The Circus Infinitus - Victoria 7

by Ethan Somerville

  He reached for a large lever with a big brass knob on the end and pulled it down. I managed to clamber on top of my nervousness enough to notice the Omniportallis machine against the back wall. It moved away from the wall with a grinding noise and stopped with a clunk about three feet out. Slowly its outermost ring started to spin. A weird sulphuric smell filled the air. I know what it was! It was ... the scent of Magick! Something arcane was happening! Oh, why couldn't I have been Mrs Frankenstein to witness this? This was a horrible joke of fate!

  The second ring of the machine started spinning. Then the third and fourth. The fifth and sixth followed, with the tiny disc at the centre rotating last of all. There was a deep thud that vibrated through the entire building and then I felt the weirdest sensation, like reality stretching out like a piece of rubber. My ears blocked up. The sulphuric stench of Magick filled my nostrils, so strong I almost gagged. I had never felt so disorientated as now. I don't know how I managed to stay upright. I had no idea what was going on, but deep down the spirit of Lady Frankenstein told me that we were moving through reality.

  Around me the other carnies talked and laughed. They had been through this process many times already. Some were actually drinking, enjoying the break. Then I felt a familiar presence beside me, and looked down at the Ringmaster.

  "Are you alright?" he asked kindly.

  I nodded and gave him what I hoped was a reassuring grin. It probably looked like an entire piano keyboard of fangs. But he didn't appear perturbed.

  "There's no need to worry. We've done this numerous times already."

  I was burning with questions and wished I could ask them. But in this form I could only growl like a beast.

  "We've never had any trouble," he continued. "Well, there was that time we lost a caravan that hadn't been properly connected, but fortunately there wasn't anyone in it at the time. That's why we always make sure everyone comes in here for the moves."

  Lost? I wondered. Lost where? What were we travelling through right now?

  Professor Abbacus pushed the lever up. There was another loud clunking sound, and one by one the rings stopped spinning. "We've arrived!" shouted Abbacus. "Give me a few minutes, I just want to make sure everything's safe." He started feverishly poking buttons on his control board.

  I couldn't believe it. Had we really moved through reality? When the Professor gave the word, the Ringmaster marched to the doors and flung them open to welcome a cold night.

  We had appeared on a grassy plateau on top of a hill. Fluffy clouds scudded across a star-studded sky. The air was cool and dry, a far cry from the swampy humidity we had just left. Where on Earth were we?

  "We're in the north of France," the Ringmaster explained.

  North of France? Within a few short minutes we had journeyed to another country? My head spun. Even before I inherited my mother's curse I had not travelled outside of England. Afterwards, well ... I never travelled more than five miles from my house.

  "We bounce around a lot, never following a path that anyone can trace," the Ringmaster continued. "It helps to keep certain people off our trail."

  Creditors? I wondered. Oh, how I wished I could speak!

  The Ringmaster faced the large crowd of carnies that had collected behind him, eager to leave the Big Top and return to their various caravans for the night. "We have a busy day tomorrow, people, visiting the local towns, putting up posters, gathering support. Make sure you all get plenty of rest."

  The carnies gave a rumble of agreement, and the Ringmaster let them leave the Big Top. But it soon became apparent from the noise that they weren't interested in resting, but rather starting a drunken orgy. The Ringmaster sighed in exasperation, only half serious, and turned to go back inside. I moved to follow him, and he stopped and looked down at me.

  "Why don't you go and explore. It's a whole new land out there."

  All of a sudden I wanted to stay where it was safe. But then, as I lifted my face to the wind, I detected all sorts of interesting smells, new but natural odours I immediately wanted to check out. So I stepped out onto the grass of France, put my nose to the ground, and trotted off.

  Chapter Fifteen

  It didn't take word of the Circus Infinitus's arrival long to reach the locals. We had appeared on a common not far from a large town. Several villages also nestled in nearby valleys. By the time we were ready to start the shows, there were lines of excited customers stretching out of the circus grounds. A mayor soon appeared to demand payment for occupying the town's field. He was very annoyed that he hadn't been informed prior to our arrival, but a beguiling smile and large cash bribe from the Ringmaster soon had him smiling and eager to please.

