The poor girl cried out and struggled, but that only caused her to jerk mildly in the air and begin a slow rotation that she couldn’t stop. Elias, as usual, was impressed by his own ingenuity. It was amazing what two three-foot spreader bars, some cuffs and locks, and a few feet of nylon straps could create.

What was this one’s name? Elias chuckled to himself. In the excitement of luring his latest pet away from the city’s vain Halloween parties and into his private playroom, he’d already forgotten. Their names didn’t matter. Their names weren’t what he remembered about them. He remembered their looks of terror as he stood over their helpless bodies. Their futile struggles as they resisted the creative bondage he placed them in. Their pleas and screams when he had his way with them—slowly and repeatedly. None had escaped, at least in the real world, though each had been released eventually as she lost her last coveted hold on the living world… at any rate, her name didn’t matter in the slightest. But her cries: those were interesting, if muffled.

This one hung in the middle of the room, upside down and suspended in heavy ankle cuffs designed for the purpose. Her legs and wrists were both cuffed tightly and connected to the ends of the spreader bars, leaving her in a kind of inverted spread-eagle position. Thick nylon straps connected to each end of the spreader bar on her ankles and joined near the ceiling in a large triangle before connecting to a metal hook that swiveled. Another strap connected simply to the middle of her arms’ spreader bar and attached it to another hook on the floor. Elias didn’t risk her being able to lift herself up at the waist.

The uncontrolled turn continued, her strict “X” of a body putting on a helpless display for him. Her figure was lean and taut, and quite enviable. Once he’d subdued her, he’d relieved her of the clothing she’d never need again. Her quaint “Little Red Riding Hood” costume lay in a heap in the corner. She might have dressed differently had she known the big bad wolf was real.

“Are you enjoying yourself?” Elias asked idly as he stabilized his charge and turned her to face him. The girl wailed pathetically and shook her body, rattling the spreader bars a little. She wanted desperately to say more, but Elias had sealed her head into a stiff leather hood that left her blind and quite mute. She’d adamantly protested having so much rubber shoved into her mouth yet… well, here she was. Her mind burned with images of all the restraints and toys she’d seen before the hood.

She felt sticky objects being pressed against her upper thighs on either side of her genitals, then more of them on each breast. Elias then took the leads on his TENS unit and attached them to each pad on the girl’s body. He flipped the switch briefly and watched with delight as the girl cried out from the shocks coursing through her body. She tried desperately to recoil from Elias’ wrath but she was bound too tightly. It didn’t help that Elias’ unit had been personalized with a car battery.

Elias didn’t make her suffer just yet, and turned the unit off quickly. She instantly began trying to plead with him. Her answer was the uncomfortable feeling of a phallus being pressed into her pussy. Elias wondered whether she might be able to work it back out of her before he returned. For now, though, it only lead to more pleading.

“Oh no, dear,” he knelt down and whispered into her hooded ear. “This is just the beginning of our time together. No one saw you leave the club and no one knows where we are, I guarantee it.”

He raised his voice to drown out her sobbing. “But tonight is the most special night of the year, and we won’t be celebrating alone. I’m going to go find you a playmate.”

With that, Elias set the TENS unit to shock at random intensities and at random times, then hung it from the bar at the girl’s feet. He gave her a festive push that set her rotating again and disappeared out the door. His soundproofing did the trick and as soon as the door shut behind him, the muffled cries of his victim faded away. He padlocked the door.

* * *

Halloween was indeed a special time, and not just for Elias. It was a night when the city’s underlying hubris reared its head, secure in the belief that the donning of a mask or plastic cat ears absolved everyone from their wrongdoing. Not that Elias moralized. He was a monster who had seen his true reflection and smiled at the mirror. Halloween just made it easier for the real monsters to roam about. Elias passed a subway station. About an hour ago he’d tossed the girl’s purse into a train just as the doors closed. Her phone and wallet would be swallowed up by the greed of the city’s miscreants or, at worst, ride all around the city for hours. No one who tracked it would have any idea where she presumably lost it when she got off.

