Page 22 of Dominant

Chapter 5

278503921 Ltd.

Jordan

I pulled up to the address that evening under cover of darkness. It was a huge, beautiful stone house on a wide, tree-lined street, with a plaque out front declaring its historical status. It figured it could be Alexander’s home, so I put the car in park and leaned my seat back, planning to hide in my car and keep an eye on the house for a while to see if I spotted him coming or going.

I had a clear view down the driveway, which was shared with a twin house next door. Not long after I’d parked the car, I saw a man wearing a loose white dress pass across the driveway, from the back of the house to the back of the twin house next door. Moments later he returned, this time with four women in tow, all wearing the same loose white dress. Fifteen minutes later, I saw the same thing again. A different man this time coming back with three women and a man. I was astounded by what I was seeing. If this wasn’t Alexander’s home, what was it? Some kind of cult?

I watched a while longer. Two more girls in white walked over, then a man in white and a woman in grey. The house on the right seemed to be feeding uniform-clad people to the house on the left, and eventually I decided to make a closer investigation.

I approached the house on the right, where the people in dresses were coming from, as it seemed to be the bigger mystery. I knocked on the door and prepared to give a fake speech about raising money for charity. I waited for a long while, and was about to knock again, when a young woman about my age opened the door. She was pretty, with thick red hair and a scattering of freckles across her nose, and she wore the same white dress as everyone else I’d seen. I wondered how many of them were in there.

“We don’t usually use the front door,” was the first thing she said, and then she ushered me inside. Thrown off guard, I followed her in without saying anything, prepared to give my charity spiel. The house was lovely and calm inside, painted in creams and whites set off against dramatic dark wood trim.

“You must be new,” she said.

“Uh - yes,” I lied quickly, surprised by my own boldness. “I’m new.”

“Come up to my room.” She spoke so quietly she was almost whispering.

I followed her up the lushly carpeted steps and down a long hall with many closed doors. There were chalkboards outside each door with numbers written on them. She opened the door marked “#4” and rushed me in.

“Who are you?” she asked, closing the door behind her and leaning against it. “What are you doing here?”

I completely lost my nerve. “I’m so sorry,” I told her. “I didn’t mean to… I should leave.” I turned toward the door but she grabbed my arm.

“It’s been so long since I saw someone from the outside. Please tell me what you’re doing here.”

“I’m really not trying to intrude, I promise,” I said, raising my hands sincerely, and she let go of my arm. “It’s the house next door. I found the address at work and I saw…” I indicated her dress, “the dresses. I just wanted to ask what it was. I’m sorry.”

She looked at me kindly. “Don’t be sorry. You’re curious, and there’s a lot to be curious about here. But this is a very secret place. Nobody ever answers any questions. Besides, what would you do with what you found out?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know. Nothing. It’s just that it’s… connected to my work somehow, and I’m worried I’m implicated in something. Can you tell me what kind of private club this is? Is anything illegal going on here?”

“You are curious,” she smiled. “What’s your name?”

“Jordan.”

“I’m Maggie.” She looked me over with frank interest, running her eyes up my body and then examining my face. “You’re very beautiful, Jordan.”

“Thanks.” What a strange girl, I thought to myself.

A decisive look crossed her face. “I’ll do you one better than answer your questions, if you like. I can sneak you in there so you can see for yourself. But you need to be warned. You might not like what you see.”

Alexander’s voice echoed in my head, You might not like what I’m into, and I rolled my eyes. “I can handle a lot more than I apparently look like I do.”

She shrugged. “Don’t blame me if you don’t like it. This is a grown-up place, where adult things happen. You get my drift?”

“Not really,” I answered, but two words very clearly popped into my mind: sex cult.

“Well, here’s what you have to do. You can’t get in unless you’re wearing one of these.” She indicated her white dress. “Take off your clothes, and you can wear one of mine. You need to be naked under the shift.”

Definite sex cult. I could already easily see that she was naked under her shift; it was so thin that her nipples brushed against the fabric.

I suddenly felt impulsive. “Okay,” I agreed.

I wasn’t completely unfamiliar with sex cults. I had lived with my mother, a self-described “free spirit,” on a commune for several years until the group’s charismatic leader was arrested when I was fourteen and we returned to society. I had barely worn clothes up until that point in my life and had seen adults have sex more times than I was supposed to. Although I’d craved a normal life throughout my teen years, so much of what I’d seen in those early years had stayed with me. I didn’t think there was anything next door I couldn’t handle.

---