Headliner

Quinn blinked for a second as she returned to the stage. The spotlight was fierce compared to the gloomy wings and subdued mood lighting in the club.

She strode out to the centre of the small stage. She was wearing a short black raincoat, its tightly belted lines caught the light making the shiny material appear almost liquid. Given the nature of the small off strip club and indeed the show, Quinn was pretty sure that her outfit wouldn’t last too long.

Matt followed dressed in his habitual black cargo pants, boots and tee shirt. He was followed by two of the showgirls from the club. Each over six feet tall they were a striking sight in their classic Vegas get up, high heels, barely there bikini top and thong in sparkling sequins and hair scooped into high tight ponytails, with more sequins.

She could sense a hint of disappointment in the air as the girls pushed out the trick. This wasn’t a great surprise, many of their shows revolved around with confounding the audience’s expectations.

There were two parts to the prop. A wide but narrow table on central supports and larger cabinet which appeared to have an open front.

“I know what you are thinking. You have seen this all before..”

The two props were now spread in the middle of the stage, and as the showgirls retreated Quinn thanked them and stood by the table.

“Quinn kneels there, I pretend to cut her head off. She does some kinda clever leaning back behind her suspicious costume and someone who looks just like her hides over there. Am I right? “

Quinn smiled and shrugged theatrically. She knew that was almost exactly what was not going to happen and she was looking forward to their version, even if she was in the dark about the details as usual. There was a time when that would have made her nervous, but those days were long gone.

“To make sure this is magic and not just a cheap trick do we have a couple of people who would like to come up on stage and help out? “

Quinn walked down the steps and out into the club, looking at the sea of hands raised. As ever it was a diverse crowd. The BDSM theme attracted everything from shy looking tourists to some serious kinksters. She selected a young couple from about three rows back. He was pretty unremarkable in his chinos and shirt, but he was punching well above his weight, she was stunning with a slender figure hidden under a blue summer dress. Something about her hinted that wasn’t all that was hidden about the girl.

“HI, I’m Quinn. And who are you?”

“Sam”

“And Katie”

“Great thanks for helping out, come on up”

“No need to look worried” As ever Matt’s voice was calm and reassuring. Quinn often wondered if there was a hint of magic about it, especially given the predicaments some volunteers found themselves in, apparently willingly.

“So do you think you know how this trick works?”

“Sure, she kneels in there and then leans back behind the rigged coat thing like you said” Sam offered confidently.

“So there’s a bit of skill, leaning back and not being seen and so on ?”

“Definitely “ Katie added “I suspect it takes a lot of practice”.

“So you couldn’t do it ? “ Quinn asked with a grin.

“Me ? I ? Er no way! “

The audience laughed and cheered as Katie squirmed with embarrassment.

“Sam would you like to see Katie try out the trick?” Quinn purred.

“I sure would! “ This generated loud cheers from the audience.

“Katie? Are you game?”

Katie looked at the floor and then deep into Sam’s eyes. “Sure, if that’s what Sam wants ..”

“So I guess I don’t need the coat?”

Quinn grinned and slowly undone the top button of the coat. She pulled it open a little showing a generous helping of cleavage before opening the second which with a wriggle hinted at bare skin down to her navel. She turned her back to the audience as she undone the final button and then slowly slid the coat down her bare, lightly tanned back. Finally she let it slide to the floor. She turned back to the very appreciative crowd dressed in only the tiniest of thongs covered in silver sequins and matching pasties which covered little more than her nipples.

Katie gulped as Matt led her to the table. Sam whispered something to Quinn who thought for a second then nodded.

“Katie, Sam was just asking if the audience might think the dress was part of the trick” Quinn smiled mischievously.

Katie looked puzzled for a second or three then slightly mortified. She glanced down at  her dress. Kneel length, strappy. She took a deep breath looking into Sam’s eyes. He nodded. She kicked off her sandals then slid one aside one shoulder strap then the other. With a little shimmy the dress slid down revealing her pale figure unadorned by anything bar plain white panties. She wrapped her right arm over her small perky breasts and stepped away from her abandoned clothes, smiling weakly.

Without waiting for the cheers and baying to subside Matt led Katie to the table. Quinn helped her with the slightly tricky process of kneeling and moving back into place. Quinn knelt too and locked a leather cuff around each of Katie’s thighs before locking those to the uprights of the trick. Meanwhile Matt had Sam cuff Katie’s wrists to the front of the table part of the prop. Quinn finished the job inserting a section in front of the hapless volunteers neck which was secured with a couple of pins and two padlocks. Katie smiled weakly.

“One thing that never happens when you see this on tv, is this …”

On cue, Quinn took one end of the long table and slowly rotated the whole thing around on its castors. Although she swayed her hips and gave her most winning smile she didn’t grudge the fact that most eyes were on Katie, who was shown off from all angles on the slow journey around.

Without further explanation Matt took a wooden box offered by Quinn and lowered it in place covering Katie’s head completely. As usual Matt didn’t let up much once the action had begun and he quickly took up a square blade, gave it a thump to show it was solid and lined it carefully with the front of the head box.

Stepping aside he offered Sam the honour of dissecting his partner. As it was pressed the blade moved an inch or two and seemed to stop. Katie was clearly distressed at this point. She waved her cuffed hands frantically and shook visibly. Quinn mimed a big shove and grasped the table and Sam pushed again . After a very long second something seemed to give and the blade moved quickly thudding into place. Katie seemed to go limp, hands hanging motionless in their cuffs. Quinn added a second divider as Sam stood back looking slightly queasy.

Undeterred Matt took the box and slid it to the left, leaving at one end of the table, fully three feet from where Katie’s neck was under the surface . Once again Quinn walked the table right around providing a three hundred and six degree view. Katie’s back was quite bare and quite visible, there was absolutely nowhere for her head to be hidden.

“Of course the next thing which is way too obvious in the “illusion” version of this is the other prop” Quinn moved to the open fronted cabinet and lay on the top seductively . “So we aren’t gonna use that.”

Quinn slid off as the showgirls returned to push the cabinet away and collected a replacement from the wings. A small tripod, with incredibly slender legs . With a square ledge on top which looked exactly the same size as the box on top of the other side of the trick.

“Sam, take the box and place it over here please” Quinn purred.

Sam gingerly held either side of the box and lifted. He walked slowly over to Quinn and set the box down on the tiny platform. Matt pushed Katie’s body back a couple of yards. Quinn had Sam step away then carefully removed the front of the box. The crowd erupted as Katie’s head was revealed, eyes closed and unmoving.

“She’s OK I promise! Quinn see what you can do about waking her up a little”

Quinn kneeled in front of Katie’s still body. Looking over her shoulder she winked theatrically to the audience then turned her attention to Katie’s left nipple, flicking her tongue over it then kissing firmly. As Quinn swapped sides Katie’s fingers wiggled a little and her nose wrinkled.

“More I think .”

Quinn reached behind the platform and retrieved a pair of shiny nipple clamps, holding them up for viewing. She gave each nipple a final kiss before closing the tiny jaws over each bud in turn. As she let the chain hang freely between Katie’s small pert breasts the volunteer’s eyes snapped open.

“Ladies and Gentlemen Katie !

Quinn took Katie’s body for another turn, wondering where the show would go next .