Page 75 of Circus From Hell

“You know damn well what she needs. She needs to hunt and eat.”

“What can we give her?” Arlo asks quietly.

“A human.”

I shake my head. “No. She can’t eat who she wants. That’s not how life works. How do we make it stop? Is there other meat or blood that helps?”

Spiral starts laughing again. “See? This is why you’ll never be any good for her. You’re still trying to control her and change her.”

“Because eating humans is wrong.”

“To you,” he scoffs. “That’s not how she works. Karma will lose all sense and turn savage if she doesn’t hunt and eat regularly. I suggest you two swallow your morals if you want to last around her. You’re trying to change a girl who shouldn’t and won’t be changed.”

I hate that he’s right. We are trying to change Karma based on our own morals, and she shouldn’t be forced to change for us. Sure, she’s completely fucked-up, but am I any better? I have blood on my hands too.

“So what do we do? Let her into the city to hunt?”

“Either that or she’ll end up eating one of you three. Actually… Yeah, let her do that. I think she’d be upset if she came down from her erratic state and realised she ate one of you. Oh, that would be a beautiful sight. All the distress and⁠—”

“Shut up.” I kick his cage, but he keeps smiling up at me.

He sticks his split tongue out, dragging it up the bar, eyes never leaving mine in challenge.

Arlo tugs on my shirt. “We need to go before Karma eats Soren.”

“Let her! None of you will last very long around her, you know. Karma was made for me. She’ll live by me and die by me.”

“Did Karma get that memo?” I chuckle. “She’s just rode Arlo’s pierced cock, watched me fuck his pretty mouth, and sucked off Soren. You’re the last thing on her mind.” That’s not exactly true—she woke up begging for Spiral to finish what he’d started before she passed out—but he doesn’t need to know that.

The dig hits where it’s intended, and he slams his hands furiously against the bars. “As soon as I get out of here, I’m going to cut you open and shove your entrails down Karma’s sweet throat. And Curly? You’ll have to watch. Tell me, will you cry for your big brother?”

“Ignore him,” I order, turning and urging Arlo out of the trailer before he gets upset. Arlo’s always been sensitive. I want to keep him that way.

The padlock is on the floor—Soren never put it back on—and I debate locking the trailer properly. But he can’t get out of that cage, so I don’t bother in case we need some more evil advice.

“What do we do?” Arlo asks.

“We lead her into the city. Either we find a random human for her, or one of us gets it, and I don’t fancy being the meat.”

“I don’t like this,” he huffs, and I notice that he doesn’t release my hand as we run back to Karma’s tent.

I can hear Soren shouting, protesting, and Karma’s violent snarl in response. We skid to a stop as a mixture of green and blue barrels out of the tent. Karma pummels Soren to the ground, sitting atop him and fighting to sink her teeth into his flesh. He puts his arms up to block her, repeating the words, ‘It’s me, darling. It’s Soren,’ but she’s too far gone.

Arlo releases my hand and puts two fingers to his mouth, and I know what he’s about to do.

“No, Arlo. She’ll catch you.”

“I’m scared and shiny enough to lure her in. It’s okay, Micha. I got this.”

My stomach twists with worry as he whistles loudly. Karma sits up, turning to look at us.

“Come on, Karma. I know you want to eat me. You’ll be able to take all my pretty jewellery for your collection.”

He takes a tentative step back, activating Karma’s need to hunt.

She slowly creeps off Soren, moving across the grass on her hands and feet. Her bells don’t make a single noise as she holds her head impressively still, and it’s as creepy as it is disturbingly hot.

“Don’t run yet. It’ll trigger her,” Soren whisper-shouts, but I see Karma’s ear twitch. She can hear it all.