"Marks of honor," he tells me. "You made me bleed, Queen. Now it's your turn."

My eyes widen as he leans down, digging his teeth into my breast. The pain is so great I almost black out, and when he pulls back, my blood smears his lips and my breast drips with it.

Grinning a crimson smile, he hammers into my ass as he lowers his head once more and bites my other one.

My nails dig into Diamond's skin, cutting him as I scream and writhe, pleasure and pain filling me until it explodes out of me. Cards fly through the room as I come so hard I pass out.

When I come to, Heart is groaning, his cock buried in my ass as he spills his cum, his tongue lapping at the blood across my skin until Diamond kicks him away.

"My turn," Diamond declares.

I'm weak, my body limp as I'm turned once more and forced to my knees. I almost collapse, feeling cum and blood drip down me as I look down at him. He grins up at me.

"There she is: my queen. Now ride your king. I want to watch you claim me."

"Diamond," I warn on a pant, my pussy and ass aching, but he gives me no reprieve. He lifts and drops me onto his waiting cock. With his hands on my hips, he forces me to ride him. My hands fall backwards, gripping his thighs behind me to keep myself up.

He moves me faster, forcing me to ride his cock, and my exhaustion is replaced by desire—desire to see my perfect ringmaster fall apart for me. Moaning, I wind my hips, looking down at Diamond spread out below me. He groans, letting me know he likes it, so I speed up, bouncing on his cock as his eyes drop to my cunt.

His gaze is dark and hungry, his hands sliding over my skin as my power grows. I worry for a moment that I'll hurt him with it, and Diamond reads that.

"Take my flesh. Carve it off with your cards. It's yours, Queen. The cirque has my soul, but you have my heart and body. I am yours until the end," he vows.

That promise releases something inside me, and I give into the power. I ride him harder, faster, taking what I want as my cards cut into him, making him bleed for me. All the while, he urges me on, demanding more.

The power I have over him, over them all, drives me wild as the others surround me. Hands and mouths slide across my skin as I fly higher and higher, soaring toward the abyss of pleasure only they give me.

They work as one to give me what I want, but as I fall into their waiting arms again, it's my ringmaster's gaze I hold. I scream his name, and with his own bellow, he follows me into the waiting darkness, filling me up with his pleasure and love.

Shaking, I roll my hips through the aftershocks as they collapse into my bed, Diamond's softening cock still inside me. Their teeth and hands mark every inch of my skin, and satisfaction pours through me.

It's then I feel the call.

The cirque reaches for us, calling to us.

Lifting my head, I peer out of the tent flaps to the darkness beyond, tasting the menace in the air as I turn my gaze to my collapsed men. "I hope you still have some energy left. We have a call. It's time to go."

Their groans make me laugh.

The call doesn't take us too far from Cirque Obscurum, only to the outskirts of town and an abandoned power station where kids have been having parties, which is obvious considering the bottles and trash scattered about. I wander through it, my mask in place and my men behind me. Our souls thrum as one as we answer the call, following it through the darkness and into the building where a young girl is curled into herself, the joker card clutched in her hands.

Her eyes widen when she sees us, and she scrambles backwards, gripping her torn dress to her body. I hold my hand up, and my men step back. I read the truth in her eyes without her needing to say anything, and fury fills me.

Pain recognizes pain. My ghosts match hers, and an understanding passes between us as I kneel before her. She swallows, her tongue darting out to prod her split, bleeding lip. Blood coats her thighs as she tries to unsuccessfully cover herself, and I take off my leather duster and hand it over. Wordlessly, she wraps it around herself, glancing from me to my men.

"Who are you?"

"Your answer to the call," I admit.

She glances down at the card she still holds, her eyes flaring wide with shock. "I heard the rumors, the tales . . . I didn't know if it was true. I hoped . . ." She looks at me as if to assure herself I'm real.

I offer no comfort or words. They won't help.

She doesn't need me to hold her as she cries.

