5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Sweat trickled down my spine, making the pleather chafe as I crawled through the sweltering building. Each room seemed hotter than the last. After so many twists and turns, and up a set of winding stairs, I couldn’t imagine still even being within the vicinity of the carnival. Time became irrelevant as we moved, entering room after room that couldn’t possibly be supported by the mid-sized structure we’d seen outside.

How could this be real? I kept waiting for someone to open a secret door and flip on a hidden light switch. For a perfectly normal person to appear and laugh off the whole thing. They’d tell me this was a well-done haunted house, pat me on the back, and send me home. But as much as I tried to will it into reality, nothing of the sort happened, and I couldn’t afford to be lost to despair. Not when I had Mallory to think of. She was a sweet kid and focusing on her helped me forget the sheer terror of our situation.

How could this place exist? How could they do this to people?

You signed the contract.

My heart clenched.

The horror of the place overwhelmed me, and I couldn’t help the panicked sob that escaped from my throat, though I coughed to hide it when Mallory looked over with a puckered brow.

How could I be so stupid? Signing my life away like it was nothing. Thinking it was a joke. Convinced something bad could never happen to me. Foolishly believing these people—no, these monsters —would never cross that line .

They thrived on the pain and terror they caused.

Mallory took my hand, her grip firm, but her fingers ice cold. She tugged me forward, and I forced myself to stumble along behind her.

Inside the newest room, a stage was set. Severed limbs hung from chained hooks attached to the ceiling. Blood dripped from the appendages collecting beneath them in small pools. In the center was a raised stage with a man strapped to a metal surgical table. He writhed, turning begging eyes on our group, but he couldn’t escape the metal restraints holding him. A massive creature with great horns and the muscular legs of an ostrich stepped forward through a pair of red velvet curtains, extending a long black claw towards the helpless man. I clutched a stiletto in my shaking palm and moved to intervene, but some unseen force prevented me. It was as though I stood watching the nightmare unfold behind a pane of glass, but no glass existed. Instead, the air was solid. Mallory clutched my arm and hid her face in my shoulder. With tears in my eyes, I patted her gossamer hair and forced myself to witness the scene unfold. I couldn’t help the man, but at least I wouldn’t turn away from his pain.

The captive’s eyes bulged when the monster sank a sharp black nail into his shuddering abdomen. The beast made a few long cuts before pinching the edge of skin and ripping it upward to remove a chunk. It held the section up to the audience like a prize before tucking the piece of flesh into its oversized mouth. With each slice of the monster’s sharp nail down his limbs, with each pull of skin from his body, the man’s screams pierced my ears. Naked and writhing on the table, he begged for death.

“Please. Make it stop. Help me! Someone! Anyone!” His garbled voice would live in my nightmares for the rest of my life. Each time it echoed through my mind, another piece of my heart broke. It was only when the man stopped screaming and lay still that a wall to our left slid open. The monster who had flayed him looked up at us with pits of darkness where eyes should be, but I felt its gaze boring into me. Mallory whimpered, and I squeezed her hand, trying to offer a measure of comfort I didn’t feel. Wearing a smile made up of pointed teeth, the monster held up a bloodied hand and gestured to the new doorway.

Spiderwebs covered every inch of the room in a thick layer, and millions of spiders of various sizes and types scurried over every surface. The walls were lined with glass coffins set upright, each one filled with a body at some stage of decomposition. The husks of the older ones’ skin, deflated and lacking moisture, reminded me of Egyptian mummies.

There must be a switch somewhere, just like the room with the falling ceiling, but this room was twice the size, and I’d have to feel for it. I hoped whatever thing made these webs stayed away long enough for me to find it.

It seemed like in every room we had to work to find the way out, or pay a bloody price.

“Do you think we’ll ever get to go swimming at the beach again?” Mallory’s question surprised me, and I turned my attention to her, trying to keep an eye on the spiderwebs around us at the same time. “Swimming. You know.” Mallory mimed a few strokes in the air. “I just. I was realizing if we don’t get out of here, we’ll never get to do it again.”

It was a strange thing to fixate on, but she wasn’t wrong, and I didn’t have any words of comfort to offer. When we’d first realized the true nature of this place, I’d thought there must be a way to beat it, but each room seemed more horrifying than the last.

“Yeah, I guess. But I hate water, so I’m not exactly with you on that one.”

Mallory chuckled behind her hand, setting off her charm bracelet to tinkling.

“Is that why you have so many beach charms on that thing?”

