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Parlor Tricks

By Searska GreyRaven

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Cinna woke to darkness, the soft, tuneless song of a zither trickling through his ears, and the sharp-sweet scent of leather filling his nose.

"Good. You're awake," said a soft, female voice. The music ceased, leaving behind the ghost of an echo, like an after-image for sound. He could feel it thrumming along his body. "Let's get a proper look at you."

The scent of leather vanished, replaced by brilliant light. He yowled and recoiled, eyes squeezed tight against the assault. He tried to shield his face, but his limbs wouldn't obey. The constrictive grip of ropes digging into his skin held him still.

The dhole swiveled his ears from side to side, trying to find the source of the voice and the music, his eyes useless until they adjusted to the glare from above.

Or was it below?

Cinna cracked his eyes open, bracing against the sting. He couldn't even be strictly certain the source of the light was above him. There was no floor or ceiling to use as a frame of reference, not even walls. Just the beam of light, pinning him, the cords coiled around his limbs, and the jagged lines of thin, almost translucent threads. His nose twitched, trying to catch a scent, but the air was strangely empty. Just the stone-smell of concrete, slightly astringent with cleaning chemicals. There must have been walls somewhere, though. The ropes came and went from somewhere.

Still, the bright beam of light gave the effect that he was suspended in empty space. Cinna's hackles rose, and he backed his ears. Knowing that there were walls and a floor beneath him did nothing to assuage the eerie feeling of spatial distortion. The music didn't help. It droned just loud enough that Cinna felt like he was floating. Or falling.

The first trick is always to deceive the senses. Once you question them, you will believe anything.

Cinna shuddered, and inhaled deeply, or tried to. Those same shimmering threads were twisted around his muzzle, binding it shut. But his nose was free. If he could just scent his way around it, if he could just figure out how he ended up here--

"I've never snared a dhole in my web before, although I've heard much about them. Fascinating that you were able to sleep through the whole process of binding you. Your kind must be particularly susceptible to my venom."

Cinna snorted at the lie. He knew for a fact he wasn't the first. He worked at the threads binding his muzzle. If he flexed his jaw as hard as he could, he could just barely open his mouth. But as soon as he relaxed, the threads snapped back like rubber bands, sealing his jaws shut. It didn't prevent him from speaking, just biting.

"Do you know who I am?" The voice whispered from behind him.

Of course I know who you are, Cinna thought, trying not to smirk. He flexed against the ropes again, enjoying how tightly they hugged him.

"Enemy," he said through clenched teeth. "Spytaur."

Silence. The web bowed, shuddered, stilled.

"What is your name?"

Cinna clamped his mouth shut and refused to answer.

"Ah, so stubborn. I love the stubborn ones. They snarl and hiss and defy you, but when they finally fold, when the reality of their situation finally dawns on them, it warms my blackened little heart."

"You'll get nothing from me," Cinna spat through the bindings.

There was a chuckle from the darkness, a low, throaty sound. The cords holding Cinna shivered, rustling together like the susurrus of dead leaves. He could hear the dry rasping of chitinous legs as she moved along the silk threads.

"How many other Canid rebels have said that, hanging exactly where you are now? A dozen? A score? More? Not one of them ever succeeded in following through on their vow of silence. A mind is like any other web: eventually, they all unravel. And there is no one more gifted at unraveling a mind than a spytaur."

"There's a first time for everything," Cinna retorted. Gods, the voice was lilting, lovely, and Cinna found his ears straining to hear it speak again. The strands of web holding him thrummed softly. The zither music, she's making it, playing her web like an instrument! A sweet, soothing sonata that eased through his mind and made him feel--

No! No, I can't! Need to stay awake. Need to...keep my wits...about me. If she catches me sleeping, she'll--

"Ah, an optimist." The owner of the melodious voice inhaled slowly, then exhaled. "There is no greater aphrodisiac than hope, and no greater poison."

"The Canid Alliance will--"

"--not be coming for you," the voice finished smoothly. "And once I'm through with you, you won't want them to take you back. You'll beg to stay here, in my web, forever."

"Never!" Cinna snarled. "I'll never betray my people!"

"Oh, but you will."

"Empty threats."

"A heartfelt promise."

Silence, for a moment. The web ceased singing. Cinna froze, barely even daring to breathe.