Elias didn’t need to head downtown to find gluttonous crowds of costume-clad Halloween disciples. Wearing a tuxedo and holding an orange-tipped toy pistol, Elias became just another James Bond and blended in seamlessly with the crowds. Besides avoiding the bar where he’d found his latest conquest, Elias wandered a couple blocks before finding a club that piqued his interest. He’d never seen this one before. It must be new.

Bathed in red neon and smoke machines, this club seemed more crowded than all the rest. Elias knew from experience that crowded clubs were all the easier to get lost in. Slipping the bouncer a couple bills, he ventured inside. He was dazzled by walls covered in red and yellow LEDs that mimicked fire, and a very full dance floor. Elias prowled along its edges, looking for a loner he could pick off from the herd.

Then he saw her. She was perfection in a police officer’s costume, sitting alone and cross-legged at a round booth, both arms up on the back rests. Elias walked over. This woman was busty and eager to show it. Her police button-down was buttoned down enough reveal a lacy black bra. Her skirt was too short to hide the tops of her fishnets, which themselves disappeared into heeled thigh boots. When she noticed him and turned, Elias gazed at his own reflection in her aviators.

Elias searched for the right words to introduce himself, but the woman went first.

“Hey, there, Mr. Bond,” she said over the din of the music, “where’s your martini?”

Elias raised his toy gun and put on his best Connery. “Can’t drink on the job, miss.”

“Can’t save the world on an empty stomach either. Sit with me.”

Elias smiled. This woman was perfect and she was even making it easy.

“Thanks, but aren’t you meeting someone?” He gestured to the ‘Reserved’ sign sitting on the table beside a lone candle.

“I can make time for you,” the cop smirked, “…Mr. Bond.”

Elias sat. Officer Perfect held out her hand for him.

“Hello, James. I’m Victoria,” she said with charm.

“A pleasure,” Elias dropped his bad accent. No need to give his real name yet. That usually happened after it was too late. Elias deflected, “I think you might be mixing costumes, Miss Victoria.”

He gestured to Victoria’s head. Just below her officer’s cap, red plastic devil’s horns sat atop her dark hair. “Oh those!” Victoria said playfully, “those are just part of the uniform.”

“How so?”

“I’m not one of the good cops,” Victoria joked. Elias laughed. The din of the club seemed lessened talking to her.

A gaggle of zombies walked by, catching their eye. Victoria nodded to them and asked, “so what does James Bond do in the world of the living?”

“I do maintenance for an office building a few blocks away,” Elias wasn’t usually so forthcoming, but Victoria was simply breathtaking. From her figure to her defiant grin, she was everything he’d ever want in a pet. He might just have to change his methods. He could keep this one forever. He finished, “not very glamorous, I know.”

The song changed in the club and the lights dimmed slightly. A server brought over a couple of drinks (a martini for Elias, of course). Her ruby lips parted.

“No! I think that’s interesting!” she said flirtatiously. “I always love people who get to experience the hidden undersides of society. Where the wheels turn and keep everything moving and where the dirt gets swept.”

Elias was barely listening. This girl could make even a conversation about dirt sexy. His eyes traversed Victoria’s luscious body. She was flexible, he could tell. She could withstand his strictest positions for sure. Once she was his, nothing else would matter. He might never let the ring gag out from behind those lips…

Victoria parted her legs and crossed them again quickly. Elias was enamored. The rest of the club was just white noise now. His eyes traveled up her body, to her hair and the brown horns parting it.

“I actually kind of feel sorry for people like you,” Victoria continued, “because people like to pretend they can get along without paying attention to you. Like you’re not even there. I bet no one ever talks to you where you work.”

Elias chuckled. “Hardly ever. There are parts of the basement that no one’s visited in decades. Except me, of course.”

He looked at the floor in a well-practiced routine. “People just kind of ignore me. I don’t think they’d even notice if I disappeared, until something broke.”

“Oh, poor thing! I care,” Victoria leaned forward and took his hand affectionately. Elias met her gaze. She was making this easy.

