Chained in the Demon's Lair (Hellfire Circus) Read Free Page A

hungry, but still she didn’t want
to accept anything from Cassandra. That woman had always despised
her and for all Julie knew the bread and water could easily be
laced with poison.
    “Leave me alone!” she called.
    There was no reply.
    Finally Julie heard the grinding sound of the
door unlocking as the huge metal portal began to open. A sliver of
light shot through the dimness and she looked up at Cassandra’s
beautiful face, now somewhat gaunt, peering within.
    “You must eat something Julie,” she said, “at
least have some water. You must need it by now.”
    “Yeah?” Julie snorted from her position in
the corner where she sat in her underwear, clammy from sweat and
the hours she’d spent in confinement. “And what do you care?”
    Cassandra sighed and suddenly she looked more
vulnerable than Julie had ever seen her. But still, she wasn’t
ready to give up on the idea that this too might just be another
ploy.
    “I care,” Cassandra said. “If you could see
how much I care it would block out the sun itself.”
    “Well that’s hard to believe,” Julie replied,
studying the other woman closely. “I saw you down there you know,
sucking that monster’s cock. I heard what you said about me.”
    Cassandra raised her forlorn eyes and looked
at the other woman. There were tears brimming at the corners. “I
was trying to protect you,” she said, “don’t you see? He wanted to
rape you. I saved you from him by drawing his attention back to
me.”
    Julie folded her arms. Despite herself,
she couldn’t help but concede that Cassandra’s emotion did seem
genuine here. “And what do you care about that?” she asked, “Aren’t
you the one who brought me here for him? Aren’t you the one who
betrayed Samuel?”
    At the mention of his name what remained of
Cassandra’s resolve crumpled and the tears began to roll silently
down her cheeks.
    “How could you do it?” Julie asked, stepping
forward from the darkness. “How could you do it to him when he only
ever showed you kindness? How could you do that to everybody else
at the circus?”
    “You don’t understand,” Cassandra spoke,
universes of pain in her choked voice, “I had no choice.”
    “ There’s always a choice Cassandra,” Julie
said, “even if it means giving up your own life, there’s always a
choice.”
    “No,” Cassandra moaned, shaking her head as
her sorrow became more vehement.
    Julie didn’t know whether to comfort the
woman or attack her, to plead to her better nature or to force her
into submission so she could escape. As she watched the woman
collapse into emotional chaos before her, a lithe figure silently
stepped out of the darkness and raised a pistol to the back of
Cassandra’s neck.
     
    ***
    “It’s over Cassandra.”
    It took Julie a moment to place the voice and
then a wave of delight washed over her. It was Baptiste St. Jean,
one of the Ringmaster’s oldest friends and a voodoo priest of some
renown.
    Another voice spoke, as the dwarf Francois
stepped out of the shadows.
    “Dear Cassandra, oh my dear. What have you
done?”
    The woman closed her eyes in an instant
and fell to her knees. With the gun still leveled at her head
(though his expression now quite a bit more sympathetic) Baptiste
looked over her shoulder at Julie.
    “Are you alright?” he asked. “Did they hurt
you?”
    “I’m fine,” Julie said, “where’s Samuel? Is
he ok?”
    Baptiste and Francois exchanged an uneasy
glance but did not say anything.
    “Cassandra,” Baptiste spoke, his voice firm
but not punishing, “where are the keys for Julie’s chains? Hurry
up, we don’t have much time.”
    “Here,” Cassandra said, “in my pocket. But it
won’t matter anyway.”
    “ Why not?” Baptiste asked, snatching the
keys and tossing them to
Francois as the dwarf ran to Julie’s side.
    “Because the bastard has set this whole place
up to blow in fifteen minutes. Three nuclear warheads.”
    A silence settled over the