The silken cords shuddered, threads ringing in a playful waltz, and a pair of arachnid legs came into view, black chitin gleaming wetly in the light. The delicate, pointed tips cradled Cinna's body and pulled him forward, dragging him to the brink of the darkness to reveal his captor's form.

From the hips-up, she looked almost human, if androgynous. Pale skin, tinged with grey, her chest flat and featureless. Full lips the color of coal smiled down at Cinna. Four black eyes--a smaller pair below the larger--peered down at him. Her face was lean and fey, features sharp and delicate. Hair as dark as a beetle's eye was piled up on top of her head, shot through with silvery rings of silk to hold it in place. Fine-boned arms ending in long-fingered hands brushed strands of silk aside, strumming them, setting the whole web singing like a heavenly lyre.

Spirits, the top part was lovely.

But the bottom half--

Narrow hips melted into the sleek black thorax and abdomen of a black widow spider, chitinous skin gleaming like patent leather. She stalked fully into the light on eight delicate legs, each one so thin that it seemed impossible they could bear the weight of the spytaur's body. A crimson hourglass on her belly glistened as she climbed the web to straddle her prey. She settled over him, her human half gazing down upon while her spiders' legs continued to stroke a lullaby from the strands of her web.

"How are you feeling, little dhole? You look exhausted. Do they feed you in the Canid ranks? Or do they expect you to survive on bush meat and dew? Is it true, the good eating only goes to the alphas of your kind?" The spytaur caressed Cinna's torso, fingers raking through his fur to find the flesh beneath. Her hands were cold, so cold, like ice. Cinna shuddered, and the spytaur's smile widened. Two dainty white fangs poked out from between those dark lips.

The dhole shivered, yanking himself out of her gentle entrancement. "I told you, you'll get nothing out of me!" Cinna said.

But the spytaur was unperturbed. Her legs continued to strum the threads of the web idly, unhurried. Cinna whined and tried to resist the lure of that soothing song, tried to stay angry and resolute, but he could feel his eyelids growing heavy once more.

The spytaur paused her song and regarded Cinna with all four of her ebon eyes.

"This is how it works, my pet: I will ask you a question, and you will answer. Truthful answers get rewarded. If you lie, if you evade, if you refuse to answer, you will be punished. This ends when you tell me the location of your people's camp. Do you understand?"

Cinna shook his head, his focus still tangled in the music. "Go to hell."

The spytaur laughed, cutting through the dhole's resolve like a discordant note. "Oh no, little dhole. You have it all wrong." She paused her song and leaned in close, her black lips brushing the rounded edge of the dhole's ear. "We're already there."

Cinna struggled harder, but only managed to tighten the harness wrapped round his body. The spytaur's legs began to strum again.

"Now, tell me, dhole, what is your name?"

Cinna looked away, lip curling in defiance.

The spytaur chuckled. "Where are my manners? Allow me to introduce myself. You may call me Allegro. And you are?" she prompted.

Cinna gritted his teeth and refused to answer.

Allegro frowned, but continued to pluck the strings of her web. The song had taken on a darker quality, a dissonant gavotte.

Quicker than he could follow, Allegro yanked Cinna's arm to one side. Cinna yelped and tried to snap on reflex, but the bands of silk made it impossible for him to bite. The spytaur paid him no mind, her chill fingers ruffling the fur across one arm to reveal his ranking tattoos. Cinni cried out and tried to wriggle away, but Allegro's grip was like iron.

"Oh, this is interesting. And here I'd thought we captured a breeding alpha. But you're nothing, are you? Just a second lieutenant, still wet behind the ears," she said.

Cinna whistled sharply. It was a call to arms among dholes, a war cry meant to fill him with defiance and strength. But the war cry was lost in the darkness, swallowed by Allegro's song.

Allegro laughed. "There are no others of your clan here, pet. You're whistling to an empty void. Even if there were, why would they help you? You aren't necessary to your clan. You're dead weight."

"I am not dead weight! I help the Matriarch and Patriarch hunt!" Cinna snarled, defiant.

"A third in command, nothing more," Allegro replied dismissively. "Meant to nursemaid the pups of another dhole's loins, never to sire any of your own." She shifted her weight in the web, easing down Cinna's body until her face was just above his pelvis. Cool fingers slid along the silk harness, smoothing over the knots and settled between his legs. She cupped him in her palm, and he winced as the chill caused his body to shrink back. "Do you even know what this is for?"

