Of course when I was with him as the Vampiress and the Spider Queen, our conversation was a lot ruder than that. But I still blushed furiously! He laughed softly. "Seriously, as the Invisible Woman you were very shy and never seemed to be around at the right time. You may not realise it, but now you have far more personality. Please,” He took my hands, “Have dinner with me after the last show tonight and we’ll talk some more.”
I knew what was going to happen and blushed all over again. “Of course. But on one condition.”
“What’s that?”
I lowered her voice. “If anything does happen afterwards, make sure Icarus stays away. We both know he likes to watch. Some of my other forms don’t care, but I do.”
Adam smiled at me. "He doesn't need to see," he agreed.
The day seemed to pass interminably slowly. I actually watched all three shows as a normal member of the audience. Then I went on all the rides and wandered the grounds without attracting a single curious stare. I visited the animals and they recognised me, greeting me with various snorts, licks and nuzzles. They didn’t care what I had become, even though Felina stared at me disdainfully. Even Goril-Ho-Tep knew who I was, and although we couldn't share our thoughts, he still reached out a gnarly hand to me, and stroked my fingers.
Rejoicing in my anonymity, I even bought some fried potatoes at one of the stalls from a carnie who treated me just like any other customer – and tried to fleece me out of sixpence!
But after last show finally finished I waited expectantly for the Ringmaster. He appeared as promised, as impeccable as he had been early that morning and completely unfazed by the busy day. We took dinner at the Circus canteen, and it was pretty full. When the Ringmaster and I walked in together, heads turned and tongues started wagging. Who was this who had succumbed to his sublime influence this time?
I enjoyed the anonymity. “It is good you came,” I told the Ringmaster as we took a spot at a table in the corner. The fare was plain; beef stew with potatoes and Yorkshire pudding, but very filling.
He raised a delicate eyebrow. “Did you think I would forget?”
I smiled to show I wasn’t serious. “No, but you aren’t known for your faithfulness.”
“Where I come from, that word has no meaning.”
“So where do you come from?”
It was his turn to smile. “You won’t catch me that easily. Violet Hollingworth may be trustworthy, but the Vampiress is always looking for an advantage over me. I cannot give her an inch.”
I touched her amulet. It was still warm. “I may not ever become her again.”
“But I cannot take that chance. Our recent stay in London may have netted us a small fortune, but it revealed many enemies.”
I scowled. “I’m sure Icarus knows all your secrets.”
“He enjoys a unique position. He was there when I arrived and has since proven himself eminently trustworthy.”
I hadn't heard this interesting little titbit. I dabbed my lips with a napkin. I enjoyed eating when I was human, but as the Invisible woman I usually took meals in my room. Food disappearing into thin air as I ate tended to disturb people. And I was thoroughly enjoying the Ringmaster’s company. I never thought it would be so easy to simply talk to him. The Vampiress and the Spider Queen invariably had other things on their minds when they sought him out. “I wish I could stay like this forever. My other forms might be powerful, but they have far too many disadvantages.”
“What would you do if you were just an ordinary human?”
“Why, I’d go back to my family home, find myself a husband and raise some children,” I answered with conviction. “Anything for a simple life.” I sighed. “I have had enough adventures for several lifetimes.”
The Ringmaster’s blue eyes softened as he looked inwards. “To go home…” Then he pushed his plate away, only half-eaten. “I see you are finished. Would you like to retire? I’m sure I have some wine we can share.”
“Of course.”
He offered me his arm and we left to the surprised stares of the other folk.
He took me not to his room within the Big Top, but to his pink and white striped tent outside. It was a little quieter, and because the night was relatively mild, more than warm enough. I felt both excited and nervous. Because I'd already been with Adam in other forms, I knew what to expect. But my human body was naive and virginal, hence my fear. He removed his hat, gloves and cloak and shook his beautiful long hair over his shoulders, I had to close my mouth to keep from drooling. I felt alternatively hot and cold, like I was coming down with a fever. I never felt like that in my other bodies - they seemed to simmer constantly.
He found the wine he had promised and poured me a glass of dark burgundy liquid. "It might help your nerves."