Surprised, Mallory peered down at the mermaids and seashells on her bracelet. “The beach is where I feel safe,” she said somewhat defensively, holding her wrist to her chest.

With a smile, I patted her hand. “Well, let’s get you back there, then.”

Her face brightened, and a warmth spread through my chest at the sight. I would get this kid out. I hadn’t been able to save Sam, but I could make sure Mallory was okay. It was a purpose that gave me the strength to smile and move to the wall like I was redecorating my sitting room instead of searching for a hidden switch that could mean our life or death .

The others huddled in the middle, staying clear of the walls like they were dangerous, and maybe they were. Nothing in this place was as it seemed, but if somebody didn’t try to do something, the room would demand another death to release us, and I wouldn’t let that happen.

“ This room is a critical part of my method. The fear is building now that they’ve met a few of our…performers.” Pride tinged my words, and I stood up a little straighter as I thought of how well everyone was doing tonight. “Now we’ll give the humans some time to settle into their new space, to acclimatize and understand just how doomed they are, and then one of my personal creations will make her appearance.”

I grinned at the confusion in The Devil’s eyes. Most creatures existed within Hell in one form or another, but few were created new. My centipede had raised an eyebrow, but it was still a creature of Hell-made flesh. My creation would be the one to wow The Devil. It had been a tedious process to infuse the soul of a ghoul into the body of a tarantula, but the outcome had been worth it, and my girl would not disappoint.

After the costumed humans were relaxed enough to start leaning against the walls, a figure scurried out from the shadows in the corner, an area the lights were designed to not quite reach. She dropped down with an audible thud, and the group fell silent as they struggled to see what approached them in the flashing strobes.

Above the whimpers of fear and regret, distinct rhythmic thumps neared them. All the while, the silhouette of my girl became clearer. I watched with pride as Calamity descended from the ceiling, lowering her cephalothorax and grinning with the humanoid face of a ghoul but with the protruding pincers of an arachnid dimpling the rotting flesh of her cheeks. I suppose it was a face only a mother could love.

Smirking, I watched as Kitten stepped in front of her little friend protectively.

“Do you see the kitten, my King? Her determination to continue despite the trepidations is doing something for me. You see, most humans are bolstered by ignorance and a false sense of indestructibility. The most layered flavors come from humans like her. Ones who identify the dangers and understand their fragile mortality, but push the limits despite the trepidations. I don’t doubt she is going to lead to something unique for you to taste.” I shivered with anticipation.

Calamity stood for a moment, her pincers tapping together as her bulbous black eyes scanned each potential meal, searching for the one I’d had tagged only a short time ago. She, like all my employees, knew to follow my instructions with absolute precision. When she found the mark, she didn’t hesitate.

A grin stretched across my face as I watched her work.

Good girl.

The architect of the webs was worse than any nightmare I could have dreamt, and I had to fight to keep myself standing. Mallory winced in pain, and I loosened my grip on her arm, unable to utter an apology for hurting her.

Wicked red eyes scanned us, and no one moved. I could almost hear all of us thinking a single shared thought .

Not me . Please, please, not me. Despite my reservations, I inched in front of Mallory, hoping to make her feel a little safer than the rest of us. With a screech loud enough to force a hand over my ear, the spider-thing shot forward, pivoting around me to wrap itself around Mallory’s body and sink its pincers into her neck.

Her scream broke the monster’s spell, and I renewed my grip on her arm, grabbing the stiletto I’d hooked onto my belt and stabbing at the sea of brown limbs covering Mallory.

“You can’t have her! No!”

The thing retracted its pincers from Mallory’s neck and turned to me, the red of its eyes glowing like two coals even the strobes couldn’t disrupt.

I’d thought the terrible shriek it made was the worst sound I would ever hear, but it paled in comparison to the thing’s horrific laughter—the sound of pure joy as it reveled in its malevolent intent. Then its head ducked down, driving its pincers deeper, and Mallory moaned as if she didn’t have the strength to do more. I watched it tear into the flesh of her neck, its eyes on me, the sounds of it eating only broken by that horrible violent laughter.

But I still had a grip on Mallory’s arm, and I pulled her towards me, refusing to abandon her. A tail like a scorpion shot around from its back and lazily sliced through Mallory’s arm at the elbow, leaving me holding her severed hand.

With an all-too-human grin, the spider pulled her limp form back up to the ceiling and disappeared into the shadows, the sounds of it greedily slurping and the crunch of bones pounding in my ears.