Cinna squeezed his eyes shut and bit back a whimper. The spytaur continued to caress him, to entice him, until the red tip of his member peaked above his sheath. She laughed and withdrew. Her spiders' legs played along the web strings, her pace slowing to adagio.

"Only the alpha pair have mating rights. So what do you do? Watch?" she continued.

Cinna refused to answer, but his breath hitched when he felt something warm and wet brush the tip of him. He opened one eye to see the spytaur's red tongue a whisker from his flesh. He could feel the heat of her breath upon him, arousing him further.

"I...help...I'm not..." Cinna lost the thread of his thought as Allegro's tongue swirled around his tip. She pulled back his sheath, revealing more of him, and gave his growing length one long, languid lick.

Cinna shuddered and struggled, but even he wasn't sure if he was trying to escape to get closer to that tantalizing touch. Cool fingers cupped his testicles, so in contrast to her hot tongue that Cinna gasped and writhed. His eyes rolled back as the spytaur continued coaxing his body to harden.

Suddenly, the spytaur withdrew and left Cinna bereft. He whimpered and looked around. Allegro was settled a few feet away. Her spider half never stopped playing, it seemed, but had changed pace again. The music was faster now, insistent, and his quickening heartbeat matched the tempo.

"What is your name, dhole?" she asked again.

"Cinna," he said, voice cracking. "My name is Cinna."

"Cinna," she said, tasting the name. "It suits you. Now, where is your clan camped?"

Cinna growled and bared his teeth.

"No. I can't. I won't!"

Allegro's spider legs plucked an angry staccato on her web. "As you would have it, Cinna. I warned you what would happen if you refused."

Allegro stepped back, into the darkness, and Cinna struggled to see what became of her. He could feel the web twitching all around him, but the movement seemed to come from everywhere at once. The music was gone, replaced with a discordant fantasia that set his teeth on edge.

And then, it fell silent. Cinna strained his ears, listening for something, anything to betray Allegro's position, but the web was still, quiescent.

Allegro's soft voice whispered in his ear again.

"And so, we do this the hard way. Sing for me, little dhole. I've heard your kind is quite adept at it."

Cinna opened his mouth to protest, but it came out a cry of surprise. Something slender and slippery plunged under his tail and began to worm its way into him. He struggled, clenching and trying to force it back out. Allegro pressed into him, and though he struggled against it, it was too slick and his body betrayed him.

"How easily you let me in," Allegro mused. "And that was only one finger."

"What...are you...doing?" Cinna gasped, feeling Allegro slide almost all the way out, only to ease into him, deeper and deeper, until the spytaur's aim was true. Cinna cried out, his back arching in violated pleasure.

"Ah, there we are. Despite your differences with common canines, a few things never change. Last chance, Cinna. Where is your clan camped?"

"Never. You'll never get it out of me," he groaned. Allegro's fingers delved and played, easing in and out slowly, first one, then a second, then a third. Cinna's claws raked the air, his eyes rolled back in his skull. "I'd rather die!"

Allegro chuckled. "When I'm through with you, I imagine you will. There we are, slick as a bitch in heat. Wouldn't want to tear you up now, would we? Jade is so much less forgiving on flesh."

"Jade?"

Allegro didn't reply. She plunged into him again, stretching him to his limit.

Cinna screamed, and clamped down with all his might. He squeezed as hard as he could, pitting his whole body against the invasion even as he wished it wouldn't stop, but the spytaur had lubed him up too much. He could only whimper as Allegro worked him over. The spytaur thrust again, and again, and again, until Cinna sobbed with pleasure. His organ stretched from its sheath, red and dripping. He needed--he needed--

Allegro withdrew, sliding from within him and leaving him suspended, so close to orgasm but unable to do anything about it. He thrashed in the web, desperately trying to rub himself against something, anything. He was close, so close, but the spytaur was too clever. She held him there, at the brink of orgasm, and refused to allow him relief.

After a moment, she began again. And again, she withdrew just before he climaxed.

And again.

And again.

The reality of what she was doing finally dawned on the dhole.

"Please, please!" he begged. "I can't...I don't..."

The spytaur slowed her pace, giving the lust-addled dhole a moment to gather his wits.

"Where are your people, Cinna?"

Cinna panted, tongue dripping between his fangs, and refused to answer. Allegro laughed. "Perhaps you lack the proper motivation to answer me." Pale hands reached around, and Cinna could see the Spytaur had slathered something clear and syrupy over them. She smeared the fluid up and down his length, coating him.