"I'm not nervous!" I giggled, and took a generous gulp. I didn't drink much, but this was delicious! He must have paid a pretty penny ... or received it as a gift from a grateful lover. Mentally I shook my head to clear it of the unpleasant thought. Was I more jealous in this body? The Vampiress and Spider Queen didn't care who the Ringmaster went off with ... so long as when they appeared he wanted them.
Adam smiled and sipped his own drink.
"I know exactly what to expect," I continued. "I have a unique viewpoint."
"Ah yes," He put his glass down on a table, "but you have no idea how you're going to feel." He slid one hand up under my bouncy curls and stroked the back of my neck, drawing me closer as he did so. I moved forward as though in a dream, and suddenly we were kissing. That hot-and-cold sensation overcame me again, but my lips felt like they were on fire against his. His arms closed around me, imprisoning me in a ring of iron I knew I'd never be able to escape from ... not that I'd ever want to. My knees began to feel wobbly so I wrapped my arms around Adam's shoulders. He felt as solid as a rock, like nothing would ever be able to shift him. I hadn't noticed such strength as the Vampiress or Spider Queen. But they were so much more powerful than me.
Suddenly I was in his arms and he was carrying me over to his bed - another four-poster canopy bed like the one in the Big Top. He stretched me out on the bed, one hand drawing my dress down. I realised that while we had been kissing he had been undoing my bodice!
Somehow I managed to catch his hands. "I never realised how fast you were!" I gasped, suddenly frightened. "Please slow down."
"I'm sorry." He gave that brilliant smile I couldn't resist, and came in for another kiss. And before I knew it, I was down to my undergarments, and they were disappearing quickly - as though by Magick! Was he using his powers on me - or was he really just that good?
His hands seemed everywhere, too. His gentle caress on my burning flesh seemed to come from far more hands than he owned. I felt flustered and light-headed, but I knew I hadn't had that much wine. I was drunk on sensation. The Vampiress and Spider Queen never felt so tingly all over like this. Their sensation was more highly concentrated in their erogenous zones. The Wolf Woman and Swamp Girl did feel similar when they were with Felina, but still - each time Adam's cool lips touched my burning skin, it felt like an explosion of pleasure that extended its fingers right through my body. I supposed my bestial forms were too well covered to feel so sensitive.
His lips began to do the work of his fingers, trailing softly around my breasts and down my stomach. I tried to touch him and arouse him like some of my other forms would have done, but he gently pushed my hands down. "This for you," he murmured against my skin. "Lie back and enjoy it." He slipped between my legs to start teasing me there. I had experienced that before in numerous forms, but right now I flushed with old human embarrassment - until that exploring tongue, as dextrous as Felina's but much softer - sent all such insecurities fleeing.
I gasped and quivered as Adam tantalised me, carefully licking all around the outside of my aching womanhood, but never actually touching its pleasure centre. It was both agony and ecstasy. I groaned and writhed. And then, with one long stroke, he caressed the very heart of me. I act
ually screamed from the power of the orgasm - my very first in this body. I felt all those silly romantic clichés - the universe exploding, the earth moving, my heart stopping. It was exquisite! And it seemed to rock my body forever.
Adam rose above me, his beautiful hair tumbling down over his bare shoulders. Somewhere along the line he had shed his clothes as well. "Now you're ready." He crawled over me without putting any weight on me, his hair tickling my super-sensitive skin. I quivered each time it touched me.
He positioned himself above me and slowly, gently eased himself into me. In this body I wasn't sure what to expect. There was a little pain and I gasped, but I was so excited it quickly faded and he slid into me. "Are you alright?" he whispered.
"Yes, yes - wonderful!"
He started to move slowly, gently within me, but it didn't heart. It felt amazing! I was giddy with it. I groaned and lifted my hips to him, to show my pleasure. I slipped my arms around his neck, drawing him close.
"Oh, you're so warm," he whispered into my hair. "The warmest out of all your forms ... I love it.."
He started to move, and I imagined that he'd said "I love you."