  I was the Vampiress once more, much to the Ringmaster's joy - and Professor Abbacus's disdain. He didn't like me at the best of times, but he absolutely hated this particular form. Which frankly, as the Vampiress, didn't bother me a bit. In fact I enjoyed the fact the mere sight of me upset him so much. I particularly enjoyed his venomous glare as he watched the Ringmaster breathlessly drag me into his room. This elicited a furious reaction. Outside the door the Professor loudly voiced his disapproval, reprimanding the Ringmaster for being so irresponsible. I allowed myself a smile of triumph as he stomped off. I had not felt so happy since … ever!

  When I asked Adam why Abbacus was so unhappy with me, he just shrugged and said he was jealous. I assumed this was because I was occupying so much of the Ringmaster's time. Then, when Adam started to remove my dress and nibble on my ear, all thoughts of the Professor slipped from my mind.

  As the Vampiress I was quite insatiable, and whenever the Ringmaster was busy with other matters, I found other lovers in amongst the carnies. Although I couldn’t drink their undead blood, their uninhibited passions still aroused far more than the uptight lusts of the furtive humans I was used to. And they were so energetic and limber! Especially those Limboni triplets! More than once I was drawn into several orgies with all three of them. I finally discovered what it was like to pleasure another woman, and realised what had so excited me as the Wolf Woman all those years ago, when I had watched the young maid Liza hang up my washing.

  I only wished I could find a lover in that particular form. As the Wolf Woman I was very passionate, but frankly my size and fearsome appearance made all the carnies nervous, even those open-minded Limbonis. They probably thought I’d tear them to pieces.

  After I finished my part in the last show of the day, I transformed into mist so I could more easily leave the stage. Drifting up towards the Big Top's dark ceiling, I noticed the room at the end of the catwalk where Professor Abbacus lived. It was closed, but I doubted he was inside. He always stayed downstairs after his part in the show to make sure everything continued to run smoothly.

  I slipped under the heavy, metal studded door as easily as a ghost and wafted inside. Despite the darkness I could see perfectly, and realised that he didn't just have a room up here, but an entire laboratory. It made Lady Frankenstein's set up down below look pitifully small in comparison. Oh, how she would love this! Even I could appreciate the magnitude of what he'd accomplished. The long lab-benches were lined with experiments that gurgled and bubbled, mixing weird and wonderful potions. Shelves verily creaked beneath the weight of all the arcane books stuffed into them. Strange, half-finished contraptions, resembling mechanical men, lurked in the gloom. Smaller devices littered other benches and filled boxes crammed beneath them. The air reeked of smoke and sulphur.

  Then I heard the metal stairs creak outside, and some sixth sense told me, even though I was mist, that I had better make myself scarce. I slid into a ventilation shaft as Professor Abbacus stomped into his lab and looked wildly around. Dear Lord, he had figured out that someone had snuck into his lab! How on Earth? Perhaps, even in this form I had managed to trip a ward or something. Or perhaps he could detect my supernatural presence. Mrs Frankenstein could have said for sure. But as he looked around, sweeping the area with that horrible red eye of his, he couldn't pi
ck me up. He swore and marched off.

  I had better not try that again, I thought darkly to myself. He had said he would kill me, and I didn't doubt he knew numerous ways to snuff out even my supernatural existence.

  That night I transformed into Arachnora the Spider Queen. Like the Wolf Woman, I needed a lot to eat in this form to maintain my huge size. Since we had just moved, there were no old webs I could check, so I immediately went down to the cafeteria to see what I could devour. I found the clowns down there, as usual eating their way through a repast large enough for ten men, and the Ringmaster sitting down to his own feast.

  In this form I preferred fresh meat, but I could also make do with old scraps and flesh that was a bit on the nose. Ethel gave me a mixed plate and I thought of nothing but filling my massive belly until the dish was empty. I licked the plate, cleaned my fingers, and then wandered over to the Ringmaster, who was also finishing up.

