The Sinner

CHAPTER ELEVEN

ELLINGTON

THE FREAK SHOW. Ten o’clock. Wear your Halloween costume from last year.

I read over the text for the hundredth time. Sin sent it to me an hour ago. I stand in the parking lot by my car. I just arrived, and it’s a quarter to ten. After I managed to get myself together, I exited the classroom and went straight home. I took a shower and woke up a few hours later in my bed. I didn’t mean to take a nap, but I was exhausted. Then like an idiot, I got out of bed and started getting ready for him .

Why the fuck am I here?

Why not?

I’m the one using him, right? I have always had darker thoughts when it came to sex, and I always believed that what I wanted was wrong. No one has ever told me that. I just know it from overhearing my mother’s sessions with her clients. She never judged them. They did enough of that themselves. Who wants to be choked, slapped, and treated like a piece of meat? We’re supposed to be treated like queens, not cheap whores. Maybe that’s what I am. What I’ll always be.

The Freak Show is the old fairgrounds tucked back deep into the woods of Pennsylvania. Once abandoned, they reopened it about five years ago. It’s here all year round. Every day is like Halloween. Hence the name Freak Show . People come from all around to visit.

My phone vibrates, and I look down to see it’s a new text from Sin.

You have three options: pick one.

Trick or treat

Run to hide

Bleed and die.

I read over the message a couple of times, trying to decipher his riddle. I have no clue what it means.

Trick or treat. I answer, thinking that sounds the most self-explanatory.

Sinful, sinful, little demon. You are my light like the devil is to freedom.

My frown deepens. Light? Devil? What the fuck is he talking about? Another message comes through, and I open it up to see it’s a picture of me standing in the middle of the parking lot.

I look up to see where the picture came from, and it’s the house of mirrors . Swallowing nervously, I start to make my way in that direction and almost trip over my heels in the rocky parking lot. This is what I wore to the guys’ Halloween party last year that they had at the house of Lords, which included heels. I should have switched them out for tennis shoes.

Making my way through the crowd of people, I enter the crooked house. I haven’t been here in years. The last time was with Kira. I was rolling my ass off, and she was my designated driver.

I grip the metal railing and walk up the stairs inside. The sounds of clown laughter fill my ears, making the hairs on the back of my neck rise. I know it’s fake, but it’s no different than sitting down and watching a scary movie, knowing damn well it’s not real. You can’t control how your body reacts.

Misattribution of arousal is physiological confusion. My body confuses itself as to why it’s being aroused. For example, fear. When I experience a massive overload of adrenaline, I get turned on. I get off on the unknown.

There’s a hallway to the left and another to the right. I take the one on my right, slowly walking down the narrow pathway. My arms are out to my sides, running my fingers along the floor-length mirrors. Red and blue lights flash from above, making it hard to see. It’s as if the walls are closing in on me, but it’s just an illusion. I stumble in my heels, my breath coming faster and faster by the second while “Thank You for Hating Me” by Citizen Soldier comes from the speakers lined along the ceiling.

I come to the end of the hall and look at myself in the mirror. I’ve got black leather bunny ears on. They cover the top half of my face; all you can see are my eyes. I’ve got them done smoky with black eye shadow, eyeliner, and mascara. My lips are blood red to match my nails. I wear a strapless black leotard that has a built-in bra to push up my large breasts, and I top it off with fishnet tights. It’s a slutty Halloween outfit at its finest.

Reaching out to touch the mirror, I fall forward but manage to stay standing. There isn’t a mirror there. What? What the hell was I looking at, then?

I catch sight of something behind me, and I spin around, only to see nothing. The lights turn red and start to flicker. It looks like I’m blinking rapidly, but my eyes are wide open, staring ahead and just waiting for something to jump out at me.

My pulse accelerates, and I take a step back, only to hit something. I scream and turn around to see it’s a mirror.

“Fuck,” I hiss to myself.

I turn to my left and run down the hallway, pushing a door open at the end, hoping it’s the exit, but find a circular room lined with nothing but mirrors. And I’m alone. There’s no way out, it’s a dead end. I go to turn around, but before I can go back the way I came, the door slams shut on my face. There’s no door handle or lever to open it. Just another fucking mirror staring back at me.