That isn't why she called us.

She needs the monsters.

She needs the hunters.

She wants revenge.

"Tell me your nightmares," I coo as I peer into her terrified, bruised face.

She glances at a busted window, where ripped curtains blow in the wind and laughing voices reach us. "Them. They are my nightmares." She searches my gaze. "I want them to pay for what they did to me."

"We can handle that." I offer her my hand, and she places the card in it. "In return, you have a choice—join us or continue with your life."

"I like my life. It won't be easy, but I want to go home. I can't, though, knowing they are still alive and out there," she admits.

"Then let us rid you of that fear." Standing, I pocket the card as I grin at her. "Stay here."

Whistling to myself, I head out of the abandoned building and around the back where I find a group of three boys passing a joint between them, laughing as they talk.

"Did you try that ass? It was tight?—"

My features contort in anger, and I pull my blade, twirling it as I skip their way. "Hi, boys, I heard you like to play. Can I join?"

Their heads whip around, and I giggle. "What the fuck?"

I don't let them say another word. Their actions caused enough pain, and their words won't help them get another chance.

I stab my blade into the first boy's stomach because he's facing us. His scream fills the air as I yank it up and out. I kick him so he falls into the dirt. While the others are frozen in shock, I tilt my head and skip to the next guy. Once I stand before him, I grip his dick through his pants, and with the power of the cards filling me, I rip it from his body, holding it up like a trophy as he howls. "Not much to brag about, is there?" I comment as I toss it away.

He collapses at my feet.

The third turns to run as I laugh. "Run, little rabbit!" I giggle again. "Little rabbit, little rabbit, won't you stay? After all, I thought you wanted to play!"

The power of the cirque still fills me, so I fling my hand out, letting it flow from me. Cards fly through the air like daggers, and they slam into his back, knocking him to the ground with a scream as I prowl over, seeing our suits sticking from his bleeding back. Kicking him over, I grin down at his pale face.

He lifts his hand to ward me off. "Please, God?—"

I slice out with my dagger, taking his hand as he screams and gapes at the stump. "No god can save you now," I tell him happily, and then I bring my boot down on his crotch, crushing until he finally passes out. Leaning down, I grip his hair and begin to slice. I carve through his neck, blood squirting across my mask and face, and when his head is finally separated from his body, I turn to see the others watching, letting me take the lead. My eyes land on the first boy. He's still alive and trying to get away.

"Heart, do the honors," I call as we watch the first boy try to crawl away, sobbing and bleeding everywhere.

"With pleasure, Queen." He stalks the boy as he glances back at us, sobbing and screaming louder. Heart feasts on his fear as I watch, and when he finally stops before him, the boy lifts his head.

"Tell me if this hurts," Heart says as he plunges his blade into the boy's chest, carving out his heart while he's still alive. When he falls to the ground again, he's already dead.

Dropping the head with the other bodies, I walk over and check to make sure they are all dead just as the girl stumbles from the building. I expect horror, but all I see is relief and satisfaction in her gaze as she stares at the bloodbath.

"Thank you." She looks at the bodies then us. "Thank you."

"Go home. Heal. Enjoy your life, and remember, if you ever need us, we're here. All you have to do is call."

We watch her go.

We're the shadows in the night, the monsters of this world, the broken and beautiful.

We are the saviors of the weak and the damnation of the strong.

I glance at my men to see them watching me. Diamond steps forward.

With his mask in place, he reaches for me like they did all those nights ago when they saved me. This time, I don't hesitate. I place my hand in his, smiling at the mask and the man underneath.

I chose life all those months ago, and I choose it again each and every day with them.

With my cards and my men, my family and my home.

"Let's go home to where brutal things linger and nightmares thrive," I rasp.

He grins and leans in to whisper in my ear. "Tell me your nightmares, Queen."

I smile and lace my fingers with his, but I don't answer. I am the nightmare. I am the queen.

And the darkness?

The darkness is home.