Those sounds were sweet Mallory being consumed.

I was supposed to save her.

She was supposed to swim again.

My mouth opened in horror. I came back to myself at the tinkling sound of Mallory’s charm bracelet, still attached to the dead wrist I held in my hand and set off by the uncontrollable shaking of my limbs.

With a roar, The Devil wrapped his large hand around my throat and lifted, slamming me against the wall with a crack. My head spun, and I saw stars as I fought to remain conscious.

“I accept that some sacrifices need to be made, but how dare you take an innocent such as she from me.” There was a dangerous edge to his booming voice, and I fought to keep my hands at my sides instead of clawing at him as I quickly ran out of air. “Well, Isra, what do you have to say for yourself?” As if realizing I wasn’t able to speak with him squeezing my windpipe, The Devil eased the pressure, allowing me to gasp in a quick breath of air.

“It is all for the kitten, my King. This sacrifice was necessary—”

He cut me off with a growl. “She was so pure I could smell her from across the room.” The heat of his body increased, his eyes becoming a living flame, and I turned my head as it scorched me. “A rare one, and she was mine. Do you dare take from your king now, Isra?”

Attempting to swallow around his grip on my throat and failing, I chose my next words carefully.

“Yes, and an innocent’s death was necessary to break the kitten. That child was pure, sure, but there are a few others like her here tonight. A young girl who came to the carnival as an act of rebellion after her sister’s death. She and Kitten may have only known each other a short time, but they bonded well, and that made her special. Kitten will be devastated knowing she couldn’t save her. The girl’s death will be worth this trouble, my liege. I swear it.”

His hand didn’t loosen from around my neck, but the fire in his eyes died down to burning embers and he tsked. “ Mmm, so you keep saying, and I will give you this chance to prove yourself. But first” —The Devil grinned, his black lips curling up, his eyes glinting cruelly—“you’ve overstepped Isra, and a punishment must be paid.”

A bolt of icy fear stabbed through my middle as I ran through the possibilities.

Was it to be hot pokers? Waterboarding? Perhaps he would stretch me until my joints popped.

The Devil’s smile widened as he released me from where I was pinned to the wall and spoke one word.

“Come.”

Head bowed, he grasped my hand and pulled me to the wall, fading through it to come out the other side and into the torture room where our group had watched a carnival goer being flayed.

The corpse left behind in the flaying room had already been removed and likely given to the ghouls as part of their daily rations, leaving behind a blood-soaked table in a room full of dismembered limbs hanging on hooks. Without looking back at me, The Devil reached up and slid a large man’s arm from its spike. The limb came loose with a wet sound that reminded me we’d just taken these bodies apart before the carnival began, hanging them in here for an extra boost of fear. Their real purpose was to provide a selection for new demons looking for dead parts to stitch together into the form of a ghoul, but the humans didn’t know that.

The arm The Devil had selected would’ve made a fine piece for any ghoul. Belonging to a massive man with thick forearms, it had been cut at the elbow joint, allowing for a separate section of bicep and shoulder. The more difficult a human was to detain, the more expensive the piece, and this one would’ve put up quite the fight. Yes, it was an expensive piece, and almost certainly lost now to The Devil’s nefarious purpose. Turning to me with a smile, he covered the hand with his, closing the fingers into a fist without looking down.

“Table.” The Devil pointed at the blood-soaked mess, and I couldn’t help but feel a thrill as I passed through the magic barrier to ascend the stage and climb the surgical table. The cold metal prickled my skin as I lay across it. “Are you ready to take your punishment, Isra?” There was an excited edge to his tone that sent a bolt of arousal to my core. Whimpering, I spread my legs. By the way he spoke, there would be an element of pleasure to my punishment, and my body responded to the promise of release, giving way before his power like a tree before a hurricane.

Setting the hand down between my feet, he moved to one of my wrists, strapping it to the table with black leather. Watching his fingers work the leather with ease tightened my core. The sight was enough to have me squirming. He walked around the table, strapping my other arm with the same precision.

After returning to my feet, he picked up the arm and adjusted the fingers. The first and middle fingers were extended with the rest curled. Letting my knees fall apart, my breathing quickened as I anticipated what was to come.

Would it be pleasure or pain today? This was a punishment, so it must be pain, but the Devil was known to sprinkle in bits of ecstasy. Gripping one of my thighs, he pushed it roughly up, getting full access to my entrance. Slick and open, he used the severed arm and pushed the two rigid fingers into my pussy. What I wanted was the heat of The Devil’s skin. What I got was ice-cold rigor mortis. Once my fluids covered the appendage, he withdrew it and adjusted the angle.