Swallowing nervously, I take a step back and turn back to face the room. Chains hang from the black ceiling in various lengths. Some all the way to the floor, and some so high I can’t even reach them.

The lights are so bright in here. I lift my right arm to try to block them from shining down on me to get a better look at the room, but it doesn’t work. The warmth from the lights makes me start to sweat.

“You know what they call a devoted demon?” a voice whispers in my ear.

I spin around, only to find I’m alone. My hand goes to my chest, and I feel my heart pounding against it.

“The devil’s pet,” another voice answers.

Laughter follows.

“What the fuck?” I growl more to myself than them. Making my way over to where I know the door was, I try to open it again and nothing. Fisting my hands, I pound them both on the mirror. “Hello?” I call out. “Hello!” I raise my voice to a scream.

“Save your energy. You’re going to need it.”

I spin back around to yell once again, but my breath is taken away when I see three men standing at the opposite end of the circular room. All dressed in black jeans, combat boots, black hoodies, and masks. They’re not overly terrifying, but something about them has my skin tingling and breath hitching.

The one on the far right is a clown. It’s got oversized teeth with what looks like blood dripping from them. Big black eyes and a white face with red cheeks. The one in the middle wears a mirror-like mask. It’s got black holes for eyes and is so long that it dips into his black hoodie so you can’t see a single inch of skin. It doesn’t have a mouth of any kind. The one on the far left looks like a human face that has had all the skin removed, showing all the veins and tendons.

“Sin,” I breathe his name, placing my hands out in front of me in defense as if it’ll keep them away. “What are you doing?” I ask, licking my lips nervously.

None of them answer, and my knees threaten to buckle. My heart is in my throat, and the blood rushes in my ears. The lights turn off, and I suck in a deep breath. They come back on, and they’re gone.

“What?” I spin around in a circle but see nothing but myself in the mirrors. Were they even actually in here? Or was it an illusion of the mirrors?

The lights start flashing red and blue, just like in the halls, and a hand grabs my neck. I try to scream, but my air is cut off when the fingers tighten on either side of my throat. I’m lifted off my feet and shoved backward. A new set of hands grabs me, and my arms are lifted above my head. Something is wrapped around them, and I’m lifted to where I’m dangling from. My heels barely touch the floor.

The hand is removed from my neck, and my head sags forward as I try to catch my breath.

I struggle in the restraints. My body turns from side to side, knowing they’ve secured me to the chains hanging from the ceiling. The sound of them clanking from my movements echoes in the room.

“S-in?” I choke, still trying to slow my racing heart.

I look around, but the damn lights are still flashing and restricting my vision. I feel like I’m going to get sick, so I close my eyes.

Hands grip my legs, and they are spread wide open. Something wraps around them too, just like my wrists, and seconds later, I can’t close them.

“Please?” I whimper, my body shaking.

“But this is what you want, Elli,” he whispers in my ear. I shiver when I feel his hand on my shoulder, pulling my hair off my neck to lay down the length of my back. “I just want to make your fantasies come true.”

I open my eyes as everything goes black. Then the bright lights are on again, making me blink. All three stand in front of me. The one on the far right holds a belt in his hand. It’s not a normal-looking one. It’s so long that it puddles on the floor at his feet. The one in the middle has a chain around the back of his neck, draping over his shoulders. Both hands fisting it on either side. The one on the left has a backpack at his feet. And that scares me the most because I can’t see what’s inside.

The one in the middle with the chain walks toward me. He wears the skinless face mask. I throw my head back and scream so loud, my throat burns.

He walks behind me, and he wraps the chain around my neck from behind. He pulls on it, cutting me off, and places his lips by my ear. “You’ll scream when we tell you to.”

He hasn’t taken my air away completely, but he’s restricted it.