  In this form I may have been cold-blooded, with the heart of an insect, but like the Vampiress my desires were far from cold. Unfortunately the other carnies were still too frightened of me, fearing me even more than the enormous Wolf Woman.

  But I had noticed Adam watching me shyly from afar, and knew he was intrigued. He seemed to like new and different experiences, and I had seen him retire more than once with various audience members who had piqued his interest, both male and female.

  But did he really want to join with a creature as weird as me? There was only one way to find out.

  “It’s been a busy day today,” I declared in an attempt to start a conversation.

  “Oh yes, the first weeks are always so,” he agreed as he lifted his glass of wine. “If this fine weather keeps up, we shall see even bigger crowds tomorrow.”

  “In that case, I had better start spinning some webs so I can swing down and frighten people.” I gestured up towards the stages. He had remarked on the artistic beauty of my webs on more than one occasion, so I asked; “Would you like to come and watch me for a few minutes?”

  He looked like he was about to say no. Then he gave me a brilliant white smile. “You know, I think I will. I have never actually seen you at work before.” He drained his wine glass, then straightened up.

  I tried to smile back just as sweetly, but my fangs made this difficult. “Excellent.” I scuttled out of the cafeteria and he followed.

  Despite the lateness of the hour, carnies were still cleaning up in the Big Top. Large crowds always left an awful mess. I climbed up to the ceiling, fastened a cord of silk from one strut, and then leapt across to the next. Adam settled down into a front row seat to watch, quite obviously fascinated by my agility.

  One by one, the cleaners finished and left, and we were alone. “I wonder how sticky your silk is,” Adam called. “Could it hold a person, I wonder?”

  “I’ve ensnared deer in it. Would you like to find out?”

  “I am interested,” he admitted.

  I let down a strand to him, and he grasped it with both hands. “Goodness!” he exclaimed as he tried to pull his fingers free. Only after he had wriggled out of his gloves could he escape. “That is sticky!” He tugged at one of the ensnared article of clothing. “However will you get that free?”

  I scuttled down the strand towards him and dislodged the gloves with my tongue. “My saliva dissolves the glue. Otherwise I’d entangle myself. Also, not all of my strands are sticky. But only I know which ones.” I gave another of my wicked grins.

  He stepped up close and looked me in the eye. “I think I’d like to find out which ones,” he declared.

  “In that case, follow me.” I swung back up into my web and he followed, using his powers of levitation to float up towards the ceiling. He slipped up through a gap in my web and looked down at the silky net I’d strung across the ceiling. Then, ever so carefully he landed on a thick strand. It stretched beneath his weight but didn’t break. “That’s one of them.”

  He walked along it like Adella the Amazon. Then, quite suddenly, he tripped and somersaulted right into the middle of my web! What was Adam up to? He was never clumsy. He landed, sprawled on his back.

  He gave a token struggle, managing to thoroughly entangle his arms and legs. “Oh dear!” he exclaimed in mock horror. “I seem to have fallen and can’t get up! I am quite stuck here!”

  I scuttled down towards him. “Surely you can use your psychic powers to escape.”

  “Oh no, I’m quite at your mercy, Arachnora!”

  Dear God, he was teasing me! How could I have been so blind! I couldn’t stop a ferocious blush from engulfing my cheeks.

  “You will have to spin a whole new web now,” he continued.

  I looked down at him, realising that his shirt was open, and I could see his bare chest. “I never realised you were interested in me like that. I always thought I was a bit too bizarre for you.”

  He grinned wickedly. “You have no idea how much I like weird. I run a circus, for God's sake.”

  I pulled his white silk shirt from his shoulders and untucked it from his pants. I ran my long, thin spider tongue down his bare hairless chest, tasting the strange, Earthy odour of him, the scent that wasn't quite human. I flicked the tip of my tongue across his nipples. He tugged experimentally at his limbs, and his smile broadened as he realised he really was stuck. Oh, he could probably use his mental powers to escape, but that wasn't what he wanted. My heart raced as I undid his belt and unbuttoned his trousers. He really was excited, and sprang free immediately, a bead of moisture on the tip.

