I ignored the scattered boxes around the stage as I took my place. Twenty boxes, huh? Oh, the things I could do with that. But that wasn't on the table for today. I nodded to my assistant for the eve, Luci-with-an-i. She put her arms behind her back, leaning forward as she smiled, offering me a view of her cleavage. Not that I needed that, mind you. It was service best offered to the audience. But she had her role to play, much as mine.

"And now for the main course!" I announced with a loud and commanding voice. "While you may think that the little event before hand was typical of my shows, such is not true at all!" I swept my arms around me. "I am cruel, capricious and most certainly not here to be your friend. You are here to be entertained by those qualities of mine, and I shall deliver!"

"Luci," I commanded my sensual bunny, "Go find me a woman for my first act."

She saluted. "On it, sir!" the twin hopped off the stage and vanished from my sight into the crowd. No light tracked her as she hunted down a person that we had agreed on before hand. It was just a matter of making the selection look natural, and I trusted her to do that.

And it seemed like she found our target pretty quickly. She emerged back into the light of the stage with her chosen helper in tow - our chosen victim.

The new woman was of pale skin, like she didn't get enough sunlight. But that didn't stop her from looking quite fine. Her black hair was short and curled outward around her neck. She wore elevator boots that ran almost up to her knees, while striped stocking went up to the line of her daisy-dukes, the ridiculously tight shorts matched by the tightness of her sleeveless white shirt, a superfluous belt hanging around her waist.

"So, what's your name?" I asked.

"Teresa," she replied with just a little hesitation. Only natural.

"Well Teresa," I said with a smile designed to unnerve her. "We're going to play a game."

"And what would that be?" She looked around, her eyes staying on the piles of boxes around the stage.

"I'm going to ask you some questions," I explained. "No more than five. Best of Three, really. You answer correctly, I'll remove something from Luci here," I patted my helper on the shoulder. "If you get it right, Luci here will lose something. If you get it wrong, you lose something."

"That doesn't sound magical," Teresa pointed out. "What's the trick?"

"That's for me to know and for you to find out," I said. "First question!"

"Wait!" she tried to stop me, but it was too late.

"It what year was the United States of America founded?"

"1776!" she immediately answered the softball question.

"Luci," I said with fake sadness, "She is quite correct. Your loss. Remove your leotard please."

Luci did just that, rolling down the top of her bunnysuit to expose her breasts with no shame and no waiting as she finished rolling her costume down and slipping out of it. She tossed it to one side, then stepped out of her stockings as well.

"Shit," Teresa said.

"Not quite," I said. "Next question!"

"Hit me!" she replied.

"What is the name of the star closest to Earth?" I asked her. "No help from the audience!"

"Uh... The North Star?" she replied, knowing she was in the wrong.

"No," I said with a small but condescending smile. "I was expecting you to say Alpha Centauri, which would still be wrong. The actual answer is our lovely Sun!"

The audience laughed at Teresa, and she looked ashamed at that. "Now, it's your turn. Take off your clothes."

"And if I say no?" she responded.

I laughed, and from below, a pillar of smoke rushed up out of the stage, engulfing Teresa in its white grasp. She gasped, and the smoke vanished into the black space above the stage. She was still standing there, but now she had one arm covering her chest, while the other was over her loins. "You still lose," I said. "Next question!"

"Hey! I didn't agree to this!" Teresa objected, but she was frozen in place, either through her own embarrassment, fear, hidden exhibitionist desires, my power over her, or any or all of the above. I wasn't worried.

"I don't recall asking for your agreement," I said sternly. "Third question! Where was the Statue of Liberty built?"

"New York!" Teresa all but yelled in triumph.

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" I said without being sorry at all. "She was designed and built in France and gifted to the United States."

"Oh god," she whimpered, earning a reproachful look from Luci who was far too used to this sort of thing. "What now?"

"Now," I said, "is this. Luci?"

She stepped up to Teresa, and pulled her arms away from her body. Teresa couldn't resist as the naked woman got into her personal space and posed her, putting her arms over her head, bending her leg up and forcing her to balance like a ballerina on her toes. "Now don't worry, you still have two wins or a loss to go. You can salvage all of this if you're good or lucky. And I feel a little sorry for you, while I have taken away your ability to control your own body, I think I'll give you an easy question to make up for it."

"Please," she pleaded as she stood exposed before the audience.

"How do you spell the name of my assistant?" I asked, gesturing at Luci.

"L. U. C. Y!" She was so proud of herself.

"Well, that's a shame," I said. "I would never hire someone so normal. No, she and her lovely twin both have their names end in an 'I'. I'm sorry, you lose."

"Wait! No! You can't do this!" Teresa tried to stop me, but I would not. I held out my hand. "Luci, with an I, please get me that silver platter I showed you earlier."

"Yes sir!" she hopped to it, rushing away into the blackness, then coming back with a large serving platter, the likes of which you would put snacks on. "Here you go!" She offered it to me.

I took it in hand. "Now, Teresa, you seem to be not having fun. So I'm afraid that I'm going to have to remove you from the stage. I can't have downers like you up here, making a mess of things."

There was hope in her eyes.

"So in order to make sure you don't ruin things for anyone else," I said to her, "I'm going to take your head." With that I raised the platter over my head, edge down, and with a mighty heave, slammed it down, through Teresa's neck! Instantly, her body collapsed into a heap, and her head rolled away. I ignored the body in favor of the head, and I was able to get to it before it rolled off the edge of the stage. I picker it up, examining her lifeless face for further imperfection before setting it down on the platter I held. A small pool of blood formed around the base of her severed neck, a nice detail for those who thought that this was all fake.

"Take that away," I said to Luci, indicating the body. She took it by one foot, and dragged it off the stage, completely ignoring the murmurs from the audience. I set Teresa's head down on one of the piles of boxes. "Don't worry," I said, "she'll be fine. Ish. After the show. But for now?" I shrugged. "That's not for any of you to worry about. Now, once Luci gets back, we'll move on to the next act. Do I have a volunteer, or do I have to select one?"