The guy with the belt walks up to me. His mirrored mask is broken with cracks all through it as if someone hit it with a baseball bat. It shows my reflection in broken pieces. I can see my makeup smeared from my tears. He tilts his head to the side, not saying anything. Then without warning, he takes the belt and slaps the leather across the inside of my thigh just as the one behind me tightens the chain, taking away my air and restricting my ability to scream out at the pain.

He lets go of the chain, and my head hangs while I suck in a breath. My thigh is now on fire as if someone just held a lighter to it. It throbs, and so does my pussy.

My shoulders scream at the position my body hangs from the ceiling. My feet hurt from my heels barely touching, and my legs spread wide. But my clit is pulsing, and my nipples are erect. My breathing labored.

A hand is between my legs the next second, and the snaps of my leotard are being unfastened. It pops open, and it’s yanked up to my waist. I moan, my head falling back, eyes closing.

My fishnets are lowered enough to rip off my underwear, making me whimper at the feel of the material stinging my hips. Something is placed on my pussy. It starts to vibrate.

I start to convulse, my mouth falling open when my entire body stiffens. I’m going to come so quickly. The fear, the adrenaline, the vibration. Fuck, this will be a record. It stops, and I curse them under my breath.

My bunny ears are yanked off my head before they’re replaced with a hood, taking my vision away, and the chain tightens around my neck, pinching my skin. The chains that I’m secured to rattle as the sweetheart top of my leotard is yanked down to expose my chest to the room.

Hands grab at my breasts. They’re not rough. Mostly soft. Slowly, they massage them. Caressing them with just enough pressure to have my head spinning. Or maybe it’s the room. I can’t see anything, so I close my eyes. My hot breath inside the hood falling on my face makes me sweat.

A tongue licks my nipple, and I find myself leaning into it. “Oh God,” I moan when his teeth sink into it just enough to make my thighs tighten in anticipation.

Then they’re gone, and I groan in frustration. Something clamps down on my right nipple, taking my breath away. My shoulders cave in to try to cover my chest, but it’s useless. The chains around my wrists make it impossible and open for their convenience.

“This is when you scream.” I hear the voice at my ear again right before pain slices through my nipple. And I do exactly what he says.

I scream into the hood, my body thrashing in the chains that hold me captive. Hot fire runs through me, and my chest tightens. Then like it never happened, it’s gone, and I sag once again, now crying.

I swallow my tears, sweat, and snot while I hang here in the middle of a room for them to play with. And I hate how wet I am right now. That I try to rub my thighs together to get some friction.

I tense when I feel a hand on my other breast. It’s the same as before. His mouth on it, then his teeth. I take a deep breath when something pinches it, and then that fire again makes me scream like I’ve never screamed before.

SIN

FUCK. SHE’S SO goddamn gorgeous. I’ve been so fucking hard since she read her journal in class today. If I had known she had those kinds of fantasies, I would have sat in on that class every day with her.

But it’s probably better I didn’t. The temptation of getting her off the last two years without fucking her have been hard enough on me.

She hangs before me, her breasts and pussy exposed, and all I want to do is mark her. Carve my name into her body so every damn man knows she belongs to me and that I’ve waited all of my life for this. For her.

Corbin and Jayce had to help me tonight, and although I don’t mind them seeing her naked, I’d never let them fuck her. No one is allowed to touch what’s mine. Not unless they want to lose an arm.

“S-in,” she sobs into the hood, and I cup her cunt. Her body jerks in surprise, and I spread her pussy open wide, feeling how wet she is.

“Such a good little demon,” I praise her, making her hips rock back and forth. The rattling of the chains from her harsh movements makes me smile.

“Please?” she begs so fucking sweetly. I imagine her doing it while crawling to me with her mouth open wide, waiting for me to use it.

I shove two fingers into her, my thumb massaging her piercing, and her breathing hitches. I look over her shoulder at Corbin and nod. He yanks on the chain, tightening it around her neck, and she goes wild when he takes away her air while I fuck her cunt with my fingers. I bring her as close to orgasm as I can, and when her pussy clenches on my fingers, I stop and remove them.

The chain loosens, and she sags once again, her cries filling the room.

“We’ve just begun, little demon.”