The Dead Showgirl of Hell's Circus

Built from electricity, thread, and her creator's iron will, I am both the masterpiece he parades and the monster who performs after dark.

The ringmaster adores me, yet the rest of the company loathes me, and Spiral, leader of the clowns, is still searching for a way to kill a girl who is already dead.

I may hunt, eat, and kill one spectator each show night, but my hunger for fear and human flesh turns feral when the stepbrothers Arlo and Micha appear in the stands—one slight and tempting, the other tall, protective, and difficult to take.

Their crackling opposition fixes me on them just as the ringmaster leaves to seek a new test subject.

In his absence I find a gilled, web-fingered creature caged and begging for freedom, and fascination matters more to me than the order I am breaking.

Three of them want my body, one wants me destroyed, and the first bite will leave no way back.