Chapter Twenty
“Hush, hush, my dear,” he cooed to his soon-to-be Vanishing Lady as she kept trying to scream through the gag stuffed in her mouth and tied around her face.
He bent down and finished securing her to the metal chair, her hands bound behind the chair back and her feet tied to the chair’s front legs.
“Out of all of my assistants, your role is the least difficult, I promise you.”
He stood and then walked over to the table where he’d left the hypodermic syringe.
As he turned back around holding the syringe, the girl’s eyes widened in terror. She began to shake her head back and forth, her body trying to lean away as far as she could, while he walked back over to her, but the chair was bolted to the floor, so she couldn’t escape anywhere.
He pulled up another chair alongside her, then grabbed her upper arm with his free hand.
She began to thrash her body around trying to get away, which was impossible.
However, her moving about was also making it all but impossible for him to get a clear target to her vein.
Which he had to have to ensure he injected the substance directly into her bloodstream.
He was on a schedule and had to time things perfectly for his upcoming his show.
“Stop moving,” he warned her, but it seemed her fear was outweighing her logic and she was not listening to him.
“Damn it, stop moving, you little bitch!” he yelled, his patience wearing thin as he released her arm and then hit her across the face with a bit more force than he’d intended. Her head rocked to the side and her eyes rolled back into her head, her body now slumping down unconscious.
Not a bad result, he thought, able to easily now find the vein in her arm.
He lined up the thick, metal needle of the syringe and pierced her skin with it, pushing it all the way into her vein.
Slowly, he depressed the plunger of the syringe, ensuring the entire contents of the glass vial were fully injected into the girl’s bloodstream.
He removed the syringe, placed it on the side table, then sat back on his chair facing her and waited.
It didn’t take long for his Vanishing Lady to awaken with a gasp as her body was suddenly jolted awake by the lethal dose of liquid cocaine that was now running freely about in her system.
First, her whole body started shaking and then convulsing, then her jaw clenched as beads of sweat began pouring down her brow.
For a few minutes, her body was racked with shivers and jolts, almost as if an electric wire were attached to her.
Then the pulse at her neck began to thrum wildly as her heart responded to the substance, in what he imagined was a frenzy.
Her breathing became shallow, and then she gasped as her lungs struggled to draw in the oxygen she needed as her heart began to shut down.
Finally, her whole body clenched, then shuddered and then went very still.
“Well, that was dissatisfying,” he muttered to himself as he leaned over and checked the pulse at her neck, confirming it was silent.
He sighed and sat back against the chair. Not even four minutes had it taken for her to die, how very disappointing. But only to be expected, given the nature of the illusion itself.
Glancing over at her now-glassy eyes, the usual euphoria he normally experienced when he dispatched his assistants wasn’t fully there.
Though there was a small glimmer of satisfaction in seeing the fright frozen in her eyes.
In truth, the Vanishing Lady had never been one of his favorite acts, given it lacked the blood and gruesomeness of the other ones.
But he satisfied himself that at least he’d gotten to experience the absolute satisfaction of dispatching his harlot from the night before for the act, in a manner more fitting to his needs.
He twisted around and saw the freshly cleaned bones on the table and smiled.
Yes, that kill had been far more enjoyable, and a much better use of the liquid cocaine he’d procured.
Using a smaller amount had ensured she had been fully awake, with her limbs numb as he’d begun to saw away at them.
Yes, last night with her had been ecstasy for him.
And just what he’d needed to satisfy his urges.
Urges that were starting to build again.
Sighing, he turned back around to his Vanishing Lady. “I suppose it’s time to get you dressed for the show. We cannot be late for our audience, now, can we?”