The Plume: The Second Anthology by Ella Ardent Read Free Book Online Page B

filled with restless energy, the
members jostling each other after the capture of the imposter.
Athena had a responsibility to them, to ensure that that energy
found a good outlet.
    It was the perfect time to reveal her
surprise.
    Athena ignored the Count, leaning past him to
the bar. “My hat and whip, please, Tony.”
    The bartender grinned as he handed her the
gold top hat and black bull whip. “Lights, camera and action?” he
teased.
    “It’s time for a treat,” Athena said, knowing
that everything had been prepared. “Let’s do it.”
    Tony flicked the switches behind the bar and
the everything in the Plume changed. The dance music segued into
the carousel music typically heard at a circus. Instead of golden
light and a pulsing strobe beneath the dance floor, there were
spotlights circling from overhead, spiralling over the crowd. The
dance floor hummed, a section of it rising to create a platform in
the middle of the bar. The lights changed to gold and red and
streamers were released from the ceiling. At the same time, swings
were lowered from the darkness overhead.
    The members gasped in delight and laughed
with each other. Athena strode through the crowd and leapt on to
the rising platform, putting her top hat on her head. “Ladies and
gentlemen, girls and boys!” she cried. “I welcome you to the circus
at the Plume!”
    The members roared approval just as the
swings were lowered from the darkness overhead. They were
essentially bars, like the swings used by trapeze artists, and on
each one perched a slave girl dressed as a peacock. Their costumes
were all a-glitter, all blue and green and gold and purple. They
wore shiny corsets and had tails of peacock feathers that spread
wide and high behind them. They swung over the crowd, flashing
their genitals and the seams in their stockings.
    The crowd was rapt at the display.
    “Exotic creatures on every side,” Athena
cried, well aware that the Count lounged against the bar, watching
her with a smile. She wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of knowing
that his pussycats had given her this idea. Seven cages were
wheeled through the crowd then, each one containing a member in
costume.
    “Lions and tigers and bears!” Athena cried.
Two tigers, actually, a lion, a wolf, two bears – one black and one
polar – and a cheetah prowled their cages and made menacing noises.
One of the peacock girls jumped from her swing to the top of the
polar bear’s cage and he swatted at her, pushing his great paw
between the bars as she ran back and forth and squealed in apparent
terror.
    A member jumped to the top of the wolf’s cage
and snatched at a peacock girl, hauling himself up on to her swing
beside her. The crowd cheered approval as the pair necked.
    This was going as well as Athena had
hoped.
    A cage was wheeled close to her and spun. The
slave inside roared and the crowd cheered. It was Charlie, who
hadn’t surrendered his studded dog collar or any of his studs. His
tattoos, though, were mostly hidden by his lion costume. Athena
liked the look of him in the tawny bodysuit, with the great ruff of
mane around his head. His gloves were padded to be shaped like paws
and he had long talons. Athena couldn’t wait to see what he did
with those.
    Charlie was totally into his role. He prowled
the cage and snarled at the members, flicking his tail. He was
pumped and his cock was erect, his eyes shining with
anticipation.
    Because she’d picked him.
    Athena cracked her whip. “Aren’t we lucky
that these dangerous beasts are caged?” she shouted and the slaves
in the cages roared again. Charlie flicked his tongue at her,
flashing his tongue stud. Athena laughed at his antics.
    Then she pulled a golden church key from
beneath her skirts. “What would I ever do if this lion got the
key?” she asked.
    A guy dressed in biker leathers lunged for
her. Athena cracked her whip to keep him back and they squared off,
the crowd choosing sides. Athena ensured the whip cracked