Page 93 of Vampire's Choice

As each knife thunked into the board around him, Ruth noted Caleb’s body quivered in response. His erection strained against the shorts as Tink moved toward the wheel and locked it in place. While Caleb’s dark eyes followed his every move, the man stripped off his tights. Putting his foot on Caleb’s thigh, a hand to his shoulder, Tink climbed him. Then he turned over and grasped the hilts of the embedded knives so his elbows were bent on the outside of Caleb’s hips. Though he was slim, Tink’s fitness was evident, his biceps and thighs flexing. The assistant spread his legs in an impressive split and rubbed his cock and testicles against Caleb’s face until Caleb’s lips parted. Then Tink angled himself to push in between them.

As Caleb sucked, Tink brought his legs back up and hooked his ankles on the top of the wheel so he could pull down Caleb’s shorts and return the favor.

The Mistress picked up a remote and started the wheel turning at a moderate pace. She threw another dozen knives, outlining their bodies without once hitting flesh, though she came close enough Ruth thought they felt the burn of the metal.

“I love Play Night,” Clara murmured.

When Zanath issued a command, her assistant gracefully removed his cock from Caleb’s mouth. Executing a backbend off the wheel, he returned to a standing position, removed the knives, and offered one to his Mistress. She approached Caleb and drew the flat of the blade over his bared cock, still slick from Tink’s mouth. She leaned in to bite his nipple, play her tongue over it. His fists clenched, his sizeable organ convulsing.

He groaned when she cut the surface skin layer in a diagonal line over his ridged abdomen muscles. Blood trickled down to the waistband of the shorts. Tink had left the front folded down below his cock. When Zanath cupped his erection, the hilt of the knife pressed against his shaft. Caleb pushed into the pain and earned a slap that left a handprint on his face. He snapped at the blow, cursed her.

Tink moved in and kissed him with lots of tongue, lowering his hand to work Caleb’s shaft until he was groaning again. Then Tink moved back so his Mistress could do some more throwing. Caleb looked perilously near release, but even with all the physical pleasure he was experiencing, Ruth could tell he was keeping that volcano contained. Separate.

“Why won’t he play with a Master?” Ruth asked.

“Caleb won’t say, and no one pushes him. However, if I had to guess, and I don’t think this is my romantic side talking, I think he had one in his old life. He remains loyal to him, even though they’re not together.”

“What kind of idiot Master would let him get away?”

“Maybe he didn’t. Maybe it was Caleb’s decision.”

“Right. I forgot. In your world, humans who bind themselves to a Master or Mistress are given that annoying ability to walk away.”

Clara offered her an amused look. “Yeah. Forced servitude is such a better idea.”

“See? I knew you were civilized.” Ruth nudged her. On the trapezes, a female submissive bound in silks was being swung between two Doms, a man and a woman. When the Mistress wrapped a single tail around the silks, holding the sub in one dangling spot, the Master used another whip to lash at exposed skin. Their captive danced in the silken bindings, crying out.

When the single tail was jerked loose, she swung back toward the Master, who caught the tail of the silks between her thighs, and hauled her up so her legs were over his shoulders. Her body arched over space, arms still bound as the Master put a hungry mouth between her legs. His eyes lifted to the Mistress, who swung lazily, sitting on the bar of her trapeze. Her top was at her waist as she taunted him with large breasts, toying with pierced nipples.

“Let’s see what’s happening at the left ring,” Clara said.

Karl, Nikolai and Sarita were here, only it was Karl’s turn to be tormented. While the two men were Masters, Nikolai topped both. Karl stood on one hand, his legs spread shoulder width apart above him. As Sarita strapped a cock cage on him at Nikolai’s direction, that arm trembled. It increased as Nikolai put a lubricated phallus into his ass.

When Sarita was done with the cock cage, Nikolai closed her hand over the dildo, showing her the pace at which he wanted her to slide it in and out of Karl’s ass. Then he applied a violet wand to the thin metal bars of the cock cage.

Ruth was impressed by Karl’s one-armed balance under such duress, though he did start to plead with his Master for the right to put a second hand down. Nikolai took his time with that permission, but granted it at last. When both arms were shaking, Nikolai and Sarita attached chains to Karl’s ankles, drawing the slack up so his weight was partially carried by the chains. Sarita stayed close, her hands on her bound Master, stroking him. Her face was suffused with sweet concern for her Master’s suffering, at the hands of the one who topped them both.

Had Adan and Catriona ever strolled through Play Night? Ruth expected they had, probably for voyeurism purposes.

A vampire liked showing that a servant was his, and what she would do for him. That inclination was part of why D/s play with servants was so popular at vampire gatherings. But with vampires being insatiably curious about testing limits of pain and endurance, Adan likely played the Light Guardian and Fae card and kept them out of the most extreme stuff. Her brother struck her as more private and protective with his Fae servant than he’d been with the second marked human servants they’d shared with William and Matthew.

Lightning flashed across the upper reaches of the Big Top, as did a drifting and luminous cloud of light, imitating an aurora borealis. When done during performances, attendees would attribute it to visual effects, and some of it was. Here inside the portal realm, it was the manipulation of energy, done by the same troupe members who handled the electric visuals.

She saw an example of it with another Master using a wand. He was applying a comb attachment over the nipple and testicle area of his bound sub. However, the crackling power to fuel the wand came through his hand, not from batteries or an outlet.

Same for another electrical play quartet. A Mistress had three subs on their knees in front of her. She held out a wand fitted with a two-headed metal dildo. At her order, two of her subs faced one another, each one taking a phallus in their mouths until they were close enough for their lips to touch. As the electricity passed through the toy, their lips and faces quivered, their bodies jerking. They were naked, their wrists tied behind their backs, but she brought them together so chests and genitalia were pressed together. Her assistant began to run what looked like steel cable around them.

The Mistress turned to the third kneeling sub. A bit pressed down his tongue. The straps holding it, also conductive metal, were strapped around his jaw and head. When she touched the bit with current, the sub jerked against his bonds, his eyes streaming with tears. Yet his body language begged for more.

“Most electrical play is done below the waist,” Clara murmured. “Heart and brain issues. But here, when people have different abilities, or magical protections are in place, everyone can be more adventurous.”

Clara’s information was intended to ease human-related concerns, but vampire play could get way more dangerous than this. Third marks were far more resilient.

The creases of Ruth’s palms were moist. It was second nature, staying aware of her reactions to such scenes, reshaping her body language so that any vampire watching would interpret them as an attitude of vampire dominance, arousal at seeing humans topped.

Ruth drank in the heady intensity, feeling it in the places she usually kept walled off. Here at the Circus, could she dare reveal her true feelings, show what really fascinated her about the scenes?

She’d keep thinking about it. Tonight wasn’t the night to take that risk. There were plenty of things Ruth did impulsively. This wasn’t one of them. But Great Father and Mother, she was aching.