Squealing, I realized what he intended, and I tensed at the pressure of him pushing the two fingers deep into my ass, pausing only a moment to circle the fingers and stretch the hole. Trembling with every thrust, I pulled at the straps holding me, wishing I had something to hold. Without that, I dug my nails into my palms, hissing at the pain as he pulled the hand out and pressed it against my inner thigh, using my leg to close the fingers into a fist once more. The chill of the corpse eased the burn of the stretched skin. Something I grew thankful for as he forced each knuckle in.

Tensing would only make it hurt worse as he forced the hand in. Through gasping breaths, I consciously kept my muscles relaxed. A task that grew harder with every second ticking by as the arm worked past each ring of muscle until it was fully seated.

The Devil smiled triumphantly. “I knew you could take it. ”

I couldn’t look away from him. His glowing red eyes narrowed as he pushed my leg higher, spreading my cheeks more to get a better view of his work. Tears blurred my vision, and I cursed them for obstructing my view of his face. His hand snaked around my front, the rough pad of his thumb finding my clit, mixing the searing pain with pleasure long enough to bring me near the stars. Then he stopped, withdrawing before I could fly among them. Blinking back tears, I moaned, my head rolling from side to side. This was all he would give me of himself, but in my mind, it was he who fucked me, not the severed arm of some nameless human.

I wanted to talk but could only manage small gasps of breath as he twisted the fist back and forth, heedless of the rhythm he knew I needed. Deeper, he pushed, forcing my ass to take every inch of the muscular forearm I’d admired.

The pleasure shifted to pain and frustration as he continued to work me to the edge of release before pulling the appendage out suddenly, leaving my muscles clenching painfully onto nothing. It was then I realized what the true punishment would be. He wasn’t going to fuck me himself, nor would he allow me to climax. By the end of this interaction, I’d be a weeping mess, my body screaming for a release it wouldn’t find. At least my juices were trickling down to the arm he held inside me. Soon, The Devil’s fingers would be covered in my fluids whether he touched me himself or not. That thought nearly brought me to the brink, but seeming to sense it, he paused. A whimper escaped me, and I bit down hard on my lip. Refusing to beg, although I wanted to desperately.

The Devil licked his lips and forced the arm back in. He grinned, entertained by the sight of my hips bucking helplessly against the appendage. Seeing his satisfaction only turned me on more. He worked my ass until the pain that sparked each time he drew the arm out a few inches and pushed back in was nearly unbearable in its intensity. I tried to time his rhythm, to be ready for the next shock, but he changed the speed and angle relentlessly. It was impossible to prepare. I was at his mercy as I writhed on the cursed table, the leather straps cutting into my wrists.

At some point, The Devil picked up speed, moving in and out of my ass fast enough that I was gasping for breath as the screams tore from my throat. All I could do was scream. Words didn’t exist anymore. My muscles tightened against his hold, my toes curled, my legs tried to close, to stop the invasion. Every fiber of my being coiled tighter as he continued mercilessly, his laughter teasing my ears as my eyes closed. Only the feel of his thumb on my clit as he worked my most sensitive hole mattered. I focused on each stroke.

Pleasure and pain blurred together.

“Look at me now , Isra.” His growl startled me. I pried my eyes open to find him looking directly into them. My breath caught. My cheeks flushed. All I wanted was for him to look at me with praise, but only disgust twisted his features.

I didn’t expect the abrupt end, but it came with a soft chuckle from him. All at once, he withdrew the arm and took a step back, letting my leg fall off the table to dangle freely. Whimpering, I felt hollow and open. My muscles squeezed, protesting painfully when they found nothing but air. What had once brought pain was now sorely missed. It was all I could get from the Devil, and a good demon took what scraps her master deigned to give her.

The Devil’s red cock stood proudly erect, and I longed to catch the drip I could see forming on the tip, but I knew I hadn’t earned such a reward. One did not touch The Devil without his permission.

With a satisfied hum, he unstrapped one of my hands and then the next, but they were too heavy to move at the moment. Even if I wanted to wipe the drool from my chin, I didn’t have the strength to do so.

“Clean yourself up. I’ll meet you in the big top. I expect a better show there. If not, this desperate, unfulfilled ache in your loins will be the last thing you’ll ever feel.”

“Yes, my King,” I whispered, my voice hoarse.