“So typical!” she continued indignantly. “People pretend like they’re so good. So righteous. They pretend they can just do everything right and ignore the bad, but you know what? No one can escape their sins, and thinking you can is just pride.” She snapped a finger. “Just another sin. But you know all about that.”

Elias blinked. “…sin?”

“Yes,” Victoria said with a mischievous smile. She emptied her high ball glass in a seamless draught. “That’s the theme for tonight, right? So tell me, Mr. Bond, what sins do you have planned for us tonight?”

Elias stared. For the first time tonight he was on his back foot. Did his stunning prey suspect something?

“What do you mean?”

“You’re not as subtle as you think. You’ve been lusting over me since you sat down.”

“Look, I—“

“Relax, I like it. I’ve been looking for a playmate to spend the night with.”

Elias’ heart skipped a beat.

Victoria put an elbow on the table and tapped a finger against her cheek. The electric fires along the walls flickered on. “Let’s see… you like things a little kinky, don’t you? I can always tell.”

“Maybe,” Elias said coyly, deciding to play along, “I could find a good use for those handcuffs of yours.”

“Why do you think I brought them along?” Victoria chortled. “Hmm… you don’t strike me as the type to get handcuffed himself.”

“Not really.”

“So I’ll be the one… ah, under arrest? Good, that’s the way I like it…”

Elias could hardly believe his own luck. This bitch will be joining his other toy very soon. He wouldn’t need any others.

“…so what would you do with me?” Victoria bit her lip alluringly, like she’d been caught with her hand in the cookie jar.

“Well… bad girls need to be punished, after all. You’ll need a good spanking at least,” Elias spoke softly, making sure his voice couldn’t be heard over the soft music. Luckily, fewer and fewer people were walking past their booth.

“Handcuffs aren’t very restricting. I might resist you.”

“Well,” Elias gave a mock sigh, “then I’ll just have to tie you a little tighter.”

“A little?” Victoria leaned back, showing off her chest.

“A lot tighter. Wouldn’t want you escaping, would we?”

“Definitely not,” Victoria looked at him hungrily. “But if you spank too hard I’ll have to call for help.”

“Can’t have that. I’ll have to keep you quiet. Find something to put between those sexy lips.”

Victoria inhaled sharply, clearly aroused. “Promise?”

“I guarantee it. Control is everything.”

“I agree,” replied Victoria, “and after my spanking? What happens to this girl when you have her alone, all tied up and gagged…”

Elias straightened up confidently in his seat. “Anything I want.”

“And will you let me go in the morning?”

“Of course.”

Victoria gave a flirtatious laugh. “Liar.”

Elias sighed. This felt so different from every plaything he’d ever found before. “Fine, you caught me. Someone as beautiful as you ought to stay for the weekend.”

The candlelight flickered across Victoria’s face. There was almost no other light in the club now.

“Ooh, so naughty,” Victoria whispered sensually. “You know, most guys who tie up their girlfriends tend to get permission first. Ever hear of consensual sex?”

Elias barely chose his next words. Inexplicably, his inhibitions seemed to have disappeared into the faint, dark rhythms of the club. The fire was gone except for their lonely candle.

“Fuck consent. You’re mine.”

Elias shocked even himself. There’d be no recovering from a remark like that. Kicking himself mentally, Elias almost gasped in surprise when Victoria burst into a high cackle. “Now!” she clapped her hands. “Now we’re getting somewhere, Elias.”

Elias flinched. He hadn’t told her his name. “Wait… what?”

Victoria smiled yet more broadly. “I’ve been waiting for you to reveal what you really want. To whisk me away to your little dungeon so you could tie me up and play your sadistic games. Like all the other poor girls. Don’t worry, the police will find the poor girl you’re torturing soon. I didn’t want to tip them off too fast—even before your little abduction she wasn’t the most pure soul out there…”

Elias was confused. “What? How did—I don’t know what you’re talking about!”

Elias finally noticed that the club was just… gone. There was no music, no people, no neon, not even a floor. Except for the booth, table, and Victoria herself, everything around them was literal blackness. Had someone turned off the lights?