  I pushed his pants away and ran my tongue down the shaft of that throbbing organ. He groaned, twisting his head. His hair was hopelessly tangled in my web, but that just seemed to arouse him even more. My spidery tongue was so supple I could wrap it around his quivering member several times and start stroking it up and down.

  "Oh my goodness! I have never felt the like!" he exclaimed. "I'm not sure how much longer I can hold on!"

  Oooh, the Vampiress was going to be so jealous when she appeared! But I wasn't sure how much longer I could hold on, either! Still holding onto him with my tongue, I moved over him, balancing on the strands of my web, positioning my body above his. With my additional limbs I was able to straddle him without actually putting any of my substantial weight on him. While slowly lowering myself down, I guided his hard member into my human cleft, and then freed my tongue.

  He gasped again as I surrounded him. "You're not warm at all!"

  "Yes, sorry - cold blooded, just like the Vampiress. But very much alive, I assure you. And just as dextrous. Perhaps even more so." I caressed his cheek with the tip of my tongue, and then trailed it down his chest to tease his nipples again. Due the strength required for me to spin my webs and then scuttle across them, I was very strong - and in full control of all my muscles, even the ones inside me.

  I was able to undulate all the muscles surrounding him so efficiently that I hardly needed to move against him, just rock gently back and forth. I could simply hold onto him and drive him into such a frenzy of ecstasy that he was soon gasping and writhing deliciously against his bonds. I'd been worried that in this form, I would require something inhumanly large to fill me, but Adam's size was more than sufficient, and sent the most delightful tingles rippling through my body. I slowed down my rippling muscles so he wouldn't fire too soon and concentrated on enhancing my own pleasure.

  Adam groaned but held on with his amazing self control. However it didn't take me long to climax, and contract against him. He had been holding himself back for so long he actually screamed out his pleasure and bucked so hard he nearly did tear himself loose from my silk. I flung my head back as my own orgasm flowed through me in waves. The pleasure I felt in this form was different to the Vampiress's; rawer, more primal. It seemed to last longer, too. All of a sudden I felt a powerful hunger for fresh meat contract my belly, and I realised this came from my spider's urge. I managed to resist it.

  Beneath me, Adam gasped for breath. "That ... that was truly something
! The fact I couldn't move only made it more exciting!"

  I smiled. "Yes, it was very interesting. I do hope we can do it again some time."

  "Oh, of course. But do you think you can free me now?" He tugged experimentally at one arm but his shirt was thoroughly caught. I cut him free from the tough strands and then swung him down to the ground, where I used my saliva to clean the worst of the silk from him. My tongue flicked through his hair, down his neck and across his chest.

  "You're still going to need a good wash, though," I giggled.

  "All that licking has made me ready for another romp!" He gestured down to the bulge in his pants. "Perhaps you can put that amazing tongue to work down there one more time?"

  "Of course, it would be my pleasure," I purred. I undid his fly buttons and wrapped my tongue around his hard ramrod. Suddenly, an anguished exclamation of horror come from the darkness across the stage, followed by the sound of boots clattering against metal stairs. I whipped my tongue back.

  "Dear God, who was that?" I exclaimed. "Did someone see us?"

  Adam sighed and tucked himself back in. "That was Icarus. I'd better go after him and see if he's alright. You should fix your web."

  I sighed in exasperation as Adam hurried off. I couldn't understand that Professor Abbacus! He never made a fuss when the Ringmaster escorted some other person to his room. What was his problem with me?

  Chapter Sixteen

  Professor Abbacus really must have been upset with me, because after that night he disappeared and the Ringmaster looked all over the circus for him. He didn't reappear the next day, and his portion of the show had to be cancelled, much to the disappointment of the locals. After dropping down from the ceiling to scare the audience, I stretched out the show a little by adding an extra impromptu highwire act.

  But the Ringmaster was quite beside himself with worry, because Abbacus had never disappeared before, and to actually leave the Circus was completely of character for him.