My excitement rose once more as he touched strange places deep inside me. Even though I had already climaxed once, I still moaned from the intensity of it. Adam might have been able to control himself with the Vampiress and the Spider Queen, holding his pleasure in check. But he gave a groan and shuddered against me as my pleasure was still rising.
"Oh no, I'm so sorry!" he exclaimed. "I've never done that before! But your warmth! It's intoxicating! I can't resist it." He dropped his head against me, and I stroked his hair.
"It's alright, you have more than satisfied me already."
He lifted his head. "You sounded like you were ready for another. Perhaps I should make sure." He withdrew and slid down between my legs once more.
Chapter Twenty-Two
For a whole week the Ringmaster and I enjoyed each other’s company. No-one knew who I really was save Professor Abbacus and Felina. Of course the Professor wouldn’t tell so it was Felina who ended up revealing the truth. None of the other carnies could understand how such an ordinary looking female had managed to ensnare him, but everyone knew he could see beyond beauty. I held his interest so much he only wanted to spend time with me. Each night we ate together then retired to either the Ringmaster’s tent, or if the evening was too cold, his room within the Big Top. As each new day dawned and I found I was visible and normal once morel, I began to believe that my mother’s horrible curse had finally lifted forever. My confidence grew and I started to think of the future, of that house in the country. Only this place wouldn't be old, gloomy and tumbledown, overgrown with weeds. It would be bright and beautiful, filled with children and laughter. Visitors would come and go, and wander the perfectly groomed grounds.
But I soon started to realise that I loved the Ringmaster. Not with the Vampiress desperate passion or the Spider Queen’s insatiable need for control, but with a gentler, more human love. He seemed to return my feelings, enjoying my mystery. He told me that even when he concentrated, he couldn’t penetrate the shields created by the swirling colours of my amulet. Because my mind was so closed to him I could stand beside him as an equal.
It so happened that Professor Abbacus had perfected his own camera, and at the Ringmaster's behest, he took a picture of me, to capture my true human image for all time.
Then one icy night I woke to a worrying sensation around my throat. I didn’t have time to scream. There was a violent flash of light and a yell from the Ringmaster as he leapt out of bed. I felt a horribly familiar transformation. I wasn’t always awake when it happened, but I knew exactly what was happening. One second I was one shape – the next another. As soon as my skin started to itch and a dreadful dryness rose in my throat, I realised who I had become. I couldn’t even apologise. I had to go before I dehydrated too much and became incapacitated.
I was the Swamp Girl.
I darted out of the tent into the freezing night, heading for the Big Top. Only when I was sinking beneath the warm surface of the Water Wonders tank did my thoughts start to return. The curse had returned once more, and I was again trapped within the cycle of 7. Fortunately, as the Swamp Girl this didn't distress me too much. When the Fiji Mermaids greeted me with excited, high-pitched cries, I forgot all about my week as a human.
But the next night, when I shifted into the Vampiress, I remembered, and cursed the fact that my wonderful plan to become immortal forever had backfired so badly, forcing me to spend so much time as a weak, pathetic human. I went to see the Ringmaster, and he told me to leave. I was doubly infuriated.
“Don’t tell me you prefer me as her?”
“No, It’s just that I don’t have the energy for you tonight,” he declared evenly, and turned from me.
No matter how hard I extended my influence, he refused to be swayed. Not wanting to appear desperate, I stalked from the room and soared into the night to hunt.
But when I became the Wolf Woman the following evening, Felina greeted me with open arms, overjoyed to see me back. “I was worried that you would be human forever,” she whispered as she slipped her arms around my neck. “I so enjoy our times together.”
As the Wolf Woman, I could only grunt in agreement.
“Shall we hunt together tonight?”
The Wolf Woman nodded.
Amuna the Mummy came next, followed by Arachnora the Spider Queen and Mrs Frankenstein. Then, finally, the Invisible Woman. But now I had a picture of what I really looked like, I could peer at the nothingness in the mirror and give myself real eyes, mouth and teeth. I could finally be a whole person. And the confidence I had felt as a true human returned, although unfortunately not as strongly as before. I dressed, wrapped myself up, and went to see the Ringmaster. In my other forms I had scarcely noticed the melancholy that had overcome him during the past few days. He had only emerged from his private rooms and tent to conduct the shows. He had even sent Icarus away, which had sent the Professor into an even fouler temper than usual.