“Oh come now, Elias. I hoped you’d catch on by now,” Victoria slowly removed her aviators, revealing fiery red eyes. The horns no longer looked plastic but hard and scaly. Her gaze pierced him.

“You can call me Lucy if that makes it more obvious. I’d have brought my pitchfork but they made me check it at the door.”

“Oh God!” Elias gasped, worried about slipping off his seat in case he fell into the black abyss around him. This was no woman. This was… something else.

“Not here, I’m afraid. Just me. Can’t imagine you’re surprised with the life you’ve led.”

“But I’m not—“

“Dead?” Victoria interrupted, “actually, no. You haven’t died. That’s what makes this a special occasion! And don’t think this is some ‘three ghosts visit you in the night’ deal. We’re way past second chances.”

“But you can’t!”

Victoria cackled again. “Not normally, no. Usually I have to wait. But see, the big guy and I have a little deal. See, every once in a while free will makes a mistake. No way around it, just creates sick pieces of shit like you. Law of Averages, I guess. But, if free will doesn’t correct itself naturally, well, then I get a freebie. And today, I’m here for you.”

Elias seemed to have been struck dumb. He just stared at the cop as she rose up off the table, standing on pure nothing.

She put her hand up to her mouth, as if telling a secret. “And for the record, this whole arrangement was actually his idea.”

“Wait!” Elias cried suddenly, “I’ll stop! I’ll let her go and then I’ll change, I promise!”

“And all the others?” she asked menacingly. “Going to resurrect them now?”

“I bet you could.”

“A deal, really?” Victoria mocked, “and what can you offer, your soul? I already have it, and no one else wants it. No one.”

“But I’ll fix it, I swear!”

Victoria leaned forward and cocked an eyebrow sarcastically.

“There’s that pride,” she quipped, “oh honey. No, you won’t. Trust me on this one. Let’s move on, shall we?”

Victoria snapped her fingers.

* * *

Instantly, the booth and the blackness were gone. Elias found himself lying on the floor, back in the basement where he played with his pets. He couldn’t see any helpless victims. His contraptions and toys were all there, neatly arranged where he’d left them. Yet somehow the restraints, gags, whips, and the rest all looked… different. Exaggerated. The whole room gave an eerie glow.

Elias got up to find Victoria standing before him with cocked hips. Her aviators were back on.

“All that brimstone got boring a while back,” Victoria mused whimsically, “Nowadays it’s all about the customized user experience.”

“What is this?” Elias asked but was immediately surprised by the sound of his voice. It was higher, and more feminine. He looked down and jumped in shock. He now looked exactly like Victoria, except without the costume or, for that matter, any clothing at all.

Just then, the door burst open in the corner and revealed a silhouetted figure against a blinding white light. With a familiar confident swagger, he walked over to stand next to Victoria. Elias let out a high-pitched shriek.

“I’m sure you can look after yourself here.” Victoria laughed coldly and turned for the door.

Elias stared at his own face, watching his exact doppelganger look at him with hungry eyes.

“Ohh, she’s perfect,” Elias heard in his own voice. He didn’t wait a second longer and made for the door, running as fast as he could. That light, that light had to be something…

Victoria, rolling her eyes, snapped her fingers and Elias tripped. Landing with a dull thud, Elias found his (or perhaps her?) arms, elbows, knees, and ankles bound with tight straps… painfully tight. Cutting into his skin, as he always did to his victims. A muffled grunt escaped the large ball gag that now filled Elias’ mouth.

A pair of stiff hands lifted Elias to his feet and gripped him from behind. A hand squeezed her breast hard, so that Elias couldn’t help but whimper.

“Oh no, dear,” he heard his chilling phantom voice in his ear. “This is just the beginning of our time together.”

Victoria’s last sight of Elias was his womanly form, slung over Phantom Elias’ shoulder as he took her back into the playroom. The wide eyes screamed in ways the gag wouldn’t allow. Exiting without a second thought, Victoria latched the door and closed a heavy padlock with no key hole.

30.10.15