Page 56 of Of Heathens & Havoc

“She can’t figure out what she wants,” Saint grumbles.

“If she doesn’t want to be here, why is she here?” asks the other man, crouching beside me and hooking his finger through the rosary in my mouth. He gently pulls it free, tugging the cross from between my lips. I flinch at the string of saliva that comes with it, but he ignores it and lowers the beads over my chin, letting them rest around my neck.

“The Lord is your shepherd,” he murmurs, stroking my cheek gently with his fingertips. “Thou shalt not fear.”

“Are you going to crucify me?” I ask, my voice trembling.

He draws back, his fingers stilling on my jawline. “Crucify you?”

“Yes,” I say. “Are you going to let them kill me like they did Eternity?”

“Oh for fuck’s sake,” Saint says, turning and stalking away.

“It appears my pupils have not prepared you sufficiently,” the Master says, his fingers gently stroking down the side of my neck, making a shiver rush down my body, my skin prickling into goosebumps and my nipples hardening to sharp pebbles.

“Bring me the basin,” he says, and I see the white skull mask move through the shadows, away from me, through the veil of my tears.

The Master strokes my throat gently, then sets the cross on my necklace straight. “Our sacrifice does not give her life,” he says. “Though she sacrifices much for us. You will sacrifice yourself for our pleasure and perversion. For that, we consider you holy, a sacred vessel for our darkest desires. They will kneel before you in silent reverence while I bless this holy vessel that is to receive.”

Angel lowers himself to his knees beside the doctor carefully, the basin of holy water cradled in his arms.

“Let us begin,” the leader says.

Heath and Saint approach from the other side of the cross and after a pause, as if they’re reluctant to obey, kneel beside me on the left.

The Master dips his fingers into the holy water. “Your sacrifice is holy,” he murmurs, his voice echoing inside the mask, the beak lowered over me in the flickering candlelight. He smooths his thumb across my forehead, leaving a wet smear that prickles with cold. “Bless us with your sacrifice.”

“We thank you,” the other three murmur in unison.

“Bless us with your mouth,” the Master says, dipping his fingers into the holy water and smearing his thumb over my lips.

“We thank you,” the others echo, their voices a rumbling chorus that sends a shiver through me and settles into a throbbing ember in my core.

“Bless us with your body,” the Master says, his touch gentle but firm as he runs his wet palm over throat, my collarbones, my breasts.

My breath hitches, and I lose myself in the murmur of thanks this time. The same feeling I had when they bound me swells in me again, as if I’m being overtaken by holiness, as if I can feel God himself here with me in this place.

“Bless us with your belly and your womb,” the Master says, his fingertips spreading cold water over my skin, makingit contract and tremble as he moves lower, toward the shameful coal that’s growing hotter and hotter as he approaches.

“We thank you,” echoes over the altar, the candles, the cross, the men.

“Please,” I whimper as the Master dips his fingers into the water again.

“Bless us with your sex,” he says, letting the holy water drip onto my mound.

“We thank you.” The deep chorus rumbles through me, vibrating me with the depth of the tone, the desire, the reverence.

I tense, squeezing my eyes closed and waiting. I can feel the cold drops trickle through my slit, and I squirm and shiver, wet heat pulsing between my thighs. I hear rustling and open my eyes to see the Master stand. He submerges both hands in the water, then takes my thighs in a firm grip, running a hand down the front of each thigh, leaving them glistening, the golden firelight flickering over my pale, wet skin. He reaches my knees, and I want to cry with relief and scream in frustration that he didn’t dive into my sinful flesh, remove the temptation coiling inside me like the snake in the Garden of Eden.

“Bless us with your thighs.”

“We thank you.”

“Bless us with your legs.”

“We thank you.”

“Bless us with your feet.”

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