But he opened the tent-flap to me. When he saw – or rather didn’t see - me, he gave a wan smile and let me in. “I’m so sorry,” were my first words to him. “I’m back to the way I was.” I touched the amulet. “It must have reset itself.”
“After seven days – how appropriate. But you needn’t be sorry.”
“But I’m no one again,” I protested, feeling old insecurities rise. I wanted to flee, but something held me in place.
“You may not have an appearance, but you are still the same person.” Suddenly he reached up, pulling on the cord beside the light bulb, plunging the room into darkness.
I yelped in surprise. “What are you doing?”
“Now you are no longer invisible,” the Ringmaster told me.
I gasped. He was right! Then I felt him slide his arms around me and pull me close to his cool body.
When the sun rose I wrapped myself up again and went out into a cool, crisp morning. Not a single cloud marred the pristine sky and I faced the dawn with a smile. I had a plan. If it worked once, it would work again. I crossed the frosty grass and entered the Big Top. I hurried upstairs to Professor Abbacus’ laboratory. The door was closed. I knocked.
“Go away!” a rasping, crotchety voice responded.
“I have to see you, Professor!” I shouted. “It’s Violet! The Ringmaster sent me.”
I heard swearing, then the stomping of feet as the Professor crossed his laboratory. He pulled several bolts aside. “What the Hell d’you want? Haven’t you caused enough trouble?”
“What trouble? I haven’t done anything!” I protested, annoyed by his anger.
“You’ve upset him,” Icarus growled. “He’s been moping around the place like a laudanum-addicted poet.”
I squared my shoulders, refusing to be intimidated. Why was I on the defensive, anyway? “I want to try the Immortality Machine again and be human for another week,”
> “What? No!” he shouted.
I planted my hands on my hips. “The Ringmaster wants it too.” I knew the Professor would never be able to refuse his wishes.
Icarus expelled a huge sooty black cloud from his chimney in exasperation. “Dammit! Alright. But not until tonight, after the last show.”
“That doesn’t leave us much time. I will change at midnight.”
“I won’t set it up now.” He slammed the door in my face, but I couldn’t stop a smile of triumph – a smile no one could see anyway.
The day couldn’t pass quickly enough. Even though I was able to help out in the Ringmaster’s magic show, I still found myself pacing and tapping my feet in agitation. Oh, to be visible again! And for an entire week! By the time the last show finished, I was waiting impatiently beside the cabinet where Icarus kept the Immortality machine locked up. He soon appeared, as surly and bad tempered as always, not sparing me a single glance as he hurried over to the iron-shod door and unlocked it. I waited while he set everything up. “Nothing had better go wrong tonight,” he growled as he worked. “We’re leaving tomorrow night, and we need all the power we can get.”
“It worked last time, didn’t it?”
“Yes, but like I said before, we are dealing with an unknown intelligence.” He gestured for me to get undressed and lie down on the metal grille. “You’ll have to take a deep breath before I lower you in. In order for the machine to work properly, you must be completely submerged in the salt water.”
I gulped. “But the total process takes minutes!”
“Then it had better be a really deep breath.”
The Professor fumbled to get the shackles on my invisible wrists and ankles. “Take a breath – I’m lowering you in now!”
I sucked in a huge gasp and he yanked down the lever, dropping me into the chilly water. Shock almost punched the air from my lungs. Then he clamped the great metal lid down and I hung in the dimness, waiting nervously. Electrical discharges sizzled along the chains holding me down, arcing through the water and my body. Engulfed in agony, I tried to scream. Salt water rushed into my lungs. Then there was a colossal explosion of light and sound. The pain stopped. The water rushed away. Illumination returned to my world, and suddenly I could breathe again. Over the sound of my own coughing and spluttering I heard Icarus screaming in fury and cursing her name.
The Circus Infinitus - Victoria 7 Page 18