"The Rachnid Empire has made quite a study of Canid bodies. How they respond to certain venoms, certain excretions of insects. I think you'll find this one most enlightening."

For a moment, nothing happened and Cinna dared to believe whatever the spytaur used had no effect on a dhole. He felt warm, too warm. Heat radiated from between his legs and began to crawl up his body.

He yowled as the sensation went from merely uncomfortable to insatiable. He _needed_to plunge himself into something, anything. Anything to quench the burning! He needed to get the stuff off! The aching, sizzling need stiffened him harder than he'd ever felt before.

Allegro reached between the tormented dhole's legs and spread his cheeks, her warm breath playing delicately across his treacherous opening. "Mammal bodies are such fun to play with. So many ways it can betray you, so many ways to make your animal urges break you. I've been kind, until now. No longer. You will answer me, Cinna."

She slid one finger, then another into him, the tips of her fingers warming inside his fevered body.

"I'll...never...nyah!"

Allegro withdrew, and plunged into him again, the pads of her fingers massaging his prostate until he came--

--or thought he did. Nothing came out, there was no release, no relief from the building pressure in his loins. The need was as strong as ever. Stronger, even.

"What...did you do to me?" Cinna demanded.

"Do? I did nothing, my pet. This is a trick of your own body. I can play with this--" she pressed into him again, sending shockwaves of pleasure through the dhole once more. "--all day, and you'll never be satisfied. Not completely. I can milk orgasm after orgasm out of you like this, and you'll never really cum. There will be no relief from that frantic urge unless I grant it to you, Cinna."

Allegro chuckled, and plunged into him again.

And again, Cinna felt the almost-orgasm writhe through him, and leave him unsatisfied.

"I can leave you on edge like this as long as it takes to break you."

Cinna moaned and struggled, pulling at the silk cords that held him, but he could barely budge them.

Allegro milked another near-orgasm out of him. Between the burning fluid slathered across his sensitive cock and the spytaur's fingers forcing him to the brink of orgasm again and again, Cinna could feel him mind begin the splinter.

"Hmm, let's try something a little easier, shall we? What is the name of your clan, Cinna?" Allegro asked, her fangs nibbling the rounded edge of his ear.

"Chailang," Cinna answered, shamefully quick. He reddened under his fur, disgusted with himself for giving in so easily.

Allegro laughed and withdrew her fingers, allowing him a moment of reprieve. He needed relief, needed it as profoundly as water or air. His hips still rocked the web, his body mindlessly trying to finish what the spytaur had started. But there was no friction to rub against, nothing to ease that relentless heat.

"Chailang," Allegro purred. "A lovely name. I know your clan. They're well known for being particularly stubborn. Perhaps I should leave you like this for a while. Maybe after a day of rutting into the empty air, you'll be more reasonable."

"No. You can't! Please," he begged. "Please!"

"Please what?" Allegro asked. She retreated out of reach, slinking across the web so that she could recline in front of him, and resumed strumming her nameless tune on her web. Even that slight vibration trickled along Cinna body, driving him mad.

"Please. I told you want you wanted to know. You can't leave me like this!"

Allegro didn't even look up. She continued plucking the threads of the web, her dark lips flirting with a smile. Wrapped around her middle was a harness made of the same opalescent silk, and a phallus carved from pale green jade. One hand caressed it, moving in slow, even strokes. Cinna felt his own body throb. His eyes were glued to the Spytaur's false phallus as she "pleasured" it, smearing viscous clear fluid over the decorative whorls along its length. It had been carved to mimic the cock of a wolf, rather than a dhole, and sported an impressive knot at the base.

"But you haven't told me what I want to know, Cinna Chailang! I want to know where your people are camped. I told you, this continues until you tell me. You're only tormenting yourself by holding back."

Cinna groaned and struggled, muscles flexing under his fox-red fur, but the cords holding him were too strong. They might as well have been woven out of steel. He screamed in frustration, his short tail lashing, but the web held. There was a rustle from the web, and the Spytaur was gone from his sight.

"No. No! You can't! Please! Don't...don't leave me like this!" He looked around frantically, but the web and the darkness beyond it were still and silent. A clear drop of fluid dripped from the tip of his erect cock and fell away.

Suddenly, eight legs, black as sin, arched over his head. Four of them coiled around his chest, while the other four gripped the web. He felt something press against his back, something cool and sleek and hard.

The jade phallus. Oh spirits, is she really going to use that thing on me?

"Where are your people, Cinna Chailang?" Allegro asked. "I won't ask again."

"I can't. I won't! Please, you have to understand--"

"But you must, and you will," Allegro said. "The location of your camp in exchange for your release."

"Lies," Cinna moaned. "You'll never let me go."

Allegro arched above and hung down over Cinna so that her face was even with his own, if upside-down. She dragged the lube-coated jade phallus across his fur, leaving a slimy trail up his back. "You have my word on it, Cinna Chailang. Your release, for the location of the dhole camp."

Cinna sobbed, and slumped in the web.

Allegro combed her fingers through the dholes thick fur, scratching him gently behind his ears. "Where are they, my pet?" she crooned.

"Shanxi. They're in Shanxi," Cinna said, his voice cracking.

Allegro grinned. "Good boy," she murmured, and slid the tip of the jade cock into his aching hole.

"No! You promised!" Cinna protested, panicking. "Let me go!"

"I promised to give you release. I never said anything about letting you go," Allegro said, pegging that spot inside him, driving him mad with lust. Cinna cried out in frustration, desperate to cling to his anger, but another almost-orgasm blanked his mind, banishing the fury under wave after wave of agonizing pleasure.

"Please, please, I gave you what you wanted! I can't--I need--"

Allegro pressed into him again, milking him until he thought he would burst. He was close, so close, but he couldn't--he couldn't--

Just when he thought he could take no more, she withdrew from him completely. The tip of her jade phallus, feverishly warm from being inside him, slicked along his opening, flirting with penetration.

"I'm going to knot you with this, Cinna Chailang. And when I do, I'll give you the release you've earned." Allegro wrapped her arms around Cinna's chest, her spiders' legs embracing him, caging him.

"Please," he begged. "Allegro, Mistress, please--"

The spytaur laughed, and the jade phallus was suddenly inside Cinna once more.

Cinna screamed. He panted, mind blank with pleasure, straining against the silk muzzling him. The spytaur buried the jade cock in him again and again, each time pushing the knot in a little deeper. Cinna sobbed, terrified that she would split him open but he was so desperate for relief that he was beyond caring. She pounded him, harder, deeper, closer, until finally, the knot pounded into him completely. Allegro's hands slid down his body and wrapped around his throbbing, aching member. She stroked once, twice--

He came.

His back bowed with the force of it, his body seized around the jade cock knotted tight inside him. He writhed, howling, his muscles spasming as he finally slumped in his bonds, the stream of his seed lost in the darkness beyond the pillar of light.

For a moment, the pair hung in the web, motionless. Slowly, Allegro slid out of Cinna, wrenching an aftershock orgasm from the exhausted dhole. The spytaur moved about her asymmetrical web, her sharp teeth nipping through the silk cords, as she untied Cinna from her web. She carried his limp body into the darkness and turned on a few dim lights, revealing the rest of a vast playroom. Walls lined with whips, paddles, and floggers of every kind hung in neat, even rows, each finished in soft, velvety-black leather. Between them hung acoustic panels, limned in dim, red light.

Allegro gently set him down among the folds of an enormous blanket and tucked him in. She vanished, and returned a few minutes later with a mug of hot cocoa and a plate with three ginger cookies on it.

Cinna devoured the first cookie, savored the second, and ignored the third.

"Feeling alright?" Allegro asked.

"Mm-hmm," Cinna murmured. He snuggled deeper into the plush blanket and nosed the last cookie toward her. Allegro took a single, dainty bite. She settled down facing Cinna, her spiders' legs folded neatly beneath her. Cinna stirred, his eyes still glazed over.

"Thank you," he said softly. "For not using the sticky threads this time."

Allegro giggled. "You're welcome. Although you did look rather adorable naked. I've never tried shibari with my own web before. I'd say it was worth the effort."

"Your new toy had me worried for a minute."

"But you didn't safeword," Allegro said.

"I trusted you," he replied. "I was right. So melodramatic, though."

"They're just parlor tricks, to keep you on your toes," Allegro said, scratching Cinna behind one ear. "You know I'd never hurt you."

Cinna grinned, and took a few small sips of the cocoa. "Same time next week?" he asked.

Allegro laughed. "As you wish," she replied.